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Just so I don't lose this again. Original link here.
Yousuke: Hahaha. Ha.
I would argue to say that Yousuke is the most complicated with his sexuality in Persona 4. Anyone could come and say that Yousuke is actually the least complicated because he shows interest in several girls, right up to the end of the game, and be done with it. I think that would be a very shallow approach. Kanji has his bicuriosity, but it's pretty straight out there. You can find all the elements of his bisexuality. You also have Chie and Yukiko, which can be summarized. There's a joke about how everyone in Persona 4 is pretty ... you know. Interesting regarding this, but Yousuke is the most complicated for one reason:
His homophobia.
To say a guy is homophobic because he's gay is a bit of a leap. During the course of the game, he shows several moments in which he's homophobic. I won't list them all here, but they're all involving Kanji-either pushing Kanji toward liking girls or obnoxiously saying that he's not "safe" when placed into a position where he has to sleep in a tent with him. Yousuke isn't exactly the nicest person in this area, and it seems as if he focuses on it a lot more than the others. This is interesting because Chie was actually the first one to notice it, and only when Yousuke figured it out did he treat it as if it was this horrible thing. And never let go of it, right up to the end of the game (except for the last months-ish). His focus on this may not seem to be integral to the events of the game, but it's a reoccurring theme with him.
So, as I said, it's a bit of a leap when he clearly does have issues with it. Not every homophobic person is hiding homosexual tendencies, but I do think Yousuke is one of those people. His subconscious appears to latch on to the issue continuously, and he doesn't let go of it. He doesn't notice it within other people who are potentially gay for each other, but he does notice what was put out in front of him. Therefore, his active notion of it is shown through either seeing it as "unsafe" or wanting to ensure that the potentially bisexual guy is, in fact, straight at the end of his questioning process. But again, he doesn't see where there may be homosexuality elsewhere.
Now, before I even get to the matter of him being incredibly gay for Souji-and that's where everyone knows this is leading up to-I should first address the matter of his interest in girls. Like I said, he has interest in several girls in the game. I'll run them down right now:
Saki Konishi: She's his senpai. A girl who works at the store that he seemed to have a built up idea about. She's someone I personally believe he asked out a few times, but lacking the ability to be blunt, she never turned him down. Of course, she never told him yes, either, so take that as you will. She strongly disliked him, but he liked her quite a bit, only I don't think he really saw her as "someone to really like" until after she died. It was only then that he started to understand his interest in her completely. Prior to her death, I think the interest was shallow. Girl is pretty, girl exists, girl should be asked out. Yousuke doesn't exactly follow social norms or logic when it comes to girls.
After her death, he kind of recognizes that she never liked him (he was forced to do so) and he also recognizes that he liked her, and things run a little deeper and she becomes a point of motivation. I would go as far as to say that Saki was the first girl (possibly only girl) that Yousuke genuinely liked. I don't know what this says about him, but take it as you will.
Yukiko Amagi: A lot of people cite her as the other girl that Yousuke likes a lot. He asks her out and proceeds to do it again within the boundaries of canon, and there are several moments where it looks like he's about to hit on her. I think the thing here is, people think Yousuke likes Yukiko more than Yousuke actually likes Yukiko. This is actually where I think his shallow interest toward girls really starts to shine.
In canon, we know he's asked her out a couple times, and I tend to look at it as following the same logic as I presented for Saki: girl is pretty. Girl should go on date with me. Clearly, Yousuke didn't even know Yukiko that well, as he had only been going to their school for a short while before he asked her out, and yet that didn't thwart him in his interest. He does like Yukiko as a friend, as a person, and he respects her, but I don't think he really sees her as anything but "pretty girl, must have" ... in the most basic sense of looking at it.
He seems confused and even flustered when it's suggested that he continues to go for her, simply because he doesn't. Yousuke doesn't focus on girls long enough to really emphasize it. There's passing "wow, they're really cute," but that's about it. His interest, I insist, is shallow. He wants to see girls in bathing suits, though, so he goes out of his way. He's insensitive about them, and it's very obvious. I'll go into this more, but these are all things that are extensions of Yukiko.
