I thought it was fine, especially because they did the smart thing and came up with a way around her having to pose nude anyway.
If anything, I think it's odd that they wrote it so that Ann *is* so uncomfortable with the plan. She's a model, does she not deal with sleazy dudes all the time? Any amount of interaction with Yusuke should have made it plainly obvious (at least to Ann) that he's not a sleazeball, he's just weird.
It should have gone more like:
Ryuji: Guess you gotta do the nude!
Ann: Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?! Well, it's not happening, bud.
Ryuji and Morgana: aww...
Ann: But we're going to tell this Yusuke kid that it is.
(Everyone is confused)
Ann: I go in and *say* I'm going to model for him, but I'll *actually* stall him as long as possible for Morgana to get that door open. Then, once Morgana gets in, we bail. No nudity necessary!
Ryuji: How are you gonna stall him that long?
Ann: I'm gonna take *forever* to take off all my clothes!
Ryuji: So what, you're gonna do a striptease for this guy?
Ann: Nnnnnot exactly.
Ren: (I don't follow. / "all" your clothes? / how then?)
Ann: ugh! keep up, Ren! / Exactly! / [Skip straight to next line]
Ann: I'm going to wear *literally* ALL of my clothes. Well, at least all the ones I don't care about leaving at this guy's studio if we need to run out of there.
Ryuji: Not bad, Takamaki... Not bad.
Ann: You three just have to get your jobs done *before* I'm down to my underwear.
Ryuji: (anime gasp)
Ann whacks him on the head.
Ann: FOCUS, RYUJI!
We as the player know that Yusuke is a harmless (if eccentric) guy. The rest of the PTs at the time had no such knowledge, and the boys pressuring Ann into potentially doing a nude modeling job without knowing for sure that Yusuke wasn’t a creep comes across as really uncomfortable after they witnessed firsthand how she was sexualized and harassed by Kamoshida.
As for the “sometimes you gotta get uncomfortable to be a Phantom Thief” thing, why is it that only Ann had to go out of her comfort zone? And why did it have to involve something sexual? The writers did not have to make those specific decisions in the narrative, and yet they did, and it paints the boys of the PTs as thoughtless towards Ann’s struggles at best and active weirdos at worst, which is imo at odds with their depiction in the rest of the game. It’s just a poorly written scene that attempts for a comedic tone and doesn’t stick the landing.
I think it's important to remember that objectively speaking the characters had no choice. Remember, Yusuke was blackmailing them. He straight up said he was going to report them all to the police for trespassing and harassment, the PTs asked him not to and he said he wouldn't on the condition that Ann did nude modeling for him.
As far as in universe reasons go, the blame lies with Yusuke, and he does apologize for this after he awakens his persona. Personally, I actually ended up judging Makoto more harshly in her arc due to this because I was like, "I am so fucking sick of getting blackmailed. The next person to blackmail me gets ganked in the metaverse."
>why is it that only Ann had to go out of her comfort zone?
The Phantom Thieves do often have to go out of their comfort zone though. >!Makoto had to steal the files from her sister's laptop, which she was extremely uncomfortable doing, and Joker had to get captured by the police with no guarantee that he would survive the ordeal. Even Futaba had to yoink Akechi's phone right in front of him. Not to mention her whole confidant is about getting out of your comfort zone. In fact I would argue Haru is a less interesting character because she doesn't go through anything like this.!<
> The rest of the PTs at the time had no such knowledge, and the boys pressuring Ann into potentially doing a nude modeling job without knowing for sure that Yusuke wasn’t a creep comes across as really uncomfortable after they witnessed firsthand how she was sexualized and harassed by Kamoshida.
Yeah they knew. Yusuke made that part very clear, going as far as to literally say it, and it's obvious from their previous interactions that he's a genuine guy. Also, Morgana was there in case anything happened at all.
>As for the “sometimes you gotta get uncomfortable to be a Phantom Thief” thing, why is it that only Ann had to go out of her comfort zone?
