**Go support this AWESOME dude, Nito Souji and the game he single-handedly is developing about hikikomori called Pull Stay! He's a very slowly reintegrating one himself, has a great sense of humor, great English skills, and has self-taught himself so many skills while he has been socially isolated all these years! th-cam.com/channels/VWDm8aMhKc6cZSFLVV7I3g.html Kickstarter for the game is here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1363912222/pull-stay 🎮TWITCH: www.twitch.tv/ladyvirgilia 🐤TWITTER: @VirgiliaLady twitter.com/VirgiliaLady 🌟PATREON: www.patreon.com/LadyVirgilia GENSHIN LORE CHANNEL~ th-cam.com/users/LadyVirgiliaGenshin
YES, as someone with diagnosed ASD i definetely felt a certain relatability to her, but i could never truly discern why because i never looked back at her character and identified her as someone with ASD. This probably is due to her having signs of savant syndrome which is hard for me to relatie to. Despite this it's unbelievably heartwarming to realize just how positively she represents people like me, because most depictions range from inaccurate to downright offensive in some cases.
I'm so glad to hear that you see Futaba as a good depiction of ASD! Hopefully future game narratives can take some tips from her role and expand representation!~
I identified with her and entrapta... I have a child with ASD and have been questioning if I am since doing research... but I didnt know both characters where ASD till just a few months back and now.
Hard agree I also have ASD and futaba acts a lot like me and I love how they show her is such a positive light I probably would have joker rather if I didn't see as more of a little sister
Futaba made me question whether or not I may be on the spectrum. I did research, found similarities, but my mom dismissed my suspicions, I've never had the courage to ask a professional anyways
As a Female on the Autism Spectrum I love Entrapta and Futaba and find it pleasant for us ASD girls and informing for the general public to see good, realistic female autistic representation in fiction. So kudos!!
As a guy I hope I aren't being offensive by assuming anything, but I remember reading and hearing that for a long time ASD girls were misdiagnosed or unnoticed (with some even claiming girls couldn't be on the spectrum). There's been a lot of speculation on why but it could be that because of male-dominated society men who don't conform to social norms "stand out" more than women do, or that traits that are seen as "weird" in boys aren't viewed that way for girls. I'm glad that there's a lot more ASD-coded female characters in media now.
@@BigKlingy Honestly what you may have read isn't wrong. I myself (as someone on the ASD) was diagnosed VERY late. I was 19 when I was diagnosed by a professional. From what I seem to understand in the research I've looked into, women/girls are apparently able to "mask" their disorder better than men/boys. Granted when one is undiagnosed, they do not notice that and do that subconsciously. I found that pretty crazy honestly and it gave a better perspective to realize why some girls aren't diagnosed until later in life or not at all.
Same! I'm autistic and the fact that characters like Futaba exist (and are accepted for all their weirdness among their friend circles) make my heart so happy. I swear, everything she says and does in this game makes me go "Why are you me?"
As someone who is neurodivergent, I really loved how they were able to help her with her anxiety/trauma/hikkomori but her ASD (or other unlabeled neurodivergence) doesn't change throughout the game. I really liked how she is the one who asks for a change of heart, and how that functions in her case. Joker doesn't force her to push beyond her limits either during her social link events. It just made me happy that she was able to find people who accepted her for her. Her being neurodivergent and how she is treated due to it ties in perfectly with the other 'outcasts' in the PT.
Personally, I see Futaba as an extremely accurate depiction of someone on the spectrum. Much of her character directly mirrors my own experiences as someone with ASD. Just about everything you pointed out, in regards to how she acts, has actually happened to me as a child. Futaba is the character that I felt the most connected with because I fully understood what she was going through. Futaba's re-entry into society is extremely fast but that can be forgiven due to the nature of fiction. For me, it took well into my late teens to start becoming more social and comfortable outside of very specific situations. I still struggle with recognizing social cues, non-verbal mainly, but at least I don't take jokes and sarcasm too seriously anymore.
Even then her entry into society isn't a complete one, it's only with others she can be comfortable outside. The people who saw her deepest thoughts and understand her more than anyone, she can't be out by herself without panicking. That's something I resonate with, I feel much more comfortable outside with my friends, and without them I'd never leave my home outside of going to work
As a person with ASD, I can safely say that yes, Futaba is very much exhibiting behaviors I recognize as things I do, and she even helped me recognize some of the behaviors I didn't even realize I had. I also LOVE how she described sensory overload.
This is a really informative video and I enjoyed it a lot. For me, Futaba’s arc is one of my favorite sections of P5 because of how it tackles the way a narrative can affect someone. And while this idea applies to the other Phantom Thieves, Futaba is the most prominent example because she’s adopted this harmful narrative about herself and it’s ruining her life. No matter what the Phantom Thieves do, Futaba has to be the one who deals with that narrative. And that leads to my favorite scene in the arc which is when Futaba leaves the Palace and it starts to collapse because she’s the treasure. It’s a really cool way of saying that this place can’t exist now that Futaba has replaced her toxic mindset with a much healthier one. Altogether, I think that P5 handles Futaba’s arc in a compassionate and compelling way.
Yes I love that. No matter how much the Phantom Thieves want to help her, in the end she needs to make the decisions and changes to her cognition herself. While it's important to have a support system in life, ultimately it's up to the individual to make changes to their own mindset/attitude towards something healthier~
The sad part is thirty years ago, no one knew how to diagnose parts of the Autism Spectrum, especially the High Functioning end like I have. 20 years later I still was being told that the childhood designation of Asperger's/High Functioning I was given was to be tossed aside by the state until I was reevaluated by one of their doctors. The fact that I brought family for support and I take family medical problems very hard were not red flags to them nor that I explained that Gaming and speculative fiction are my only safe harbors for my mind to relax. And all this happened in the US, so having to push myself harder to be social is not uncommon. And to add to that not being able to play tabletop games with people outside the immediate family has taken a deep toll this year.
I was lucky enough to get diagnosed by a very reputably doctor early in my life, but diagnosis was a double-edged sword as I had to deal with a lot of grade school teachers being VERY condescending towards me, forcing me to go to special one-on-one lessons where they'd point at cartoon faces and ask me what they were feeling.
@@BigKlingy I don't miss the special Ed classes I had in the 90's. I am so lucky with the district was doing the best it could, but round about middle school, I was told that teachers would have less time to make sure the individual kids were doing well because the state was implementing a new form of "Stadardized tests". Washington State Public Learning has yet to fully recover from the WASL. How bad was it? The second year I had to take the test, in 10th grade, was the year after a teacher in another state had affiar with one of her students, and the question "designer" for the math portion was feeling extra cheeky throwing in a reference into the finalized test as the correct answer. I don't know about the rest of my fellow students, but I was uncomfortable with that as correct answer. So was the state when they found out after the tests had been returned for grading.
Thank you for sharing your perspective and personal experience as someone with ASD! I'm sorry to hear this past year has been so tough due to social distancing and the inability to get together with your friends for tabletop games...hopefully we'll be able to do those kinds of things again later this year once more people are vaccinated.
All of your videos on the P5 characters are so revealing and interesting! I'm an Asian Studies major and all of them help me understand Japan just a little bit better. :) I don't have autism, but do have adhd, and still could relate to Futaba, especially on how she loves talking about her special interests, and pays little attention to everything else. While not my favorite character (our favorite "throwaway kid" takes that spot in my heart) I think Futaba is so good, and so important as a form of representation for hikikomori and autistic people in general.
Oooh Asian studies! Love to hear it ^^ The Throwaway Kid is my personal fave as well haha. But yes, Atlus handled Futaba's arc really well. Best of luck in school!
I really enjoyed the Futaba segment of the game. A tragic story with a palace that symbolises Futaba's struggles with social anxiety. "I was trapped…in a labyrinth of…my heart…" Man, that palace perfectly captures that quote because of the pyramid design and the series of trials and challenges that wait for Futaba and the Phantom Thieves. Although this isn't my favourite palace, it comes in at second just for the creativity and how the devs captured Futaba's struggles. Brilliant content, as usual, Lady :).
One of the most important things to know in order to survive school is to realize that even though school and certain workplaces may play by unfair and unjust rules that put you in the out group. There is definitely a community out there where you will be the in group, and all the confidence given to the in group where you are now would be totally misplaced. I remember in school having no reason to believe my life wouldn't end when I was thrown out into the real world of adult life, having always failed, my greatest effort failing to convince anyone I was trying at all. Then I got a part time job my senior year of highschool, and my entire outlook changed, I found out that work was so much, or at least could be so much easier then public school, and that it was public school which was failing me, not me that was failing at life. There have been ups a downs, bad jobs and good ones, but it is so eye opening when are successful at something for the first time in your life, like I could never be hopeless again, because I finally realized that failure wasn't guaranteed as long as I I could start over somewhere new.
My favorite thing about Futaba in the story is that she has a palace without being the monster that the previous palace rulers had been. It helped drive home that the Cognitive Dissonance doesn't have to make you evil. It just means you're seeing the world through a clouded lens.
Thank you for speaking about autism so kindly :) I have ASD myself and when I played p5r for the first time and finally met Futaba I could immediately feel a connection with her (she is one of my all time favorite characters now I literally adore her) and I like your video series on how persona 5 and characters address societal issues (ik most of it is japan specific, but as you always say too there is universal relatability in areas as well) it really warms my heart how you spoke about this even if you arent autistic, it's deeply appreciated
I’m glad that the PT didn’t have to change her heart and that Futaba took that power for herself. I don’t think her story arc would’ve worked if she was brainwashed into acceptance. I think her palace would’ve been a good time to discuss the morality of changing someone’s cognition when they haven’t been overwhelmingly evil but are at a risk of hurting themself. In the end, it would’ve sent a weird message if Futaba didn’t change on her own terms. She needed to find that strength for herself, and I’m glad she did.
I romanced only Futaba on my first playthrough before I learned that she’s probably autistic. I just thought that she was geeky, cute, and quirky. And the trauma she went through had made her develop social anxiety and depression which is what I struggle with daily in my life. Which instilled in me that we could both be a pillar that supported the other (I think it’s wholesome but I can see how that can sound pathetic by projecting my real self onto Joker and considering it’s a video game character) But this analysis has really put things into perspective regarding things I didn’t catch on my first playthrough. And having just finished Royal, I was actively looking for these traits and situations and it just made me appreciate her character more. It got to the point that I was tearing up during the scene where Joker confronted her in Akihabara when she was with Sojiro and Wakaba.
I'm still playing through Royal at the time of typing this (yes, I saw the spoiler warning; and, yes, I still watched it 'cause I'm fine with being "spoiled")...but, yeah! What OP said! (Except maybe the last sentence...but, I can see that happening for me as well.)
I had a similar experience. It should be stated that I am neurodivergent with ADHD because for some reason, playing through Futaba's palace make me feel drawn to her more than the other girls, possibly due to her at the time suicidal mindset being similar to what I had in the past or all her quirky behaviour being quite similar to how I actually act irl. I remember the numerous amount of times I would exclaim "I remember when I did that" whenever she would hyperfocus on Tokusatsu or a game she likes, get social anxiety in Akihabara due to the sheer amount of people there or when she speaks a bit too loud in a conversation which I still need to deal with. Though I don't have ASD, I have a few online friends who are, and I'm very sure they'd love her if they play Persona. Or maybe I just have a thing for gamer girls, I don't know
I'm autistic and although I'm pretty socialable now I used to struggle socializing with others when I was younger and Futaba's confidant reminds me of when tried becoming more socialable a few years ago. Her personality quirks like how how she hyper focuses on whatever she's interested in and can lose focus when someone is talking to her is quite similar to me too, plus she's also a tech nerd. The only thing that could make me relate to her more would be if she was into socialist politics.
