Yuuta achieved what many of the antagonists in P4 failed: beating the ever loving shit out of Yu. And that was with his bare goddamn hands. Imagine if this small child had a Persona? He'd become an unstoppable force. I fear this small child more than anything else in the Persona universe.
I’m a huge fan of the idea of younger side characters from older games growing into main characters of newer games, and with how cool it’d be to see Nanako again, having this portraitless kid from the most forgettable social link in the series show up instead would be hilarious.
iirc in the anime (dont remember if its the original or the golden) eri gets knocked unconscious during the summer festival and needs to be treated by sayoko. this really dramatic moment leads yuuta to outwardly express how much he cares and how worried he is, which manages to wrap up this entire 10-rank problem in a scene thats like 5 minutes long.
It's worth mentioning that the "Half of all marriages in the US end in divorce" statistic doesn't actually mean every other person is or will be divorced. I don't know the exact numbers, but the statistic specifically relates to "marriages." This means that someone who remarries and then divorces again will pump that statistic up and, as it so happens, people who divorce at least once are highly likely to divorce several times after that. The number of PEOPLE who are divorced isn't half of all Americans, is what I'm getting at.
Another interesting tidbit about this in regards to Japan is, that alot of japanese divorces occur after long marriages, specifically at the start of retirement of the main breadwinner. Japanese companies keep their employees (especially in the case of office-workers) around after work, not just for overtime but also for going drinking with the boss in the evenings. The drinking is not technically reqired but basically mandatory from a social perspective and from a career-standpoint. This leads to spouses seeing each other extremely rarely (like one day a week for which they are absolutely exhausted). When retirement comes around, they are suddenly faced with each other 24/7. As a result married couples notice that they don't really know each other anymore, leading to divorce at high ages being common.
@@gilroyscopa That's a good point. I heard there's a social stigma against divorce so I thought divorces might be less common. Of course, it's possible that Yuuta's mother is dead.
@@mortiphasm5597 That is a possibility. If they confirmed it, it would have been interesting. Like some sort of overbearing shadow of a person who is so fondly remembered and Eri is now facing everyone who knew the previous wife. She didn't even know about Yuuta until near the wedding. If anything, it sounds more like the husband wanted a mother for Yuuta and went "There we go". I mean, if Eri was from another country as well, I reckon all the social stigmas would be even more present.
Funnily enough, I’m pretty sure she’s the only social link exclusive character to show up in a spin-off, since she’s in the background of a p4 arena cutscene
@@wrrrryyyy12 sojiro is in strikers but he’s also an important story character in same regards akin to say Dojima, whereas Eri is meaningless to the games story.
Shu was runner up for "forgettable social link"? I actually really liked him. Probably because I'm Asian so the whole thing with self-worth being contingent on your grades was a lot more relatable to me.
I liked it a lot too. The Moment where Yosuke brings everyone to celebrate Shu's Birthday was one of my favourite Moments in the game. So wholesome and as someone who rarely had friends in school, I really felt happy for the kid.
Nah, that teacher is pretty realistic. I've had teachers who would spend the class telling everyone about how they'd all die in pier as drug addicts rather than teach the class.
@@skunthundler Yeah, over here (in a certain SEA country) the relationship between teachers and students is oddly more... parental, or at least akin to a guardianship while at school kind of setup. Having respect for people older than you being part of the culture also helps, because it at least inclines the teacher to reciprocate the respect, while teachers who don't are generally seen as a bit odd and unlikable even among the school staff, not just the student body.
@@eonnephilim852haaa we have same region but mine... Now a days, kid has too many protection from government to realize even the government try to kill the braincells of the new gen and only those who think smarter will prevail but the thing is!!!! Only 5 percent students in his/her year are will. And this bad! One example: our recent president plan is giving free lunch for kids all of it from daycare to middle but here's the thing, the menu aren't that worth to be called nutritious bruh let's just say one of the menu is siomay!!! Like dude you know that not every kid in every province has similar pallette. Even so, kid this day respect? Haha, now they controlling us if we don't show intention of killing to intimidate them😅
She's also annoyingly slow to rank up. Not only does her availability suck, but her dialogue options don't give many points, and the only other way to raise her rank is by shrine fortunes. It's a Social Link that requires a lot of effort for a very mediocre character arc.
It always bugged me how her child didn't have a portrait. How am I supposed to treat someone as a human being in Persona if their text boxes are just text?
I was litrally doing some writing and tried coming up with some names they haven't used yet and used the name eri thinking they never used it. I was so sad
As someone with divorced parents who have both remarried Eri reminded me of how thin my relationship my own step mom so this gave me the incentive to forge a stronger bond so even though I don’t have as my favorite link that’s Kanji she did help me improve my own life I. A strange way
Fun (?) fact: The Temperance Arcana is the only one yet to have an associated Persona user. The only other Arcana with currently no playable character representation, the Tower, is used by Takehisa Kandori in Persona 1.
There was also Anna Yoshizawa from Persona 2 for a Tower Persona user, but she also wasn't playable (honestly, she should've been). But yeah, hopefully Persona 6 finally gives us a playable Temperance character. (Same for Tower and a Hermit character who isn't a Navi)
It is sad that Shu and Eri (and maybe even Hisano), are very forgettable social links, since I did actually like completing all of their social links since I thought the main conflicts were very interesting and intriguing concepts. However, I will admit that the random events and topics that occurred/were spoken about in the Eri social link were really weird and kinda unneeded
@@Shazam1998 yeah, I feel the same. I just think that rarely anyone talks about her when they talk about persona 4 social links, and her schedule days are very strict, only available on sundays and holidays
P4 did have a problem with so many social links being locked away behind jobs. The tower social link seems to be one of the best from what I've seen, but I missed it on my playthrough. The death social link was fine, but it just came so late in another mediocre social link.
The only characters in P3 locked behind absurd social stat requirements were your party member girls, who already get developed in the main story. Pretty weak idea to add two entire new stats to rank up. P4 had a really bad issue with requirements keeping cool s. Links away.
