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The story
A thread on 5ch stirred up debate over how the popular RPG “Persona 5” portrays Kamoshida, the gym teacher character. Kamoshida is the first major villain the story introduces, depicted as someone who subjects students to harassment and violence. Some posters praised it — “Best hook a story could have,” “This character is the reason the game became a hit” — while others pushed back, arguing “It’s too heavy for an opening hook” and “Is it really okay to introduce a full-blown sex offender this early?” The discussion expanded from there into comparisons with a different character from a later spin-off title, as well as differences in how “evil” various villains across the series are, turning into a broader debate about the series’ character writing itself.
What people said
Isn't it not a crime as long as a handsome guy's the one doing it?
Only a creepy otaku would know exactly how many years ago it was.
It's a straight-up police matter, so 'having a change of heart' isn't really the issue here.
That's because the mastermind controls even the police.
It's because the police have no motivation and won't move on it…
You don't even play games to begin with.
You're the abnormal creepy otaku here.
Nobody's played it, so nobody knows.
There's no way someone just now getting around to playing P5 is touching the mobile sequel.
Nobody's paying that much attention to the details of a mobile game.
Both Kamoshida and Shimotsuna boil down to 'well, yeah, people with power do that kind of thing sometimes.'
You could even say Kamoshida is the reason this became a hit.
It's just too heavy for an opening hook, though…
The guy single-handedly triggered three different Persona awakenings.
He's on a completely different level from the other petty villains.
I mean, didn't Kamoshida just sexually harass people?
Madarame and Shido, who actually killed people, are way worse.
Probably not even a pro, but the creepiness fits perfectly.
'Amateur' (with a 50-year voice acting career)
Akechi, who probably killed dozens or hundreds of people for some flimsy reason → 'Poor Akechi~'
I'm a woman, though?
but then it just turns into a straightforward 'fix society' story, so I really get the feeling something changed in how the game was being made partway through.
It's basically a picaresque tale in the vein of Hissatsu Shigotonin (a classic Japanese drama about vigilantes who deliver justice outside the law) — sure, that's a familiar trope, but it's not one you see often in JRPGs, so I wish they'd dug into it more.
Background and Key Points of This Topic
“Persona 5” is an RPG released by Atlus in 2016, and Kamoshida is the villainous gym teacher who appears early in the story. He’s portrayed as someone who subjects students to power harassment and corporal punishment, with abuse of the students in the club he oversees also strongly implied — the story is structured around the protagonists confronting his twisted inner self (his “Palace”) and forcing him to reform. The thread split along the line of whether this portrayal counts as “brilliant as an opening hook” or “too heavy, since it evokes real-world sex crimes.” It’s easy to overlook that whether the work frames Kamoshida as someone being condemned is a separate question from discomfort with how graphic the depiction itself is. Comparisons were also raised with the severity of other villains elsewhere in the series, but that’s largely a matter of individual impression, and it’s worth noting that how each villain is handled within their own story (whether they’re condemned, or given a redemption arc) differs case by case. Note that some posts containing inappropriate generalizations about gender, or mocking the depiction of the character’s victims, have been excluded from this article.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “Persona 5 Under Fire for Sexually Exploiting High School Girls lol.”
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