Okay, this might get a bit long, I have a lot to say here, as someone on the autism spectrum myself. (Some of this may get a bit heavy too) Futaba is a character I often see brushed off as "generic nerd stereotype", but I think she's a lot deeper, and this video sums up why. So firstly, about her mother. I saw an analysis a while ago that mentioned how it's actually pretty radical for a Japanese game to depict a single mother so positively, the fact that Wakaba generally loved Futaba and wasn't abusive would've been a significant plot twist over there, while a lot of western players found the reveal corny or disappointing. (I remember reading one blog that actually quit the game out of outrage when they found out Futaba wasn't abused by her mother. Seriously? This story tackles abuse enough as it is, surely ONE character deserves to have a healthy parental relationship...) And now the ASD part. Doesn't the Japanese word for ASD roughly translate to "selfish sickness"? ("Self-closure sickness", more like, but I think that's the implication) I'm a bit of a weird case when it comes to identifying with ASD stereotypes, as I consider myself pretty good at social interaction and my skills mostly lie in language. I got frustrated to no end in high school by people constantly assuming I must be good at maths "like Rain Man". The main thing is I'll only socialise with people I know I'll "hit it off" with, generally those I share interests with, and I tend to get that feeling the moment I meet someone. I'm the kind of person who'd rather have 1 really close friend than 200 facebook friends I barely know. I also avoid "small talk" because I consider it a waste of time. That said, I'm never blunt to the point of offending people, I generally have a decent grasp of social tact so Futaba doesn't quite resonate with me in that way. When it comes to reading other people's feelings, what I struggle with is a kind of defence mechanism where I'll always assume people think the worst of me, so that I'm prepared when they "inevitably" do. So I can often mis-read my family being too tired to have a conversation as them being annoyed with my presence. This could be a more general self-esteem issue than anything to do with ASD though. The part with Futaba doing "unethical" things is also something I struggle to identify with. I have an extreme aversion to hurting people, physically or emotionally, and a very strong sense of morality, and I've read that's somewhat common in people on the spectrum. In that sense I do identify with Futaba helping save Kana from her abusive parents. One thing about her I do identify with is that fear that you're a burden on your parent and that things might be easier if you weren't in their life. I live with a single mother who works and has a lot of other life stress on top of that, so playing Futaba's dungeon again in Royal actually hit me pretty hard. I never thought about how the high-context nature of Japanese plays into things, but that makes sense. I remember one of the first things I learned in high school Japanese was that you never directly turn down an invitation, and any negative opinions are usually just implied or heavily softened. It even plays into advertising in Japan: while a lot of western ads are like "try this!" or "you must buy this!", Japanese ads use language like "It might be good if you..." The omitting object and subject thing is a NIGHTMARE when translating, along with the subtleties of implied meaning. It's part of why it annoys me when people bash translations that aren't literal, many of them don't realize that in a high-context language like Japanese, you lose a LOT of meaning if you translate literally. See: the many, many, MANY cases in anime dialogue where a character reacts to someone else being in emotional distress just by saying their name. Futaba's social development is accelerated for one reason: fiction. They have to speed things up because if they treated it realistically Futaba would still be a shut-in for the whole game. Still, I think it's at least a decent look at the steps Hikikomori can take to open up. And one final thing that doesn't relate to anything in this video but more on Futaba and the Persona fandom in general. I'm sure everyone knows how big the "waifu wars" are, but I've found observing the shipping fandom around Futaba interesting as those who don't ship her with Joker tend to view them as surrogate siblings, and I'm definitely in that camp. I'm not against Joker/Futaba, but my personal headcanon is more of a sibling-like relationship. I just find this pretty unique among fandom ships, as usually non-shippers will either hate the character or just pretend they have no relationship with the MC. Futaba's situation in the Royal semester was the most heartbreaking for me, seeing Wakaba alive and implied to be together with Sojiro... that was the one time I felt regret at rejecting Maruki's reality.
Thank you for sharing your perspective and a lot of your personal thoughts from experience~ Indeed it is rare for Japanese media to portray single mothers in a positive light. It plays a large role in Akechi and Ryuji's social outcast status as well. Child support also basically doesn't exist on a legal basis, so single mothers in Japan definitely have a tough time getting by. I can see what you mean when it comes to the fiction aspect of her character role. It would definitely feel less fulfilling if they showed the actual reality of these hikikomori and how it takes years for them to even slightly reenter society... I personally really enjoy their platonic, and even familial, type of relationship vs. the shipping myself. And it definitely is nice that the community supports the Futaba and Joker relationship, whether they see it in a platonic or romantic lens. Nice observation!
@@LadyVirgilia I feel the platonic routes of most Confidants/Social Links are really underrated, Kawakami's Platonic Rank 10 is really good too, and P4 has some good ones like Yukiko's. Unfortunately a lot of videos on TH-cam act like the platonic routes don't exist because everyone is obsessed with waifus.
I think the trick to understanding Futaba's unethical behavior is that Futaba doesn't consider what she's doing to be unethical. She has her own beliefs about right and wrong and, because she's badly socialized, doesn't realize the degree to which that doesn't overlap with general society. The game never goes into this, but that's what I think.
"It's part of why it annoys me when people bash translations that aren't literal, many of them don't realize that in a high-context language like Japanese, you lose a LOT of meaning if you translate literally." On principle I agree with this, but let's be careful to distinguish the people who actually support transliteration (which are actually rather few in number) from those like me who merely wish western translators of Japanese media (and American translators in particular) made more of an effort to convey no more and no less than the originally intended meaning instead of taking "creative liberties" that aren't supposed to be part of their job in the first place. Note that those in my camp are often maliciously misrepresented as calling for literal translations by certain subsets of people whose motivations for favoring a loose approach to language localization are, shall we say, not exactly impartial.
During my Paranoid Schizophrenia first break i became a Hikikomori & stayed in my room for 3 years, i burned all social connections that where not my immediate family, who are now growing to find me to different from them to love. About a year ago i was able to get a steady job, its still so hard to communicate with those around me, let alone find any one willing to talk about these kinds of issues being in the very macho society i live in. Futaba is a icon for me in a way, i just wish i had the support circle she eventually found.
As a neurodivergant person, I now realise why I relate so much to futaba. One of her voice lines (I can't remember where from) where she says that she doesn't want her things reorganised because that's how she likes them definitely made me realise that she's possibly on the spectrum
This was a amazing video and I learned some new things about Japan and the Japenese language, which is nice. Personally, I do not like how ambiguous the Japenese tend to be when interacting and just wish they could give a direct no to something as simple as a invitation, but it is their culture and I can not change their culture in a significant way. I know you do not mean harm by this, but I remember reading about how for many in the autistic community, they prefer identity first language, but it does depend on the person. I might not be a genius like Futaba with a amazing memory, but I can relate to the social struggles of things like struggling to pick up on subtle social cues and indirect ways of speaking like sarcasm.
Yeah, a lot of social norms in Japan are actually extremely good that a lot of the world could really take notes on, but a lot of other norms are just straight up dumb and make Japan look like they're about 50 years behind the rest of the world.
Man I really do vibe with Futaba, more than I thought. ASD, which was diagnosed in adulthood, and my long periods of locking myself in my home. I’m actually pretty damn smart too as it’s accompanied my autism. Edit: m’kay so she’s literally like 85 percent like me. I’m a bit amazed to find someone (fictional or not) very much like me to such a degree. I feel related to. Someone so similar to me.
Futaba quickly became one of my favorite characters in the whole series. One I've only been able to relate to more as time goes on, when I first played the game I was around her age and similarly stayed at home and never wanted to leave, my past experiences hurt me and distanced me from the world. I was considered strange to my peers and family the former because of my odd behaviors and lack of understanding proper social etiquette, and the latter due to my silence and unusual behavior. I was bullied by my brother for years and was almost always alone at school and recreation. A few years after playing P5 my father passed away due to drowning his depression in alcohol and smoking, and I feel like I've played a part in his passing in some aspect, and that guilt has haunted me ever since. Since I was young and even now I find it hard to justify living, and drowned in self-loathing. For the past few months those feelings have seemingly gone away, not sure why. I would've been a "hikkikomori" if given the chance, but today I work thanks to my mom pressuring me to do such. I still find it hard to leave the house, almost impossible to do so on my own, and talking to my peers properly and confidently is still difficult. But like her I'm still here, and I'm trying to be better like Futaba is
When I first saw Futaba, I was genuinely shocked at how similar we are. I'm a total nerd/otaku, I'm on the autism spectrum (adhd and Tourette's), I'm a redhead, green is my favorite color, I feel best in my room, my mom is dead and I have complicated feelings about her, I live with a father figure that's very traditional and caring, I have horrible social skills, I even sit weird like Futaba does (though I sit criss-cross rather than do the L sit). Really, the only few differences is that I'm white, I'm an extravert, and I WISH I had Futaba's hacking skills!
This'll be a long one :/ I started playing Persona 5 sometime when I had to do online school, which was a nightmare for me. I typically have really bad anxiety and semi-frequent panic attacks, but being recorded on camera just never fails to make me panic, and I'll often end up spiraling, with all my internal monolog being self depreciating from the shame I felt from being such a coward for "no good reason". And since I never really knew what assignments I had to do, I always felt anxious about my workload, never feeling secure in the progress I would make. It felt like I had a huge pile of work that I didn't know existed, and it was too much. And that made me scared to look at my workload, which made it even bigger and more unknown, which furthered the spiral into anxiety and hopelessness. And I didn't even have my friends to vent to, since we had to stay home! All I had were my parents and brothers, who would either be angry, disappointed, or would avoid it altogether (in which case I would assume anger and disappointment because they must be thinking it, right?) I was alone and in despair, and it was all my fault. And I didn't know what to do. I was contemplating suicide for the first time in a while. So I avoided it all and played Persona 5. It was all I thought about. Day in, day out, I'd make an attempt to do school, feel too shitty to do anything useful around the house, and play P5 for 10 hours. If I wasn't playing P5, then I was reading fanfic or thinking about P5. The only reason I didn't end my life then (besides a lack of method) was because there I hadn't finished P5 yet. The friends I made in game felt closer to me than my own friends, Sojiro felt more like a father than my dad, Shinya more like a brother than my actual brothers (though all my brothers are older). And that's not even mentioning the entirely unique bonds I had with Ryuji, Yusuke, Mishima, and all the other confidants. It was to the point where I started questioning why I needed real friends, why I needed to go outside at all. After all, there ARE more Persona games, and even more games that I intended to play eventually, like Hades and Omori and the other SMT games. What was honestly, truly stopping me from just staying inside forever? After all, it's way safer than going outside. I don't wanna risk that! Then I met Futaba. And honestly, she was the reason I was able to recognize that I was spiraling as much as I was. She's probably the reason I joined marching band, honestly. Her main arc honestly struck a chord with me. She felt like what would've happened if I truly committed to shutting in, and seeing her actually get genuine friends with the P-Thieves combatted one of my worst fears: that I'd try to talk to people and make friends and still be alone. That I would still feel the loneliness of isolating myself AND the anxiety and panic of attempting to live in the outside world. I felt that going outside would mean that for a long time without really being aware of it, but seeing Futaba making friends helped me think that I could maybe do that to. And her Confidant felt alot like my relationship with one of my brothers, and it really helped sell the whole idea of Me being able to make friends and stuff.
I've never been officially diagnosed with ASD, but I've suspected it for a long time, and I've always gravitated towards other autistic people, and I found myself relating to Futaba constantly. It makes me wonder if anyone on the Atlus writing team is autistic, with how well I think she was handled.
Well, I only got diagnosed with an early indicator back when I was a toddler and never formally on the spectrum, though wouldn't suprise me if I was on the higher end if I was ever to formally diagnosed, But while I could kind of see her on it, I would also like to point out she was in near total social isolation for YEARS, not to mention the abuse from her mother's family and, well, kid who got yelled at by a friend. I imagine that could cause quite the reaction in any kid who hasn't had the time to master their emotions. Just offering some food for thought.
I’m being evaluated for autism and I relate to Futaba a lot. She actually helped me be more comfortable with being myself since our personalities are quite similar :)
Thank you so much for this video, not just for the insight on Futaba but for the discussion on how ASD is viewed in Japan. My longest, closest friend moved out to Nagasaki last year and has been pushing me to do the same pretty much since she got there. It's really helpful to know a bit about how I might be perceived (being treated differently due to being foreign anyway notwithstanding). EDIT: I agree that she recovered too quickly. She was happily letting her guard down around relative strangers more than I do with close friends! And she suddenly can go to busy places alone... I've never been a shut in and I can't do that at nearly 30 years old haha. But then it is a story in the end so time has to be condensed.