Rise: Anyone playing the game might be wondering why I don't have Chie here. Although Chie and Yousuke have a very interesting interaction, I don't see her as one of the key three girls he places an interest in. Rise is one of them. In canon, we see him wanting to meet her and even putting her up on her own pedestal. He likes her for obvious shallow reasons. She's Risette.
But the thing with Rise that we see that he doesn't do with the other two, at least immediately (though he does show some concern toward Saki, noticing that she's in an off mood and so forth), is he shows general sympathy and care. She's someone he sees as more than an object. However, in a key, quite hilarious moment in the game, he tells Souji that he wishes her were in Souji's place in regards to Rise. Yousuke does continue to like her at other moments, expressing a continued interest in her. But I don't think it runs very deep, like I said. He's not entirely understanding of her, and I do think he'd come to see her as liking Souji, and not him. Given the end of his S. Link with Souji (where he addresses potentially being jealous of him and so forth), I can't see him wanting to really get in the way of that.
I'll address how I play with this in camp, since the lack of Souji but the presence of Rise led to some very interesting things. However, that'll be probably two comments down, as I'm still getting through this.
Chie and other girls: So then we have his interaction with the rest of girls. Yousuke does show occasional, passing interest in Chie, but it's in the same way as if she doesn't have her individual identity. He gets her a bathing suit because he wishes to see her in it, and he mentions that he wants to see girls in them later on (again, being vague). But as things go with Chie, the two fight more than anything, and I think he sees her more as Chie than anything.
The interesting thing I failed to note earlier is that Chie is the only girl that doesn't get an honorific. She's Chie or Satonaka, whereas the others are all addressed by various honorifics. Saki-senpai, Yukiki-san, etc. Rise-chan is also up there, if I really needed to point that out (and I guess Nanako-chan, but she's a little girl ...). There's another girl who goes here who also gets an honorific, which is amusing considering. However, Chie receives similar treatment to guys. Yousuke doesn't call any guys by honorifics and therefore, Chie gets that, as well. I draw the line between Chie and Lisa in camp. If he thinks of a girl as "one of the guys" or anything, he tends to address them without honorifics, but he doesn't otherwise. Girls, usually, get the honorific because of a distance Yousuke keeps between himself and them.
Now, Yousuke isn't afraid of calling a girl hot. He's not afraid of seeing them as objects and he definitely does have a porn collection. He's a normal teenage boy in that way. In any normal situation, I would see that he probably would end up with a failed relationship or two with girls in his life before proceeding to get into a potentially shallow marriage that doesn't have a lot of shared interest on both sides. He'd still look at porn and there'd be a strain and Yousuke would be incredibly insensitive and would have "needs" and all those terrible things that stupid, shallow guys are stereotypically thought to say. Because, like it or not, Yousuke really does fit that stereotype. He does go out of his way to make sure girls are on display for him.
And anyway, I'm not writing this essay to say "Yousuke doesn't like girls." He does, quite a bit, and it's not something that leaves him. What I'm saying is that girls tend to be objectified, and even if, like Jason, he wants to have attention, girls giving him attention doesn't necessarily means he sees them as any deeper.
Before I go past girls, I should address his need for attention a bit more. Yousuke has several moments in the game where I would point out that he's starved for attention. His dislike of Inaba is partly because he hates being caught in a small town where all he receives is negative attention. When people look at him, they tend to see him as being associated with what's ruining all the businesses. As a result, he acts out against it. As I'm avoiding mentioning his interaction with Souji, I'll cut corners here. He mentions in an S. Link how he would hang out with people from school in the city, but he can't really remember anything they would talk about. There's a part of Yousuke that's striving to be normal, striving to have friends and striving to fit in.
The problem is, Yousuke is sort of a dick. He doesn't see this, but his Shadow and the circumstances of how he treats others-hitting on their weak points and laughing about it is a very good exaple of this-is something that really shows this. It's never directly acknowledged in the game, but I think it's pointed at many times that the reason why Yousuke didn't have deep relationships was because he was bad socially. People put up with him, but he was the annoying, aggravating, teasing guy that people had around. It was not a coincidence or a surprise that Saki disliked him or Chie wants to kick him in the face half the time or people don't have very good things to say about him. I don't get why people tend to explain away what he does.
