Jump to content

Naoto Shirogane: Difference between revisions

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Undid revision 1165995444 by 2603:7080:A5F0:8C50:C554:4FD5:5872:7BFA (talk) In this case, due to an overwhelming discussion regarding these themes in her reception, it's relevant. If you feel it's not please open a discussion on the talk page and stop doing this across multiple IPs.
Tags: Undo Reverted
Undid revision 1165995708 by Kung Fu Man (talk) There's an overwhelming minority of people who think the Minecraft bee is 'trans'. If she isn't a transgender character, not even ambigously, she shouldn't be in the LGBT category just because a select very small minority of people chose to view her as such. By that logic you could justify any character as being vaguely under 'LGBT'. Notice she's the only character in 'LGBT and games'?
Tags: Undo Reverted
Line 49: Line 49:
[[Category:Fictional high school students]]
[[Category:Fictional high school students]]
[[Category:Fictional Japanese people in video games]]
[[Category:Fictional Japanese people in video games]]
[[Category:LGBT and video games]]
[[Category:Orphan characters in video games]]
[[Category:Orphan characters in video games]]
[[Category:Persona 4 characters]]
[[Category:Persona 4 characters]]

Revision as of 19:05, 18 July 2023

Naoto Shirogane
Persona character
Naoto from Persona 4
First appearancePersona 4 (2008)
Portrayed by
Various
Voiced by
Various
In-universe information
NationalityJapanese

Naoto Shirogane (白鐘 直斗, Shirogane Naoto) is a fictional character in the video game Persona 4.

Concept and creation

Naoto was created for Persona 4. She is a young detective who moves to Inaba, the setting of Persona 4, to solve a serial-murder case. Due to the gendered stereotypes of detectives and institutional misogyny in law enforcement, Naoto presents as a man in order to hide her gender.[1] In the Japanese version, Naoto uses 'boku', a typically male pronoun, while interchangeably using he and she in the English version.[2] Naoto's design in Persona 4 Arena was inspired by the character Raidou Kuzunoha.[3] When designing Naoto for Persona 4: Dancing All Night, designer Kazuhisa Wada depicted her dancing style as more feminine to show Naoto embracing her feminine side more. Her dancing style comes from house music, with Wada noting that this dance style had a certain degree of sex appeal.[4] Naoto is voiced by Romi Park in all appearances in Japanese. In English, Naoto was voiced Anna Graves in her initial appearances, and has been voiced by Valerie Arem from Persona 4 Arena Ultimax onward.[5][6]

Appearances

Naoto appears in Persona 4 and is a detective trying to solve the murders in the game. Correctly suspecting that initial suspect Mitsuo Kubo is merely a copycat killer, Naoto uses herself as bait by appearing on TV and allowing herself to be kidnapped by the culprit. The group follows Naoto to the TV world, where Naoto is confronted by her Shadow, who expresses their frustration with her birth sex and at being treated like a child by the police. Naoto explains after Shadow Naoto has been defeated due to the male-oriented nature of the police department, which is why she had been presenting as male. Once Naoto comes to understand her feelings, her Shadow turns into the Persona Sukuna-Hikona [ja] (スクナヒコナ), a robotic humanoid wearing a blue suit jacket that has an insect-like head and butterfly-like wings.

Following Naoto's recovery from her time in the TV world, she joins the protagonists in finding the culprit, having gained clues about his method thanks to her kidnapping. Throughout Yu's interactions with Naoto, she regains her passion for being a detective. Depending on the player's actions, Naoto can become intimate with Yu. Naoto also decides that she isn't a detective just to uphold her family tradition, but because she wants to be and thoroughly enjoy it no matter her gender or age. Her Persona then evolves into Yamato-Takeru (ヤマトタケル), a humanoid in a white and blue traditional armed forces dress uniform with a more bird-like appearance. In the game's ending, Naoto decides to stay in Inaba, unsure what to do now that the case is closed. In Persona 4 Golden, Naoto gets the new Persona Yamato Sumera Mikoto (ヤマトスメラミコト), whose outfit is red and blue, and has long, flowing blonde hair.[7]

Naoto appears as a playable character in Persona 4 Arena, where she is pursuing the character Mitsuru Kirijo from Persona 3.[8] She later appears in Persona 4: Dancing All Night.[9]

A novel that takes place one year after Persona 4 was released starring Naoto called Persona 4 x Detective Naoto, where she is investigating the disappearance of her old friend Touko Aoi. This novel was made by Dengeki Bunko.[10]

In Persona 5, Naoto is briefly mentioned on a TV special on 4/29 as, "the original Detective Prince" who was then being succeeded by the "new Detective Prince."

Reception

Naoto has received overall widespread positive reception. Kimberley Wallace of Game Informer ranked her as one of the best Persona characters.[11] Geoff Thew of Hardcore Gamer found Naoto to be attractive due in part to her detective work.[12] Andrew Clouther of GameZone expressed skepticism with how Naoto was being designed for Persona 4: Dancing All Night, feeling that Naoto depicted in a sexual light felt unlike her and expressed concern that it would be used to justify "fan-service."[4] A swimsuit costume that Naoto wears in Dancing All Night was described as "conservative" by Matt Sainsbury of Digitally Downloaded, who felt it fit her character.[13] Mike Cosimano regarded her as a great character due to her pragmatism and quality detective work.[14] Janine Hawkins of Paste Magazine praised her for her outfit, feeling that few could pull it off as well.[15]

