Persona 4/YMMV

""Helllllllllllllllo. PERSONA PERSONA PERSONA SOCIAL LINKS SOCIAL LINKS SOCIAL LINKS""
 * Accidental Innuendo: Chie: "Alright guys, pile on! Are you ready?"
 * And if refused: "We're not gonna do it? Aww..."
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: In the anime, Yu has a habit of making rather... odd... comments with a straight face, which has fans debating whether he's a Cloudcuckoolander or a Deadpan Snarker with a strange sense of humor. Either way, he's a bit eccentric.
 * And the Fandom Rejoiced: An anime adaptation that so far looks to have none of Persona Trinity Soul's divisive flaws will cause that kind of reaction. Especially since the entire voice cast has been confirmed to be coming back, and the music team is working on the music as well. Has been confirmed for a US Release by Sentai Filmworks
 * The announcement that the English dub of the animation will have the cast of the game returning.
 * Though there was the subsequent revelation that nobody told them they would be coming back...
 * A P4 fighting game. Made by Arc System Works!
 * Persona 4. For the Vita. In HD. With new characters and costumes. The fandom exploded with rejoicing.
 * And one of the costume choices for the boys? The cross-dressing pageant outfits.
 * The game is confirmed for US release (Though the Vita isn't region locked anyway) in October.
 * Anvilicious: The game hits pretty early and pretty hard with the message that it's better to face your true self than to live in denial, from the murder mystery premise to the way the characters gain their personas. Of course, that's not exactly a bad message. Just a tad overbearing.
 * Applicability: Naoto is seen by many Western fans as Transsexualism, which overlaps with, but wasn't exactly the intent of the creators.
 * Base Breaker: Yosuke. He's either the most hilarious character in the game or he crosses the Dude, Not Funny line over his treatment of Kanji and the girls.
 * Marie, the new character set to debut in the Updated Rerelease of Persona 4, has already gotten cries of Mary Sue due to her outfit, and is either loved or hated for possibly being a new party member or resident of the velvet room. There's also Die for Our Ship from some Shippers that fear she will be "the next Aigis" and become a far more Implied Love Interest than the likes of Yukiko or Rise.
 * Broken Base: Kanji's treatment in Episodes 7 and 8 of the anime, specifically Yosuuke and Narukami's reactions to Shadow Kanji as well as the the tent scene. Was it funny or really homophobic?
 * Breather Boss: Shadow Naoto is relatively simple in comparison to the bosses that come before her (Shadow Teddie and Shadow Mitsuo), being vulnerable to Silence and only getting one turn per round as opposed to Mitsuo's two.
 * Cast Full Of Ambiguously Gay and/or Bi the Way: Everyone on the Investigation team (save for Rise) is loaded with Ho Yay or Les Yay. With Kanji, it is a central part of his character.
 * Complete Monster: Subverted with . While he did kill Morooka, he ultimately never becomes any more dangerous than the next kid. His Shadow, on the other hand.....
 * Continuity Snarl: Not in the game, but in the anime. Kanji defeats his own shadow without having a persona, while Persona3 established you couldn't even damage a Shadow without a the power of a persona.
 * Well, in the game he does manage to knock his Shadow right on his ass with a punch to the face. Maybe Kanji's just that badass.
 * Crack Pairing: Japanese fandom has a large following for Adachi/aged-up Nanako, however little sense it makes...
 * Rise and Kanji have also turned into a surprisingly popular one as well. Interesting in the fact that, story-wise, the two have crushes on different characters, the Protagonist and Naoto respectively. To be fair, they do seem to get along quite well in the game (the game notes it may be because they're both first-years while the others in the team are second years until Naoto joins) and people may see them as an alternate Yosuke and Chie pairing without the UST.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome:
 * The Genesis, which is the boss theme for the final boss in the True Ending. The music is very oppressive until the climactic fanfare of Reach Out To The Truth comes in, representing everything you've fought for so far.
