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17:40 It's no maybe, if you talk to Yukiko on a day where she has a Scooter Event, she mentions that she was just running errands for the inn with said scooter.
Yukiko is one of my favorites. I don't think I'll ever get the hate. She's a delight, and the message of her social link arc still hits me pretty hard. About how you shouldn't just give in to expectation and should instead broaden your horizons to possibilities; even if you simply continue doing what you were already doing before, it's the willingness to go outside your comfort zone to explore a world of possibilities, and the confidence to commit to whatever you do *_on your own terms_* that really matters. Just like the Fool returning home after their journey, changed, but fulfilled.
Except that Yukiko's arc is the exact opposite. She spends the whole game including confronting her shadow and most of her social link that she wants to get out of Inaba to get away the expectations of taking over the Amagi Inn and spend the rest of her life in Inaba. Her social link even involves her making plans to do so with the player even given positive points for agreeing with her on that... Then at the end of her social link she just arbitrarily decides to cave to those expectations and that she's happy to take over the Amagi Inn after all. Yes, Yukiko cares about the Inn and her family but that's nowhere near enough justification for going against everything she has voiced both internally and externally throughout the entire game up to that point. It would've helped if there was anything even giving a hint of this at any point, but there wasn't, not a one until the end of Yukiko's social link. Both Yukiko's whole character arc and the core message of the game itself are utterly obliterated in the space of a few scenes because of this. They do essentially the same thing with Rise. Both women spend the lion's share of their time on screen going "I HATE HATE HATE HATE THIS" and then turn around at the end of their social links and decide they love it instead. The game presents a personal conflict, takes steps to resolve that conflict, and then concludes it by not resolving the conflict and realizing that the thing that made them miserable the whole game is really just the thing that makes them happy. Probably because the writers were afraid to rock Japan society's boat by actually having a message of independence in a society that heavily emphasizes sticking to your place and role. The message goes from "you'll be happy by seeking your independence and being true to yourself" to "Accept your role and you'll be happy and even if you're not if you shut up and deal with it that'll lead to you becoming happy anyway.... somehow." I went from loving both social links to utterly despising them specifically for this reason. These are not the only times that a social link going against itself at the last minute happens in P4 or even the Persona series by far, but these are definitely the two that irritate me the most because of how much I was liking them up to that point plus the writing of the series in general is otherwise superb and it takes place in a game that emphasizes facing the truth even if it's harmful rather than hiding from your problems and insecurities. It's even worse with them because since they're main characters the player gets to see them outside of their social links much much more often than any other social link character and thus the fact that the end of the social link all but completely destroys their character is made much more apparent because their character is much more developed.
@@YarugumaSou So... the game arbitrarily deciding that out of the blue what these people hate is what they love and deciding to go back to doing what they've spent the whole game saying they hate is a twisted way of thinking and putting words in people's mouths? Wow... just wow. The fact that the writers wrote in an asspull at the last second couldn't be more obvious and somehow I'm the one being twisted for pointing that fact out.
@@immortalfrieza That's not what happens, though. Yukiko starts as someone oppressed by expectations, that might or might not be voiced by people in her life, but are basically, at least to her mind, the expectations of the whole town, as she is the sole heir of the Inaba's traditional Amagi family, and what would be of the town if they didn't have the Amagi Inn to draw people in. We later learn that the whole time she wanted someone to free her from that, to take her away, so she could be freed of that pressure. After facing her persona, she decided she would take that upon herself now, instead of waiting for someone else to do it for her, and starts taking steps towards that goal. She was now making herself free of the shackles of the inn. And finally, instead of caving, as you put it, she realized that she was actually just running away. What she wanted gone was the pressure of the expectations, not the inn, or her inheriting it. She did not accept her role, instead she embraced the parts that she liked, and said "fuck it" to the social pressure. Finding a Prince Charming to save her, getting a job as an interior decorator far away from Inaba, it was all different aspects of the same thing: running. She first wanted someone to take her away, then she was running away herself, but it's just running in the end. She was not seeking independence and being true to herself, but hiding (in private), illustrated by the moments when she mentioned how much she loved the inn and the people in it, and how much they supported her. And finally, at the end, when she realized she doesn't have to give two fucks about anyone else's expectations, real or imaginary (as it is never clarified if someone voiced those expectations to her, or if it was what she thought others thought, supporting even more the fact that her cage was of her own making), that's the freedom she actually sought and found. TL;DR: There's no backtracking. She always loved the inn, and always wanted to stay there, she several times says how much people there love and support her, and that she likes being there and helping. Her "search for independence" as far away from Inaba as she could was her running away, as she believed that if she stayed she had to meet everyone else's expectations. At the end she realized that the only expectations for her that she should consider are her own. That's freedom. You need to learn to look beyond the one layer to understand a character (at least a character worth understanding). EDIT: Ok, now I've reached the part of the video where Hiding talks about it. Watch the video, that you evidently haven't, and you might understand it a bit better
In regards to what you brought up about Yukiko’s violent overreactions occasional actions that could be portrayed as sadistic, I’ve come to one assumption about why she does stuff like that: The first time we see one of her outbursts is her slapping Yosuke for suggesting they get together for a study session. When she does this, she apologised and explained something along the lines of her occasionally receiving comments like that from the inn. I wouldn’t be shocked if her overreactions and surprisingly dark actions might be a subconscious want to get back at all of the times she’s been forced to put up with suggestive comments from customers with no complaint. Like how a shop worker might grumble about particularly annoying customers after their shift, but handled a lot less maturely since she’s, well, not a mature adult.
In one of the Arena games, you see Yukiko deal with one of those comments pretty well, so if you're correct, maybe her sadistic side will be expressed less in the future.
@@VainerCactus0 yeah having friends that accept the good and bad in her seems to have given her an outlet to her stress so she can come back to the job refreshed
Calling Yukiko sadistic is in poor taste, especially compared to Adachi. She's disrespected, she's offended, she's not going to take it anymore. She has respect for herself now.
I never saw her slap as being sadistic, but as exactly what you said - an overreaction to Yosuke's misinterpreted comment, something she's sensitive to after enduring so much sexual harassment at the inn.
I don't really understand how people could hate Yukiko for going back on her goal. Yukiko hated her job because she didn't make the decision to go about it. It was forced on her. No one likes to do the things they're forced into; the difference is that people will eventually show their discontent towards it if not immediate; Yukiko went along with it as if she has to spend her life here. The prominence of the Inn chaining her down. When she moved past this and got her persona, she decided she was going to leave. When she realized how many people supporting her, she begin to falter about moving past the Inn. She then realized that she loves the Inn and the town she's in because so many people suppport her and even if she were to move on from the Inn, they will still support her. Realizing that she doesn't need to actually keep everything bottled up, she starts to find her own reasons to stay at the Inn. It's not that she backed off her goal, she just modified it to better suit what she wants in the future. Sometimes this is how goals work because in the end, she found what she wanted to do. It's not as if her attempts at independence means nothing. It was the trigger that allowed her to realize what she wants to do with her life and how much she wants to actually stay at at Inn on her own free will.
Is Yukiko the best character in P4? No, but she has always been the most relatable to me. So many people make fun of her dungeon and boss for the symbolism being "too obvious" and then proceed to misinterpret it and subsequently her arc entirely. I really hope this can help more people appreciate her actual character arc better as it is truly one of the best of the main cast imo.
21:22 I feel bad for ruining this bit of sleuthing but... Yukiko: If only there was a part-time job I could do discreetly... > You can make envelopes in your room... Yukiko: Really...!? I'll go check the board, then!
What i also like is that Charming Prince escapes during battle. like,the only time that boss enemy in P4 escapes . To just show that this Prince is just an excuse for a time. She WILL have to find a way to stand hwr ground on her own.
Absolutely love Yukiko. She was the first p4 girl I romanced before Naoto was properly introduced and despite liking Naoto more I don't regret it at all.
The first time I played this game, I always thought it was weird for Yukiko to go back on her decision to leave Inaba. It felt wishy wishy to me. But on the second playthrough it was pretty clear to me that she always loved working in the inn and had no real reason to leave, she simply didn't feel she had a choice in the matter. Until Yu came along and made her remember "Oh shit, my family wants the best for ME more than than the inn instead of the other way around?" And as someone who strived for independence from my parents before I was ready and was accepted back with open arms when I made some bad choices and shit went south, I'm kinda glad/relieved she didn't leave when she did after barely a year of preparation. Edit: I'm kinda surprised that Yukiko's shadow has way less sexualilty than I realized. I mean even before I seriously learned how Persona 4 does LGBT themes, I totally thought Yukiko and Chie were into each other. I mean Yukiko straight up calls her a prince, and has no attraction to any guy other than Yu, which as previously stated, she shows no sign of until the latter half of her social link. And in that Amaterasu story you mentioned, one of the reasons she came out was Ame-no-Uzume, the dawn goddess, literally doing a STRIP TEASE for her, needing to 'reveal herself' before Amaterasu can fully 'come out' of her cage. If that was intentional, it sure as hell wasn't subtle.
