#i just wish naoto had been made justice

[himichako]

something about baji, chifuyu and kazutora working at the same petshop, senju and sanzu being a famous youtube duo and getting along and izana, kakucho and the others helping children in rough situations makes me so emotional

[neni-has-ascended]

theres also another thing in the adachi confrontation when yukiko and naoto made a comback toward adachi people didn't realize how much these 2 grew in their social link if they did there words have meaning in them. and yousuke he grew too you may not notice but he went through changes through out the game. I wish people throught more about these 3 during the adachi confrontation.

The characters all definitely changed a lot throughout the game, even outside of their Social Links, which I deeply appreciate. I often see people downplay the presence of character development outside of Social Links in P4, but it’s definitely there, in fact, it’s implied that even if you don’t have their social links with them, a lot of the development they’d have had in them still eventually happens off-screen. It’s not just the three you mentioned. All of the characters go through quite the change.

 I mean, Kanji could have cared less about the people of Inaba when he was still terrified of them and their gossiping ways, but he’s right there to put Adachi in his place when he whines about how unfair the world is. And Chie, who was so afraid of being an incredibly selfish person, shows how strong her sense of Justice really is when it counts and refuses to go along with it when half the team wants to murder Namatame. 

Those kids have been set on the right path. Seeing them grow throughout the game and become more self-confident really was a joy in my honest opinion. 

[hdawg1995]

Chapter two, this time with the P4 cast!

The Cognitive net; a Persona 4 and Persona 5 cross over fanfic with OCs. Summary:

When a string of missing persons cases all seem to be linked by a far too familiar rumor, detective shirogane tries to enlist the help of her old investigation team. Unfortunately, not all of the original members are able to make it to shibuya-the sight of the latest case- but she finds help from an unexpected hacker and her friends. Elsewhere, a small team of brand new persona users have already figured out the “cognitive web” and it’s strange search engine. Will detective Shirogane and the hacker Alibaba discover the new group of heroes in time to realize this case is not city wide, but WORLD wide?

Chapter 2: one new message/a run down for the newbie

1/2/3/4/5

If the walls of Detective Shirogane’s office could speak, they would have very little to say but those words would be astonishing. 45 cases- murders, kidnappings, petty crimes and robberies- in the two years she returned to the force alone. The bluenette was diligently looking over the latest case files; missing persons cases that were handed to her not because they were another case to solve, but because SHE could possibly be the only one to solve them.

“5 people have gone missing in the past three weeks. The first went missing at 8am while in their own home. His mother reported him missing after she came to check on him. He had been playing video games…” she flipped to the other file. “This one went missing in the middle of school, the only thing the police were able to find was her cell phone…” Naoto stared at the file and made a note to make a request to look at the phone. She shifted though the other files and saw a pattern with those who went missing and leaving their phones behind. The 3 phones that were not locked led to a website and all apps aside from the web browser were locked.

There was something about these cases she couldn’t shake. They felt familiar and it sent a rock like weight down to her stomach.

“I need a second opinion… maybe a third.” She fiddled with the brim of her hat and reached for her cell phone. It has been a long time, least to her.

Opening the phone, she found the old text chat she had been added to the day it seemed everyone became adults and parted ways.

<Thisll b how we stay in toch!

<Yosuke please type like a normal person.

<yu, plz stp txtin lk a old man.

She laughed at the interaction between the two partners. Scrolling though the old chat she felt a wave of nostalgia. It was bitter sweet- she missed the old times and the silly things they would do, but all that changed a year and a few months ago. That was the last she talked to any of her old friends from Inaba.

>Hello Everyone. It Has Been A Long Time. I Wish I Was Contacting You All With Happy News Or Questions About Your Lives But I Have Been Given A Case And I Request Your Opinions On It.

She stared at her phone for a few moments. She did not expect the almost instant “many people are typing” notification and gasped when her phone buzzed with text messages.

<Naoto kun! I will be happy to help you! I’m taking a break from performing, so I’m all ears!

<Holy shit shes not texting in all caps!

>My Word Yosuke, You’re Texting In Full Words!

The chat grew abuzz with laughter and the nostalgia was fading. The truth was she didn’t have to stay in the past; her friends were right here, even if they were miles away.

<Naoto, I’m happy you remembered this chat but out of all the cases “The Returning Prince of justice” has solved, what makes this one special enough to ask for our assistance?

Senpai. Even in text form she was able to hear that suspicious tone he had when he knew she was avoiding something.

<oh man I’m not dreaming! This chat IS active again!

<whoa, Kanji! You’re not getting long distance charges are you?

<oh my that’s right! you’re in America!

<nah, don’t worry yukiko, i get free texts from japan since ma checks in with me. wait, Yosuke how did you know I would have been getting long distance charges?? What about you? Weren’t you in America as well?

The detective blinked down at her phone with shock. So much has happened she was almost floored. She made a note to speak with her friends more often.

<haha yeah. About that…

<guys! I love you all but I don’t have long for my break! Naoto still needs to explain why she is coming to us for this case!

>Yes, My Apologies. It Would Seem There Has Been A String Of Missing Persons Cases, Three Of Which I Have Noticed A Trend That My Gut Is Telling Me The Other Two Cases Will Also Exhibit Once I Investigate The Crime Scene Of One Case.

<I heard of this. Nanako mentioned it to me the other day. one of her class mates’s older siblings knew the 3rd victim.

<How is nana-chan, Yu san?

<focus yukiko! I heard about these too. My teacher at the training camp is working on the case with you Naoto!

>Does That Mean You Are In Shibuya, Chie?

The detective sat up strait in her chair. She reached for a note pad and pen when her phone buzzed, Chie confirming her location and adding she would be visiting the district her office is in with said teacher (he had planned to surprise her she guessed, but the cat is out of the bag now).

<hey I know! Lets all meet up!

<yukiko, what about the Inn? And Kanji is in America. Plus Rise is on tour!

<my Tour is ending soon Yosuke kun!

<WHAT? But I didn’t get to see you on stage yet!

<I’m sorry, the last 3 stops had to cancel due to

>Rise?

<I just realized! The last 3 stops had to cancel because the kids of the venue owners went missing! oh no Naoto kun I think I know why you want our opinions! Is it because they went missing like people from the midnight channel went missing?

Naoto smiled grimly at her phone. Rise may have been a bubbly idol but she wasn’t dumb like morooka had implied she was (least that’s what one of Yoskue’s stories about the former home room teacher suggested).

>Yes. I Am Afraid There Seems To Be A Connection To The Victims That Feels Far Too Familiar To That Of The Midnight Channle.

<Holy shit.

<Naoto you said you were in Shibuya?

>Yes, That Is Where My Office Has Been For Two Years Now, Yu San.

<I can be there in a few days to discuss things face to face.

<I will not be joining. Yosuke kun is right, I can not leave the Inn. Not yet at least. If the case hasn’t been solved in a month I will be joining you! But I certainly hope you will be able to solve this soon. Those poor parents must me worried sick.

<I can swing by in two weeks, Naoto kun! And my break is over, love you everyone! Tty real soon!

<Count me out. Unfortunately I’m in America for the next year. I havn’t told you guys this, but I got invited to do a run way show a few months back and one of the companies loved my designs so much they offered me an internship.

<Kanji that’s amazing! You HAVE to make me an outfit some time!

<Rise go, you’re going to be late. As for me you know I will be there!

<sorry, I can’t swing the train ticket or plane ticket or… anything like that right now.

>Do You Need Me To Send You The Money? This Counts As Case Related So I Can Use The Funds The Department Has Granted Me.

<its not just that Naoto. I actually have to get going anyway, customer needs me. I Will explain another time.

<wow. Since when has yosuke been responsible?

<Chie have you never noticed his dedication?

<OF COURSE I HAVE! Its just. I don’t remember him putting anything before us. Shoot, he even let me buy teddie’s outfit with his money!

<hes an adult now. As we all have noticed we can’t put our friends first all the time anymore. As sad as that is, I am proud to see he is still dedicated to his work.