As someone with ASD and SAD i relate to futaba since i was about her age when i was officially diagnosed and i was bullied even up to the time i graduated high school, looking back i have more trauma than should be healthy, classmates picking on me, calling me names beating me up sexually harassing me, sexually assaulting me, teachers picking on me, screaming at me to be normal I would be lying if i didnt say its a miracle im still alive My parents even say that they wish they had fought for me more in what happened but with half of what i went through, i often didnt say anything for a little bit after the fact because i didnt want to burden people with my problems when they have their own I probably havent even scratched the surface since i have repressed so much it but growing up in school was hell for me so i relate to her wanting to shut herself way
Fascinating and informative. I love learning more about what these characters mean in a Japanese context. It deepens my love for them and this game even more to realize how much they all overcome. And to see that they're all providing social commentary on real issues in Japan.
I was diagnosed autistic at a young age and I'm confident that's a big reason why I gravitated to Futaba as much as I did when I played p5 for the first time when it first came out.
Absolutely fascinating! I finally was able to play this amazing game due to the rerelease and then I found your videos. What really strikes me about this video is that when I played, I found myself relating a lot to Futaba, but the difference is that I have ADHD. I know there can be a lot of overlap in symptoms with the two disorders, but much of what Futaba expresses fits really well in the inattentive or mixed ADHD typical behaviors. Those with ADHD tend to be thinking very very ahead during conversation, we tend to get a basic idea of what the person is saying and then get distracted by our own thoughts or on what we will say next as they talk. I imagine this would be painfully difficult for someone with ADHD to do in a low context language like Japanese, which requires so much focus in order to communicate properly. We also have problems with sensory overload. I could go on but it's just fascinating to me that the character really can be read either way. Thank you so much for putting this together! It has really added so much color to my experience with the game!
In the past I had Autism or Autistic I do now with my development problems with ADHD now ADD which didn't help with my childhood, like in the Akechi video. I am saying that I feel like I related them more after your videos talking about these topics, so thank you. When I was in school I was bullied and also in S.E. class back in elementary school.
this is an amazing video. you've articulated everything incredibly well and i can tell how much effort and care went into your content. will definitely be checking out more of your videos!
I haven't been officially diagnosed with any form of autism, but I'm pretty sure I have Asperger's syndrome due to how I relate to the symptoms. Futaba is my favorite Persona 5 character, and she's actually one of my inspirations to work towards obtaining a IT degree. Thank you for this insightful analysis. You deserve many more views. :)
+3 Knowledge. I hadn't considered the autism connection at all, but very interesting observation. Feels like Persona 5 is the departure point here but you provide information and value that goes far beyond. Literary Criticism at its best. Thanks.
I played the original version of P5 before receiving my late diagnosis of ASD. I ended up playing Royal a few years after said diagnosis (with further research and more active on ASD having been done out of interest of my own condition) and a lot about myself and Futaba seemed to become so clear when reviewing the two experiences. I'm being a bit rambly here. Just something that bolted through my head when when watching this video.
As someone who is both on the Autism spectrum and struggles with OCD and anxiety, Futaba's mental health issues during her inital Palace arc felt extremely relatable and earnest to me! I felt so bad for her and it was incredibly powerful to see the Phantom Thieves help provide her the motivation and will power to combat her depression & suicidality by merging with her own Shadow to awken her Persona, and defeat the distorted cognitive version of her late mother Wakkaba. The framing of Futaba's awakening and the boss battle with Cognitive Wakkaba honestly reminded me a lot of some of my own personal struggles with intrusive thoughts and anxiety! While I personally also interpreted Makoto & Yuskue as similarly being somewhere on the Autism spectrum based on their respective difficulties with social interaction at various points throughout the game, Futaba is easily the most overt and unambigous when it comes to Autistic-coded characters in P5 ROYAL!
I'm autistic and I relate SO heavily to Futaba, having gone through similar things growing up. My grandma, my legal guardian, died when I was around the age Futaba would've been (11), and I went through a 3 1/2 years or so period where I was a shut-in who just played video games because my parents had no clue how to raise me, and didnt want me to be put into the foster system. I sadly didn't have my own Sojiro but god I wish I did lol I don't really have "savant" skills per se, but I'm really good at art and I put most of my focus on that. I struggle immensely with social interactions to this day, even though I've gotten way better. It feels like I'm distanced from everyone no matter how hard I try to connect. Being online helps, but then I always feel like I'm teetering on the edge of falling back into my shut-in lifestyle. It's so hard to focus on what others when I'm not used to that.
I relate to Futaba so much. My mom also died when I was really young, and she was always sick so I never really got to play with her or know her, and I've struggled with similar mental health problems and social anxiety. It makes me happy when people like her because I feel like they like me too. (I know, read weird) I feel understood for once in my life, and I know many others can relate to Futaba too. I also used to wear a jacket from my dad which looks very similar to her iconic green jacket. (Which I find a funny coincidence) and have ASD like her.
This is a very interesting take that I hadn't realized. I've only played the vanilla version (and I don't have ASD) so I saw Futaba as someone with severe social anxiety brought about by the extreme guilt she felt about her mom. Being with the Phantom Thieves helped her take tiny baby steps. No matter the interpretation, it's just very heartwarming she's got a group of friends that she can just be herself, whatever that is that's comfortable for her.
Futaba's the one I felt closer to, having lost myself my mother 4 years ago to cancer. It's still a bit hard to talk about it, even today, even after having therapy to help me get over it. But it really hit hard when I went through Futaba's arc the first time.
i haven't played Persona 5 yet i do have ASD and listening to the details in this video about Futaba Sakura i can understand what she feels. Sometimes for me it like being in a room and you don't know much of the language people saying. I try to pick up social factors but i have limits on what i can pick up easily.
As someone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), I can safely say that the descriptions of what it's like living with the disorder presented in this video are accurate. I actually appreciate how vague the descriptions are because ASD comes in such a variety of forms and varies highly between individual cases. To be more descript would be to discredit part of the diversity of people living with ASD. However I cannot attest to what such an experience would be like in Japan, as I have no frame of reference. I think that mental health is gaining traction in the social consciousness in Western societies, but I've heard that things are much worse in that regard in a lot of the rest of the world. I hope that mental health disorders and neurological disorders liek ASD can break free from the stigma that so many of us living with it face. It took most of my youth to break free from the shackles of stigma and ignorace of mental health, I consider myself one of the lucky few, and that's in a progressive western society. I can only imagine how much worse my life would have been if I grew up in a collectivist society like Japan. As a native English speaker I appreciate it being a low concept language, which made it easier to overcome barriers to learning and adapting to social ettiquete. I can still come across as blunt at times, but it's infinitely better than if I had to overcome the barrier of the hypothetical scenario where my native tongue was a high concept language.
I’ve never checked out my mental health to doctors, so I never know if I was having diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder or not, but looking at your review around the topic and their behavior in general, also judging by how close I can relate to Futaba and Yusuke amongst the members of Phantom Thieves, I think I was also one of ASD I have hard time to communicate with people, especially co-workers, so many people judge me as a cruel people over things I did that not accepted socially, like not following the aisatsu tradition, blatantly giving ideas that I’ve never thought how it could mean as a disrespectful to the team, and I’m still struggling on that now despite already 30 years old even one time, I’ve felt so much despair due to the pain of feeling guilty over my actions and how to change that, thanks to the power of religion, I regained consciousness and held back the suicidal thoughts I had in mind at that time but still, it’s hard for me to go back to the society for now since the end result would turn out the same, since I’ve witnessed the struggle several times in live and I’ve also got bullied back in High School, not to mention I felt so much of a burden for my parents due to my hikkikomori status thank you for giving me some ideas of the symptoms, so I can find a solution to this issue on my own
futaba is one of my favorite characters from the game and as a fellow autist I did find a lot relatable in her character, though I do think it's pretty lazy how *every* ASD character in media is a savant of some sort. not all of us are geniuses. some of us are quite dumb of ass, which should not in any way reflect badly upon our character (but often does). the over-reliance on the savant trope makes those of us who aren't anything special *and* have all the sensory and communication issues feel as if we're not the "good" kind of autistic person. allistic society accepts those of us who are useful to capitalism and ignores, rejects or (depending on how prevalent fascism is at a given point) directly kills those of us who aren't.
That sad part was in reality Hikikomori person unlikely has a good steps recovery to be back to society with supportive people around, some of only has his/her mom. Not to mention people will always place a label on them and the bullied cycle will always rotated
This was super interesting!! I haven't seen many of your videos yet, but every single one is so well put together and informative!! And, if I could just comment on a specific thing.... "For those of you who are diagnosed with ASD, did you identify with Futaba's behavior and struggles?" Yes, yes, yes yes yes! I'm about to ramble for awhile, but she just... Almost instantly stuck out to me as "not allistic" once we really start seeing and getting to know her, and of course there's absolutely the stuff you mentioned, but there's also so many little things in her that I think really add to her being autistic, and 'cause of her autism coding I really really resonated with her, and found her pretty relatable (also she almost instantly became my favorite). And those little things... There's the way she sits abnormally pretty much all the time, how she holds her hands when she's standing (reminds me of raptor hands lol), he constant usage of video game terminology (saying she needs to "level up" her "stats", calling Joker a "key item", referring to Mishima as an "NPC", calling places "levels", e.t.c,), getting distraught when Yusuke alters her Featherman figures, hyperfocusing on one sole task (her hacking) to the point that she doesn't notice when Joker and Morgana clean up, infodumping about her interests, seeming to almost have a safe food in the form of Sojiro's curry, constantly wearing her headphones... Like, little things like all of those may not seem so odd at first, but all that together, mixed with the more obvious things you mentioned in the video like her difficulty with small talk, or how she was bullied in elementary school for being "weird" or a "a freak" when for her the things they bullied her for is just... How she is.... As an autistic person there's literally no way for me to think that she isn't autistic too. I remember during some random interaction with her in the game I just kinda thought "...Oh. She's like me, isn't she?", and just... Intentional or not, Futaba is genuinely some of the best rep I've seen. With like... Maybe two exceptions I can think of (and one of those won't even directly say it in the source!) so much representation is either inaccurate at best, or just straight-up offensive at worst, and the worst thing I can think of for Futaba is... The savant trope, given how that's just so so rare and it's in, like, practically every autism media ever. But that's it, and... Y'know given how she fits in that "super smart genius hacker" thing that's common in media, I think it works well enough for that role! And, just... She means so much to me 'cause of it all, and it made her arc feel extra important to me. I also really love how she's so autistic coded and the game pretty much explicitly states that she was never, ever, considered a burden to Wakaba, and isn't currently viewed as one to Sojiro or the Phantom Thieves. I know that's a big part of her arc, but autism and autistic people get treated or viewed as "burdens" so much, and it can REALLY wear down self-esteem after awhile to see that idea reinforced over and over, so to see an autistic coded character get explicitly shown and treated as not being a burden to her loved ones? Loved it, loved it so much. ...Made me cry a few times, actually. Just... That fact that she's like this, and the game never once treats her differently from the rest of the group, or does anything that implies she might be some horrid negative effect on others, and continues to treat her with this kindness and respect I just don't see a lot of even canonically autistic characters get? Yeah, it means so so much to me. (Also! Cool fun fact! Her English voice actress, Erica Lindbeck, said in an interview once that she views Futaba as autistic too! It isn't really direct confirmation or anything, but... Oh man, does that just make me so so happy!
Another great video! Futaba is easily my favorite Phantom Thief besides Akechi, and her confidant really resonated with me. I am someone who falls on the autism spectrum, and I'm still going through similar experiences with social anxiety and reclusiveness. Futaba's story, however, gives me more confidence to face my struggles head-on instead of shying away from them. Despite her struggles, they helped strengthen Futaba's resilience in the face of adversity just like the other Phantom Thieves. Her confidant particularly highlighted the bravery she showed. Anyways, enough rambling from me. Futaba's awesome, and so was this video. Kudos!👍👍👍👍
As someone with ASD (asperger's specifically, diagnosed in my teens since it's harder to detect in females) and having some savant skills (which is new to me!) as well as many a hyperfixation, Futaba is a character I heavily relate to to the point where she became my favorite aside from Joker. I can see myself in many parts of Futaba, from the simple things such as also needing to wear glasses, matching up with the otaku side of Futaba, to even sitting at my computer all day most days. I get Futaba and I couldn't be happier to see someone so much like myself in one of my favorite franchises.
