History WhatAnIdiot / Persona4

* Ryotaro Dojima, the player character's uncle, finds a letter addressed to said character from a serial killer who's had the local police department tied up for almost a whole year. This letter telling him, basically, that if he rescues any more people then somebody close to him will die.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Dojima to watch his own family, the only people who could possibly classify as "close to the player character", while learning the truth about what's going on from his nephew.\\
'''Instead:''' Dojima admittedly tries the latter... By taking his nephew in to the police station for interrogation. During this, he leaves his daughter Nanako home alone... As in, a person who perfectly fits the bill for who the murderer is going to target.\\
'''As a Result:''' Dojima has taken in for interrogation the only person he knows could logically not only not be the murderer, but may well be the only one who can ''stop'' the murders. Naturally, while the two are in the police station, Nanako is kidnapped by somebody who is quite evidently ''not'' Dojima's nephew.\\
'''Even Worse:''' One of the options you ''do'' get is the ability to come clean and tell Dojima about your ability to go into the world behind the TV. He quite naturally doesn't believe you, and in fact becomes even ''more'' suspicious now that you have, in his mind, confirmed that you are lying to him. Too bad there isn't a TV ''right there in the room'' that the MC could walk over to and just stick his hand into to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is telling the truth about the murders. Oh. Wait. There ''freaking is''!
** Another instance, admittedly retrospective: Taro Namatame has been kidnapping people throughout the entire game and throwing them into the Television, as he believes that this will keep them safe from someone trying to kill them.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For him to do some sort of reconnaissance in this new place, as even a cursory glance will reveal that it is ''infested with monsters'' that ''kill'' whoever enters the place if they stay for too long, and generally not a happy place. Or at least that he'd check up on the people he kidnapped.\\
'''Instead:''' He just chucks them in there and does nothing else, meaning that your party has to go in and rescue them. Admittedly, Yukiko, the first victim he personally throws in, is also the first victim you manage to save, so as far as he knows he ''really is'' saving them this way as he believes the people he throws into the TV World are simply returned to the real world after the danger has passed -- but it's a complete coincidence, and had this coincidence not come to pass, he'd have been personally and primarily responsible for Yukiko's death.
* Yosuke and Chie are stalking Kanji in order to get answers from him. Because they left the tree and their loud talking, he spotted them. To make a distraction, Yosuke claims that he and Chie are just two crazy lovebirds.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For Chie to know that Yosuke is not in love with her and go along with him to get Kanji not to know they're following him.\\
'''Instead:''' She just [[HeIsNotMyBoyfriend denies this]]. When they panic and run away, Kanji quickly realizes that they're following him. [[Webcomic/{{Hiimdaisy}} And then there was a wacky chase scene. ("NOOO COME BACK I LOVE GIIIIRLS!!")]]
** Speaking of Yosuke and Chie; earlier on, he borrowed her "Trial of the Dragon" DVD. He accidentally broke it.\\

* One in the Amagi Inn: So, the boys got kicked out of the Hot Spring even though it was their turn.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For the boys to report the incident to the staff at the Amagi Inn.\\
'''Instead:''' The boys try to get back at the girls by sneaking in their room, causing more hilarity to ensue.
* Another one in the Amagi Inn: the boys plan to sleep with the girls as revenge for what happened at the hot springs. Earlier on, they found out that Yukiko has talismans on their room, which explains their misery over the events of their stay.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' For them to do a sweep of the room, searching for additional talismans and checking to see if the room they got into is where the girls are sleeping at.\\
'''Instead:''' They just sneak into a dark room & as soon as the lights are turned on, it's [[{{Jerkass}} Hanako]] and [[SadistTeacher Ms. Kashiwagi]]! In other words, they got the wrong room.
* Naoto comes up with a plan to catch the killer: she noticed that the victims tend to be people who appear on TV specials, so she agrees to an interview in order to bait the culprit into targeting her.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That she install cameras and keep her gun with her in order to be able to defeat the culprit or at least catch his face.\\
'''Instead:''' She doesn't do anything in preparation for her showdown with a serial kidnapper/murderer, and when the culprit rings her doorbell, he has no more problem kidnapping her than he had the others. Her plan turns out to be completely pointless and does not reveal anything about the killer's identity.
* Rise's arrival in Inaba: She's a big celebrity, but decides to take a hiatus in a small town that has recently been hit with a series of murders and kidnappings.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That she'd have a bodyguard with her. Just because she's taking a break from her career doesn't mean the paparazzi and stalkers are.\\
'''Instead:''' She heads to Inaba with no security whatsoever.\\
'''As a Result:''' She's the third person to get kidnapped and thrown into the TV World.