Yeah I never got a job when I first played p4g (just kinda slipped my mind) and ended up completely missing the flags for all of those social links and having to google them later because I didn’t know where they were
Given her arcana is temperance, maybe the negative aspect of temperance is to a degree a sense of hopelessness and imbalance? Since Kawakami was pretty similar to start off her bond with MC
An interesting bit about minami's link is she kind of directly brings up the theme of the game. When she basically admits she gets her beliefs from the TV, i.e led astray by the lies of the TV and society and whatnot. Idk it kind of felt on point to see what happens to people who are fooled by the lies and everything else that is warned against by the game
just finished golden a few weeks ago, and honestly i enjoyed her social link. i never really understood why people hated her, her story was pretty solid though eri as a character was definitely pretty bland. for me she was only of the few social links aside from party members that i consciously wanted to do because i relate to it in a similar way
It should be worth mentioning, there was going to be a feature in Persona 4 where you could meet your confidants at Junes whilst shopping there with Nanako. Perhaps, and this is just a little headcannon of mine, they originally intended for you to meet Eri there, as well as her child, who may have had more of a... Interest in Nanako? Kind of a schoolyard romance sorta dealio.
You could say that of Persona 4, but Persona 3 the majority of SL aren't party members, since only the 4 SEES girls get Social Links and three of them are locked behind maxing out your Social Stats.
@@matheusmoreira9951 idk about the original persona 3 but aigis has a social link in reload nvm ignore me i misread your comment, i thought you said “3 out of the 4 SEES girls have social links”
The timeslot is after school when you can do all of the Investigation Team and school club links, TV world, and various side quests. It was heavily overshadowed by everything else in the game.
I know this may come off kinda dumb but this social link is my favorite for a few reasons!! I have a step brother so I cant really relate to the step mom step son dynamic but as a step sibling who is a decade older to my step sibling with this in mind I can relate to Eri on the defeatist attitude where "you" try to bond with someone who doesnt know let alone doesnt want to get to know you especially by a younger kid comes off more straight forward when they say "Your not my sibling!" and such! Thankfully for me, Me and my step sibling are on great terms now that im 21 and he is 11 but I can relate on picking said sibling up from daycare only to hear how rowdy said sibling is and or trying to buy their affection which I've tried lol. I think what is against Eri's Link is that unless you are in her shoes or a place where you can relate to her similar issues its very hard to connect with an issue you know almost nothing about but this is just my dumb rambling love your content Fither!!
Dojima/Nanako hitting many of the family beats definitely weakens Minami's link. It'd be like if the old woman social link was put into P3, it wouldn't fit as well because there's already a social link which focuses on the same elements. Even if they're told differently, the similarities are large enough to take away some of the impact. Even Yu/Dojima have some of the same elements as Minami's social link, which further weakens in. On a meta level, it feels like her social link was also just hard to schedule unless you really went out of your way to do it. I wasn't trying to avoid her, but I remember hers was one of the last links I completed just because there were always either a bunch of other links to do (especially with the cast members, which are arguably more important because you get actual benefits from those) or it was raining so the link was unavailable. Maybe it could have worked better as a night social link? Instead of a school setting, Yu was the babysitter, but she only hired Yu because she felt like she was failing as a mother, and she just wanders around town moping until it's time for Yu to leave. There'd still be some issues with it falling flat in comparison to the Dojima household stuff, but at least it'd be easier to fit in schedule wise.
I found every S-Link in Persona 4 very rememberable, relatable, and well written with their messages of the game's theme. Except for the Hermit, that's easily hands down the worst and most forgettable S-Link in Persona 4.
I think the issue with temperance is it’s trying to be unique. The easy route would be yuuta. A story about helping a boy connect with his step mother when he doesn’t have anyone else and learns to open up. But in a twist they went from the mothers perspective. The problem is we have a social link all about the mother but we’re spending time with the kid but develop a relationship with a person we meet afterwards, and the fact there’s not much to develop with eri. She feels like she’s not welcome as a mother and has doubts. But it’s not like she isn’t trying. So you just sorta feel like your being dragged a long. Hanged man in 5 did this sorta idea better by showing they needed to communicate healthier with each other to know they love each other. Yuuta misses his old family and realistically acts out while eri just gives up and throws a pity party until they sort their shit out. There’s no stakes and it feels like something Yu (pun intended) could have sat out the whole time and it would have sorted itself out. If it was with yuuta I feel like it’d be easier to make a developed and interesting story because he’s not making an effort to let eri in while what we got just sorta goes nowhere.
BRO, I just finished my P4Golden play through and decided to go to my daycare job (I had pretty much finished the second to last dungeon) and was like wtf?? Why is there just this random social link through this job? I also never got Shu’s social link I think
So funny enough there was a blind lper playing Golden like seven years back and he started the link and barely did any of it like most people and when it was time to pick the killer he seen her name and actually had no fucking clue who she was.
They should have given the Temperance link to Hanako instead of leaving her as a 2-Dimensional joke character. It's one of my problems with Persona 4, somewhat story relevant characters don't get social links such as Hanako, Kashiwagi, Aika (from the diner in the anime) or a non automatic Teddie link but random people get links such as Eri, Shu and a damn Fox.
For some reason, I thought the Fox was gonna end up some divine entity that ended up in Inaba to test Yu's character or something. But no, it's just a really smart fox.
The thing I remembered most was her talking about some cult stuff and blowing money online. And I got a feeling that her not coming across as motherly is part of why she couldn't get more than a handful of naughty fanart riding the milf fetish. I do think a big problem is that her SL is deeply tied with Yuuta, but he and the dynamic with Eri is poorly thought out. Might have been a nice change of pace if Yuuta had been depicted as a proper hellspawn acting out because his father isn't around and he's stuck with this strange lady who's into occult garbage and being a downer.
Took me 3 play throughs to find Shu and Eri because they’re behind the part time jobs by the time you get them I didn’t need the money or social stats.
For me it's the contrary, I almost completed and remembered more of Eri's SL, but I didn't even formed a SL with Tower kid cause I didn't even knew what job I needed to get to initiate the SL lol
The thing about this Social Link though is it's got some merits. Where StepMoms or Stepdads feel like they could never be enough for their step child. Or stepchildren being absolute dicks to their step parents casue they loved their original parent more
In my first P4 Golden playthrough Eri and the moon girl whose name I can't care enough about to remember are the only two social links I didn't finish. I cared waaaay more about Shu's social link and where it was going than this predictable one.