Naoto nodded at Yu’s words. She felt better about not speaking to anyone in such a long time and decided to make the notes she was beginning to make. First, to make arrangements for three of her friends to be a part of the case, and second… to visit the first victim’s home and investigate his computer.

“I certainly believe you are right Yukiko. Lets both hope we are able to solve this case before the Calvary is needed.”

--------------------------------------

meanwhile, in the world wide cognitive web, The Admins stood around, waiting on their leader. 

With a wave of her hand a blue room appeared. It was a box and it fit with the other random structures in the cognitive web. A door appeared with the number 5 on it. as everyone filed in Alpha paused and looked out at the ninja that was watching them a moment ago. Sure enough, he was still there, still watching, however now he looked ready to spring away into the artificial night the web was simulating.

“Alpha? [what are you doing?]” the rabbit poked its head out of the litteral chat room to become it’s partner inside.

She didn’t respond, she simply walked inside. Once the door was closed the 5 glowed for a moment before shifting to a 6. On the inside two couches and a coffee table appeared. J4k3 and Skitty took the one to the left while Click sat at the one at the back of the table. Alpha stood at the front and opened a text chat.

“whats with that? Were all here.” Skitty leaned forward and clawed at the table, testing the cutesy paws that appeared when she wasn’t thinking.

“that sillouete we all saw is Hero. He is a unofficial member of the Admins.” The toy rabbit leaped onto Alpha’s sholder as she moved the chat box to be at her right. “Alpha is allowing him to listen in if he wishes.”

“we figure hes mute since he doesn’t talk to us, but he has messaged us once. Is that what the chat is for? Incase he has something to say?” J4k3 gently took Skitty’s…paw? Hand? Into his to keep her from clawing the table any further.

With a nod their leader presented the group with the IP address she was able to trace.

“okay everyone! Since this is Skitty’s first meeting lets give a run down!” the rabbit hopped down onto the table and pulled up various floating documents. “our first rescue was ClickClickBoom, Alpha’s right hand man! He was support until I entered the web!” the star arcana explained as they puffed out their chest. “now I am support. I scan shadows and tell you their weaknesses.”

“shadows, Nyan?” Skitty tilted her head and click rolled his eyes.

“I’ll explain what shadows are if you agree to stop with the nyan stuff.”

“aww you’re no fun… but fine.” She purred as she leaned back in her seat and gave the youngest her full attention.

“Shadows are the manifestations of human hearts. There like personas, but bad. Your shadow can be your suppressed emotions, your over inflated ego, or even your inner darkness. They are always exaggerated tho.”

Skitty nodded “you explained that when I got Leomund. So all shadows are like that? Not just the ones that drag their other halves here?” the Magician turned from The Lovers and regarded the Fool, who simply nodded.

“Yup! They all have weaknesses, which means you also have weaknesses! We’ll figure those out later. Anyway, back to the meeting!” the rabbit sprang up and landed on a floating document.

“we have discovered that we have about a week to rescue someone. When you are dragged here you become data. Your shadow however starts to corrupt your data; if you become corrupted, your body can’t return to reality.” The air became somber as J4k3 leaned back.

“but even then we don’t know why some people can return and others can’t.” the Emperor reached out and tapped a floating file. The image of a chibi girl appeared. She smiled at the Admins and waved.

“This is Hallie. She was the team’s first rescue after me-“

“Rescue mission five!”

“-but like Gerade she became a data card instead of returning to reality.”

Hallie frowned and bowed her head. The robot reached out and hesitantly gave her a pat on the head. it wasn’t anyone’s fault she was like this.

“wait, so even if we save people they just become those cute tamagchi things? then whats the point!”

“its better then them becoming corrupted data.” Side Kick jumped up and flipped Hallie’s data card. “see? All of Hallie is right here. She is healthy and stable. She can return to reality once we figure out how to open her data card!”

The room felt warmer as click stood. “that’s our second job as Admins. We HAVE to figure out how to open the data cards and safely return the victims to reality.”

Alpha nodded and glanced at the text chat. there was a notification that a 6th persona had joined the chat room. She turned to the rest of her team. “Normally we have to trace the IP address that was used to access Cogntive.net, and then find a entry point. This takes a few days. At most 3. After that we track down the dungeon.” Alpha reached out and a map appeared. “These are the 9 dungeons we have found.” she grew silent to let Skitty look over the map when a block of pixels shifted to reveal a 11th dungeon. There was a ping and the Admins looked to the text chat to find a message.

Hero> I found a dungeon while you all were out. It was the “false alarm” you dismissed. I did not know dealing with the situation myself would affect the algorithm.

“Dude… you found a dungeon, took down a shadow, AND rescued someone in the span of a few minutes? That’s crazy!” J4k3 stood up to get a better view of the map.

“Hero, was the person… are they a data card?” Skitty also stood to look at the map better. There was another ping.

Hero> no, they will be assisting me. They insisted on it. You have two people on your side now.

Alpha nodded and went back to the map. “Any dungeon we encounter will become part of this map. However this is not a map of the cognitive web. The web is constantly changing. But when a new dungeon appears it rarely takes a day to travel to.”

Skitty blinked and her cat ears twitched. “you said “normally”. Does that mean this case is different? Is it going to be easier to find the dungeon?”

“yup!” click stood up and slammed his foot on the table, a wall of binary coming up. “since the victim used a public wi-fi we can just enter the IP address into the search engine and we’ll be teleported there! Public wi-fi isn’t password protected, that’s why you always gatta be careful when you’re using it, ya dig?” the motioned at the binary as it formed the cognitive net search engine, the IP already in the search bar.

“If we are ready, we can head out right now to save yuki mishima!” Side kick stated as the other gave their own affirmatives.

“one more thing!” Alpha stated as the chat room became barren again. “time is different here, Skitty. Don’t worry about things taking a week. Once we are in the dungeon it will feel like we’ve been in there for days, but in reality it had only been a few minutes.” She placed a hand on the cat themed idol’s shoulder. “are you ready to put your talents to good use?”

With a chestier grin she gave her leader a firm nod and The Admins were teleported away.

[fortunesrevolver]

Just a Day, Just an... Ordinary(?) Day

Series: Persona 4 Request: Souji and Naoto working together in the future. Not necessarily just a case, but some sort of day-to-day shenanigans.  For: @nestw

Ao3 Version

This was... actually pretty fun to write. I think it’s the second fastest commission I’ve had so far, inspiration-wise. I haven’t gotten to write Persona 4 characters in a good long while, so I really hope I’ve not lost my touch completely. Still, it was a lot of fun to try and imagine them somewhere in the future -- not too far, of course. They’re likely still dating and living together, but you can interpret it any way you wish. 

7:15am

It was, in Naoto’s brutally honest opinion, too early to be walking to an office. Of course, logically, she could easily deduce that the problem likely related to her unfortunate habit of staying up until the later hours of the morning working on cases -- or sometimes simply just reading -- but when one was tired, logic hardly mattered. All she wanted in that moment was to turn around, go back to her apartment, and crawl into bed.

The only silver lining in all this was that the Shirogane Detective Agency did not open until 8:30 in the morning, and the small lobby did have a sofa. At the very least, she could rest her eyes until it was time to begin business for the day. Alas, appealing as the idea might have been, the thought that she might end up nodding off and snoozing through the better part of the morning pushed the thought away. She’d worked on empty before; most of her first year in high school had been spent running herself ragged with a group of wayward friends. Surely she could make it through a single day -- and hopefully remember to turn in early tonight. Hopefully.

Bracing herself, Naoto drew a pair of keys from her pocket and slipped through the front door of her three-room business rental and stopped.

The lights were on, the curtains were open, and the entire office held a strong, pleasant smell.

“Good morning, Naoto,” from a door on the left that lead into a small kitchenette, Souji stepped out. His suit was clean, pressed, and distractingly neat on his lithe figure. His smile was gentle and sweet, a knowing look in his eyes as he crossed the room with a mug clutched in his hands full of warm and steaming…

“Coffee.” Naoto murmured intelligently, her gaze locked in on the mug she eagerly stumbled forward to take. “Coffee.”

