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i do not have a ton to say about this part, but it's been a while so maybe it's better to ease into this anyway. i did get this dialogue the morning of the dungeon run:
it's cute how he opens up so readily and easily to souji. i'm not even saying that with the ship goggles on! they are genuinely really cute friends and it's so sweet how yosuke trusts souji even this early on.
[puts the ship goggles back on] anyway,
the only thing of note that happens before the fight is that yosuke is the one to tell yukiko not to say the thing.
after the fight, yosuke is the first one to try and comfort yukiko, before chie steps in to have her emotional moment with her girlfriend best friend. having had a little practice already with chie, yosuke has gotten a little more adept at saying the right thing here. i've said it before, but he's an empathetic guy. he feels for and cares about yukiko.
teddie has tried to explain what he knows, but he doesn't quite know how to communicate the foreign concepts of the shadow world to these human teenagers. here's where yosuke starts to get it, though. he's the first one to really start to understand, even though his wording is a bit hesitant because he's not 100% sure here.
i have said it before and i will say it again: yosuke is not stupid. he's emotionally stunted at times, puts his foot in his mouth constantly, and isn't academically talented, but he's not stupid. he grasps most of the concepts of the shadow world faster than anyone else, and before naoto shows up, he's straight up the smartest guy in the room most of the time. i mean, personally, i think souji is academically talented and can ace most schoolwork no problem. he's not emotionally dense either. even so, yosuke is the one to put things together first in the early game, which makes sense from a gameplay standpoint (easier to have characters posit answers than make the player guess every time), but is still an intriguing character choice.
like, i've known people who mock the idea that he's the "brains of the IT", which i think is introduced as a concept in arena. and sure, he's not as brilliant as naoto, but he's the IDEAS MAN. he IS the brains before naoto arrives.
i do in fact have a save file (two, actually) on 4/20 (lol), which is very soon after starting yukiko's dungeon. so i never did overwrite or otherwise use those files.
i believe i have all the mods i want:
...but reloaded did throw an error despite the game launching, so i might have to mess with it.
here's hoping i can actually get this rolling soon.
the s-link cheat sheet and compatibility patch are OUT because they were throwing the error. the patch wants the full version of the romance mod but that isn't the version i'm using :V i could probably fix it but it's fine
also got rid of old version mods (mod loader and tiny fixes) and probably classic atlus logo is going as well. it was only so i could tell my mods were working, but it's old and therefore isn't working anyway...
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i do in fact have a save file (two, actually) on 4/20 (lol), which is very soon after starting yukiko's dungeon. so i never did overwrite or otherwise use those files.
i believe i have all the mods i want:
...but reloaded did throw an error despite the game launching, so i might have to mess with it.
here's hoping i can actually get this rolling soon.
the s-link cheat sheet and compatibility patch are OUT because they were throwing the error. the patch wants the full version of the romance mod but that isn't the version i'm using :V i could probably fix it but it's fine
also got rid of old version mods (mod loader and tiny fixes) and probably classic atlus logo is going as well. it was only so i could tell my mods were working, but it's old and therefore isn't working anyway...
i do in fact have a save file (two, actually) on 4/20 (lol), which is very soon after starting yukiko's dungeon. so i never did overwrite or otherwise use those files.
i believe i have all the mods i want:
...but reloaded did throw an error despite the game launching, so i might have to mess with it.
here's hoping i can actually get this rolling soon.
my original plan was to speedrun yosuke's s-link, essentially, but the more i think about it, the less i want to do that. this is about the romance mod, but it's also just about yosuke, who was you may recall is a main character and features throughout the game.
so new plan: i am going to play as normal, handling other party members' s-links as they come, and probably wrap yosuke's up in summer or fall. i want there to be plenty of room to talk about him in the plot, as well as not go through every rank of his s-link in rapid succession. plus, since he and souji will technically be dating once i conclude it, it'll probably better to save that for later in the year.
