History NightmareFuel / PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth

* While, unlike the previous ''Q'', the game doesn't feature any horror elements in most of its aesthetics (with the exception of the one pictured), it also doesn't attempt to sugarcoat any of its darker elements. Compared to the false Yasogami High in the previous ''Q'', which at least looked populated, the Cinema that acts as the hub of this game almost looks deserted - there's only a few people in there, and one of them isn't even a 'person' to begin with. When the Phantom Thieves get in there, the first thing that greets them is a large blob-like monster resembling a Shadow that doesn't talk at all. The other two are also distinctly ''off'' from the beginning; unlike Rei (who hides herself behind a StepfordSmiler facade), Hikari doesn't even try to hide that she's a depressed mess. And although Nagi doesn't look as bad as Hikari or Doe, her bystander stance and patronizing kindness is a red flag reflecting [[ChekhovsGunman what she]] [[BigBad actually is]], striking a hard contrast to how Zen is willing to sacrifice Rei's happiness for her ultimate well-being. The movies also, straight off the bat, depict questionable entities such as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Kamoshida]] and [[AIIsACrapshoot A.I. gods]] as [[DesignatedHero Designated Heroes]] - and anyone who opposes then as [[DesignatedVillain Designated Villains]]. All of these "protagonists" are just [[VillainwithGoodPublicity villains with good publicity]] in their own worlds who are out to destroy all of their opposition... righteously, of course!

All Moments pages are Administrivia/SpoilersOff. Proceed at your own risk. '''Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

[[caption-width-right:350: THIS, [[BlackBugRoom the thing you see here,]] is actually HOW HIKARI SEES HER LIFE.]]

** Then there's Super Kamoshidaman himself. He looks like a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, but he's there for a reason; Kamoshidaman is actually ''Hikari's primary school teacher as Kamoshida'', who blamed young Hikari for "poisoning" a rabbit that the teacher gave bad food to. In other words, the teacher didn't even care about the rabbit: she was just blaming its' death on the idiot with the loudest mouth!
*** To add insult to injury, remember it was just the teacher herself who didn't care for the rabbit; the students, most likely, still considered it their beloved pet. This meant that Hikari was - probably - branded as the "rabbit murderer" from this point on, which made it almost impossible for her to make friends in her primary school.

** Making this worse, the whole situation is a ''scarily'' accurate metaphor for a new student at school being convinced to become a bully to fit in with the "popular kids".

** Chicken Kid (the first [=FOE=] seen in-game) may seem like NightmareRetardant, but it's very serious about its job, and is - in fact - responsible for kidnapping Makoto and Haru, and handing them over to Kamoshidaman. If you're unfortunate to fight it when exploring the labyrinth and don't run, it's likely to wipe out your party in only a few turns. This is the FridgeHorror part -- in the fourth labyrinth's cognitive primary school, Hikari mentioned that she once thought that teachers are heroes (until the rabbit incident took place) because of a movie she watched where a teacher transforms into a superhero, and the official [=PQ2=] art book explicitly states that Chicken Kid is based on her trauma: it's actually one of the rabbit keepers, who simply went with the teacher to feed the rabbit bad food.
** There's also another [=FOE=] that looks like a Gynoid. While it isn't as terrifying as Chicken Kid, it's actually based on another student who just went with the teacher. After the rabbit incident, Hikari said that she was fed up with heroes, implying that she was traumatized to the point that she thinks that movie superheroes actually terrorize people, instead of protecting them -- and her cognition of those two students is that they are demonized superheroes, out to get everyone who does not comply to authority.

*** Don't forget: Hikari, at that time, was just a ''primary school student'' - who are supposed to admire their teachers and movie superheroes. If that admiration alone was crushed by a jerkass teacher at such a young age, there's no wonder why she would end up with ''that'' level of PTSD.

** What doesn't help, either, is the music. The one played in the upper floors is fine, but the one played on the lower floors simply feels like... something is ''burning and collapsing'', and that "thing" is ''Hikari's life''.