The quick defense here is usually the fact that Yousuke means well. I'm not arguing against that. Yousuke is not a terribly malicious individual. Stupid when it comes to social situations? Yes. A dick, homophobic, not thinking? Also a fact that you have to face when it comes to him. Although he grows a lot to the point of accepting and seeing other people's weaknesses and being able to give pep talks and he's also the one to usually try to get someone to accept their Shadow from the get-go, that doesn't mean he's completely changed. I'm sure some people saw him as "not that bad, but fuck he's annoying." I'm pretty sure, actually, that this was how he was dealt with a lot. He's funny, sometimes having insight, but often saying the wrong thing.
Thusly, he's not had a lot of positive potential from sources where he may be otherwise needing it. Friends, peers, and so forth are the ones he seeks it from most, after all.
THE MATTER WITH SOUJI: So now, now we finally get to Souji.
First off, Souji treats him initially he same way anyone treats him. Yousuke is hurt twice before Souji actually knows his name, and Souji doesn't stop to help him. It kind of shows how Yousuke, a loser in the school, would normally fly under the radar or largely be left alone. The fact of the matter is that Yousuke doesn't even seem to notice that Souji does this to him. Many people tend to pick up on these being signs of Souji being a dick (because, well, that's exactly what they are: Souji kind of is a huge dick at times), but they're also indications of Yousuke not even realizing when someone is ignoring him or brushing him aside.
Not too long after, though, Souji finally pulls him up from one of his accidents and it's here that Yousuke latches on to Souji. Souji brings him onto his radar, and Yousuke immediately wants to spend time with him. He's like an eager puppy, wanting to do as much as possible with him. In his eyes, Souji is a decent person, if a bit quiet, and Yousuke is still a bit uncertain with him, but that's how things go.
After Saki's death, things change. Souji and Yousuke go into the television and Souji is the only one who sees Yousuke's Shadow. It's embarrassing, but really, compared to everyone else's Shadow, there really isn't anything that's too surprising there. As it happens, Souji also hears about how Saki actually feels about Yousuke. The feelings are overwhelmingly negative, and though it hurts Yousuke, there's a part of him that's not surprised. Souji is there for him, helping him, and Souji is the one who fights his Shadow. Throughout the course of the game, Souji has many opportunities where he could tell others about how Yousuke's Shadow was, and he doesn't or he's vague in his responses, protecting Yousuke's secret and making it very much something between them. The fact that Souji goes above and beyond here is interesting. Now, he doesn't exactly go around telling others about other people's Shadows, but he also isn't telling people about Yousuke's-and Yousuke, the clearly insensitive occasionally dickish-but-also-occasionally-smart-one has seen everyone else's. It's an interesting position, and it's even more interesting regarding Souji.
According to the S. Link, as time passed, Souji was someone that Yousuke became jealous of. Much of their S. Link addresses him learning about different facets of Souji (like his porn), but also coming to terms with himself as a person. He comes to terms with the Saki thing and he understands why she wanted to get out, but through it, he also comes to love Inaba and overlooks it, seeing that he finally has a purpose. Before, he was lost, and now, he's found-as cheesy as it is to put it that way. Souji's the one who helps him toward that. Souji understands that, standing up for him, being there for him, being his best friend. He says what's necessary, and he listens as Yousuke shows all of his invulnerable parts of himself. He also notes parts of Yousuke's behavior and where he does well. These are key parts of the S. Link, and if Souji tells the girls to shut up at one point instead of tearing apart Yousuke, Souji is able to hug him and comfort him.
It's ... very interesting, if you think about it.
Additional notes not found in the link go here (which come from this link):
Now, in RP Secrets the other day, there was a mass outcry of how Yousuke is, in no way, gay, and how his homophobia isn't a shield for his sexuality. I do think he sort of hyperfocuses on homosexuality a few too many times in the game, given the rest of his tendencies, to ignore, but I think the two are mostly mutually exclusive. I do think he is someone who is homophobic because he's ignorant, confused, and rude to the point of not understanding, and that there is some subconscious part of him that is Not Getting It. But I think if you took out the homophobic element, there is a lot more support for his potential homosexuality outside of it.
