i think that people only hate ken because he's a child.
now, i don't exactly have an ear to the ground on discourse these days, but ten or so years ago, i remember a lot of people hating him because he's "whiny" or "immature" or, somehow, "he killed shinjiro."
for the first two, it seems pretty clear to me that people who hold that opinion just hate ken because he's a kid. if they actually interacted with the story, they would see that after october 4th, ken is none of these things. he's barely even them before october 4th. i don't know about you, but if my mom died and no one believed me when i said i saw who did it and the only thing keeping me going was the knowledge that i was going to kill the man who took her from me one day, then i would probably act just like ken. why are people expecting maturity from a ten-year-old anyway? it's in the name. "this ten-year-old character is so immature." okay. fork found in kitchen.
and i think that these people completely ignore how different ken acts after october 4th. how he's the second member of SEES to have a persona evolution. he's the second member of SEES to decide to face forward and stop letting his past regrets dictate his life. to decide to fight in order to live, not just to seek revenge. the second. how does that not demonstrate incredible strength and maturity, much less from, as these people are so eager to point out, a child?
also, could you have marched towards almost certain death and fought against a primordial being for the slimmest promise of a future when you were ten? i couldn't have, and i was frequently called "mature" by adults at that age. people who play the game after october 4th and still refuse to see ken's HUGE growth is insane. his change is arguably one of the biggest. and he goes through it all as a child.
you even allow your hatred of ken to blind your understanding of characters like shinjiro and even akihiko. have these people ever stopped to consider why shinjiro's last request to akihiko was, "take care of him" ?? how can people not see the parallels? the biggest, most obvious one is that they're all orphans, and i'm not going to just gloss over that. the life of an orphan is extremely lonely. this is implied by ken, akihiko, shinjiro, and even the protagonist. shinjiro wants akihiko to be there for ken, because no one was ever there for them. give to him what no one ever thought to give to us. make sure his life isn't like ours. take care of him.
and the parallels between shinjiro and ken specifically are even more prevalent. have any of these people ever stopped to think about why shinjiro was warning ken on october 4th? warning ken not to turn out like him?
admittedly, in the game, i don't think this was localized as well as it could have been. what he said in japanese is more like, "if you kill me, then you'll suffer the same pain as me."
(source, but this is my own translation so take it with a gain of salt)
if you commit a murder, you'll know my pain. i don't want you doing this unless you know the consequences. i need you to be certain. i want you to kill me, but i can't let you until you know what you're getting into.
but we can analyze the localized version of it too, "if you take my life, then you're gonna end up just like me."
(source)
shinjiro already knows that ken is going down a similar path as him (self-destructive, suicidal), and shinjiro knows that it's all his fault. he has to at least try to set him down a better path. that's why he warns ken. "don't turn out like me. you don't want this pain. please kill me. i can't bear this pain either."
this brings us to the argument that "ken killed shinjiro," which can be pretty easily disproven. no, he didn't, that was takaya. plenty of video evidence out there. i personally translated 2 stage plays wherein takaya very clearly shoots shinjiro. but let's dig deeper than that, shall we?
"ken is the only reason shinjiro was there that night." that's true. but ken couldn't have known takaya would show up. the only reason takaya tried to kill ken was revenge for SEES kidnapping chidori. and SEES kidnapped chidori after she took junpei hostage during the september full moon operation. and chidori only knew about the full moon operations at all because junpei told her, because he was trying to impress her. does this make shinjiro's death junpei's fault?
nope! i actually think that shinjiro's death is his own fault. he forced his persona awakening, he killed ken's mom, and he made the choice to take the persona suppressors knowing full well that there were deadly side effects. he agreed to meet with ken on that day, at that place, during that time, knowing damn well he might not survive the night. likely even hoping for that very outcome.
shinjiro has been trying to kill himself since that fateful night two years ago. letting ken kill him, or, better yet, taking a bullet for him, gives his life more meaning. makes up for his mistakes. shinjiro dies happy. he is the only one happy about his death.