As someone with ASD I was able to sympathize with futaba as a character and her experiences are pretty similar to my own and how she is portrayed is pretty accurate to my own experiences
Found these videos as I am playing the PC version of P5R for the first time, and I love the various Legend of Heroes themes you sneak in as a added surprise.
As a lady who was diagnosed with aspergers on the high functioning end, the signs were there (no savant here, but social cues and 'reading the room' can be incredibly difficult sometimes). I get her desire to stay and hide when unpleasant things must be done. I get that if something is out of mind, its truly still there and not magically gone. Each one of us has our own brand, so to speak, but her journey was relateable regardless. I was so proud when she just walks into the cafe at a certain point and is dissapointed the food is cold, having braved what she feared for so long, the outside.
Futaba is my fav character of all time, i love her personality, quirkiness and the way she relates everything to what she is familliar with like RPG terms. i have ADHD and mild ASD, and i find that i would only really get along with someone who is like me because people lose patience with me, i dont do small talk (and wont respond to a good morning so people think im being a jerk) or i rave for hours about something i love and everyone "doesnt want to hear my life story". everytime i play this game i play through twice, once to experience new content (ie love interests or the new parts of Royal) then the second is to experience all of futabas interactions again. i finished royal for the first time a week ago with the Switch release and when i realized what was happening in 3rd semester i immediatly felt the dread of having to tell Futaba about reality. feeling real actual heartbreak for a fictional character because she has been through enough already. P5 is such an amazing game
As someone diagnosed with ASD, I do identify with her, and its sad to hear that people like her has it worse than me. She is stronger than me, in ways as she managed to climb back to socializing with people earlier than me, something I still haven't done. I hope I can do it to one day.
I've been working through this series since completing P5R with my sister (I can't focus on playing games half the time, so I watch, lol), and it's given me a way better understanding of the game. A lot of little details click together now that I'm learning about it through the proper context. ^u^
It’s interesting that although English is a low context language, Britain (in particular middle-class and corporate British culture) is much more like Japan in communication context. Autistic friends and family have had issues with this. You have to regularly read between the lines to discern true meaning, which most Brits do through contextual understanding. My Dad used to get into difficulty when meeting with German colleagues, and each side would take a totally different view as to how the meeting went. The Brits would counter a German proposal with “That’s an interesting idea, we’ll consider it another time” as a polite dismissal meaning “that’s a terrible idea, we’re not discussing it ever again”. Unfortunately that context would get lost in translation and the Germans would keep bringing it up until someone quietly explained it. That missing context is almost exactly like putting up a language barrier to members of society who struggle to deal with it.
When Makoto was asking questions to Futaba and Futaba just seemed to not be interested in even talking at the time I started laughing. I thought it was funny cause as someone with ASD I can be the exact same way and I have to mentally prep myself for small talk just to be passable, when I got done laughing it started to click in my head some of her behaviors. Keeping a tally of her behaviors and started to realize she was very likely on the spectrum, I realized how rough that would be for her and she quickly became one of my favorite characters.
Thank you for the video! Really well done! Help me understand Persona characters more, also helped me with my psychology project, I chose the topic of mental illness in Japan.
as someone with ASD there's a lot that I didn't even realize was happening until i was almost 18. Stuff like scaring off classmates, coming off as rude and obsessive, and being thought of as generally childish ended up messing with my self esteem a lot. The biggest challenge i faced then and face now is coming to terms with the fact that ill never be "normal" but that's ok. I found other autistic folks when I started college and I've improved a lot.
I'm autistic, and Futaba and I definitely share a lot of struggles. Sometimes I forget that she's not outright stated to be autistic in the game, but she's extremely accurate! I don't quite have any savant-worthy skills like she does (my memory is absolute garbage, for example, which is something a lot of autistic people without perfect memory also struggle with), but beyond that, her experience mirrors my own. I also view Yusuke as being very autistic (specifically Asperger's, the same variety that I'm a part of) due to his mannerisms, hyperfixation on art, social difficulties, and unique way of thinking also being very relatable to me, but I haven't seen your Yusuke video yet and you probably already brought that up there 😅
As someone with ASD (was originally diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome back when that was seen as ok to give you all an idea of how mine presents itself to others) I really loved her ark about overcoming adversity whilst living with the neurodiversity and was somewhat touched by it. How she is by the end of her vanilla ark is pretty close to how I can be when I’m not masking(minus the savant syndrome, I’m not that smart ha ha and more of a creative type, with stage acting at the forefront) to put it simply growing up I was a blend of makotos sense of right and wrong and need to be useful (heck I even looked a lot like her!)and Futabas out right quirky nature with the same level of care for those close to me. I came across this game when I was pregnant with my first child and was a very strong and meaningful reminder of how far I came and to not stress about whether my child would inherit my neurodivergence (which it looks a lot like they have now there 3) that with the right amount of care they can and will have a good life. This is a message that I hold dear and nearly had my hormonal self at the time in tears of hope.
Futaba really reminds me of my friends and especially my brother, who is diagnosed. It really made me love Futaba more and I even saw her as a little sister to me because of that, and seeing her grow and overcome her troubles in her confidant line gives me hope that I can help my brother do the same. (Even if Futaba's growth was sped up to a somewhat unrealistic degree due to game time restraints, lol)
I have ASD and I really resonated with Futaba throughout my playthrough, but for some reason it never clicked that she could've had ASD until you mentioned it in this video, and it makes me appreciate her just that much more as a character.
Yes I can relate too. As someone with ASD I too was always picked on in school. Especially in Elementary and Middle school. People have thrown around the "R" word to me and others. But after a while I learned those words mean nothing coming from them and just have faith in who I am. Nowadays I'm a software engineer at Oracle. Go figure. ^^
Psichology student diagnosed woth ASD here. All of this is pretty accurate, and relatable for me. I do observe savant skills in myself, such as wild memory and quick learning. With the social downside, of course.
As someone who's also autistic, I do like her confidant arc. Whenever she's really enjoying herself *with* everyone else, I love her positive energy and I love to eat it up. I'm sympathetic to her mother story, and I really enjoyed how she stands up to her trauma thanks to Joker's help while empathetic to her Nuerodivergence. However when she's cold to someone, she doesn't just give them the cold shoulder, she's just a comical tech goon when it's a "boy verses girl" gag or her dynamic with Ryuji, Yusuke is really fun considering how aggressively artistic he is, which is something that I love. Okay, I'm trying to form a coherent idea or image of her but I just realized that I barely have a clue where to start, and I only have until 12:30 to write because I need to finish an End of Grade testing for my college. Welp, I'm at the Kana part and I do like this whole thing because it is perfection, but I don't know quite how to feel about it and why? I'll get back and edit this comment later. Okay, I'm back and I've got nothing. Absolutely nothing. So, disregard everything above.
I was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum a little over a decade ago (Asperger's Syndrome was the official diagnosis, but I don't know how valid that terminology is in today's culture), but my Mom said that the signs were there from a pretty young age. It was about a year or 2 ago when I was watching a friend play Persona 5 when they got to the point of the game that focused more on Futaba. Watching the game unfold and noticing the strange quirks/mannerisms the character had, I remembered asking my friend "Is Futaba Autistic?" I was quick to notice how her behaviors in the game bore a striking similarity to some of my own and it was shortly afterwards that I found out her VA, Erica Lindbeck, had come out saying that she'd specifically approached voicing Futaba like she was on the Autism Spectrum, which she did a phenomenal job portraying. There are plenty of celebrities nowadays who have been diagnosed as Autistic, some even being diagnosed posthumously like Stanley Kubrick, but very few fictional characters have been confirmed as being on the spectrum; whether by the creator, the actor portraying them, or the character straight up announcing it in their respective medium; and many of those who have been confirmed will often resort to outdated and/or harmful stereotypes that only continue these damaging misconceptions about the Autistic community as a whole. I never felt any of that with Futaba in Persona 5. Erica did an incredible job of capturing her strengths as well as her weaknesses, her confidence as well as her vulnerability, creating undoubtedly the best representation of an Autistic individual I've ever seen in any form of media. If I ever get to meet Erica in the near future, I'd love to personally thank her for bringing such an incredible, quirky, fun, fleshed out character like Futaba to life.
Well, as someone diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, I saw 100% of myself in Futaba. On my early years of school, I didn’t talk so much and on class, I. At 3rd grade of elementary school my classmates usually avoided me, or even looked at me like I was an alien. There was even a teen on my school bus that sometimes sprayed ammonia at me. The following years were a little bit more calm, but the damage was done. It took 4 years of therapy for me to finally make good friends and to start leaving home by myself. I am so relieved that I overcome this phase
I'm someone who was diagnosed with ASD and so I identify with futaba a lot. She is my favorite female persona character. I'm not ashamed of having ASD and I don't think anyone who has it should be ashamed. To me, it's not a curse but a blessing.
So I'm autistic but I was diagnosed with it resontly so I didn't see the signs but I can say this, I think they go to another world if they loss interstate on something.
I am not officially diagnosed, but me and my friends are suspecting it, I decided to take therapy few weeks ago and my therapist also suspects it so I am pretty certain something is on the line. Personally I find many similarities between me and Futaba I am too socially awkward, I live as semi shut in and if metaverse was real then I am almost sure I would also have a Palace. Her's and the final Palace for me were my favorite. But we are still not the same, even with friends I struggle to talk let alone to strangers so I probably wouldn't be a useful member of PT. Also the scenes where she talked with her shadow were amazing, this essentially internal monologue was one of the factors that helped make the decision to take therapy in the first place. Also one more thing that we have in common is that both of us find it easier to communicate over text than speach. Also before this video I wouldn't connect Futaba and Autism at all, my therapist told me to search for people with ASD on internet and while this is fiction, it still should count!
I don't have ASD but I have friends who do. Even in vanilla P5, a lot of them identified and felt the most connected with Futaba because they felt represented and can empathize with her. Great analysis.
I’m on the spectrum however my from of autism is opposite to futaba’s, and what we mostly seen the media. Instead, my autism makes me feel my emotions to a passion more than your average person and makes me more socially aware than most people know this still has its problems as it gives me extreme social anxiety because I’m worried about not acting the way people expect me to. Ironically my twin sister has a fourth autism. That’s very much like for Thomas and futaba reminds me of her to an extreme extent because my sister is not a shut in.
Autistic person here right fast, it is so hard to talk about the weather, especially with people I care about. I at least want something more important to both me and them.
**Go support this AWESOME dude, Nito Souji and the game he single-handedly is developing about hikikomori called Pull Stay! He's a very slowly reintegrating one himself, has a great sense of humor, great English skills, and has self-taught himself so many skills while he has been socially isolated all these years! th-cam.com/channels/VWDm8aMhKc6cZSFLVV7I3g.html
Kickstarter for the game is here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1363912222/pull-stay
🎮TWITCH: www.twitch.tv/ladyvirgilia
🐤TWITTER: @VirgiliaLady twitter.com/VirgiliaLady
🌟PATREON: www.patreon.com/LadyVirgilia
GENSHIN LORE CHANNEL~
th-cam.com/users/LadyVirgiliaGenshin
I love these analysis videos! For the next P5 one can you try Sumi Yoshizawa? Or maybe Yusuke?
@@phantomslay5612
Yusuke is next.
She alternates between male and female cast members.
But since Morgana is a special case, he’ll be dead LAST.
Damn it. But wait, if she’s doing Yusuke next that means she’s either have to do haru or sumi next. Then that leaves morgana.
@@phantomslay5612
Morgana is LAST, last. Because he doesn’t relate to anything sociocultural in Japanese society compared to the other 9.
YES, as someone with diagnosed ASD i definetely felt a certain relatability to her, but i could never truly discern why because i never looked back at her character and identified her as someone with ASD. This probably is due to her having signs of savant syndrome which is hard for me to relatie to. Despite this it's unbelievably heartwarming to realize just how positively she represents people like me, because most depictions range from inaccurate to downright offensive in some cases.
I'm so glad to hear that you see Futaba as a good depiction of ASD!