Yeah idj about all of that, but I do love her staying in iniba. Its a great spiritual circle going from being stuck in the gilded cage to choosing your home because it is what you want. Its a topic not often portrayed, but choosing even if its what you already have, matters
I think that's drawing a bit much. Yukiko and Chie are best friends. They rely on each other to overcome their own weaknesses. Chie was a prince only as far as her initial goal was to leave.
Her cage was imaginary, but only by taking steps to become independent could Yukiko realise where she wanted to be. Maybe a lot of people disagree, but I like this social link a lot. Also I really like the Valentines day scene with Yukiko.
Tbh I think people generally don't like it just cause its not a common story trope outside of more quiet and traditional slice of life stories. I think its one without a lot of familiarity bias so a lot of people just shrug it off with fully interacting with it.
I actually quite like Yukiko. I myself can sort of identify with the whole quiet/reserved persona (ha ha) and reluctance to open up, even waiting as long as possible to offer my own number. It’s generally the other person that asks, actually… That whole thing being seen as cold despite actually quite honestly being or at least desiring to be exactly the opposite…yeah, that resonated with me quite a bit. Thank you for this whole series, and actually putting all of these generally overlooked and yet still important details into the limelight. Everyone in their reviews always express frustration with Yukiko’s link, saying that it goes nowhere because they only see her try to get away from the inn only to decide against it at the end. That is such a horrible simplification of the link that it’s hilarious. Seriously, thank you.
This represents how even the most graceful of women can be quirky. Also, she’s unintentionally the reason Teddie became a pervert. Edit: Also, I really am looking forward to a video on Yu Narukami especially in the anime.
To be fair, it's 50% her Shadow (whose repeated line of "score a hot stud" confused and intrigued Teddie - who was at that point unaware of why this is an issue) and 50% Yosuke (whose natural pervertedness rubbed off on him).
Hiding, you hit this so out of the ballpark, I think the ball crash landed on the other side of the planet. Yukiko is by FAR the most slept on Persona character ever. How people misunderstand her mature decision she made of her own free will to stay with the people she loves is still beyond me. I'm glad you explained it best onto the nuances of her character conflict. One detail I learned was from her Valentine's date is that if your character were to commit a long term relationship with her, you would be working in the Inn with her, greeting guests and such. This is one of the few Social Links that goes on to talk the long term ramifications with the character in question and that the player character would have to commit to the Inn as well. Considering how much you bond with the people of Inaba, that doesn't seem to be a problem in the slightest. It's nothing substantial to her character I suppose, but I really like how well she's grown up to that point nonetheless. Despite what some people think of her, I really believe Yukiko is one of the most maturely developed characters in Persona 4. And that's why she's my favorite character in the whole franchise.
She’s not exactly someone I’d put high on the list but her SL is pretty good. Worlds better than fellow Priestess Makoto’s as it’s actually about her story, the conflict is about herself rather than some NPC dating a home wrecker and doesn’t feel like something the main narrative would have already covered by itself to the point of redundancy. A good SL the way I see it should bring depths to a character that couldn’t be worked into the main storyline for pacing or relevance reasons, shed light on them as a person and how they’re explored for over ten ranks.
Great video, Hiding! In a way, I kinda relate to Yukiko... My family owns a small but popular bakery. Ever since I was little, there was always this sense of responsibility that I felt people expected of me and my siblings to one day take over for my parents. However, once I got older, I realized I don't really want that responsibility. I'm studying as a Biologist and I have hopes to either work at a Biotech company or obtain my PhD. It's something that I really want, but that would also mean I won't be able to do much at the bakery. I can't exactly manage a bakery and do biological studies at the same time. I think a lot led to that decision, with the main one being how our parents raised (or I guess rather bluntly didn't raise) us. They wanted us to be well rounded individuals with good communication skills, but because we were pretty much left alone at our house most of the time while they worked and with a pretty strict "don't leave the house while we're away" rule in place, we didn't have time to go socialize with others. This ended up being an issue when they would take us either to visit their family and friends or at business parties and got upset when any of us couldn't really interact with them, preferring to just eat food and wait far from activities until we go home. They also wanted us to focus on school, but didn't really let us do after school activities because of their work, and they also didn't really want us working when we could be studying. Once again, this would be an issue for them when they wanted us to fill in for someone at the bakery, but none of us knew how to handle cashiering, making orders for supplies, and other managerial roles when they really needed it. They also aren't exactly the best teachers in these things, since they ended up being too busy to actually take the time to teach us slowly. We're all adults now and they're much older. I would love to see them (or I guess more specifically my mother) retire and enjoy their older years doing other stuff, but that isn't possible unless they either find someone to take over or close shop. I doubt they would pick the latter because my Mom has so much concern for her employees and their well-being as well as serving the community, while my Dad...is kinda bull-headed when it comes to business decisions. Sometimes I feel like I should go back and try to learn how to take over, but I know I won't be happy because that kind of stuff doesn't exactly make me happy. I can't exactly say either of my siblings are suited for it as well, since they kinda have their own issues going on... Uh...anyway. I get that feeling that Yukiko has; of feeling trapped but also realizing that the only one trapping me is myself. I remember telling my mom a bit about my feelings over taking over, but she told me not to have hang ups over it. She's very supportive and wants me to be happy, regardless of where I go. I'm grateful for that even though I wish I could do more for her.
I actually did a double take when you mentioned people misunderstood her choice to stay. It seemed so obvious to me what was actually going on with her character arc that I hadn’t considered that someone could or would misinterpret it.
One of the best and most thorough analysis of my favorite Persona character in the entire franchise. (Or well, favorite human. What can I say, Koromaru is the goodest boi and Igor js a treat). Hell, I adore Yukiko (best girl without a doubt) and even i found out a few new things (like the bit about figuring out what her part time job must be). I had been considering doing my own video essay on her but you covered everything so well I can’t think of anything to add. Well, almost nothing. I have a theory as to why Yukiko's link specifically gets all the flak for supposedly 'going back on her progress and regressing'. Yukiko's link has her choose to embrace the inn, embrace tradition. The point of course is that she CHOOSES, but I think there were probably a lot of people who likely saw themselves in Yukiko's link but missed the actual point and assumed it would be a 'buck off the oppressive mantle of tradition and values you don't like'. They likely had some sort of similar experience in their life and so just assumed that Yukiko would leave and 'move on' to better things. Seeing her choose to stay then likely felt not simply like a regression but an outright betrayal and an undermining of an 'important message', a sort of tactic approval of the idea of staying in a situation you dont feel comfortable in because it's tradition, no matter how toxic it may be. This of course ignores the entire point of the Link being it's about Yukiko choosing for herself, not what she chooses. Or ignores how Yukiko's situation is very clearly not toxic. But people project themselves onto it and so end up feeling some sort of personal attack/betrayal. While I admittedly have no concrete evidence of this, (and never will without a MASSIVE sort of poll over everyone who dislikes the link,) I do think it's a plausible enough theory on its own that is then feel backed up by the specific nature of MANY of tbe complains I've seen. Most of them seem to very heavily focus on the erroneus idea that 'Yukiko is choosing to be shackled again' which would lend credence to the theory. But like I said, without any sort of exhaustive polling we probably will never know. I'm definitely gonna be sharing this with my friends. Hopefully, it will help them come to appreciate best girl, or at least get rid of the dislike.
I personally loved watching yukiko coming to realize that the people working at the inn cared for her and when she finally snaps was an absolute highlight. I can get why people feel it's a case of yukiko turning away from what she felt in the castle, but I do like that she's making choices for herself based on new understandings. Also, I vividly remember Yukiko slapping Kanji and apologizing before saying she'll be more gentle next time. And Kanji's blushing while mentioning '...more gentle?" makes me think that Kanji might be a little bit into that.
Great video as usual. As someone who found Yukiko boring from my initial playthrough to still probably putting her on the bottom of the totem pole in the investigation team (due to simply being overshadowed) I am glad you got to show the more interesting and intricate parts with her character and the connections to mythology and even real life, that shrine detail is bananas! I had the same feeling initially with her, about her simply spinning in circles for her social link, but when I played through it when I was older it hit home more about her truly finding the path she was willing to fight for herself is the important bit rather than the actual decision.
When I first heard about P4 and decided to give it a try by buying Golden, a friend of mine told me how you could romance the girls in this game. At the time, I was kind of disgusted by the idea, as I didn't want to look at any of the friends I'd be making in a wooing sort of way, but then I got to Yukiko's Social Link and man...this girl won me over. Among the myriad of things I love about Persona 4 Golden, Yukiko and her story were among them. I fell head over heels for her character as I progressed through her Social Link. Spending time with her and seeing her mature in the path she chose will always stick with me.
As a Yukiko fan (if my pfp wasn’t obvious) you hit the nail on the head on why I love her so much in P4. I get why out of all of the party members that she is not the most popular, but to me, she’s so endearing as a character. I really liked how her social link + her dungeon were really good metaphors on why she felt trapped and how dissatisfied with her life. That and combined with her super wholesome romance arc really just hit me when I was not expecting anything. Great job!
