Everyone's thoughts on Rise Kujikawa

[M>E>T>A>L>S>O>N>I>C]

i feel like Rise, even though she's a very popular character, is kinda overlooked a lot of the time besides people thinking she's cute or annoying and stuff. so i wanted to ask if anyone had any interesting thoughts on her.

i personally like Rise, i like her little arc and i like that's she's just kinda chill most of the time. like when Teddie finds the girl's measurements she's like "oh mine are there" like she doesn't get flustered about that or anything, so i felt like it was a small breath of fresh air personally, cuz everyone else does that in all these games

[Fins]

Rise is 2nd-best character, for me (after Kanji). As human being (portrayed), that is.

Speaking of Rise, she's a wreck. Big time. Taken into big business as a kid, and mentally scarred for life. One unusual and sad mix of naive teenager and cynical business lady - remember her remark about that younger idol about whom Rise recognised that'd "she'll sell well"?

With bits and pieces of natural liveliness as a cream top, yet also with bits of, so to say, saturated fat on top as well - in the form of hypertrophied self-esteem. And i don't mean the looks, she looks supreme indeed - no, i mean her excess confidence about most of her decisions, opinions and observations. Ain't like she's way bad doing those, just her self-esteem is way higher than just "i'm not oh too bad".

It bends her value set quite much, too. The business perspective, she clearly applies to her personal plans for adulthood, "calculating" which developments would sort of "feel well" for her own future. It doesn't work that way with feelings and families (well, usually doesn't, and nobody can guarantee it would), but she does it anyway, very much naively so.

On the other hand, she's clearly strong person. Lots of things to respect in her story. Including some very subtle bits most people would probably miss. For example, when her former manager comes to see her (during her arc) for the 1st time, Rise lies about MC and her both planning to marry each other. If, then, you'd have MC to tell her afterwards that lying is bad - she'll remark without any doubt that it was a "harmless white lie". Which, it was. Now, how many 16-year olds around not only know what white lie is, but also are perfectly able to judge which lie is such? Some do, but i recon not too many. You get to know which is which if you're into any big business, though - quite promptly, too.

Another thing i like about Rise - is how well her story is done. I struggle to remember any bits of it which i'd see as unlikely, made-up or inconsistent. If there are some such which i forgot, then those gotta be few and minor ones. It quite feels like whomever was writing her story - had much if not most of related things known from their own experience. Perhaps that's why we see others tell Rise that she knows certain things from her personal experience, too? =)

And to wrap up, i do like:

- her clothes (bright colored ones especially, great stuff);

- her animations (both 3D and 2D, can tell whomever made 'em - loved the character);

- some of her voiced lines (both english and japan versions);

but i don't like:

- some other of her voiced lines (both english and japan versions), more polarizing then any other character in this regard, to me - sigh;

- her personas having no face and missing front part of the head (kinda like a sort of dismemberment, some like that, i sure don't);

- the fact we don't get to see more of the commercials and such she made as an idol. I'm not Yosuke about it, but you know, throwing one the 1st thing we see in the game, and then no other for the whole game? How very... un-bear! :D

[Dae]

When I played Persona 4 Golden the first time in 2020, I knew very little about it. One of those few things I knew before going in was that there is a character named Rise (because I'm a fan of her English VA). Once I got Rise into my party, she quickly becomes one of my favorites. Her sheer confidence in story events, her enthusiasm when cheering the player on in combat, and her voice acting together sold the character for me.

I'd like to also add more to your example about her not getting flustered when Teddie has the girls' measurements. In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, I noticed Rise is the only female fighter who has her weight shown before each fight. The reason for that is up for interpretation. To me, this shows how she is not insecure about her appearance and further consolidate her confidence IMO.

Lastly, it's worth noting that before 2020, I never wrote a steam review even though I started using Steam since 2013. It took 7 years, but P4G was the game made me love it enough to be my first review. And it's partly thanks to my positive reception of Rise.

[M>E>T>A>L>S>O>N>I>C]

Originally posted by Dae:

When I played Persona 4 Golden the first time in 2020, I knew very little about it. One of those few things I knew before going in was that there is a character named Rise (because I'm a fan of her English VA). Once I got Rise into my party, she quickly becomes one of my favorites. Her sheer confidence in story events, her enthusiasm when cheering the player on in combat, and her voice acting together sold the character for me.

I'd like to also add more to your example about her not getting flustered when Teddie has the girls' measurements. In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, I noticed Rise is the only female fighter who has her weight shown before each fight. The reason for that is up for interpretation. To me, this shows how she is not insecure about her appearance and further consolidate her confidence IMO.

Lastly, it's worth noting that before 2020, I never wrote a steam review even though I started using Steam since 2013. It took 7 years, but P4G was the game made me love it enough to be my first review. And it's partly thanks to my positive reception of Rise.

that's so cool, i'm glad you enjoyed P4G that much :)

and i didn't even know they showed rise's weight in arena, i haven't played it yet and am just waiting for the steam release. that's pretty strange but i do like your interpretation of why they did that.

[M>E>T>A>L>S>O>N>I>C]

Originally posted by Fins:

Rise is 2nd-best character, for me (after Kanji). As human being (portrayed), that is.

Speaking of Rise, she's a wreck. Big time. Taken into big business as a kid, and mentally scarred for life. One unusual and sad mix of naive teenager and cynical business lady - remember her remark about that younger idol about whom Rise recognised that'd "she'll sell well"?

With bits and pieces of natural liveliness as a cream top, yet also with bits of, so to say, saturated fat on top as well - in the form of hypertrophied self-esteem. And i don't mean the looks, she looks supreme indeed - no, i mean her excess confidence about most of her decisions, opinions and observations. Ain't like she's way bad doing those, just her self-esteem is way higher than just "i'm not oh too bad".

It bends her value set quite much, too. The business perspective, she clearly applies to her personal plans for adulthood, "calculating" which developments would sort of "feel well" for her own future. It doesn't work that way with feelings and families (well, usually doesn't, and nobody can guarantee it would), but she does it anyway, very much naively so.

On the other hand, she's clearly strong person. Lots of things to respect in her story. Including some very subtle bits most people would probably miss. For example, when her former manager comes to see her (during her arc) for the 1st time, Rise lies about MC and her both planning to marry each other. If, then, you'd have MC to tell her afterwards that lying is bad - she'll remark without any doubt that it was a "harmless white lie". Which, it was. Now, how many 16-year olds around not only know what white lie is, but also are perfectly able to judge which lie is such? Some do, but i recon not too many. You get to know which is which if you're into any big business, though - quite promptly, too.

Another thing i like about Rise - is how well her story is done. I struggle to remember any bits of it which i'd see as unlikely, made-up or inconsistent. If there are some such which i forgot, then those gotta be few and minor ones. It quite feels like whomever was writing her story - had much if not most of related things known from their own experience. Perhaps that's why we see others tell Rise that she knows certain things from her personal experience, too? =)

And to wrap up, i do like:

- her clothes (bright colored ones especially, great stuff);

- her animations (both 3D and 2D, can tell whomever made 'em - loved the character);

- some of her voiced lines (both english and japan versions);

but i don't like:

- some other of her voiced lines (both english and japan versions), more polarizing then any other character in this regard, to me - sigh;

- her personas having no face and missing front part of the head (kinda like a sort of dismemberment, some like that, i sure don't);

- the fact we don't get to see more of the commercials and such she made as an idol. I'm not Yosuke about it, but you know, throwing one the 1st thing we see in the game, and then no other for the whole game? How very... un-bear! :D

i think they could've played more rise commercials on the tv in Yu's house or some other place more, that would've been cool, especially before you meet her.