The characters of Persona 5 are truly one-of-a-kind, serving as one of the biggest highlights of a game that executes all its ideas to a T. Whether it be the silent Joker, the goofball Ryuji, the beautiful Ann, the eccentric Haru, the introverted Futaba, or anyone else — the large cast of colorful characters personifies what the Persona series is all about.
One such character that enraptured the hearts of players all over the world is Yusuke, an artistic — albeit naive — youth that is introduced sometime during the second arc and becomes a stalwart member of the party henceforth. His mannerisms and attitude, in general, are quite unlike anything you see in the game, making him a unique character in every sense of the word. However, this uniqueness comes with its fair share of flaws in the character itself, coupled with certain actions that have not been explained properly in the games. Keeping this in mind, here are ten pressing questions about Fox that deserve better answers.
10 Why Is He The Only Party Member Who Wields His Weapons Properly?
One thing everyone will notice across most Persona games — in fact, in most JRPGs in general — is the fact that style always takes precedent over substance. This is true for Persona 5 as well, with party members wielding weapons and guns in the most impractical manner possible… with the sole exception being Yusuke himself.
For some reason, the artist of the group is the one who’s the most realistic when it comes to using a katana and an assault rifle, which is quite weird. Why is it only him whose the most reserved when it comes to his attacks?
9 Why Did He Let Madarame Exploit Him For So Long?
Yusuke might be a lot of things, but stupid definitely isn’t one of them. And yet, he still allows a leech like Madarame to exploit his artistic talent for the longest time.
While the emotional attachment to his guardian might be understandable, there’s a point where this descends into blind gullibility and nothing else.
8 Does Artistic Integrity Mean Nothing To Him?
This point is also somewhat related to the topic discussed above — by all accounts, Yusuke should’ve held his artwork with pride instead of letting some hack take the credit for his creations.
The whole point of being an artist is for people to appreciate everything about it, including the genius of the person behind it. By being complacent when it comes to Madarame’s plagiarism, Yusuke has basically allowed a two-bit crook to warp the perception of art in the world.
7 How Is It Fine To Blackmail Someone Into Posing Nude?
But complacency isn’t the only thing that Yusuke should be blamed for — one also needs to call out the fact that he legit blackmailed a girl into posing nude for him because he was offended!
It’s funny how the entire party glosses over this fact, with even Ann herself being perfectly fine with having a blackmailer in the party.
6 How Did Ann Manage To Fool Him With Her Horrible Acting?
Speaking of Ann, the manner in which she fools Yusuke into letting him think that she was playing along with his demands was quite neat… albeit somewhat hamfisted.
After all, it’s mentioned several times in the series that Ann’s acting is quite subpar… and yet, Yusuke manages to get fooled by her antics regardless. Perhaps his lack of social awareness is the reason for this, speaking of which…
5 Just How Naive Is Yusuke?
At this point, it should be infinitely clear that Yusuke is not the brightest bulb around, even though the game might want you to think otherwise.
While his treatment at the hands of Madarame and Ann’s ruse might be the two biggest examples of this, there are several notable times when Yusuke is simply way too naive and gullible for his own good.
4 What Is Yusuke’s Sexual Orientation?
The topic of which way Yusuke swings has been the subject of a ton of debate in the fandom. He clearly is attracted to the female body, but some people write it off as him appreciating their aesthetics and nothing more. In fact, he’s open to the idea of Joker stripping for him too.
For what it’s worth, Matthew Mercer — the English voice actor of Yusuke — has stated that, in his eyes, Yusuke is bi-sexual.
3 Why Is Earning A Livelihood Through Art So Unfathomable For Him?
Yusuke has a huge problem with people making money for art, with his view for the longest time being that creating art should be its own reward.
This is simply ridiculous. What Yusuke’s basically trying to say is that people should make art without keeping their own financial well-being in mind, which is undoubtedly going to hamper a creative person’s artistic zeal.
2 Why Is He So Unnecessarily Blunt And Rude?
Yusuke is constantly portrayed as this clueless individual who hasn’t really interacted with people much and, hence, there are times when he’s unnecessarily rude to the people around him.
While one can look at this behavior as being just another aspect of his character, one must question the needlessly brusque manner in which he treats things around him. It’s simply not acceptable, and he should know better.
1 Is He A Good Friend?
All the points discussed on this list all boil down to this particular question. The manner in which Yusuke has treated the members of the Phantom Thieves is quite deplorable, to the point where one truly needs to question whether Yusuke’s intentions are pure or not.
From blackmail to being incessantly dismissive — there are simply way too many ways in which Yusuke has shown players that he’s not exactly a great member of the Phantom Thieves.
NEXT: Persona 5: The 15 Best Personas, Ranked