'''If Not That:''' The police taking her home after her interrogation.\\

'''Yet Another Thing You'd Expect:''' That somebody checked security footage to see what happened to Saki.\\

'''Instead:''' He just chucks them in there and does nothing else, meaning that your party has to go in and rescue them. Admittedly, the first victim he personally throws in is also the first victim you manage to save, so as far as he knows he ''really is'' saving them this way -- but it's a complete coincidence, and had this coincidence not come to pass, he'd have been personally and primarily responsible for Yukiko's death.

'''Instead:''' They just sneak into a dark room & as soon as the lights are turned on, it's Hanako and Ms. Kashiwagi! In other words, they got the wrong room.

'''Instead:''' Dojima admittedly tries the latter... By taking his nephew in to the police station, thereby taking in for interrogation the only person he knows could logically not only not be the murderer, but may well be the only one who can ''stop'' the murders. During this, he leaves his daughter Nanako home alone... As in, a person who perfectly fits the bill for who the murderer is going to target. Naturally, while the two are in the police station, Nanako is kidnapped by somebody who is quite evidently ''not'' Dojima's nephew.\\
'''And Even Worse:''' One of the options you ''do'' get is the ability to come clean and tell Dojima about your ability to go into the world behind the TV. He quite naturally doesn't believe you, and in fact becomes even ''more'' suspicious now that you have, in his mind, confirmed that you are lying to him. Too bad there isn't a TV ''right there in the room'' that the MC could walk over to and just stick his hand into to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is telling the truth about the murders. Oh. Wait. There ''freaking is''!

* Dojima, the player character's uncle, finds a letter addressed to said character from a serial killer who's had the local police department tied up for the whole game. This letter telling him, basically, that if he rescues any more people then somebody close to him will die.\\

'''Instead:''' Dojima admittedly tries the latter... By taking his nephew in to the police station, thereby taking in for interrogation the only person he knows could logically not only not be the murderer, but may well be the only one who can ''stop'' the murders. During this, he leaves his daughter Nanako home alone... As in a person who perfectly fits the bill for who the murderer is going to target. Naturally, while the two are in the police station, Nanako is kidnapped by somebody who is quite evidently ''not'' Dojima's nephew.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' For him to do some sort of reconnaissance in this new place, as even a cursory glance will reveal that it is ''infested with monsters'' and generally not a happy place. Or at least that he'd check up on the people he kidnapped.\\

* Rise's arrival in Inaba: She's a big celebrity, but decides to take a hiatus in a small town that has recently been hit with a series of murders.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' That she'd have a bodyguard with her. Just because she's taking a hiatus doesn't mean the paparazzi and stalkers are.\\
'''Instead:''' She heads to Inaba with no security whatsoever.

'''You'd Also Expect:''' That somebody would have asked [[spoiler: Adachi, the last person seen with her, what had happened and piece together that he was also at the Amagi Inn when Yamano disappeared]].\\

'''The Result:''' Her suspicions are correct and [[spoiler:their suspect turns out to be a copycat, allowing the murderer to continue to operate unhindered.]]\\

'''What You'd Expect:''' This would be one of the first things she would bring up when discussing potential suspects.\\

* Yukiko knew that Adachi was the last person to see the Mayumi Yamano alive from the beginning.
'''What You'd Expect''' This would be one of the first things she would bring up when discussing potential suspects.\\
'''Instead''' She never thinks to mention this detail until Adachi naturally comes up as a suspect several months later towards the end of the game.\\
'''The Result''' Nobody is the wiser about Adachi until the end.

'''The Result''' Nobody is the wiser about Adachi until the end.\\

'''What You'd Expect''' This would be one of the first things she would bring up when discussing potential suspects.
'''Instead''' She never thinks to mention this detail until Adachi naturally comes up as a suspect several months later towards the end of the game.
'''The Result''' Nobody is the wiser about Adachi until the end.

'''Even Worse:''' Because [[ItsAllAboutMe they don't want to look like idiots]] for [[spoiler: arresting the wrong guy]], they prioritize saving face over tracking down a still unknown serial killer.

