[I am a Shadow...the true self]
Kanji Tatsumi: The Emperor Take-Mitzuchi
Shadow Kanji is very aggressive, making him an even harder boss to deal with than Shadow Yukiko. He also has two lesser Shadows working with him, both of whom are very, very hard to defeat if you're attempting to spam attacks on everyone.
Kanji himself is met shortly after it's revealed by the Midnight Channel that he'll be the next victim. Seen talking to a strange, slender young man dressed in dark blue, Kanji is seen muttering to himself and then, when annoyed or embarrassed, attempting to threaten the group while they watch over him to try to stop the killer. This fails quickly, and the group is forced back into the TV World to rescue him. Unluckily, due to Teddie's inability to figure himself out and Kanji's own inner turmoil, the group has to rely on information from the slender young man to get there, finding out he has a 'complex'.
Kanji at the beginning is overly tough and puts on a very tough-guy appearance and attitude when you first meet him and is very quick to anger and even more prone to misunderstandings. Half of the dialogue ends up with him chasing after you or the others in an attempt to beat you up or try to argue about the misunderstandings.
After accepting his other self, Kanji seems more self-aware of himself and who he really is. As much as the others, he understands what it is that brought up his Shadow and what he really wanted and was attempting to get. Kanji is not always the quickest to understand the whole thing, but he does his best and will push forward with everyone after he's joined the team. Next to Yosuke and the Protagonist, he's one of the stronger fighters and will always work to deal as much damage as he can.
Even though Kanji's sexuality is the main reason for his Shadow appearing, he is still teased about it by the others, especially by Yosuke. However, he seems more confident in himself and his 'true self', so while he gets angry and gets into a few different antics, overall he's a great help to the group and does ultimately add something new to the group dynamic.
TAROT ANALYSIS
The Emperor (IV), Reversed
The Emperor is often just that - a man in power, often depicted in a way different from the Empress, who lounges in beauty and flowers. The Emperor is often shown ruling over a blasted or stony landscape, with harder features and battle armor worn and ready, holding an Ankh and a globe. He symbolizes the top of the secular hierarchy, and holds control over all he surveys.
Reversed, though, this meaning changes quickly. The Emperor goes from being in control and having a solid foundation to holding control by sheer force of will. Reversed, the card means that there's an abuse of power and a hold onto power in a bad way, or simply a stopping of thinking and instead holding hard onto old ideas. This could also represent negative authority figures in your life - Kanji is known to Dojima through police work, meaning he's been arrested or in trouble more than once, resulting in him having to deal with the police. Despite Dojima's authority and ability, he's unable to really connect with younger children or teenagers, and that means he can sometimes come across as very harsh when he's worried or upset about something.
The main focus of the Emperor is control, though - reversed, that control is lost or held onto in a very negative or toxic way. In Kanji's case, his control of situations and of himself is, at the time, very tenuous and he's been pulled into bad situations due to his inability to control himself and articulate what he really wants or feels. Turning the card upright will allow Kanji to control himself more, understand when to speak and when to threaten, as well as give him more confidence in what he likes and realize that he doesn't have to stick to one side or the other, despite his confusion.
THEME: Sexuality and Gender
I continually mention this about Kanji, because for this part, sexuality is a more important part of what makes Kanji a target and what pulls out his Shadow. Kanji's sexuality is never explicitly stated as 'gay' or 'straight', and another character's introduction will only make this subject a bit more confusing. For now, I'm fine with breaking it down based on "The Genderbread Man" {Source: It's Pronounced Metrosexual}, as I think that will help explain why I see Kanji as a bisexual (the spoilerific character that, in game, we've only met but don't have the name of yet, will play into this too)
Gender Identity: Male
Gender Expression: Male with Female-coded Interests (sewing)
Biological Sex: Male
Sexual Orientation: Bisexual or scoring at least 3-4 on the Kinsey Scale (homosexual with heterosexual tendencies).
When Kanji finally confronts and accepts his Shadow, he has to explain to it that it doesn't matter to him if it's women or men - that he wants to be accepted. It might be from bad experiences with women that his Shadow gained the idea of being homosexual, not to mention the incidents with the slender young man who was asking him questions and who Kanji is shown to find handsome, or at least get flustered around. He later gets a bloody nose when he sees the girls in their bathing suits, hinting at least an attraction to the girls in a sexual way (he turns around when the girls arrive, and other events later on hint at his attraction to certain types of women). Kanji accepts that he is a male and sees himself as such, but his sexuality is the main source of his confusion, and as he stated after he accepts himself, he is interested in someone who will accept him. Without more confirmations about what he feels, Kanji's sexuality is left up to whatever the player feels he should be. Again, my personal headcanon is that Kanji is bisexual, though possibly homoromantic.
Next up: More on the Persona
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