In camp, and ... in general, I view him as a female-leaning bisexual. Yousuke is dependent on others, but also capable of being the one to be depended on. He does want to help people, to protect them, to save them, and this is a strong part of his character. He's more of a hero than Souji is, in that aspect. I am of the opinion that once he realizes he's ... pretty in love with Souji, he'll come to see that there's more to it. I don't think he's really an exception type, given his personality and the possibilities within it. I also like to think I'm playing it well in camp. He doesn't know yet, he hasn't kissed Souji, and while others have picked up on it, Yousuke continues to express interest and help girls in that way.
But according to some people, that's impossible to do. I'm a little anxious about it right now, to be honest, but I hope it passes.
Additional Additional Notes. That are like headcanon notes:
- In order to get into a relationship with Souji (or hell, anyone), Yousuke would have to get out of the dependent situation because he knows he's dependent. There's a strong part of him that's conscous of this. In camp, he's currently working on it but generally being unhealthy about it. I would essay about that here, but Yousuke's development so far in camp has absolutely nothing to do with his sexuality. It has everything to do with his development as a protector, a hero, someone wanting to be there for others and have a specific purpose.
- Yousuke is a teenage boy who is in touch with his sexuality. I think he masturbates once or twice a day, and it's like clockwork. So by sexuality, I mean he's very much someone who likes to think about sex and probably has a good idea of what sexual positions he likes and so forth, even if he hasn't experienced it himself. You know how Xander is in Buffy and how he explains it? I sort of use Xander as a guide to how Yousuke is about sex. Obviously, there's a lot of issues and protecting and saving people, but I think prior to meeting Souji and feeling miserable and hating things, it was part of who he was.
- I don't think this directly contradicts any of his inferiority complex, low self-esteem, or anything. He's just a boy. One of his S. Link points is going to ask Souji about his porn, like it's a necessary thing. He also has something to prove by caring about it.
- Yousuke is a virgin. He has kissed some girls, because he is attractive, but he's generally sort of annoying. So. Not lots of girls want to do it.
- In camp, he likes lots of girls and if your character is attractive and female and has spoken to Yousuke, he has probably thought of your character as attractive. It's very shallow, though, and more interaction is what leads to respect, talking, understanding, and so forth. I should actually work on him having more attempted asking out. If Lisa gets back to camp ever, he'll totally ask her out. :|b
Yousuke: Hahaha. Ha.
I would argue to say that Yousuke is the most complicated with his sexuality in Persona 4. Anyone could come and say that Yousuke is actually the least complicated because he shows interest in several girls, right up to the end of the game, and be done with it. I think that would be a very shallow approach. Kanji has his bicuriosity, but it's pretty straight out there. You can find all the elements of his bisexuality. You also have Chie and Yukiko, which can be summarized. There's a joke about how everyone in Persona 4 is pretty ... you know. Interesting regarding this, but Yousuke is the most complicated for one reason:
His homophobia.
To say a guy is homophobic because he's gay is a bit of a leap. During the course of the game, he shows several moments in which he's homophobic. I won't list them all here, but they're all involving Kanji-either pushing Kanji toward liking girls or obnoxiously saying that he's not "safe" when placed into a position where he has to sleep in a tent with him. Yousuke isn't exactly the nicest person in this area, and it seems as if he focuses on it a lot more than the others. This is interesting because Chie was actually the first one to notice it, and only when Yousuke figured it out did he treat it as if it was this horrible thing. And never let go of it, right up to the end of the game (except for the last months-ish). His focus on this may not seem to be integral to the events of the game, but it's a reoccurring theme with him.
So, as I said, it's a bit of a leap when he clearly does have issues with it. Not every homophobic person is hiding homosexual tendencies, but I do think Yousuke is one of those people. His subconscious appears to latch on to the issue continuously, and he doesn't let go of it. He doesn't notice it within other people who are potentially gay for each other, but he does notice what was put out in front of him. Therefore, his active notion of it is shown through either seeing it as "unsafe" or wanting to ensure that the potentially bisexual guy is, in fact, straight at the end of his questioning process. But again, he doesn't see where there may be homosexuality elsewhere.