** Hikari's breakdown cutscene is kind of unsettling; it depicts her having a FlashbackEcho trip of her tormentors asking her "why do you have to be like that?"[[note]]When people emotionally abused or manipulated Hikari, they asked her "why do you have to be like that," making the phrase severely triggering to her - it reminds her of being humiliated and rejected.[[/note]] after her father supposedly asked, because he hated her and was told by her relatives to make her "normal". In some of the scenes, she even makes ''[[https://i.imgur.com/XAHlLz8.png this]]'' KubrickStare that she never makes anywhere else in the game. It's pretty obvious that she ''isn't'' enjoying it. The only dialogue she has during this musical is just ''two cries of agony'', both during the flashback trip; the other dialogue are muted as if she were catatonic, and in the real event they were just weeping sounds. You should get ''how bad'' her depression has became.
** Making things even worse, it's revealed that ''none'' of the events at the musical before the breakdown ever happened: Hikari's father asked her the question out of genuine concern for her mental health, not knowing how triggering the phrase was to her, so she was simply destroying ''herself''. [[HumansAretheRealMonsters The thought of society itself driving a nice girl into becoming a self-destructive mess is just downright frightening.]]

** The next floor is '''EVEN WORSE;''' it's almost like this ''thing'' shouldn't belong in the fourth labyrinth, or even in a ''Persona'' game. All of the bright colors in the labyrinth are now gone, and the flowers now have [[EyeScream hollowed out eye sockets, crying blood]]. What's not explicitly mentioned in the game is that this is actually Hikari's mindset: the emotional abuse she's suffered, along with the misconception that her father hated her, have made her think that her life is so horrible that she should just stop existing already. Even the name of the floor itself is Nightmare Fuel -- It's called the Endless Interlude (as in the break between a movie or musical), and the "movie" going on interlude is a metaphor for ''Hikari's life'': it's not hard to connect the dots and assume she doesn't want to live anymore.
* The Doe JumpScare that happens before you fight him can catch you off guard, especially when accompanied with the background music. '''''[[https://i.imgur.com/2EutcMm.png JUST LOOK AT THIS.]]''''' The BlobMonster form that he uses to fight the player is quite disturbing too, as it looks like something coming out of ''Bloodborne'' instead of ''Persona''. It constantly repeats the [=HikariHikariHikariHikariiiii=]!!!! MadnessMantra, even though its attacks are directed towards the player, and it never says anything else (besides trying to say "[[TraumaButton Why do you have to be like that...]]") once throughout the battle. The most horrifying thing: this grotesque creature is how Hikari sees her father. She really thinks that he hated her for not being able to fulfill his expectations, and his accidental use of her trigger phrase just acted as TheLastStraw to solidify her delusional thoughts.

* Speaking of which, Hikari's background story itself is basically nothing more than Nightmare Fuel. Unlike other ''Persona'' characters closely related to adult fears (such as Shiho, Futaba, or Akechi), her background is merely an ''extremely'' realistic and accurate portrayal of how youngsters in Japan get their life ruined by peer pressure; she could basically be anyone. Although her background story is not as much of a TearJerker as Rei's, it's simply unnerving because of how sane and human her DarkAndTroubledPast is, even for ''Persona'' standards - most ''Persona'' traumas are simply outright cruel (although realistic in some way), and usually not anything like this.

* The fifth labyrinth reveals that Nagi is the big bad after all, and she's actually "Enlil", a god summoned from the collective unconsciousness to end all of humanity's pain. Weak people end up in her domain, and she attempts to bring forth "salvation", by having her hapless wards watch how others suffer like them. Then you're being shown a bunch of people who are apparently [[EmptyShell so soaked in their depression and apathy that they refuse to get out of their shells]], and she in fact ''lets them leave all the time'', it's all just a SelfInflictedHell between all of them. At the scene after you confront her Shadow minions at the depths, she even shows you a man who just lays on his seat in a catatonic fashion after displaying a MoreThanMindControl mentality. While the game doesn't directly show Hikari inside the Cinema before the Phantom Thieves arrived, this heavily implies that she was ''exactly'' like those people before Doe appeared to make the negative films come to life, and at one point during those reveals you can even hear her saying "I don't want to think about anything."