At the very beginning of the video I was really like, "Oookay, come on, he's going to start talking shit." And then...the famous line "you'd rather spend time with another character" that's when it hit me. In the beginning, I did Temperance because...I didn't have Naoto or Kanji yet, and what's more, it made me money! But as the game went on, I ended up completely abandoning this social link. You're right, it's really not that crazy, but I liked it! I really did! (Much more than that kid, who knows him anyway?) I'd like to come back to one point, though, about chatting to get closer. You have no idea how fucking HARD it is. Because it's not just about saying hello, it's really about breaking down a kind of ice wall that creates a horrible distance. It's really hard to explain, but it's harder than it sounds! Thanks again for this video! Your point of view was more than interesting! I apologize if my turn of phrase sounds weird. I'm French and I use a corrector - so I'm not sure what I'm actually saying, but I hope it was understandable!
I’m replaying through p4 right now with a friend who’s never played a persona game before and one of the reasons I haven’t advanced her social link very far yet is mainly because of how little uses Understanding has in the game or how you don’t really need to dedicate yourself to raising your understanding at least from what I’ve noticed. It seems whenever an understanding blockade comes around I already have enough understanding to pass it despite not really putting in any effort to raise it.
I think it's a matter of accessing the link taking multiple days, and the link starts off somewhat mundanely. Eri is just really boring, and doesn't display many interesting characteristics during her introduction
Honestly, I think this is a really secretly heartwarming. The struggles of a new stepparent is an issue that isn’t really looked into much. As you yourself said in this video, you tend to sympathize with the child, not the parent. And like….new stepparents trying to connect with their child that is distant towards them is a really underrepresented struggle.
I wouldn't say that Eri's link is the most interesting in the game, but I enjoy the message of her social link. I appreciate how Eri's social link is essentially Nanako and Dojima's social links combined, but with a different perspective. Instead of helping two people who used to be close, become close once again, you're helping two people who are strangers to one another, build that foundation for a relationship. Granted her link isn't very interesting, but I like how the end message of her arc was to see past the labels people throw on her and her stepson, and to actually take action in her life. I at least prefer her arc over the sun social link.
The concept that Eri would seem forgettable in a game that contains the Social Links for Ayane, Yukiko, Chie, All Yo Yens Fox, fucking _Teddie_ , and especially Margaret, is absolutely ludicrous.
Minami's social link is actually one of my favorites due to me just me relating to having a parent who doesn't really get or understand me, but wants to but due to her worldview her attempts usually more so devolve into "buying something for me".
She's kind of a weird character and I like it. As someone who grew up with a single parent and gained a step parent later on, I can understand the kind of troubles she would face. Especially with the father being away on business. It would be pretty depressing and scary to be in her shoes, I felt bad for her. But I also felt bad for Yuuta, it's a strange situation for him as well. Of course she's far from the best social link, but I actually did enjoy it.
love the videos talking about social links they are really interesting. it would be interesting to hear your opinion on the social link with rise in p4 my opinion: not a fan, it is kinda flawed, the "i wanna be myself, not just an actor portraying others" going over to "actually ye, i wanna be an idol" kinda feels... eh. they should have gone with one of these possibilities either have her be an idol and go over the struggles of being an idol or her quitting and having a great time with the homies, finding other passions, enjoying life or maybe find out that you do not need to be famous to mean a lot to people i dunno... but still I'd love to see your opinion on this social link
Bro we already got the child-focused social link with Shu. The teenage demographic for Persona is targeted 95% of the time in each game, but the writers are smart enough to recognize that A) there are only so many things you can say about teenage problems and B) a big chunk of Persona's audience is aging with the franchise and really want to see relatable 25+ year old problems. But even if B wasn't true, imho I think it's good for kids to see the parent side of an adult/kid conflict for once. It's good storytelling to try and find a perspective your core audience doesn't usually experience. But yeah, you're definitely thrown headfirst into a clinically depressed woman's world and it's definitely a buzzkill. I think why it doesn't resonate with US audiences is because the problem is approached with such tired Japanese social/gender tropes. "The other moms talk about me, the 'second wife'." girl who careeeees just flip them the bird and take your kid camping.
Maybe I'm biased, but back when I played the game, I had a feeling that this social link (her schedule) is very awkward to track. And, yeah, there is often a better person to hang out with. She was the one and only social link I didn't have time to complete in my 2nd playthrough
For me personally, I kinda just forgot she existed along with the Tower, Moon, Hanged Man, and Death because all of the other characters just felt more... Alluring
I was confused, since (I'm still not done my first P4 playthrough) I'm currently in the middle of her Social Link because the job sounded most in my character, and I never heard anyone else acknowledge this character.
on my first playthrough i didn't even start it till like august or some shit and even when I got to points where there was nothing else to do but her link i would still not do it
But I actually really liked that social link , it's one of my favorite in the game . I don't know , I have a soft spot for stories centered around families
I never completed this social link, but that’s mostly because I had limited time and she unfortunately shared the after school time slot with all of our party members (whom I prioritize in most persona games).
Another problem I feel like is that you really never get reminded that you can do this social link. In school the other students come up to you and ask if you have time, in the evening it tells you you can go work at the hospital, but it never happens with this one. Also there is no indicator that you can do this link, like the sign over the head that you see from a mile away. You need to talk to the bus stop sign that doesn‘t have anything like that, what you‘d only do if you already decided you will do this link. These 2 things I feel like make it so that this social link just get‘s forgotten by the player
The reason why no one talks about Eri Minami is because her issues are the most neatly resolved. Eri is by no means my favorite P4 female, but is also preferable over some of the others (such as Marie and Sayoko) because she isn't overbearing and you can clearly feel her's and Yuuta's despair and relate to it. The reason why she complains about what she does is because she's so buried in her escape mechanism (the TV - which, need I remind you, is one of the key components of the story itself) that she can't connect to her son. With the teacher, that's an unfortunate issue regarding a lot of teachers nowadays, and Eri's care for her son combined with her despair of connecting to him really comes out in that moment. It's not the best SL, but it is in keeping with the overarching themes of the game itself (and IIRC fits in with the meaning behind the arcana itself) and works decently well. I definitely agree that the SL felt rushed, though.
Nah Naoki is WAAAAAAAAY more forgettable. His name and his dead sister are literally all I remember. At least I kinda remember the social link milestones for the temperance arcana. Ironically her name is like the one detail I don't remember lmao. Shit, I didn't even realize you could hang out with Naoki until like my third playthrough somehow.