he asks ken, "isn't this what you wanted?" but it's actually what shinjiro wanted. it's what he's wanted all along.
would you truly let your hatred for ken just because he's a child rob you of your understanding of shinjiro's story? his character? his motivations?
what a truly boring way to experience this story. shinjiro sees the similarities between himself and ken. so why can't you?
i heard about how when p3p came out people were ecstatic about shinjiro getting more screen time (a social link and even a romance!!) but then being mad that maxing out his SL means he doesn't die on october 4th because it cheapens his overall impact on the story.
and on the one hand, i can see where they're coming from. shinjiro is the perfect character for his story. someone who made a grave mistake, who harbors such deep regrets they're killing him, but you don't find that out until the very end. someone who you have so much hope for because by digging just a little bit beneath the surface, he's surprisingly kind. and soft-hearted. he spoils koromaru, he falls for kotone with NO romance flags, he cares so much about everyone's nutritional health...
shinjiro is only in your party for one month, and that's nowhere near enough time with him. whether you play as kotone or makoto, you will always end september with more questions about shinjiro than the game could ever answer.
so his loss hits just as hard as it's supposed to. he could have been so much more, then he's suddenly just gone. and he's never coming back. and that's something that all of S.E.E.S. (and subsequently, we, the audience) is forced to come to terms with. it ties into the overall theme of persona 3, living your life so you have no regrets when you die.
so like yes, as a writer and media enjoyer i understand why shinjiro's story is perfect, from a narrative standpoint.
but like. i love him. i don't want him to die. and i actually think that it's crueler--to him--if he lives. if he survives. if he recovers. he lives long enough to see kotone, the girl he loves, and right after he sees her again, he loses her.
and then he's just stuck. the dark hour is gone, so castor won't be coming around to try to kill him anymore. there's no reason to keep taking the drugs. he's young, he could recover from them.
but all that means is that he can't die anymore. he can't look forward to his own death. he can't expect his death to fix everything. he has to do it himself now.
but his death already did fix everything, for everyone but him. everyone in S.E.E.S. has been through so much since he fell into his coma. they've all learned how to move forward no matter what. they've all risked everything to fight for the chance at having a future.
shinjiro didn't. without kotone, he has nothing. nothing to look forward to, nothing to work towards. aki doesn't need him anymore. none of S.E.E.S. does. he's alone.
and if there's a version of the answer in kotone's universe, and he's involved, then that essentially forces him to learn everything S.E.E.S. spent the past year learning: how drawing strength from your friends gives you the power to move forward no matter what. that is, of course, assuming shinjiro loses the fight to aigis.
but let's say he doesn't. let's say he wins, and he takes the keys, and goes back in time. having learned nothing, falling back into the same patterns as not only before he was shot, but before he even joined S.E.E.S. pretending like he's moving forward when he's just avoiding dealing with it. lying to himself, just like akihiko was.
those are both such interesting outcomes.
but whenever i argue for them, whenever i argue that it's more interesting narratively if shinjiro survives, i honestly just feel like this:
a short junpei and shinjiro scene, vaguely set in early september.
(sorry to have to explain the bit but since this is literally just my hc - i tend to assume junpei's father smokes heavily in addition to his drinking problem, and now that he's out in the dorms, junpei finds himself slightly annoyed by the smell of cigarette smoke.)
a short junpei and shinjiro scene, vaguely set in early september.
(sorry to have to explain the bit but since this is literally just my hc - i tend to assume junpei's father smokes heavily in addition to his drinking problem, and now that he's out in the dorms, junpei finds himself slightly annoyed by the smell of cigarette smoke.)
Something I love about Yusuke is he never judges others for their uniqueness or who they are. He understands and supports others who experiment and express themselves in unique ways, much like he does, and he tries his best to support them if he’s ever asked for help.
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