He's just seriously annoying, I get that his character is loud and angry all the time, but he just does it ALLLLLLL the time, he's just the worst.

He's probably my favorite out of the like..designated best friend characters these games have had. His confidant was really nice too.

I get frustrated at his constantly talking loudly about how rad the thieves are in public but I think now that A Thing has happened it might settle down a bit.

He's fucking Yosuke and Kanji mixed into one, making him the greatest male character in the series (I don't actually agree with this, Kanji is the best, but Ryuji really is both characters in one...so far that I've played)

I have just fun the first palace after 20 hours and I love Ryuji.

He's pretty justifiably angry in the beginning considering he's likely the only person in the entire school speaking out against some things, but I found that he eventually settles down. I think he also comes across really well in his confidant rankups from what I've seen so far (I've got him at like 6 or 7).

Fair enough, I've just started the second palace and I just find his mouth gets you and the guys into trouble all the time and I find myself moaning at my tv for him to just shut up haha

He can be obnoxious sometimes, but I find him likeable more often than not. I think his English voice is pretty excellent too.

I don't know if he quite beats Junpei as "comic relief best friend" (mostly because Junpei had the strongest character arc in P3), but he's been a solid character so far. I feel like there's more depth to his character than with Yosuke.

Nope

He's a better "best friend" character than Yosuke. Ryuji reminds me a lot more of Junpei and Kanji, who are both really strong Persona characters, in that he actually has problems I find relatable. His anger is justified at the beginning of P5, because (spoiler) Kamoshida literally took away the only thing that made him happy at school, which was the track team. Pair that with already being a hot-headed kid with other problems before Kamoshida even started teaching, and you have Ryuji. I might just like P5's general theme of youth rebellion, and Ryuji fits into that like a confused, teenaged glove with his semi-justified desire to fuck shit up for people in power.

The only thing I don't like about him is his constant uttering of "For real?!" As others have mentioned, he's actually quite believable.

Nah, he's awesome. He's like Yosuke and Kanji rolled into one but better.

He is in fact the worst. Yusuke is awesome though.

He is fucking horrible. He doesn't have the charm of a lovable klutz like Yosuke, and doesn't have a good-boy inner filling like Kanji. He is just a complete fucking moron, and for someone who is close, or even over, 17 years old, every time he talks about "THOSE DAMN ADULTS" I want to fucking slap him. I was hoping that as more party member got introduced he would take a backseat, but he still gets more screen time then I wish he would. He is such a poorly written character that he is making me not enjoy the game as much I would if he just didn't exist, which is a real shame because everyone and everything else in Persona 5 is fucking rad.

Junpei or Yosuke he is not :(

No

Lol no, he is fine. I find his stupidity mildly amusing.

Also he has the the same "pain in the ass" fixation as Yosuke.

He bears the unfortunate mark of a guy who seems flawed, but a good, interesting dude during his social link, but during the main plot (so far) he's the worst. He has the roles of guy who has to yell loudly about how simple explanations make no sense, guy who has to yell loudly and piss people off to make things ten times harder than they need to be, and guy who generally loves yelling loudly in every other situation in and out of dungeons about our secret, stealthy organization.

The game is literally about youth rebellion against older corrupt authority figures. Yes he's gonna express his outrage against piece of shit adults, especially since his father and volleyball teacher are two of them.

See me, I hated Yosuke. So I'm pretty sure based on what people are saying here, that I would probably hate Ryuji too.

Agreed. Yosuke + Kanji = Ryuji. He's a much more efficiently written character. I like him a lot.

@fitzgerald said:

Only 8 hours in or so and I like him a hell a lot more than Yosuke. Yosuke could be super cool then totally fucking unbearable to me. Also a little Junpei in the character as others have pointed out, think the Persona team writes similar characters at all? To counter myself, all the games have similar characters on the outside, but are very different once you get to know them throughout the game and their social link, why I love the damn series so much.

Sorry Duder, but Ryuji is the shit

I definitely also landed on the "oh they just combined Kanji and Yosuke here huh" within the first fifteen minutes with him but it's like he got all of their unlikable characteristics and none of their redeeming ones.

These are all the worst and they somehow managed to throw all of them onto the same character.

I liked him quite a lot at first. My original impression of him was a rebellious slacker, but overtime hes become progressively stupider and its just straight up bothersome.

Ryuji is good, good boy

He grew on me a little bit as I got further but for the most part I agree, he sucks. He's a wanna be rebel tough guy who treats the people around him like shit, acting like an asshole when he doesn't understand something. Even though that thing he doesn't understand has been explained to him over and over again. Yosuke was a dumb asshole at times but at least he was a likable dumb asshole.