Now, before I even get to the matter of him being incredibly gay for Souji-and that's where everyone knows this is leading up to-I should first address the matter of his interest in girls. Like I said, he has interest in several girls in the game. I'll run them down right now:
Saki Konishi: She's his senpai. A girl who works at the store that he seemed to have a built up idea about. She's someone I personally believe he asked out a few times, but lacking the ability to be blunt, she never turned him down. Of course, she never told him yes, either, so take that as you will. She strongly disliked him, but he liked her quite a bit, only I don't think he really saw her as "someone to really like" until after she died. It was only then that he started to understand his interest in her completely. Prior to her death, I think the interest was shallow. Girl is pretty, girl exists, girl should be asked out. Yousuke doesn't exactly follow social norms or logic when it comes to girls.
After her death, he kind of recognizes that she never liked him (he was forced to do so) and he also recognizes that he liked her, and things run a little deeper and she becomes a point of motivation. I would go as far as to say that Saki was the first girl (possibly only girl) that Yousuke genuinely liked. I don't know what this says about him, but take it as you will.
Yukiko Amagi: A lot of people cite her as the other girl that Yousuke likes a lot. He asks her out and proceeds to do it again within the boundaries of canon, and there are several moments where it looks like he's about to hit on her. I think the thing here is, people think Yousuke likes Yukiko more than Yousuke actually likes Yukiko. This is actually where I think his shallow interest toward girls really starts to shine.
In canon, we know he's asked her out a couple times, and I tend to look at it as following the same logic as I presented for Saki: girl is pretty. Girl should go on date with me. Clearly, Yousuke didn't even know Yukiko that well, as he had only been going to their school for a short while before he asked her out, and yet that didn't thwart him in his interest. He does like Yukiko as a friend, as a person, and he respects her, but I don't think he really sees her as anything but "pretty girl, must have" ... in the most basic sense of looking at it.
He seems confused and even flustered when it's suggested that he continues to go for her, simply because he doesn't. Yousuke doesn't focus on girls long enough to really emphasize it. There's passing "wow, they're really cute," but that's about it. His interest, I insist, is shallow. He wants to see girls in bathing suits, though, so he goes out of his way. He's insensitive about them, and it's very obvious. I'll go into this more, but these are all things that are extensions of Yukiko.
Rise: Anyone playing the game might be wondering why I don't have Chie here. Although Chie and Yousuke have a very interesting interaction, I don't see her as one of the key three girls he places an interest in. Rise is one of them. In canon, we see him wanting to meet her and even putting her up on her own pedestal. He likes her for obvious shallow reasons. She's Risette.
But the thing with Rise that we see that he doesn't do with the other two, at least immediately (though he does show some concern toward Saki, noticing that she's in an off mood and so forth), is he shows general sympathy and care. She's someone he sees as more than an object. However, in a key, quite hilarious moment in the game, he tells Souji that he wishes her were in Souji's place in regards to Rise. Yousuke does continue to like her at other moments, expressing a continued interest in her. But I don't think it runs very deep, like I said. He's not entirely understanding of her, and I do think he'd come to see her as liking Souji, and not him. Given the end of his S. Link with Souji (where he addresses potentially being jealous of him and so forth), I can't see him wanting to really get in the way of that.
I'll address how I play with this in camp, since the lack of Souji but the presence of Rise led to some very interesting things. However, that'll be probably two comments down, as I'm still getting through this.
Chie and other girls: So then we have his interaction with the rest of girls. Yousuke does show occasional, passing interest in Chie, but it's in the same way as if she doesn't have her individual identity. He gets her a bathing suit because he wishes to see her in it, and he mentions that he wants to see girls in them later on (again, being vague). But as things go with Chie, the two fight more than anything, and I think he sees her more as Chie than anything.
The interesting thing I failed to note earlier is that Chie is the only girl that doesn't get an honorific. She's Chie or Satonaka, whereas the others are all addressed by various honorifics. Saki-senpai, Yukiki-san, etc. Rise-chan is also up there, if I really needed to point that out (and I guess Nanako-chan, but she's a little girl ...). There's another girl who goes here who also gets an honorific, which is amusing considering. However, Chie receives similar treatment to guys. Yousuke doesn't call any guys by honorifics and therefore, Chie gets that, as well. I draw the line between Chie and Lisa in camp. If he thinks of a girl as "one of the guys" or anything, he tends to address them without honorifics, but he doesn't otherwise. Girls, usually, get the honorific because of a distance Yousuke keeps between himself and them.
