Persona 4: Shadows and Personas / Characters

Persona 4 Main Character Index
The Investigation Team (Yu Narukami | Naoto Shirogane) | Shadows and Personas | Social Links and NPCs | Antagonists (The Killer)

The Shadows and Personas of Persona 4.

The creatures that dwell within the Midnight Channel. Shadows are the manifestations of people's negative traits and emotions. Normally they're passive within the Midnight Channel, but become angry and violent whenever the fog lifts.

When someone ends up inside the Midnight Channel, their subconscious will shape part of the world to mirror their own inner thoughts and create a shadow of themselves. If someone rejects their Shadow, the Shadow will go completely berserk, transforming into a giant monster and attempt to kill their original selves.

But if a person can accept their Shadow as being a part of themselves, the Shadow will become a Persona that can be called on in battle.

Due to the nature of the story and wiki policy on spoiler tags, parts of this article contain major unmarked spoilers regarding the game's plot twists and reveals. You Have Been Warned.

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The Shadows

Shadow Selves in General

Accidental Suicide: In Persona 5, it's revealed that a person will die if their Shadow Self is killed and vice versa. Seeing as Mayumi and Saki's Shadow Selves are never encountered, it's not hard to imagine what happened to them...
Berserk Button: Being told "You're not me!" causes them to go berserk, transform, and attack. Rather than actual anger, however, denying your own Shadow means the attributes you're hiding become worse and exaggerated, which is what causes their transformation.
Boss Battle: They comprise the vast majority of the true boss fights, not counting the more powerful versions of enemy Shadows that serve as mini-bosses, the storyline entities, and the killer themselves.
Brutal Honesty: None of them mince words about their host's character flaws, bluntly stating them regardless of how little the host actually wants to hear it.
Character Catchphrase: All of them (except Mitsuo's) preface their boss fights with "I am a shadow... the true self."
Decon-Recon Switch: All of the Shadows function as dark versions of that character Gone Horribly Wrong, with their repressed feelings and worst flaws on full display and all their personal nuances and good qualities overshadowed. Once a character makes peace with their Shadow and accepts those parts of themselves, however, the Shadow evolves into a Persona, retaining elements of their boss form in their appearance and keeping many of their original powers. The implication is that the Persona represents a more complete and stable version of said Shadow, with their flaws and repressed emotions accepted but not allowed to define them.
Defeat Means Playable: They must be defeated for the person in question to accept them and join the party as a Persona-user. In Rise's case, while Shadow Rise is a Hopeless Boss Fight, the player must survive until the fight ends.
Enemy Without: They are the suppressed feelings, desires, and thoughts of their hosts made manifest.
Evil Knockoff: Aside from Shadow Teddie and Naoto, the Shadow Selves of the party members look like evil corrupted versions of their future Persona forms. Teddie and Naoto's shadows are instead knockoffs of their regular selves.
- Shadow Yosuke is a black ninja with shuriken eyes fused with a frog having a golden triangle-shaped Slasher Smile, whilst Jiraiya is a white ninja with shuriken eyes and the frog's smile.
- Shadow Chie is a yellow-wearing Dominatrix wielding a whip as well as a pointy hat. Tomoe wears a Bruce Lee-esque yellow jumpsuit, wields a long weapon as a naginata and has a pointy biker helmet.
- Shadow Yukiko is a giant red bird which uses fire attacks. Konohana Sakuya is a red and pink bird-like being that specialises in Agi spells.