Hopefully future game narratives can take some tips from her role and expand representation!~
I identified with her and entrapta... I have a child with ASD and have been questioning if I am since doing research... but I didnt know both characters where ASD till just a few months back and now.
Hard agree I also have ASD and futaba acts a lot like me and I love how they show her is such a positive light I probably would have joker rather if I didn't see as more of a little sister
Hell I may even have servant syndrome I have a great memory I learnt how to swim and cook really young in comparison to most people
Futaba made me question whether or not I may be on the spectrum. I did research, found similarities, but my mom dismissed my suspicions, I've never had the courage to ask a professional anyways
As a Female on the Autism Spectrum I love Entrapta and Futaba and find it pleasant for us ASD girls and informing for the general public to see good, realistic female autistic representation in fiction. So kudos!!
As a guy I hope I aren't being offensive by assuming anything, but I remember reading and hearing that for a long time ASD girls were misdiagnosed or unnoticed (with some even claiming girls couldn't be on the spectrum). There's been a lot of speculation on why but it could be that because of male-dominated society men who don't conform to social norms "stand out" more than women do, or that traits that are seen as "weird" in boys aren't viewed that way for girls.
I'm glad that there's a lot more ASD-coded female characters in media now.
Love to hear it! Thanks for sharing from your personal experience!
@@BigKlingy Honestly what you may have read isn't wrong. I myself (as someone on the ASD) was diagnosed VERY late. I was 19 when I was diagnosed by a professional. From what I seem to understand in the research I've looked into, women/girls are apparently able to "mask" their disorder better than men/boys. Granted when one is undiagnosed, they do not notice that and do that subconsciously. I found that pretty crazy honestly and it gave a better perspective to realize why some girls aren't diagnosed until later in life or not at all.
It's even more helpful when there's a misconception that only boys have Autism. (Note I learned this from a video so take this with a grain of salt.)
Same! I'm autistic and the fact that characters like Futaba exist (and are accepted for all their weirdness among their friend circles) make my heart so happy. I swear, everything she says and does in this game makes me go "Why are you me?"
As someone who is neurodivergent, I really loved how they were able to help her with her anxiety/trauma/hikkomori but her ASD (or other unlabeled neurodivergence) doesn't change throughout the game. I really liked how she is the one who asks for a change of heart, and how that functions in her case. Joker doesn't force her to push beyond her limits either during her social link events. It just made me happy that she was able to find people who accepted her for her. Her being neurodivergent and how she is treated due to it ties in perfectly with the other 'outcasts' in the PT.
Personally, I see Futaba as an extremely accurate depiction of someone on the spectrum. Much of her character directly mirrors my own experiences as someone with ASD. Just about everything you pointed out, in regards to how she acts, has actually happened to me as a child. Futaba is the character that I felt the most connected with because I fully understood what she was going through.
Futaba's re-entry into society is extremely fast but that can be forgiven due to the nature of fiction. For me, it took well into my late teens to start becoming more social and comfortable outside of very specific situations. I still struggle with recognizing social cues, non-verbal mainly, but at least I don't take jokes and sarcasm too seriously anymore.
Even then her entry into society isn't a complete one, it's only with others she can be comfortable outside. The people who saw her deepest thoughts and understand her more than anyone, she can't be out by herself without panicking. That's something I resonate with, I feel much more comfortable outside with my friends, and without them I'd never leave my home outside of going to work
That hit me right in the feels.
As a person with ASD, I can safely say that yes, Futaba is very much exhibiting behaviors I recognize as things I do, and she even helped me recognize some of the behaviors I didn't even realize I had. I also LOVE how she described sensory overload.
This is a really informative video and I enjoyed it a lot. For me, Futaba’s arc is one of my favorite sections of P5 because of how it tackles the way a narrative can affect someone. And while this idea applies to the other Phantom Thieves, Futaba is the most prominent example because she’s adopted this harmful narrative about herself and it’s ruining her life. No matter what the Phantom Thieves do, Futaba has to be the one who deals with that narrative. And that leads to my favorite scene in the arc which is when Futaba leaves the Palace and it starts to collapse because she’s the treasure. It’s a really cool way of saying that this place can’t exist now that Futaba has replaced her toxic mindset with a much healthier one. Altogether, I think that P5 handles Futaba’s arc in a compassionate and compelling way.
Yes I love that. No matter how much the Phantom Thieves want to help her, in the end she needs to make the decisions and changes to her cognition herself. While it's important to have a support system in life, ultimately it's up to the individual to make changes to their own mindset/attitude towards something healthier~
The sad part is thirty years ago, no one knew how to diagnose parts of the Autism Spectrum, especially the High Functioning end like I have. 20 years later I still was being told that the childhood designation of Asperger's/High Functioning I was given was to be tossed aside by the state until I was reevaluated by one of their doctors. The fact that I brought family for support and I take family medical problems very hard were not red flags to them nor that I explained that Gaming and speculative fiction are my only safe harbors for my mind to relax. And all this happened in the US, so having to push myself harder to be social is not uncommon. And to add to that not being able to play tabletop games with people outside the immediate family has taken a deep toll this year.
I was lucky enough to get diagnosed by a very reputably doctor early in my life, but diagnosis was a double-edged sword as I had to deal with a lot of grade school teachers being VERY condescending towards me, forcing me to go to special one-on-one lessons where they'd point at cartoon faces and ask me what they were feeling.
@@BigKlingy I don't miss the special Ed classes I had in the 90's. I am so lucky with the district was doing the best it could, but round about middle school, I was told that teachers would have less time to make sure the individual kids were doing well because the state was implementing a new form of "Stadardized tests". Washington State Public Learning has yet to fully recover from the WASL. How bad was it? The second year I had to take the test, in 10th grade, was the year after a teacher in another state had affiar with one of her students, and the question "designer" for the math portion was feeling extra cheeky throwing in a reference into the finalized test as the correct answer. I don't know about the rest of my fellow students, but I was uncomfortable with that as correct answer. So was the state when they found out after the tests had been returned for grading.
Thank you for sharing your perspective and personal experience as someone with ASD!
I'm sorry to hear this past year has been so tough due to social distancing and the inability to get together with your friends for tabletop games...hopefully we'll be able to do those kinds of things again later this year once more people are vaccinated.
All of your videos on the P5 characters are so revealing and interesting! I'm an Asian Studies major and all of them help me understand Japan just a little bit better. :) I don't have autism, but do have adhd, and still could relate to Futaba, especially on how she loves talking about her special interests, and pays little attention to everything else. While not my favorite character (our favorite "throwaway kid" takes that spot in my heart) I think Futaba is so good, and so important as a form of representation for hikikomori and autistic people in general.
Oooh Asian studies! Love to hear it ^^
The Throwaway Kid is my personal fave as well haha. But yes, Atlus handled Futaba's arc really well.
Best of luck in school!
I really enjoyed the Futaba segment of the game. A tragic story with a palace that symbolises Futaba's struggles with social anxiety. "I was trapped…in a labyrinth of…my heart…" Man, that palace perfectly captures that quote because of the pyramid design and the series of trials and challenges that wait for Futaba and the Phantom Thieves. Although this isn't my favourite palace, it comes in at second just for the creativity and how the devs captured Futaba's struggles. Brilliant content, as usual, Lady :).
One of the most important things to know in order to survive school is to realize that even though school and certain workplaces may play by unfair and unjust rules that put you in the out group. There is definitely a community out there where you will be the in group, and all the confidence given to the in group where you are now would be totally misplaced.
I remember in school having no reason to believe my life wouldn't end when I was thrown out into the real world of adult life, having always failed, my greatest effort failing to convince anyone I was trying at all. Then I got a part time job my senior year of highschool, and my entire outlook changed, I found out that work was so much, or at least could be so much easier then public school, and that it was public school which was failing me, not me that was failing at life. There have been ups a downs, bad jobs and good ones, but it is so eye opening when are successful at something for the first time in your life, like I could never be hopeless again, because I finally realized that failure wasn't guaranteed as long as I I could start over somewhere new.
I just think it's so adorable in her confidant events where the voice bite where she goes "oooooh" plays.
Yes! Erica Lindbeck did an amazing job with Futaba's voice lines!
My favorite thing about Futaba in the story is that she has a palace without being the monster that the previous palace rulers had been. It helped drive home that the Cognitive Dissonance doesn't have to make you evil. It just means you're seeing the world through a clouded lens.
Thank you for speaking about autism so kindly :) I have ASD myself and when I played p5r for the first time and finally met Futaba I could immediately feel a connection with her (she is one of my all time favorite characters now I literally adore her) and I like your video series on how persona 5 and characters address societal issues (ik most of it is japan specific, but as you always say too there is universal relatability in areas as well) it really warms my heart how you spoke about this even if you arent autistic, it's deeply appreciated
I’m glad that the PT didn’t have to change her heart and that Futaba took that power for herself. I don’t think her story arc would’ve worked if she was brainwashed into acceptance. I think her palace would’ve been a good time to discuss the morality of changing someone’s cognition when they haven’t been overwhelmingly evil but are at a risk of hurting themself. In the end, it would’ve sent a weird message if Futaba didn’t change on her own terms. She needed to find that strength for herself, and I’m glad she did.
I romanced only Futaba on my first playthrough before I learned that she’s probably autistic. I just thought that she was geeky, cute, and quirky. And the trauma she went through had made her develop social anxiety and depression which is what I struggle with daily in my life. Which instilled in me that we could both be a pillar that supported the other (I think it’s wholesome but I can see how that can sound pathetic by projecting my real self onto Joker and considering it’s a video game character) But this analysis has really put things into perspective regarding things I didn’t catch on my first playthrough. And having just finished Royal, I was actively looking for these traits and situations and it just made me appreciate her character more. It got to the point that I was tearing up during the scene where Joker confronted her in Akihabara when she was with Sojiro and Wakaba.
I'm still playing through Royal at the time of typing this (yes, I saw the spoiler warning; and, yes, I still watched it 'cause I'm fine with being "spoiled")...but, yeah! What OP said! (Except maybe the last sentence...but, I can see that happening for me as well.)
I had a similar experience. It should be stated that I am neurodivergent with ADHD because for some reason, playing through Futaba's palace make me feel drawn to her more than the other girls, possibly due to her at the time suicidal mindset being similar to what I had in the past or all her quirky behaviour being quite similar to how I actually act irl. I remember the numerous amount of times I would exclaim "I remember when I did that" whenever she would hyperfocus on Tokusatsu or a game she likes, get social anxiety in Akihabara due to the sheer amount of people there or when she speaks a bit too loud in a conversation which I still need to deal with.
Though I don't have ASD, I have a few online friends who are, and I'm very sure they'd love her if they play Persona.
Or maybe I just have a thing for gamer girls, I don't know
I'm autistic and although I'm pretty socialable now I used to struggle socializing with others when I was younger and Futaba's confidant reminds me of when tried becoming more socialable a few years ago. Her personality quirks like how how she hyper focuses on whatever she's interested in and can lose focus when someone is talking to her is quite similar to me too, plus she's also a tech nerd. The only thing that could make me relate to her more would be if she was into socialist politics.
Okay, this might get a bit long, I have a lot to say here, as someone on the autism spectrum myself. (Some of this may get a bit heavy too) Futaba is a character I often see brushed off as "generic nerd stereotype", but I think she's a lot deeper, and this video sums up why.
So firstly, about her mother. I saw an analysis a while ago that mentioned how it's actually pretty radical for a Japanese game to depict a single mother so positively, the fact that Wakaba generally loved Futaba and wasn't abusive would've been a significant plot twist over there, while a lot of western players found the reveal corny or disappointing. (I remember reading one blog that actually quit the game out of outrage when they found out Futaba wasn't abused by her mother. Seriously? This story tackles abuse enough as it is, surely ONE character deserves to have a healthy parental relationship...)
And now the ASD part.
Doesn't the Japanese word for ASD roughly translate to "selfish sickness"? ("Self-closure sickness", more like, but I think that's the implication)
I'm a bit of a weird case when it comes to identifying with ASD stereotypes, as I consider myself pretty good at social interaction and my skills mostly lie in language. I got frustrated to no end in high school by people constantly assuming I must be good at maths "like Rain Man". The main thing is I'll only socialise with people I know I'll "hit it off" with, generally those I share interests with, and I tend to get that feeling the moment I meet someone. I'm the kind of person who'd rather have 1 really close friend than 200 facebook friends I barely know. I also avoid "small talk" because I consider it a waste of time. That said, I'm never blunt to the point of offending people, I generally have a decent grasp of social tact so Futaba doesn't quite resonate with me in that way.
