The Protagonist of Persona 4 begins the game by moving to Yasoinaba. Similar to Tatsuya Suou of the Persona 2 dualogy, he wields two-handed swords as his primary weapon, however, he doesn't use alternative weapons, in contrast to the Protagonist of Persona 3. As the leader of the Investigation Team, the protagonist becomes deeply involved in the serial murder cases in the Inaba region shortly after arriving in town to live with his uncle.
Appearances
- Persona 4: Protagonist
- Persona 4 Manga: Protagonist as Souji Seta
- Persona 4 The Animation: Protagonist as Yu Narukami
- Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena: Playable Character as Yu Narukami
- Persona 4: The Golden: Protagonist
Design
The protagonist has short, bowl-shaped gray hair with matching gray eyes and is only one head shorter than Kanji. At school and in the Midnight Channel, he wears the school uniform of Yasogami High and wears gray glasses in battle. Additionally, he wears his a lighter uniform in summer. On days off, he is shown wearing a black jacket and gray turtleneck shirt along with black pants while on days off in summer, he wears a white collar shirt with short sleeves, and brown pants. At the school festival while cross dressing, he uses a female uniform with black leggings as well as a wig with long, gray pigtails.
In Persona 4: The Golden during the newly added Halloween event, he disguises as a vampire, wearing a huge black topper, a white chemise along with black suspenders and black pants.
In the Manga he is seens wearing a black blazer jacket on his winter clothes.
In the Persona 4 The Animation in the opening trailer he is seen wearing different winter clothes like he usually wearing but its a faded black blazer, and gray collar shirt.
Personality
Through the tradition of the Shin Megami Tensei series, he is a silent protagonist (though, as with protagonist of Persona 3, he does technically speak when summoning a Persona), where his name and personality is decided and portrayed by the player's in-game actions and decisions.
Profile
Persona 4
- Date of Birth: Unknown, 1994
- Zodiac: Unknown
- Height: 180 cm (5'11")
- Blood Type: O
- Initial Persona: Izanagi
- Ultimate Persona: Izanagi-no-Okami
- Weapons: Two-Handed Sword
- Arcana: Fool, World
Artwork of the Protagonist
The Protagonist first appears in the Velvet Room, which is shown in a first person point of view. In there he encounters Igor and his assistant, Margaret. Igor offers the Protagonist to read his fortune, and asks Protagonist to tell him his name, giving players the chance to name him. Igor remarks that a mystery awaits the Protagonist, and it is his fate to discover it. Igor would then introduce Margaret, and bid farewell to the Protagonist. The Protagonist later awakens from his subconscious, and reminiscences his old school prior leaving.
Reaching Yasoinaba, the Protagonist meets up with his uncle Ryotaro Dojima, who introduces his daughter, Nanako Dojima to the Protagonist. Later, in their journey, Dojima stops by the gas station to refill his car's gas, and the Protagonist is welcomed by an attendant of the Gas Station, who offers him a job in the Gas Station. Before they drive off, the attendant gives the Protagonist a handshake.
Later, after the Protagonist falls asleep, he awakens in a fog-ridden area. In there, he hears a voice, telling him if he wishes to seek the truth, he should follow it. The Protagonist eventually encounters a human presence, but the heavy fog makes it impossible to see the other person. The voice claims to be intrigued by the Protagonist, and decides to lend him his power for the time being. The next day, the Protagonist enrolls into Yasogami High School and befriends Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi. The Protagonist befriends Yosuke Hanamura the next morning after he helps him to get up from his bicycle accident.
Yosuke later invites the Protagonist to Yasoinaba's delicacy store as a sign of gratitude. However, he changes his plans when Chie overhears his invitation, and takes both the Protagonist and Chie to Junes' food court instead, which, it turns out, is owned by Yosuke's family. Chie later tells the Protagonist and Yosuke about the urban legend of the Midnight Channel, and asks them to try it out. The Protagonist also meets Saki Konishi, a senior of Yosuke working as a part time. Later in the night, the Protagonist tries to gain access to the Midnight Channel and sees a blurred image of a female student in his TV. Intrigued, the Protagonist touches the screen of his TV, and discovers that he can place his hand inside the TV set. Much to his horror, the TV pulls him in, but he gets stuck because the TV screen was too small for his size. He manages to pull himself out, and accidentally knocks himself on the head.