“Coffee.” Souji confirmed with a small chuckle, relinquishing his grasp on the mug. “Three sugars; one creamer.”

“You’re a saint.”

Souji nodded. “So you’ve said.”

“I mean it,” Naoto murmured around the lip of her mug, inhaling the warm aroma. “You’re wonderful.”

“That’s me,” Souji grinned, guiding Naoto toward the sofa, “your wonderful coffee monkey.”

“Hardly,” Naoto scoffed and sighed in contentment as she took a deep gulp. “You’re far more than that.”

“Oh?”

“Indeed. If memory serves, you also bring me files whenever I ask and cook most of my meals.” Another sip. “And you give the most delightful foot rubs. You are far, far more than a mere monkey.”

Souji laughed and leaned against Naoto’s shoulder, a small spark of light in his eyes. “And what might that be?”

“A truly admirable butler.”

Freezing, Souji’s expression flashed from startled, to shocked, to a squint as he groaned and flopped against the back of the sofa. “...I walked right into that.”

“As you do most mornings.” Naoto hummed, a smile hidden behind her mug. “But thank you; this is just what I needed.”

8:26am

It was the first time they’d gotten a case so soon after opening the entire year. Most cases would consist of a file coming in the mail, or a telephone invite from a local law enforcement center from a nearby city. Sometimes they would receive video chats asking them to travel to a distant part of Japan or even to another country, but it was rare that someone marched into their Agency so soon after opening.

Especially one quite as unique as this.

“...could you tell me again when you realised this crime occurred?” Naoto asked, her tone slow and careful as she eyed the woman in front of her.

The woman on the other side of her desk was tall and muscular, sporting a brilliant green dress that looked more appropriate for an opera than an office. Pearls and jewels adorned her neck and ears, glimmering in the overhead lights and trembling with every movement the woman made, especially the dramatic blowing of her nose that seemed to occur every few sentences.

“O-of course,” the woman , a foreigner, judging by her accent, nodded frantically, her huge, decorated hat-- it must have had carried half a flower shop -- nearly tumbling off her head. “Mr. Tuffington the third was in my home last night, I know because I bathed and brushed his luscious fur before bed as I always do. It’s our routine, you see. He loves being pampered. But when I got ready to go out this morning and I went to his bedroom, he was gone.”

“His bedroom?” Naoto frowned, her eyebrows drawing together.

“Of course! Don’t you give your children bedrooms here?”

Surely a child wouldn’t have been described as having fur, but giving an entire bedroom to a cat or dog wasn’t unheard of. Souji had, after all, dedicated one of their bedrooms to their own felines. “Err, yes, we do. But Mr. Tuffington is… a cat?”

“A cat? Heavens no!” The woman shook her head. “He’s a hamster.”

Behind the woman, a string of strained coughs rang out and Naoto turned, her gaze sharp as she recognized Souji’s attempt to hide a laugh. His lips were tight, his expression twisted into a forced look of concentration as he made a silent motion toward the woman’s head.

Following his head, Naoto was suddenly forced to hold back her own bark of laughter as a small, fuzzy body vanished from sight under a particularly large fabric rose. “Ma’am, with respect…”

“Y-yes?”

“Might I be able to examine your hat?”

“My hat…?” She repeated, startled, but seemed to comply as she carefully took her hat off and set it on the desk. “I don’t understand, is this going to help you find Mr. Tuffington?”

“You… might say that.” Naoto murmured and carefully pushed several flower petals out of the way. A moment later, a small, fuzzy head popped out of the mass of leaves.

“Mr. Tuffington!” The screech made both Naoto and the hamster she’d just picked up jump, her pale fingers unconsciously curling around the small body only to have it snatched away. “Oh, Mr. Tuffington! I’ve missed you! Mother was so, so worried!”

“I think…” Souji stepped forward, an easy smile on his face, “we can consider this case closed, Detective Shirogane?”

“Y...es,” Naoto nodded. “Yes, I believe we can. I’m pleased we could have helped you reunite with your… child.”

“Of yes, thank you--how much do I owe you?”

“Er, if you’ll just follow Detective Seta to the lobby--”

“Of course, of course. Thank you! Come, Mr. Tuffington, we have a busy day ahead.”

Nearly ten minutes later, Souji returned to Naoto’s office to find her head buried in her arms and the unmistakable sound of muffled laughter shaking her shoulders.

10:42am

A loud ring filled the room, prompting Naoto to jerk away from the all-too-soothing hands working away on her shoulders with a small groan.

“Shirogane and Seta Detective Agency, how may I assist you?”

Souji watched, silent, as Naoto murmured into the phone, occasionally nodding her head as she took several rapid notes. Her eyebrows were drawn tightly together, an odd light in her eyes. “Yes… of course. I’d be happy to join both of you in a video call tomorrow to discuss the files. Please have them sent to my email. ...yes. I look forward to speaking with you as well. Have a good day.”

“Another case?” Souji asked, taking the phone as it was set aside.

“Something like that -- it was an officer in Tokyo. Apparently, a few… odd cases have arisen in the past weeks and they were hoping I might be willing to look it over.”

“Odd…?”

“We’ll be getting an overview of the case sometime this afternoon. From what they’ve said, it sounds as if major criminals have been confessing to crimes without any feasible prompting.”

“Sounds like the kind of odd we specialize in,” Souji grinned and stepped behind Naoto’s chair again.

2:14pm

Arms slid around Naoto’s waist as she filled a second mug with hot water and a chin came to rest on her shoulder.

“More coffee?”

“We’re out of instant,” Naoto shook her head and gave a small string a light tug. “I’m making us tea. I shouldn’t be relying on coffee as much as I have.”

“Your liver thanks you, I’m sure,” Souji chuckled, turning Naoto around. “What flavour today?”

“Green.”

“Very healthy choice,” Souji smiled. “It’ll definitely offset all the coffee.”

“...ha, ha,” Naoto huffed. “I can still dispose of your drink and leave you to make your own.”

“Ah, but that would be a waste.”

“Perhaps,” Naoto shrugged, raising an eyebrow, “but certainly worth it to see through my… minor payback.”

“Just minor?” Souji pouted, his lip protruding dramatically. “Aren’t you supposed to see to justice, detective? Not revenge?”

“One must always be willing to bend certain rules to meet the end of their means.”

“So you’ve taught me,” Souji smirked. “Several times. I believe one of them involved you climbing into a--ack! H-hey! Naoto! No! Th-that--! A-ah….hehehe--no--ahaha…!”

4:56pm

As she walked past the TV set up in the lobby, Naoto felt something grab her wrist and she jerked around, eyes wide. “Wh-what the…?!”

“...Naoto… Shirogane…”

“Souji Seta, what on earth are you doing inside the television!?”

“Seven days…”

“...really?” Naoto sighed and placed her hand against Souji’s forehead. “You are banned from horror movies for a week.”

“Aw, but Naoto--!” The rest of his sentence was cut off, as he was pushed backwards and tumbled back into the screen with a soft ‘pop.’

4:59pm

“Naoto… The branch I was using to reach the portal broke.”

“That’s very unfortunate, Mr. Seta.”

“H-hey…”

“Yes?”

“I don’t think I can pull myself up like this.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Naoto…”

“It is fortunate that you are a detective. Surely if you were able to get yourself inside the TV World irresponsibly, you are capable of investigating and deducing an equally irresponsible way of getting yourself out.”

“. . .”

5:05pm

“Naotooooo… I’m sorry! Please get the rope.”

Silence, then a sigh. “Do try not to break anything else while I retrieve it. Including yourself or other plant life. Teddie has been working quite hard to keep that world in order.”

7:46pm

“Naoto?” Souji stepped into the office, his voice soft as he moved further inside. “Are you--oh…”

With a soft sigh, Souji made his way over to the desk and shook his head. Slumped over in her chair, a slumbering Naoto clutched a case file loosely between her fingers, unaware half the sheets had fallen to the floor.

“We really need to get you to bed earlier…” he murmured, shrugging off his jacket to drape it over her shoulders.

Soft, slow, and ever so quiet, he bent forward to place a gentle kiss against her forehead as he removed her hat, before kneeling down to clean up.