Now, Yousuke isn't afraid of calling a girl hot. He's not afraid of seeing them as objects and he definitely does have a porn collection. He's a normal teenage boy in that way. In any normal situation, I would see that he probably would end up with a failed relationship or two with girls in his life before proceeding to get into a potentially shallow marriage that doesn't have a lot of shared interest on both sides. He'd still look at porn and there'd be a strain and Yousuke would be incredibly insensitive and would have "needs" and all those terrible things that stupid, shallow guys are stereotypically thought to say. Because, like it or not, Yousuke really does fit that stereotype. He does go out of his way to make sure girls are on display for him.
And anyway, I'm not writing this essay to say "Yousuke doesn't like girls." He does, quite a bit, and it's not something that leaves him. What I'm saying is that girls tend to be objectified, and even if, like Jason, he wants to have attention, girls giving him attention doesn't necessarily means he sees them as any deeper.
Before I go past girls, I should address his need for attention a bit more. Yousuke has several moments in the game where I would point out that he's starved for attention. His dislike of Inaba is partly because he hates being caught in a small town where all he receives is negative attention. When people look at him, they tend to see him as being associated with what's ruining all the businesses. As a result, he acts out against it. As I'm avoiding mentioning his interaction with Souji, I'll cut corners here. He mentions in an S. Link how he would hang out with people from school in the city, but he can't really remember anything they would talk about. There's a part of Yousuke that's striving to be normal, striving to have friends and striving to fit in.
The problem is, Yousuke is sort of a dick. He doesn't see this, but his Shadow and the circumstances of how he treats others-hitting on their weak points and laughing about it is a very good exaple of this-is something that really shows this. It's never directly acknowledged in the game, but I think it's pointed at many times that the reason why Yousuke didn't have deep relationships was because he was bad socially. People put up with him, but he was the annoying, aggravating, teasing guy that people had around. It was not a coincidence or a surprise that Saki disliked him or Chie wants to kick him in the face half the time or people don't have very good things to say about him. I don't get why people tend to explain away what he does.
The quick defense here is usually the fact that Yousuke means well. I'm not arguing against that. Yousuke is not a terribly malicious individual. Stupid when it comes to social situations? Yes. A dick, homophobic, not thinking? Also a fact that you have to face when it comes to him. Although he grows a lot to the point of accepting and seeing other people's weaknesses and being able to give pep talks and he's also the one to usually try to get someone to accept their Shadow from the get-go, that doesn't mean he's completely changed. I'm sure some people saw him as "not that bad, but fuck he's annoying." I'm pretty sure, actually, that this was how he was dealt with a lot. He's funny, sometimes having insight, but often saying the wrong thing.
Thusly, he's not had a lot of positive potential from sources where he may be otherwise needing it. Friends, peers, and so forth are the ones he seeks it from most, after all.
THE MATTER WITH SOUJI: So now, now we finally get to Souji.
First off, Souji treats him initially he same way anyone treats him. Yousuke is hurt twice before Souji actually knows his name, and Souji doesn't stop to help him. It kind of shows how Yousuke, a loser in the school, would normally fly under the radar or largely be left alone. The fact of the matter is that Yousuke doesn't even seem to notice that Souji does this to him. Many people tend to pick up on these being signs of Souji being a dick (because, well, that's exactly what they are: Souji kind of is a huge dick at times), but they're also indications of Yousuke not even realizing when someone is ignoring him or brushing him aside.
Not too long after, though, Souji finally pulls him up from one of his accidents and it's here that Yousuke latches on to Souji. Souji brings him onto his radar, and Yousuke immediately wants to spend time with him. He's like an eager puppy, wanting to do as much as possible with him. In his eyes, Souji is a decent person, if a bit quiet, and Yousuke is still a bit uncertain with him, but that's how things go.
After Saki's death, things change. Souji and Yousuke go into the television and Souji is the only one who sees Yousuke's Shadow. It's embarrassing, but really, compared to everyone else's Shadow, there really isn't anything that's too surprising there. As it happens, Souji also hears about how Saki actually feels about Yousuke. The feelings are overwhelmingly negative, and though it hurts Yousuke, there's a part of him that's not surprised. Souji is there for him, helping him, and Souji is the one who fights his Shadow. Throughout the course of the game, Souji has many opportunities where he could tell others about how Yousuke's Shadow was, and he doesn't or he's vague in his responses, protecting Yousuke's secret and making it very much something between them. The fact that Souji goes above and beyond here is interesting. Now, he doesn't exactly go around telling others about other people's Shadows, but he also isn't telling people about Yousuke's-and Yousuke, the clearly insensitive occasionally dickish-but-also-occasionally-smart-one has seen everyone else's. It's an interesting position, and it's even more interesting regarding Souji.
