Comments | ansemaru: my interpretation of Naoto [read at your own risk)

ansemaru

my interpretation of Naoto [read at your own risk)

Dec 13, 2009 17:43

So, it's pretty common knowledge that I'm unhappy with the "general fandom perception" of Naoto Shirogane, as well as how the game handles hir for the most part after the "big reveal." But where I tend to have trouble articulating is how I personally interpret Naoto as a character ( Read more... )

naoto shirogane, man issues, p4, opinionated post, meta, tl;dr

Comments 9

(The comment has been removed)

ansemaru December 14 2009, 02:25:17 UTC

That's precisely how I feel. It could be that P4 really is sending the wrong message, but I will never interpret it that way.

ansemaru December 14 2009, 02:33:11 UTC

I'm not sure what's so wrong with it, but apparently a large number of P4 fans were willing to come out of the woodwork to say I was wrong the last time I expressed it.

Thread 6

_dahne_ December 14 2009, 01:28:41 UTC

This is really interesting to read. I never did get through all of Naoto's social link, cause by the time I got my Courage up enough to talk to her (I do see her as female in a way, will explain in a second) it was near the end of the game. I got the feeling it would piss me off a lot, too. I lot of the dialogue options really bugged me, like telling her to talk more like a girl. It seemed like the moral of the story was going to be "you're stuck as a girl so act and talk like it's socially accepted girls are 'supposed' to, you'll be happier that way." Which, arrrgh ( ... )

ansemaru December 14 2009, 02:45:45 UTC

I agree that the dialogue options were nearly always terrible. Unfortunately, I had to go through a fair portion of Naoto's social link, since I was playing with my sister. (She, for some reason, is far more gung-ho about dating all possible girls in video games.)

Your interpretation is entirely valid, too. It's one of those things that definitely works with the character without being horrible. I think any player is bound to project on certain characters, and that's totally cool.

There's a thing where MC-kun's direct dialogue options can pressure Naoto into wearing the girls' uniform and talking in a higher voice, because his/her normal mannerisms are "weird." It's just all kinds of awful, and a good portion of the fandom thinks it's "cute."

ansemaru December 14 2009, 17:12:39 UTC

Er, the higher voice is specifically in the US translation; in the original, it concerns the pronouns Naoto uses. Thinking it's weird to use boku and all.

auragirl December 15 2009, 02:41:05 UTC

chiming in here to say I agree 100% with you - basically seconding all mumu said ( ... )

ansemaru December 15 2009, 12:26:22 UTC

siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh Japan.

It's sad. I know I can interpret this as much as I want, but... it's never going to be the case that the original creators thought this through.

Still, Naoto was almost a step in the right direction. There was clearly more thought behind him than the average "reverse trap," and the creators seemed to be at least kinda aware of transgenderism.