Extra: The rope in this story is affectionately referred to as The Dope Rope, as it saves dopes from when they’ve done something foolish. It has been used on Souji no less than twelve times, and Yosuke at least seven.

[heikitsune25]

He’s not that bad Ch.2 Naoto

As Naoto looks for more information about this strange tournament, she comes across the infamous Ragna the Bloodedge. And, yet she finds herself not needing to be so much on her guard around the rude man.

Tags: Humor 

You can read it here or check out my Patreon for more. 

He’s not that bad Ch.2  Naoto

“Argh…Where the hell is that Rabbit?”

Ragna the Bloodedge growled as he trudged his way through the strange mis-matched world. Funny enough he found himself in a familiar place. The arena where he fought the mad dog Azrael surrounded him and it looked just as destroyed as it did when him and the ‘carnivore’ fought.

“I’ve been running around this stupid tournament and still haven’t found her or Noel…” The grim reaper growled. His current situation, of being tossed in some multi-dimensional tournament by, his own guess, Rachal Alucarud, is a s frustrating as it is a tiring.

In the past two hours he’s fought trigger happy robots, a really hyper little red riding hood look alike and her aloof cat friend. Some oversized grandpa and his smart mouth daughter. Two ‘justice’ rapier using brats; that painfully made him hope Tsubaki isn’t around to make a trio of ‘justices whielding girls that hate Ragna’ club. He’s even had to fight actual high schoolers.

‘Although I’ve never heard of any high schoolers that summon…whatever the hell those things are….’ Ragna sighed. Wondering who did he piss off to deserve this. And if he can find them so he punch them in the face.

“Excuse me sir. Can you spare a moment of your time?”

‘And here’s another werido….’ Ragna groaned.

“I had really hopped you would’ve just stop fallowing me….” The wanted man sighed as he turned around. Although he was a little surprised. He had sensed a girl fallowing him but standing there is clearly a young man. He is dressed in a clean and sharp dark blue uniform with hat on their head to match. While he looked to be in high school, his eyes showed off a cool insightfulness that wasn’t meant for someone around fifthteen.

‘That’s some damn good cosplay.’ Ragna noted in his thoughts. ‘Is she like Mai?’

“So, you knew I was fallowing you….” The young woman tipped her hat down in thought. “Either I was careless, or you too have a strange power. And judging form the other people I’ve met here, it’s most likely the later.”

“So, you going to keep talking to yourself or can I go now? I’ve got other places to be kid.” Ragna sighed as he placed a hand on his hip. Keeping it close to his sowrd just in case this kid was going to throw something strange at him.

“Ah. Right. My apologizes. Let me re-asses.” The smartly dressed young man pulled out a very familiar, and aggravating piece of paper for Ragna. “Are you the man in this wanted poster? This ‘Ragna the Bloodedge?’”

“Argh! How many of those damn things made it here…?” The infamous grim reaper slapped his forehead at the wanted poster giving him another headache.

“So, I take it this is you…” The young woman deduced.

“Ragh….” Ragna sighed at his luck before looking back at the new comer.

“You know when. People ask me that question that’s never a good thing.” The wanted man grumbled as he placed his hand on the handle of his sowrd.

“You miss understand me, Ragna-san.” The young man placed the wanted poster back inside his shirt. “I am merely confirming a few things.”

Crossing his arms and placing his hand under his chin the disguised girl thought aloud, “Judging from the exuberantly high price on your head, where you come from you must be extremely dangerous. And powerful. So, if would be safe to assume two things: You may be very informed about your own world and you possess a keystone.”.

“Huh. Your pretty sharp.” Ragna said, not even trying to hide his glare. “But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t trust you.”

“That is fine.” Noato nodded sagely. “I merely wish to ask you a few questions.”

“…..” Ragna kept a hard stare at the young man. Reading the stoic teenager before sighing and crossing his arms. “Fine. But let me ask my own.”

“Fair enough.” Naoto agreed and let the grim Reaper go first.

“What’s your name?” Ragna asked with his usual gruffness.

“Naoto Shirogane. I am detective.” And Naoto replied just as coolly.

“A little young dont’cha ya think?” Ragna scoffed with raised brow.

“If my case was not a special one do you think I would be in this strange place as well?” Naoto responded plainly.

“Good point.” Ragna snorted in annoyance. Scratching the back of his head while Naoto asked her next question.

“My turn. Just to confirm, and you do not have to show it to me, but you do have a Keystone, do you?”

Ragna narrowed his eyes. “…. Yeah. You going to fight me for it?”

“No.” Naoto shook her head. Denying the clam but she kept her hand on her chin in thought. “Hmmm…But…”

“Yeah?” The Grim Reaper growled.

“A…. acquaint of mine told me only heroes are given keystones. Why would a criminal like you have one?” The young investigator gave Ragna stern glance. “Unless you stole it form someone.”

Ragna rolled his eyes form hearing the same ol retort once again. “Sorry to disappoint you but I was dropped in here by some damn computer that shoved that stupid stone in my face, forcing me in this damn tournament.”

The wanted man shrugged his shoulders. “I am as much a victim of this as you are. Maybe instead pointing fingers, you should think of a way to get out here. Detective.”

“Your right.”  Naoto, much to Ragna’s surprise, apologized. “My apologies. It was wrong of me to judge based off what little I knew of you personally. “

“Uh…” Ragna blinked at the other person’s sincerity. “D-don’t worry about it…. huh...”

“Is something wrong?” Naoto asked curiously.

“Well no… I am just kind of used to people jumping the gun and trying to kill me first.” A smirk crept up on Ragna’s face. “Your lot better company then bunch of other people I’ve met.”

‘Hmm. He’s not as standoffish as I thought.’ Naoto was genuinely surprised at Ragna’s reaction. When she had first being her tailing of the criminal, she had her reservations, given how he looks and the wanted poster she has; in which she still doesn’t believe the artist who drew this has even seen a normal human before, she had her guard up for the inevitable fight she thought she would have to get into.

And yet Ragna is far more reasonable then she thought. ‘Appearances, no matter the world, truly are deceiving.’

“Hm.” Naoto let a small smile as the tension in the air vanished. “You must live a hectic life.”

“Heh. Tell me about it.” Ragna let out a small chuckle. “Ok. My turn. You friends with a girl who likes to kick a lot? Wears a green track sui-WATCH IT!”

Ragna dashed over to tackle Naoto to the ground. Just in time for a large spike of crystalized blood to impale the ground they were standing on.

“Aw man you made me miss!” A red-haired young man, with a sinister smile and blood dripping from his hands walked out the shadows of the arena before them. “Oh well. I’ll just have to skewer you both next time! Geh ha ha ha!!”

“Ugh friend of yours!?” Ragna growled as stood up his massive sword out and ready.

“Not in the slightest.” Noato reached for her gun as she glared at the sudden intruder.

“Well it’s not like he can do anything. Without another-! GET BACK!!” The grim reaper shoved Naoto away and swung his blade. Just in time for it to clash with large white one being whiled by a menacing robot.

“So, we meet again monster! Ha!” The robot spoked as he slash his blade. Ragan met him with slashes of his own their blade’s meeting a furry of blurs and sparks. Their blades blurs as the countered each other with powerful earth quaking slashes.

“Piss off asshole!!” Ragna gave a devasting swing with his sword and knocked back the robot. Yet it didn’t seem fazed as it slide across the ground.

“What is that?” Naoto asked her eyes glaring down the steel samurai.

“Tch. A dumdass named Hakumen.” Ragna said with a roll of his shoulders. “Here’s a tip: Stay the hell away form him. His more of a monster then that lobster over there.”

“The hell you call me!?” The ‘lobster’ glowed in fury as blood swirled around him. “I’ll show you! You piece of shit!”

An army of blood spike formed in the air and flew themselves right at Ragna at blazing speed.

“Ah crap.” Was what Ragna was able to say before the dahs away form the near thousands of spikes attempting to impale him. Leaving Naoto to face Hakumen.

“It would wise to leave child. You are not my query.” Hakumen said stabbing his blade into the ground. “My prey is the Black Beast.”