 * Other candidates are "I'll Face Myself"-Boss Theme and "The Almighty".
 * Other good mentions are "Fog" and "Never More".
 * Long Way and Secret Base
 * Pretty much the entire Never More: Reincarnation soundtrack remix album. "I'll Face Myself" and "Reach Out to the Truth" are two of the standouts.
 * Gets more awesome when used in the anime's version of the Shadow Mitsuo fight.
 * The opening video song.
 * The Theme Song that the anime started using as of episode 13.
 * This music during the Shut Up Hannibal scene in episode 25.
 * The music used in episode 25 when
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Most of the final S-Link cutscenes.
 * Demonic Spiders: Any Shadow with the word "Basalt" in its name. They resist (and later outright nullify) physical attacks, have unpredictable weaknesses, and while they don't have many skills, their regular attack hits like a ton of rocks. Oh, and there's one type of them that resists Almighty. You will, more often than not, drain half your collective SP getting everyone's health back up after fighting a group of Basalts.
 * Draco in Leather Pants: Oddly subverted. Even though  was designed to be one of these, his sizable fanbase doesn't romanticize him, just find him a fun character. Not that plenty of fans don't play it completely straight, though. There is actually fanfiction where he reforms, takes the main character's place in his absence, and ends up with Nanako. Some even blame the main characters for not helping him face his inner issues!
 * Ear Worm: Notably the main theme song "Pursuing My True Self, "Your Affection," and "Jika Net Tanaka." The Junes and Tanaka's Amazing Commodities theme are also contenders.
 * Ensemble Darkhorse:
 * Naoto. Because
 * Naoto was popular enough to receive a spin-off game in Japan, something only achieved before by Aigis from the previous game.
 * Adachi has been reaching this position in unthinkable levels.
 * Kanji Tatsumi, because he's going to renovate your ass!
 * Aika Nakamura, a side character introduced in the anime, saw a sudden spike in popularity after a scene in episode 6 where she stoically delivers Chinese takeout to Chie...in the middle of a chase sequence.
 * Epileptic Trees:
 * This particular game is notable for spawning even more than games of its franchise usually do, thanks in no small part to leaving certain side-mysteries from the main plot tantalizingly half-answered or unanswered at all (in order to leave plot hooks for the inevitable sequel, in all likelihood).,   and   are especially popular targets for tree-planting.
 * And who could possibly forget the strange eye symbol that can appear on a party member's status screen? The one that still hasn't been explained by anyone, least of all Atlus themselves?
 * Even Better Sequel: The gameplay is MILES better than its predecessor. Most notably not having to wrassle with uncooperative ally AI in battle.
 * Fanon: Being a Heroic Mime, the protagonist's personality is ultimately determined by the player, but some personality traits have become reoccuringly in fanfiction include;
 * Badass Bookworm
 * Deadpan Snarker: His dialogue options tend to head towards Only Sane Man most of the time, but sometimes head towards this.
 * Nice Guy
 * Only Sane Man: Literal non-example, he's the only member of the party whose persona does not stem from having resolved his own mental issues (he hasn't got any). If you pay attention, most of his dialogue choices tend to edge towards this as well.
 * Suppressed Mammaries: There are exactly two moments when Naoto's bust is brought into question; one vague hospital scene where she's embarrassed to have her measurements read, and again during the Hot Springs Episode. Fanon decided to take this ball and run with it straight outta the stadium, and the grand bulk of her fanart depicts her with downright tremendous assets, easily surpassing D-cups. Meanwhile in Canon, the hot springs character cut-out and the anime of the game show only a slight elevation, nothing more than a modest B-cup.
 * The "Naoto is Transsexual" has also become a popular topic of debate and interpretation. Note that, unlike with Kanji, this aspect was actually unintentional. The new Naoto spinoff has jossed this bit as well.
