History Fridge / Persona4

** Even if one does follow the interpretation that the investigation team was genuinely drunk, it makes sense why some were more apparent than others. Chie through martial arts, Kanji through biking and general workouts, Youkse through again biking and being a stockboy/assistant manager at Junes, Naoto through detective training, and (depending on how much one follows the sports team social link) Yu are all pretty physically active people, which raises one's alcohol tolerance. In contrast, Yukiko runs a traditional inn while Rise was an idol, meaning both probably have especially harsh expectations to remain in shape but not too muscular either giving them higher susceptibility to alcohol, and Teddie is a Shadow who might not have the biology to handle alcohol.

** Or his guilt/conscious/realization of what he's done is just then getting to him and making him psychically ill; there's a big line between just saying life is meaningless and actually killing someone, and he is going through StressVomit.

** Even if one does follow the interpretation that the investigation team was genuinely drunk, it makes sense why some were more apparent than others. Chie through martial arts, Kanji through biking and general workouts, Naoto through detective training, and (depending on how much one follows the sports team social link) the MC are all pretty physically active people, which raises one's alcohol tolerance. In contrast, Yukiko runs a traditional inn while Rise was an idol, meaning both probably have especially harsh expectations to remain in shape but not too muscular either giving them higher susceptibility to alcohol, and Teddie is a Shadow who might not have the biology to handle alcohol. Yosuke is the only slight outlier, and even that can be explained by men on average handling their alcohol better than women like Yukiko and Rise.

* The background music for Yomotsu Hirasaka is spelled as 回廊 in Japanese; the doors in that dungeon are square-shaped, and resemble the first kanji.

* In the ski trip in ''Golden'', the Investigation Team pairs off in such a way that they were in the pairings which receive [[ShipTease Ship Teasing]] during the game - the Protagonist & Rise, Yosuke & Chie, and Kanji & Naoto. The pairing of Teddie & Yukiko doesn't really receive any ShipTease moments, but isn't a case of PairTheSpares - They're the two biggest ditzes in the group, with Teddie's habit for [[IncrediblyLamePun Incredi-bear-ly lame puns]] and terrible jokes, Yukiko laughing at pretty much anything, and both of them being [[CloudCuckooLander somewhat out-of-touch with reality]].

** Tomoe knows [[AnIcePerson Bufu]] spells because Shadow Chie was a ''cold-hearted bitch'' who wanted nothing more than to make Yukiko — whose own Persona just happens to be weak to ice — ''her'' bitch.

* This idea comes after a few years, but "Nana" is another way of pronouncing the Japanese word "七" which means "Seven" in Japanese. Now think about it: who is the seventh victim to be thrown into the TV World? The one after Mayumi Yamano, Saki Konishi, Yukiko Amagi, Kanji Tatsumi, Rise Kujikawa, & Naoto Shirogane?

* Souji's parents travel around a lot, and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20160507145145im_/http://oi51.tinypic.com/e9evs9.jpg the manga]] seems to confirm that there were times when he was younger and all alone in his house. How much déjà vu do you think he feels looking at Nanako?

** Oddly enough, Persona 4 was released during a fairly large campaign to attempt to put an end to idol exploitation. This, as well as a revision to child pornography laws in 2014, has made cases like this less common. Junior Idol modeling is still a grey area in terms of legality, along with manga and anime featuring similar situations of young characters in sexual situations (both explicit and non-explicit), but many studios have opted for the safer option of using Junior Idols only in clean photo shoots and only using models of legal age for the more risqué shots.

* While extremely unlikely to be intentional, it's still fun to think about: in a game about kids investigating the world that exists inside of televisions, what is the name of the spell you'd almost certainly use more than any other throughout? [[JustForPun Media.]]

* The anime has ''already'' done this. The very day the anime's website opened was on April 11th. What day did the protagonist move to Inaba...?