Naoto could feel the overwhelming energy coming off the robotic swordsmen. It was far different form any shadow she face. If anything, she would compare it to the time she and her friends faced off the goddess Izanami. Yet she held her ground with a clam calculated stare back at Hakumen. “And I am to assume you mean Ragna-san.”

“Yes.”  Hakumen said. “In my world he will be a blight that will cause a massive calamity. He must be destroyed before then.”

“I see. You have your own reasons for seeking out Ragna-san.” Naoto surmises. Calmly reloading her pistol. “However, as a detective I cannot let do harm to my witness during my investigation.”

“Hmph. A detective.” Hakumen scoffed. “So, what you seek is justice investigator?”

“Justice? Possibly. But what I really seek is the truth.” With her gun ready, the investigator aimed her weapon. “And it is that reason why I can’t let you have Ragna-san.”

“Hm. An admirable goal. However,” Hakumen raised his blade and roared with determination. “If you are in my way, then you must fall child. Prepare yourself!”

Hakumen swiftly lunged at Naoto with his blade rise high. The detective fired off two shots of her gun only for the bullets to bounce off the swordsman’s armor. They didn’t even slow him down as he swung his blade down at the detective. Who is quick enough to jump back to dodge the blow, and gain a good distance form him.

Naoto pointed her gun back Hakumen as he marched towards her. The difference in power is far more apparent now between them but Naoto did not faulter.

“Your guns will do nothing against me child.” Hakumen stated as he stalked towards Naoto.

“Sorry.” Naoto said as her body shimmered with a blue aura as similar colored card appeared behind Hakumen’s shoulder. “But this bullet isn’t for you. Come! Sukuna-Hikona!”

Naoto fired the gun and sound of shattering glass echoed off the air.

“Wha-Hmph!?” A blade made of energy clashed with Hakumen’s just before it reached his head. A creature with wings and strange costume glared at him form across their sparking blades.

“What sort of power is this?” Hakumen mumbled to himself as he pushed the creature away.

“Hiya!” Naoto came flying in with a kick that knocked Hakumen back a little. Landing on his guard and springing boarding off of him before he could swing his blade. She fired multiple rounds that bounced off the swordsmen. They did nothing but bother him while he prepared to swing his blade.

“Arrgh!” Only for his back to be slashed by Naoto’s persona. The two of them double teaming the samurai with quick jumps and covert cuts. Jumping and dodging just out of his reach with Naoto being the main distraction by firing her gun and assaulting the swordsman with swift kicks. Then she would summon her persona and let it cut and hack away at Hakumen’s blind spots. Much to his aggravation.

“Enough of this!” The armored samurai threw his arms out and blast of wind knocked both Naoto and her persona back into a wall.

“I will admit. You proved a bit more formidable then I thought.” Hakumen said with his blade pointed in front of Naoto’s face. The steel just barely touching her nose.

“You are quite skilled. And your devotion to seek out this ‘Truth’ is admirable. Yet you align yourself with the Black Beast.” Hakumen stared down Naoto at the end of his blade. Actually, impressed by how clam the young girl looked standing in the face of his sowrd. “Why?”

“The truth is neither good nor evil.” Naoto said. Letting a plan formulate in her mind as she spoke. “It is my judge, as a detective, to bring the truth to light. I am not a judge. Nor the jury or executioner. I merely wish to bring the truth to light. And understand it.”

“I see.” Hakumen nodded in respect for Naoto’s goals. Killing her would do nothing. However, she is still an obstacle to his goal. And she must be moved. “Even so this is where your quest for the truth must be put on a small hiatus.”

As he raised his Blade Hakumen recited his mantra.

“I am the white void. I am the cold steel. I am the just sowrd. With blade in hand I will reap the sins of this world and cleanses it in the fires of destruction! I am- “

“A pain in my ass! Hell’s fang!!!” Ragna’s fiery dark fist slammed into the side of the swordsmen’s face. Sending him flying through the wall of the stadium in earth shaking crash.

“You alright kid?” Ragna looked back at Naoto. The man in red not looking even remotely winded form his fight with the blood user. Whose body is half way stuck in a stone wall.

“Yes.” Naoto nodded as she stood up. “But he is even stronger then I- “

“Black Beast!!” Hakumen came roaring out of the rubble.

“Shit!” Ragna cursed as his blade collided with Hakumen’s pushing him back across the ground.

Naoto watched the two men clash blades in a fury of spark. It was all she could see with how fast they were moving. Ragna’s massive weapon is faster then a blur as he swung it to meet the Hakumen’s lighting fast Kanata. However, the young investigator wasn’t going to merely sit on the side lines for too long.

“Ragna! Bring him over to me!” Naoto ran alongside the chaos. Being careful to avoid being hit by any flying rocks and debris. Trying to keep up with the two monstrous men as she form her plan.

“Ugh! What!?” Ragna grunted as he ducked under a swing to spin and counter with one slash of his own. Knocking Hakumen back, but only for the samurai to surge right back into the grim reaper’s defenses.

“Trust me!” Naoto yelled as she reloaded her gun and fired it at the ground. A dark circle of magic appearing for shortest of seconds.

“Tch! Fine!” Ragna leaped back from Hakumen’s blade. Back peddling from him while ducking and countering the samurai’s katana.  

“Whatever plan you have will not work!” The white void dashed after Ragna with his blade held high. As Ragna passed by over the dark circle, Naoto fired her gun.

“There! Mamudoon!”

A cylinder dark magic erupted form the ground under Hakumen’s feet. A painful roar erupted form Hakumen as dark sparks of lighting and magic ran through him. The robotic swordsmen fell to the ground utterly limp.

“Whoa.” Ragna whistled. Impressed by the attack as he holstered his weapon. “What the hell was that?”  

“An instant death spell made for those in the holy aliment.” Naoto said as she adjusted her hat. “From his speech I had deduced he is some who values justice above all else. I had a feeling that skill would be effective on him.”

“Or maybe it’s just super effective on idiots…” Ragna scoffed as he looked at the unconscious form of his rival

“Mmmm…” A groan form the swordsmen however made Ragna click his teeth and Naoto step back in surprise.

“Looks like it was just enough to knock him out. Let’s get out here before he wakes up.” Ragna swiftly turned and ran out of the arena.

“Agreed.”  With Naoto quickly fallowing.

-OOO-

“Well that was a pain in the ass….” The man worth a country sighed as he and the young sleuth entered a new area of a small forest this time. A few miles away form Hakumen and the lobster.

“I-I still have more questions R-Ragna-san.” Naoto panted as she tried to catch her breath. Having constantly sprint to keep up with Ragna’s speed as they both ran.

‘He’s definitely not human.’ Naoto thought. ‘I had my suspicions form the way he fought but…seeing it first hand has confirmed them…’

“Oh, you kept up with me? Heh. You’re not half bad.” Ragna smirked with a hand on his hip.

“S-So, you were trying to lose me...” Naoto glared at the wanted man. Only to receive a like chuckle in response.

“Actually.” The grim reaper sighed listlessly with an aggravated scratch of his head. “It might be a good idea for us to part ways. Or that stupid computer is just going push into another fight.”

“Hmm…” Naoto crossed her arms. Quickly coming into agreement with Ragna.  “Regrettably you may be correct in that assessment.”

“Don’t worry about it.” The grim reaper grinned. Shocking Naoto at how, for lack of a better term, human it looked. “With how crazy this place is, we’ll see each other again sooner or later.”

Naoto blinked at kindness in Ragna’s voice. But she smiled none the less. “I suppose your right. I hope to meet you again. Ragna-san.”

Ragna paused in his leave and turned to give Naoto small nod. “Oh, and before I leave I got to say. Nice cosplay you got going there. I didn’t even believe you were guy until I looked into your soul. But don’t’ worry your secret is safe with me. Anyway, later.”

Naoto stood there. Eyes wide blinking dumbly into space as the wanted man walked off.

“…Y-You knew?” Naoto slowly processed the information and then shook her head when another, more important point of Ragna’s words reached her. “Wait-You can read souls!?”