Ryuji is an immature child who cant control his emotions and cant seem to learn from the people or situations around him. I'm goin off on him a bit but I think it bothers me so much because the game doesn't do a great job of justifying his relationship to the main character. I got a real bff vibe from Yosuke even if he got on my nerves at times, I knew at the end of the day we were home boys and could talk and hug shit out if air needed clearing. Ryuji on the other hand well... it wouldn't be pretty but it would probably end with him getting the boot.

Who does he treat like shit though..?

The more i go on the less i like him

Also i really, really hate his rank 7 ability, which is active even if i leave him out of the party

I have never even seen that ability activate and am not entirely sure what it's supposed to be.

@efesell: SPOILER ABILITY it just kills lower level shadows immediatly on ambush without going into the fight (and gives you a persona directly if you have a spot available) but nets you no money or exp, and makes it impossible to negotiate with them, which i like to do (especially with rank 2 Sun) to farm money.

Ah, I guess I'll see much more of that when I get around to Mementos delving.

I really liked the way that his Confidant ranks wrapped up. It wasn't as stereotypically anime as Yosuke's rank 10. It feels like rather than helping him grow as a person, it was about helping him finally be able to make a different in the world around him. The way it played out resonated with me a lot.

He is exactly what I thought he was going to be when I first saw him: a combination of Yosuke and Kanji. Which makes him pretty much the best bro of the whole series.

He's waaay better than Yosuke and Junpei, the prevous male bffs from Persona games. So no I don't find him annoying.

Ryuuji is pretty great. He's a little bit of a personality that I wouldn't get along with personally, but as a character and as a buddy to my MC, he's really good. I like him a teensy bit better than Yosuke, and vaaaastly more than Junpei. Fuck Junpei.

Can't stand him, he has his humanizing moments during his SL but he is the worst during the main story scenes. I think he's just especially grating to me because we are the polar opposite personality wise, I wanna play it cool and keep things quiet while he insists on yelling and being a dick to potential allies incessantly. I smile every time he whiffs in combat and Morgana calls him pathetic. While Junpei and Yosuke had their moments of stupidity I always felt like they cared about you and had your back in the end where as Ryuji just seems to care about himself and getting notoriety.

Yes I agree fuck Junpei, but moreso fuck Yosuke. Always surprised that there are people who actually liked that douche.

Ryuji is alright, fuck Junpei

Junpei is alright. Fuck Yosuke. Ryuji is alright. Seriously, fuck Yosuke.

Better than Yosuke

He's great from what I've seen so far. Definitely better than Yosuke.

From what I've seen (roughly 25 hours in) I like him better than Yosuke as a character, but I might like Yosuke's voice acting performance better. Both pale compared to Junpei though.

Okay he actually is starting to just get a little bit exhausting..

He seems to be getting worse. I would always use the 'Calm down' conversation option with Yosuke, but Ryuji has reached the point where I wish there was a 'Take it down a fucking notch, dipshit' followed with a quick back-hand to the side of the head button. We're trying to run a secret organization here.

@oldenglishc: Yeah I was fine sort of brushing it off for a while cause it seemed like it was building to something but.. just kinda keeps goin' with it.

I think Ryuji might be my least favorite party member in any of the Persona games I've played (every one since 3 FES), and that's including Ken. The guy never knows when to tone it down and I find most of his dialogue insufferable. I agree with people saying he's a mix of Kanji and Yosuke, but he's their worst characteristics rolled up into one. In all the story scenes I've seen so far, up to and including the end of the second Palace, he's got Yosuke's "worthlessness" without any of Yosuke's heart mixed with Kanji's rebellious attitude without any of the depth of Kanji's inner conflict. I really hope he undergoes some growth, but the 3 ranks of his Confidant I've seen don't make me feel like that's going to happen.

EDIT: Wow, I didn't realize so many people disliked Yosuke. He's probably my favorite "best friend" character in a video game.

I don't like him, but I'd take a party of three Ryujis over one with one Morgana and his sycophantic Lady Ann bullshit. Even though she's hardly my favorite female character I'm halfway tempted to pursue her just to piss in his Cheerios.

As others have said I like his s-links but he sucks in cutscenes. He can be so stupidly obnoxious isnt hard to really like him.

He knows he should chill out talking abput the phantom theives but he spends most of hia time practically screaming at the top his lungs that he is one of them.

Seriously most of the your party members find out about it because of him. This is especially noticeable when you guys have the "hideout" in that stupidly public place. Seriously you see people walking by or standing 5 feet away from the group and they talk about stealing people's hearts.

On a side note, he does remind me of one of those guys that's really cool to hang with on your own, but the moment a female comes around he becomes the biggest idiot.

@crommi: Well, I'm definitely not very early on. I don't know if I'm midway yet, but Makoto just joined my team (and she's awesome) and Morgana has only gotten more stalkerish if anything.