i've reread all my posts and hopefully can continue with the general tone i set. i need to actually open up my laptop and check what all i had capped before i stopped, and make sure the save file is still there, bc if it's not i'm gonna have some catching up to do... i don't THINK i overwrote it but anxiety is making me consider the possibility. i will for sure do that catching up if necessary though. metayos will continue!
think i will actually for real continue the save file this time. i am giving myself a week to actually get my shit in gear and write about the next part
big thanks to the yosuke fans and souyoers who keep encouraging me to come back... ilu guys
metayos back in action to remind all you p4g modders to go into steam, right click p4g, select "properties", then "updates", then set it to only update when you launch the game; from now on make sure to only launch through reloaded II so it doesn't update!
why? because the game is getting a huge update soon that will break all your mods, including the yosuke romance mod!
so change your update settings if you want to keep modding the game, and keep an eye on gamebanana and known modders to see if there's ever a fix/workaround!
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On Yosuke's Homophobia, and Why I Think It Fits The Narrative
so i've talked before a bit about yosuke's feelings and motivations, and i've mentioned before that i downloaded the version of the mod that didn't include the camp scene changes. i want to explain why that is. i also want to cover how i think golden butchered some of yosuke's character.
all scenes mentioned will be dived into deeper when i get to them in the playthrough!
part i: yosuke is closeted
yosuke has a romance route. not just the lovely mod i will be covering on this blog, but code hardwired into the vanilla game that, while incomplete, paints a stark picture of the original intentions of his character. you see, in yosuke's romance route, he was supposed to come to grips with the fact that he's in love with souji, and to quote him directly, he "didn't realize [he] had such heat inside". i think this line is really important because it establishes that he didn't KNOW he could feel this way, so strongly, so powerfully.
i also think he didn't know he could love men at all. i think souji was supposed to open his eyes in this cut romance route, and i think, if we could see even a fraction of the dialogue and choices originally planned for these scenes, it would go far in portraying yosuke as someone who behaved poorly because he was afraid. not of kanji being untoward, but of being gay himself.
why is this? personally, i headcanon a bigoted father in his life, but we don't even need to go that far. think about it: he's a seventeen-year-old in the year 2011, in japan. he's not exactly living in an extremely understanding time or society. add in that he is queer and confused about it, and you have a perfect storm of potential bigotry to defend himself from his own feelings.
part ii: the narrative purpose of yosuke's homophobia
a lot of people claim yosuke's homophobia is a pointless addition to the story. i think in certain parts it's way more aggressive than ever called for, but that doesn't mean it serves no purpose. in fact, i think it serves a vital purpose: demonstrating how far he's willing to go to distance himself from something he's afraid of.
in vanilla persona 4, yosuke's most egregious bigotry is during the camping scene. there are very few other examples, and most of what exists is during kanji's dungeon. after that, we get maybe a few scattered comments--largely directed at, you guessed it, kanji--and then the group date, and then the crossdressing. nothing beats the camping trip in terms of sheer vitriol, and i think there's a reason for that.
after kanji's dungeon, yosuke doesn't understand what he's just seen (and to be fair, most players don't, either). kanji wants to be accepted, regardless of his interests or hobbies; he's scared of girls not because he's gay, but because girls tend to judge him extremely harshly. he works through this after confronting his shadow, and leads an amicable relationship with all his female friends. his effeminate shadow was a reflection of what he felt he was supposed to be ashamed of--not a secret harboring for dick.
yosuke doesn't get all that. he's too scared. he's just watched a man confront his inherent femininity in a way that came across as very homoerotic. the homoeroticism hit so close to home that yosuke was consumed by it, ignorant of the surrounding elements. this caused him to lash out as kanji first began to seek companionship with him and souji.