With her curiosity and search for the truth guiding her, Naoto gave chase to Ragna.

-Kanji Motherfucking Tatsumi bonus-

“Do have any idea where she might be senpai?” Kanji Tatsumi, the tall, scary blonde teenager looked at Souji with worry. However, the sliver haired young man, gave an encouraging grin to his friend.

“I wouldn’t worry about Naoto kanji. She's smart. She’ll be fine.”

“I don’t know man…” Yosuke, walking beside his friend said a little more than just concerned. Giving a strange eyeing to the odd creatures that roomed around the strange ruins him and everyone else were walking by. The old destroyed temple has been over round by weeds and grass. It’s pillars now toppled on the ground with the walls crumbling and filled with holes.

“We did just fight a chick who has an actually squirrel tail and a dude that makes those buff shadows look like paper weights. Who knows what else is in this crazy place…” Yosuke sighed.

“Oh, I do hope we get to see Makoto-chan again.” Yukiko smiled at the memory of meeting their strange new friend. “I still haven’t gotten a chance to touch her tail. I wonder how fluffy it is…”

“Will that be before or after to punts you to the moon…” Yosuke sighed. Honestly wondering why, he tried to reason with his friends.

“Oh! There she is! There’s Naoto-chan!” Chie pointed out in the distance as she saw a friendly blue hat walking with a tall scary looking man in a red jacket.

“Whoa! That guy looks like a really rough customer.” Yosuke swallowed heavily as he looked at the mans really big sowrd on his back.

“Could that be that man you were talking about Chie? The one with the big sword and beat up a bunch of monsters by himself?” Yukiko turned to her kong-fu loving comrade who nodded her head in agreement.

“Yeah I think so. I mean he has a scary face, but he didn’t really do anything wrong.” As Chie said that they all watched as Ragna suddenly grab Naoto by the waist.

“Or maybe I was wrong….” Chie gave a weary chuckle

“Ah. It looked like she tripped.” Souji noted as him and his friends watch Naoto interact with the strange man. However, Yosuke snickered a little with a playful thought to tease Kanji.

“Hey Kanji maybe. Naoto like the tall scary dude like y-err kanji?” Yoskue started to sweat as he saw Kanji take off in a mad dash. Right towards Naoto and the man in red.

-With Naoto and Ragna-

“Can you actually eat souls? What do they look like? What is your sword made of? How can you lift something so heavy? Are really human, and if you aren’t what are you?”

“Ahh geez enough with the twenty questions already…” Ragna sighed as Naoto bombarded him with question after question. The detective quest for the truth was stating to get on his nerves.

“Also, do you-ah!?”

“Watch it!” The grim Reaper was as he gripped Naoto by the waist to stop her form fall on her face. The young girl tipping on rock as she was walked beside him.

The detective’s face flushed red at her mistake. And being so close to a man with her head being buried in Ragna’s chest. “T-Thank you. I guess in all my excitement I wasn’t paying attention to how I where I was going.”

“Tch. I’ll say.” Ragna grumbled as he helped her back up.” Are you always like this when- “

“GET AWAY FROM HER YOU OLD PERVERT!!!”

“K-Kanji-kun!?”

“Whoa! Did you just come at with a goddamn chair!!!?”

[netunleashed-blog]

Persona 4 Remains An All-Time Great RPG 10 Years Later; A Celebration Of Its Legacy