* The Investigation Team preemptively stakes out the Marukyu Tofu shop to prevent Rise from being kidnapped. They also invite Adachi and wholly reveal their intentions to him, not caring that they opted to avoid the police earlier. After some time, an obvious stalker is caught sneaking up to Rise's room by climbing an electric pole. Yosuke thinks that he might be the killer.\\

'''The Result:''' Rise gets kidnapped. While Adachi does receive an explanation for his boneheadedness in hindsight ([[spoiler:he is the killer and ''wanted'' Rise to get abducted]]), the Investigation Team has no excuse, although Adachi is chasing the paparazzi as well so [[spoiler:it probably wouldn't matter anyway since he either assigned Namatame to get Rise afterwards or at the same time.]]

'''The Result:''' Rise gets kidnapped. While Adachi does receive an explanation for his boneheadedness in hindsight ([[spoiler:he is the killer and ''wanted'' Rise to get abducted]]), the Investigation Team has no excuse, although Adachi is chasing the paparazzi as well so [[spoiler:it wouldn't matter anyway.]]

'''The Result:''' Rise gets kidnapped. While Adachi does receive an explanation for his boneheadedness in hindsight ([[spoiler:he is the killer and ''wanted'' Rise to get abducted]]), the Investigation Team has no excuse.

* The police arrest recruit a famous detective to help them with the case. When they [[spoiler: arrest Kubo]], said detective realized a few things don't add up about the most recent death.\\

'''The Result:''' Her suspicions were correct and [[spoiler: the last murder was just a copycat crime.]]\\

'''You'd also expect:''' Once he is caught, the kids would actually check to see if the man had powers similar to them and was capable of executing those crimes.

'''The Result:''' Her suspicions were correct and [[spoiler: the last murder was just a copycat crime.]]
'''Even Worse:''' Because [[ItsAllAboutMe they don't want to look like idiots]] for [[spoiler: arresting the wrong guy]], they prioritize saving face over tracking down a still unknown serial killer.\\

'''You'd expect:''' Dojima to watch his own family, the only people who could possibly classify as "close to [the player character]", while learning the truth about what's going on from his nephew.\\

'''The Result:''' Rise gets kidnapped. While Adachi does receive an explanation for his boneheadedness in hindsight ([[spoiler:he is the killer and ''wanted'' Rise to get kidnapped]]), the Investigation Team has no excuse.
* The police arrest recruit a famous detective to help them with the case. When they [[spoiler: arrest Kubo]], said detective realized a few things don't add up.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Dojima, [[SarcasmMode being the level-headed officer that he is]], would take two seconds to hear her out.\\
'''Instead:''' He [[IgnoredExpert brushes her off]] [[NotNowKiddo as a dumb kid]] because [[ItsAllAboutMe he didn't want to look like an idiot for arresting the wrong guy]].\\

'''Instead:''' Dojima admittedly tries the latter... By taking his nephew in to the police station, thereby taking in for interrogation the only person he knows could logically not only not be the murderer, but may well be the only one who can ''stop'' the murders. During this, he leaves his daughter Nanako home alone... As in a person who perfectly fits the bill for who the murderer is going to target. Naturally, while the two are in the police station, Nanako is kidnapped by the murderer, who is quickly identified as somebody who is quite evidently not Dojima's nephew.\\
'''And Even Worse:''' One of the options you ''do'' get is the ability to come clean and tell Dojima about your ability to go into the world behind the TV. He quite naturally doesn't believe you, and in fact becomes even ''more'' suspicious now that you have, in his mind, confirmed that you are lying to him. Too bad there isn't a TV ''right there in the room'' that the MC could walk over to and, I don't know, just stick his hand into to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is telling the truth about the murders. Oh. Wait. There ''freaking is''!

* The Investigation Team preemptively stakes-out the Maryuku Tofu shop to prevent Rise from being kidnapped. They, being idiots, also invite Adachi and wholly reveal their intentions to him, not caring that they opted to avoid the police earlier. After some time, an obvious stalker is caught sneaking up to Rise's room by climbing an electric pole. Yosuke, the eternal genius he is, thinks that is the evil entity who throws people in the TV, defying the laws of nature.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' A few people to stay at the shop and watch over Rise, while the others chase him. Since Rise is an idol particularly famed in this town and someone who just arrived, she must have a lot of stalkers and paparazzi problems. Hence it must be unsafe to assume the first suspicious person they see is the murderer who can fucking bend the laws of physics.\\
'''You'd Also Expect:''' Once he is caught, the Sherlocks would actually fucking check to see if the obvious red herring had powers similar to them and was capable of executing crimes of magnitude never before seen in history.\\
'''Yet Another Thing You'd Expect:''' Once the "murderer" was caught, everyone would be curious about the other world and why people were being thrown into [=TVs=] and why they have superpowers.\\
'''Instead:''' Everyone, including Adachi, chases after the stalker (leaving Rise alone) and straight-up accuses him of being a murderer of incredible magnitude without checking or thinking twice, thinks their case has been solved, and does not even care that what happened these past few days goes against the laws of nature itself.\\
'''The Result:''' Rise gets obviously kidnapped and this author loses all immersion in the game followed by a massive headache. While Adachi does receive an explanation for his boneheadedness in hindsight ([[spoiler:he is the killer and ''wanted'' Rise to get kidnapped]]), the Investigation Team has no excuse.