When it comes to reading other people's feelings, what I struggle with is a kind of defence mechanism where I'll always assume people think the worst of me, so that I'm prepared when they "inevitably" do. So I can often mis-read my family being too tired to have a conversation as them being annoyed with my presence. This could be a more general self-esteem issue than anything to do with ASD though.
The part with Futaba doing "unethical" things is also something I struggle to identify with. I have an extreme aversion to hurting people, physically or emotionally, and a very strong sense of morality, and I've read that's somewhat common in people on the spectrum. In that sense I do identify with Futaba helping save Kana from her abusive parents.
One thing about her I do identify with is that fear that you're a burden on your parent and that things might be easier if you weren't in their life. I live with a single mother who works and has a lot of other life stress on top of that, so playing Futaba's dungeon again in Royal actually hit me pretty hard.
I never thought about how the high-context nature of Japanese plays into things, but that makes sense. I remember one of the first things I learned in high school Japanese was that you never directly turn down an invitation, and any negative opinions are usually just implied or heavily softened. It even plays into advertising in Japan: while a lot of western ads are like "try this!" or "you must buy this!", Japanese ads use language like "It might be good if you..."
The omitting object and subject thing is a NIGHTMARE when translating, along with the subtleties of implied meaning. It's part of why it annoys me when people bash translations that aren't literal, many of them don't realize that in a high-context language like Japanese, you lose a LOT of meaning if you translate literally. See: the many, many, MANY cases in anime dialogue where a character reacts to someone else being in emotional distress just by saying their name.
Futaba's social development is accelerated for one reason: fiction. They have to speed things up because if they treated it realistically Futaba would still be a shut-in for the whole game. Still, I think it's at least a decent look at the steps Hikikomori can take to open up.
And one final thing that doesn't relate to anything in this video but more on Futaba and the Persona fandom in general. I'm sure everyone knows how big the "waifu wars" are, but I've found observing the shipping fandom around Futaba interesting as those who don't ship her with Joker tend to view them as surrogate siblings, and I'm definitely in that camp. I'm not against Joker/Futaba, but my personal headcanon is more of a sibling-like relationship. I just find this pretty unique among fandom ships, as usually non-shippers will either hate the character or just pretend they have no relationship with the MC.
Futaba's situation in the Royal semester was the most heartbreaking for me, seeing Wakaba alive and implied to be together with Sojiro... that was the one time I felt regret at rejecting Maruki's reality.
Thank you for sharing your perspective and a lot of your personal thoughts from experience~
Indeed it is rare for Japanese media to portray single mothers in a positive light. It plays a large role in Akechi and Ryuji's social outcast status as well. Child support also basically doesn't exist on a legal basis, so single mothers in Japan definitely have a tough time getting by.
I can see what you mean when it comes to the fiction aspect of her character role. It would definitely feel less fulfilling if they showed the actual reality of these hikikomori and how it takes years for them to even slightly reenter society...
I personally really enjoy their platonic, and even familial, type of relationship vs. the shipping myself. And it definitely is nice that the community supports the Futaba and Joker relationship, whether they see it in a platonic or romantic lens. Nice observation!
@@LadyVirgilia I feel the platonic routes of most Confidants/Social Links are really underrated, Kawakami's Platonic Rank 10 is really good too, and P4 has some good ones like Yukiko's. Unfortunately a lot of videos on TH-cam act like the platonic routes don't exist because everyone is obsessed with waifus.
I think the trick to understanding Futaba's unethical behavior is that Futaba doesn't consider what she's doing to be unethical. She has her own beliefs about right and wrong and, because she's badly socialized, doesn't realize the degree to which that doesn't overlap with general society. The game never goes into this, but that's what I think.
"It's part of why it annoys me when people bash translations that aren't literal, many of them don't realize that in a high-context language like Japanese, you lose a LOT of meaning if you translate literally." On principle I agree with this, but let's be careful to distinguish the people who actually support transliteration (which are actually rather few in number) from those like me who merely wish western translators of Japanese media (and American translators in particular) made more of an effort to convey no more and no less than the originally intended meaning instead of taking "creative liberties" that aren't supposed to be part of their job in the first place. Note that those in my camp are often maliciously misrepresented as calling for literal translations by certain subsets of people whose motivations for favoring a loose approach to language localization are, shall we say, not exactly impartial.
Ooh, this should be good, your other analysis videos have been great and Futaba is probably the deepest P5 character
Futaba is definitely a very complex character!
and thank you!
During my Paranoid Schizophrenia first break i became a Hikikomori & stayed in my room for 3 years, i burned all social connections that where not my immediate family, who are now growing to find me to different from them to love. About a year ago i was able to get a steady job, its still so hard to communicate with those around me, let alone find any one willing to talk about these kinds of issues being in the very macho society i live in. Futaba is a icon for me in a way, i just wish i had the support circle she eventually found.
As a neurodivergant person, I now realise why I relate so much to futaba. One of her voice lines (I can't remember where from) where she says that she doesn't want her things reorganised because that's how she likes them definitely made me realise that she's possibly on the spectrum
This was a amazing video and I learned some new things about Japan and the Japenese language, which is nice. Personally, I do not like how ambiguous the Japenese tend to be when interacting and just wish they could give a direct no to something as simple as a invitation, but it is their culture and I can not change their culture in a significant way. I know you do not mean harm by this, but I remember reading about how for many in the autistic community, they prefer identity first language, but it does depend on the person. I might not be a genius like Futaba with a amazing memory, but I can relate to the social struggles of things like struggling to pick up on subtle social cues and indirect ways of speaking like sarcasm.
Yeah, a lot of social norms in Japan are actually extremely good that a lot of the world could really take notes on, but a lot of other norms are just straight up dumb and make Japan look like they're about 50 years behind the rest of the world.
Your videos on P5R are killer. I love watching them and cant wait for more. keep up the amazing work
Thank you! Glad you enjoy them and will do! :)
Man I really do vibe with Futaba, more than I thought. ASD, which was diagnosed in adulthood, and my long periods of locking myself in my home. I’m actually pretty damn smart too as it’s accompanied my autism.
Edit: m’kay so she’s literally like 85 percent like me. I’m a bit amazed to find someone (fictional or not) very much like me to such a degree. I feel related to. Someone so similar to me.
Futaba quickly became one of my favorite characters in the whole series. One I've only been able to relate to more as time goes on, when I first played the game I was around her age and similarly stayed at home and never wanted to leave, my past experiences hurt me and distanced me from the world. I was considered strange to my peers and family the former because of my odd behaviors and lack of understanding proper social etiquette, and the latter due to my silence and unusual behavior. I was bullied by my brother for years and was almost always alone at school and recreation. A few years after playing P5 my father passed away due to drowning his depression in alcohol and smoking, and I feel like I've played a part in his passing in some aspect, and that guilt has haunted me ever since. Since I was young and even now I find it hard to justify living, and drowned in self-loathing. For the past few months those feelings have seemingly gone away, not sure why. I would've been a "hikkikomori" if given the chance, but today I work thanks to my mom pressuring me to do such. I still find it hard to leave the house, almost impossible to do so on my own, and talking to my peers properly and confidently is still difficult. But like her I'm still here, and I'm trying to be better like Futaba is
When I first saw Futaba, I was genuinely shocked at how similar we are. I'm a total nerd/otaku, I'm on the autism spectrum (adhd and Tourette's), I'm a redhead, green is my favorite color, I feel best in my room, my mom is dead and I have complicated feelings about her, I live with a father figure that's very traditional and caring, I have horrible social skills, I even sit weird like Futaba does (though I sit criss-cross rather than do the L sit). Really, the only few differences is that I'm white, I'm an extravert, and I WISH I had Futaba's hacking skills!
This'll be a long one :/
I started playing Persona 5 sometime when I had to do online school, which was a nightmare for me. I typically have really bad anxiety and semi-frequent panic attacks, but being recorded on camera just never fails to make me panic, and I'll often end up spiraling, with all my internal monolog being self depreciating from the shame I felt from being such a coward for "no good reason".
And since I never really knew what assignments I had to do, I always felt anxious about my workload, never feeling secure in the progress I would make. It felt like I had a huge pile of work that I didn't know existed, and it was too much. And that made me scared to look at my workload, which made it even bigger and more unknown, which furthered the spiral into anxiety and hopelessness.
And I didn't even have my friends to vent to, since we had to stay home! All I had were my parents and brothers, who would either be angry, disappointed, or would avoid it altogether (in which case I would assume anger and disappointment because they must be thinking it, right?)
I was alone and in despair, and it was all my fault. And I didn't know what to do. I was contemplating suicide for the first time in a while.
So I avoided it all and played Persona 5.
It was all I thought about. Day in, day out, I'd make an attempt to do school, feel too shitty to do anything useful around the house, and play P5 for 10 hours. If I wasn't playing P5, then I was reading fanfic or thinking about P5. The only reason I didn't end my life then (besides a lack of method) was because there I hadn't finished P5 yet.
The friends I made in game felt closer to me than my own friends, Sojiro felt more like a father than my dad, Shinya more like a brother than my actual brothers (though all my brothers are older). And that's not even mentioning the entirely unique bonds I had with Ryuji, Yusuke, Mishima, and all the other confidants.
It was to the point where I started questioning why I needed real friends, why I needed to go outside at all. After all, there ARE more Persona games, and even more games that I intended to play eventually, like Hades and Omori and the other SMT games. What was honestly, truly stopping me from just staying inside forever? After all, it's way safer than going outside. I don't wanna risk that!
Then I met Futaba.
And honestly, she was the reason I was able to recognize that I was spiraling as much as I was. She's probably the reason I joined marching band, honestly.
Her main arc honestly struck a chord with me. She felt like what would've happened if I truly committed to shutting in, and seeing her actually get genuine friends with the P-Thieves combatted one of my worst fears: that I'd try to talk to people and make friends and still be alone. That I would still feel the loneliness of isolating myself AND the anxiety and panic of attempting to live in the outside world. I felt that going outside would mean that for a long time without really being aware of it, but seeing Futaba making friends helped me think that I could maybe do that to.
And her Confidant felt alot like my relationship with one of my brothers, and it really helped sell the whole idea of Me being able to make friends and stuff.
I've never been officially diagnosed with ASD, but I've suspected it for a long time, and I've always gravitated towards other autistic people, and I found myself relating to Futaba constantly. It makes me wonder if anyone on the Atlus writing team is autistic, with how well I think she was handled.
Well, I only got diagnosed with an early indicator back when I was a toddler and never formally on the spectrum, though wouldn't suprise me if I was on the higher end if I was ever to formally diagnosed, But while I could kind of see her on it, I would also like to point out she was in near total social isolation for YEARS, not to mention the abuse from her mother's family and, well, kid who got yelled at by a friend. I imagine that could cause quite the reaction in any kid who hasn't had the time to master their emotions. Just offering some food for thought.
Great commentary and also great job on portraying the aspects of autism that are often overlooked, or misunderstood! :>
I myself am autistic
I've definitely empathised with Futaba
I’m being evaluated for autism and I relate to Futaba a lot. She actually helped me be more comfortable with being myself since our personalities are quite similar :)
Thank you so much for this video, not just for the insight on Futaba but for the discussion on how ASD is viewed in Japan. My longest, closest friend moved out to Nagasaki last year and has been pushing me to do the same pretty much since she got there. It's really helpful to know a bit about how I might be perceived (being treated differently due to being foreign anyway notwithstanding).
EDIT: I agree that she recovered too quickly. She was happily letting her guard down around relative strangers more than I do with close friends! And she suddenly can go to busy places alone... I've never been a shut in and I can't do that at nearly 30 years old haha. But then it is a story in the end so time has to be condensed.
Futaba is my spirit animal.
i have asd and although ive never considered her to have it. OH BOY DOES THAT EXPLAIN A LOT!!