I thought his link was fine, but I had the same problem where I didn't realize he was actually a social link character. I think part of his problem is his link gets introduced way too late. It should occur earlier in the game, when his sister's death is more fresh in the player's mind.
@@paulg.4812 The funny thing is I do remember liking the social link. More than the temperance social link in fact, but I just don't remember the events anymore. And I'd agree with your assertion that the social link is introduced too late. I remember when I finally did do a playthrough where I uncovered his social link enough time had elapsed that at first I didn't remember his connection to Saki and the early events of the game.
This one is only possible to do on Monday, Friday and Saturday... WHEN IT'S NOT RAINING... Rain in Persona 4 kinda sucks, at least at the Social Link part, almost NONE of the social links are avaiable on rain, was a good opportunity to make this one able, but no, and it happens only in the day/after school part of the day, you can't do at night, another lost opportunity, 'cause there are 10000 SLs on day, but this, again, only on certain days of the week, where you can't predict if will have a better one to do, (which 90% of the time there is) and the SL itself, as you said, sucks too, it was really a pushover 'till the part where it matters, but even when come to that part, sucks too. I'm playing NG+ right now, going for the All SLs achievement, and i'm kinda scared of the fact that i may not get it because of Eri...
I really liked Minami's design for obvious reasons, so I rushed her S-link. I was pretty disappointed in it; I don't think it's a bad basis for an S-link, but the execution is really poor. I think Fither's comments on it are mostly on-point although I think it is more meaningful focusing on Minami rather than some kid as the situation is more emotionally complex for her than it is for him. One thing that I think makes people disengage is that no connection between either Yu and Minami or Yu and Yuuta. If there were some moments between Yu and Minami that weren't her moping, or if there were at least a hint of possible extra-marital romantic longing, there would at least be a reason for the player to give a shit initially. The only way I could imagine players giving a shit about Yuuta's perspective is if they personally relate, but something to ground Yu's interest in the situation would still be an improvement. Maybe he could have been characterized as being a friend of Nanako's to give some reason to care about his situation, but that would need additional scenes to develop. The S-link takes too long to start, is too unfocused at the start, and explains its conflict much too early to leave a good impression.
One of the reasons people might remember Shu's link more is because those who wanted to fuse a good Yoshitsune needed to do it.
That and talking shit at Shu is pretty funny
as a night social link, shu is also automatically not competing with as many characters for your time (especially in vanilla p4)
No you don't.
Yoshitsune is not Tower's ultimate persona.
Some other guys which i never used and i don't even know what is called is.
The birthday party was pretty nice, though. I really like that scene.
@@returnedtomonkey8886 but ranking up it lets you get a better one
if a character is not considered as "best girl" by at least a few people, does she even exist
i never knew speedwagon could make so many women disappear
the real philosophical question
@@revoltman-needsmoreclickbait it's only to be expected
Considering many people consider kanji and yosuke to be best girl, I think this point stands.
I didn’t even know she was a thing
Yuuta achieved what many of the antagonists in P4 failed: beating the ever loving shit out of Yu. And that was with his bare goddamn hands. Imagine if this small child had a Persona? He'd become an unstoppable force. I fear this small child more than anything else in the Persona universe.
I’m a huge fan of the idea of younger side characters from older games growing into main characters of newer games, and with how cool it’d be to see Nanako again, having this portraitless kid from the most forgettable social link in the series show up instead would be hilarious.
And with that 69 Likes
@@thunderbird0134 sounds like digimon 02
Really? More than the biggest killer in the entire franchise: cars? Think about how many people get run over and die.
@@thunderbird0134 Nanako returning in P6... DO IT ATLUS
iirc in the anime (dont remember if its the original or the golden) eri gets knocked unconscious during the summer festival and needs to be treated by sayoko. this really dramatic moment leads yuuta to outwardly express how much he cares and how worried he is, which manages to wrap up this entire 10-rank problem in a scene thats like 5 minutes long.
Love that whole episode. It's from the original P4 animation
Yeah lol, I sum up P4 Temperance as "the anime did it better in a couple of minutes."
It's worth mentioning that the "Half of all marriages in the US end in divorce" statistic doesn't actually mean every other person is or will be divorced. I don't know the exact numbers, but the statistic specifically relates to "marriages." This means that someone who remarries and then divorces again will pump that statistic up and, as it so happens, people who divorce at least once are highly likely to divorce several times after that. The number of PEOPLE who are divorced isn't half of all Americans, is what I'm getting at.
Another interesting tidbit about this in regards to Japan is, that alot of japanese divorces occur after long marriages, specifically at the start of retirement of the main breadwinner.
Japanese companies keep their employees (especially in the case of office-workers) around after work, not just for overtime but also for going drinking with the boss in the evenings. The drinking is not technically reqired but basically mandatory from a social perspective and from a career-standpoint.
This leads to spouses seeing each other extremely rarely (like one day a week for which they are absolutely exhausted). When retirement comes around, they are suddenly faced with each other 24/7. As a result married couples notice that they don't really know each other anymore, leading to divorce at high ages being common.
And lot of nowadays people simply dating, never married, popping a kid or more, then break up.
@@gilroyscopa That's a good point. I heard there's a social stigma against divorce so I thought divorces might be less common. Of course, it's possible that Yuuta's mother is dead.
@@mortiphasm5597 That is a possibility. If they confirmed it, it would have been interesting. Like some sort of overbearing shadow of a person who is so fondly remembered and Eri is now facing everyone who knew the previous wife. She didn't even know about Yuuta until near the wedding.
If anything, it sounds more like the husband wanted a mother for Yuuta and went "There we go".
I mean, if Eri was from another country as well, I reckon all the social stigmas would be even more present.
Not quite, divorces are half of new marriages. Twice as many marry in a given year as they divorce in that year. It's chicken little data artifacting.
Funnily enough, I’m pretty sure she’s the only social link exclusive character to show up in a spin-off, since she’s in the background of a p4 arena cutscene
Are you sure that's just not them forgetting that she's not an NpC model
i think that sojiro is in strikers but i dont have the game so dunno
@@wrrrryyyy12 sojiro is in strikers but he’s also an important story character in same regards akin to say Dojima, whereas Eri is meaningless to the games story.