I really love Yukiko, that’s why I have to correct you on two points. 1. Yukiko didn’t involve in beating Kanji to unconscious during summer camp, confirmed by talking with the team at Junes on Nov 4. With Yukiko herself saying that Chie knocked Kanji out with a “groin kick” 2. When in dungeon, encountering Yukiko w/ Yosuke or Chie in a room, and you have rank 2 with Yukiko, talking to her will confirm that she is glueing envelopes as a part-time job. Both information are very hidden in game(golden), makes me wonder what else we might’ve missed.
22:00 It's stated in the game that Yukiko makes envelopes at night. I recommended that job to her in my play through of Persona 4 Golden and she comments on taking my advice and making envelopes in her room at night. She stated it was convenient as she doesn't need to leave her home at night to do and that she could keep that job a secret since she could do it in her room.
there's a lot i really like about Yukiko, but one detail i notice is when she levels up, she would sound surprised that she got stronger, which ties in to her self-doubt. she's an underrated character.
Yet another amazing analysis, I love just how clearly you're able to explain traits and things most people will probably miss or not be aware of, such as with mythology and the whole aspects of Tarot itself
I always love the moment Yukiko bites back against the reporter. Such a great climax of her arc. Let’s hear it for the Amagis and the inn staff for allowing Yukiko to explore her goals on her own. They are the real ones.
This was a great video as always. Yukiko used to be my favorite persona 4 character, but I think Naoto takes that honor now, but even still, I think Yukiko is a phenomenal character, and I’m glad you did her justice in this video.
IDK how to write it down or who need to see this, but yeah. From the release of Persona 4 on PS2, she've always fav. I actually grow up exactly how this vid turn out. I was always bound with the figure of virtue and greatness, reliable, and kindness. But there's always a feeling of I need to run away. Recently I actually pop up with a thought of moving to another city just because i feel like no one can ever get me, to understand me. But watching this vid, i cried. I cried so much. Remember how much people around me support me so much. Remember that yes, I am this castle owner and that this shrine was to honor me. I don't need any get away ticket, but to be here with people that cherrish me. Thank you for all of this. There's a lot I want to write down but I'm sorry that my writing got so messed up wth all these emotional pop up :'< Thanks, for all of this. This actually brought me so much reflection somehow. Have a good time, cheers! Again, thank you!
Yeah. Even though It's a coincidence. I still am in awe of how closely Yukiko resembles me. even down to her personal problems. And yeah. watching this video made me realize that too. I mean, I was aware of how relatable she is to me, but after watching this, it actually helped me understand it even better. I understood what Yukiko was going through and how she deals with things so, this just helped me reaffirm that I really do need to take the reins of my life for me to finally do what I really want to do. Unfortunately, I just wished I've seen this video earlier in my life to realize that sooner. Or actually. I wished I could've taken Yukiko's journey to heart even more that time. Sadly. I feel like the Yukiko who didn't get to learn her lesson sooner.
A more reserved girl with Beautiful Long Raven Hair who’s Favourite Colour is Red. Of course that is someone I would gravitate towards. But of course I love her growth through out the game and I couldn’t help but giggle whenever one of her Laughing fits started
I’m surprised to hear that Yukiko is the least popular party member in the West, all of my friends who I’ve gotten to play the game and even my mom decided to date her when they played. Also on the camping trip, I thought the implication was they gave Kanji the awful curry, since when Yukiko and Chie are talking in their tent they mention how if they ate it it would probably make them faint.
With this thorough video you once again show the quality writing of P4’s social links. I think Yukiko isn’t the most interesting character compared to others but I can’t dismiss her amazing and pretty relatable journey. I think many of us at least once had that wish that someone might save us from our misery. Not necessarily in the form of a prince but in some kind of wishful handholding. I appreciate a lot how Yukikos arc started with the wish of an easy route and developed into finding freedom in taking the lead of her own life. When I first played the game I was afraid that it would focus on wanting to find true love or that it would rely too much on Chie. I’m relieved it never went into that direction and developed into a fascinating road. Her character growth is astounding and I adore how comfortable she got with the main team. It’s honestly hilarious that it’s the “seemingly cold school princess” that laughs like a dork when everyone else is being serious. I don’t think it’s ignorance or a hurtful intent but a slight social inept spawning from her insecurities. Truly a great video to a great social link
Thank you for making that parallel between Yukiko and Rise's SL, I've pointed it out so many times but everyone is in denial! Amazing content man, keep up the stellar work
With the amount of times I’ve played this game I don’t think it ever clicked in my head till now that the shadow wasn’t really IN the cage but on the edge. Yukiko was always middle of the road for me but I think I appreciate her a bit more now. Nice work as always !!!
The way I can describe Yukiko's Social Link is, yeah, she has a goal, but it's really impulsive, and she's realizing what she will be losing by chasing that impulsive goal. She really would be a Fool; pun and everything that it entails fully intended because I love puns; to assume that she doesn't mean anything to the inn besides being an heir, and to ignore and leave behind the people who she not only loves, but is now also realizing actually would fully support her and do everything they can to help her if she would just speak up.
Yukiko is my fav girl ins P4. Reserved, beautiful and elegant, smart and shy, but at the same time like dumb jokes, horror stories\movies, and slaps outta nowhere. The Nadeshiko Yamato trope, but spised with quirky and sometimes strange personality, exactly what is best imo Also, the best party member by miles, powerful fire mage and mighy healer, can't descrive the feelings i have for her. Forever best in P4
When I first heard Yukiko’s laugh, I knew she was the one. Stayed true to her, not cheating. Kept her on the party all the way. She’s only ordinary on the surface but if you pay attention or get to know her, she’s crazy in all the right ways.
I agree that her lack of popularity is unwarranted, but in a sense it's more like I _wish_ I didn't understand it. The thing is, the people who call Yukiko boring tend to say the same of Fuuka and of Makoto Nijima, and sometimes Hifumi or Yoshizawa as well. Those people are part of, well, the audience likely to check out an anime-style game localized in English. Which, as a generalization, tends to skew a specific way on certain issues...
Yukiko's lack of realization of her own freedom reminds me of a line by Eastman from the Waking Dead:"The door's open. It has been opened all along. You stay or you go."
That was an incredible video analysis on her!! She's my favorite of P4, so I love finding out more about Yukiko I probably didn't noticed, as well I liked the points about her arc, she's very relatable and the way she resolve it was inspiring. I'm sad she's not as loved as the others, but I'm happy there's still people who like her, knowing her well
Finally, my personal long awaited video from you! I think other commenters have already completed what I want to say, I just want to say that the scene when Yukiko (accidentally) burns Ai to ash if Yukiko caught you on a date with Ai by asking if Ai is your relative before taking all the Social Link points from her is another example to your point where Yukiko can't read social cues. I believe she genuinely wonders if Ai is your relative instead of saying it sarcastically. That kind of little moments is why I love this game so much and Hiding, thank you very much for your hard work doing your analyses (for me especially this one).
Yukiko says that she wants to become "a woman worthy of you". Her striving to be worthy for someone else is in fact her taking ownership of her own destiny. She becomes the prince in her own story, going out to get what she wants, rather then waiting and dreaming, as she does in the beginning.
I honestly don't really have much to add to this, also the first video of yours I've seen, very well presented and edited, Yukiko was always my favorite from P4 originally starting as sort of a guilty pleasure because on my first playthrough I thought she was cute, interestingly enough when I got further I found that she would not only join the team and even become a social link I was "over the moon" as they say and to be honest she is a lot like myself I too have felt trapped by my own lifestyle and one day I will have no choice but to leave the cage as it were and seek a future for myself. If there's one thing this game has taught me its that everyone has so many faces and to truly understand yourself one must open your eyes to far more than what gazes back at you in the mirror only once you can see yourself for who you truly are will you know what you want in life.
Happy to see other Yukiko stans in the comments. Because she's not an edgelord or some gimmicky one-note character, she's "boring." Screw those surface level people. One of the most underrated Persona 4 characters by far.
GOD I LOVE UR PERSONA 4 CONTENT!!!! SO DETAILED AND PRECISE!!!! You make my love for P3 stronger! Knowing the little details that means a lot and the other messages of the social links like I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! This whole series of yours truly show your love for Persona 4 and the series in general! (Thank you for your P4 content!!!!)
as an old-timer persona fan, im reaaaally picky with my youtube content i fell in love with your channel recently Yukiko is my favorite Persona character since I was a kid, it's great to see her receive some love thank u
One other detail the game itself points out, specifically, the in-game narrator commentary on the concept art in the Giants of P section in the TV Listings in Persona 4 Golden, Yukiko's Persona Konohana Sakuya, was designed with femineity in mind in contrast to the protagonist's Persona Izanagi, who was designed with masculinity in mind.
Obviously late to these videos - really appreciating them though. I played the P3 on PS2 back in the day, then had kind of lost track of the series until I played P5, and just went and played P3 Reload, which sparked my interest to play P4 Golden (which I'm ~80% through). Yukiko was one of my immediate favorites, so... I guess I'm an odd one out compared to the crowd.