yosuke thinks being gay is bad, and wrong, and scary, and he projects upon kanji all his fears: are other boys safe with him, if he likes them? (is souji safe with him?) when kanji reacts violently to the accusation, yosuke pushing buttons kanji has just worked so painstakingly to deal with, yosuke tries to deescalate the situation without backing down from his stance. he can't show weakness here--if anyone knows he's okay with someone being gay, they might think he's gay, and that would be bad. again, society and ignorance have tempered yosuke's views into a sharp and dangerous point.
however, what's significant to me is after the fact: yosuke never behaves like this again.
the next time he brings up kanji's supposed gayness, it's in a light, joking manner that shows no fear at all. he doesn't want it to be a serious issue; he's just teasing, trying to mend bridges the only way he knows how (and kanji's far past it by then anyway). he knows he put kanji in danger, and knows he went too far, in my opinion. he realized he was being too aggressive towards someone he considers a friend, and no amount of fear is worth that to him.
compare and contrast with the group date scene: specifically, the version where you "boldly sit on the girl's side". you can flirt openly with yosuke, and while he gets extremely flustered, he's never mean. it doesn't change his opinion of souji, maybe because he thinks it's all a joke, or maybe--more importantly--because souji is his best friend. yosuke doesn't want to drive a wedge between them, and wants to brush the experience off as souji playing games, because then everything stays normal and fine. he's not trying to push souji away, like he tried to push kanji away during camping. he may not think souji is gay, but more importantly, he learned a lesson about being so vitriolic over the topic. maybe he thinks it calls more attention to himself if he's so aggressive... or maybe he feels remorse. regardless, he and kanji get on well for most of the game.
in the crossdressing pageant, yosuke does an... admirable job. he does a little falsetto, chides souji for being so comfortable, and otherwise is focused on himself and how embarrassed he is. i think he's so focused on how he must look to everyone that he doesn't care what's going on with the other boys. he wants to do a good job--hence the falsetto--but he's also humiliated. he can't joke his way out of the situation, and it shows.
yosuke's homophobia can definitely be a joke, but i find it to serve narrative purpose as well, in that in tells a story of who he is as a person... and demonstrates how he can move beyond it. and what would have been the perfect event to bookend this arc?
his romance, of course.
part iii: golden cocked it all up (kinda)
i like golden's gameplay changes, and i like adachi's s-link. that's about it. the "up close and personal" stuff pisses me off SO MUCH because it's in direct opposition to things yosuke says during his fucking s-link. remember when he's kind of rambling to nanako in souji's room and he says he's "not looking" for a relationship right now? remember that? golden sure doesn't!
as well as that, there are a handful of scenes added that have yosuke make homophobic jokes that don't align properly with his arc. i can't name any off the top of my head--only been through golden up to naoto's dungeon and only once, so far--but i know they're in there. overall, golden paints yosuke more as an aggressive and cocky asshole, and only by adding scenes... however, i have to give credit where it's due: golden didn't mess everything up. the nighttime talks with yosuke are largely a delight and fit well with his character. (i think the romance mod edits some of them but thus far i've only seen base game ones.) also when he defensively tells marie he's souji's partner, i love that.
the "up close and personal" crap bothers me the most, seconded by how aggressive yosuke is to teddie in some of the new scenes. he and teddie are friends; yosuke doesn't hate him. but that's a rant for later.
point is, golden's additions largely treat yosuke's homophobia as a joke, where in vanilla, while it did happen, it also serves narrative purpose for him to be that way.
part iv: wrapping up
i know homophobia is a sore subject for a lot of us, being queer people ourselves. i know it's not fun to see a character you love act so vile. i understand. but i really think that yosuke's literal fear of gayness adds to his character, rather than detract from it. it's just a half-told story, because his romance route was ultimately cut--there's no payoff to his bigotry. there's only the events happening, and then... the game goes on. yosuke never confronts those feelings or realizes anything about himself in an open way.
however, as a writer, artist, and avid roleplayer, i love to explore yosuke as if this were a fully-fleshed character trait. i love to delve deep into his emotions and motivations and come away with ways for him to move beyond his fears. i hope in writing this short essay i've opened some of you up to more critically examining his character and, rather than condemning him for his faults, searching his personality and actions for explanations and purpose in the things he does.