- Shadow Kanji is a top-heavy muscular being armed with two Mars symbols which are slammed into the ground when performing a Skill. Take-Mikazuchi is also a top-heavy muscular being armed with a lightning bolt, which it slams into the ground and crushes when performing a non-physical Skill.
Faux Affably Evil: They're mocking in sincereness and casually sweet talk until they’re told that they're not a part of the original person.
Flanderization: Played for Drama. Each Shadow's personality is essentially mere aspects of the original's personality greatly exaggerated to the point of overwhelming everything else about them. For example, while Chie is jealous of Yukiko, she also genuinely cares about her, but her Shadow self sees Yukiko only as a personal punching bag and a crutch to prop herself up despite her crippling insecurity over being a tomboy. When it transforms into its boss form, it has a Dominatrix design meant to exaggerate Chie's relationship with Yukiko.
Jerkass: They're cruel and caustically blunt to their original hosts, and have no qualms about attacking them and their friends if denied.
Laughing Mad: Once they hear the "You're not me!" and its variations from their other self they usually start laughing before transforming into their berserk forms.
Mental Monster: A character's Shadow is a monster that represents and demonstrates all of the dark, unwanted, hidden sides of that character. While they initially look like humanoid exaggerations of those negative qualities, when denied ("You're not me!") they transform into terrible monsters that will attack the character. The only way to truly get rid of them is for the character to accept them as a part of themselves, at which point they transform into a Persona.
Morphic Resonance: Each Persona resembles a less monstrous version of the Shadows' boss forms. Shadow Yosuke, for example, transforms into a giant frog monster with the upper body of a Gratuitous Ninja on its back; by contrast, Jiraiya, Yosuke's Persona, is an anthropomorphic Frog Ninja.
One-Winged Angel: They start out looking just like their hosts, but then transform into a monstrous form that bears some resemblance to the Persona that party member earns. Shadow Yosuke implies that, by rejecting their Shadow, their host essentially separates the two, enabling them to become distinct individuals and grow in power.
Shadow Yosuke: Yeah, that's right! I am me now! I'm not you anymore, see?! (transforms into his boss form)
Phrase Catcher: When their other self rejects them it's almost always with a "You're not me!" The Investigation Team generally say "Oh, No... Not Again!" when they realise it's about to happen.
Plot-Irrelevant Villain: The shadow selves, and shadows as a whole, have nothing to do with the killer but are the entire reason the Investigation Team has to enter the TV world to save the killer’s victims.
Rule of Symbolism: The monstrous forms of the Shadow Selves all carry design ideas that reflect the respective character's innermost feelings and repressed thoughts, both in subtle and overt ways.
Shadow Archetype: True to their name, they follow the Jungian archetype and represent whatever the characters may have repressed. They will loudly exclaim these repressed feelings to the world, and do not take kindly to being denied. Accepting and embracing the flaws the shadow archetypes represent is how the party members obtain their persona, another call-out to Jung.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: All of them have glowing, yellow eyes.
Villain Has a Point: All of them represent parts of their hosts' personalities (even if they aren’t exactly an accurate portrayal of said parts of their personalities) that can't be denied, no matter how much the person in question refuses to accept them. The only way to truly stop them is to accept and make peace with them, which unlocks the power of Persona.