*** However, that's also why she freaks out so much when Yukiko disappears. Besides the obvious reasons, it's also because Chie needs Yukiko to have a functioning social Persona. Chie's Shadow outright states that Chie is helpless without Yukiko. ***Ultimately, Chie has a good social Persona, but it's also rather fragile and completely dependent on the presence of another person to work. This troper would call it effective, not sturdy.

** I thought that its low hit was a reference to ''Literature/CaseyAtTheBat'', like the Casey Bat in ''Videogame/{{Earthbound}}''.

* Why does Izanagi start off as weak? Because Persona is the power of the heart, and "bonds are the true strength." The point the initial persona are eceived is at the start of each game, when the protagonist is still a blank slate with no friends at all.

* This idea comes after a few years, but "Nana" is another way of pronouncing the Japanese word "七" which means "Seven" in Japanese. Now think about it: who is the seventh victim to be thrown into the TV World? The one after Mayumi Yamano, Saki Konishi, Yukiko Amagi, Kanji Tasumi, Rise Kujikawa, & Naoto Shirogane?

* With the exception of Yu in the anime who knows well enough by that point what would happen if he did, people who encounter their Shadows always immediately reject them as "Not Me". This isn't just because of the absurdity of the situation, embarassment, confusion, etc. but because those Shadows actually aren't them or really even aspects of them. Given what you learn about the various people before and after they accept their Shadows this is actually true, Shadows really aren't "The True Self" despite their claims. i.e. Yukiko might think "I don't want to run the Amagi Inn and I want to get out of Inaba" and suppresses that feeling, but her Shadow is all but completely obsessed with the idea and then dialed up to an extent that the real Yukiko really wouldn't think of even at her worst moment. What Shadows are is a completely unrestrained and massive exaggeration of a person's thoughts and feelings that have reached a level that the person never would even conceive.

** Mother Harlot would've had to have been given a major stat redesign to be in the Hunger Arcana - because she is the depiction she'd naturally have to be given the best stats out of that Arcana. Also, some people would prefer the EvilCounterpart to Izanagi to be the Ultimage Persona of that Arcana as it's an Inverted Tarot to the Fool.

* One detail about Shadow Yukiko's design that only becomes obvious- despite being a bird in a gilded cage, the door is ''wide open''. This is foreshadowing for the crux of Yukiko's character arc - the GildedCage she believes she's trying to escape is a self-inflicted hell she's subjecting herself to because of her doubts, she knows deep down she can leave any time she wants and she knows everyone will support her if she did so, but she doesn't really want to abandon everyone and she does truly love the inn enough to stay and become the next in line to inherit it, so she remains in her "cage" freely and of her own will, with the option to leave always there if she wants it.

** Even if one does follow the interpretation that the investigation team was genuinely drunk, it makes sense why some were more apparent than others. Chie through martial arts, Kanji through biking and general workouts, Naoto through detective training, and (depending on how much one follows the sports team social link) the MC are all pretty physically active people, which raises one's alcohol tolerance. In contrast, Yukiko runs a traditional inn while Rise was an idol, meaning both probably have especially harsh expectations to remain in shape but not too muscular either giving them higher susceptibility to alcohol, and Teddie is a Shadow who might not have the biology to handle alcohol. Yosuke is the only slight outlier, and even that can be explained by men on average handling their alcohol better than women like Yukiko and Rise

** Going even further with said legends, the legend of Orpheus trying to save his lover from the Underworld is treated as a tragedy, as she vanishes after he looks back, he can’t attempt to save her again, and he’s eventually killed. The legend of Izanagi and Izanami, on the other hand, is a folktale to explain the cycle of life and death, with Izanami being revealed as a monster after Izanagi looks back at her and the two basically becoming enemies as they are left feuding. These stories, in turn, play with the directions each of their stories goes in, with Persona 3 being a tragedy as the main character has to sacrifice his life to protect the world while in Persona 4the main character ends up discovering the “monsters” causing harm to the town of Inaba (Adachi and the Gas Station Attendant/Izanami) and fights back to stop them.