i think persona 4 is a very, very well-written game. i think there's a lot of nuance and a lot under the surface that people can't or refuse to see. i think the game deserves more meta commentary, and i hope to fill some of that niche with my deep dive into one hanamura yosuke.
i want to make a few comments here, after getting some feedback. or, more aptly, i need to make something clear: i never said yosuke's homophobia was justified. what i said was that it adds to the story of his character, especially in a world where we consider the romance route a canonical intention.
yosuke's blatant bigotry is not a good thing. it's not something we should lift up. it's an ugly character flaw, and serves to make him very unsympathetic at times. i thought we all already knew that, so i didn't go over it in my original post.
homophobia isn't good. like... obviously. this is a blog discussing the yosuke romance mod and yosuke's inherent queer coding. you think i like him being a bigot? no, my point is that it serves to further the narrative.
good people can do bad things. persona is NOT a black and white series. if you can excuse yosuke trying to murder a man, surely you can understand that him being scared of something he doesn't understand is also permissible as a story beat?
i understand that it's usually played for jokes, and yes, i know about hashino. i also think that interpreting character flaws as serviceable story beats is way more fun than simply accepting things i don't like about it. (shrugs) i never said you had to agree with me, and if you don't, that's fine!
just maybe disagree politely? or just block and move on? i don't have the mental energy to deal with people being rude.
On Yosuke's Homophobia, and Why I Think It Fits The Narrative
so i've talked before a bit about yosuke's feelings and motivations, and i've mentioned before that i downloaded the version of the mod that didn't include the camp scene changes. i want to explain why that is. i also want to cover how i think golden butchered some of yosuke's character.
all scenes mentioned will be dived into deeper when i get to them in the playthrough!
part i: yosuke is closeted
yosuke has a romance route. not just the lovely mod i will be covering on this blog, but code hardwired into the vanilla game that, while incomplete, paints a stark picture of the original intentions of his character. you see, in yosuke's romance route, he was supposed to come to grips with the fact that he's in love with souji, and to quote him directly, he "didn't realize [he] had such heat inside". i think this line is really important because it establishes that he didn't KNOW he could feel this way, so strongly, so powerfully.
i also think he didn't know he could love men at all. i think souji was supposed to open his eyes in this cut romance route, and i think, if we could see even a fraction of the dialogue and choices originally planned for these scenes, it would go far in portraying yosuke as someone who behaved poorly because he was afraid. not of kanji being untoward, but of being gay himself.
why is this? personally, i headcanon a bigoted father in his life, but we don't even need to go that far. think about it: he's a seventeen-year-old in the year 2011, in japan. he's not exactly living in an extremely understanding time or society. add in that he is queer and confused about it, and you have a perfect storm of potential bigotry to defend himself from his own feelings.
part ii: the narrative purpose of yosuke's homophobia
a lot of people claim yosuke's homophobia is a pointless addition to the story. i think in certain parts it's way more aggressive than ever called for, but that doesn't mean it serves no purpose. in fact, i think it serves a vital purpose: demonstrating how far he's willing to go to distance himself from something he's afraid of.
in vanilla persona 4, yosuke's most egregious bigotry is during the camping scene. there are very few other examples, and most of what exists is during kanji's dungeon. after that, we get maybe a few scattered comments--largely directed at, you guessed it, kanji--and then the group date, and then the crossdressing. nothing beats the camping trip in terms of sheer vitriol, and i think there's a reason for that.
after kanji's dungeon, yosuke doesn't understand what he's just seen (and to be fair, most players don't, either). kanji wants to be accepted, regardless of his interests or hobbies; he's scared of girls not because he's gay, but because girls tend to judge him extremely harshly. he works through this after confronting his shadow, and leads an amicable relationship with all his female friends. his effeminate shadow was a reflection of what he felt he was supposed to be ashamed of--not a secret harboring for dick.