Shadow Yosuke

Arcana: Magician

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/syusuke.png

"You just came because you thought it sounded like a good time! What else is there to do out in this shithole?"

Yosuke's Shadow, who was discovered in the replica of the Konishi liquor store. Shadow Yosuke represents Yosuke's Small Town Boredom and his desire to do anything to alleviate that boredom. He's very dismissive of Saki's death, and claims it was just an excuse Yosuke was looking for to go on an adventure. When rejected, Shadow Yosuke became an enormous monster dressed in a strange ninja outfit with a giant toad for the bottom half of his body. After his defeat, Yosuke accepted his Shadow, which became the Persona Jiraiya.

Animal Motif: The bottom half of the One-Winged Angel form of Shadow Yosuke looks to be a frog or a toad, which can be considered a Five-Second Foreshadowing to what Yosuke's Persona will be; it can also be used to reference the story "The Frog in the Well" which alludes that Yosuke's Small Town Boredom comes from the fact that he's always comparing it to the city and is either unable to or unwilling to learn of the charms that Inaba has.
Adaptational Badass: Shadow Yosuke is the Warm-Up Boss of the game, but in The Animation, he's a much more competent fighter and holds his own against Izanagi.
Blow You Away: Possesses wind-based powers.
Boss-Only Level: He doesn't have an actual dungeon to himself, and Yu will fight him only after a few cutscenes.
Duel Boss: You're forced to face him one-on-one, since this is before you have any other party members.
Extra Turn: Averted. He doesn't take advantage of the "One More" mechanic after scoring a weakness hit against you, instead choosing to laugh maniacally.
For the Lulz: Accuses Yosuke of this. Everything he does, from trying to go on dates to playing the hero of Saki's murder, is all just to have a good time and nothing else.
Gratuitous Ninja: The upper half of his body is a weird ninja-like figure. This is invoked to represent Yosuke's desire to alleviate his boredom. After all, what's more exciting than ninjas?
Jerkass: While this may apply to all of the shadows, Shadow Yosuke takes Yosuke's own veiled resentment and cranks it up to intolerable levels of douchiness.
Our Centaurs Are Different: His One-Winged Angel's basic design.

Rule of Symbolism: The Shadow's monster form is a frog centaur-like creature where the humanoid half is a ninja-esque form dangling left to right helplessly, representing how Yosuke is completely immobile in Inaba and helpless to stir himself in any direction that leads outside of it. Frogs are also animals often seen in marshlands on the countryside of many regions around the world, Japan included, and the fact that the frog body is colored in forest camouflage represents both this and the fact that Yosuke is essentially invisible to the rest of Inaba outside of his job at Junes, which is the source of the district's ire. The ninja elements of the creature allude to his desire to be a cool hero and go on an adventure, while the smile on the beast half's face represents the Shadow's own Slasher Smile and Yosuke's friendly facade hiding his desire to leave Inaba behind.
Scarf of Asskicking: His top half wears a red scarf.
Small Town Boredom: The trait of Yosuke his Shadow most represents.
Smug Snake: For all of his mocking, he gets taken down by a single Persona.
Starter Villain: He's the first boss of the game.
Stepford Smiler: Shadow Yosuke claims that Yosuke puts on an act as happy-go-lucky because he's terrified of being alone.
Tarot Motifs: The Reversed Magician— unfocused potential or mental instability, as well as a reference to black magic or trickery; Yosuke's life in Inaba is one where he's repeatedly putting on a friendly face despite being the Butt-Monkey both at school and in the shopping district because of his job at Junes putting the other shops at risk. He also has plenty of opportunity to break free of the stasis, but it isn't until the Protagonist intervenes that he finds a healthier way to do it, rather than just focus on the murder spree as his promised adventure.
Warm-Up Boss: He is a very predictable fight in the game, meant to demonstrate the use of the Defend Command.
Weaksauce Weakness: Shadow Yosuke's weakness is electricity, the elemental spell of your first Persona.

Shadow Chie

Arcana: Chariot

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/schie.png

"That's right. I'm the one who can't do anything alone... I can't win as a girl, let alone as a person... I'm pathetic. But Yukiko... She depends on me... *chuckle* That's why she's my friend... I'll never loosen my grip on her... She's too important to me."

Chie's Shadow, met in Yukiko's Castle. Shadow Chie represents Chie's self doubt about how she can't measure up as a woman, and how being Yukiko's friend made her feel better about herself. Shadow Chie claims that she'll always keep a tight grip on Yukiko, constantly belittling her to make herself feel good. After being rejected, Shadow Chie becomes a tall Dominatrix like figure clad in yellow with long black hair, sitting on top a stack of three pale Chie lookalikes. Once accepted, Shadow Chie becomes the Persona Tomoe.

