#yosuke if he was based: it’s not a matter of being cool or uncool… i’m just desperate to be accepted

[a-sketchy]

as the resident Yosuke scholar, do u have any thoughts on him repeatedly bringing up the anxiety of kanji’s shadow being witnessed by the wider public 🎤 👀

OOOOH, yeah that point is so interesting, yosuke’s behaviour during kanji’s dungeon is so fascinating and so different than what i had expected. i think it’s one of yosuke’s reoccurring fears blown up on a way larger scale through the reflection of kanji. that like more than anything he’s scared of being, he’s scared that anyone will perceive him like that, cause that makes it true and means that scrutiny is warranted and inevitable. i think being seen by the public turns discomfort into shame

i like this line from p4d a lot cause cause it’s specifically that the fear is of being seen as uncool, not that he’s uncool in the first place, cause he knows he is, and i think that’s the precedent for like all of his anxieties. scarier than the idea of liking guys is the idea of being perceived as gay.

there’s probably something to be said for how yosuke’s shadow was only ever seen by yu (and teddie but he’s not a person), and how with the realization that the midnight channel is broadcasting all of this combined with the particularly sensitive subject matter of kanji’s shadow, yosuke is realizing “oh shit this is BAD bad, this is life-ruining stuff being broadcast to an audience. this could have been me” in real time. with his prince of junes and scorn from the inaba residents thing, i think he knows more than anyone else how scary it is for this town to judge you for anything at all, for things outside of your control. yosuke’s the most public-interfacing member of the IT at that point, he works a customer service job and is used to playing to the audience (/company/haters), and that combined with how he relates to kanji’s struggle means he sees just how terrifying this situation is