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6760 Persona 4 Remains An All-Time Great RPG 10 Years Later; A Celebration Of Its Legacy - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6760 It may not have been known at the time, but in July 2008, Japan received what would be remembered as one of the greatest role-playing games of all time. Over the course of a decade, Persona 4 has become more than just an incredibly fun RPG with a refined battle system and quirky characters, though. A story about Japanese high school students confronting their worst fears, fighting for what's right, and becoming the best of friends spawned a lasting legacy that has empowered the people who played it and continually inspired new games. Our love for Persona 4 has kept it alive for so long with several fighting games, two anime adaptations, an adorable (and difficult) spin-off RPG, and even a rhythm game. And after 10 years, we're still seeing our good friends from Inaba in a new light.For the uninitiated, Persona 4's foundation closely resembles that of its predecessor, Persona 3. You're a transfer student new to a school surrounded by unusual circumstances; supernatural phenomena that endanger your new hometown is the crux to the overarching mystery. On a typical day, you go to class, do extracurricular activities, and try to grow closer to those around town and at school. Better yourself through hobbies or take on a part-time job, it's up to you how to pass the time. In particular, Persona 4 takes you to a fictional rural town of Inaba where the biggest thing to happen before your arrival was the opening of a Junes department store (think Super Walmart, but with an infectious jingle). Even your little cousin Nanako is utterly convinced that every day's great at your Junes, and begs you and her dad to take her there like it's the greatest place on earth.Sure sounds like all fun and games until you and your new friends become the centerpiece for a dark murder mystery and an absolutely perplexing world that lives behind TV screens. At first, it's not quite clear why outlandish versions of certain townsfolk inexplicably pop up on TV sets and go missing on rainy midnights. The one way to get to the bottom of this, to actually jump into a TV screen to enter the shadow world where the other half of Persona 4 comes into play.Aha! Is this our chance? It's time for an All-Out Attack!While dungeon crawling and sneaking up on shadows through randomly generated floors make up the exploration, an intricate turn-based combat system is where you'll find excellence in gameplay. Most enemies have elemental weaknesses which factor into how you construct your party and devise a tactical approach. Sounds par for the course in an RPG, but the unique press-turn system that Shin Megami Tensei is known for shines brighter than it had previously by giving you full control to pull off flashy, effective attacks. Receiving a bonus attack after targeting a weakness before enemies get a turn is endlessly satisfying, especially as dungeons become inhabited by trickier, stronger shadows.A story about Japanese high school students confronting their worst fears, fighting for what's right, and becoming the best of friends spawned a lasting legacy that has empowered the people who played it and continually inspired new games.However, nothing in battle matches the joy of seeing your crew team up for the most adorable, yet devastating All-Out Attacks, a franchise staple. Everyone in the party piles on heavy damage that usually puts an end to the fight, and you sense their ferocity in character portraits that pop up just before everyone jumps in. A cloud of dust erupts as they whale on enemies, sometimes popping out of the chaos only to jump back in for another hit, and all you need to do is watch as they take care of business. If you're lucky, someone will offer a follow-up attack turn-free; and it should be taken as fact that nothing is as absurdly cute as Chie's galactic punt where she literally kicks an enemy into outer space (her kung fu DVDs really paid off). Even in battle, everyone's distinct personality isn't lost or put off to the side, which highlights Persona 4’s greatest accomplishment: its commitment to a relentless charm embodied by this cast of misfits.So effortlessly does Persona 4 merge the two pillars of a social simulation and traditional RPG; nothing feels disconnected, how days are spent matters. These two realities feed into each other, and Igor--the series-long, omniscient owner of the ethereal Velvet Room--alludes to this up front: true strength is born from the bonds you form. The power of friendship is a prevalent trope in similar stories, but to have that power manifest as a tangible benefit in combat gives us further reason to invest in relationships. I call back to how Rise came in clutch to buff the party or cast healing during tough boss fights, or when Yukiko dealt the final blow casting Agidyne using her final-form persona with the last bit of SP: moments like these solidify the feeling that my companions really do have my back in times of need.Gas up your scooter 'cause we're going on a road trip!From the mother who wishes for acceptance from her stepson to your basketball teammate who finds it impossible to live up to his adopted family's legacy, these vignettes serve to tell very human stories. We help Nanako open up to her dad about his lack of presence and break through Uncle Dojima's hard-boiled temperament to reveal an empathetic father who constantly struggles with his wife's death and his job as a detective. In the end, a heartwarming father-daughter scene results in a newfound commitment to family. Other social links struck a more personal nerve.This cast harbors the painful secrets that so many teenagers and young adults repress, and it carries the perceptions and labels society puts upon them. These are the burdens everyone bears throughout Persona 4, but burdens that no one has to bear alone.When Yosuke overlooks Inaba, the town he once hated, and realizes that what makes him happy is the people he's surrounded by rather than big city glamour, I felt that. Even though Kanji maintains the tough guy attitude, he eventually embraces his sewing skills and love for cute plushies--as he began to handcraft toys for kids around town, I sensed a big, cathartic middle finger to societal expectations for masculinity. Naoto's strive for justice, as the genius detective, makes a firm statement against workplace gender discrimination. Life as an idol sure sounds great, until Rise decides she needs to walk away from stardom for her own sanity. As endearing as Chie's and Yukiko's friendship, their dynamic evolved and reached new heights after confronting their shadow-selves, leading to more open and honest relationship.This cast harbors the painful secrets that so many teenagers and young adults repress, and it carries the perceptions and labels society puts upon them. These are the burdens everyone bears throughout Persona 4, but burdens that no one has to bear alone. The TV world and Midnight Channel work not just as metaphors for the fear of what you think everyone sees in you, but to illustrate the sense of imprisonment and helplessness that's born from it. And by navigating the maze-like dungeons and crushing enemies, the crew breaks through obstacles to finally support each other in overcoming their monumental insecurities. Many of the game's pieces sound silly on paper, but they all come together to inspire you before you know it.When spread across 100+ hours of play-time, spanning an in-game calendar year, you're given room to breathe and let events, big and small, sink in. Moments of levity work alongside the more heartfelt revelations, which creates an ingenious balancing act. To its benefit, the game never takes itself too serious. Persona 4's greatness lies in its execution and presentation; story, gameplay, visual style, and its soundtrack all complement each other to elevate beyond the sum of its parts.Persona 4 wouldn't be the same game without the masterful composition of series composer Shoji Meguro. A collection of J-pop, J-rock, and catchy instrumentals make for incredible tracks on their own, but the right song at the right time elevates the emotional impact. As soon as I hear the brass horns start up for the track that plays during social links, I can't help but smile and sense the fun being had between characters. The boss battle theme of "I'll Face Myself" instills a feeling of danger, but also the determination to defeat your worst enemies. And the emblematic battle theme "Reach Out To The Truth" is such an uplifting song that brings back all my memories of this game. Sometimes I look outside my own house and "Heartbeat, Heartbreak" pops into my head on cloudy days and "Your Affection" when the sun shines. Music isn't relegated to just the background, and it cannot be overstated how evocative its soundtrack has been throughout the years.For all Persona 4's inspirational moments and pushes for social progressivism, we can't turn a blind eye to where it gets things wrong; to truly love something is to also recognize its flaws. By no means is it perfect when it comes to the portrayal of certain social groups and character conduct. Teddie himself exhibits unscrupulous behavior that can easily be interpreted as harassment, and it's never really confronted. Despite the personally uplifting story of Kanji, his sexual ambiguity is occasionally used as a punchline, and his shadow self can be seen as too over-the-top. Certain insensitive decisions can be made in relation to Naoto's struggle with gender identity; the interpretation of her character continues to be a point of contention to this day. And as time has gone on, the less amusing the cross-dressing pageant scene has become. To its credit, a Japanese game from 2008 was willing to explore subjects often seen as taboo; it misses the mark in critical moments, but there's value in its earnest effort. Regardless, some jokes weren't necessary to be humorous and it would've been much better without them.Despite all its absurdity, Persona 4 is grounded with thoughts and feelings that so accurately resemble our own; it's a human experience, one that many games aim for, but rarely come close to capturing.The sheer number of games that spawned afterward speaks to the love we've shared for this game. A PS Vita exclusive remaster, Persona 4 Golden, launched in 2012 as the definitive version; it refines core mechanics and includes a slew of meaningful additions. Along with new songs that perfectly fit the original soundtrack, Chie's new voice actress (Erin Fitzgerald) brought a whole new life into an already-beloved character and truly captured the spirit of Persona 4's best girl. A whole extra dungeon, an important new character, additional social link events, and new tag-team attacks round out Golden as the definitive version.An anime adaptation premiered in 2011, and another based on the remastered game released in 2014. Although it's difficult to capture an RPG in a condensed format, the anime offered a new way to experience the journey. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth brought along our buddies from Persona 3 into the mix in a wonderfully executed dungeon crawler RPG on 3DS--it bursts with charm as chibi versions of these two beloved casts band together to fight evil and have a good time. I'd also say Q features the best introductory theme and video in all the franchise. If the fan service wasn't already good enough, Persona 4: Dancing All Night leveraged the beautiful soundtrack for a delightful (and admittedly ridiculous) rhythm game--hearing my favorite songs remastered and remixed is a real treat.BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle brings back our friends at Yasogami High to meet the casts of BlazBlue, Under Night, and RWBY.Persona lends itself so well to fighting games that Arc System Works took up creating a 2D fighter in Persona 4 Arena, which remained true to both the developer's fighting game philosophy and the spirit of the source material. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax built on that foundation even further. And just this year, ArcSys circled back on Persona 4 by crossing worlds with BlazBlue, Under Night In-Birth, and RWBY in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. Each of these fighters introduced new characters and storylines, and were included in the fighting game community's biggest stages. Rarely, if ever, does a single entry in a larger franchise spin off in so many different directions, but thankfully, it's helped keep our Persona 4 love alive all these years later.After becoming personally invested in their journey that started it all and pouring all that time into seeing them grow, it was genuinely hard to say goodbye as the credits rolled and the ending theme "Never More" began to play. In the decade since the original game, we were fortunate to see the charming group of knuckleheads time and time again in so many different games. It's almost silly to think that a group of fictional Japanese high school students could empower us to be better, but Persona 4 has given me, and countless others, boundless joy and also an opportunity for self-reflection. Yes, I played an incredible RPG, but what I saw was a group of best friends pulling for each other to become stronger people and make the world a better place. Despite all its absurdity, Persona 4 is grounded with thoughts and feelings that so accurately resemble our own; it's a human experience, one that many games aim for, but rarely come close to capturing. Source link

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Oh! I wanna hear your hyper critical opinions towards p3 (and p4 if youre up to it). I am genuinely curious as to what it is!

pDSOAPFADFJIOA;FJIA;JF;DA Ahhhhhhh if only I wrote down everything I said (I did this over a year ago). under the cut cause long:

It was easier cause I was ripping it as we played and I had some nitpicks in the dialogue (more so with like “WAIT THAT MAKES NO SENSE!” or “WHY ARE YOU JUMPING TO THAT CONCLUSION?!” kinda thing rather than a translation error). But I can’t really specify what it was cause it was so long ago. The only one that comes to mind is when they’re jerks to Naoto, it must be how she’s talking in Japan cause like.......they’re really, REALLY rude to her. Like, they do realize she has a right to be suspicious of them right? Like, don’t get me wrong, I loooooooove the animosity in some way (great foe-yay/rival shipping yay fodder for me to ship her with the MC ahuhuhu 8U) but dang I wish they made more tension (and made it even). That’s actually the one thing I thought the P4 anime did right (and trust me I don’t think that anime did a lot of things right, esp concerning Naoto...ironically XD), they really built the tension between her and the group very well. Anyway I want to go into more detail some other time, maybe when I replay the two games, but for now I’ll give you a general overview). 

Ok so all and all I think P3 and P4 are fine the way they are. They did a good job with them. P3 for being Hashino’s first hoorah into the series (also didn’t have enough time or money to include everything and had to cut stuff, LIKE THE FEMC! ;W;), and P4 for.....having such....a small.....budget....and....not a lot of time....and.....the company was struggling.....Like dang man I’m surprised we got P4. So like, compared to P5, I’m a lot easier on these two cause in one case Hashino was trying to find his style, and the other he was struggling with working with almost nothing (P5, however, didn’t have any of these issues).

Ok so like.....My biggest issue with P3 is mostly it’s characters and character relationships. P4.....I wish we could’ve hung out with Naoto earlier (even before she joined the team, that would’ve been interesting if the MC and her met up and attempted to draw more info out of each other about the case), and I wouldn’t have minded if they added more to the murder plot. 

