what is everyone's thoughts on Naoto Shirogane?

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

I want to ask this since i feel Naoto is such a deep and layered character, and you can kind of go on forever about her.

for me personally, i always loved Naoto. When i first played the game i always saw her arc as accepting she's female and learning that gender norms shouldn't undermine all the work she puts into her job as a detective. I know that's most likely what Atlus was trying to say here, but i know people will bring up the obvious symbolism in Naoto's boss room, which kind of makes me more confused if anything, especially with all the discussion around Naoto's gender. I'm not very knowledgeable about these subjects, i'm just speaking from my experience playing P4, so that's why i wanted to ask for people's general thoughts on her.

oh also Naoto's a cutie, 100%

[Fins]

Story / personality wise, she's the least favorite party member of mine. Yep, that bad.

Of all party members, Naoto's right there contending with Chie for being the most childish of all party members (and no, i don't count Teddie, he's not a child, he's a freaking bear :D ). And me, i'd say Naoto wins - i.e., she's the most immature. And i mean way too much for her age - which is, i recon, around 15?

And it'd still be OK - it's totally OK with Chie, for this matter, much adorable and all - if only Naoto wouldn't try so much to act mature. Which she does, and while at times it's funny - more often it's plain sad, at times irritating even.

Next, she's portrayed as decidedly incapable detective de-facto, in the game, all the while going around thinking herself being the opposite. Seriously, i can remember just two edisodes where Naoto is the one figuring out any significant thing ahead of others - and the 2nd one being during last boss fight 3/20, when the big boss spills the beans her/it self. But the number of times Naoto ends up wrong about things? Rather big number. Heck, even during her social link quests it is MC and even Nanako in one occasion who figure out what's going on - not "detective prince".

Next, when i think about why, exactly, presumably "very bright young detective" Naoto ends up sent to Inaba, seemingly to crack an impossible case, in the 1st place - i can't help but suspect that she was just get rid of by prefecturial police, this way. Sent to "boonies". A sole descendant of a long line of detectives, she was most likely subtly pushed and "shaped" by her family to continue that family tradition, despite her gender and age - much in similar manner how whole her social link / quest ends up being staged by none other than her granpa.

And given how we're told Naoto solved dozens of cases while working elsewheres, those two facts could point to likelyhood that all that "detective prince" fame and achievement - was mostly "spoon fed" to young Naoto, by police personnel talked by her grandpa into helping Naoto to become a detective. Which personnel probably had enough of it at some point, and so they sent her to the boonies - "out of sight, out of mind". Now that's one rather pityful set of events if i've seen one...

And worst of all, she has no spark. This kind of spark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwKaFVJNtuw

Everyone else does have it, heck, even MC from what little we see him do and say; but not Naoto. Sigh.

[Elley]

She's cute and has the best Christmas event.

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

Originally posted by Elley:

She's cute and has the best Christmas event.

Dab me up

[🧢]

ajoker

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

Originally posted by trash keyboard <3:

ajoker

[NMZ]

need tomboy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9vmwIo0lfA

[Yu Ryujin]

for someone who should be a genius detective and all that... she's pretty dumb and unmature, cant figure it out a lot of the case ahead.

Naoto started to be a boy, but mid project they changed the gender because it looked too much like the 3p protag. Thus, her writting certainly have quite issues.

I still prefer her over stuff like maria nonetheless.

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

Originally posted by Yuven:

for someone who should be a genius detective and all that... she's pretty dumb and unmature, cant figure it out a lot of the case ahead.

Naoto started to be a boy, but mid project they changed the gender because it looked too much like the 3p protag. Thus, her writting certainly have quite issues.

I still prefer her over stuff like maria nonetheless.

OH MY GOD THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE, Naoto did look like Makoto in the concept art.

and yeah i saw the "Naoto is stupid" claim earlier, and i kinda disagree, cuz she, as well as Yu and Yosuke kinda solved that case. i'm really struggling to remember a time Naoto was actually kinda dumb, but that might be a memory problem on my end, i don't remember too much of Naoto in p4 compared to everyone else

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

Originally posted by NMZ:

need tomboy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9vmwIo0lfA

she is def a cutie tho ngl

[S1LV3RHAND]

best waifu ever

[Schorl]

One thing I have to say about Naoto, and I'm aware I'm a broken record on the matter, because I want to write something about that idea myself: if ATLUS decides to explore Persona beyond the high school setting, SHE needs to be the protagonist.

[dirtguy92]

i like her hat

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

Originally posted by scrumb:

i like her hat

YEAHHH WOOO

[EliteSarge]

Well, as you can see by my avatar....shes clearly #1 waifu.

Aside from that she also she has one of the better character arcs out of the entire team.

[jacobtan]

I think she's reasonably well-presented like most of the rest of the characters in Persona 4. She is somewhat naive, immature, and even a little dumb, but don't forget that she's just a teenager and many teenagers are like that. It's not fair to judge her as an adult simply because she isn't one. Her struggles with self-image and self-worth are common and possibly even mundane, but they are real enough.

What matters for me is that she's believable enough. If she's a teenager, I expect her to behave like one. If she struggles with certain issues, it shouldn't require a serious suspension of disbelief to believe it. More outlandish claims need more information and context for the aforementioned suspension of disbelief, but I think the game has provided adequate information for the player to work with.

Coming up with conjectures to fill in the gaps in information (e.g. how she could have become a detective) is fun and players can discuss and argue for all they like. I think on the whole, P4 managed to hit the sweet spot between revealing too much and not revealing enough, which is why there are discussions on topics such as Kanji's sexuality, Yosuke's alleged homophobia, and whether Teddie's supposed lustfulness is too much.