According to the S. Link, as time passed, Souji was someone that Yousuke became jealous of. Much of their S. Link addresses him learning about different facets of Souji (like his porn), but also coming to terms with himself as a person. He comes to terms with the Saki thing and he understands why she wanted to get out, but through it, he also comes to love Inaba and overlooks it, seeing that he finally has a purpose. Before, he was lost, and now, he's found-as cheesy as it is to put it that way. Souji's the one who helps him toward that. Souji understands that, standing up for him, being there for him, being his best friend. He says what's necessary, and he listens as Yousuke shows all of his invulnerable parts of himself. He also notes parts of Yousuke's behavior and where he does well. These are key parts of the S. Link, and if Souji tells the girls to shut up at one point instead of tearing apart Yousuke, Souji is able to hug him and comfort him.
It's ... very interesting, if you think about it.
Additional notes not found in the link go here (which come from this link):
Now, in RP Secrets the other day, there was a mass outcry of how Yousuke is, in no way, gay, and how his homophobia isn't a shield for his sexuality. I do think he sort of hyperfocuses on homosexuality a few too many times in the game, given the rest of his tendencies, to ignore, but I think the two are mostly mutually exclusive. I do think he is someone who is homophobic because he's ignorant, confused, and rude to the point of not understanding, and that there is some subconscious part of him that is Not Getting It. But I think if you took out the homophobic element, there is a lot more support for his potential homosexuality outside of it.
In camp, and ... in general, I view him as a female-leaning bisexual. Yousuke is dependent on others, but also capable of being the one to be depended on. He does want to help people, to protect them, to save them, and this is a strong part of his character. He's more of a hero than Souji is, in that aspect. I am of the opinion that once he realizes he's ... pretty in love with Souji, he'll come to see that there's more to it. I don't think he's really an exception type, given his personality and the possibilities within it. I also like to think I'm playing it well in camp. He doesn't know yet, he hasn't kissed Souji, and while others have picked up on it, Yousuke continues to express interest and help girls in that way.
But according to some people, that's impossible to do. I'm a little anxious about it right now, to be honest, but I hope it passes.
Additional Additional Notes. That are like headcanon notes:
- In order to get into a relationship with Souji (or hell, anyone), Yousuke would have to get out of the dependent situation because he knows he's dependent. There's a strong part of him that's conscous of this. In camp, he's currently working on it but generally being unhealthy about it. I would essay about that here, but Yousuke's development so far in camp has absolutely nothing to do with his sexuality. It has everything to do with his development as a protector, a hero, someone wanting to be there for others and have a specific purpose.
- Yousuke is a teenage boy who is in touch with his sexuality. I think he masturbates once or twice a day, and it's like clockwork. So by sexuality, I mean he's very much someone who likes to think about sex and probably has a good idea of what sexual positions he likes and so forth, even if he hasn't experienced it himself. You know how Xander is in Buffy and how he explains it? I sort of use Xander as a guide to how Yousuke is about sex. Obviously, there's a lot of issues and protecting and saving people, but I think prior to meeting Souji and feeling miserable and hating things, it was part of who he was.
- I don't think this directly contradicts any of his inferiority complex, low self-esteem, or anything. He's just a boy. One of his S. Link points is going to ask Souji about his porn, like it's a necessary thing. He also has something to prove by caring about it.
- Yousuke is a virgin. He has kissed some girls, because he is attractive, but he's generally sort of annoying. So. Not lots of girls want to do it.
- In camp, he likes lots of girls and if your character is attractive and female and has spoken to Yousuke, he has probably thought of your character as attractive. It's very shallow, though, and more interaction is what leads to respect, talking, understanding, and so forth. I should actually work on him having more attempted asking out. If Lisa gets back to camp ever, he'll totally ask her out. :|b