Persona 4/Trivia

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• Actor Allusion:
  • Adachi (Johnny Yong Bosch) quoting the catchphrase of Alpha 5.
  • There's also an in-game allusion. Bosch voices both Adachi and The Protagonist, and is revealed towards the end to have a persona himself... The same one that the Protagonist begins with, Izanagi. His choice for the role becomes much more obvious thereafter.
• Adored by the Network: Even moreso than Persona 3, it's quite obvious that Atlus adores Persona 4, with the two games receiving a plethora of spinoff media.
• Defictionalization: There is a fanmade recipe for the Aiya Rainy Day Special Mega Beef Bowl. Comes with a vegetarian option.
• Development Gag: When mentioning that the police are looking for witnesses to the serial murders, Yosuke jokes about the killer wearing 'bright yellow clothes' at the crime scene. One of the original designs for the killer, as shown in concept artwork, had them wearing a bright yellow raincoat.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Souji Seta for the protagonist, taken from the Manga Adaptation, as well as Brotag (frequently used on a... certain unscrupulous imageboard) due to his many friendships, especially his close one with Yosuke, and Banchou ("gang leader") in Japan, because of his persona Izanagi's uncanny resemblance to a stereotypical Banchou due to its Badass Longcoat (see here). The Giant Bomb community and other related websites refer to him as Charlie Tunoku, due to the Persona 4 Endurance Run.
  • Captain Pistol, referring to Naoto.
  • Mr. Pringles, referring to the King sub-type of shadow.
  • Yosuke is also affectionately nicknamed as Brosuke, due to his Bros Before Hoes Level 10 S. Link event. His name seems to lend itself especially well to this: Moesuke (for being Adorkable) and Failsuke (for being a Butt Monkey). He also has a new nickname thanks to so many of his Ho Yay scenes: Yosgay. Also doesn't help that he has the Yaoi submissive term in his name.
  • Adachi: "Cabbage Adachi", mainly due to his dialogue if you talk to him at Junes at certain points. He speaks passionately about having a cabbage-centric dinner because he can't afford much else.
  • People refer to Yukiko as Amagidyne or 'Drunkiko', due to the Kings Game scene.
  • Ryotaro Dojima: Brojima. Mostly because you are the most likely to be the murderer, but are above suspicion. And Ace Detective, because of a certain webcomic.
  • The Inaba Scoobies for the Investigation Team, if the WMG and IJBM pages for this game are anything to go by.
  • T. Bearson: Teddie, circa his appearance in The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena, which is what you get when you 'bear'-ize M. Bison's name.
• Life Imitates Art: This Report about a man who was found dead, with no signs of trauma, Hanging Upside down from a Telephone Pole.
  • Shouldn't that be death imitates art?
• Memetic Molester: Igor. Come on. Look at that creepy expression in his dialogue and try not to think that he looks like he's going to molest you.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • All-out attacks. Enough parodies of it exist that Danbooru has a tag for it that spans 2 pages.
  • Bitches and whores. (spoilers)
  • Contrarian King AKA Pringles King/Great King AKA Mr. Pringle.
  • "I'm Jack Frost, HO!"
  • "RISE END, CONFIRMED" "YOUSUKE END, CONFIRMED!"
  • Brotag will get EVERYONE laid.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The Persona Alice is created by fusing Belial and Nebiros. This is a reference to the original Shin Megami Tensei, in which the demons Belial and Nebiros summoned Alice for their own designs. Similarly, Ardha is fused via Shiva and Parvati, a reference to Digital Devil Saga which featured Serph and Sera merging into Seraph and gaining Ardha as the single being's Atma form. This itself being a mythological reference to Shiva and Parvati fusing into the god Ardhanarishvara. Ardha the Persona also mirrors Ardha the Atma Avatar by not having any elemental affinities or weaknesses.
  • Yukiko seems to resemble the old, SNES-SMT-era (and later Strange Journey) design of Amaterasu (who serves as her ultimate Persona).
  • There are references, both subtle and not-so-subtle, to several SMT games, both in and out of continuity. These range from the pink alligator of Persona 3's Sun Link and Rise talking about a mysterious power failure two years ago during her show at a Port Island night club (same game, Hermit Boss Battle), to the Fox's Macca leaves or the explicit mention of Detective Kuzunoha. Also, unrelated to the series itself, the very red Heavy Armor Agni model is described as moving three times faster than any other suit.
    • Agni is Heat's Demon Form in Digital Devil Saga.
    • Two students talking about how turning into a demon which happens if you fail to complete the current dungeon in time might be cool can be taken as a Nocturne or Digital Devil Saga reference.
  • The protagonist has a Persona 3 calendar on the wall in his room.
  • The appearance of Magatsu Izanagi looks like the berserk starving demons of Digital Devil Saga.
    • It also seems to be a reference to the enemy used "Reverse" Personas featured in Persona 2.
  • Right before Naoto's dungeon the MC can reply in on conversation with "I do not comprehend".
  • Minato's Persona from Persona 3 was Orpheus, Seta's Persona in Persona 4 is Izanagi. These two share a similar story: they both went to the underworld to rescue their lover from the clutches of death, but had to leave them behind. Orpheus screwed up and lost his lover, but Izanagi actually left Izanami in the underworld after he realized she was all rotted from spending too much time in the Death World. "Learning when to let go" is a big part of "Facing the Truth", which is Persona 4 's big theme.