 * Fan Dumb: Apparently when the original game debuted, a good portion of the fanbase believed that Naoto was transsexual and, for some reason or another, did not realize that she is just a Wholesome Crossdresser. Cue the promotional artwork for Naoto's spinoff Light Novel series featuring her with noticeable breasts and longer hair. People went ballistic over this reveal, decrying Naoto's character Ruined FOREVER and calling Atlus out for insulting the LGBT community. This, despite the game making it very obvious that Naoto is female and the only reasons she dresses like a man is because she wants to appear more mature and to eventually become a detective, a profession that is heavily dominated by men.
 * Fan Nickname: Brosuke Awesomura
 * Fan-Preferred Couple:
 * Despite there not being any real "official" couples (what with being able to date everyone),  and the Protagonist get paired up a lot (to the point that said spoiler is reaching It Was His Sled territory). Yukiko and Rise are also very popular targets for Protagonist-shipping, more or less in a dead heat behind   for second place.
 * More notable, perhaps, is Chie and the fact that she is rarely paired with the protagonist - if she's ever paired, it's usually with Yukiko, or sometimes Yosuke. Also,
 * For some reason, the Japanese fanbase also seems quite fond of pairing Naoto and Rise together.
 * The real reason for this is actually because of the voice actor connection. Rise is voiced by Rie Kugimiya and Naoto is voiced by Romi Paku: they've had many roles where they worked together, notably Ed (Romi Paku) and Al (Rie Kugimiya) Elric from FMA.
 * Romi Paku once stated in a behind the scenes interview for FMA that she wanted Rie Kugimiya to come and cook for her in nothing but an apron. There tends to be a fair bit of teasing subtext between them during interviews together.
 * There is numerous fanart for protagonist and, guess who, grown-up Nanako. It doesn't help that, if you max her and Dojima's S-Links, you can have her get a Childhood Marriage Promise from him.
 * And then there's the protagonist and Yosuke. Easily one of the most popular ships in the fandom (both for western and eastern fans), which is largely because of the considerable Ho Yay vibes between them.
 * Flanderization: Condensing the game down to a 26 episode series is bound to make this happen, though Yosuke and Chie get it especially bad. Chie kicks Yosuke over the smallest of annoyances (ie- he says her handwriting is sloppy) and Yosuke has his Jerkass tendencies exaggerated quite a bit.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: On certain days, Mitsuo can be found standing across the street from Tatsumi Textiles. Talk to him, and he'll suspect Morooka of being the murderer. If you know what happens later in the game, this is either amusing or disturbing.
 * Game Breaker:
 * The infamous "autoleveling" trick - if you equip a Persona that nulls physical attacks and fight a group of Great Kings, they'll continuously summon Mooks. The trick? Attack a Mook once, turn on Rush mode and leave the game running overnight, and wake up to a godlike EXP reward.
 * Yoshitsune with Hassou Tobi and Victory Cry (let alone any buffs like Power Charge and Tarukaja) in a New Game+.
 * Trumpeter has decent stats and powers, but can be fused with immunity or better to all six elements and physical attacks. That means only Poison and Almighty can damage the MC.
 * Germans Love David Hasselhoff: This holds true in relation to Persona 3. Persona 3 was a little better received in Japan and is generally considered the better of the two games, and got far more spinoff merch due to the incredible demand; Persona 4, meanwhile, still got a decent reception but not a great one and not much secondary merch. The opposite holds true in America and Europe, though; while Persona 3 did basically bring real mainstream attention onto the franchise, Persona 4 reviewed much higher and is generally considered by everyone to be a whisper away from total perfection and quickly became the best-selling SMT title in the West ever (which actually had the effect of making Persona 4 the best-selling SMT game ever due to worldwide sales).
 * The game is also rather popular amongst the gay community.
 * It's Popular, Now It Sucks: Now that Atlus has built up a franchise around Persona 4, this type of Hatedom has come out the woodworks.
