OOC
Mun Name: Linda, superfluously
AIM: Pb2Ag
Email: Lunapen@hotmail.com
Notes: Feel free to hit me up anytime if you have questions, comments, critiques, or just want to chat.
Also, if one of those mediums are undesirable, feel free to post here, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I'll even leave Anon posting on for you.
Timeline: December 4th, after listening to Namatame.
Background: All right, let me explain Persona 4 to you a little bit before I get into Naoto’s role.
To begin, the story’s about a group of highschool students trying to solve a case of bizarre murders in their tiny, babby country town. In the beginning, the students hear of a “Midnight Channel,” or a rumor claiming that if one stares into an off-TV at midnight when it rains, then they will see their true love. However, it turns out that, instead of the person shown as one’s “true love,” it’s someone who A) has recently become famous on TV, and B) someone who will die in a very bizarre way soon after. The first two (and only) victims, when found, died of an unknown death and were strewn up on a TV antenna. Wanting to prevent more deaths, the students investigate further, eventually discovering a dangerous world hidden behind TVs. This world is filled with monsters, called Shadows, that are the manifestation of the town’s suppressed emotions and thoughts. When one confronts those thoughts, like the highschool students do, they gain the ability to summon “Persona,” or advanced Shadows that fight with the students. However, if one does not confront those feelings and refuses to accept their suppressed thoughts, then the Shadows will kill them, which is how the murders occurred. In the game, there is someone throwing people into the TVs with an intention to kill them, while the main characters are trying to stop them from dying.
Naoto is introduced as a detective working with the Inaba police over the recent murders, due to the inability of Dojima and peeps to find evidence/suspect/whatever. She refuses help from the other departments, and she claims her only reward will be the truth, as opposed to some monetary gain. This, obviously, pisses off a lot of the other officers, which causes them to treat her as a child. However, her first appearance is after she’s discovered the link between the Midnight Channel and the murders, which none but the main characters had done. She questions Kanji Tatsumi, who turns out to be the next almost-victim, but is unable to prevent him from being thrown into the TV.
Later, after Kanji is saved (and Rise, too), Naoto reappears as a student enrolled in Yasogami High School with the main characters. She fails miserably at being social, and even seems pretty damn cold to those who attempt to make friends with her. In fact, it is revealed that she suspects that the main characters are involved in the case somehow and enrolled in the school to gain more information on the case.
Eventually, a boy steps forward, attempting to claim credit for the murders. Naoto, extremely suspicious of this, sets herself up to become the next potential-victim of the murderer. She gets herself on TV, which generates a town-wide admiration for the newly dubbed “Detective Prince.” Sure enough, she is thrown into the TV, and appears on the Midnight Channel.
The main characters, of course, run in to save her (just as she suspected they would).
The world inside the TV expresses the suppressed feelings of the person there, so Naoto’s level is dubbed “Secret Laboratory.” In fact, the entire thing is military base-like, but with the childish intention that it is “secret” and a “hideaway.” After racing through all nine levels, the Protagonist finds Naoto speaking calmly with her Shadow self. Her Shadow, as I’ve described before, is all of her repressed feelings and emotions, and when first seen in person, represents Naoto’s childishness. In fact, it cries and begs the real Naoto not to leave it because it is “always left alone.” However, just as quickly, it switches to provoking Naoto, revealing her fear of being pushed aside as soon as her job’s done. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because, soon after, the Shadow explains that it will perform a “body alteration procedure” on Naoto, changing her sex.
See, all those feminine pronouns I’ve used this whole time? Well, in game, everyone (including myself), thought Naoto was a boy. Very short, very thin, but a boy nonetheless. Which is exactly what she wanted them to think. Her shadow explains “how could you become an ideal man when you were never male to begin with?” revealing Naoto’s idolization of detective fiction and the male-dominated police force, and her knowledge that she’ll never achieve that dream.
Of course, Naoto denies it, and there’s an epic boss fight afterwards. Her Shadow takes the form of a half-robot with toy-like guns, able to exploit the weaknesses of all the main characters, representing her calculating nature.
After the fight, she explains a lot of her backstory. She comes from a long line of famous detectives; however, her parents died when she was younger. She moved in with her Grandpa. She sucked at making friends, so she stuck to reading detective stories, idolizing them. Her grandpa allowed her to help him in his cases, giving her a chance to achieve that dream of becoming a detective.
After this, she asks to join the main characters in unraveling the murder case. The rest of the game happens. It's awesome.
Notes for self:
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD (it's mainly here for me to brush up on characterization and voice)
"This is not a game for me either."
"Accepting her Shadow."
