Amassment Message Board

Minato, Persona 3's original male protagonist, had a more introverted personality with a morbid sense of humour. In contrast, Hamuko has a more sunny and bright personality.

I saw this on your site and felt the need to make a comment about this because there's really more to the differences in the male protagonist and the female than just "they act differently." This is mostly because of gender roles at play and the need to fit the characters into roles that people can socially accept as a character that can be popular. The ideal gender role for males is quiet and introspective (no emotion) while ideally girls should be more concerned about their relationships, be cheerful, talkative, and friendly. Japan and other Eastern countries enforce these gender roles more strictly than Western cultures since the default being is male, and if girls aren't "girly", then they aren't desirable. Which is frustrating in itself.

If the female protagonist had a similar personality to the male protagonist she probably wouldn't be as well received; not just because the male protagonist already carries these traits but also because Japan (esp. the male-dominated gaming consumer market) doesn't want to see an emo, grumpy girl.

Momo wrote:

Minato, Persona 3's original male protagonist, had a more introverted personality with a morbid sense of humour. In contrast, Hamuko has a more sunny and bright personality.

I saw this on your site and felt the need to make a comment about this because there's really more to the differences in the male protagonist and the female than just "they act differently." This is mostly because of gender roles at play and the need to fit the characters into roles that people can socially accept as a character that can be popular. The ideal gender role for males is quiet and introspective (no emotion) while ideally girls should be more concerned about their relationships, be cheerful, talkative, and friendly. Japan and other Eastern countries enforce these gender roles more strictly than Western cultures since the default being is male, and if girls aren't "girly", then they aren't desirable. Which is frustrating in itself.

If the female protagonist had a similar personality to the male protagonist she probably wouldn't be as well received; not just because the male protagonist already carries these traits but also because Japan (esp. the male-dominated gaming consumer market) doesn't want to see an emo, grumpy girl.

That's actually a really interesting point that I've never thought of before. Though there are Japanese video game characters that are female and more stoic, like Lighting from Final Fantasy XIII, I definitely agree with you. Japanese feminism is so different from the Western version so I tend to stay away from the topic entirely unless I know 100% for sure what I'm talking about.

When I have some free time I'll add a blurb about that to the page, though, thank you for that tidbit of information! I really do like Hamuko's personality, but sometimes I wonder how people would react if the personalities were switched.

@Neo: Ahhh, thank you!!! I'm so finicky with my designs so I'm glad you like them. /w\

Tara, I already mentioned it on twitter. But I love it! I think its brilliant. I love hte bright an dcheery colors (they fit well with Hamuko). And I loved all the information. I actually really enjoy your thoughts on the differences between the male versus female leads. I've thought of women as more nurturing (not that men can't be, I know lots of nurturing and responsible men), so I always assumed that was why she was able to make more out of her friendships with the SEES members than Minato was. Thank you for the fun read!

Aww, thanks Snow! I'm really glad you like it!! The first layout I had done for Hamuko was greyscale but I swapped it for the one I'm using now because it just didn't seem to fit properly...

Hmm, I think that could be part of the reason though! Hamuko seems to have the same kind of motherly instincts that Mitsuru has, albeit in a different form. She's so protective of all her friends, just as they are super protective of her and it's so cute.

I know I've already told you on Twitter, but I love your shrine ;D And again, yay for Glossaries! Your shrine makes me understand the games better and hopefully, I'll find a connector to connect my PS2 to my HDTV so I can play the PS2 version. >>;;;

I don't know the character but I REALLY like your layout. :)

It's gorgeous, Tara! You have such a way with textures. :D I like how much info you provide on not only Hamuko, but Persona as well. It's very helpful to someone not familiar with the series. (Such as myself, hehe.) Nice work!

Thank you, everyone! I'm really glad I went this layout and added all the Persona information. It was a lot of fun!

@Mayumi: You should totes get a PSP... there's so many good games on that system!