The next morning, the Protagonist, Yosuke and Chie express the bemusement of their discovery, and mention seeing on the TV the same female student. The Protagonist tells Yosuke and Chie about how he was sucked in the TV, and the two assume it was a weird dream. Chie later tells them her family plans to buy a wide-screen TV, and asks Yosuke what he would recommend among the cheap sets that Junes carry. The trio go to the electronics department of Junes, and go over the TV sets on display. The Protagonist tries to re-enter the TV, this time, using a wide-screen TV large enough to insert his body in. Seeing the Protagonist stuck midway inside the TV, Yosuke and Chie try to hide him. Yosuke spies on a number of people approaching, panicking, he and Chie accidentally push themselves in the TV, and the three fall on the other side of the TV, the Midnight Channel.
Inside the Midnight Channel, the trio was shocked to see their surroundings, and becomes panic. The trio anxiously tries to return via searching the entrance they fell earlier, but failing to do so, they decided to check around the area. Eventually, they would encounter a Bear, who urges them to leave this place. The trio confesses their inability of doing so, and losing his patience, the bear summons three TVs, and promptly pushes them into the TVs, forcefully ejecting the trio out of the Midnight Channel.
The next day, during an assembly from the school reveals that Saki Konishi, passed away by a violent accident. Devastated, Yosuke swore to investigate the Midnight Channel, as the female student they've encountered earlier in the Midnight Channel is Saki Konishi. Yosuke requests the Protagonist to help him, as he is the only one who is able to enter the TV. Eventually the Protagonist and Yosuke would enter the Midnight Channel one more time, leaving the Chie behind. Inside the Midnight Channel, the Protagonist and Yosuke once again encounters the bear, who introduces himself as Teddie. Infuriated by their presence, Teddie angrily asks them whether are they responsible of "throwing people" inside the Midnight Channel. Upon learning that the Protagonist and Yosuke aren't responsible, Teddie promises to help, and gives them a pair of glasses, allowing them to see the fog ridden Midnight Channel clearly.
The Protagonist and Izanagi
During their investigation, the Protagonist and Yosuke are ambushed by Shadows, causing the Protagonist to hear a voice telling him it is time to awaken his true self, receiving a tarot card. Crushing the card, the Protagonist awakens his initial Persona, Izanagi, and dispatch the Shadows. Bewildered by the Protagonist' ability, Teddie is intrigued by the Protagonist and comes to respect him, much to Yosuke's dismay.
The Protagonist and Yosuke would later end up in Saki Konishi's family liquor store. In there, they hear an inner voice of Saki expressing her hatred towards Yosuke. Surprised and devastated, another 'Yosuke' makes his entrance, and mocks Yosuke. Under Yosuke's continuous declination of the other Yosuke's taunts, the other 'Yosuke' transforms into a Shadow and attacks them. The Protagonist later defeats the Shadow. Yosuke then accepts that the Shadow is who he is, and receives his initial Persona, Jiraiya. The Protagonist and Yosuke would later leave the Midnight Channel and was angrily scolded by a worried Chie in the real world.
Late in that night, the Protagonist tries to tune in the Midnight Channel once again, and encounters a blurry image of young woman in kimono. Yosuke concludes the images as Yukiko Amagi, as the image shown is wearing the same kimono as Yukiko wore during a TV interview; to further complicate manner, Yukiko hasn't been showing up to the school, and Chie becomes worried. Yukiko later reveals she's been busy catering the Inn through the phone, and thus has to skip school. However, still worried, Yosuke suggests the Protagonist to tune in the Midnight Channel tonight as well.
During that night, the Protagonist encounters a weird show called "Princess Yukiko's search for Prince Charming" in the Midnight Channel, where Yukiko dresses up as a princess in a journey of scoring herself a "hot stud", or prince charming. As Yukiko's behavior in the TV was rather bizarre and out of what she would normally do, Yosuke called the Protagonist, and suggests them to meet up in the Junes Food Court the next morning.
