Were the gay men really hitting on Ryuji? I examine their first appearance in Persona 5 to learn the truth.

Persona 5 Royal will soon be releasing in the west, and as we draw closer to that time, it’s no surprise that drama surrounding the game is beginning to make headlines. The recent concerns being connected to statements by Atlus’ localisation team that they are altering certain characters, who harass Ryuji, to make them more palatable to “western sensibilities”; which are most vocally represented by a crowd of people with a reputation of hating anything Japanese, and who thrive on trying to force their own ideals on to others.

Interestingly, claims are now being made that the original English translation used in Persona 5 may not have been correct, or more specifically, may not have properly represented the Japanese source. This isn’t the first time the localisation’s accuracy has been called into question. A conversation at the start of the game was mistranslated, causing confusion over a certain phone call.

Now, it’s not uncommon for localisations to be a little inventive with translations. This isn’t inherently a bad thing. What works in Japanese may come off as stale in English. Literal translations also face the risk of being nonsensical. Keep in mind that the two languages are different and Japanese often omits information that the English language needs to have stated.

The most basic example would be pronouns. Japanese does not need them, where English does. Another example would be making a distinction between singular and plural. Again, this is information often omitted from Japanese sentences. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the first of two scenes featuring the gay men Ryuji encounters in Persona 5.

On June 18, Ryuji and Ren go to Shinjuku:

竜司: つーか・・・やっべえ。ガチの大物じゃん、興奮してきたぜ・・・

Ryuji: This is totally crazy though… It’s a huge catch! I’m pumped.

やけに野太い声: やだ、ガッチガチの大物ですって？アタシも興奮しちゃ〜う！

Uncanny Voice: Oooh, a real huuuge catch, you say? I’m getting pumped too!

The English is colourful, but the meaning of the spoken lines remains faithful to the Japanese. The description of the, as yet, unknown man, has changed. The Japanese refers to him as Awfully deep voice, the use of uncanny is not necessarily a problem though; it gets used for a wide range of Japanese phrases when there is a focus on an unfamiliar, mysterious, unnerving, or scary subject.

髭の生えたオネエ: 可愛い子じゃな〜い。筋肉もあるし、85点ってトコかしら？

Scruffy Romantic: What a cutie! And so muscular too. I give you an 85 out of 100!

The description of the now introduced man does differ from its Japanese. The man is described as having a beard or being unshaven (髭の生えた). Scruffy changes the nuance here, but it’s not a major difference. However, オネエ, an alternative form of お姉 (elder sister) describes a man as being effeminate; often with homosexual or transsexual connotations. This term is not inherently a slur. On the contrary, it was first coined within the gay and transsexual community, being derived from the title of a TV show (おネエ★MANS) aired on Nihon Television.

Instead of finding a similar English phrase, the translation opted to sanitise the word; simply calling the man a romantic. To be fair, I am uncertain if any English phrase here would be wholly accepted without any form of complaint from one quarter or another. A possible translation for おネエ in this context, which keeps the core meaning and is less likely to be misconstrued as a slur is ‘queen’.

竜司: うおっ！？な・・・なんだこのバケモン！

Ryuji: Gah! Wh-Who are you!?

筋肉質のオネエ: ギャハハ、新宿のクリーチャーで〜す！食・べ・ちゃ・う・ぞ！

Beefy Trendsetter: Gwahahaha! I’m the naughty troll of Shinjuku! I’m gonna eat you up!

Ryuji’s comment has lost his バケモン (monster) insult. Such an insult isn’t necessarily based on sexual preference, and as such should not be taken as definitely homophobic in intent. Being scared by the sudden appearance of someone is a likely situation for バケモン to be used. Its inclusion helps explain why the ‘trendsetter’ refers to himself as a クリーチャー (lit., creature, but translated here as troll) in his introduction.

Beefy is a good fit for 筋肉質 (muscular), but here too, trendsetter has no correlation with オネエ. Troll is good fit for クリーチャー and plays into the monster outburst from Ryuji. This makes the removal of that comment a tad puzzling and possibly problematic. Although there was no specific Japanese equivalent in the original, ‘naughty’ (and the sexual connotations that come with it) has been added to the English translation.

Trolls are known for eating their prey, so this fits with ‘eating up’ Ryuji for dinner. Like its English equivalent, 食べちゃうぞ can be used as a sexual innuendo, but its core meaning is ‘consuming (food)’. It can be used playfully, without any sexual intent behind it. For example, when a parent is chasing their child as a game.

Is 食べちゃうぞ sexual here? It’s possible, but it’s just as possible to be a light-hearted play on the バケモン insult from Ryuji. The omission of that, coupled with the implications of being a ‘naughty’ troll, makes the English translation more likely to be interpreted as implying sexual intent.

竜司: ちょっ・・・うわ、離せよ！

Ryuji: H-Hey, wait… Lemme go!

竜司: オマエ、助けろって！聞こえてんだろ、なあ！？

Ryuji: Dude, help! You can hear me, can’t you!?

Following the comments made by Ryuji (which have not changed in their English versions), the player is prompted to make a choice. Ryuji’s response differs based on the selection made. This has been omitted as I have not found Japanese and English videos where the choices matched.

筋肉質のオネエ: ウフフ、元気な子ね。いっぱいサービスしちゃう！

Beefy Trendsetter: Hehehe, what an energetic studmuffin. I’ll give you all the freebies you could ever desire!

元気な子 is a cheerful, lively, healthy, or energetic child. ‘Studmuffin’ does not directly correlate to any of the Japanese spoken by the ‘trendsetter’. いっぱいサービスしちゃう is not explicitly sexual, but the inclusion of ‘studmuffin’ does reinforce that nuance. To ‘service’ in the Japanese sense is to provide something extra, or to go above and beyond what was necessary. That said, it can be, and often is, used in Japanese with a sexual connotation (i.e., fan service).

There is some ambiguity with the Japanese as to whether the gay men were simply wanting to hang out with Ryuji, perhaps over drinks or food, or whether they wanted something more intimate. An argument could be made that the boys being in a supposed red-light entertainment district meant that the men were specifically looking for a sexual encounter with Ryuji. But, this by itself would be subjective and open to interpretation by the player. Adding ‘studmuffin’ in the English does tip the scales, making it far more likely that their interest in Ryuji is perceived as sexual.

髭の生えたオネエ: 夜は長いわよォ？一緒に盛り上がりましょ！

Scruffy Romantic: The night is young, and so are you! Let’s party it up!

竜司: うわああああー！

Ryuji: Gaaaaaahhh!

Lastly, 夜は長いわよォ literally would translate as ‘the night is long’. Considering the guys are talking about partying, it makes sense to change this to the ‘night is young’. However, the addition of ‘and so are you’ in reference to Ryuji was not in the original Japanese. Its inclusion could be taken as sexual and as reference to ‘being underage’ — the latter, however, is a stretch, unless the gay men also recognise Ryuji’s trousers as being part of his school uniform. We can only speculate on that though.

The choices made during localisation of this first encounter do remove ambiguity in terms of whether there was a sexual undertone. In that respect, the localisation is somewhat responsible for causing the initial upset over this scene at the very least. There’s no doubt in my mind that the translation up-played the sexual nature of the two men in this instance.

Next time, I’ll be looking at the longer and more problematic second encounter with these two men.

Is there a Japanese localisation you have questions over or would like me to look at? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter (Jgamesite or bansama), and it could be the focus of a future Translate This!

If you like what I do, please consider showing your support.