@@geenobe9941 ah got it
The only thing I remember about this social link is:
“Do you like kids?”
No.
The best part is that's actually the "correct" answer, points-wise.
It's worse that that. The actual text prompt is "I hate kids"
@@smeegy1 high key, it’s kinda the safest answer
what’s the alternative? “yes”
*FBI open up!*
Can't believe that's the correct answer
People probably remember Shu because one of the first dialogue options for him is calling him a prick.
Shu was runner up for "forgettable social link"? I actually really liked him. Probably because I'm Asian so the whole thing with self-worth being contingent on your grades was a lot more relatable to me.
I liked it a lot too. The Moment where Yosuke brings everyone to celebrate Shu's Birthday was one of my favourite Moments in the game. So wholesome and as someone who rarely had friends in school, I really felt happy for the kid.
Shu's SL is one of the most underrated in P4 imo, and it actually goes into some very real Japanese social issues regarding school culture.
Nah, that teacher is pretty realistic. I've had teachers who would spend the class telling everyone about how they'd all die in pier as drug addicts rather than teach the class.
Those teachers be like "Can't be wrong about them dying on drugs if you set them up for failure. (Guy tapping head meme)"
@@SomeAsian American teachers lmao
@@skunthundler Yeah, over here (in a certain SEA country) the relationship between teachers and students is oddly more... parental, or at least akin to a guardianship while at school kind of setup. Having respect for people older than you being part of the culture also helps, because it at least inclines the teacher to reciprocate the respect, while teachers who don't are generally seen as a bit odd and unlikable even among the school staff, not just the student body.
Teacher and cops are mostly people no one listens to
@@eonnephilim852haaa we have same region but mine... Now a days, kid has too many protection from government to realize even the government try to kill the braincells of the new gen and only those who think smarter will prevail but the thing is!!!! Only 5 percent students in his/her year are will. And this bad!
One example: our recent president plan is giving free lunch for kids all of it from daycare to middle but here's the thing, the menu aren't that worth to be called nutritious bruh let's just say one of the menu is siomay!!! Like dude you know that not every kid in every province has similar pallette. Even so, kid this day respect? Haha, now they controlling us if we don't show intention of killing to intimidate them😅
She's forgettable because she isn't a single mom that you can't romance
Smh that rank 10 wasnt her divorcing her husband and marrying Yu
@@stormsand9 After dating Kawakami in Persona 5 Royal I actually completed Eri's social link just to see if I could somehow date her too lol
can*
Fact: she is worst girl because you can’t date her
I know she exists, but like…her availability really cut into me actually doing her confidant
“I can either hang out with the depressed mom, oooooor I could go and literally do anything else.” -Me whenever I play through P4
Be too but I was doing the other social links. Now I’m in the middle of January and she’s like rank 7 or 8.
She's also annoyingly slow to rank up. Not only does her availability suck, but her dialogue options don't give many points, and the only other way to raise her rank is by shrine fortunes. It's a Social Link that requires a lot of effort for a very mediocre character arc.
The animation did this S-Link better, that's the long and short of it for me.
shin megumi tensai 3 : nocturne did s-links better
@@MrFrete-mi9yf don't you have to kill all your friends tho ?
@@conansglasses2645 that's the point
In 2 episodes did around 5 s-links just to get em out ot the way.
Eri, Shu, The Nurse, The old woman and there was another i don't remember.
It always bugged me how her child didn't have a portrait. How am I supposed to treat someone as a human being in Persona if their text boxes are just text?
It was a child they aren’t human
@@breazy832 but Nanako?
@@lyzder7298 Nanako is beyond human
@@Extreme11 Ah yes, Nanako. The true killer and the real master of Nyx.
@@Villagerwarrior "You couldn't just quit while you were ahead, could you... big bro?"
I was litrally doing some writing and tried coming up with some names they haven't used yet and used the name eri thinking they never used it. I was so sad
Japanese only uses like a couple dozen phonetic sounds and most variations in names come down to what kanji is used for them.
Eri is rare but im pretty sure some use that name.
The little girl from My Hero Academia is one and she's a pretty big plot device.
@@revolvingworld2676 i was mainly talking about use from the persona series, but yeah.
As someone with divorced parents who have both remarried Eri reminded me of how thin my relationship my own step mom so this gave me the incentive to forge a stronger bond so even though I don’t have as my favorite link that’s Kanji she did help me improve my own life I. A strange way
Fun (?) fact: The Temperance Arcana is the only one yet to have an associated Persona user.
The only other Arcana with currently no playable character representation, the Tower, is used by Takehisa Kandori in Persona 1.
There was also Anna Yoshizawa from Persona 2 for a Tower Persona user, but she also wasn't playable (honestly, she should've been). But yeah, hopefully Persona 6 finally gives us a playable Temperance character. (Same for Tower and a Hermit character who isn't a Navi)
Shit I also remember that *SPOILERS*
Nyarlathotep technically counts as a Tower Persona user too.
@@christianmckee2116 Summonable Nyarly when?
@@jesuisunstroopwafel Persona 2 Part 3?
It is sad that Shu and Eri (and maybe even Hisano), are very forgettable social links, since I did actually like completing all of their social links since I thought the main conflicts were very interesting and intriguing concepts.
However, I will admit that the random events and topics that occurred/were spoken about in the Eri social link were really weird and kinda unneeded
in my first playthrough i didnt know any of them even existed LOL
I dont see how Hisano is forgettable. One of the most interesting and well written Social Links in the game honestly.
@@Shazam1998 yeah, I feel the same. I just think that rarely anyone talks about her when they talk about persona 4 social links, and her schedule days are very strict, only available on sundays and holidays
I honestly think devil was the most boring one
@@icheeva1true, people only care because hot (& predatory) nurse
P4 did have a problem with so many social links being locked away behind jobs.
The tower social link seems to be one of the best from what I've seen, but I missed it on my playthrough. The death social link was fine, but it just came so late in another mediocre social link.
The only characters in P3 locked behind absurd social stat requirements were your party member girls, who already get developed in the main story. Pretty weak idea to add two entire new stats to rank up. P4 had a really bad issue with requirements keeping cool s. Links away.