Adaptational Badass: Downplayed, but Golden gives her access to Mabufu for some extra attack coverage.
Dominatrix: Shadow Chie's overall theme, what with the leather outfit, concealing headpiece, and whip.
Green-Eyed Monster: Part of Shadow Chie is Chie's envy over how beautiful and feminine Yukiko is compared to her.
An Ice Person: Has the Mabufu spell in Golden, and frequently uses it later in the battle.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: She's born from Chie's using Yukiko to feel better about herself, and as such, continues to insult the party when she's low on health.
Shadow Chie: Ngh ... Don't make fun of me ... You're ... You're nothing against me...!
- A closer look at Shadow Chie's One-Winged Angel form will show that the faceless girls look more like Chie than the dominatrix atop of them who has more features of Yukiko, showing that Chie's feelings of inferiority run deep even as she uses her friend.
In the Hood: Wears a yellow hood over her face with a pair of eye holes cut out.
Jerkass: Since she's born from Chie's inadequacies, she's exceptionally harsh on her host, gloats about possessing Yukiko and insults Yosuke and Yu for defending Chie.
Kick Them While They Are Down: If she gets an extra turn, generally by knocking Yosuke down, she'll use "Bottomless Envy", a strong single-target move that will likely kill Yosuke on higher difficulties.
Kneel Before Zod: She screams "Kneel before me!" when using Mazio.
Powers Do the Fighting: Shadow Chie never moves when fighting. She relies on magic and her whip to attack.
Prehensile Hair: The ends of her hair become like large blades, capable of cutting.
Psychotic Smirk: In her human form, Shadow Chie is fond of this expression.
Removed Achilles' Heel: She uses Green Wall and reapplies it the turn after it expires, giving you a limited window of opportunity to exploit her wind weakness.
Rule of Symbolism: Shadow Chie's dominatrix getup represents how abusive and controlling Chie can be regarding her friends, Yukiko in particular, and the smiling face painted on her yellow hood is a nod to her fragile self-image and how she requires dominating others in her life to make herself look better. The Dominatrix element is also clearly more feminine in design, with an accentuated body and gigantic black hair, an exaggeration of Chie's desire to be more "womanly" and attractive. Upon closer inspection as well, the top figure is also far more reminiscent of Yukiko, again as an allusion to Chie's lack of confidence in her own looks and personality. The figures supporting her all wear female Yasogami student uniforms and have a vague, carbon replica of Chie's bowlcut hair, symbolizing both her need to use others to prop herself up and how she sacrifices her own image to leech off Yukiko's.
Shock and Awe: Actually knows some electrical attacks to counter Yosuke, who has her weakness of wind.
Tarot Motifs: The reversed Chariot— envy, addiction, lack of confidence and abusive control, as well as a lack of control of one's impulses. Chie's desire to be as feminine as her best friend makes her Shadow resent Yukiko for being the better "woman", lacking actual confidence to be more feminine on her own without relying on her friend as a stepping stone. As a result, Chie ends up locking Yukiko around herself to look better for the guys that come for her friend, unable to hold back the impulse to do so as it makes her feel better about her own image.
Too Important to Walk: The entire fight has Shadow Chie sitting on top of three other girls who are struggling to hold her up, which serves to represent Chie using Yukiko to prop herself up.
Turns Red: At low health, she starts spamming Mabufu when she's not using Mazio or Green Wall, and doesn't look scornfully at Yosuke before using Mazio, which not only means that you don't get a free turn, but also have no warning to guard before she uses it.
Weapon-Based Characterization: As part of her dominatrix theme, she wields a whip.
Whip of Dominance: Shadow Chie resembles a yellow-clad Dominatrix, wielding a whip and being carried by two subordinates. Shadow Chie is the embodiment of Chie's repressed desire for control over her friend Yukiko.

Shadow Yukiko

Arcana: Priestess

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/syukiko.png

"Historic inn? Manager training!? I'm sick of all these things chaining me down! I never asked to be born here! Everything's decided for me! From how I live, to where I die! I'm so sick of it! To hell with it all!"

Yukiko's Shadow. When Yukiko was thrown into the Midnight Channel, she created a large European-style castle. Shadow Yukiko appears dressed as a princess in said castle, hosting a show where she goes "hunting studs" for one of them to become her prince. Shadow Yukiko represents Yukiko's frustration of being forced into managing the family inn and her belief that she can never escape that fate. Shadow Yukiko constantly badmouths the inn and its tradition, and is hoping for her prince, whoever it might be, to come and take her away from her current life. When rejected, Shadow Yukiko becomes an enormous red bird with Yukiko's head inside of a combination of a birdcage and chandelier. After being accepted, Shadow Yukiko becomes the Persona Konohana Sakuya.

