Wasn't that because of how they hit him when he entered their tent? And they used that to play on the nosebleed trope which is absent from the rest of the games?
Was it? I didn't remember that, thanks for the clarification.
Edit: I agree with the rest by the way. Kanji's thing is about how insecure he is about his sexuality, how he's made fun of for knitting and all. So he compensates by trying to be this manly guy, and then Naoto comes and he's even more insecure and unsure. He's frightened when unknown people (the main character and the gang) follow him when he's at his most unstable state of mind yet.
He has this idea of what it is to be a man and a woman, what it is to be straight and gay, and he's unsure where his hobbies and traits, like his kindness for others seen in his S. Link, fit. He hides what others see as feminine because he was made fun of and now at his time of change - he is the youngest of the crew - he's unsure about his sexuality. His insecurity manifests in his typical homosexual stereotype, as that's what's on his mind, that's what he's afraid of, and the bathhouse appearance and the boss follow in the same vein. In the end, I don't think it's as simple as saying he's completely straight or completely gay. He's a complex character which is why another reason I love that game.
I was nodding all the way through. Kanji is great. <3
Trying to summarize Kanji's entire character arc as being about him being gay or straight is missing the point and doing basically the same thing that started Kanji's troubles and insecurity in the first place. It's more about breaking out of those stereotypes and not letting something as harmless as a hobby define your gender identity and/or sexual orientation.
Kanji is a man because he identifies as such, no matter how feminine some of his traits are considered. Kanji's sexuality is defined by the gender(s) he feels attracted to, not by his hobbies, or the fact that he was confused about his sexuality.
As someone else said, it can be a bit disappointing when people are starving for well developed gay characters (especially back when Persona 4 came out, it's a bit better these days), but Kanji's arc goes beyond that discussion. After all, being in doubt about your sexuality isn't "how gay am I?", he could still end up figuring himself out as straight or bi, the fact that he had doubts and ended up not being gay (or at least not explicitly refered to as such) doesn't mean Atlus didn't have the balls to do so, as some people still seem to believe, even after Erica in Catherine, when they showed they're definitely not "afraid" of making LGBT characters.
I know we're talking fictional characters, but I just want to give a shout out to Ricki Sophie Ortiz.
Amazing player. All the love for you, Sophie!
Do you know why she changed Ricky to Ricki? I thought it was a typo from the tournament organizers when I first saw it, then I went to her twitter and it indeed said Ricki.
You got my support! I really loved both of those characters. And I thought it was cute how Kanji reacted around Naoto.
I wanted to add, I don't think it's entirely fair to shoot down someone from bringing up Kanji or Naoto though. I think both address gender issues pretty heavily, and I dunno. Personally, I think gender issues can go hand in hand with sexual preference. Or rather, societies issues with gender/sexual preferences can be interlinked.
Indeed. It's not hard to see how one could interpret Naoto as genderqueer, for example; regardless of her or Kanji's sexuality (the latter is still very open to interpretation in my opinion), both are complex characters who highlight real identity issues that young people go through. This alone is very meaningful and both characters resonated with me - and doubtless other LGBT fans - in a strong way.
Oh definitely, but you can see that the thread reacted positively overall, just by looking at how the whole Kanji discussion is still going. It's a wonderful take on gender roles, regardless of the outcome, and is a great background to discuss such things in gaming.