As someone with ASD and SAD i relate to futaba since i was about her age when i was officially diagnosed and i was bullied even up to the time i graduated high school, looking back i have more trauma than should be healthy, classmates picking on me, calling me names beating me up sexually harassing me, sexually assaulting me, teachers picking on me, screaming at me to be normal
I would be lying if i didnt say its a miracle im still alive
My parents even say that they wish they had fought for me more in what happened but with half of what i went through, i often didnt say anything for a little bit after the fact because i didnt want to burden people with my problems when they have their own
I probably havent even scratched the surface since i have repressed so much it but growing up in school was hell for me so i relate to her wanting to shut herself way
Fascinating and informative. I love learning more about what these characters mean in a Japanese context. It deepens my love for them and this game even more to realize how much they all overcome. And to see that they're all providing social commentary on real issues in Japan.
As a person with autism I relate to futaba very well which makes me enjoy her as a character so much more
I was diagnosed autistic at a young age and I'm confident that's a big reason why I gravitated to Futaba as much as I did when I played p5 for the first time when it first came out.
Absolutely fascinating! I finally was able to play this amazing game due to the rerelease and then I found your videos. What really strikes me about this video is that when I played, I found myself relating a lot to Futaba, but the difference is that I have ADHD. I know there can be a lot of overlap in symptoms with the two disorders, but much of what Futaba expresses fits really well in the inattentive or mixed ADHD typical behaviors. Those with ADHD tend to be thinking very very ahead during conversation, we tend to get a basic idea of what the person is saying and then get distracted by our own thoughts or on what we will say next as they talk. I imagine this would be painfully difficult for someone with ADHD to do in a low context language like Japanese, which requires so much focus in order to communicate properly. We also have problems with sensory overload. I could go on but it's just fascinating to me that the character really can be read either way. Thank you so much for putting this together! It has really added so much color to my experience with the game!
As an autistic person, I can relate to sensory overloads and not picking up social cues. However, my processing speed is way above the typical level.
As am American who has autism I didn't realize she had Autism but now knowing that she's new my 2nd all time favorite character in all of persona
In the past I had Autism or Autistic I do now with my development problems with ADHD now ADD which didn't help with my childhood, like in the Akechi video. I am saying that I feel like I related them more after your videos talking about these topics, so thank you. When I was in school I was bullied and also in S.E. class back in elementary school.
this is an amazing video. you've articulated everything incredibly well and i can tell how much effort and care went into your content. will definitely be checking out more of your videos!
I haven't been officially diagnosed with any form of autism, but I'm pretty sure I have Asperger's syndrome due to how I relate to the symptoms. Futaba is my favorite Persona 5 character, and she's actually one of my inspirations to work towards obtaining a IT degree. Thank you for this insightful analysis. You deserve many more views. :)
nobody here was diagnosed but everyone say they are autistic like it is going out of fashion. and no, autistic people are not geniuses. that's a lie.
+3 Knowledge. I hadn't considered the autism connection at all, but very interesting observation. Feels like Persona 5 is the departure point here but you provide information and value that goes far beyond. Literary Criticism at its best. Thanks.
I played the original version of P5 before receiving my late diagnosis of ASD. I ended up playing Royal a few years after said diagnosis (with further research and more active on ASD having been done out of interest of my own condition) and a lot about myself and Futaba seemed to become so clear when reviewing the two experiences.
I'm being a bit rambly here. Just something that bolted through my head when when watching this video.
As someone who is both on the Autism spectrum and struggles with OCD and anxiety, Futaba's mental health issues during her inital Palace arc felt extremely relatable and earnest to me! I felt so bad for her and it was incredibly powerful to see the Phantom Thieves help provide her the motivation and will power to combat her depression & suicidality by merging with her own Shadow to awken her Persona, and defeat the distorted cognitive version of her late mother Wakkaba. The framing of Futaba's awakening and the boss battle with Cognitive Wakkaba honestly reminded me a lot of some of my own personal struggles with intrusive thoughts and anxiety!
While I personally also interpreted Makoto & Yuskue as similarly being somewhere on the Autism spectrum based on their respective difficulties with social interaction at various points throughout the game, Futaba is easily the most overt and unambigous when it comes to Autistic-coded characters in P5 ROYAL!
Thank you lady for putting this video up explaining what autism is I hope a lot of people in Japan watch this video
Ps I am also autism too
I'm autistic and I relate SO heavily to Futaba, having gone through similar things growing up. My grandma, my legal guardian, died when I was around the age Futaba would've been (11), and I went through a 3 1/2 years or so period where I was a shut-in who just played video games because my parents had no clue how to raise me, and didnt want me to be put into the foster system. I sadly didn't have my own Sojiro but god I wish I did lol
I don't really have "savant" skills per se, but I'm really good at art and I put most of my focus on that. I struggle immensely with social interactions to this day, even though I've gotten way better. It feels like I'm distanced from everyone no matter how hard I try to connect. Being online helps, but then I always feel like I'm teetering on the edge of falling back into my shut-in lifestyle. It's so hard to focus on what others when I'm not used to that.
the savant part is a common misconception. untrue.
Futaba is my favorite autistic nerd. I love her. She's very relatable.
I relate to Futaba so much. My mom also died when I was really young, and she was always sick so I never really got to play with her or know her, and I've struggled with similar mental health problems and social anxiety.
It makes me happy when people like her because I feel like they like me too. (I know, read weird) I feel understood for once in my life, and I know many others can relate to Futaba too.
I also used to wear a jacket from my dad which looks very similar to her iconic green jacket. (Which I find a funny coincidence) and have ASD like her.
This is a very interesting take that I hadn't realized. I've only played the vanilla version (and I don't have ASD) so I saw Futaba as someone with severe social anxiety brought about by the extreme guilt she felt about her mom. Being with the Phantom Thieves helped her take tiny baby steps. No matter the interpretation, it's just very heartwarming she's got a group of friends that she can just be herself, whatever that is that's comfortable for her.
welcome back Lady, I hope you are feeling better
Thank you! I've been feeling better this week!
Futaba's the one I felt closer to, having lost myself my mother 4 years ago to cancer. It's still a bit hard to talk about it, even today, even after having therapy to help me get over it. But it really hit hard when I went through Futaba's arc the first time.
i haven't played Persona 5 yet i do have ASD and listening to the details in this video about Futaba Sakura i can understand what she feels. Sometimes for me it like being in a room and you don't know much of the language people saying. I try to pick up social factors but i have limits on what i can pick up easily.
Futaba's the GOAT. Thank you for making such a great video about her.
More videos please. I love when videos games have depth and you have shown that with Persona 5.
Futaba is precious bean
As someone with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), I can safely say that the descriptions of what it's like living with the disorder presented in this video are accurate. I actually appreciate how vague the descriptions are because ASD comes in such a variety of forms and varies highly between individual cases. To be more descript would be to discredit part of the diversity of people living with ASD. However I cannot attest to what such an experience would be like in Japan, as I have no frame of reference. I think that mental health is gaining traction in the social consciousness in Western societies, but I've heard that things are much worse in that regard in a lot of the rest of the world. I hope that mental health disorders and neurological disorders liek ASD can break free from the stigma that so many of us living with it face. It took most of my youth to break free from the shackles of stigma and ignorace of mental health, I consider myself one of the lucky few, and that's in a progressive western society. I can only imagine how much worse my life would have been if I grew up in a collectivist society like Japan. As a native English speaker I appreciate it being a low concept language, which made it easier to overcome barriers to learning and adapting to social ettiquete. I can still come across as blunt at times, but it's infinitely better than if I had to overcome the barrier of the hypothetical scenario where my native tongue was a high concept language.
I’ve never checked out my mental health to doctors, so I never know if I was having diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder or not, but looking at your review around the topic and their behavior in general, also judging by how close I can relate to Futaba and Yusuke amongst the members of Phantom Thieves, I think I was also one of ASD
I have hard time to communicate with people, especially co-workers, so many people judge me as a cruel people over things I did that not accepted socially, like not following the aisatsu tradition, blatantly giving ideas that I’ve never thought how it could mean as a disrespectful to the team, and I’m still struggling on that now despite already 30 years old
even one time, I’ve felt so much despair due to the pain of feeling guilty over my actions and how to change that, thanks to the power of religion, I regained consciousness and held back the suicidal thoughts I had in mind at that time
but still, it’s hard for me to go back to the society for now since the end result would turn out the same, since I’ve witnessed the struggle several times in live and I’ve also got bullied back in High School, not to mention I felt so much of a burden for my parents due to my hikkikomori status
thank you for giving me some ideas of the symptoms, so I can find a solution to this issue on my own
Great work as always!
Thank you!
futaba is one of my favorite characters from the game and as a fellow autist I did find a lot relatable in her character, though I do think it's pretty lazy how *every* ASD character in media is a savant of some sort. not all of us are geniuses. some of us are quite dumb of ass, which should not in any way reflect badly upon our character (but often does). the over-reliance on the savant trope makes those of us who aren't anything special *and* have all the sensory and communication issues feel as if we're not the "good" kind of autistic person. allistic society accepts those of us who are useful to capitalism and ignores, rejects or (depending on how prevalent fascism is at a given point) directly kills those of us who aren't.
yes, the "savant" part was not accurate at all. it is a super misconception.
That sad part was in reality Hikikomori person unlikely has a good steps recovery to be back to society with supportive people around, some of only has his/her mom. Not to mention people will always place a label on them and the bullied cycle will always rotated
to be fair, in real life depressed people don't get to have someone mind-dive into their psyche and beat up the bad brain feels with summoned demons
This was super interesting!! I haven't seen many of your videos yet, but every single one is so well put together and informative!!
And, if I could just comment on a specific thing....
"For those of you who are diagnosed with ASD, did you identify with Futaba's behavior and struggles?"
Yes, yes, yes yes yes! I'm about to ramble for awhile, but she just... Almost instantly stuck out to me as "not allistic" once we really start seeing and getting to know her, and of course there's absolutely the stuff you mentioned, but there's also so many little things in her that I think really add to her being autistic, and 'cause of her autism coding I really really resonated with her, and found her pretty relatable (also she almost instantly became my favorite).
And those little things... There's the way she sits abnormally pretty much all the time, how she holds her hands when she's standing (reminds me of raptor hands lol), he constant usage of video game terminology (saying she needs to "level up" her "stats", calling Joker a "key item", referring to Mishima as an "NPC", calling places "levels", e.t.c,), getting distraught when Yusuke alters her Featherman figures, hyperfocusing on one sole task (her hacking) to the point that she doesn't notice when Joker and Morgana clean up, infodumping about her interests, seeming to almost have a safe food in the form of Sojiro's curry, constantly wearing her headphones...
Like, little things like all of those may not seem so odd at first, but all that together, mixed with the more obvious things you mentioned in the video like her difficulty with small talk, or how she was bullied in elementary school for being "weird" or a "a freak" when for her the things they bullied her for is just... How she is.... As an autistic person there's literally no way for me to think that she isn't autistic too.
I remember during some random interaction with her in the game I just kinda thought "...Oh. She's like me, isn't she?", and just... Intentional or not, Futaba is genuinely some of the best rep I've seen. With like... Maybe two exceptions I can think of (and one of those won't even directly say it in the source!) so much representation is either inaccurate at best, or just straight-up offensive at worst, and the worst thing I can think of for Futaba is... The savant trope, given how that's just so so rare and it's in, like, practically every autism media ever. But that's it, and... Y'know given how she fits in that "super smart genius hacker" thing that's common in media, I think it works well enough for that role!
And, just... She means so much to me 'cause of it all, and it made her arc feel extra important to me.
I also really love how she's so autistic coded and the game pretty much explicitly states that she was never, ever, considered a burden to Wakaba, and isn't currently viewed as one to Sojiro or the Phantom Thieves. I know that's a big part of her arc, but autism and autistic people get treated or viewed as "burdens" so much, and it can REALLY wear down self-esteem after awhile to see that idea reinforced over and over, so to see an autistic coded character get explicitly shown and treated as not being a burden to her loved ones?
Loved it, loved it so much. ...Made me cry a few times, actually.
Just... That fact that she's like this, and the game never once treats her differently from the rest of the group, or does anything that implies she might be some horrid negative effect on others, and continues to treat her with this kindness and respect I just don't see a lot of even canonically autistic characters get? Yeah, it means so so much to me.