Thanks for making amazing content on this game, Hiding. It really is unbelievable seeing so much love being poured on one of my favorite games ever. Hope you're doing okay
absolutely great video! makes sense that the yukiko video comes after the chie one, also i will never forget yukiko wearing the funny glasses with the nose i love that so much
It is interested that I never show that! I mention her laugh but didn't use the glasses footage. Interesting considering the length and how I feel like a lot of people remember her more for that
I really love Yukiko, I find her social aloofness really funny and she also has one of the funny moments in the game as well, her social link back then didn't really hit home to me but I still liked it because of the message of her link, now that I watched your video I found myself relating to what she's going through a lot more, I was a church worker in a christian church since I was a kid and few weeks back I had a thought that I probably should stop doing it for a moment because I feel guilty that I'm lying to everyone by putting up this "very anointed and faithful" face in front of everyone there, so I thought it was fitting for me to just take a break from churchwork, just like Yukiko, I also realized that once I did try to leave it's not going to be easy for me to go back, since the guilt will also probably eat me a lot more if I did. In the end I chose to stay and keep on working because I want to hold onto a belief that kept me going for years now. Sorry for the random rant but yeah I really like Yukiko as a character
Another great analysis! Despite not really liking her all that much in the main story, I found her Social Link to be quite enjoyable and relatable. She also hit like a TANK with her fire magic
I'm currently on my first playthrough of Persona 4 Golden At first I considered her to be the "classic waifu in distress trope" seeing how they presented her prior to her dungeon, so all I could think of is "I'm not gonna fall for this trope I'm better than that" But then I found myself getting invested in her social link arc and getting attached to her, specifically because of her courage to take her own decisions and reflect about her future, something I'm currently struggling with myself as a young adult She ended up as the second social link I maxed out after Nanako, I also accepted her love confession I'm so glad the game managed to turn around my opinion of her
I feel like people misinterpret her arc is because there's a lot of set up for her to get out of the cage in a literal sense, which also makes sense in a subversive way. All the talk about not sitting on her ass and begging for someone to come rescue her, I feel like set up people's expectation that her next step is to take the courage to leave, and the subversive part I feel like happened before in other storylines earlier. like with the bait and switch with Saki, I feel like we all expected her to be like "I never got a chance to tell yosuke how much I cared for him", but we instead got "nah, yosuke was a pain in the ass to deal with." So the kind of tone for the game makes it feel like yukiko would be the brave princess who don't need no man, and set off on her own rather than her being the princess waiting to be rescued trope. Also I feel like what could have made it more understandable to the players is that it could have explained her home situation more or seen more interactions with the people at the inn to make her more sympathetic to her arc to be about taking the courage to make your own decisions. We get told what happens during her social link by her, but I think it doesn't quite hit the players because we don't see why she couldn't have relied on the other people at the inn for help before all this. Like what events caused her stay inside the cage that she created. It feels mainly caused by people outside of the inn setting up expectations of her inheriting the inn. Like even back in Middle school, which we see during FeMC trip to inaba where Yuko brings it up out of the blue, but even then I doubt most people who played P4, also owned a PSP and played P3P. It would be nice to know that her parents don't set up this expectation for her and reassure her that she's allowed to follow whatever life goals she wants, which would mean us seeing her parental interactions.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention/notice the super blatant/explicit reference to Snow White in her name and design, which, of course, leads more into the contradiction between her true self (an average dorky girl) and expectations/assumptions of the others (beautiful fairy tale princess).
i love yukiko. she kind of reminds me of hifumi from persona 5 and she's usually my waifu when i replay 4 lol also my favorite sadistic yukiko moment is the camping trip when hanako is snoring
Yukiko hits home with me because I felt the same way she did in high school and went through a similar thing. Except I didn't have friends to help me. I didn't have any type of support at all. People thought I was a weirdo because I loved to laugh at weird jokes. And I was used, a lot. Now that I'm in my 30s I'm pretty much a corpse. Back when I played P4 she made me cry at first.
I’ve always seen videos from your channel but never really checked it out for one reason or another but now I’m planning on bingeing all of them because the content in this video is so good!
Fantastic video. I really liked Yukiko as a character. Expectation is something that can be completely crippling, and seeing her evolution really is inspiring to me. She was definitely best girl for me....right up until Rise walked in
I found Yukiko to be my favorite character until Naoto arrived. Her gameplay helped, as I love fire and healing as well as powerful magic-type characters. I also related to her indecisiveness. I also thought her Persona was rather cool. Thanks for giving her a full analysis like she deserves!
I don't find her boring. I always end up laughing too when she starts her giggling fits. I guess is I had to rank the party members not including Yu. It would be... 1- Naoto 2- Chie 3- Yukiko 4- Kanji 5- Yosuke 6- Rise 7- Teddie I just finished playing the game for the first time yesterday. Now I'm trying some other games in the series before doing a new game+ run.
I get so excited whenever I see that you've uploaded another one of these 😭 I love this game so much, thank you for putting so much effort into this series
The persona games really solidified that i have a type. That type is yukiko and makoto. Without a thought i went after both romantically right after meeting each. Just finding out now that yukiko isn’t beloved by everyone:(
One thing I like about persona 4 is the friends you make feels like actual friends that are with you through thick and thin. In persona 5 it does the same vibe but not on the same level as p4. In my opinion. With the exception of ryuji bromance that actually has a real friendship vibe even in his social link or confidant link if you will
I remember hearing this from Liana K mentioning that sakura petals flying over a snowcapped mountain (?something to that effect) was cultural shorthand for a miracle or impossibility manifesting. This seems pretty apt with what you've described, between her name and how she feels in her day-to-day. Something I would have liked to have seen with Yukiko and Yosuke would have been them chat a little about what it means to be a leader and having responsibility--particularly when Yukiko said her problems aren't her own. In consecutive playthroughs I had, I understood that her first decision to take charge of her life may have made her desire to have a business--her own--and carve out her own meaning for her own life. But with her decision to stay in Inaba, I thought she was akin to the...hmmm...prodigal daughter of sorts? She was lost in her own cage, her insecurities. But she found her self-worth in the world around her. The dungeons have always made me wonder how the shadow selves interact with their respective person before they have their respective "showdowns". We see that the person does wander for some time (days, in some cases?) that they're relatively unharmed. Does the shadow self "toy" with their respective person before they try to interact with them? We never really see things from the perspective of someone who was thrown in the Shadow World, so it's been a mystery that has always lingered in my mind. Especially when the fog returns every 50 years(?) or so....hmmm...
@@HidinginPrivate I can tell man! I can't wait to see more of these for the rest of the investigation team, and even for other persona characters if you decide to replicate this for P1, 2, 3- ETC!!
The kojiki preface speaks of "Her imperial majesty", they mention the horses hoofprints, and says that she is dwelling in the concealed palace.. She is said to be a dispeller of mists, and also more famous then the emperor Yu. It doesnt deepen ones understanding of Yukiko that much but I think its neat.
![𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗘𝗗: Rise Kujikawa's True Self [P4G Analysis]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/706fmgn8KCM/mqdefault.jpg)
![𝗘𝗫𝗣𝗢𝗦𝗘𝗗: Rise Kujikawa's True Self [P4G Analysis]](/img/tr.png)
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17:40
It's no maybe, if you talk to Yukiko on a day where she has a Scooter Event, she mentions that she was just running errands for the inn with said scooter.
Do you know what song it is that plays at 24:36?
Yukiko is one of my favorites. I don't think I'll ever get the hate. She's a delight, and the message of her social link arc still hits me pretty hard. About how you shouldn't just give in to expectation and should instead broaden your horizons to possibilities; even if you simply continue doing what you were already doing before, it's the willingness to go outside your comfort zone to explore a world of possibilities, and the confidence to commit to whatever you do *_on your own terms_* that really matters. Just like the Fool returning home after their journey, changed, but fulfilled.
People really misread her arc I think. It's unfortunate
Except that Yukiko's arc is the exact opposite. She spends the whole game including confronting her shadow and most of her social link that she wants to get out of Inaba to get away the expectations of taking over the Amagi Inn and spend the rest of her life in Inaba. Her social link even involves her making plans to do so with the player even given positive points for agreeing with her on that... Then at the end of her social link she just arbitrarily decides to cave to those expectations and that she's happy to take over the Amagi Inn after all. Yes, Yukiko cares about the Inn and her family but that's nowhere near enough justification for going against everything she has voiced both internally and externally throughout the entire game up to that point. It would've helped if there was anything even giving a hint of this at any point, but there wasn't, not a one until the end of Yukiko's social link. Both Yukiko's whole character arc and the core message of the game itself are utterly obliterated in the space of a few scenes because of this.
They do essentially the same thing with Rise. Both women spend the lion's share of their time on screen going "I HATE HATE HATE HATE THIS" and then turn around at the end of their social links and decide they love it instead. The game presents a personal conflict, takes steps to resolve that conflict, and then concludes it by not resolving the conflict and realizing that the thing that made them miserable the whole game is really just the thing that makes them happy. Probably because the writers were afraid to rock Japan society's boat by actually having a message of independence in a society that heavily emphasizes sticking to your place and role.