The Protagonist, along with Yosuke and Chie eventually sets out to rescue Yukiko, and along their way Chie faces herself, and receives her own Persona. The Protagonist, Yosuke and Chie later founded the Investigation Team, a team dedicated to investigate the origins of the Midnight Channel and the bizarre murder cases.
Concept artwork of the Protagonist, including his costume for the Culture Festival.
Through the Investigation Teams' activity within the Midnight Channel, however, they all express the same question upon the Protagonist' latent talent of invoking his Persona without having to face his other self. As the story progress, the Protagonist would receive an anonymous threat letter telling him to stop his activities of saving people. Though the Investigation Team was worried, they've decided to continue watching the Midnight Channel, ignoring the letter's threat. The Protagonist eventually receives the threat after the Investigation Team continuously ignoring the threat, this time, the letter directly threatens the Protagonist that if he does not stop his actions, someone close to him will die.
The letter was later discovered by Ryotaro Dojima, and upon thinking about the Protagonist' possible connection with the recent chain of events, the Protagonist was detained in the Police station. Ryotaro eventually coerces the Protagonist to spend a a night in the police station. During Midnight, the Protagonist is shocked to see Nanako's silhouette in the Midnight Channel, who is revealed to be kidnapped. The Investigation Team eventually found out Nanako's kidnapper and the one sending the threat letters basing on bits of information salvaged by Ryotaro Dojima. The Investigation Team finds out the true murderer is actually Taro Namatame, the lover of the Mayumi Yamano, the first victim.
The Investigation Team eventually succeeds in saving Nanako, but Nanako's health began deteriorate critically after her exposure to the Midnight Channel. Unfortunately, Nanako inevitably falls into a coma. The Protagonist's decision on what to do with Namatame will determine whether she will wake up or die from the coma. The Investigation Team eventually manages to sneak in Namatame's ward. Grief ridden and devastated, the Investigation Team tries to kill Namatame by pushing him trough the his hospital room's TV. Depending on the Protagonist' decisions of dealing with Namatame, Nanako may die or awaken once again.
Bad Ending
If the player decides to find and kill Namatame after Nanako is hospitalized, Nanako will die. The Protagonist will then have to move back to his hometown, never finding the real culprit.
Normal Ending
In the Normal Ending, the Protagonist manages to calm down the Investigation Team, and points out his doubts about Namatame being the murderer. The Investigation Team eventually found out the murderer of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi is actually Tohru Adachi, who was also the one sending him the threat letters. Cornering him, the Investigation Team manages to defeat Tohru Adachi. However, after Adachi's defeat, it reveals that in actuality, Adachi was only playing a small role of the whole plan: He was controlled by a being named Ameno-sagiri, who plans to turn reality into a Shadow-ridden world. The Investigation Team eventually manages to defeat Ameno-sagiri, and proving humans' potential towards Ameno-sagiri, Ameno-sagiri promises to lift up the fog that has been infesting Yasoinaba, but exclaims that as long as humanity wishes for the fog to return, he will awaken once again. The Normal Ending ends with the Protagonist bidding a heartful farewell to his friends, and leaves Yasoinaba.
True Ending
The True Ending takes up following the events of Ameno-sagiri's defeat. Similar to the Normal Ending, the Protagonist decides to visit his friends one last time. Prior leaving the Dojima Residence, Nanako gives to Protagonist a letter. After bidding farewell to his friends, should the Protagonist decides to regroup the Investigation Team one last time in Junes unlocks the True Ending. In there, the Investigation Team become intrigued of Ameno-sagiri's last words of bestowing the others the power to venture into the Midnight Channel. However, since Adachi and Namatame did not face themselves, the Investigation Team eventually deducts that their powers came from the same source as the Protagonist.
The Protagonist later opens the letter received from Nanako earlier. It turns out that Adachi was the one who wrote to the Protagonist. In the letter, Adachi informs the Protagonist even though his game is over, there's still something he couldn't shake off, and it's up to the Protagonist to solve it.