* Enlil's domain bears a ''striking'' resemblance to the [[EpiphanicPrison Mementos Depths]], and the OST even refers to the soundtrack that plays in the cutscenes where people are trapped as "Movie Prison". You're constantly reminded that there are people inside the walls/cinemas of the labyrinth who act ''exactly'' like how the Shadows of people imprisoned in the Mementos Depths are; a lack of lifeforce, extremely apathetic, and - in general - they've lost all hope and any desire to think about anything. They just want to watch movies that further feed their depression and keep their emotional spiral going downwards, just like how the public in ''Persona 5'' during the last arc wished for the Holy Grail to rule over them so they don't need to think for themselves. Despite the fact Enlil's domain is supposed to be a place of solace for people pressurized by society, it turns out to be a Mementos copycat -- even Enlil herself doesn't really understand what she's created, and she doesn't want to admit the truth; in fact, forcing her to admit the truth about what her domain ''really'' is ends up being exactly why she fights you.

* Perhaps fitting as a ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' spinoff, the game seems to base itself out of [[AdultFear Adult Fears]] a ''lot''; The majority of its darker elements are adult fears instead of outright horror. Furthermore, it portrays bullying by peers and its mental effects with ''disturbingly high accuracy'', even by Atlus' standards.

* The fourth world's content is largely a mystery, outside of being heavily based off of Film/TheWizardOfOz and various fairy tales, but it opens with a fairly unsettling musical number where Hikari questions her identity while surrounded by overly-cheerful cartoon characters; one shot in particular shows them looming over her with sinister yellow eyes. More than a few fans have said they're reminded of [[Anime/BaronOmatsuriAndTheSecretIsland Omatsuri Island]]. Then you actually get into it, and realize the film is actually ''[[BlackBugRoom Hikari's Palace]];'' everything in there is literally an embodiment of depression that came to life purely to ''torture her.'' It's nothing but deep AdultFear nightmare fuel mixed with some of the very few instances of aesthetic horror in the game, and ''somehow'' the AdultFear elements depicted there are more striking than the visual horror.

* Speaking of which, Hikari's background story itself is basically nothing more than AdultFear Nightmare Fuel. Unlike other ''Persona'' characters closely related to adult fears (such as Shiho, Futaba, or Akechi), her background is merely an ''extremely'' realistic and accurate portrayal of how youngsters in Japan get their life ruined by peer pressure; she could basically be anyone. Although her background story is not as much of a TearJerker as Rei's, it's simply unnerving because of how sane and human her DarkAndTroubledPast is, even for ''Persona'' standards - most ''Persona'' traumas are simply outright cruel (although realistic in some way), and usually not anything like this.

** Junessic Land is a movie about an abandoned island theme park, where dinosaurs roam and the strong rule. In order to survive and escape their predators, the herbivores grouped up together and formed a herd - however, from within their group, an unspeakable evil emerged.: one of their own expressed his personal opinion. Bringing up your personal opinion (especially a dissenting one) is against majority rule, and whatever the majority does in retaliation to a minority speaking up against them is justice. The movie’s protagonists, the righteous majority of the herbivore herd, aim to silence the evil minority who dared to speak up against them.

* '''The Reaper''' is back! Thankfully, unlike in the previous game, he just lurks in a very obvious red treasure spot - and the party asks you permission to excavate it - so he's easy to avoid, unless you want to fight him. The catch: beating him is the only way to let you fuse {{Lucifer}} in this game.

[[caption-width-right:350: THIS, [[CrapsackWorld the thing you see here,]] is actually HOW HIKARI SEES HER LIFE.]]

* The sound that is made when you exit the theater into the district; It is just a terrifying moan. Just ''where'' did that sound come from?

* Unlike most [[LotusEaterMachine Lotus Eater Machines]], the Cinemas present themselves as nothing more than a horrible nightmare for anyone trapped inside them; they're just [[PsychologicalTormentZone Psychological Torment Zones]] that constantly encourage their wards to give up living, and feed them with nothing but emotional poison. It wouldn't be any different from locking a depressed person inside a dark room, and having a bunch of people surround and tell them everyday to commit suicide, because life is awful - and passing it as "therapy". This is a ''sharp'' contrast compared to the Yasogami High School in the previous ''Q'', whose sole purpose was for Zen to make Rei happy, and he actually managed to make her feel ''much better'' at that time - not worse!

** The Cinemas are only trapping people's will to live, which means that the Hikari you interact with for most of the game is not the real deal: the ''real'' Hikari is still in the real world, being withdrawn and depressed, with her will to live taken away. Mind you, these are still living and moving people, they're just depressed to the point that they aren't very different from being dead. So, if the Hikari in the real world had suddenly commited suicide when you were trapped in the Cinema (especially before ''Kamoshidaman'' got changed)... all of you would be dead meat!