The message goes from "you'll be happy by seeking your independence and being true to yourself" to "Accept your role and you'll be happy and even if you're not if you shut up and deal with it that'll lead to you becoming happy anyway.... somehow." I went from loving both social links to utterly despising them specifically for this reason. These are not the only times that a social link going against itself at the last minute happens in P4 or even the Persona series by far, but these are definitely the two that irritate me the most because of how much I was liking them up to that point plus the writing of the series in general is otherwise superb and it takes place in a game that emphasizes facing the truth even if it's harmful rather than hiding from your problems and insecurities.
It's even worse with them because since they're main characters the player gets to see them outside of their social links much much more often than any other social link character and thus the fact that the end of the social link all but completely destroys their character is made much more apparent because their character is much more developed.
@@immortalfrieza What a twisted way of thinking. Feels like you're putting words in people's mouths.
@@YarugumaSou So... the game arbitrarily deciding that out of the blue what these people hate is what they love and deciding to go back to doing what they've spent the whole game saying they hate is a twisted way of thinking and putting words in people's mouths?
Wow... just wow. The fact that the writers wrote in an asspull at the last second couldn't be more obvious and somehow I'm the one being twisted for pointing that fact out.
@@immortalfrieza That's not what happens, though. Yukiko starts as someone oppressed by expectations, that might or might not be voiced by people in her life, but are basically, at least to her mind, the expectations of the whole town, as she is the sole heir of the Inaba's traditional Amagi family, and what would be of the town if they didn't have the Amagi Inn to draw people in.
We later learn that the whole time she wanted someone to free her from that, to take her away, so she could be freed of that pressure.
After facing her persona, she decided she would take that upon herself now, instead of waiting for someone else to do it for her, and starts taking steps towards that goal. She was now making herself free of the shackles of the inn.
And finally, instead of caving, as you put it, she realized that she was actually just running away. What she wanted gone was the pressure of the expectations, not the inn, or her inheriting it. She did not accept her role, instead she embraced the parts that she liked, and said "fuck it" to the social pressure.
Finding a Prince Charming to save her, getting a job as an interior decorator far away from Inaba, it was all different aspects of the same thing: running. She first wanted someone to take her away, then she was running away herself, but it's just running in the end. She was not seeking independence and being true to herself, but hiding (in private), illustrated by the moments when she mentioned how much she loved the inn and the people in it, and how much they supported her. And finally, at the end, when she realized she doesn't have to give two fucks about anyone else's expectations, real or imaginary (as it is never clarified if someone voiced those expectations to her, or if it was what she thought others thought, supporting even more the fact that her cage was of her own making), that's the freedom she actually sought and found.
TL;DR: There's no backtracking. She always loved the inn, and always wanted to stay there, she several times says how much people there love and support her, and that she likes being there and helping. Her "search for independence" as far away from Inaba as she could was her running away, as she believed that if she stayed she had to meet everyone else's expectations. At the end she realized that the only expectations for her that she should consider are her own. That's freedom. You need to learn to look beyond the one layer to understand a character (at least a character worth understanding).
EDIT: Ok, now I've reached the part of the video where Hiding talks about it. Watch the video, that you evidently haven't, and you might understand it a bit better
In regards to what you brought up about Yukiko’s violent overreactions occasional actions that could be portrayed as sadistic, I’ve come to one assumption about why she does stuff like that:
The first time we see one of her outbursts is her slapping Yosuke for suggesting they get together for a study session. When she does this, she apologised and explained something along the lines of her occasionally receiving comments like that from the inn.
I wouldn’t be shocked if her overreactions and surprisingly dark actions might be a subconscious want to get back at all of the times she’s been forced to put up with suggestive comments from customers with no complaint. Like how a shop worker might grumble about particularly annoying customers after their shift, but handled a lot less maturely since she’s, well, not a mature adult.
This is a really good observation!
In one of the Arena games, you see Yukiko deal with one of those comments pretty well, so if you're correct, maybe her sadistic side will be expressed less in the future.
@@VainerCactus0 yeah having friends that accept the good and bad in her seems to have given her an outlet to her stress so she can come back to the job refreshed
Calling Yukiko sadistic is in poor taste, especially compared to Adachi.
She's disrespected, she's offended, she's not going to take it anymore. She has respect for herself now.
I never saw her slap as being sadistic, but as exactly what you said - an overreaction to Yosuke's misinterpreted comment, something she's sensitive to after enduring so much sexual harassment at the inn.
This dude makes the best persona content ever.
Thank you 💞💞
Would love to see how he takes Persona 3’s links. Or maybe 5’s. I don’t see either being likely but hey, free content ideas.
I was just thinking the same thing.
Literally dropping bars in the conclusion
Definently up there! Only close is Tony4you which is a big complement
Yukiko is best girl. She is the most grounded of all the romance options and I genuinely liked her.
I don't really understand how people could hate Yukiko for going back on her goal. Yukiko hated her job because she didn't make the decision to go about it. It was forced on her. No one likes to do the things they're forced into; the difference is that people will eventually show their discontent towards it if not immediate; Yukiko went along with it as if she has to spend her life here. The prominence of the Inn chaining her down. When she moved past this and got her persona, she decided she was going to leave. When she realized how many people supporting her, she begin to falter about moving past the Inn. She then realized that she loves the Inn and the town she's in because so many people suppport her and even if she were to move on from the Inn, they will still support her. Realizing that she doesn't need to actually keep everything bottled up, she starts to find her own reasons to stay at the Inn.
It's not that she backed off her goal, she just modified it to better suit what she wants in the future. Sometimes this is how goals work because in the end, she found what she wanted to do. It's not as if her attempts at independence means nothing. It was the trigger that allowed her to realize what she wants to do with her life and how much she wants to actually stay at at Inn on her own free will.
Is Yukiko the best character in P4? No, but she has always been the most relatable to me. So many people make fun of her dungeon and boss for the symbolism being "too obvious" and then proceed to misinterpret it and subsequently her arc entirely. I really hope this can help more people appreciate her actual character arc better as it is truly one of the best of the main cast imo.
21:22 I feel bad for ruining this bit of sleuthing but...
Yukiko: If only there was a part-time job I could do discreetly...
> You can make envelopes in your room...
Yukiko: Really...!? I'll go check the board, then!
"I fold Origami to become more understanding"
What i also like is that Charming Prince escapes during battle.
like,the only time that boss enemy in P4 escapes . To just show that this Prince is just an excuse for a time. She WILL have to find a way to stand hwr ground on her own.
Yukiko was always my favorite character of the investigation team. She's just down to earth tbh, pretty relatable
Absolutely love Yukiko. She was the first p4 girl I romanced before Naoto was properly introduced and despite liking Naoto more I don't regret it at all.
Wow I'm exactly the same
I like Naoto the most out of all the P4 girls but I never romance her because of Kanji
The first time I played this game, I always thought it was weird for Yukiko to go back on her decision to leave Inaba. It felt wishy wishy to me. But on the second playthrough it was pretty clear to me that she always loved working in the inn and had no real reason to leave, she simply didn't feel she had a choice in the matter. Until Yu came along and made her remember "Oh shit, my family wants the best for ME more than than the inn instead of the other way around?" And as someone who strived for independence from my parents before I was ready and was accepted back with open arms when I made some bad choices and shit went south, I'm kinda glad/relieved she didn't leave when she did after barely a year of preparation.
Edit: I'm kinda surprised that Yukiko's shadow has way less sexualilty than I realized. I mean even before I seriously learned how Persona 4 does LGBT themes, I totally thought Yukiko and Chie were into each other. I mean Yukiko straight up calls her a prince, and has no attraction to any guy other than Yu, which as previously stated, she shows no sign of until the latter half of her social link. And in that Amaterasu story you mentioned, one of the reasons she came out was Ame-no-Uzume, the dawn goddess, literally doing a STRIP TEASE for her, needing to 'reveal herself' before Amaterasu can fully 'come out' of her cage. If that was intentional, it sure as hell wasn't subtle.
Yeah idj about all of that, but I do love her staying in iniba. Its a great spiritual circle going from being stuck in the gilded cage to choosing your home because it is what you want. Its a topic not often portrayed, but choosing even if its what you already have, matters
dang was always a fan of Yukiko and Chie but didn't sink in just how lesbian Yukiko is... nice
I think that's drawing a bit much. Yukiko and Chie are best friends. They rely on each other to overcome their own weaknesses. Chie was a prince only as far as her initial goal was to leave.
Her cage was imaginary, but only by taking steps to become independent could Yukiko realise where she wanted to be. Maybe a lot of people disagree, but I like this social link a lot. Also I really like the Valentines day scene with Yukiko.
Tbh I think people generally don't like it just cause its not a common story trope outside of more quiet and traditional slice of life stories. I think its one without a lot of familiarity bias so a lot of people just shrug it off with fully interacting with it.
@@assortmentofpillsbutneverb3756 You might be right.
It's what makes Yukiko the go to romance choice for me.
@@Usernamesdontmatter1 The Valentines day scene or the social link?