Ambiguously Bi: She considers Chie to be one of her three "princes", along with the protagonist and Yosuke.
Adaptational Badass: Zigzagged; Golden removes her Physical skill and status buff/debuff moves except for White Wall, but gives the Charming Prince Shadow Makajam and Evil Touch to facilitate status effects, enabling Shivering Rondo's extra-damage condition on Fear-stricken party members.
Caged Bird Metaphor: Shadow Yukiko is depicted as a caged bird, which symbolizes Yukiko's frustrations in being forced to inherit her family's inn instead of freely deciding her future.
Cool Crown: Wears a bronze tiara.
Cowardly Boss: After taking enough damage, the Charming Prince Shadow will abandon the fight instead of letting itself be destroyed.
Damsel in Distress: Reflecting Yukiko's feeling of being unable to escape the role she was born into, Shadow Yukiko regularly pleads for a Prince Charming to come and take her away from her current life.
Early-Bird Boss: The challenge in this fight draws from your limited resources and lack of combat options. You don't have a full four members for your party nor a dedicated healer, and Shadow Yukiko can target Chie's weakness to give you a hard time.
Fairytale Motifs: A princess looking for a prince charming that will sweep her off her feet, far away from her family's inn towards a happy ending she desperately wants.
Falling Chandelier of Doom: As a boss, she uses a chandelier that gets lowered from the ceiling with a bird cage embedded into it, and stops a short distance from the ground. Her move "Shivering Rondo" has her slam it onto the target, and it collapses when she's defeated.
Feathered Fiend: An enormous red bird ready to roast you alive.
Flunky Boss: Summons a Shadow called Charming Prince to aid her in the second half of the battle.
Furry Female Mane: She keeps her Hime Cut even in her Feathered Fiend form.
High-Class Gloves: Her princess outfit includes long, pink gloves.
Pimped-Out Dress: Wears an elaborate princess dress in her human form.
Playing with Fire: Fire attacks are her forte, particularly Burn to Ashes, which is very powerful for this point in the game. Agi spells will also heal her.
Princesses Prefer Pink: In keeping with the whole theme, she wears a pink outfit.
Removed Achilles' Heel: In Golden, she becomes weak to ice but still uses White Wall, meaning that you can only exploit the weakness after it expires.
Rule of Symbolism:
- Like a beautiful bird trapped in a cage, Yukiko is admired by her traditional beauty and grace but is trapped in an environment that confines her movement and robs her of her freedom. The bird form of her Shadow has a heart pattern on her chest which she keeps puffed out, referencing how a lot of bird species bulge out their chests in order to attract mates; Yukiko is therefore offering her heart to any "prince" that can take the princess away from her castle. The chandelier further connects to the princess motif by resembling a ballroom decoration, and princesses often meet their love in big regal dances like in fairytales or movies. Even her fire affinity is directly tied to her desire, as one of Yukiko's memories loudly resents how her name connects her to snow, something fickle and fragile. The door to her cage itself is also open, meaning she has the opportunity to leave on her own, but is keeping herself from doing so in favor of lashing out instead.
- The Charming Prince plays even further into Yukiko's inner desire to be "rescued". Before the fight begins, she addresses even Chie as a potential "prince" to save her, making the Charming Prince a representation of her desire's basest form; she doesn't care who the prince charming of her life is, as long as they get her out of taking care of the Amagi Inn. However, the fact that the prince will ditch her after taking enough damage is a reflection of how fickle Yukiko's fantasy ultimately is.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: Not quite to Shadow Rise's extent, but she focuses the camera on her low-cut dress's cleavage and makes a point of mentioning that she is wearing her "lacy unmentionables".
Sir Swears-a-Lot: In stark contrast to the largely polite and courteous Yukiko, who only swears twice in the entire game (once while Drunk on Milk during the King's Game, and another time when she's furious with the reporters), Shadow Yukiko frequently uses profanity.
Tarot Motifs: The reversed Priestess— Hidden agendas, emotional distortion and an inability to make one's own decisions worsened by a lack of intuition. Yukiko feels trapped by her obligations to the Amagi Inn, willing to literally gift herself to any "prince charming" that comes her way so she'll escape her predicament, not caring about the consequences as long as she gets her freedom.
Villainous Breakdown: She's quite dismayed and wastes a turn when her Charming Prince refuses to heed her summons a second time.
Visual Pun: Shadow Yukiko's boss form represents Yukiko's feelings of being a "caged bird". The door of the cage is hanging open, showing that Yukiko is the only thing preventing herself from being free.
Wake-Up Call Boss: As the first real challenge of the game, Shadow Yukiko will punish you if you go in unprepared. She has fairly powerful single and multi-target attacks, as well as the Fear status (which, if not healed, will cause Shadow Yukiko to follow up with an attack that will likely be an One-Hit Kill).

