Persona 5: The Royal Under Attack For Character Design of New Character and Gymnast Kasumi Yoshizawa

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Apr 25, 2019

Atlus’ newly announced [easyazon_link identifier=”B01GKHJP98″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Persona 5[/easyazon_link] spin-off Persona 5: The Royal has come under attack for its character design of Kasumi.

Atlus recently released a Japanese trailer for the game which introduces a number of new gameplay elements as well as a couple of new characters including Kasumi.

https://youtu.be/JZ6BdE0gdzA

Not only did they release the trailer, but Persona Central provided details on the new characters, additional gameplay elements, new parts of the story and more.

They specifically highlighted a new female character named Kasumi Yoshizawa, who will be voiced by Sora Amamiya. They describe her:

“A beautiful girl who enters Shujin Academy the same spring that the protagonist transfers in. She’s been an award-winning rhythmic gymnast since middle school and Shujin Academy has high hopes for her future. She likes the protagonist, but rejects the Phantom Thieves. It’s unknown whether she will be an enemy or an ally.”

And provided a look at her character design.

Kasumi Yoshizawa

The character design and Atlus were lambasted by people who did not like the character showing so much skin specifically her thighs and chest. A number of people argued that since the character was in high school, it would be inappropriate to wear such clothes. However, the costume they appear to be taking issue with is not her high school uniform as you can see in the photos above. It’s the costume she wears when invading the palaces of adults whose hearts have been corrupted in something similar to an alternate dimension.

A number of people even edited the character design to show their displeasure.

Kasumi twitter edit

This user was called out for their hypocrisy as their profile asks for people to not edit their art work.

Others continued to drag Atlus for the character design.

Twitter wasn’t the only place where Kasumi’s design was attacked. Users on ResetEra also targeted the character design in a thread titled: “Should Persona 5 Royal remove the problematic stuff in this new version?”

The thread, currently seven pages long, not only goes after the Kasumi character and her wardrobe, but also what they view as jokes at the expense of the LGBT community and the treatment of one of the main characters from the original Persona 5 game, Ann Takamaki .

Persona 5 resetera thread 1

One user pointed the finger right at the developers, lambasting them for not being sensitive to the LGBT community within the Persona series. One user claimed that Persona should be an easy fit for the LGBT community since both the characters and that community feel a sense of being a social outcast.

Another person claimed Persona 5’s portrayal of “the problematic gay dudes” was “clear homophobia.” They also claimed that they didn’t fit within the narrative of the franchise:

One  user took offense to the idea that people excused the content by stating it was a cultural difference:

But other fans of the Persona franchise weren’t going to take the criticism laying down. Some people described those attacking Kasumi’s character design as “puritan.”

A lot of fans celebrated Kasumi with their own artwork with the original character design.

YouTuber Hero Hei addressed the attack against Kasumi and Atlus’ Persona 5: Royal in a ten-minute video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pvl75-Oq00

This isn’t the first controversy Persona 5 has been involved in. Recently, Kotaku UK attacked the game after Nintendo revealed Joker, the main protagonist from the game, would be introduced into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Kotaku UK claimed the main theme song from the game insulted disabled people.

Persona 5: The Royal will debut in Japan on PlayStation 4 on October 31, 2019. The game is expected to be released in the United States sometime in 2020.

The original game was a massive success. Earlier this month Atlus USA and Sega of America Board of Directors member Naoto Hiraoka revealed that Persona 5 had sold over 2.4 million units worldwide. He told GNN Gamer, “At present, Persona 5 accounts for more than 2.4 million in global sales numbers. Since its launch, we have won many game awards, and received much feedback from fans. The response has been very enthusiastic.”

What do you think of the attack against Kasumi’s character design and Atlus? Do people have a point with Kasumi’s character design showing too much thigh? Or do you think it’s inspired from the fact that she’s described as a gymnast? Let me know your thoughts!

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