(Also! Cool fun fact! Her English voice actress, Erica Lindbeck, said in an interview once that she views Futaba as autistic too! It isn't really direct confirmation or anything, but... Oh man, does that just make me so so happy!
Another great video! Futaba is easily my favorite Phantom Thief besides Akechi, and her confidant really resonated with me. I am someone who falls on the autism spectrum, and I'm still going through similar experiences with social anxiety and reclusiveness. Futaba's story, however, gives me more confidence to face my struggles head-on instead of shying away from them. Despite her struggles, they helped strengthen Futaba's resilience in the face of adversity just like the other Phantom Thieves. Her confidant particularly highlighted the bravery she showed.
Anyways, enough rambling from me. Futaba's awesome, and so was this video. Kudos!👍👍👍👍
As someone with ASD (asperger's specifically, diagnosed in my teens since it's harder to detect in females) and having some savant skills (which is new to me!) as well as many a hyperfixation, Futaba is a character I heavily relate to to the point where she became my favorite aside from Joker. I can see myself in many parts of Futaba, from the simple things such as also needing to wear glasses, matching up with the otaku side of Futaba, to even sitting at my computer all day most days. I get Futaba and I couldn't be happier to see someone so much like myself in one of my favorite franchises.
As someone with ASD I was able to sympathize with futaba as a character and her experiences are pretty similar to my own and how she is portrayed is pretty accurate to my own experiences
Found these videos as I am playing the PC version of P5R for the first time, and I love the various Legend of Heroes themes you sneak in as a added surprise.
As a lady who was diagnosed with aspergers on the high functioning end, the signs were there (no savant here, but social cues and 'reading the room' can be incredibly difficult sometimes). I get her desire to stay and hide when unpleasant things must be done. I get that if something is out of mind, its truly still there and not magically gone. Each one of us has our own brand, so to speak, but her journey was relateable regardless. I was so proud when she just walks into the cafe at a certain point and is dissapointed the food is cold, having braved what she feared for so long, the outside.
the savant part is a common misconception. untrue.
Futaba is my fav character of all time, i love her personality, quirkiness and the way she relates everything to what she is familliar with like RPG terms. i have ADHD and mild ASD, and i find that i would only really get along with someone who is like me because people lose patience with me, i dont do small talk (and wont respond to a good morning so people think im being a jerk) or i rave for hours about something i love and everyone "doesnt want to hear my life story".
everytime i play this game i play through twice, once to experience new content (ie love interests or the new parts of Royal) then the second is to experience all of futabas interactions again. i finished royal for the first time a week ago with the Switch release and when i realized what was happening in 3rd semester i immediatly felt the dread of having to tell Futaba about reality. feeling real actual heartbreak for a fictional character because she has been through enough already. P5 is such an amazing game
As someone diagnosed with ASD, I do identify with her, and its sad to hear that people like her has it worse than me. She is stronger than me, in ways as she managed to climb back to socializing with people earlier than me, something I still haven't done. I hope I can do it to one day.
Absolutely love your videos you got a fan in me
I love how she was written.
I've been working through this series since completing P5R with my sister (I can't focus on playing games half the time, so I watch, lol), and it's given me a way better understanding of the game. A lot of little details click together now that I'm learning about it through the proper context. ^u^
It’s interesting that although English is a low context language, Britain (in particular middle-class and corporate British culture) is much more like Japan in communication context. Autistic friends and family have had issues with this. You have to regularly read between the lines to discern true meaning, which most Brits do through contextual understanding. My Dad used to get into difficulty when meeting with German colleagues, and each side would take a totally different view as to how the meeting went. The Brits would counter a German proposal with “That’s an interesting idea, we’ll consider it another time” as a polite dismissal meaning “that’s a terrible idea, we’re not discussing it ever again”. Unfortunately that context would get lost in translation and the Germans would keep bringing it up until someone quietly explained it. That missing context is almost exactly like putting up a language barrier to members of society who struggle to deal with it.
When Makoto was asking questions to Futaba and Futaba just seemed to not be interested in even talking at the time I started laughing. I thought it was funny cause as someone with ASD I can be the exact same way and I have to mentally prep myself for small talk just to be passable, when I got done laughing it started to click in my head some of her behaviors. Keeping a tally of her behaviors and started to realize she was very likely on the spectrum, I realized how rough that would be for her and she quickly became one of my favorite characters.
Thank you for the video! Really well done! Help me understand Persona characters more, also helped me with my psychology project, I chose the topic of mental illness in Japan.
as someone with ASD there's a lot that I didn't even realize was happening until i was almost 18. Stuff like scaring off classmates, coming off as rude and obsessive, and being thought of as generally childish ended up messing with my self esteem a lot. The biggest challenge i faced then and face now is coming to terms with the fact that ill never be "normal" but that's ok. I found other autistic folks when I started college and I've improved a lot.
I related to Futaba so much throuout the story
as someone whos ASD this is vary important this gets out there futaba is a well written character and relatable thanks for making this video
I'm autistic, and Futaba and I definitely share a lot of struggles. Sometimes I forget that she's not outright stated to be autistic in the game, but she's extremely accurate!
I don't quite have any savant-worthy skills like she does (my memory is absolute garbage, for example, which is something a lot of autistic people without perfect memory also struggle with), but beyond that, her experience mirrors my own.
I also view Yusuke as being very autistic (specifically Asperger's, the same variety that I'm a part of) due to his mannerisms, hyperfixation on art, social difficulties, and unique way of thinking also being very relatable to me, but I haven't seen your Yusuke video yet and you probably already brought that up there 😅
the savant part is a common misconception. untrue.
As someone with ASD (was originally diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome back when that was seen as ok to give you all an idea of how mine presents itself to others) I really loved her ark about overcoming adversity whilst living with the neurodiversity and was somewhat touched by it. How she is by the end of her vanilla ark is pretty close to how I can be when I’m not masking(minus the savant syndrome, I’m not that smart ha ha and more of a creative type, with stage acting at the forefront) to put it simply growing up I was a blend of makotos sense of right and wrong and need to be useful (heck I even looked a lot like her!)and Futabas out right quirky nature with the same level of care for those close to me. I came across this game when I was pregnant with my first child and was a very strong and meaningful reminder of how far I came and to not stress about whether my child would inherit my neurodivergence (which it looks a lot like they have now there 3) that with the right amount of care they can and will have a good life. This is a message that I hold dear and nearly had my hormonal self at the time in tears of hope.
the savant part is a common misconception. untrue.
Futaba really reminds me of my friends and especially my brother, who is diagnosed. It really made me love Futaba more and I even saw her as a little sister to me because of that, and seeing her grow and overcome her troubles in her confidant line gives me hope that I can help my brother do the same. (Even if Futaba's growth was sped up to a somewhat unrealistic degree due to game time restraints, lol)
WOW!! Another great analysis video!
I have ASD and I really resonated with Futaba throughout my playthrough, but for some reason it never clicked that she could've had ASD until you mentioned it in this video, and it makes me appreciate her just that much more as a character.
Yes I can relate too. As someone with ASD I too was always picked on in school. Especially in Elementary and Middle school. People have thrown around the "R" word to me and others. But after a while I learned those words mean nothing coming from them and just have faith in who I am. Nowadays I'm a software engineer at Oracle. Go figure. ^^
Psichology student diagnosed woth ASD here. All of this is pretty accurate, and relatable for me. I do observe savant skills in myself, such as wild memory and quick learning. With the social downside, of course.
As someone who's also autistic, I do like her confidant arc. Whenever she's really enjoying herself *with* everyone else, I love her positive energy and I love to eat it up. I'm sympathetic to her mother story, and I really enjoyed how she stands up to her trauma thanks to Joker's help while empathetic to her Nuerodivergence. However when she's cold to someone, she doesn't just give them the cold shoulder, she's just a comical tech goon when it's a "boy verses girl" gag or her dynamic with Ryuji, Yusuke is really fun considering how aggressively artistic he is, which is something that I love.
Okay, I'm trying to form a coherent idea or image of her but I just realized that I barely have a clue where to start, and I only have until 12:30 to write because I need to finish an End of Grade testing for my college. Welp, I'm at the Kana part and I do like this whole thing because it is perfection, but I don't know quite how to feel about it and why? I'll get back and edit this comment later. Okay, I'm back and I've got nothing. Absolutely nothing. So, disregard everything above.
I was diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum a little over a decade ago (Asperger's Syndrome was the official diagnosis, but I don't know how valid that terminology is in today's culture), but my Mom said that the signs were there from a pretty young age. It was about a year or 2 ago when I was watching a friend play Persona 5 when they got to the point of the game that focused more on Futaba. Watching the game unfold and noticing the strange quirks/mannerisms the character had, I remembered asking my friend "Is Futaba Autistic?" I was quick to notice how her behaviors in the game bore a striking similarity to some of my own and it was shortly afterwards that I found out her VA, Erica Lindbeck, had come out saying that she'd specifically approached voicing Futaba like she was on the Autism Spectrum, which she did a phenomenal job portraying. There are plenty of celebrities nowadays who have been diagnosed as Autistic, some even being diagnosed posthumously like Stanley Kubrick, but very few fictional characters have been confirmed as being on the spectrum; whether by the creator, the actor portraying them, or the character straight up announcing it in their respective medium; and many of those who have been confirmed will often resort to outdated and/or harmful stereotypes that only continue these damaging misconceptions about the Autistic community as a whole. I never felt any of that with Futaba in Persona 5. Erica did an incredible job of capturing her strengths as well as her weaknesses, her confidence as well as her vulnerability, creating undoubtedly the best representation of an Autistic individual I've ever seen in any form of media. If I ever get to meet Erica in the near future, I'd love to personally thank her for bringing such an incredible, quirky, fun, fleshed out character like Futaba to life.
Well, as someone diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, I saw 100% of myself in Futaba. On my early years of school, I didn’t talk so much and on class, I. At 3rd grade of elementary school my classmates usually avoided me, or even looked at me like I was an alien. There was even a teen on my school bus that sometimes sprayed ammonia at me. The following years were a little bit more calm, but the damage was done. It took 4 years of therapy for me to finally make good friends and to start leaving home by myself. I am so relieved that I overcome this phase
I'm someone who was diagnosed with ASD and so I identify with futaba a lot. She is my favorite female persona character. I'm not ashamed of having ASD and I don't think anyone who has it should be ashamed. To me, it's not a curse but a blessing.
So I'm autistic but I was diagnosed with it resontly so I didn't see the signs but I can say this, I think they go to another world if they loss interstate on something.
I am not officially diagnosed, but me and my friends are suspecting it, I decided to take therapy few weeks ago and my therapist also suspects it so I am pretty certain something is on the line.
Personally I find many similarities between me and Futaba I am too socially awkward, I live as semi shut in and if metaverse was real then I am almost sure I would also have a Palace. Her's and the final Palace for me were my favorite.
But we are still not the same, even with friends I struggle to talk let alone to strangers so I probably wouldn't be a useful member of PT.
Also the scenes where she talked with her shadow were amazing, this essentially internal monologue was one of the factors that helped make the decision to take therapy in the first place.
Also one more thing that we have in common is that both of us find it easier to communicate over text than speach.
Also before this video I wouldn't connect Futaba and Autism at all, my therapist told me to search for people with ASD on internet and while this is fiction, it still should count!
Great anlysis as always!
I don't have ASD but I have friends who do. Even in vanilla P5, a lot of them identified and felt the most connected with Futaba because they felt represented and can empathize with her. Great analysis.
I'm an hight functioning autistic girl and I found futaba and Yuske to be the most reliable chsrestiers in the enter persona Serys
I’m on the spectrum however my from of autism is opposite to futaba’s, and what we mostly seen the media. Instead, my autism makes me feel my emotions to a passion more than your average person and makes me more socially aware than most people know this still has its problems as it gives me extreme social anxiety because I’m worried about not acting the way people expect me to. Ironically my twin sister has a fourth autism. That’s very much like for Thomas and futaba reminds me of her to an extreme extent because my sister is not a shut in.
Autistic person here right fast, it is so hard to talk about the weather, especially with people I care about. I at least want something more important to both me and them.
as someone with autism in america, this video made me cry and I love futaba 10000× more now
remember, america is a continent.