** Making things even worse, it's revealed that ''none'' of the events at the musical before the breakdown ever happened: Hikari's father asked her the question out of genuine concern for her mental health, not knowing how triggering the phrase was to her, so she was simply destroying ''herself'. [[HumansAretheRealMonsters The thought of society itself driving a nice girl into becoming a self-destructive mess is just downright frightening.]]

* While, unlike the previous ''Q'', the game doesn't feature any horror elements in most of its aesthetics (with the exception of the one pictured), it also doesn't attempt to sugarcoat any of its darker elements. Compared to the false Yasogami High in the previous ''Q'', which at least looked populated, the Cinema that acts as the hub of this game almost looks deserted - there's only a few people in there, and one of them isn't even a 'person' to begin with. When the Phantom Thieves get in there, the first thing that greets them is a large blob-like monster resembling a Shadow that doesn't talk at all. The other two are also distinctly ''off'' from the beginning; unlike Rei (who hides herself behind a StepfordSmiler facade), Hikari doesn't even try to hide that she's a depressed mess. And although Nagi doesn't look as bad as Hikari or Doe, her bystander stance and patronizing kindness is a red flag reflecting [[BigBad what she actually is]], striking a hard contrast to how Zen is willing to sacrifice Rei's happiness for her ultimate well-being. The movies also, straight off the bat, depict questionable entities such as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Kamoshida]] and [[AIIsACrapshoot A.I. gods]] as [[DesignatedHero Designated Heroes]] - and anyone who opposes then as [[DesignatedVillain Designated Villains]]. All of these "protagonists" are just [[VillainwithGoodPublicity villains with good publicity]] in their own worlds who are out to destroy all of their opposition... righteously, of course!

* Each movie's plot focuses on a situation where IndividualityIsIllegal , and justice is defined by leaders and the majority.

* While, unlike the previous ''Q'', the game doesn't feature any horror elements in most of its aesthetics (with the exception of the one pictured), it also doesn't attempt to sugarcoat any of its darker elements. Compared to the false Yasogami High in the previous ''Q'', which at least looked populated, the Cinema that acts as the hub of this game almost looks deserted - there's only a few people in there, and one of them isn't even a 'person' at all. When the Phantom Thieves get in there, the first thing that greets them is a large blob-like monster resembling a Shadow that doesn't talk at all. The other two are also distinctly ''off'' from the beginning; unlike Rei (who hides herself behind a StepfordSmiler facade), Hikari doesn't even try to hide that she's a depressed mess. And although Nagi doesn't look as bad as Hikari or Doe, her bystander stance and patronizing kindness is a red flag reflecting [[BigBad what she actually is]], striking a hard contrast to how Zen is willing to sacrifice Rei's happiness for her ultimate well-being. The movies also, straight off the bat, depict questionable entities such as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Kamoshida]] and [[AIIsACrapshoot A.I. gods]] as [[DesignatedHero Designated Heroes]] - and anyone who opposes then as [[DesignatedVillain Designated Villains]]. All of these "protagonists" are just [[VillainwithGoodPublicity villains with good publicity]] in their own worlds who are out to destroy all of their opposition... righteously, of course!

* As for Hikari herself, she has a cute design, although a close examination on her models will reveal that her eyes are [[https://imgur.com/GRC7loq somewhat]] [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/1/19/Hikari_primary_school_copy.png/revision/latest?cb=20190630090034 off]].

** Hikari's breakdown cutscene is kind of unsettling; it depicts her having a FlashbackEcho trip of her tormentors asking her "why do you have to be like that?"[[note]]When people emotionally abused or manipulated Hikari, they asked her "why do you have to be like that," making the phrase severely triggering to her - it reminds her of being humiliated and rejected.[[/note]] after her father supposedly asked, because he hated her and was told by her relatives to make her "normal". In some of the scenes, she even makes ''[[https://i.imgur.com/XAHlLz8.png this]]'' a KubrickStare that she never makes anywhere else in the game. It's pretty obvious that she ''isn't'' enjoying it. The only dialogue she has during this musical is just ''two cries of agony'', both during the flashback trip; the other dialogue are muted as if she were catatonic, and in the real event they were just weeping sounds. You should get ''how bad'' her depression has became.