** Even if one does follow the interpretation that the investigation team was genuinely drunk, it makes sense why some were more apparent than others. Chie through martial arts, Kanji through biking and general workouts, Naoto through detective training, and (depending on how much one follows the sports team social link) the MC are all pretty physically active people, which raises one's alcohol tolerance. In contrast, Yukiko runs a traditional inn while Rise was an idol, meaning both probably have especially harsh expectations to remain in shape but not too muscular either giving them higher susceptibility to alcohol, and Teddie is a Shadow who might not have the biology to handle alcohol. Yosuke is the only slgiht outlier, and even that can be explained by men on average handling their alcohol better than women like Yukiko and Rise

** This also ties to the MC's ability to use multiple personas. Persona are masks people use to interact with the outside world. The Main Character will if you're pursuing social links optimally change his personality on the fly to satisfy the people he's interacting with. The game actively encourages this because if you as the player try to keep the MC consistent in his personality like a normal person in the Persona universe would, this will result in social links progressing slowly if not grinding to a halt. Essentially, the Main Protagonist is nothing Persone he can change on effectively a complete whim just as he can in the TV World.

* Why does Izanagi use a spear? It's because it's the Amenonuhoko, the spear he and Izanami used to create Onogoroshima.
* A possible case of GameplayAndStoryIntegration- why is Izanagi ([[VideoGame/Persona3 and Orpheus]], [[VideoGame/Persona5 and Arsène]]) so weak? Because Persona is the power of the heart, and "bonds are the true strength-" the point these are all received is at the start of each game when the MC is still a blank slate with no friends at all.

* Izanagi's usage of a [[BladeOnAStick naginata]] as his WeaponOfChoice makes sense when you learn that the ''Amenonuhoko'', the weapon he and Izanami used to create ''Onogoro-shima'', is exactly that; a naginata.

* In the creation myth, when Izanagi flees from his half-rotten wife in the underworld, Izanami swears in a rage that she will kill a thousand of his children every day. Izanagi defies her, declaring that he in turn will sire ''ten thousand'' new children every day. This is the root of the "Myriad Truths" ability ... but even before that, look at the two holders of the Izanagi persona. Adachi is a lech whose sexual appetites help kick off the plot. And Yu, while more in control of himself, still gets called a "man-whore" by Margaret in the anime! And that's not even getting into the [[HaremSeeker harem]] you can get!

* Normally, the members of the team who after gaining a Persona of their own, take a few days to recover from the shock, yet, Rise only takes a few minutes and can handle Himiko as if nothing happened. Given that she's held Risette as a ''persona'' of her own for years, handling a Persona in the context of a FightingSpirit isn't that much different.

* In the creation myth, when Izanagi flees from his half-rotten wife in the underworld, Izanami swears in a rage that she will kill a thousand of his children every day. Izanagi defies her, declaring that he in turn will sire ''ten thousand'' new children every day. This is the root of the "Myriad Truths" ability ... but even before that, look at the two holders of the Izanagi persona. Adachi is a lech whose sexual appetites help kick off the plot. And Yu, while more in control of himself, still gets called a "man-whore" by Margaret in the anime!

** Naoto: (Warning, reading this will automatically spoil a lot about the character's true identity, as this troper can't reasonably block out all of the facts without making the spoiler obvious. As a lot of what this troper wants to write revolves around this spoiler, Naoto's section here will go completely unmarked by spoilers. So if you haven't finished Naoto's dungeon, just skip Naoto and go down to the last section)
Naoto has the strongest Persona of the whole team. For one, Naoto is completely sure of who she wants to be, and how she wants others to see her. Because of this, she can completely fit into her social Persona without having some detrimental effect on her true self, which neither Yukiko, Kanji, and even Rise couldn't do. Furthermore, her role as a detective allows her to go about interacting with the outside world and her job in a completely calm and objective manner, without having to establish any lingering emotional connection to anyone she meets through it. This is ideal for Naoto's personality, and she probably couldn't find a job or social Persona that fits her better than this one.

** This also explains why Adachi's Persona is so powerful despite being the last to get it. It's an ''extensively'' effective front that has gotten him by life's struggles thus far and he would've continued it like none was the wiser if not the events of the game.