 * Goddamned Boss: Contrarian King, the Bonus Boss in . He has insanely high Attack power for his level and his Rampage attack can kill the entire party in one hit if you go back and attempt to defeat him immediately after clearing the dungeon the first time, even if defensive buffs are in play. However, he becomes rather easy if you grind through another dungeon or two and then return, or have a Persona with Null Physical on a New Game+.
 * Hell Is That Noise: Those squelchy noises Shadow Rise makes when she's moving.
 * Hollywood Homely: Ms. Kashiwagi is widely derided among the students as ugly, when she looks like this, though more likely they're talking about her desperate attempts to "regain her youth".
 * Holy Shit Quotient: First time the player fights a.
 * Internet Backdraft: Kanji's ambiguous sexuality. Especially since any outcome would determine whether a Kanji/Naoto pairing is possible or not.
 * The anime rendition of the fight against Shadow Kanji (episode 7). Were Yousuke and the MC homophobic and hateful assholes, or they just didn't know how to handle such a situation? Was the scene supposed to be "OMG GAYS ARE FUNNY EW", or more like "DUDES DON'T BE STUPID, STOP BEING IDIOTS"? And then we get on Episode 8...
 * The main character being renamed Yu Narukami in the anime (where he was known to some fans by his manga name of Souji Seta) is starting to show shades of this as well.
 * Persona 3 vs Persona 4. Or better yet, which of the two protagonist is better? For some people it get hard to enjoy Persona 4 when others bring up Persona 3, especially if they hated 3.
 * The new opening for the PS Vita Port. Apparently just saying you don't like it will have others calling you a Non-Fan.
 * It Was His Sled: Naoto's gender. It was actually suppose to be a surprise, but between all the fanart pairing herself with the Protagonist and American VA's poor job of disguising her gender it couldn't be helped. However, it is much easier in Japan to have a female voice to sound like a male's. Shinji Ikari is very convincingly voiced by a female in the Japanese dub, for instance. In English, though, it's far less common, unless the character is a very young child.
 * Jerkass: Chie in the anime due to Flanderization. They basically took away her good qualities and made her into a blackmailing short tempered Jerkass who abuses Yosuke over every little thing, yet happily accepts Yu's Covert Pervert moments.
 * Jerkass Woobie: Sometimes Yosuke's status as Butt Monkey goes too far, especially when it comes to Saki...but then he also does things like mock Kanji's sexuality and sign the girls up for a Beauty Pagaent against their will. Naturally, this makes him something of a Base Breaker.
 * Even Mitsuo Kubo could be seen as this by some. Though on the surface he seems to be an irredeemable, sociopathic, one ought to stop for a moment and consider the kind of isolation he must have gone through to make him that desperate for attention that he would  Though his actions aren't justified, those who can see past their hatred might still wish things could have turned out better for him... or at least, that he had thought twice.
 * Launcher of a Thousand Ships: The protagonist, who is also a Memetic Sex God. No, really. Probably doesn't hurt that he can canonically end the game with six girlfriends and inspire a Precocious Crush in his cousin as well as a 27 year old nurse.
 * Kanji's ambiguous sexuality and chemistry with EVERYONE on the team has resulted in fans shipping him with E_V_E_R_Y_B_O_D_Y. Naoto's still the most popular ship for him, though, and probably the most canon.
 * Naoto is also one of these.
 * Magnificent Bitch:
 * Memetic Badass: Kanji
 * Memetic Molester: Igor has a very creepy expression that looks like he's going to molest you. Doesn't help that he summons you from your dreams.
 * Memetic Molester: Igor has a very creepy expression that looks like he's going to molest you. Doesn't help that he summons you from your dreams.


 * also qualifies., indeed.
 * Memetic Mutation:
 * Kou looooooooves them balls.
 * Straw Misogynist opinion that women are "Bitches And Whores".
 * ALL YO YENS, YIP YIP YAP
 * YOU SAYIN' I LIKE DUDES?!
 * Memetic Sex God: The male protagonist was already pretty popular as this in the gandom, but The Anime of the Game takes his sex appeal Up to Eleven and the fans (females and males) have reacted accordingly. According to 4chan and tumblr, Brotag will get EVERYONE laid.
