Why Do You Use Yu and Not Souji?
This is a question I've gotten a number of times, so I may as well write out my admittedly complicated feelings on this matter.
Maybe some back story is in order here. Feel free to skip this post. I am long-winded, as usual. XD
I got into the Persona series a little late in the game - my first Persona game was Persona 3. I was given it the year it came out for Christmas by a friend who had already beaten it and no longer wanted it. He gave me the art book and the soundtrack - which gets a lot of play in my car, heh. Before even this though, another friend of mine who I knew though some video game forums I adminned at, insisted it was for me, that I had to play it, and since he ended up being the editor of the official Double Jump Books Persona 3 guide, he sent me a copy that he signed, heh, and more insisting that I have to play it written inside the cover.
Now, even though I am a known animanga fan, I didn't find the P3 (or the P4) manga until fairly recently. So, in my mind, the protagonists have always just been 'MC'. Though I ran video game forums, I wasn't actually in gaming fandom. I was in animanga fandom, and I've always been a pretty dedicated fan, so I stuck to a couple and never really fandom hopped. I ran one Final Fantasy forum and one general RPG forum, but especially on the latter, we focused on ORPG games, because we were total nerds, heh. Text-RP was our thing.
Fast forward to playing Persona 4, nothing to note there. Then my friends started making noise about a Persona 4 anime that was airing. I watched the first episode and made a note to come back to it later. It wasn't until just recently, when I was rec'd the Giant Bomb P4 ER and started to consume some of the anime that I got the name Yu. (I haven't finished the anime... I should probably do that...)
So I got used to calling him Yu, and Charlie, and even with one friend, Toast, heh. Eventually, I wandered into fandom and discovered the name Souji. When I asked my friend what I should use, she said Yu, so I went with that.
Seriously, that's all the thought that went into it. Of course, I've thought about it a lot more now, and since the most recent canon uses Yu, that's what I stick with. It's mostly arbitrary.
Really, Lish? Yes, really.
But the fandom prefers Souji! Why don't you switch then?
Great question! Well, that's also a little complicated. It's part consistency - I started with Yu and that's what I'm going to use. It's part acknowledging recent canon. And it's partly that I shouldn't have to change it just because person X doesn't like it.
Now on to my thoughts about the names themselves. I've seen a whole lot of fighting over names, name meanings, which name was here first - I have pretty much zero interest in this kind of fighting. It's not really productive. I happen to like both names, myself, and at least in my mental dialogue, tend to switch between the two, probably because I've read so many fics.
Meaning-wise, I think Narukami is really fitting, considering the source material. But I really like the way Souji sounds on the tongue - it's really very pleasing to say. If only Souji Narukami didn't sound ridiculous, heh.
Aesthetically speaking, I think 鳴上悠 (Narukami Yuu) looks prettier than 瀬多総司 (Seta Souji). Which, in the long run is pretty meaningless, but that's what I think, heh.
Also, I think Souji is better for sex scenes. (Weird thought, but there you have it.) "Sou... ji..." looks so nice. XD
So in the long run, names? I don't care. Yu, Souji, Charlie, P4MC, Toast, whatever. It all boils down to the same thing - I love the main character of Persona 4, in all his bowl cut glory.
Did you just waste precious minutes of your life reading this post? If you did, I'm sorry, since my opinion could have been summed up with an I don't care. But now you know all my thoughts! Horray, or something.
This is also posted at DW, which you can find here. Comment wherever you want!
Maybe some back story is in order here. Feel free to skip this post. I am long-winded, as usual. XD
I got into the Persona series a little late in the game - my first Persona game was Persona 3. I was given it the year it came out for Christmas by a friend who had already beaten it and no longer wanted it. He gave me the art book and the soundtrack - which gets a lot of play in my car, heh. Before even this though, another friend of mine who I knew though some video game forums I adminned at, insisted it was for me, that I had to play it, and since he ended up being the editor of the official Double Jump Books Persona 3 guide, he sent me a copy that he signed, heh, and more insisting that I have to play it written inside the cover.
Now, even though I am a known animanga fan, I didn't find the P3 (or the P4) manga until fairly recently. So, in my mind, the protagonists have always just been 'MC'. Though I ran video game forums, I wasn't actually in gaming fandom. I was in animanga fandom, and I've always been a pretty dedicated fan, so I stuck to a couple and never really fandom hopped. I ran one Final Fantasy forum and one general RPG forum, but especially on the latter, we focused on ORPG games, because we were total nerds, heh. Text-RP was our thing.
Fast forward to playing Persona 4, nothing to note there. Then my friends started making noise about a Persona 4 anime that was airing. I watched the first episode and made a note to come back to it later. It wasn't until just recently, when I was rec'd the Giant Bomb P4 ER and started to consume some of the anime that I got the name Yu. (I haven't finished the anime... I should probably do that...)
So I got used to calling him Yu, and Charlie, and even with one friend, Toast, heh. Eventually, I wandered into fandom and discovered the name Souji. When I asked my friend what I should use, she said Yu, so I went with that.
Seriously, that's all the thought that went into it. Of course, I've thought about it a lot more now, and since the most recent canon uses Yu, that's what I stick with. It's mostly arbitrary.
Really, Lish? Yes, really.
But the fandom prefers Souji! Why don't you switch then?
Great question! Well, that's also a little complicated. It's part consistency - I started with Yu and that's what I'm going to use. It's part acknowledging recent canon. And it's partly that I shouldn't have to change it just because person X doesn't like it.
Now on to my thoughts about the names themselves. I've seen a whole lot of fighting over names, name meanings, which name was here first - I have pretty much zero interest in this kind of fighting. It's not really productive. I happen to like both names, myself, and at least in my mental dialogue, tend to switch between the two, probably because I've read so many fics.
Meaning-wise, I think Narukami is really fitting, considering the source material. But I really like the way Souji sounds on the tongue - it's really very pleasing to say. If only Souji Narukami didn't sound ridiculous, heh.
Aesthetically speaking, I think 鳴上悠 (Narukami Yuu) looks prettier than 瀬多総司 (Seta Souji). Which, in the long run is pretty meaningless, but that's what I think, heh.
Also, I think Souji is better for sex scenes. (Weird thought, but there you have it.) "Sou... ji..." looks so nice. XD
So in the long run, names? I don't care. Yu, Souji, Charlie, P4MC, Toast, whatever. It all boils down to the same thing - I love the main character of Persona 4, in all his bowl cut glory.
Did you just waste precious minutes of your life reading this post? If you did, I'm sorry, since my opinion could have been summed up with an I don't care. But now you know all my thoughts! Horray, or something.
This is also posted at DW, which you can find here. Comment wherever you want!