"Push the bastard in."
AIM: Pb2Ag
Email: Lunapen@hotmail.com
Notes: Feel free to hit me up anytime if you have questions, comments, critiques, or just want to chat.
Also, if one of those mediums are undesirable, feel free to post here, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I'll even leave Anon posting on for you.
Timeline: December 4th, after listening to Namatame.
Background: All right, let me explain Persona 4 to you a little bit before I get into Naoto’s role.
To begin, the story’s about a group of highschool students trying to solve a case of bizarre murders in their tiny, babby country town. In the beginning, the students hear of a “Midnight Channel,” or a rumor claiming that if one stares into an off-TV at midnight when it rains, then they will see their true love. However, it turns out that, instead of the person shown as one’s “true love,” it’s someone who A) has recently become famous on TV, and B) someone who will die in a very bizarre way soon after. The first two (and only) victims, when found, died of an unknown death and were strewn up on a TV antenna. Wanting to prevent more deaths, the students investigate further, eventually discovering a dangerous world hidden behind TVs. This world is filled with monsters, called Shadows, that are the manifestation of the town’s suppressed emotions and thoughts. When one confronts those thoughts, like the highschool students do, they gain the ability to summon “Persona,” or advanced Shadows that fight with the students. However, if one does not confront those feelings and refuses to accept their suppressed thoughts, then the Shadows will kill them, which is how the murders occurred. In the game, there is someone throwing people into the TVs with an intention to kill them, while the main characters are trying to stop them from dying.
Naoto is introduced as a detective working with the Inaba police over the recent murders, due to the inability of Dojima and peeps to find evidence/suspect/whatever. She refuses help from the other departments, and she claims her only reward will be the truth, as opposed to some monetary gain. This, obviously, pisses off a lot of the other officers, which causes them to treat her as a child. However, her first appearance is after she’s discovered the link between the Midnight Channel and the murders, which none but the main characters had done. She questions Kanji Tatsumi, who turns out to be the next almost-victim, but is unable to prevent him from being thrown into the TV.
Later, after Kanji is saved (and Rise, too), Naoto reappears as a student enrolled in Yasogami High School with the main characters. She fails miserably at being social, and even seems pretty damn cold to those who attempt to make friends with her. In fact, it is revealed that she suspects that the main characters are involved in the case somehow and enrolled in the school to gain more information on the case.
Eventually, a boy steps forward, attempting to claim credit for the murders. Naoto, extremely suspicious of this, sets herself up to become the next potential-victim of the murderer. She gets herself on TV, which generates a town-wide admiration for the newly dubbed “Detective Prince.” Sure enough, she is thrown into the TV, and appears on the Midnight Channel.
The main characters, of course, run in to save her (just as she suspected they would).
The world inside the TV expresses the suppressed feelings of the person there, so Naoto’s level is dubbed “Secret Laboratory.” In fact, the entire thing is military base-like, but with the childish intention that it is “secret” and a “hideaway.” After racing through all nine levels, the Protagonist finds Naoto speaking calmly with her Shadow self. Her Shadow, as I’ve described before, is all of her repressed feelings and emotions, and when first seen in person, represents Naoto’s childishness. In fact, it cries and begs the real Naoto not to leave it because it is “always left alone.” However, just as quickly, it switches to provoking Naoto, revealing her fear of being pushed aside as soon as her job’s done. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, because, soon after, the Shadow explains that it will perform a “body alteration procedure” on Naoto, changing her sex.
See, all those feminine pronouns I’ve used this whole time? Well, in game, everyone (including myself), thought Naoto was a boy. Very short, very thin, but a boy nonetheless. Which is exactly what she wanted them to think. Her shadow explains “how could you become an ideal man when you were never male to begin with?” revealing Naoto’s idolization of detective fiction and the male-dominated police force, and her knowledge that she’ll never achieve that dream.
Of course, Naoto denies it, and there’s an epic boss fight afterwards. Her Shadow takes the form of a half-robot with toy-like guns, able to exploit the weaknesses of all the main characters, representing her calculating nature.
After the fight, she explains a lot of her backstory. She comes from a long line of famous detectives; however, her parents died when she was younger. She moved in with her Grandpa. She sucked at making friends, so she stuck to reading detective stories, idolizing them. Her grandpa allowed her to help him in his cases, giving her a chance to achieve that dream of becoming a detective.
After this, she asks to join the main characters in unraveling the murder case. The rest of the game happens. It's awesome.
Notes for self:
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD (it's mainly here for me to brush up on characterization and voice)
"This is not a game for me either."
Click to view"Accepting her Shadow."
"Push the bastard in."