 * Misaimed Fandom: Most fans focus so much on Kanji's sexuality issues that they lose sight of the fact that, while that's an important factor, his real and biggest issues are with acceptance. In fact, after his level his ambiguous sexuality is only mentioned as a Running Gag, while his Social Link focuses more on being true to himself. True, whether he is straight or gay (or bisexual) is a part of his problems, but it's not the focus.
 * Moe: Rise, Nanako, and Ayane.
 * Depending your preferences, many of the other girls can qualify as moe, especially during their respective social links and even more so during their christmas date events. It doesn't even have to be a girl: Yosuke's been referred to as moe by several people, and for good reason, too.
 * Most Annoying Sound: The squeaking Teddie does when he walks. It's enough that some players refuse to use him on dungeon crawls for specifically that reason. And his voice.
 * The high pitched 'ding!' sound when you miss hitting an enemy.
 * The Draining and Reflect/Countering noises.
 * That 8-bit...noise that makes in Hero form before attacking. And you will hear it a lot in that battle.
 * Most Wonderful Sound: "Welcome home, Big Bro!"
 * Nausea Fuel: The reaction you'll get besides horror at Berserk Shadow Rise.
 * Never Live It Down: The guys crossdressing. Take a wild guess how much fanart there is of it?
 * In universe example with Yukiko; Teddie seems intent on never letting her forget about her Shadow self looking to 'score with a hot stud'.
 * And then we have the One-Scene Wonder with Adachi eating cabbages because he's on a budget. Fans can't stop making fun of this, exaggerating by making them an actual pairing.
 * Nightmare Fuel: It's a SMT/Persona game, natch. There's all kinds of mind-shaking imagery in the game, but a few bits stand out.
 * Shadow Chie, of all people, before transforming. That smile, sweet Christ, that smile. She could give  lessons.
 * The calls you get if you fail to rescue someone will probably haunt your dreams.
 * will "save" you!
 * Completely creepy.
 * Nightmare Retardant:
 * Don't worry, the anime's fixed that. Sweet dreams!
 * Paranoia Fuel:
 * So you're saying a secret hell populated by demons that actively try to carry out my gruesome death hides behind that television screen?
 * As if walking through heavy fog wasn't creepy enough, this game comes along to drive home the idea that monsters are lurking in it.
 * Player Punch:
 * For worse,
 * Scrappy Level: Hello, Void Quest. It seems straightforward enough at first, but wait until it starts randomly changing your direction at every intersection. Plus, unlike the other dungeons, you have to find an item halfway through to proceed to the boss.
 * Shocking Swerve: The revelation of  as the true murderer comes as a big shock to some players.
 * Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: Don't lie to yourself.
 * That One Boss:
 * It wouldn't be an Atlus game without them. Notably Shadow  and Shadow.
 * Shadow  is pretty hard too.
 * Also, Shadow, although he becomes extremely easy if you have a Null Bufu ability.
 * Or actually do what  says and guard and have Yukiko heal.
 * That One Attack: Contrarion King's Rampage, which for some reason is many times stronger than the typical Rampage. Hope you have Tarunda around!
 * Whenever Shadow  throws a bomb.
 * That One S-Link: Margret's S-Link requires you to fuse Personas with specific abilities. Prepare to sink a LOT of spending money into the Compendium, looking up the correct Arcana combinations, praying that the resulting Persona inherits the right moves, etc.
 * Ai is the easiest Social Link character to piss off. One wrong move, and you can have a Reversed or even Broken S-Link...
 * Toy Ship: Errand Boy and Spacey Girl.
 * Uncanny Valley:
 * Yukiko's ascended persona, Amaterasu, is pretty cool-looking, except for the fact that it has no face.
 * Rise's radar-face persona, Himiko. It looks like somebody took her face off and installed wires.