* How come that every time you recruit a new member to the Investigation Team, that new member is near as, slightly above, or the same level you are? How come Naoto starts off at such a higher level than Kanji or Chie for example? They are all high school students, and their physical abilities shouldn't be so far apart from each other, so how come their Personas are? It's because that the strength of the TV-world Personas mirrors the strength of the person's real-life social persona, as in how Carl Jung describes the Persona in his psychology theories. It just so happens that each party member you get has a stronger social Persona than the last.\\
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The definition of Carl Jung's theory of the Persona is that the Persona is a mask that the ego uses to interact with the outside world while keeping the wearer safe from emotional damage and concealing the true self of the wearer. So, the Persona's strength/effectiveness is based on how well a person can interact with the outside world, while also keeping the user from getting emotionally hurt. Now, look at how each member of the Investigation Team interacts with the outside world, going in chronological order.\\
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Yosuke: He doesn't start off with a strong Persona. He tries to hide his pain and fear of loneliness by seeming optimistic, cheerful, and funny. However, when Saki dies, he immediately drops this social Persona and becomes sad, regretful, and serious for a while. In fact, when anything serious happens, he completely drops his Persona and instead faces the problem as well as he can. His Persona also doesn't help him connect with others, he basically has no real friends (with the exception of Chie), and can't get new ones because the town hates Junes for ruining the shopping district (despite them shopping there.) This isn't Yosuke's fault, and it's doubtful any Persona would help him connect to other people when they hate him for no good reason. But because of this, he hasn't developed a strong social Persona that won't collapse in stressed situations. Ultimately, this Persona fails in both protecting him emotionally, as well as helping him interact with the outside world. It's not a strong social Persona, no matter how much we might like Yosuke. \\
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Interestingly enough, this also makes him not so different from the protagonist. Both of them are starting on rough equal terms, which certainly explains why they are able to connect so well and understand each other on a deep emotional level. In fact, in ''Persona Q2''. Yosuke reveals that he had to move quite often when he was young and so when he went to a new school, he often changed himself to fit in with the crowd. This adds another layer of similarity to him and the protagonist; additionally, it also explains why his social Persona is lacking: like the protagonist, he never had a chance to form a proper one because he never got a chance to connect with people.
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Chie: She has an interesting Persona because her entire connection to the outside world and her own emotional strength revolves around her being friends with/being better than Yukiko. By being the one who protects the beautiful and popular heiress to the town's inn, as well as feeling that Yukiko isn't able to do anything without her help, Chie can feel good about herself and believe that she is 'better' than Yukiko. Everyone likes Yukiko, so by being better than her, Chie feels very confident in who she is. By having Yukiko as a pillar of support to her self-esteem, as well as an outgoing personality that makes it pretty easy to interact with people, Chie's social Persona is actually pretty effective.\\
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However, that's also why she freaks out so much when Yukiko disappears. Besides the obvious reasons, it's also because Chie needs Yukiko to have a functioning social Persona. Chie's Shadow outright states that Chie is helpless without Yukiko. Ultimately, Chie has a good social Persona, but it's also rather fragile and completely dependent on the presence of another person to work. This troper would call it effective, not sturdy.\\
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Yukiko: Yukiko has practically been gifted a strong Persona by being born into a prominent family and having good looks. Her family is influential, so people respect her as the future inheritor of the inn, and people also mind their matters when speaking to her because she is the most beautiful girl in school. Because of this, Yukiko has not created her own social Persona but had it crafted for her by circumstance. By not choosing/creating her own Persona, she clearly suffers from it. She wants to run away from home and wishes to not be the inheritor of the inn. It's a strong Persona, but she feels it doesn't fit her, as she didn't choose to 'wear' it.\\
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This is also reflected in the fact that her TV-world Persona, Konohana Sakuya, is a Japanese holy tree spirit that uses fire for offensive spells. Her Persona is also inherited/pushed upon her, but she actually uses fire, something that really doesn't fit into what kind of creature/Persona it is. This reflects how her true self is rebellious and different from what the Persona represents. After she gets rescued, she tries to turn her life around, but she discovers she actually does want to inherit the inn and fill the role that was pushed upon her from birth. The difference is that now, she chose it herself. It's a strong Persona that is good at both protecting herself as well as interacting with the outside world. Yukiko is just not sure how she wants to wield it, or if she even wants to wield it at all, and thus it's not as effective for her as later characters' Personas are for them.\\
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Kanji: He has made a Persona/image of himself as a tough delinquent that everybody hates so that no one will come close enough to his heart to hurt him. Unlike Yukiko, Kanji totally owns this social Persona, as it's one he has developed for himself. It protects him from what he fears most: "being rejected", and it does this very well by making everyone hate him. This makes it so that their scorn was something he chose to cultivate and prevents him from being hurt by someone he trusts. The problem comes when it comes to actually communicating with the outside world; this social Persona leaves him with basically no one to talk to, besides his mother and maybe the cops when they try to lecture Kanji. In actuality, it's a very self-destructive social Persona and would have eventually led him to have a very bad life, if it hadn't been for the Investigation Team.\\