yosuke doesn't get all that. he's too scared. he's just watched a man confront his inherent femininity in a way that came across as very homoerotic. the homoeroticism hit so close to home that yosuke was consumed by it, ignorant of the surrounding elements. this caused him to lash out as kanji first began to seek companionship with him and souji.
yosuke thinks being gay is bad, and wrong, and scary, and he projects upon kanji all his fears: are other boys safe with him, if he likes them? (is souji safe with him?) when kanji reacts violently to the accusation, yosuke pushing buttons kanji has just worked so painstakingly to deal with, yosuke tries to deescalate the situation without backing down from his stance. he can't show weakness here--if anyone knows he's okay with someone being gay, they might think he's gay, and that would be bad. again, society and ignorance have tempered yosuke's views into a sharp and dangerous point.
however, what's significant to me is after the fact: yosuke never behaves like this again.
the next time he brings up kanji's supposed gayness, it's in a light, joking manner that shows no fear at all. he doesn't want it to be a serious issue; he's just teasing, trying to mend bridges the only way he knows how (and kanji's far past it by then anyway). he knows he put kanji in danger, and knows he went too far, in my opinion. he realized he was being too aggressive towards someone he considers a friend, and no amount of fear is worth that to him.
compare and contrast with the group date scene: specifically, the version where you "boldly sit on the girl's side". you can flirt openly with yosuke, and while he gets extremely flustered, he's never mean. it doesn't change his opinion of souji, maybe because he thinks it's all a joke, or maybe--more importantly--because souji is his best friend. yosuke doesn't want to drive a wedge between them, and wants to brush the experience off as souji playing games, because then everything stays normal and fine. he's not trying to push souji away, like he tried to push kanji away during camping. he may not think souji is gay, but more importantly, he learned a lesson about being so vitriolic over the topic. maybe he thinks it calls more attention to himself if he's so aggressive... or maybe he feels remorse. regardless, he and kanji get on well for most of the game.
in the crossdressing pageant, yosuke does an... admirable job. he does a little falsetto, chides souji for being so comfortable, and otherwise is focused on himself and how embarrassed he is. i think he's so focused on how he must look to everyone that he doesn't care what's going on with the other boys. he wants to do a good job--hence the falsetto--but he's also humiliated. he can't joke his way out of the situation, and it shows.
yosuke's homophobia can definitely be a joke, but i find it to serve narrative purpose as well, in that in tells a story of who he is as a person... and demonstrates how he can move beyond it. and what would have been the perfect event to bookend this arc?
his romance, of course.
part iii: golden cocked it all up (kinda)
i like golden's gameplay changes, and i like adachi's s-link. that's about it. the "up close and personal" stuff pisses me off SO MUCH because it's in direct opposition to things yosuke says during his fucking s-link. remember when he's kind of rambling to nanako in souji's room and he says he's "not looking" for a relationship right now? remember that? golden sure doesn't!
as well as that, there are a handful of scenes added that have yosuke make homophobic jokes that don't align properly with his arc. i can't name any off the top of my head--only been through golden up to naoto's dungeon and only once, so far--but i know they're in there. overall, golden paints yosuke more as an aggressive and cocky asshole, and only by adding scenes... however, i have to give credit where it's due: golden didn't mess everything up. the nighttime talks with yosuke are largely a delight and fit well with his character. (i think the romance mod edits some of them but thus far i've only seen base game ones.) also when he defensively tells marie he's souji's partner, i love that.
the "up close and personal" crap bothers me the most, seconded by how aggressive yosuke is to teddie in some of the new scenes. he and teddie are friends; yosuke doesn't hate him. but that's a rant for later.
point is, golden's additions largely treat yosuke's homophobia as a joke, where in vanilla, while it did happen, it also serves narrative purpose for him to be that way.