Yeah I never got a job when I first played p4g (just kinda slipped my mind) and ended up completely missing the flags for all of those social links and having to google them later because I didn’t know where they were
Given her arcana is temperance, maybe the negative aspect of temperance is to a degree a sense of hopelessness and imbalance? Since Kawakami was pretty similar to start off her bond with MC
Temperance to generalize it the most is basically sharing is caring
While reverse temperance is when something consumes your life
An interesting bit about minami's link is she kind of directly brings up the theme of the game. When she basically admits she gets her beliefs from the TV, i.e led astray by the lies of the TV and society and whatnot. Idk it kind of felt on point to see what happens to people who are fooled by the lies and everything else that is warned against by the game
I forgot about her so much that even when I was playing the game I almost messed up my all-social-links run
just finished golden a few weeks ago, and honestly i enjoyed her social link. i never really understood why people hated her, her story was pretty solid though eri as a character was definitely pretty bland. for me she was only of the few social links aside from party members that i consciously wanted to do because i relate to it in a similar way
It should be worth mentioning, there was going to be a feature in Persona 4 where you could meet your confidants at Junes whilst shopping there with Nanako. Perhaps, and this is just a little headcannon of mine, they originally intended for you to meet Eri there, as well as her child, who may have had more of a... Interest in Nanako? Kind of a schoolyard romance sorta dealio.
I thought that people forgot about every social link that wasn't the main cast before Persona 5?
This was before Persona 5 blew up the internet, it’s presentation really helped set it apart.
Lmao true, it’s very funny
You could say that of Persona 4, but Persona 3 the majority of SL aren't party members, since only the 4 SEES girls get Social Links and three of them are locked behind maxing out your Social Stats.
@@matheusmoreira9951 idk about the original persona 3 but aigis has a social link in reload
nvm ignore me i misread your comment, i thought you said “3 out of the 4 SEES girls have social links”
I'm at August in My first playthrough and didn't know I was missing this
Lol
The timeslot is after school when you can do all of the Investigation Team and school club links, TV world, and various side quests. It was heavily overshadowed by everything else in the game.
This is basically a more improved version of the confidants now that brings back memories lol
I know this may come off kinda dumb but this social link is my favorite for a few reasons!! I have a step brother so I cant really relate to the step mom step son dynamic but as a step sibling who is a decade older to my step sibling with this in mind I can relate to Eri on the defeatist attitude where "you" try to bond with someone who doesnt know let alone doesnt want to get to know you especially by a younger kid comes off more straight forward when they say "Your not my sibling!" and such! Thankfully for me, Me and my step sibling are on great terms now that im 21 and he is 11 but I can relate on picking said sibling up from daycare only to hear how rowdy said sibling is and or trying to buy their affection which I've tried lol. I think what is against Eri's Link is that unless you are in her shoes or a place where you can relate to her similar issues its very hard to connect with an issue you know almost nothing about but this is just my dumb rambling love your content Fither!!
I didn’t even realize I had her social link unlocked until the last month of the game.
I prefer what they did with the social link in the anime. Also it led to one of the greatest persona four lines. Damn you Neil Fetherman!
Dojima/Nanako hitting many of the family beats definitely weakens Minami's link. It'd be like if the old woman social link was put into P3, it wouldn't fit as well because there's already a social link which focuses on the same elements. Even if they're told differently, the similarities are large enough to take away some of the impact. Even Yu/Dojima have some of the same elements as Minami's social link, which further weakens in.
On a meta level, it feels like her social link was also just hard to schedule unless you really went out of your way to do it. I wasn't trying to avoid her, but I remember hers was one of the last links I completed just because there were always either a bunch of other links to do (especially with the cast members, which are arguably more important because you get actual benefits from those) or it was raining so the link was unavailable.
Maybe it could have worked better as a night social link? Instead of a school setting, Yu was the babysitter, but she only hired Yu because she felt like she was failing as a mother, and she just wanders around town moping until it's time for Yu to leave. There'd still be some issues with it falling flat in comparison to the Dojima household stuff, but at least it'd be easier to fit in schedule wise.
I found every S-Link in Persona 4 very rememberable, relatable, and well written with their messages of the game's theme. Except for the Hermit, that's easily hands down the worst and most forgettable S-Link in Persona 4.
It's literally a fox
I forgot Shu and Yuuta's Mom existed
I think the issue with temperance is it’s trying to be unique. The easy route would be yuuta. A story about helping a boy connect with his step mother when he doesn’t have anyone else and learns to open up. But in a twist they went from the mothers perspective.
The problem is we have a social link all about the mother but we’re spending time with the kid but develop a relationship with a person we meet afterwards, and the fact there’s not much to develop with eri.
She feels like she’s not welcome as a mother and has doubts. But it’s not like she isn’t trying. So you just sorta feel like your being dragged a long. Hanged man in 5 did this sorta idea better by showing they needed to communicate healthier with each other to know they love each other.
Yuuta misses his old family and realistically acts out while eri just gives up and throws a pity party until they sort their shit out. There’s no stakes and it feels like something Yu (pun intended) could have sat out the whole time and it would have sorted itself out.
If it was with yuuta I feel like it’d be easier to make a developed and interesting story because he’s not making an effort to let eri in while what we got just sorta goes nowhere.
No baka step mom is good
I honestly remember Shu SL because all of the Investigation Team hangs out with him towards the end
BRO, I just finished my P4Golden play through and decided to go to my daycare job (I had pretty much finished the second to last dungeon) and was like wtf?? Why is there just this random social link through this job? I also never got Shu’s social link I think
I really like the colors in the swirl, idk something about them really complement each other the yellow, gold, and silver.
So funny enough there was a blind lper playing Golden like seven years back and he started the link and barely did any of it like most people and when it was time to pick the killer he seen her name and actually had no fucking clue who she was.
They should have given the Temperance link to Hanako instead of leaving her as a 2-Dimensional joke character. It's one of my problems with Persona 4, somewhat story relevant characters don't get social links such as Hanako, Kashiwagi, Aika (from the diner in the anime) or a non automatic Teddie link but random people get links such as Eri, Shu and a damn Fox.
For some reason, I thought the Fox was gonna end up some divine entity that ended up in Inaba to test Yu's character or something. But no, it's just a really smart fox.
The thing I remembered most was her talking about some cult stuff and blowing money online. And I got a feeling that her not coming across as motherly is part of why she couldn't get more than a handful of naughty fanart riding the milf fetish.