The Investigation Team eventually realizes that Ameno-sagiri said that those who've awakened their powers are supposed to play their roles to override the world with shadows as well, meaning that there's actually a conductor behind it all, monitoring their actions within the bizarre murders and the Midnight Channel, and the conductor is the one who gave the Protagonist, Adachi, and Namatame their power to enter the TV as well as their Personas. Igor would later then tells the Protagonist that he is going to grasp a truth even his powers cannot predict, and he will play a role in assisting the Protagonist. Igor then gives the Protagonist the Orb of Sight, which erases lies and reveals the truth, playing an important part of the final boss fight.
Reminiscing his actions during his first visit to Yasoinaba, the Protagonist remembers the Gas Station Attendant, and eventually goes to visit her during the rain. In there, the Protagonist's power to invoke a Persona without facing himself is revealed: In actuality, the attendant took an interest in the Protagonist's potential, and decides to give his powers a little push through their handshake. The attendant also mentions that the Protagonist was not the only one she chose. Adachi, Namatame, and many others are awakened by her as well. She stirred the spark in the Protagonist so he could awaken other peoples' Personas as well, and fulfill their role as to overrun the world with shadows.
However, the Protagonist's power of the Wild Card is something the Attendant did not foresee, and her plans are foiled. The Attendant also reveals that Ameno-sagiri is actually birthed from an aspect of her, and asks the Protagonist is he not satisfied with his accomplishment yet. Chastising the Protagonist' greed to reach out for the truth, the Attendant finally reveals her true identity: The great goddess Izanami. Izanami then tells the Protagonist that since he is so determined to stop her, she shall await the Protagonist in the other world, but tells him that he should also have the preparation to accept his lost towards her as well.
In the Protagonist's final confrontation with Izanami, he discovers that Izanami isn't dying after depleting her HP to zero. Using the Orb of Sight, it's revealed that like in the myth, Izanami is already dead, as she loses her current form, and reveals her true form of a large skeletal corpse beast, revealing her true form, Izanami-no-Okami.
When Izanami-no-Okami is defeated once again, she tries to send the Protagonist to the underworld with her "Thousand Curses", but her attacks is repeatedly intervened by the Protagonist' comrades, each shielding him from harm. Witnessing the sufferings of his comrades falling under Izanami's "Thousand Curses", and subsequently falling to the curse himself, the Protagonist hears the voices of his friends, telling him to continue fighting on. Accumulating the power of the bonds he forged, the Protagonist channels the powers of his Social Links to his initial Persona, Izanagi, transmogrifying Izanagi into his true form, Izanagi-no-Okami. Enduring all of Izanami's assaults, the Protagonist ultimately summons Izanagi-no-Okami, defeating Izanami with one powerful strike, known as "Myriad Truths".
A group photo of the protagonist and his friends before his departure from Inaba.
Upon Izanami's defeat, Izanami tell the Investigation Team that she will no longer interfere with humanity, and encourages them to live their lives with their own decisions, though she cannot ensure their happiness. Igor would later tell the Protagonist that due to his efforts, the fog within humanity's hearts has finally lifted, and tells them to see the bright future of the World he had created with his own eyes. The fog on the midnight channel then lifted, revealing a beautiful, peaceful land which Teddie remembers was once the world he lived in. The story ends with the Protagonist bidding a heartfelt farewell to his friends and leaves Yasoinaba; as the train leaves the station, the Protagonist pulls out a group picture of the friends that he spent his year in Inaba with whilst Teddie's voice is heard in the background, promising that someday they will meet again.
Persona 4 Manga
"Souji Seta" in the manga
In the manga, his name is Sōji Seta (瀬多 総司, Seta Souji). In this portrayal he is depicted as being a distant, but otherwise friendly loner with a pessimistic outlook on life due to having to move frequently as a result of his parents' changing careers.