part iv: wrapping up
i know homophobia is a sore subject for a lot of us, being queer people ourselves. i know it's not fun to see a character you love act so vile. i understand. but i really think that yosuke's literal fear of gayness adds to his character, rather than detract from it. it's just a half-told story, because his romance route was ultimately cut--there's no payoff to his bigotry. there's only the events happening, and then... the game goes on. yosuke never confronts those feelings or realizes anything about himself in an open way.
however, as a writer, artist, and avid roleplayer, i love to explore yosuke as if this were a fully-fleshed character trait. i love to delve deep into his emotions and motivations and come away with ways for him to move beyond his fears. i hope in writing this short essay i've opened some of you up to more critically examining his character and, rather than condemning him for his faults, searching his personality and actions for explanations and purpose in the things he does.
i think persona 4 is a very, very well-written game. i think there's a lot of nuance and a lot under the surface that people can't or refuse to see. i think the game deserves more meta commentary, and i hope to fill some of that niche with my deep dive into one hanamura yosuke.
Extremely good post. I would like to add another point to consider that I think is important here:
Yosuke clearly is clearly trying hard to live up to society's (toxic) ideals of what it's like to be a teenage boy
Even if we bracket his sexuality, and how he acts around Kanji, there are so many scenes where it shines through that Yosuke is constantly thinking about What It's Like To Be A Teenage Boy, in particular around the high school experience he is supposed to have. That is, he's supposed to have a lot of cool friends, be popular, have fun unique experiences, and get a girlfriend.
He is weirdly pushy whenever an opportunity for one of these comes up. Him being dismissive of his friendship with Chie and Yukiko who are his closest friends but Not The Kind Of Friend A Teenage Boy Should Have (other popular boys), him objectifying Rise and talking about getting to date her, him wanting to get scooters with Souji so they're independent, him setting up the "get someone's phone number challenge", him being very animated about them going to the beach together etc.
There is always this insistent vibe about it, with the implication that he has a clear idea that these things should happen to him and how they should go. They usually don't, and the game often uses his disappointment to turn him into the butt of a joke.
These are fairly typical social expectations for boys and they are fairly typical things for boys in fiction to want. What makes this resonate even more with Yosuke as a character is that a) he knows he isn't really the kind of guy who can live up these expectations, and b) he already is ostracised due to the fact that he's the "new kid", unpopular due to how Junes coming to town affected the residents, and losing a lot of time doing a degrading customer service job. He knows he isn't cool or popular or manly or really has any outstanding traits to offer to draw people to him. So he is compensating hard, adopting a fake it till you make it approach and being extremely defensive about any situation that would highlight these flaws. Conversely, he is putting a lot of effort into making the things he wants happen anyway, even if he has to unnaturally force them, which of course doesn't work.
This brings us to the last point in the list he wants, girls. I think Yosuke (thinks he) really wants a girlfriend. Getting a girlfriend would prove that he has all the things he is worried about not having. Now I don't want to contradict OP in their own post, and I am not sure if they meant by "Yosuke is gay" that is he attracted to boys, or that he is exclusively attracted to boys. I personally think Yosuke is bi, and is genuinely attracted to girls. But I think this angle works either way, because getting a girlfriend is less about being attracted to girls (much less any specific girl - it's pretty telling when he zeroes in on Rise, who is someone where there exist lots of marketing to tell everyone that you should be attracted to her) but rather the idea of having a girlfriend, and the affirmation it would give him. This is probably something that is super deeply ingrained into his brain as a goal: "If only I had a girlfriend, that would show that I am worth something, and wouldn't make my highschool years wasted" (not that he would ever admit that to himself in those words).
It's just as much about having a girlfriend who likes him, but also showing to the outside world that he is likable because he has a girlfriend.
None of this would work if he was gay, or being seen dating boys. This is 2011 Japan. There is no social prestige to be gained by being known to be gay (or bi), much to the contrary that would just mean even further ostracisation and would put basically everything he is picturing about his life at risk. Even Yosuke himself shows that he is the idea in his head that gay people deserve to be ridiculed at best, and may be seen as potential predators. While I don't think he actively believes that, it's clear those ideas are in his head, and he knows that that's what society overall thinks.