Shadow Kanji

Arcana: Emperor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skanji.png

"I don't care who... Won't someone, anyone, please accept me...? Accept me for who I am!"

Kanji's Shadow. When Kanji became a victim, his subconscious created the Steamy Bathhouse. Shadow Kanji represents Kanji's insecurity about his love of cute things and feminine hobbies, which he was ridiculed for and made him question his own sexuality. Shadow Kanji is completely Camp Gay, wearing only a bath towel and hosting a show about the "Men's Only Paradise". Once rejected, Shadow Kanji becomes a ridiculously buffed monochrome monster with his human upper half surrounded by roses in place of a head. He wields a pair of giant Mars symbols as weapons and is joined in battle by the Shadows "Nice Guy" and "Tough Guy". After being accepted, Shadow Kanji becomes the Persona Take-Mikazuchi.

Adaptational Badass: Shadow Kanji's moveset is altered in Golden to remove the heavier Physical attacks he had, but replaces them with multi-hit moves and access to Zio and Mazio for coverage, as well as giving him Revolution (which increases Critical chances for all), both Red and White Walls (to protect his Shadow helpers), and Spirit Drain so he won't be without SP.
Anchors Away: Not exactly anchors, but he fights wielding two giant Mars symbols.
Camp Gay: Designed as this, as he represents Kanji's insecurity with his sexuality and softer, more feminine personality traits.
Creepy High-Pitched Voice: In the Japanese language track, he has demonic-sounding falsetto that almost sounds like a girl's voice. The anime takes it further by making him sound more high-pitched and girly.
Dual Wielding: His giant Mars symbols, which he'll either strike with like hammers, or sling onto his monster half's arms to cast magic.
Effeminate Misogynistic Guy: He twists Kanji's Real Men Wear Pink habits into over-the-top flamboyance, and has a disdain for women because of how often they bullied him for his "girly" hobbies.
Flunky Boss: He's surrounded by two Shadows named Nice Guy (to Shadow Kanji's right) and Tough Guy (to his left) during battle, both of which serve to cover him and limit both Chie and Yukiko's use in the fight, as well as protect each other from the party exploiting the two Shadows' weaknesses.
Gender-Restricted Ability: Forbidden Murmur, which poisons the guys, and Roar of Wrath, which enrages the girls.
Gratuitous English: Nice Guy, one of Shadow Kanji's minions, in the anime.
He-Man Woman Hater: Shadow Kanji thinks women are scary because of how they would mock Kanji for his habits, calling him "unmanly".
I Just Want to Have Friends: Shadow Kanji represents Kanji's desire to be accepted for who he is.
Leitmotif: Muscle Blues.
Macho Camp: The two minibosses that accompany him during his boss fight are two tall, muscular men with Bara Genre mannerisms.
Magic Knight: Shadow Kanji employs physical beatdown, and will complement it with his unique spells and electrical magic.
Modesty Towel: His human form is only clad in a towel wrapped around his waist, tying to how Kanji wants to "expose" himself without reprisal.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: In his Berserk form, he has four arms.
Psycho Electro: Having electrical powers while your "emotions are going haywire" will fit the bill.
Rule of Symbolism:
- Shadow Kanji's a dainty human figure, dolled up in make-up and wrapped in a bouquet of flowers, representing his desire to make himself presentable and acceptable to others, gifting his inner self like a flower arrangement as he wants desperately to be accepted. The external monstrous body in monochrome shows the external image he's built as a delinquent and how one-note it is, muscular and powerful while shielding the more fragile figure at the helm who, again, just wants to be accepted. The giant Mars symbols he uses as weapons are a nod to how Kanji uses his masculinity as a way to "attack" others who try to hurt him, and the muscles are reflective of how he's so confused about his passions that it becomes exaggerated into him questioning his sexuality, as the overtone of homosexual imagery in the Steamy Bathhouse ties into the Bara Genre, further referenced by the flowers around the human half of Shadow Kanji being roses.