I actually quite like Yukiko. I myself can sort of identify with the whole quiet/reserved persona (ha ha) and reluctance to open up, even waiting as long as possible to offer my own number. It’s generally the other person that asks, actually…
That whole thing being seen as cold despite actually quite honestly being or at least desiring to be exactly the opposite…yeah, that resonated with me quite a bit. Thank you for this whole series, and actually putting all of these generally overlooked and yet still important details into the limelight. Everyone in their reviews always express frustration with Yukiko’s link, saying that it goes nowhere because they only see her try to get away from the inn only to decide against it at the end. That is such a horrible simplification of the link that it’s hilarious. Seriously, thank you.
This represents how even the most graceful of women can be quirky. Also, she’s unintentionally the reason Teddie became a pervert.
Edit: Also, I really am looking forward to a video on Yu Narukami especially in the anime.
To be fair, it's 50% her Shadow (whose repeated line of "score a hot stud" confused and intrigued Teddie - who was at that point unaware of why this is an issue) and 50% Yosuke (whose natural pervertedness rubbed off on him).
@@shinigamimiroku3723 fair enough. Given that Teddie is a Shadow, it makes even more sense.
Hiding, you hit this so out of the ballpark, I think the ball crash landed on the other side of the planet. Yukiko is by FAR the most slept on Persona character ever. How people misunderstand her mature decision she made of her own free will to stay with the people she loves is still beyond me. I'm glad you explained it best onto the nuances of her character conflict.
One detail I learned was from her Valentine's date is that if your character were to commit a long term relationship with her, you would be working in the Inn with her, greeting guests and such. This is one of the few Social Links that goes on to talk the long term ramifications with the character in question and that the player character would have to commit to the Inn as well. Considering how much you bond with the people of Inaba, that doesn't seem to be a problem in the slightest. It's nothing substantial to her character I suppose, but I really like how well she's grown up to that point nonetheless. Despite what some people think of her, I really believe Yukiko is one of the most maturely developed characters in Persona 4. And that's why she's my favorite character in the whole franchise.
She’s not exactly someone I’d put high on the list but her SL is pretty good. Worlds better than fellow Priestess Makoto’s as it’s actually about her story, the conflict is about herself rather than some NPC dating a home wrecker and doesn’t feel like something the main narrative would have already covered by itself to the point of redundancy.
A good SL the way I see it should bring depths to a character that couldn’t be worked into the main storyline for pacing or relevance reasons, shed light on them as a person and how they’re explored for over ten ranks.
Great video, Hiding!
In a way, I kinda relate to Yukiko...
My family owns a small but popular bakery. Ever since I was little, there was always this sense of responsibility that I felt people expected of me and my siblings to one day take over for my parents. However, once I got older, I realized I don't really want that responsibility. I'm studying as a Biologist and I have hopes to either work at a Biotech company or obtain my PhD. It's something that I really want, but that would also mean I won't be able to do much at the bakery. I can't exactly manage a bakery and do biological studies at the same time.
I think a lot led to that decision, with the main one being how our parents raised (or I guess rather bluntly didn't raise) us. They wanted us to be well rounded individuals with good communication skills, but because we were pretty much left alone at our house most of the time while they worked and with a pretty strict "don't leave the house while we're away" rule in place, we didn't have time to go socialize with others. This ended up being an issue when they would take us either to visit their family and friends or at business parties and got upset when any of us couldn't really interact with them, preferring to just eat food and wait far from activities until we go home. They also wanted us to focus on school, but didn't really let us do after school activities because of their work, and they also didn't really want us working when we could be studying. Once again, this would be an issue for them when they wanted us to fill in for someone at the bakery, but none of us knew how to handle cashiering, making orders for supplies, and other managerial roles when they really needed it. They also aren't exactly the best teachers in these things, since they ended up being too busy to actually take the time to teach us slowly.
We're all adults now and they're much older. I would love to see them (or I guess more specifically my mother) retire and enjoy their older years doing other stuff, but that isn't possible unless they either find someone to take over or close shop. I doubt they would pick the latter because my Mom has so much concern for her employees and their well-being as well as serving the community, while my Dad...is kinda bull-headed when it comes to business decisions. Sometimes I feel like I should go back and try to learn how to take over, but I know I won't be happy because that kind of stuff doesn't exactly make me happy. I can't exactly say either of my siblings are suited for it as well, since they kinda have their own issues going on...
Uh...anyway. I get that feeling that Yukiko has; of feeling trapped but also realizing that the only one trapping me is myself. I remember telling my mom a bit about my feelings over taking over, but she told me not to have hang ups over it. She's very supportive and wants me to be happy, regardless of where I go. I'm grateful for that even though I wish I could do more for her.
I absolutely love yukiko people just don’t understand her appeal
People really miss the point of her arc I feel
I actually did a double take when you mentioned people misunderstood her choice to stay. It seemed so obvious to me what was actually going on with her character arc that I hadn’t considered that someone could or would misinterpret it.
One of the best and most thorough analysis of my favorite Persona character in the entire franchise. (Or well, favorite human. What can I say, Koromaru is the goodest boi and Igor js a treat). Hell, I adore Yukiko (best girl without a doubt) and even i found out a few new things (like the bit about figuring out what her part time job must be). I had been considering doing my own video essay on her but you covered everything so well I can’t think of anything to add. Well, almost nothing.
I have a theory as to why Yukiko's link specifically gets all the flak for supposedly 'going back on her progress and regressing'. Yukiko's link has her choose to embrace the inn, embrace tradition. The point of course is that she CHOOSES, but I think there were probably a lot of people who likely saw themselves in Yukiko's link but missed the actual point and assumed it would be a 'buck off the oppressive mantle of tradition and values you don't like'. They likely had some sort of similar experience in their life and so just assumed that Yukiko would leave and 'move on' to better things. Seeing her choose to stay then likely felt not simply like a regression but an outright betrayal and an undermining of an 'important message', a sort of tactic approval of the idea of staying in a situation you dont feel comfortable in because it's tradition, no matter how toxic it may be. This of course ignores the entire point of the Link being it's about Yukiko choosing for herself, not what she chooses. Or ignores how Yukiko's situation is very clearly not toxic. But people project themselves onto it and so end up feeling some sort of personal attack/betrayal.
While I admittedly have no concrete evidence of this, (and never will without a MASSIVE sort of poll over everyone who dislikes the link,) I do think it's a plausible enough theory on its own that is then feel backed up by the specific nature of MANY of tbe complains I've seen. Most of them seem to very heavily focus on the erroneus idea that 'Yukiko is choosing to be shackled again' which would lend credence to the theory. But like I said, without any sort of exhaustive polling we probably will never know.
I'm definitely gonna be sharing this with my friends. Hopefully, it will help them come to appreciate best girl, or at least get rid of the dislike.
I personally loved watching yukiko coming to realize that the people working at the inn cared for her and when she finally snaps was an absolute highlight. I can get why people feel it's a case of yukiko turning away from what she felt in the castle, but I do like that she's making choices for herself based on new understandings.
Also, I vividly remember Yukiko slapping Kanji and apologizing before saying she'll be more gentle next time. And Kanji's blushing while mentioning '...more gentle?" makes me think that Kanji might be a little bit into that.
Great video as usual.
As someone who found Yukiko boring from my initial playthrough to still probably putting her on the bottom of the totem pole in the investigation team (due to simply being overshadowed) I am glad you got to show the more interesting and intricate parts with her character and the connections to mythology and even real life, that shrine detail is bananas!
I had the same feeling initially with her, about her simply spinning in circles for her social link, but when I played through it when I was older it hit home more about her truly finding the path she was willing to fight for herself is the important bit rather than the actual decision.
Yeah me too. Yo, i really appreciate the effort that this guy is doing.
When I first heard about P4 and decided to give it a try by buying Golden, a friend of mine told me how you could romance the girls in this game. At the time, I was kind of disgusted by the idea, as I didn't want to look at any of the friends I'd be making in a wooing sort of way, but then I got to Yukiko's Social Link and man...this girl won me over. Among the myriad of things I love about Persona 4 Golden, Yukiko and her story were among them. I fell head over heels for her character as I progressed through her Social Link. Spending time with her and seeing her mature in the path she chose will always stick with me.
As a Yukiko fan (if my pfp wasn’t obvious) you hit the nail on the head on why I love her so much in P4. I get why out of all of the party members that she is not the most popular, but to me, she’s so endearing as a character.
I really liked how her social link + her dungeon were really good metaphors on why she felt trapped and how dissatisfied with her life. That and combined with her super wholesome romance arc really just hit me when I was not expecting anything.
Great job!
I really love Yukiko, that’s why I have to correct you on two points.
1. Yukiko didn’t involve in beating Kanji to unconscious during summer camp, confirmed by talking with the team at Junes on Nov 4. With Yukiko herself saying that Chie knocked Kanji out with a “groin kick”
2. When in dungeon, encountering Yukiko w/ Yosuke or Chie in a room, and you have rank 2 with Yukiko, talking to her will confirm that she is glueing envelopes as a part-time job.
Both information are very hidden in game(golden), makes me wonder what else we might’ve missed.