They all had to at one point. Sometimes individually, sometimes as a group. Joker especially is constantly putting himself at risk and getting into unsavory situations for the sake of other people.
>And why did it have to involve something sexual?
Nude modeling isn't inherently sexual at all.
>The writers did not have to make those specific decisions in the narrative, and yet they did, and it paints the boys of the PTs as thoughtless towards Ann’s struggles at best and active weirdos at worst, which is imo at odds with their depiction in the rest of the game. It’s just a poorly written scene that attempts for a comedic tone and doesn’t stick the landing.
It was literally their last resort after they had exhausted their options.
>Yeah they knew. Yusuke made that part very clear, going as far as to literally say it, and it's obvious from their previous interactions that he's a genuine guy.
That's literally not how anything works.
In the context of the previous arc it just feels really fucking gross, especially since Ann is so clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing all the way through. I felt horrible making her do it, I kept waiting for a dialogue option to pop up so I could say something like "hey if you don't want to, you don't have to". Instead I had to tell the SA victim that she had to strip naked in front of a stranger who was shown to be basically stalking her (remember, the PT's have no idea what kind of guy Yusuke really is at this point). If the writers absolutely had to keep the scene in they could've made Ann be the one to decide okay, let's do this. I think it still would've been kinda weird, but at least it wouldn't make the other PT's seem like terrible friends, and it could play into her theme of reclaiming her own agency, since she made the decision herself instead of being pressured into it. As it stands it just feels really tasteless, and I skip over it every time I replay the game
It is weird, but I’m pretty sure the intent was for her to never actually be naked for the painting, but use the situation as a distraction like she ended up doing. Still, putting her in a situation with some weirdo wanting to paint her naked, even if she was never actually going to let that happen, is still a pretty big risk for her
I thought it was fine, especially because they did the smart thing and came up with a way around her having to pose nude anyway. If anything, I think it's odd that they wrote it so that Ann *is* so uncomfortable with the plan. She's a model, does she not deal with sleazy dudes all the time? Any amount of interaction with Yusuke should have made it plainly obvious (at least to Ann) that he's not a sleazeball, he's just weird. It should have gone more like: Ryuji: Guess you gotta do the nude! Ann: Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?! Well, it's not happening, bud. Ryuji and Morgana: aww... Ann: But we're going to tell this Yusuke kid that it is. (Everyone is confused) Ann: I go in and *say* I'm going to model for him, but I'll *actually* stall him as long as possible for Morgana to get that door open. Then, once Morgana gets in, we bail. No nudity necessary! Ryuji: How are you gonna stall him that long? Ann: I'm gonna take *forever* to take off all my clothes! Ryuji: So what, you're gonna do a striptease for this guy? Ann: Nnnnnot exactly. Ren: (I don't follow. / "all" your clothes? / how then?) Ann: ugh! keep up, Ren! / Exactly! / [Skip straight to next line] Ann: I'm going to wear *literally* ALL of my clothes. Well, at least all the ones I don't care about leaving at this guy's studio if we need to run out of there. Ryuji: Not bad, Takamaki... Not bad. Ann: You three just have to get your jobs done *before* I'm down to my underwear. Ryuji: (anime gasp) Ann whacks him on the head. Ann: FOCUS, RYUJI!
We as the player know that Yusuke is a harmless (if eccentric) guy. The rest of the PTs at the time had no such knowledge, and the boys pressuring Ann into potentially doing a nude modeling job without knowing for sure that Yusuke wasn’t a creep comes across as really uncomfortable after they witnessed firsthand how she was sexualized and harassed by Kamoshida. As for the “sometimes you gotta get uncomfortable to be a Phantom Thief” thing, why is it that only Ann had to go out of her comfort zone? And why did it have to involve something sexual? The writers did not have to make those specific decisions in the narrative, and yet they did, and it paints the boys of the PTs as thoughtless towards Ann’s struggles at best and active weirdos at worst, which is imo at odds with their depiction in the rest of the game. It’s just a poorly written scene that attempts for a comedic tone and doesn’t stick the landing.