Naoto's gender identity has been subject to discussion by much of the audience as well as critics.[16] She is canonicaly a woman, but her shadow makes reference to a body surgical procedure and crossing the barriers between sexes, seemingly as a reference to transgender surgery. Naoto struggles throughout the game, feeling repressed in her feminity as her interests in detective novels and science fiction were not typical for a young girl, picking up certain attitudes and making her feel as though being seen as a woman is not 'ideal' for her image as a detective. Notably, she does not react negatively when initially called a woman after her secret is revealed, and her voice grows more feminine when faced against her shadow. Her social link portrays her as curious and willing to embrace her womanhood and seeking out the encouragement of the protagonist, though shy. Vrai Kaiser of The Mary Sue was initially hoping to find a "kindred spirit" with Naoto, but grew upset when they discovered that this was not the case.[17] Michael Higham of GameSpot felt that certain choices players could make regarding her gender identity were insensitive.[16]

Carolyn Petit of GameSpot considered Naoto to be a trans man, but expressed disappointment that Persona 4 seemed to reject this idea. She criticized the reasoning for Naoto presenting male, feeling it "rang false" due to finding it unbelievable for someone to live as a different gender due to an attachment to fictional characters. She also took issue with characters changing their behavior towards Naoto, citing Yosuke flirting with her and characters explaining certain behaviors as being due to her gender as examples.[2] Writer Mattie Brice found the depiction of Naoto to be transphobic, suggesting that the transgender character Erica Anderson from Catherine made this depiction questionable. Brice interpreted the scene between Naoto and her shadow as rejecting the need for sexual reassignment surgery in order to be a man. Despite their issues with the character, they found her enjoyable.[18] Carol Grant of Vice criticized Naoto, suggesting that the romance scenes were demeaning to Naoto's identity and expressing disappointment in how Naoto's gender identity is handled.[19] Authors of the book Queerness in Play discuss how Naoto's gender expression and struggles with gender is used to teach players about the transgender experience.[20]

References

  1. ^ Atlus (December 9, 2008). Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2). Atlus. Level/area: Secret Laboratory. Naoto: Not everyone welcomes my collaboration when it comes to solving cases… My status as a "child" was sufficient to offend many of those whom I worked with. Were that the only issue, then it would have resolved itself with time… But though I will one day change from a child to an adult, I will never change from a woman to a man… / Yukiko: Do you not like being a girl…? Is that why you always dress like a boy? / Naoto: My sex doesn't fit my ideal image of a detective… Besides, the police department is a male-oriented society. If they had the slightest "concrete" reason to look down on me, no one would need me anymore…
  2. ^ a b Petit, Carolyn (March 1, 2013). "Denial of the Self: Queer Characters in Persona 4". GameSpot. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  3. ^ Cavalli, Earnest "Next" (October 24, 2011). "Atlus Adds Two Characters To Persona Fighter". The Escapist. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Clouther, Andrew (March 6, 2015). "Persona 4: Dancing All Night character's dancing styles spotlighted". GameZone. Archived from the original on May 26, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  5. ^ "Naoto Shirogane Voice - Megami Tensei franchise | Behind The Voice Actors". Behind the Voice Actors. Archived from the original on October 22, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  6. ^ "Behind The Scenes with Naoto in Persona 4: Dancing All Night". Atlus. Archived from the original on December 20, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  7. ^ Spencer (April 4, 2012). "Persona 4: The Golden Has TV Shows To See". Archived from the original on April 7, 2012. Retrieved April 5, 2012.
  8. ^ Spencer (June 13, 2012). "In Persona 4: Arena, Teddie Is Labrys' "Knight" And Naoto Is Tailing Mitsuru". Siliconera. Archived from the original on November 26, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  9. ^ Sato (April 27, 2015). "Naoto Will Overcome Her Lack Of Dance Confidence In Persona 4: Dancing All Night". Siliconera. Archived from the original on July 14, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  10. ^ Spencer (May 21, 2012). "New Post Persona 4 Novel Focuses On Naoto". Siliconera. Archived from the original on February 28, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  11. ^ Wallace, Kimberley (May 4, 2017). "The 10 Best Persona Characters". Game Informer. Archived from the original on August 23, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  12. ^ Thew, Geoff (November 4, 2014). "Top 5 Waifus in Persona". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  13. ^ Sainsbury, Matt (May 18, 2015). "The Persona 4 Dancing All Night swimsuit trailer is... mesmerising". Digitally Downloaded. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  14. ^ Cosimano, Mike (March 19, 2017). "Imma let you finish, but Carmen Sandiego is the greatest female video game character of all time". Destructoid. Archived from the original on October 7, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  15. ^ Hawkins, Janine (November 12, 2014). "The 13 Best Costumed Characters in Videogames". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on June 4, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  16. ^ a b Higham, Michael (April 21, 2019). "Persona 4 10 Years Later; A Celebration Of An All-Time Great RPG And Its Legacy". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  17. ^ Kaiser, Vrai (September 1, 2016). "Can We Cool It With The "Women Disguised as Men" Trope Already?". The Mary Sue. Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  18. ^ Brice, Mattie (August 30, 2011). "It's Time to Talk About it: Atlus, Naoto, and Transphobia". Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  19. ^ Grant, Carol (December 24, 2017). "Atlus, We Haven't Forgotten Your Mishandling of LGBTQ Characters". Vice. Archived from the original on May 24, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  20. ^ Harper, Todd; Adams, Megan Blythe; Taylor, Nicholas (2018). Queerness in Play. Springer. p. 45. ISBN 978-3319905426.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Naoto_Shirogane&oldid=1165996398"