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When someone finally accepts him, and he has people from the outside world who actually want to communicate and interact with him, Kanji becomes a lot stronger emotionally. It's clear that he will slowly develop a new social Persona for himself over time, but as for the time span of the game, it doesn't change. Since he now has solved what used to be the biggest problem with his original social Persona, having people that care for him, it becomes a strong social Persona that he can use proficiently, at least until he naturally develops a new one when he becomes less of a delinquent in the future.\\
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Rise: Rise's problem is fascinating because her problem isn't that she has a weak social Persona, but what social Personas she does have completely rule her life. Rise is an actor, and she is so good at taking on another role different from herself, that she slowly loses track of who she really is. When she works as an idol, she always has to wear/be different Personas to get attention from sponsors and to simply do her job in general. Spending all her time in the studio, the producers and managers milk her for all she's worth and take up all the free time a high school girl would normally have, and because of it, she doesn't get the chance to interact with other people without her 'masks' on.\\
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Rise's social Persona is incredibly strong, as she actually interacts with fans all over the country and establishes a strong connection with them. It's also good at protecting her inner self, it's just that her social Persona takes up so much space in her life that there isn't that much time she simply gets to be Rise, and not "Risette" or "the idol movie star" and so forth. That's also why her TV-world Persona takes the form of a satellite: her true self is one that searches for who she really wants to be. Because of this, it becomes a completely support-oriented Persona, who has the power to search for the true selves/presences of other people. More specifically, she is probably searching for their true selves as well, as she needs hints about the person to get anywhere.\\
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Rise can't fight on her own, as she just isn't meant to do so. However, she can find others' 'masks', which she can interact with and nurture. Just like how she can't be her true self because she doesn't know which Rise is really her but can function very well with the world around her by taking on the masks she knows works in the social context she is in. Ultimately, Rise has a very strong Social Persona, she just doesn't know which one she identifies the most with.\\
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Teddie: Teddie is someone who... actually, this troper doesn't know how well Teddie fits into all of this. He only gets a Shadow after he develops a strong ego in Rise's dungeon, but before that, Teddie was a Shadow. He had no true self, and his whole character arc is him developing a self and fitting in with the real world. Since this troper doesn't know, Teddie has to be skipped. Feel free to add a comment to this part if any of you can think of how he would fit into this whole thing.\\
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That is just that: Teddie is just a Shadow. However, he was a Shadow that was curious about humans but to pursue that fascination he needed to fit in with them. Therefore, not only did he put on a literal mask (and matching costume and plenty of disarming mannerisms like puns and cowardice), but he deliberately forgot his own memories of actually being a Shadow. Discarding your entire old self and adopting an entirely new self, all by choice, is some big dedication. However, the mask is not perfect; Teddie spends most of the game trying to remember who he once was, and then reconciling the differences between his origins and who he is in the present.
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Naoto: (Warning, reading this will automatically spoil a lot about the character's true identity, as this troper can't reasonably block out all of the facts without making the spoiler obvious. As a lot of what this troper wants to write revolves around this spoiler, Naoto's section here will go completely unmarked by spoilers. So if you haven't finished Naoto's dungeon, just skip Naoto and go down to the last section)\\
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Naoto has the strongest Persona of the whole team. For one, Naoto is completely sure of who she wants to be, and how she wants others to see her. Because of this, she can completely fit into her social Persona without having some detrimental effect on her true self, which neither Yukiko, Kanji, and even Rise couldn't do. Furthermore, her role as a detective allows her to go about interacting with the outside world and her job in a completely calm and objective manner, without having to establish any lingering emotional connection to anyone she meets through it. This is ideal for Naoto's personality, and she probably couldn't find a job or social Persona that fits her better than this one.\\
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Naoto's problem is while that she is very mentally stable, has a good connection to the outer world, and can keep herself from getting hurt emotionally... she feels she doesn't fit her ideal image of a detective physically. She loves this social Persona; it's everything she could ever wish for, the role of being a detective. Yet, society tells her she can't be one because she's a girl. Ironically, Naoto feels like she was born for this job, but her birth as the wrong gender makes it so she normally wouldn't be able to pursue it. Naoto doesn't hate being a girl; she hates that because she is one, society won't accept her for who her true self is. That's why she rejects her gender and tries to be male because her true self is completely dependent on her being male for being able to do what she wants to be. The presence and friendship of the Investigation Team after she is rescued doesn't even help this aspect of Naoto, which is made clear after she decides to keep wearing the male school uniform even after everyone at school knows she's not a guy. But it's only around Yu and the Investigation Team that she feels it's fine for her to be a girl. Essentially, Naoto has a very strong Persona that couldn't fit her any more perfectly, besides the fact she is not a man, which the Investigation Team balances out by allowing her to be whoever she wants when around them. She is very balanced because of this and has the highest level Persona because of it.\\
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All in all, everyone's level is based on how strong their real-life social Personas are in the game, and how well they interact with the outside world. Isn't that cool?