 * Mitsuo Kubo's horrible dead eyes qualify as well.
 * Namatame's usual expression, staring like that can be a little creepy.
 * Unfortunate Implications:
 * In the Animation, Yosuke asks why Naoto didn't catch the killer (same as he does in the game). When Naoto responds, mentioning being scared (reasonable enough, given the situation) and apologizes, Rise and Chie respond with the following statements respectively.  Apparently the reason that it was okay for Naoto to be scared is   rather than the fact that most people would be scared out of their minds in the same situation. It's lessened in the English translation of the game by also bringing age into the equation, but the sentiment's still there.
 * Viewer Gender Confusion: The Fox is actually.
 * What an Idiot!: So your nephew, who you've suspected for a while of involving himself in your murder case, ? Why, obviously the right thing to do is . Awesome parenting skills, Dojima! Of course, if you follow his and Nanako's social links, you'll learn that despite his good heart, well, parenting really is not one of Dojima's strong points.
 * The Woobie:
 * While most of Yosuke's "moments" are funny, there are a few moments where the laughter just has to stop (pretty much anything involving Saki after the second murder,
 * Namatame's pretty damned pitiful as well. nothing seems to go right for him.
 * 2011 was a really bad year for Naoto.
 * Come to think of it, a lot of the Social Links have endured a lot of pain. From Ai,, to Hisano the self-loathing widow, they should be really glad that the MC is a Warrior Therapist.
 * Kanji is another one; he acts like he does because he wants to be accepted and because people made fun of his hobby (later, job).
 * Dojima is yet another one. He's gone through more in the past 6 years than most could handle in their lifetime.  And through it all, he remains completely strong and stone-faced.
 * And of course, Nanako whose sadness and loneliness whenever she's left to take care of herself by her dad is utterly heartbreaking. Her happiest moments came from a commercial jingle before you came to live at her house. It's no wonder that she latches onto you as a brother instantly. Her Woobie powers are so great that a group of teenagers are repeatedly willing to hang out with a 6 year old kid just to cheer her up.
 * Woolseyism:
 * Teddie's verbal tic was changed from adding the word "-kuma" to words in his sentences to making bad puns, many involving the word "bear" in some way. This arguably counts for his name, too, since the connotations of a cutesy bear calling itself "Kuma" ("Bear" in Japanese) don't translate well into English.
 * Also, changing "Mayonaka TV" to "The Midnight Channel".
 * "Everyday Younglife Junes" to "Every day's great at your Junes!"
 * You get to engage in some Woolseyfication of your own if you take the part-time job as a translator. You'll often be asked about how you want to translate something culture-specific, like idioms or children's speech patterns, and basically have two options - do it literally, or creatively improvise. You have a chance to get paid MUCH better if you improvise (assuming you don't screw it up).
 * The item that instantly transports you out of a dungeon was originally called "Kaereiru", from the Japanese "kaeru", meaning "return." Stateside, it's called "Goho-M." This also counts as a Stealth Pun that most people don't get until they say "Goho-M" out loud. Go on. Try it.
 * The Take That to Twilight was most likely a creation of the translator.
 * The final scene for the Fortune social link originally about the choice of pronoun, is changed to the pitch of voice.
 * The mention of Naoto's family being like Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th is the result of the translators lacking any other option to translate Chie's reference to a Japanese book series about a family of Legacy Character detectives. Does not stop the line from fueling insane levels of Epileptic Trees.
 * Shadow Kanji in the Japanese version speaks with more stereotypical gay "quirks". In the American version; he sounds more Camp Gay which is the North American stereotype for homosexuality.
 * The mention of Naoto's family being like Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th is the result of the translators lacking any other option to translate Chie's reference to a Japanese book series about a family of Legacy Character detectives. Does not stop the line from fueling insane levels of Epileptic Trees.
 * Shadow Kanji in the Japanese version speaks with more stereotypical gay "quirks". In the American version; he sounds more Camp Gay which is the North American stereotype for homosexuality.