22:00 It's stated in the game that Yukiko makes envelopes at night. I recommended that job to her in my play through of Persona 4 Golden and she comments on taking my advice and making envelopes in her room at night. She stated it was convenient as she doesn't need to leave her home at night to do and that she could keep that job a secret since she could do it in her room.
there's a lot i really like about Yukiko, but one detail i notice is when she levels up, she would sound surprised that she got stronger, which ties in to her self-doubt. she's an underrated character.
I enjoyed this video a truckload
Yukiko is the most relatable of them all.
Yet another amazing analysis, I love just how clearly you're able to explain traits and things most people will probably miss or not be aware of, such as with mythology and the whole aspects of Tarot itself
I always love the moment Yukiko bites back against the reporter. Such a great climax of her arc.
Let’s hear it for the Amagis and the inn staff for allowing Yukiko to explore her goals on her own. They are the real ones.
Good parenting! A rare oddity in this world!
This was a great video as always. Yukiko used to be my favorite persona 4 character, but I think Naoto takes that honor now, but even still, I think Yukiko is a phenomenal character, and I’m glad you did her justice in this video.
My favorite character is Yukiko, so I'm happy to see this.
Hope you enjoyed!
IDK how to write it down or who need to see this, but yeah. From the release of Persona 4 on PS2, she've always fav. I actually grow up exactly how this vid turn out. I was always bound with the figure of virtue and greatness, reliable, and kindness. But there's always a feeling of I need to run away. Recently I actually pop up with a thought of moving to another city just because i feel like no one can ever get me, to understand me. But watching this vid, i cried. I cried so much. Remember how much people around me support me so much. Remember that yes, I am this castle owner and that this shrine was to honor me. I don't need any get away ticket, but to be here with people that cherrish me. Thank you for all of this. There's a lot I want to write down but I'm sorry that my writing got so messed up wth all these emotional pop up :'< Thanks, for all of this. This actually brought me so much reflection somehow.
Have a good time, cheers!
Again, thank you!
Yeah. Even though It's a coincidence. I still am in awe of how closely Yukiko resembles me. even down to her personal problems. And yeah. watching this video made me realize that too. I mean, I was aware of how relatable she is to me, but after watching this, it actually helped me understand it even better. I understood what Yukiko was going through and how she deals with things so, this just helped me reaffirm that I really do need to take the reins of my life for me to finally do what I really want to do. Unfortunately, I just wished I've seen this video earlier in my life to realize that sooner. Or actually. I wished I could've taken Yukiko's journey to heart even more that time. Sadly. I feel like the Yukiko who didn't get to learn her lesson sooner.
A more reserved girl with Beautiful Long Raven Hair who’s Favourite Colour is Red. Of course that is someone I would gravitate towards. But of course I love her growth through out the game and I couldn’t help but giggle whenever one of her Laughing fits started
I’m surprised to hear that Yukiko is the least popular party member in the West, all of my friends who I’ve gotten to play the game and even my mom decided to date her when they played. Also on the camping trip, I thought the implication was they gave Kanji the awful curry, since when Yukiko and Chie are talking in their tent they mention how if they ate it it would probably make them faint.
With this thorough video you once again show the quality writing of P4’s social links. I think Yukiko isn’t the most interesting character compared to others but I can’t dismiss her amazing and pretty relatable journey. I think many of us at least once had that wish that someone might save us from our misery. Not necessarily in the form of a prince but in some kind of wishful handholding. I appreciate a lot how Yukikos arc started with the wish of an easy route and developed into finding freedom in taking the lead of her own life. When I first played the game I was afraid that it would focus on wanting to find true love or that it would rely too much on Chie. I’m relieved it never went into that direction and developed into a fascinating road. Her character growth is astounding and I adore how comfortable she got with the main team. It’s honestly hilarious that it’s the “seemingly cold school princess” that laughs like a dork when everyone else is being serious. I don’t think it’s ignorance or a hurtful intent but a slight social inept spawning from her insecurities.
Truly a great video to a great social link
Thank you for making that parallel between Yukiko and Rise's SL, I've pointed it out so many times but everyone is in denial! Amazing content man, keep up the stellar work
With the amount of times I’ve played this game I don’t think it ever clicked in my head till now that the shadow wasn’t really IN the cage but on the edge. Yukiko was always middle of the road for me but I think I appreciate her a bit more now. Nice work as always !!!
The way I can describe Yukiko's Social Link is, yeah, she has a goal, but it's really impulsive, and she's realizing what she will be losing by chasing that impulsive goal. She really would be a Fool; pun and everything that it entails fully intended because I love puns; to assume that she doesn't mean anything to the inn besides being an heir, and to ignore and leave behind the people who she not only loves, but is now also realizing actually would fully support her and do everything they can to help her if she would just speak up.
Yukiko is my second fav party member behind Yosuke. I love her.
I don't need a 46 minute long video to know that Yukiko is best girl 🔥
"Yukiko Amagi!"
*Shuffle Time sets off my fight-or-flight*
Run
Yukiko is my fav girl ins P4. Reserved, beautiful and elegant, smart and shy, but at the same time like dumb jokes, horror stories\movies, and slaps outta nowhere. The Nadeshiko Yamato trope, but spised with quirky and sometimes strange personality, exactly what is best imo
Also, the best party member by miles, powerful fire mage and mighy healer, can't descrive the feelings i have for her. Forever best in P4
Yukiko made a huge impression on me in my first play through! Great video.
Thanks! She is a good intro to the game I think
When I first heard Yukiko’s laugh, I knew she was the one. Stayed true to her, not cheating. Kept her on the party all the way. She’s only ordinary on the surface but if you pay attention or get to know her, she’s crazy in all the right ways.
Yukiko being "boring" is one of those popular takes I will never even understand.
I agree that her lack of popularity is unwarranted, but in a sense it's more like I _wish_ I didn't understand it. The thing is, the people who call Yukiko boring tend to say the same of Fuuka and of Makoto Nijima, and sometimes Hifumi or Yoshizawa as well. Those people are part of, well, the audience likely to check out an anime-style game localized in English. Which, as a generalization, tends to skew a specific way on certain issues...
Yukiko's lack of realization of her own freedom reminds me of a line by Eastman from the Waking Dead:"The door's open. It has been opened all along. You stay or you go."
That was an incredible video analysis on her!! She's my favorite of P4, so I love finding out more about Yukiko I probably didn't noticed, as well I liked the points about her arc, she's very relatable and the way she resolve it was inspiring. I'm sad she's not as loved as the others, but I'm happy there's still people who like her, knowing her well
Finally, my personal long awaited video from you! I think other commenters have already completed what I want to say, I just want to say that the scene when Yukiko (accidentally) burns Ai to ash if Yukiko caught you on a date with Ai by asking if Ai is your relative before taking all the Social Link points from her is another example to your point where Yukiko can't read social cues.
I believe she genuinely wonders if Ai is your relative instead of saying it sarcastically. That kind of little moments is why I love this game so much and Hiding, thank you very much for your hard work doing your analyses (for me especially this one).
It's such a treat every time another one comes out, hooray!
They're a lot of fun to make, albeit a ton of work
@@HidinginPrivate can't thank you enough for the work you do, man:)
Yukiko says that she wants to become "a woman worthy of you". Her striving to be worthy for someone else is in fact her taking ownership of her own destiny. She becomes the prince in her own story, going out to get what she wants, rather then waiting and dreaming, as she does in the beginning.
I honestly don't really have much to add to this, also the first video of yours I've seen, very well presented and edited, Yukiko was always my favorite from P4 originally starting as sort of a guilty pleasure because on my first playthrough I thought she was cute, interestingly enough when I got further I found that she would not only join the team and even become a social link I was "over the moon" as they say and to be honest she is a lot like myself I too have felt trapped by my own lifestyle and one day I will have no choice but to leave the cage as it were and seek a future for myself.
If there's one thing this game has taught me its that everyone has so many faces and to truly understand yourself one must open your eyes to far more than what gazes back at you in the mirror only once you can see yourself for who you truly are will you know what you want in life.
Happy to see other Yukiko stans in the comments.
Because she's not an edgelord or some gimmicky one-note character, she's "boring." Screw those surface level people.
One of the most underrated Persona 4 characters by far.
as yuki, i enjoyed the video about yukiko very much. thank you best boyyyyy
Yukiiiii I miss youuu. Happy you liked the video though- it's a long one!
GOD I LOVE UR PERSONA 4 CONTENT!!!! SO DETAILED AND PRECISE!!!! You make my love for P3 stronger! Knowing the little details that means a lot and the other messages of the social links like I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!
This whole series of yours truly show your love for Persona 4 and the series in general! (Thank you for your P4 content!!!!)
as an old-timer persona fan, im reaaaally picky with my youtube content
i fell in love with your channel recently
Yukiko is my favorite Persona character since I was a kid, it's great to see her receive some love
thank u
One other detail the game itself points out, specifically, the in-game narrator commentary on the concept art in the Giants of P section in the TV Listings in Persona 4 Golden, Yukiko's Persona Konohana Sakuya, was designed with femineity in mind in contrast to the protagonist's Persona Izanagi, who was designed with masculinity in mind.
Yukiko is under rated as hell :(
Yeah
Obviously late to these videos - really appreciating them though. I played the P3 on PS2 back in the day, then had kind of lost track of the series until I played P5, and just went and played P3 Reload, which sparked my interest to play P4 Golden (which I'm ~80% through).