'''The Result:''' Rise gets obviously kidnapped and this author loses all immersion in the game followed by a massive headache. While Adachi does receive an explanation for his boneheadedness in hindsight ([[spoiler:he is the killer and ''wanted'' Rise to get kidnapped]]), the Investigation Team has no excuse.

'''Instead:''' Everyone, including Adachi, chase after the stalker (leaving Rise alone) and straight-up accuse him of being a murderer of incredible magnitude without checking or thinking twice, think their case has been solved, and do not even care that what happened these past few days go against the laws of nature itself.\\
'''The Result:''' Rise gets obviously kidnapped and this author loses all immersion in the game followed by a massive headache. While Adachi does have an explanation for his boneheadedness ([[spoiler:he dunnit]]), the Investigation Team has no excuse.

* The investigation team preemptively stake-out the Maryuku Tofu shop to prevent Rise from being kidnapped. They, being idiots, also invite Adachi and wholly reveal their intentions to him, not caring that they opted to avoid the police earlier. After some time, an obvious stalker is caught sneaking up to Rise's room by climbing an electric pole. Yosuke, the eternal genius he is, thinks that is the evil entity who throws people in the TV, defying the laws of nature.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' A few people to stay at the shop and watch over Rise, while the others chase him. Since Rise is an idol particularly famed in this town and someone who just arrived, she must have a lot of stalkers and paparazzi problems. Hence it must be unsafe to assume the first suspicious person they see is the murderer who can fucking bend the laws of physics. \\

'''Yet Another Thing You'd Expect:''' Once the "murderer" was caught, everyone would be curious about the other world and why people were being thrown into Tvs and why they have superpowers. \\
'''Instead:''' Everyone, including Adachi, chase after the stalker(leaving Rise alone) and straight-up accuse him of being a murderer of incredible magnitude without checking or thinking twice, think their case has been solved, and do not even care that what happened these past few days go against the laws of nature itself.\\
'''The Result:''' Rise gets obviously kidnapped and this author loses all immersion in the game followed by a massive headache.

'''The Result:''' "Rise gets obviously kidnapped and this author loses all immersion in the game followed by a massive headache."

'''The Result:''' "You were taken to the police station with Yosuke as suspects..." "Your weapons have been confiscated..."

'''And Even Worse:''' One of the options you ''do'' get is the ability to come clean and tell Dojima about your ability to go into the world behind the TV. He quite naturally doesn't believe you, and in fact becomes even ''more'' suspicious now that you have, in his mind, confirmed that you are lying to him. Too bad there isn't a TV ''right there in the room'' that the MC could walk over to and, I don't know, just stick his hand into to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is telling the truth about the murders. Oh. Wait. There ''freaking is''!\\
'''Though, in Yu's defense:''' It was most likely for the best. Firstly, Dojima would raise all sorts of questions towards the Investigation Team as to how they discovered the details of the missing people as now he knows that Yu and Co are involved in the possible kidnappings/murders. Depending on how much Dojima knows or finds out, he may suspect Yu and Co as the killers of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi, and possibly arrest them. Secondly, even if Yu somehow managed to convince Dojima and the entire police force that they were actually trying to save people and stop the killer, trying to convince Dojima that they can navigate the TV World would be another story. A further risk arises in that Dojima would be worried about Yu (for a different reason) and forbid/stop Yu from entering into the TV World - which may include Dojima asking his colleagues to keep an eye on Yu whenever they are on the beat. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Furthermore, being a concerned parent and all, he probably would ask the rest of the IT member's parents/guardians to supervise the children more as well. Now, everyone in the Investigation team would be restricted in their movements to be made sure that they don't do anything dangerous to themselves, thus less opportunities for the IT to sneak past and enter the TV World. Particularly for Yukiko and Yosuke, the former's parents (being innkeepers) would have the choice to ask one of their staff to chaperone Yukiko, while the latter's father (being a manager of Junes Department Store) would have the option to order some staff to keep an eye on the TV sets (and/or on Yosuke himself) to stop Yosuke and co from entering through one of the TVs inside the store.]] The risks of the above are admittedly unknown, but it would definitely be a further mess on top of everything that the IT already has.

