8th July 2010

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Yukari Takeba (Persona 3)

To commemorate the release of Persona 3 Portable for the Sony PlayStation Portable in the United States, I’m going to take a look at one of the lead female protagonists from P3, Yukari Takeba. She is a headstrong girl who keeps to herself a lot and has a lot of emotional baggage. What makes her interesting to me is her character development in “The Answer” (a followup story in P3: FES). She went from headstrong to immature in the swift of an eye.

For those unfamiliar with the character, Yukari is a high-school student who has the ability to summon a monster called a “Persona” to fight evil monsters with. She joins a club called SEES, that specializes in dealing with these monsters. Yukari is one of the popular girls. She pretty much excels in everything. Her parents aren’t the most awesome parents in the world. Her father died & was once blamed for creating the monsters. Her mother constantly dates other boyfriends to fill her needs. Yukari manages to overcome these issues & becomes a stronger person. After the events of P3, Yukari decides to leave SEES, but gets dragged back into it when a crazy incident occurs involving another female protagonist, Aigis. She undergoes a HUGE personality shift, where she almost destroys the SEES Squad internally, when she tries to change the outcome of an action taken by the Main Character of P3 in the past. Yukari exhibited multiple mood swings and it was revealed that she was jealous of Aigis for staying with the Main Character of P3 during his final moments. She eventually realizes her mistakes & would later make amends with Aigis.

I’m going to be blunt: Yukari acted like a complete bitch. I understood the reason why she acted the way she did. So,  why & how do people let that jealousy build up to a point where it can ruin people’s lives.

Extreme jealousy can develop from two major factors:

- Low self-esteem
- Insecurity

In Yukari’s case, the game made evident that the canon relationship for the Main Character of Persona 3 was with Yukari. After the MC dies, Yukari seems to believe that he was the right guy for her and that she’ll never find another guy like him again. It’s as if she lost hope in terms of dating someone, when there are plenty of other fish in the sea. Yukari also curses at her inability to save the main character when it mattered most. That causes her to believe that she was worthless and that was probably she wanted to leave SEES after the events of the main game. Seeing how Aigis inherited the MC’s powers made Yukari feel even more useless & not special.

Yukari loses trust with a majority of her friends when it came to a huge decision regarding the MC, especially Aigis. The group had to make a decision on whether to return to the past to change the protagonist’s fate, which Yukari accepted immediately. She stated that she made a promise to the MC that she would change the world for him. Though, honestly, it seems she wanted to be in control. Yukari wanted him all for herself and didn’t care what the others thought. She was willing to disagree with her friends over what’s really right for her own selfish desires. Yukari also felt no one really understood her feelings. Wanting to be in control of something creates feelings of possessive jealousy, which is extreme.

How do we make sure that feelings of jealousy don’t go over the edge? For starters, be more open towards others. There are people who do understand where you’re coming from.  Spend more time evaluating yourself and properly address your internal weaknesses. Make some changes in your lifestyle. More above anything else, develop a sense of TRUST among others that you feel are good, honest people you believe in.

There have been many times I was jealous of other people. You know how I deal with it without going insane? I look at myself and say, “There are probably other things I’m better at than this person”. I also have a good support system that I built trust with. It also helps that I try not to get too caught up in other people’s matters. Sometimes, the more you’re caught up in them, the possibility of you feeling jealous can happen depending on the nature & severity of the situation. There are times I know that I have to confront the situation instead of running away, so I try to be rightfully assertive in how I want to handle things. In the end, I look at myself and see that I do have certain traits that make me stand out in my own way.

Jealousy can be a way to heal and enhance one’s self. Look at yourself and you might realize what needs to be corrected. Sometimes, negative feelings can be a blessing in disguise.

Tagged: atlusvideo gamesyukari takebavideo game psychologyPersona 3teen psychology