  • In the instruction manual of the American version, the protagonist is named Raidou Kuzunoha.
  • Another nod to Digital Devil Saga, one of the drinks you can get from a vending machine is Cielo Mist.
• Playing Against Type: Johnny Yong Bosch, used to playing the role of The Hero (which he does in this game, seeing as how he's pulling double duty), playing the lovably incompetent detective, Tohru Adachi. Later, it turns out he's playing even further against type when it's revealed that Adachi is in fact the killer, complete with an evil laugh when summoning his persona.
• Relationship Voice Actor: Yuri Lowenthal, the idealist, is Yosuke while Johnny Yong Bosch, the cyinicist, is Adatchi. (and the Protagonist)
• Rule 34: Obviously, but an infamous adult video company (TMA) is working on a live-action porno of it!
• Shout-Out:
  • The entire Void Quest dungeon is a shout out to Dragon Quest and retro JRPGS in general. The boss uses the very first Megami Tensei battle screen for several attacks, and some of the text that pops up as you progress through the dungeon is directly taken from the first Shin Megami Tensei game.
    • One specific shout out occurs when you beat the bonus boss of said dungoen, a pile of bones in the boss lair, when examined "No response. It must be a tile, not an object" alluding to the recurring Dragon Quest line "No response. Looks like a corpse."
    • If you return to the Void Quest dungeon later when you are meant to rescue Nanako, Yosuke will make a comment about their princess being in another castle.
  • Let's not forget the Persona Hell Biker. Its Japanese name is Hell's Angel, which makes it a double Shout-Out.
  • Also in the US version, one of Chie's winning quotes is taken from Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon: "Don't think. Feel." Given her love of martial arts films, this is an example in universe. Not to mention that her Persona, Tomoe, is wearing a very familiar yellow jumpsuit. Furthermore, if you watch her bouncing around idle during battle, she'll sometimes stop to do his signature nose-thumb flick.
  • One of Naoto's weapons is called Algernon. Its description states it was created as part of an "experiment to find happiness", no less.
  • One of the game's healing items is Antibiotic Gel.
  • There was no way that someone at Atlus wasn't thinking God Hand with Chie's Galactic Punt follow on technique and her God's Hand move.
  • Your friends from the sports teams, Daisuke and Kou, belong to the soccer team and the basketball team, respectively. Both in looks and attitude, they are shout outs to popular sports anime: Daisuke resembles Kyosuke Kano of Hungry Heart: Wild Striker and Kou resembles Kaede Rukawa of Slam Dunk.
    • While maybe unintentional, the duo's names are similar to Ken Ichijouji and Daisuke Motomiya from Digimon Adventure 02, who also two soccer-playing friends. Ken and Kou even slightly resemble each other.
  • At one point, Yosuke comments on something giving him the jibblies.
  • Even if Yosuke saying 'it's like he's holding a gun to our heads' wasn't an intentional reference to Persona 3, it could be seen as one. Especially considering it happened at about the same point in the story as, in Persona 3, Junpei said 'nobody believes rumors anyway'.
  • Even if it wasn't intentional, Silent Hill tends to come to mind when it starts snowing after the fog begins to persist.
  • Speaking of Shout Outs, in one of the Death Arcana S. Links, she talks about how her husband was diagnosed with a disease that made him forget who she was, and each day she had to remind him, and the day ended with him remembering her-only to forget her the next day. Her husband's disease led to her wanting to kill him, but couldn't, out of her love.
    • The voice actor of Hisano Kuroda, the old woman from the Death Arcana, is voiced by Mary Elizabeth Mc Glynn of Silent Hill fame.
    • ...not to mention another story that has to do with a mysterious fog that may or may not have monsters lurking in it. A few of the students even bring up how similar the situation is to a book that they read.
  • The MC's outfit and sword during the "Miss" Inaba contest is a shout out to Saya from Blood: The Last Vampire, right down to the braids.
    • In that same contest Kanji dresses up as Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch.
  • When preparing for the omlette cooking, Yosuke begs the MC "Help us, (name)! You're our only hope!"
  • Witch Detective, a hard to obtain book, is an obvious reference to Twilight.
  • The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena has recently confirmed Teddie as a playable character...wearing M. Bison's signature hat and cape. Thus the fan nickname.
  • Also in the fighting game, Actor Allusion included, one of Kanji's grab super had Take-Mikazuchi corner the opponent in a Face Palm of Doom, as if executing the famous SHINING FINGER
  • In episode 5 of the anime, listen closely to Yu's ringtone when Ai calls him - it's the game over music from Catherine.
• Igor's assistant is Margaret in the Velvet Room.
• Chie compared Naoto to the Kuzonoha family. In the Japanese version, she was actually comparing Naoto to the Kindaichi family, a well known detective series that has another well known spinoff.
• Talking to Himself:
  • All the shadows are, naturally, voiced by the voice actors of the people they belong to, so the Hannibal Lectures end up becoming a version of this trope.
  • Also, the protagonist and Adachi share a voice actor. Unlike the shared actors for the protagonist, Pharos, and Ryoji in 3, this one is only the case for the English version's voice acting. A bit of Fridge Brilliance in that not only do they have ostensibly the same Persona, attained in the same manner, their reasons for getting them and why they use them are at total opposites. It's basically showing what the Protagonist would have been like had he used his Persona to do the murders rather than prevent them.