** Plots, in any kind of medium, typically start and are moved forward, by coincidences. Isn't it a coincidence that the MC came to Inaba right as the murders started? Isn't it a coincidence that he went to Inaba at all instead of some other town? Isn't it a coincidence that his parents have jobs that necessitate moving around a lot in the first place? Hell, isn't it a coincidence that the parents of any of the in-game characters [[UpToEleven conceived children?!]] Random events that happen to line up in a way that happens make a story, is what makes it a story, and not just a list of events.

* Adachi's rant involves him complaining about how only those with talent can get anywhere. Unsurprisingly Adachi himself is an easy boss who is only threatening because of his persona.

* Interspersed with all the fantasy elements, the game has some pretty hefty doses of real-life AdultFear.

* It should be obvious that Mitsuo isn't the real killer (except for Mooroka, anyway). He has a Shadow… which means he doesn't have a Persona, required to go to the TV World.
** Another hint crops up as you progress through his dungeon. Check the dialogue boxes closely: A "female announcer" and a "corpse discoverer" are mentioned, obviously meant to be Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi, but are unnamed and "defeated". However, Mooroka is mentioned by name, and "Killed". He knows nothing about victims one and two but explicitly know about victim three.
** Well, Protagonist, Jusuke and Chie entered TV World before unlocking their Personas.

* I didn't notice it before but Namatame's role in the game is a satire on criminal justice in Japan. There is a serious problem in Japan where suspects are automatically judged to be guilty whether or not they actually did the crime, purely because they were arrested on suspicion of the crime, sometimes getting the death sentence. It got so bad that Japanese TV stations have to censor the suspect's hands so viewers can't see the handcuffs which might impair their judgment. In ''Persona 4'', the Investigation Team was about to murder Namatame because the TV told them he was the culprit and half of them weren't even going to bother asking questions if it wasn't for Yu's intervention.