I do think a big problem is that her SL is deeply tied with Yuuta, but he and the dynamic with Eri is poorly thought out. Might have been a nice change of pace if Yuuta had been depicted as a proper hellspawn acting out because his father isn't around and he's stuck with this strange lady who's into occult garbage and being a downer.
No baka step mom! Make me think of Omae no Kaa-chan Kyokon!! Good stuff
I have literally never heard of Shu until now
Took me 3 play throughs to find Shu and Eri because they’re behind the part time jobs by the time you get them I didn’t need the money or social stats.
I didn’t even start this one or tower. It was my first persona game too. Ended up studying too much lol
For me it's the contrary, I almost completed and remembered more of Eri's SL, but I didn't even formed a SL with Tower kid cause I didn't even knew what job I needed to get to initiate the SL lol
The thing about this Social Link though is it's got some merits. Where StepMoms or Stepdads feel like they could never be enough for their step child. Or stepchildren being absolute dicks to their step parents casue they loved their original parent more
In my first P4 Golden playthrough Eri and the moon girl whose name I can't care enough about to remember are the only two social links I didn't finish. I cared waaaay more about Shu's social link and where it was going than this predictable one.
At the very beginning of the video I was really like, "Oookay, come on, he's going to start talking shit." And then...the famous line "you'd rather spend time with another character" that's when it hit me. In the beginning, I did Temperance because...I didn't have Naoto or Kanji yet, and what's more, it made me money! But as the game went on, I ended up completely abandoning this social link. You're right, it's really not that crazy, but I liked it! I really did! (Much more than that kid, who knows him anyway?)
I'd like to come back to one point, though, about chatting to get closer. You have no idea how fucking HARD it is. Because it's not just about saying hello, it's really about breaking down a kind of ice wall that creates a horrible distance. It's really hard to explain, but it's harder than it sounds!
Thanks again for this video! Your point of view was more than interesting! I apologize if my turn of phrase sounds weird. I'm French and I use a corrector - so I'm not sure what I'm actually saying, but I hope it was understandable!
I’m replaying through p4 right now with a friend who’s never played a persona game before and one of the reasons I haven’t advanced her social link very far yet is mainly because of how little uses Understanding has in the game or how you don’t really need to dedicate yourself to raising your understanding at least from what I’ve noticed. It seems whenever an understanding blockade comes around I already have enough understanding to pass it despite not really putting in any effort to raise it.
I think it's a matter of accessing the link taking multiple days, and the link starts off somewhat mundanely. Eri is just really boring, and doesn't display many interesting characteristics during her introduction
Honestly, I think this is a really secretly heartwarming. The struggles of a new stepparent is an issue that isn’t really looked into much. As you yourself said in this video, you tend to sympathize with the child, not the parent. And like….new stepparents trying to connect with their child that is distant towards them is a really underrepresented struggle.
Every time I play this game I get her to rank 2-3
And then completely forget about it for the rest of the game
I wouldn't say that Eri's link is the most interesting in the game, but I enjoy the message of her social link. I appreciate how Eri's social link is essentially Nanako and Dojima's social links combined, but with a different perspective. Instead of helping two people who used to be close, become close once again, you're helping two people who are strangers to one another, build that foundation for a relationship. Granted her link isn't very interesting, but I like how the end message of her arc was to see past the labels people throw on her and her stepson, and to actually take action in her life. I at least prefer her arc over the sun social link.
Besides being a boring link, it’s also annoying to rank up. I never want to do a full s link run ever again cuz of the temperance link.
The first time I played P4G, I legitimately forgot about Eri until it was WAY to late to finish her off.
Damn, Yuuta got hands. Punching a dude in the nuts hard enough to send him flying
Fun fact:The reason nyx didn't do all the arcana's is he couldn't count up to 14
Thank you for the video! I really appreciate it! What about the Death social link since you despise old people?
The concept that Eri would seem forgettable in a game that contains the Social Links for Ayane, Yukiko, Chie, All Yo Yens Fox, fucking _Teddie_ , and especially Margaret, is absolutely ludicrous.
One has Yoshitsune, the other's not.
Minami's social link is actually one of my favorites due to me just me relating to having a parent who doesn't really get or understand me, but wants to but due to her worldview her attempts usually more so devolve into "buying something for me".
She's kind of a weird character and I like it. As someone who grew up with a single parent and gained a step parent later on, I can understand the kind of troubles she would face. Especially with the father being away on business. It would be pretty depressing and scary to be in her shoes, I felt bad for her. But I also felt bad for Yuuta, it's a strange situation for him as well. Of course she's far from the best social link, but I actually did enjoy it.
Eri's whole social link feels like a story your friend would make up as they tell it after a few drinks
love the videos talking about social links
they are really interesting.
it would be interesting to hear your opinion on the social link with rise in p4
my opinion: not a fan, it is kinda flawed, the "i wanna be myself, not just an actor portraying others" going over to "actually ye, i wanna be an idol" kinda feels... eh.
they should have gone with one of these possibilities
either have her be an idol and go over the struggles of being an idol
or her quitting and having a great time with the homies, finding other passions, enjoying life or maybe find out that you do not need to be famous to mean a lot to people
i dunno...
but still I'd love to see your opinion on this social link
Bro we already got the child-focused social link with Shu. The teenage demographic for Persona is targeted 95% of the time in each game, but the writers are smart enough to recognize that A) there are only so many things you can say about teenage problems and B) a big chunk of Persona's audience is aging with the franchise and really want to see relatable 25+ year old problems. But even if B wasn't true, imho I think it's good for kids to see the parent side of an adult/kid conflict for once. It's good storytelling to try and find a perspective your core audience doesn't usually experience.
But yeah, you're definitely thrown headfirst into a clinically depressed woman's world and it's definitely a buzzkill. I think why it doesn't resonate with US audiences is because the problem is approached with such tired Japanese social/gender tropes. "The other moms talk about me, the 'second wife'." girl who careeeees just flip them the bird and take your kid camping.
I genuienly loved this Social Link a lot! Im surprised people forget her
I never really cared for any of the Temperance social links but i swear i activated this social link and never touched it again cuz i forgot about it
I always liked this social link tbh. Yeah, it has some imperfections, but really that's true of most social links in the series.