P3....ngl the first act until Aigis show’s up is.....so....slow.....and boring....and no one is really likeable imo. I hated Yukari, I hated Junpei. Mitsuru seemed interesting but she wouldn’t hang out. Akihiko....didn’t really care for him, but I couldn’t  hang out with him. I couldn’t hang out with Yukari or Junpei if I wanted to (Yukari won’t hang out till around Aigis joins anyway, I remember from my last playthrough we tried, it was an NG+ and she snubbed us). Kenji is a moron (don’t hate him, feel bad for him, but god so boring), Kaz is a moron, didn’t do Yuko the first time (should’ve I did like her, hate I only got the first rank the first time I ever played through P3), I didn’t like Chihiro (she started off fine but was kinda creepy later on), can’t hang with Fuuka unless you have maxed courage cause eff me (not like I can ever remember her gd link anyways that’s how forgettable it is, I don’t even like Yukari but at least I remember her’s). Basically......the SL sucked balls. Major balls (I liked Maiko, the Star dude, the old couple, the Hermit, and the Devil......I guess the Tower too he was ok, and....that’s it....for outside teammate links aka Aigis and Mitsuru). Silly was not a happy camper when she popped P3 in after having fun with P4 (and esp after being told P3 was a GAZZILLION TIMES BETTER!!!!1!), tbh I took like a 4 month break from P3 and replayed P4 before I picked P3 back up (after Aigis showed up I def enjoyed it a heck of a lot more after that). Now, P3′s plot is really good and very solid, it’s P3′s strong point. My issue is that.....everything P3 does is for the sake of the plot. It does it well, don’t get me wrong, but everything about the characters is only happening cause “plot demands it.” They never felt super fleshed out, and it’s probably why they feel a little odd (maybe even flat-ish) in the spinoff games (even more so than the P4 team), cause the spinoff games aren’t relying on their (P3′s) plot. I also don’t buy a lot of their friendships (esp the males teammates with the Male MC), Yukari and Mitsuru’s is....ok (I don’t like how the game makes it feel like “oh you have a dead dad? me too! let’s be friends” as a thing, I know she’s just trying to relate and sympathize but.....I’ve seen that as a complaint come up by a lot of people, for someone so popular Yukari isn’t much of a people person in this regard, from how the game frames it that is). Also the fact you can’t friend girls. There’s not a lot of bonding moments in the game, there’s more than P5, but I still don’t feel as close to the team as I should even by the end. And gawd, Ryoji? Wut I’m friends with him now? How? When? I like the guy but I don’t think he likes me. You’d think he’d want to hang out with me cause.....PHAROS! ;W;

There’s more but I don’t want to leave you hanging, but anyway it’s just....I have a lot of issues with how the characters are handled. They’re good characters, I wish there just....more to them. But the thing is.....THIS IS AN EASY FIX! You’ve probably heard me say about the P5 manga/anime “a change in medium can do wonders” or something like that. That’s cause I have P3 to look at. The manga and movies do wonders for P3 my problems with P3. There’s more bonding, character relationships are improved yadda yadda. Yes there are issues within the manga and movies themselves...... but they do a lot of good things too. One of the things the movies did was actually......influenced by it’s P3P remake (aka establish a relationship with Ryoji, yay!). Oh man, P3P/the FeMC fixed sooooooooooooo many problems (it also added some even more awesome duality to a game that already had a lot of duality going on with it), I can talk to Yukari and Junpei from the get go (and they treat me different, and more pleasantly than when I played as the dude), I can actually hang out with the guys (and I DON’T automatically have to date them, in fact I have to work to date them, every single one), the stats for character requirements are laid out more fairly like in P4 so by the time someone is available I can probably talk to them (without having to kill myself trying to manage my social stats).But man, the first act just flows so much better when you’re able to bond with your teammates (also Rio and Saori are great SLs!). Even tho they don’t change the female SLs pretty much at all (making it veeeery gay XD), it does feel like it is at least a friendship by the end (even tho I’m literally dating everyone and you can’t tell me otherwise! 8U). I also love her personality comes across more clearing (and varied) than the males, there’s a more clear progression of her psyche than her male counterpart (it’s still there, just not as obvious, and I love how they’re inverted to each other~! :D). It’s just, with P3, the really minor changes go a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way. The only thing I would change with P3 is the minor stuff. Just add more scenes (that don’t take up time) to the game, on both sides. Gameplay wise add more SLs, alternative SLs even. Heck, if they remade the game, I think being able to go to new places would be cool (and it’d be where you’d meet your new SLs) cause man you’re in a city, you deserve to do more stuff! It’s just the little things man, the little things can make a big impact! It says something that probably my fav Persona fanfic and fav Strain42 Persona parody comicis the P3(P) ones, even tho P4 is my fav game. You change a few things around, even the medium, and it makes a difference. 

Ok onto P4. Now P4 is the opposite of P3, with P4 it’s strong point is it’s characters. The characters drive P4. P4 is character based, P3 is plot based. P4 the plot takes a back seat. This is fine, it works in P4′s favor, like how the plot worked in P3′s favor. P4′s plot is ok, it does a great job with supporting the characters. Sadly I understand if you wanted more murder mystery (or just mystery) in a murder mystery game. And in P4′s defense, again, it had a barebones budget and not a lot of time and the company was doing pretty bad and P4 still came out pretty great (was the most popular before P5 came out, lord knows if it may even come out on top again if it gets an updated graphics/gameplay remake). And it’s also really hard to keep a murder mystery going for about 70-100ish hours (and only finally solving it in the last 1/5 of the game). Also P4, like P3 (forgot to mention that above), sticks to it’s theme really well. Even making it solving it/obtaining the good ending routes semi-difficult. Sure you can deduce Adachi, but tbh it’s also difficult. They do a pretty decent job building the guy up as a friend (even more so in P4G due to the SL). Izanami is also well hidden. The game makes you work and it rewards you.

Now if I were to change stuff.....it’d range from minor to major depending on what we’re talking about. Minor would be adding more scenes of Naoto bonding (she needs it cause the late game doesn’t do her justice), and like I mentioned above, I think have a deduction off would be interesting (Naoto’s SL was one of my favs cause of how we solved a gd mystery, god I’m so mad that never made it into the anime, even as an ova, it could’ve been a great team-building filler one too). Another thing I’d add would maybe be.....something similar to quests, but instead you have to solve a mystery (which means talking to people, and investigating areas), it can range from finding a cat in a tree or finding a bully or whatever. Just something minor that can give the mystery lovers something fun to do. I’d also have Izanami/gas station attendant be an SL (she originally was the Empress before giving that to Margret). Oh I’d also like to take Margret out on “dates” (c’mon gimme dem fun shenanigans).  And.....now this can be minor or major (depending on what they do, but it’s probably more major), add another red herring. I don’t care how.....but....it would help draw attention away from Adachi. Maybe they’re added from some of the mini mysteries you solved, maybe they squeeze an extra dungeon into the game some how-some way (doubt it for the later, that’d be a major change), but another red herring would be good. 

For a Major change it’d be restructuring the plot a looooooot, adding more dungeons for more red herrings. I would actually make Dojima a red herring. He originally was suppose to be the killer (but they thought that was too dark, understandable), with Adachi as the red herring instead. Other than that I’m not exactly sure how they’d overhaul that. I mean, if they made a P4 game based off of P3P’s route (aka different route/game, different killer), I’d like to see their prototype stuff play out. Short-haired ice queen Yukiko, delinquent/bully Rise, Pretty boy Naoto (actual boy this time, also make him dateable.....what? I like Naoto 8U), 1st year MC, Female Teddie, Adult(?) Kanji, Dojima as the killer, Adachi as the red herring (Chie and Yosuke are actually pretty much the same). I’d really like to see that. 

But tbh, I don’t really know where to start in giving P4 a major overhaul (except to go with the prototype set up), possibly cause it’d mean introducing/creating new characters. But P5? I do, oh man I know where I would start (P5 is where I’d make my major changes left and right, no minor changes here...except maybe dungeon 1), I’d make soooooo many changes to P5. But that’s for another time (not now, it’d take too long). 8U