Coming out as gay would mean the exact opposite of what he has wanted his life to look like for so long. Of course he is aggressively opposed to the idea.
i actually do think yosuke being bi works fine, i waffle back and forth on whether i think that's the case or he's just gay. either way i think it works narratively--he likes boys, and he's afraid of it. whether he genuinely likes girls too or has simply convinced himself that he does, he's so afraid of the boy part that it crowds out his ability to juts chill and do what he actually wants to be doing.
On Yosuke's Homophobia, and Why I Think It Fits The Narrative
so i've talked before a bit about yosuke's feelings and motivations, and i've mentioned before that i downloaded the version of the mod that didn't include the camp scene changes. i want to explain why that is. i also want to cover how i think golden butchered some of yosuke's character.
all scenes mentioned will be dived into deeper when i get to them in the playthrough!
part i: yosuke is closeted
yosuke has a romance route. not just the lovely mod i will be covering on this blog, but code hardwired into the vanilla game that, while incomplete, paints a stark picture of the original intentions of his character. you see, in yosuke's romance route, he was supposed to come to grips with the fact that he's in love with souji, and to quote him directly, he "didn't realize [he] had such heat inside". i think this line is really important because it establishes that he didn't KNOW he could feel this way, so strongly, so powerfully.
i also think he didn't know he could love men at all. i think souji was supposed to open his eyes in this cut romance route, and i think, if we could see even a fraction of the dialogue and choices originally planned for these scenes, it would go far in portraying yosuke as someone who behaved poorly because he was afraid. not of kanji being untoward, but of being gay himself.
why is this? personally, i headcanon a bigoted father in his life, but we don't even need to go that far. think about it: he's a seventeen-year-old in the year 2011, in japan. he's not exactly living in an extremely understanding time or society. add in that he is queer and confused about it, and you have a perfect storm of potential bigotry to defend himself from his own feelings.
part ii: the narrative purpose of yosuke's homophobia
a lot of people claim yosuke's homophobia is a pointless addition to the story. i think in certain parts it's way more aggressive than ever called for, but that doesn't mean it serves no purpose. in fact, i think it serves a vital purpose: demonstrating how far he's willing to go to distance himself from something he's afraid of.
in vanilla persona 4, yosuke's most egregious bigotry is during the camping scene. there are very few other examples, and most of what exists is during kanji's dungeon. after that, we get maybe a few scattered comments--largely directed at, you guessed it, kanji--and then the group date, and then the crossdressing. nothing beats the camping trip in terms of sheer vitriol, and i think there's a reason for that.
after kanji's dungeon, yosuke doesn't understand what he's just seen (and to be fair, most players don't, either). kanji wants to be accepted, regardless of his interests or hobbies; he's scared of girls not because he's gay, but because girls tend to judge him extremely harshly. he works through this after confronting his shadow, and leads an amicable relationship with all his female friends. his effeminate shadow was a reflection of what he felt he was supposed to be ashamed of--not a secret harboring for dick.
yosuke doesn't get all that. he's too scared. he's just watched a man confront his inherent femininity in a way that came across as very homoerotic. the homoeroticism hit so close to home that yosuke was consumed by it, ignorant of the surrounding elements. this caused him to lash out as kanji first began to seek companionship with him and souji.
yosuke thinks being gay is bad, and wrong, and scary, and he projects upon kanji all his fears: are other boys safe with him, if he likes them? (is souji safe with him?) when kanji reacts violently to the accusation, yosuke pushing buttons kanji has just worked so painstakingly to deal with, yosuke tries to deescalate the situation without backing down from his stance. he can't show weakness here--if anyone knows he's okay with someone being gay, they might think he's gay, and that would be bad. again, society and ignorance have tempered yosuke's views into a sharp and dangerous point.
however, what's significant to me is after the fact: yosuke never behaves like this again.
