mokyn:

I still don’t understand why Shadow Yosuke’s boss form looks like a frog-toad-thing. I get the other Shadows but not that one.

This had me confused for a really long time too, so a little while ago I went on a research binge and came up with some theories to pacify myself. It might be all complete b.s for all I know, but I’ve stopped asking. Looking through the notes for this post, some people have said some of these before, so this might get redundant. Either way, I hope this helps possibly clear things up.

It relates to Yosuke’s initial Persona: Jiraiya is a character from Japanese folklore who could use magic to turn himself into a frog (or toad, different sources will say different things). Aaand that’s all I could find out about him. Nobody would actually tell me what any stories of him were and what he used this transformation power for aside from that. But since Yosuke has this bad habit of putting up a facade, being linked to a character who pretended to be something he wasn’t sort of makes sense.

It’s a pun: The Japanese word for frog (kaeru) is very similar to the word return— in terms of going or coming back to a place— kaeri. (Or at least that’s what the Japanese-English dictionary my sister has says. I doubt its accuracy, since it randomly has an excerpt from a R.A Salvatore story in the middle of it. The dictionary of symbols I have also says the word for frog and return are both “kaeru” so either way, play on words!)

It relates to symbolism in Japanese culture: There is a lot of symbolism behind frogs, but the bits that relate most to Yosuke are also from Japanese culture, so we’re focusing on that. Frogs can be considered good luck charms, which is most likely a joke on how Yosuke has the worst luck out of the entire team. More symbolism relates to travelling though, since apparently frogs will always find a way back to their homes no matter how far you move them away. This also goes back to that pun thing I mentioned. Frog charms are often given to travellers so they’ll come back to where they started. This symbolism I feel is especially important becaaaause…

The frog form is an abstract way of taunting him: Let’s face it, Yosuke has probably dealt with his loneliness in close to every wrong way possible. Before the protagonist came along, I doubt Yosuke was telling anyone how he felt, he stayed friends with people he never really talked to, is a complete doormat because he doesn’t want to bother people and have them potentially not like him, a lot of people in town don’t like him for reasons he actually has nothing to do with, and he just plain isn’t fixing his situation. While Shadows may be a representation of what you don’t want to be, and the ones in P4 can go quite berserk, they still want to be accepted. Yosuke wants to have genuine friends he can trust, but in trying to get people to like him he makes it nearly impossible for anyone to really know him, so any friends he did have weren’t really close. While it isn’t explicitly stated, Yosuke seems to want to return to the city because he thinks things will be better there, though chances are he was still miserable there too. He’s partially aware that a few things are his fault, but he isn’t changing for the better either. By taking on a form that is heavily tied in symbolism for travel and return, the Shadow is bringing to the forefront how nothing will improve, no matter where he goes, until he can figure himself out. As you hang out with Yosuke over the course of the game he eventually learns what he’s been doing wrong, and while he can’t change the way people already think of him, he realizes there are people who care about him, faults and all, and they’re the people who matter.

(I hope this makes sense, I’m typing this in a bit of a rush. Another common theory for the frog design is that it relates to the story of the frog in the well, which was about limited perspective from what I can see. Like most fables, there are different versions around, but I think the one I linked to is pretty easy to find parallels to. As for the humanoid figure and the gloves and scarf on the Shadow, I think that’s more to link it to the design of Jiraiya, so I can’t say anything about that.)

(Source: persona--confessions)