Yukiko was one of my immediate favorites, so... I guess I'm an odd one out compared to the crowd.
The quote the Hiimsdaisy comic: “IT’S SYMBOOOLIIIC!!!”
Shoomberoomskidoodle
I just finished the game yesterday and it has been great watching these analysis for the characters that have become quite dear to me.
I actually like Yukiko's laugh
All power to you
same
I've been waiting for this, Yukiko is my favourite of the p4g cast!
Hope you enjoyed it!
Thanks for making amazing content on this game, Hiding. It really is unbelievable seeing so much love being poured on one of my favorite games ever. Hope you're doing okay
After paying rent I have no money to buy groceries! Other than that doing great!
My weekly TV show is out. Let's goooo.
Woooooo. By the last couple parts it may seem like a weekly movie...
@@HidinginPrivate More content to enjoy. W
absolutely great video! makes sense that the yukiko video comes after the chie one, also i will never forget yukiko wearing the funny glasses with the nose i love that so much
It is interested that I never show that! I mention her laugh but didn't use the glasses footage. Interesting considering the length and how I feel like a lot of people remember her more for that
My man is out with another banger P4 video.
Hope you enjoyed!
I really love Yukiko, I find her social aloofness really funny and she also has one of the funny moments in the game as well, her social link back then didn't really hit home to me but I still liked it because of the message of her link, now that I watched your video I found myself relating to what she's going through a lot more, I was a church worker in a christian church since I was a kid and few weeks back I had a thought that I probably should stop doing it for a moment because I feel guilty that I'm lying to everyone by putting up this "very anointed and faithful" face in front of everyone there, so I thought it was fitting for me to just take a break from churchwork, just like Yukiko, I also realized that once I did try to leave it's not going to be easy for me to go back, since the guilt will also probably eat me a lot more if I did. In the end I chose to stay and keep on working because I want to hold onto a belief that kept me going for years now. Sorry for the random rant but yeah I really like Yukiko as a character
Another great analysis! Despite not really liking her all that much in the main story, I found her Social Link to be quite enjoyable and relatable. She also hit like a TANK with her fire magic
I'm currently on my first playthrough of Persona 4 Golden
At first I considered her to be the "classic waifu in distress trope" seeing how they presented her prior to her dungeon, so all I could think of is "I'm not gonna fall for this trope I'm better than that"
But then I found myself getting invested in her social link arc and getting attached to her, specifically because of her courage to take her own decisions and reflect about her future, something I'm currently struggling with myself as a young adult
She ended up as the second social link I maxed out after Nanako, I also accepted her love confession
I'm so glad the game managed to turn around my opinion of her
Damn dude I love persona videos so much I’m really into these you definitely deserve more likes
I feel like people misinterpret her arc is because there's a lot of set up for her to get out of the cage in a literal sense, which also makes sense in a subversive way. All the talk about not sitting on her ass and begging for someone to come rescue her, I feel like set up people's expectation that her next step is to take the courage to leave, and the subversive part I feel like happened before in other storylines earlier. like with the bait and switch with Saki, I feel like we all expected her to be like "I never got a chance to tell yosuke how much I cared for him", but we instead got "nah, yosuke was a pain in the ass to deal with." So the kind of tone for the game makes it feel like yukiko would be the brave princess who don't need no man, and set off on her own rather than her being the princess waiting to be rescued trope.
Also I feel like what could have made it more understandable to the players is that it could have explained her home situation more or seen more interactions with the people at the inn to make her more sympathetic to her arc to be about taking the courage to make your own decisions. We get told what happens during her social link by her, but I think it doesn't quite hit the players because we don't see why she couldn't have relied on the other people at the inn for help before all this. Like what events caused her stay inside the cage that she created. It feels mainly caused by people outside of the inn setting up expectations of her inheriting the inn. Like even back in Middle school, which we see during FeMC trip to inaba where Yuko brings it up out of the blue, but even then I doubt most people who played P4, also owned a PSP and played P3P. It would be nice to know that her parents don't set up this expectation for her and reassure her that she's allowed to follow whatever life goals she wants, which would mean us seeing her parental interactions.
I'm surprised that you didn't mention/notice the super blatant/explicit reference to Snow White in her name and design, which, of course, leads more into the contradiction between her true self (an average dorky girl) and expectations/assumptions of the others (beautiful fairy tale princess).
Yess! These analyses are so good, im excited to watch!
Thanks! Hope you liked it
i love yukiko. she kind of reminds me of hifumi from persona 5 and she's usually my waifu when i replay 4 lol
also my favorite sadistic yukiko moment is the camping trip when hanako is snoring
Yukiko hits home with me because I felt the same way she did in high school and went through a similar thing. Except I didn't have friends to help me. I didn't have any type of support at all. People thought I was a weirdo because I loved to laugh at weird jokes. And I was used, a lot. Now that I'm in my 30s I'm pretty much a corpse. Back when I played P4 she made me cry at first.
LOVE this series! You should do a similar series on Persona 5 Royal's cast and themes if you ever get the chance!
Keep up the good content Hiding! Been waiting for Yukiko's analysis. Looking forward to Rise's and all your upcoming videos!
Rise is next week! Glad you've liked them so far
17:25 bro is shooting his shot in a 46 min rundown of yukiko xD
The best place to do so
All i can say is.. bravo just incredible analysis
I’ve always seen videos from your channel but never really checked it out for one reason or another but now I’m planning on bingeing all of them because the content in this video is so good!
I'm glad you decided to click! I've been giving it my best wuth these videos
A fantastic dive into someone great and greatly underappreciated
Thank you
Fantastic video. I really liked Yukiko as a character. Expectation is something that can be completely crippling, and seeing her evolution really is inspiring to me. She was definitely best girl for me....right up until Rise walked in
Early.. I love your content so much.
Thank you. The support is appreciated
I found Yukiko to be my favorite character until Naoto arrived. Her gameplay helped, as I love fire and healing as well as powerful magic-type characters. I also related to her indecisiveness. I also thought her Persona was rather cool. Thanks for giving her a full analysis like she deserves!
I don't find her boring. I always end up laughing too when she starts her giggling fits. I guess is I had to rank the party members not including Yu. It would be...
1- Naoto
2- Chie
3- Yukiko
4- Kanji
5- Yosuke
6- Rise
7- Teddie
I just finished playing the game for the first time yesterday. Now I'm trying some other games in the series before doing a new game+ run.
Started binging the series after the hamamura video good stuff man
Thankya
You always make my Saturdays better! Love your P4G videos :>
Thank you! Glad to make them
I get so excited whenever I see that you've uploaded another one of these 😭 I love this game so much, thank you for putting so much effort into this series
The persona games really solidified that i have a type. That type is yukiko and makoto. Without a thought i went after both romantically right after meeting each. Just finding out now that yukiko isn’t beloved by everyone:(
One thing I like about persona 4 is the friends you make feels like actual friends that are with you through thick and thin. In persona 5 it does the same vibe but not on the same level as p4. In my opinion. With the exception of ryuji bromance that actually has a real friendship vibe even in his social link or confidant link if you will
This was a wonderful analysis I commend how deep you go into this and I look forward to checking out more of your content
I remember hearing this from Liana K mentioning that sakura petals flying over a snowcapped mountain (?something to that effect) was cultural shorthand for a miracle or impossibility manifesting. This seems pretty apt with what you've described, between her name and how she feels in her day-to-day.
Something I would have liked to have seen with Yukiko and Yosuke would have been them chat a little about what it means to be a leader and having responsibility--particularly when Yukiko said her problems aren't her own. In consecutive playthroughs I had, I understood that her first decision to take charge of her life may have made her desire to have a business--her own--and carve out her own meaning for her own life.
But with her decision to stay in Inaba, I thought she was akin to the...hmmm...prodigal daughter of sorts? She was lost in her own cage, her insecurities. But she found her self-worth in the world around her.
The dungeons have always made me wonder how the shadow selves interact with their respective person before they have their respective "showdowns".
We see that the person does wander for some time (days, in some cases?) that they're relatively unharmed. Does the shadow self "toy" with their respective person before they try to interact with them? We never really see things from the perspective of someone who was thrown in the Shadow World, so it's been a mystery that has always lingered in my mind.
Especially when the fog returns every 50 years(?) or so....hmmm...
YESSSSSS DUDE!! BANGER AFTER BANGERRRR
Thanks! Bunch of work!
@@HidinginPrivate I can tell man! I can't wait to see more of these for the rest of the investigation team, and even for other persona characters if you decide to replicate this for P1, 2, 3- ETC!!
The kojiki preface speaks of "Her imperial majesty", they mention the horses hoofprints, and says that she is dwelling in the concealed palace.. She is said to be a dispeller of mists, and also more famous then the emperor Yu.
It doesnt deepen ones understanding of Yukiko that much but I think its neat.
Good job, once again.
Thankss
39:45 ah yes, the boneless omelette
My first girl actually, the hime energy made me fall for her at glance, yes I pretend to play until I have dated all the girls in the game