Persona 4: Goln Mod Rtor Gay Romance Optn

IS PERSONA 4‘S KANJI GAY OR NOT?

He lerally says he's not gay and the whole pot of his character is that he's not gay, he jt has a feme personaly. One of the most pellg parts of Atl’ Persona 4 is the qutn of one of s characters’ possible homosexualy. Persona 4 ma great stris the portrayal of homosexualy gam wh the character of Kanji, a rough-and-tumble lquent who may or may not be gay.

THE NAME GAY CHE / JAPANE...

In Kanji’s alternate world, his other self appears as a near-nu, “gay” soundg versn of himself who habs a men’s bathhoe, strongly suggtg that the character ho homosexual sir. The game, however, never really mak ncrete whether or not Kanji’s gay or jt sexually nfed, which has trated some gamers.

In this se, mak sense that, the end, the game is not tellg you what to thk about Kanji or even if he is gay. “That flamboyance was also what the viewers of the Midnight Channel [a TV channel that shows what’s happeng the alternate world] wanted to see: a typil gay person on TV that people would lgh at.

I was so nnected to the character, and felt that his characteristics and msage were so clear, that I was more than a ltle angered by the way Kanji was terpreted a recent vio on The vio qutn was a rant, wrten and performed by se edor Anthony Burch, which he argued that vio gam sperately need homosexual characters that didn’t nform to obv stereotyp. Here, and that (sexualy) is not as clear cut as that, but the game still ma me feel that that was a wardly move, to make a character, and actually explore what ’s like to be gay high school when that’s not really the accepted norm, and then refe to say whether he’s gay or not. More surprisg still, several people the ments also wrote that they too were disappoted/upset that the game seemed to duck around the issue of whether or not the character was gay.

HOW TO SAY GAY JAPANE

His teractn’s wh the “boy” Naoto and, of urse, his shadow on the Midnight Channel are all signed to make look like he’s gay. So many other game players WANTED Kanji to be gay, bee vio gam are sperate need for those gay characters who are not stereotyp. If Kanji did e out the game and say hewas gay, would provi some really tertg teractns throughout the game, jt as Burch said; would allow the game to show teractns of a gay teenager high school.

But Persona 4 don’t make the issue of sexualy so simple, and, as a rult, Burch punished the game for what wasn’t; a sophistited, heartfelt, and hont teractive experience volvg someone g to grips wh their homosexual urg. Persona 4 do have a msage about Kanji, and has nothg do wh whether or not he’s actually gay. You may thk that the game puts a ton of time to portrayg Kanji as gay, particularly wh his near-naked, heavily lisped shadow si the T.

Kanji, the opn of the town of Inaba, has to be gay, bee he don’t do the thgs a guy is “supposed” to do. Kanji has to be gay, bee society ems him to be gay, not bee he is actually attracted to other men. The shadow Kanji, almost totally naked and wh Heavy Lisp, wasn’t generated si his heart; was what the town THOUGHT Kanji was, what Inaba THOUGHT was Kanji’s te self: a closeted homosexual.