Awesome / Persona 4

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Plot Events

• A minor one at the very start of the game, when Mr. Morooka introduces you by calling you a loser, one of your dialogue options is to deadpan "You calling me a loser?" This not only raises your Courage, but also gives the player a satisfied feeling of putting King Moron in his place, even if only for a brief moment.
  Mr. Morooka: You're on my shit-list, effective immediately.
• After going Leeroy Jenkins at Yukiko's Castle because she's too worried about Yukiko to think straight, Chie manages to fight her way to the second floor. On her own. Without the glasses that would have helped her see through the fog. Or Tomoe.
  • Or she was in such a hurry that she blew past everything, which would still take Nerves of Steel.
• Kanji has his CMOA prior to the game. Everybody thinks he's caught up with a local teenage biker gang, but as he keeps trying to explain, what really happened is that he beat the shit out of the whole gang. Why? They were keeping his mother from sleeping at night with all the noise and racket they made.
  • And to rub salt in the wound, he did it all with a shield he bought from Daidara's Metalworks. No, really. Ask Daidara during Kanji's disappearance.
  • Golden also reveals that he went after said biker gang on a bicycle. The guy must have some serious leg muscles to accomplish that.
  • Spend time with Yosuke and you might get a conversation where he basically tells you a biker gang harassed him while he was riding his scooter. Nothing too violent, but they more or less surrounded him with their bikes to make sure he didn’t overtake them. That is, until one of them actually recognizes him and panically tells the others that he’s “from Kanji’s crew”. At that point, they quickly bail.
• Speaking of Kanji... he doesn't get his Persona just by coming to terms with his Shadow. He gets it by punching it out and then coming to terms with it.
  "C'mon... get up. Anyone who looks like me, I know they ain't so weak that they can't take a punch."
  • Another one for Kanji; his reaction to the Final Boss is suitably awesome for how short it is.
    "Heh, a God? Bring it on!"
• Eight words: "Take a good look... at Teddie's last stand!"
  • Another one for Teddie: When after realizing his true nature, he decides to get over that fact for Nanako, overcoming the feeling of failure and monstrousness that he had fallen into, and thus, awakening to his Persona's real power.
    Teddie: So what if I am just a Shadow? There must still be something I can do!
• Who's the toughest girl in Persona 4? Rise Kujikawa. Why is she? When every other character awakened their persona, they were sick in bed for days afterwards (even Kanji). When Rise awakened her persona not only is it canonically all-but-invincible, when it's defeated in a cutscene, and the real boss awakens, she gets up immediately, still wounded, summons it, and saves your ass. Did we mention she does all this without the keep-your-mind-from-imploding glasses that help you see through the fog? When her job is to enemy scan?
• When you finally find Naoto in the TV World, it looks like she’s had everything under control for days and actually had her Shadow bawling its eyes out. It’s only when it had an audience that it could gain the advantage.
• Kanji snapping everyone out of a Heroic BSoD after Nanako's hospitalization.
• Yu gets a notable one. The rest of the group are contemplating throwing Namatame into the TV for Nanako's "death." After trying to defuse the situation and convince them that they don't have the whole story, Yu, likely overwhelmed with grief and ready to explode himself, finally loses his temper and shouts, "Calm the hell down!" And, of course, it works.
  Yosuke: Geez... How the hell can you stay so calm, man? Then again, that's why you're our leader...
• A subtle one during the final deduction of the culprit. Yu is able to remain objective and analytical enough not to dismiss his True Companions and immediate family as suspects out of hand, and provides hard logic as to why he is able to eliminate them as suspects (the human party members couldn't enter the TV until after Mayumi Yamano's death, Teddie would have attracted way too much attention, Dojima was nearly killed in his attempt to solve the case, and Nanako would have had to carry the bodies of people at least twice her size).
• Everyone's, especially Yosuke's, response to the true killer's Motive Rant. His doubles as a Berserk Button, since it was the final straw that caused the killer to completely lose it.
  "'Favored by the world' my ass... I'm going to say it flat out. You're just a worthless criminal!"
• Perhaps fitting that the Climax Boss is one. When the team finally confront Adachi, from certain angles it is apparent that the scene takes place high above Inaba, but between the red tinge of the TV world and the concrete platform everyone is on, the city is not visible. When Ameno-Sagiri appears, the platform and the red tinges disappear, leaving the team and Ameno-Sagiri standing on thin air, with the full view of Inaba as it appears on your world map below you. And crucially, the TV world is for the first time colored normally aside from the black lines emanating from Ameno-Sagiri. What you may be looking at is Inaba half-merged into the TV world, and this view is repeatedly flashed throughout the fight. A reminder of the stakes facing your team as you take on Ameno-Sagiri.
• After his defeat, Adachi mocks the team's efforts one more time, only to be immediately shut down by Yosuke:
  Adachi: Ngh... fine. If you think you have the power to change the future, then go right ahead.
  Yosuke: Everyone has the power to do that.
• In the True Ending, Yu, rather pissed off at the boss and suitably powered up by the events right before the fight, takes off his glasses, throws them away, summons his persona, and blasts the everliving hell out of the boss.
  • And that was his response to Izanami hammering him with an insanely powerful spell several times in a row. Which had no effect whatsoever.
    • To expand on this, Izanami is the co-creator of the universe and deity of death in Japanese mythology.
  • Him throwing them away symbolized that he didn't need them anymore, because he'd discovered the final truth (also, the ability you're using at the time is called "Myriad Truths"). It's implied the glasses also protect the wearer from the health effects of the fog. In other words, he doesn't fear death, even the goddess of it herself. Especially since he was on its brink minutes earlier.
  • And on top of all that, he earns a perfectly happy ending. In a SMT game.
  • Not to leave out what Izanami says after she's finally defeated:
    "Children of man... Well done!"