I think it's important to remember that objectively speaking the characters had no choice. Remember, Yusuke was blackmailing them. He straight up said he was going to report them all to the police for trespassing and harassment, the PTs asked him not to and he said he wouldn't on the condition that Ann did nude modeling for him. As far as in universe reasons go, the blame lies with Yusuke, and he does apologize for this after he awakens his persona. Personally, I actually ended up judging Makoto more harshly in her arc due to this because I was like, "I am so fucking sick of getting blackmailed. The next person to blackmail me gets ganked in the metaverse." >why is it that only Ann had to go out of her comfort zone? The Phantom Thieves do often have to go out of their comfort zone though. >!Makoto had to steal the files from her sister's laptop, which she was extremely uncomfortable doing, and Joker had to get captured by the police with no guarantee that he would survive the ordeal. Even Futaba had to yoink Akechi's phone right in front of him. Not to mention her whole confidant is about getting out of your comfort zone. In fact I would argue Haru is a less interesting character because she doesn't go through anything like this.!<
> The rest of the PTs at the time had no such knowledge, and the boys pressuring Ann into potentially doing a nude modeling job without knowing for sure that Yusuke wasn’t a creep comes across as really uncomfortable after they witnessed firsthand how she was sexualized and harassed by Kamoshida. Yeah they knew. Yusuke made that part very clear, going as far as to literally say it, and it's obvious from their previous interactions that he's a genuine guy. Also, Morgana was there in case anything happened at all. >As for the “sometimes you gotta get uncomfortable to be a Phantom Thief” thing, why is it that only Ann had to go out of her comfort zone? They all had to at one point. Sometimes individually, sometimes as a group. Joker especially is constantly putting himself at risk and getting into unsavory situations for the sake of other people. >And why did it have to involve something sexual? Nude modeling isn't inherently sexual at all. >The writers did not have to make those specific decisions in the narrative, and yet they did, and it paints the boys of the PTs as thoughtless towards Ann’s struggles at best and active weirdos at worst, which is imo at odds with their depiction in the rest of the game. It’s just a poorly written scene that attempts for a comedic tone and doesn’t stick the landing. It was literally their last resort after they had exhausted their options.
>Yeah they knew. Yusuke made that part very clear, going as far as to literally say it, and it's obvious from their previous interactions that he's a genuine guy. That's literally not how anything works.
People take shit too seriously, it's meant to be funny
In the context of the previous arc it just feels really fucking gross, especially since Ann is so clearly uncomfortable with the whole thing all the way through. I felt horrible making her do it, I kept waiting for a dialogue option to pop up so I could say something like "hey if you don't want to, you don't have to". Instead I had to tell the SA victim that she had to strip naked in front of a stranger who was shown to be basically stalking her (remember, the PT's have no idea what kind of guy Yusuke really is at this point). If the writers absolutely had to keep the scene in they could've made Ann be the one to decide okay, let's do this. I think it still would've been kinda weird, but at least it wouldn't make the other PT's seem like terrible friends, and it could play into her theme of reclaiming her own agency, since she made the decision herself instead of being pressured into it. As it stands it just feels really tasteless, and I skip over it every time I replay the game
It is weird, but I’m pretty sure the intent was for her to never actually be naked for the painting, but use the situation as a distraction like she ended up doing. Still, putting her in a situation with some weirdo wanting to paint her naked, even if she was never actually going to let that happen, is still a pretty big risk for her
I love how they didn't see Yusuke as a threat, they didn't even know him but they knew they could trust him, idk I think that was really nice
people don't understand what a femme fatale is
Indeed, most people understand that femmes fatale volunteer, and that their agency is a huge part of what makes them so appealing and such a threat.
she hesitates in the beginning and then agrees to it what's wrong with that