The Real-World Origins of Persona's Tanaka

In the Persona games, there’s a character called Tanaka who runs a show called Tanaka’s Amazing Commodities. He’s one of the few characters that appears in every modern Persona game. But did you know that Tanaka and his show are actually a parody of a real-world show? In this video, I’ll show you the real-world origins of Persona’s Tanaka!
The Persona 4 Golden gameplay footage used in this video was recorded by Hawlo! ► / hawelo92
Here’s a playlist I found with various opening themes for Japanet Takata! ► • ジャパネットop
The Japanet Takata clip used towards the end of the video was uploaded by Big Takata here! ► • ジャパネットたかた　テレビショッピング２０周...
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/ @mandatorypixel
If you want to see more trivia videos, check the playlist here! ► • Trivia
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Music from Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Grand Arena / The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky / Copyright © Nihon Falcom Corporation

[@shawnnorman8131]

As a Japanese Persona fan, I can assure you that your guess is 100% correct! President Tanaka's Japanese voice actor references "Japanet Takata" with his high-pitched voice and unique speaking style. As you may already know, but "Junes" is based on the real-life "Jusco" supermarkets, and "Satomi Tadashi Drugstore" in Persona 1 and 2 is based on the real-life "Matsumoto Kiyoshi" pharmacy franchise.

[@MandatoryPixel]

Cool, thank you for the confirmation! It might be fun to look at a comparison between the voices some time. I saw an image years ago that showed a Jusco/Aeon location that looked like Junes, but I completely forgot about it until your comment. And I had no idea that the Persona 1/2 pharmacies were based on anything! Thanks for all the neat information!

[@adboiproduction8367]

Wait is Junes really based on Jusco!?

[@MandatoryPixel]

@@adboiproduction8367 Yeah! Since receiving this comment, I went and found the comparison images I mentioned. Here's Junes as it appears in the P4 anime: pm1.aminoapps.com/6066/b4514adbd13fd538e998856c7bdc595b946d3563_hq.jpg Here's a real life Aeon (formerly Jusco) location: pm1.aminoapps.com/6066/307604262823246fe1722391af7b3ef68cf74947_hq.jpg

[@adboiproduction8367]

@@MandatoryPixel Dang...

[@kaelmic7476]

​@@MandatoryPixellol, junes is aeon? That makes so much sense. I lived in japan in the mid 2010s and i just thought junes was based on japanese supermerkets in general but aeon clicks a lot more.

[@PresidentTanaka]

I love this video. I love Tanaka. I need to see him in Persona 3 Reload

[@fgsfdsf]

transfem tanaka 🗣🗣🗣

[@lol-ih1tl]

I wonder if this Akira Takata sells explosives.

[@thanatosdv4369]

It's even more apparent with his reload VA parodying his speech style, wonder if the real takata is as scummy as our boi.

[@kotato]

Insert Cliche "why does this have so few views" line here, but this was hype.

[@MandatoryPixel]

Thanks very much! I'm glad that other people find this kind of stuff interesting.

[@DragoonDyte]

"It's a cliche because it's true, dammit."

[@IQjohnking]

Hey dude, I accidently clicked this video, watching it to the end and thought this video must getting at least 1 million views, but it is actually 1893 views. wtf

[@Jordan3DS]

It's cool seeing what Tanaka is based on, I love learning about the origins of random game stuff like this!

[@MandatoryPixel]

Me too! I'm always glad when people stumble onto this video and find it interesting. :)

[@PurpleCatte]

As a huge fan of Tanaka's Amazing Commodities and lover of the theme, this was HYPE. Thank you for this. I will never unhear "Jika Net Tanaka" in my life-- which was already my favorite part of the theme lol

[@jackthatistheripper]

I'm in love with Yu's "That's perfect!"

[@Rob0_t]

Such an underrated video.

[@ExcaliburZero0]

This is really interesting! I hadn't heard of the real life company or the fact that feature in Persona games was a reference to a real company.

[@MandatoryPixel]

Me neither! When I figured it out, I thought it was interesting enough to make a video about. Thanks for watching!

[@SeikyuuVA2Reborn]

Honestly a pretty cool thing to know! You've got a real nice style for mini-doc production. I love your paper mario stuff, but I hope you continue making these doc style stuff too sometimes. Good content eventually gets noticed, so keep up the good work!

[@MandatoryPixel]

Thanks very much! I definitely enjoyed making this video and would be down to make more non-challenge videos like this in the future, but the main issue is coming up with ideas! I stumbled onto a neat piece of trivia that I thought made for an interesting video here, but it's hard to find obscure trivia that others haven't already found for games that people are actually interested in. I'd definitely like to make more if I find something interesting enough!

[@tatakai1286]

Pretty well done video man! I’m glad it came up to me while searching for the theme song of tanaka’s show

[@MandatoryPixel]

Thanks! I noticed this video got a slight bump in views recently, maybe other people are looking for the new version of the theme song from Persona 3 Reload too.

[@rianthreeden]

O wow I would of never known this was a reference! How has this vid gone under the radar of so many People!!

[@MandatoryPixel]

It's a pretty obscure piece of trivia, so I guess it's not something many people would stumble onto randomly. Thanks for watching!

[@chromaji]

ooh, this was a real interesting video! it's cool to learn about obscure (well, obscure in the west) references like this.

[@MandatoryPixel]

Thank you! I love learning obscure trivia like this as well!

[@hatoneapple3449]

Its 2:30 am and I have to work in a few hours but I have to watch this for the goat tanaka This video was pretty cool, I'm surprised this has 2.6k views with the amount of effort you put into it

[@MandatoryPixel]

Hopefully your work day wasn't too miserable 😆 As for the view count, this video isn't anything like my other ones, so I think it just doesn't quite fit what most of my audience is looking for. I'm glad you enjoyed it though!

[@victisjkb6526]

I don't really know how I ended up here, but your videos are really cool :) Keep up the good work man, u got a new fan

[@MandatoryPixel]

Thanks a lot! I'm glad you liked it!

[@enderclasscraft6411]

3:39 for some reason I think some television station in my country bought the motion files from them and used them for something for Christmas.

[@brandonsclips7741]

You've got great work behind your vids man. I've really enjoyed binging them tonight:)

[@MandatoryPixel]

Thank you! This is the first I've heard of people binging my stuff, that's a bit flattering. I'm glad you're enjoying them!

[@gabaou3558]

Good video

[@ParasocialCatgirl]

That was a rather interesting video

[@sketchfacex8180]

WHY DOES THIS HAVE SO LITTLE VIEWS

[@ivanzoneBR24]

Every since I first started to play Persona 4 Golden for the first time this year, I thought the whole concept of the Tanaka show to be funny, it really looked like a real shopping show. However I never got interested in purchase items from Tanaka, is it worth it, to keep checking out every Sunday or you can just ignore it and dont buy anything? (I am in the middle of Rise's Arc right now)

[@MandatoryPixel]

You can get some helpful items now and then, but you're not missing out on too much if you'd rather not watch it.

[@ivanzoneBR24]

@@MandatoryPixel ok, thanks.

[@jackthatistheripper]

as far as i remember there were a lot of items that recover SP, and that's basically why i was watching it every sunday of the game, and that's how that song stuck into my head and never left after

[@KoeSeer]

wait, if Jika Net Tanaka referenced to Japanet Takata, then how it came out 5 years before? or is Japanet Takata a really old infomercial program in Japan? edit: after googling it, yes, Japanet Takata is something from early 90s. so.. I assume this Takata guy is like US's Billy May's with "HEY BILLY MAYS HERE!"

[@lostwheat5806]

On god