Social Links

• Yukiko telling the Jerkass reporters in no uncertain terms to shut the hell up and refusing them and their station any coverage about the Amagi Inn at all near the end of her Social Link series, even countering the lead reporter's threat of bad publicity with a slander complaint to his network's sponsors. It was real nice to see her have a backbone to something like that.
  • Made even better when one realizes that Yukiko's S. Link is about gaining confidence and preparing to leave Inaba, then she realizes the inn and everyone in it is what matters most to her and she stands up for them when the lead reporter starts badmouthing the inn and even rather unsubtly suggests that they should start hiring younger waitresses and prostituting them.
• One of Yosuke's Social Link events also involves him telling people off. In his case, Those Two Girls that keep trying to sleaze out of work and pester Yosuke about it prior to this moment, and who then accuse Yosuke of playing favorites with Saki, who is, at this point, dead, and start badmouthing her. Then Yosuke promptly tells them off when they take it too far. The kicker? One of the dialogue options for the protagonist in that particular event is to tell them to shut up. Complete with the angry bolts of rage that are usually reserved for when Chie, Yosuke or Kanji are angry. This coming from the guy whose Catchphrase is "Calm Down."
• In Chie's Level 9 Social Link, even though they were threatening the safety of her best friend, she stops a group of street punks from mugging a kid by daring them to punch her. Badass indeed.

General gameplay

• Every time Chie does her Galactic Punt follow-up attack, a one-shot kill that also doubles as a Funny Moment. It has to be seen to be believed.
  • Even works on mini-bosses!^note That link should skip to it; go to about 3:22 if it doesn't.
• Naoto's critical hit certainly counts. Strolling up to the enemy while shooting them three times before rearing back and planting her foot in the enemy's ass. There are quite a few awesome critical hits in the game, but Naoto's takes the cake simply because of how casual she is about it.
• FINALLY beating the Super Meat Bowl Challenge.

Golden exclusive

• Most of the Scooter follow-up attacks are a mixture of awesome and funny, with Yosuke simply crashing right into the enemy, Chie just ramming the enemy really hard, Yukiko jumping off and taking cover while her bike continues on its own and careens into the enemy. The two party members who don't have scooters aren't left out, with Teddie casually roller skating in & hitting a drill kick, and Kanji riding his bicycle before jumping off & slamming it into the ground. The only which isn't funny is Naoto's, but hers is just badass, by (similarly to Kanji) stopping close to the enemies, having her revolver fly into the sky, catching it without even looking, and then letting the bullets fly.
• Yu gets another one in Golden when you choose to confront Adachi alone (because he's also now a social link and get it up to rank 8). Adachi will then shoot Yu barely missing on purpose. Yu doesn't. EVEN. FLINCH. The Jester then changes to Hunger link.
• Rise, despite being the support party member, gets even stronger in Golden where she can block one fatal hit for Yu. Yes, that includes Instant Kills and one 9999 Megidolaon!
  • TWO hits, actually. One kicks in when any one of the party members is about to take a blow that would knock them out. The other one is a full-on revival for Yu when HE goes down. You get THAT ability by maxing her social link. There's nothing like taking a second one of Margaret's Megidolaons and getting your butt pulled out of the fire by that move when you're in a relationship with Rise: equal parts Heartwarming Moment and Moment of Awesome.
  • It's followed up in Arena Ultimax where Elizabeth helps Rise unlock her Persona's actual fighting potential while still being capable of its scanning ability, making Rise become equally as powerful as Mitsuru and Fuuka combined! Her quote of, "I'll show you what an idol can do!" is definitely more along the lines of, "Don't you dare underestimate me!"
• The Junes concert. While the scenes of the team doing their hardest to pull it together are hilarious, the fact still stands that they got it all together in just two days, with only one person besides Rise ever having experience performing in front of others (and that's Naoto, who admits she hasn't played in a piano recital in years). This is what the investigation team put together in the end. The game even notes that the team "became legends" as a result of this!
  • It's also a big moment for Rise, who shows just why she was such a popular idol in the first place when she's the one who's behind putting most of the actual performance together. She doesn't just have spirit, she has talent and know-how, and she gives a great pep talk before the gang goes onstage.
• Yu gets his motorcycle license after studying for one night. This may also apply to Yosuke, but it's unclear if he had been studying for the test before then. In comparison, it takes the girls several weeks to do so.

Miscellaneous

• After years of Naoto's original English voice actress being an urban legend with no clear idea who it was, an internet user was able to identify her as Anna Graves after a convention poster has her face with characters associated with her. Said user was able to ask her if she did voice Naoto via twitter and mentioned yes.
• In the manga, some of the characters have especially awesome Persona evolutions.
  • Yosuke, after finally coming to terms with Saki's death alongside her brother Naoki, summons Jiraiya during the fight with Shadow Mitsuo. Immediately before delivering the killing blow to the Shadow, Jiraiya turns into Susano'o.
  • Kanji awakens Rokuten Maoh during the fight with Shadow Naoto, seizing his opponent by the leg and giving Naoto the chance to finish the battle with Sukuna-Hikona.
  • Rise, after the concert at Junes and realizing that she does want to be an idol again, summons Kanzeon while searching for Nanako. This not only enables the rest of the team to catch up to Soji and Teddie, but allows Kanji and Yosuke to attack Kunino-Sagiri's weakness.

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