the next time he brings up kanji's supposed gayness, it's in a light, joking manner that shows no fear at all. he doesn't want it to be a serious issue; he's just teasing, trying to mend bridges the only way he knows how (and kanji's far past it by then anyway). he knows he put kanji in danger, and knows he went too far, in my opinion. he realized he was being too aggressive towards someone he considers a friend, and no amount of fear is worth that to him.
compare and contrast with the group date scene: specifically, the version where you "boldly sit on the girl's side". you can flirt openly with yosuke, and while he gets extremely flustered, he's never mean. it doesn't change his opinion of souji, maybe because he thinks it's all a joke, or maybe--more importantly--because souji is his best friend. yosuke doesn't want to drive a wedge between them, and wants to brush the experience off as souji playing games, because then everything stays normal and fine. he's not trying to push souji away, like he tried to push kanji away during camping. he may not think souji is gay, but more importantly, he learned a lesson about being so vitriolic over the topic. maybe he thinks it calls more attention to himself if he's so aggressive... or maybe he feels remorse. regardless, he and kanji get on well for most of the game.
in the crossdressing pageant, yosuke does an... admirable job. he does a little falsetto, chides souji for being so comfortable, and otherwise is focused on himself and how embarrassed he is. i think he's so focused on how he must look to everyone that he doesn't care what's going on with the other boys. he wants to do a good job--hence the falsetto--but he's also humiliated. he can't joke his way out of the situation, and it shows.
yosuke's homophobia can definitely be a joke, but i find it to serve narrative purpose as well, in that in tells a story of who he is as a person... and demonstrates how he can move beyond it. and what would have been the perfect event to bookend this arc?
his romance, of course.
part iii: golden cocked it all up (kinda)
i like golden's gameplay changes, and i like adachi's s-link. that's about it. the "up close and personal" stuff pisses me off SO MUCH because it's in direct opposition to things yosuke says during his fucking s-link. remember when he's kind of rambling to nanako in souji's room and he says he's "not looking" for a relationship right now? remember that? golden sure doesn't!
as well as that, there are a handful of scenes added that have yosuke make homophobic jokes that don't align properly with his arc. i can't name any off the top of my head--only been through golden up to naoto's dungeon and only once, so far--but i know they're in there. overall, golden paints yosuke more as an aggressive and cocky asshole, and only by adding scenes... however, i have to give credit where it's due: golden didn't mess everything up. the nighttime talks with yosuke are largely a delight and fit well with his character. (i think the romance mod edits some of them but thus far i've only seen base game ones.) also when he defensively tells marie he's souji's partner, i love that.
the "up close and personal" crap bothers me the most, seconded by how aggressive yosuke is to teddie in some of the new scenes. he and teddie are friends; yosuke doesn't hate him. but that's a rant for later.
point is, golden's additions largely treat yosuke's homophobia as a joke, where in vanilla, while it did happen, it also serves narrative purpose for him to be that way.
part iv: wrapping up
i know homophobia is a sore subject for a lot of us, being queer people ourselves. i know it's not fun to see a character you love act so vile. i understand. but i really think that yosuke's literal fear of gayness adds to his character, rather than detract from it. it's just a half-told story, because his romance route was ultimately cut--there's no payoff to his bigotry. there's only the events happening, and then... the game goes on. yosuke never confronts those feelings or realizes anything about himself in an open way.
however, as a writer, artist, and avid roleplayer, i love to explore yosuke as if this were a fully-fleshed character trait. i love to delve deep into his emotions and motivations and come away with ways for him to move beyond his fears. i hope in writing this short essay i've opened some of you up to more critically examining his character and, rather than condemning him for his faults, searching his personality and actions for explanations and purpose in the things he does.
i think persona 4 is a very, very well-written game. i think there's a lot of nuance and a lot under the surface that people can't or refuse to see. i think the game deserves more meta commentary, and i hope to fill some of that niche with my deep dive into one hanamura yosuke.
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