Persona 4 The Animation
"Yu Narukami" in Persona 4 The Animation
In the anime, his name is Yu Narukami (鳴上 悠, Narukami Yuu). It can also be assumed that he likes (or works with) origami as shown in the more recent trailer of the anime. Originally, he wears his school uniform just like in the beginning of the game and in some of the trailers they have shown, but in the most recent trailer when he arrived in Inaba he wears his winter clothes instead of his uniform. As the trailer continues, he wears a buttoned up uniform like a regular student while summoning Izanagi for the first time. Later in the trailer, he is seen wearing a buttoned up shirt again while at school and while talking to Yosuke in another scene untril the first episode at the end until continuing fighting the shadows. When he awaken to the fog area and hearing a voice to tell him to follow it but he didn't follow only seeing a bury human figure and when back to sleep. Even when he, Yosuke, and Chie went inside of the T.V world and encounter Kuma(Teddie) he gave him the glasses before Saki's death or arrive with Yosuke. They also encounter the shadows for the first time but with Chie along until she go hit by shadow and fell unconscious. As well he summon his persona, Izanagi in the same place instead like in the anime cutscene from game with Yosuke and Teddie at Twisted Shopping District. When Izanagi gets injury from the shadows he will feel it as well.
Gallery
Battle Quotes
- "Izanagi!" or the name of all of his other Persona i.e. "Pixie!", "Satan!", "Jack Frost!" and etc. (Enemy weak to attack/Critical with Phys skill)
- Persona! (Using Persona skill)
- Tch! (Using Persona skill/takes damage)
- Hup! (While changing Persona)
- Zio! (While using one of the Zio spells sometimes)
Trivia
- In contrast to the previous Protagonist, this Protagonist is actually older than some of the main characters and is referred to as Senpai, instead of "you" or "him", by Kanji, Rise, and Naoto. He's also called Aibou (partner) by Yosuke, Onii-Chan (or Big Bro in the English version) by Nanako, and Sensei (meaning teacher) by Teddie.
- In doujin fan works, The Protagonist is often given the joke name Banchou (Gang Leader) in reference to Izanagi's appearance, which is akin to that of a gakuran-clad youth gang leader's prevalent image in post-war Japan.
- When the Protagonist is forced to cross-dress for the "Miss" Yasogami High Beauty Pageant during the school festival, his appearance has great resemblance to the character Saya from Blood: The Last Vampire, complete with a wooden sword. His attack is also similar to hers.
- His critical attack with his weapon is very identical to the Persona 3 protagonist's critical attack when he is carrying Two-Handed Swords, although he is more balanced with Two-Handed Swords than the Protagonist of Persona 3.
- His battle stance is very identical from Tatsuya Suou from Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.
- The Protagonist is the second tallest member of the party, but is still a full head shorter than Kanji.
- The calender in his room in the Dojima Residence features both the logo of Persona 3 as well as a promotional art of the game.
- He and the protagonist of Persona 3 gain special powers during their last battles (The World and The Universe arcanas, respectively) that can withstand any attack like Death for the protagonist of Persona 3 and Oho Ikazuchi for The Protagonist of Persona 4, wich both inflicts a default damage, 9999 damage for Death and 9999 for Oho Ikazuchi. This hints that these two are the strongest Protagonists in the Persona series so far.
- When he hears Jika Net Tanaka (Tanaka's amazing comodities shopping song) in the TV on Sundays he describes it as a cheery song unlike the Protagonist of Persona 3, who describes it as an annoying song, implying that despite the player's choices, he, and the Protagonist of Persona 3 retain their own opinion.
- One can notice in one of the sketches in the artbook, that The Protagonist looks younger. Hinting that The Protagonist was originally supposed to be a 1st year instead of a 2nd, unlike Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Amagi, since those where planned and are in 2nd year.
- He is the only one that can equip Nanako's gifts.
- The protagonist has at least basic knowledge of the Korean language as there are various books in his room which are written in Hangeul, the Korean writing system.
- It's possible he's fond of cats. One of the reasons is that he only makes two request to himself in the game: Feed The Cat and Cat Needs Food Badly!, the goals of which are obvious. The second reason is that in the side of the Dojima residence, there is a cat, and he can choose to spend time with him to increase his Understanding, and after a certain amount of time more cats appeared there.
- As of The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena and Persona 4 The Animation, he is the 4th main character in the Persona series, after Tatsuya Suou, Maya Amano, and Aigis, to have a canonical name, and the 8th in the series as a whole, after Akemi Nakajima, Aleph, Serph, and Tamaki Uchida.