'''Though, in Yu's defence:''' it was most likely for the best. Firstly, Dojima would raise all sorts of questions towards the Investigation Team as to how they discovered the details of the missing people as now he knows that Yu and Co are involved in the possible kidnappings/murders. Depending on how much Dojima knows or finds out, he may suspect Yu and Co as the killers of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi, and possibly arrest them. Secondly, even if Yu somehow managed to convince Dojima and the entire police force that they were actually trying to save people and stop the killer, trying to convince Dojima that they can navigate the TV World would be another story. A further risk arises in that Dojima would be worried about Yu (for a different reason) and forbid/stop Yu from entering into the TV World - which may include Dojima asking his colleagues to keep an eye on Yu whenever they are on the beat. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Furthermore, being a concerned parent and all, he probably would ask the rest of the IT member's parents/guardians to supervise the children more as well. Now, everyone in the Investigation team would be restricted in their movements to be made sure that they don't do anything dangerous to themselves, thus less opportunities for the IT to sneak past and enter the TV World. Particularly for Yukiko and Yosuke, the former's parents (being innkeepers) would have the choice to ask one of their staff to chaperone Yukiko, while the latter's father (being a manager of Junes Department Store) would have the option to order some staff to keep an eye on the TV sets (and/or on Yosuke himself) to stop Yosuke and co from entering through one of the TVs inside the store.]] The risks of the above are admittedly unknown, but it would definitely be a further mess on top of everything that the IT already has.

'''And Even Worse:''' One of the options you ''do'' get is the ability to come clean and tell Dojima about your ability to go into the world behind the TV. He quite naturally doesn't believe you, and in fact becomes even ''more'' suspicious now that you have, in his mind, confirmed that you are lying to him. Too bad there isn't a TV ''right there in the room'' that the MC could walk over to and, I don't know, just stick his hand into to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is telling the truth about the murders. Oh. Wait. There ''freaking is''!
'''Though, in Yu's defence:''' it was most likely for the best. Firstly, Dojima would raise all sorts of questions towards the Investigation Team as to how they discovered the details of the missing people - which results in a possible risk of them being considered as the killers of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi, and facing possible arrest. Secondly, even if they somehow managed to convince Dojima and the entire police force that they were actually trying to save people and to stop Adachi, a further risk arises in that Dojima would be worried about Yu (for a different reason) and forbid/stop Yu from entering into the TV World - which may include Dojima asking his colleagues to keep an eye on Yu whenever they are on the beat. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Furthermore, being a concerned parent and all, he probably would ask the rest of the IT member's parents/guardians to supervise the children more as well. Now, everyone in the Investigation team would be restricted in their movements to be made sure that they don't do anything dangerous to themselves, thus less opportunities for the IT to sneak past and enter the TV World. Particularly for Yukiko and Yosuke, the former's parents (being innkeepers) would have the choice to ask one of their staff to chaperone Yukiko, while the latter's father (being a manager of Junes Department Store) would have the option to order some staff to keep an eye on the TV sets (and/or on Yosuke himself) to stop Yosuke and co from entering through one of the TVs.]] The risks of the above are admittedly unknown, but it would not be surprising if the Investigation Team did not want to risk that.

'''Instead:''' She doesn't do anything in preparation for her showdown with a serial kidnapper/murderer, and when the culprit rings her doorbell, he has no more problem kidnapping her than he had the others. Her plan turns out to be completely pointless and does not reveal anything about the killer's identity.\\
'''To Be Fair:''' Naoto pointed out that if she had installed security cameras and the kidnapper saw them, he'd know it was a trap. It's possible that she had her gun on her when she opened the door and let her guard down when she believed [[spoiler: he was just an ordinary delivery man]].

* Rise's Arrival to Inaba: She's a big celebrity, but decides to take a hiatus in a small town that has recently been hit with a series of murders.\\

'''Instead:''' None of those happen. The second murder occurred because of a [[PoliceAreUseless police force]] that would make [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Chief Wiggum]] facepalm.

'''Instead:''' She heads to Inaba with no security whatsoever.\\

'''Instead:''' None of those happen. The second murder occurred because of a [[PoliceAreUseless police force]] that would make [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Chief Wiggum]] facepalm.\\