Maybe I'm biased, but back when I played the game, I had a feeling that this social link (her schedule) is very awkward to track. And, yeah, there is often a better person to hang out with. She was the one and only social link I didn't have time to complete in my 2nd playthrough
Honestly, I think she says all she does to Yu, as she doesn't have ANYONE ELSE to vent to.
I generally think that Persona 4 has the best social links in the series, but Eri's social link is actually really bad tbh
agreed . sadly i think there is nothing remarkable about her social link whatsoever
I don't remember much of this SL, but I liked it as much as any other P4 SL. Liked the step mom and cared nothing for the kid.
I actually really liked both Temperance and Tower from P4.
I really liked her link because Yuuta, Eri is alright. I forgot about reporter girl from 5 more, don’t even remember her name
For me personally, I kinda just forgot she existed along with the Tower, Moon, Hanged Man, and Death because all of the other characters just felt more... Alluring
I really remember her being done better in the anime
I'm playing persona 3 reload, and I'm glad I found your channel.
Wait there was a temperance arcana in p4?
I Wonder If The Devs Have Given Their Reason To Include Her
Would Like To Hear Their Thought Process In This
I was confused, since (I'm still not done my first P4 playthrough) I'm currently in the middle of her Social Link because the job sounded most in my character, and I never heard anyone else acknowledge this character.
on my first playthrough i didn't even start it till like august or some shit and even when I got to points where there was nothing else to do but her link i would still not do it
But I actually really liked that social link , it's one of my favorite in the game . I don't know , I have a soft spot for stories centered around families
The only slink in 4 i didn't complete was the was the death one
People remember shu because night social links on P3 and P4 are SOOOO easy to fill up like god damn
I never completed this social link, but that’s mostly because I had limited time and she unfortunately shared the after school time slot with all of our party members (whom I prioritize in most persona games).
I just finished Persona 4 Golden, and this and the Death social links were the only two social links I didn't manage to finish.
Protagonist kun getting knocked on his ass is pretty memorable at least.
Another problem I feel like is that you really never get reminded that you can do this social link. In school the other students come up to you and ask if you have time, in the evening it tells you you can go work at the hospital, but it never happens with this one. Also there is no indicator that you can do this link, like the sign over the head that you see from a mile away. You need to talk to the bus stop sign that doesn‘t have anything like that, what you‘d only do if you already decided you will do this link. These 2 things I feel like make it so that this social link just get‘s forgotten by the player
Nah it would be the sun arcana I literally forgot those 2 sisters like all the time
The reason why no one talks about Eri Minami is because her issues are the most neatly resolved. Eri is by no means my favorite P4 female, but is also preferable over some of the others (such as Marie and Sayoko) because she isn't overbearing and you can clearly feel her's and Yuuta's despair and relate to it. The reason why she complains about what she does is because she's so buried in her escape mechanism (the TV - which, need I remind you, is one of the key components of the story itself) that she can't connect to her son. With the teacher, that's an unfortunate issue regarding a lot of teachers nowadays, and Eri's care for her son combined with her despair of connecting to him really comes out in that moment.
It's not the best SL, but it is in keeping with the overarching themes of the game itself (and IIRC fits in with the meaning behind the arcana itself) and works decently well.
I definitely agree that the SL felt rushed, though.
Nah Naoki is WAAAAAAAAY more forgettable. His name and his dead sister are literally all I remember. At least I kinda remember the social link milestones for the temperance arcana. Ironically her name is like the one detail I don't remember lmao.
Shit, I didn't even realize you could hang out with Naoki until like my third playthrough somehow.
I thought his link was fine, but I had the same problem where I didn't realize he was actually a social link character. I think part of his problem is his link gets introduced way too late. It should occur earlier in the game, when his sister's death is more fresh in the player's mind.
@@paulg.4812 The funny thing is I do remember liking the social link. More than the temperance social link in fact, but I just don't remember the events anymore.
And I'd agree with your assertion that the social link is introduced too late. I remember when I finally did do a playthrough where I uncovered his social link enough time had elapsed that at first I didn't remember his connection to Saki and the early events of the game.
i forget this character even existed before this vid lmao
As someone who's beaten Persona 4 Golden for the first time, I've never heard of this character
This one is only possible to do on Monday, Friday and Saturday... WHEN IT'S NOT RAINING... Rain in Persona 4 kinda sucks, at least at the Social Link part, almost NONE of the social links are avaiable on rain, was a good opportunity to make this one able, but no, and it happens only in the day/after school part of the day, you can't do at night, another lost opportunity, 'cause there are 10000 SLs on day, but this, again, only on certain days of the week, where you can't predict if will have a better one to do, (which 90% of the time there is) and the SL itself, as you said, sucks too, it was really a pushover 'till the part where it matters, but even when come to that part, sucks too.
I'm playing NG+ right now, going for the All SLs achievement, and i'm kinda scared of the fact that i may not get it because of Eri...
Not gonna lie, sometimes I forget she is the social link person. I just picture the paycheck and social points gained by doing the day care activity
didn't even know this character existed
I didn't know saki brother existed until my third playthrough
I really liked Minami's design for obvious reasons, so I rushed her S-link. I was pretty disappointed in it; I don't think it's a bad basis for an S-link, but the execution is really poor. I think Fither's comments on it are mostly on-point although I think it is more meaningful focusing on Minami rather than some kid as the situation is more emotionally complex for her than it is for him. One thing that I think makes people disengage is that no connection between either Yu and Minami or Yu and Yuuta. If there were some moments between Yu and Minami that weren't her moping, or if there were at least a hint of possible extra-marital romantic longing, there would at least be a reason for the player to give a shit initially. The only way I could imagine players giving a shit about Yuuta's perspective is if they personally relate, but something to ground Yu's interest in the situation would still be an improvement. Maybe he could have been characterized as being a friend of Nanako's to give some reason to care about his situation, but that would need additional scenes to develop. The S-link takes too long to start, is too unfocused at the start, and explains its conflict much too early to leave a good impression.
Meanwhile in P5, we have the best Temperance arcana.
...i don't even remember temperance in P5 i swear
@@noisetank0994 The teacher. Kawakami.
fax
When your competition is Bebe and Eri being the best isn't that hard
@@drexalnewb1500 kawakami is also a actually intertaining sl unlike the other 2