- The Nice and Tough Guy Shadows are also part of his projection, both being equal in look to each other but also monochromatic, split down the middle in black-and-white as a nod to how Kanji's two personalities clash yet compliment each other as well. The duality is also part of Kanji's whole self, a nice guy who puts on a tough act to defend himself.
Shoot the Medic First: It's ideal for the party to take out the Nice Guy first, as he can flat-out heal Shadow Kanji in the original release and can use Heat Riser on him. Golden removes Dia and Diarama from his arsenal but gives him a plethora of other minor status buffs and keeps Heat Riser, meaning it's still ideal to get him out of the battle first and foremost.
Something about a Rose: The human half of Shadow Kanji's Berserk form is surrounded by roses, while thorns wrap around the monster's arms.
Sissy Villain: Turns out as this since he represents Kanji's repressed feminine interests and hobbies.
Stripperific: Shadow Kanji's only ever wearing a bath towel, even in his Berserk form.
Tarot Motifs: The reversed Emperor— weak will, misleading, and corrupted intention, all traits associated with toxic masculinity. Kanji has let the rumors and gossip about his hobbies shape how he presents himself to others, depending on a tough guy act to make himself look intimidating and dangerous despite his actual love for things that are much softer and cuter. This has led him to become isolated and mislead others into seeing him for the danger he never wanted to present.
Top-Heavy Guy: His Berserk form has an enormous, muscular torso and arms, and a tiny waist and legs.
Villainous Crossdresser: In his Berserk form, Shadow Kanji is wearing very heavy makeup.

Shadow Rise

Arcana: Lovers

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/srise.png

"Ahahahahah! C'mon, look! You can't tear your eyes away! This is me! This is who I really am! Not Risette, the fake celebrity! Look at the girl right in front of you! I'm sick of being some airhead cliché who chokes down everything she's fed and takes it all with a smile! "Risette"? Who the hell is she? There's no such person in this world! I'm no one but myself! C'mon look at me!"

Rise's Shadow. When Rise was the latest victim of the Midnight Channel, her subconscious created the Marukyu Striptease. Shadow Rise represents Rise's frustration at being made into an empty idol image as "Risette", made into a pole dancer in a bikini who intends to strip for her audience so that everyone can see "the real her" in place of the Risette façade. After going Berserk, Shadow Rise becomes a multicolored female figure with a satellite dish in place of a face with Rise's pigtails. After she is beaten and accepted, Shadow Rise becomes the Persona Himiko.

Attention Whore: Shadow Rise constantly demands people to look at her, reflecting Rise's doubts that no one sees the real her, just Risette.
Bait-and-Switch Boss: While you do fight her, she's a Hopeless Boss Fight gameplay-wise and is defeated by Teddie in a cutscene. But then Shadow Teddie shows up and becomes the true boss of the dungeon.
Barbie Doll Anatomy: In contrast to how Shadow Rise wanted to fully expose herself to others in her human form, her Berserk state is nude but has no visible traits on her clearly-feminine body.
Berserk Button: In addition to going One-Winged Angel after the real Rise denies her, she gets Cross-Popping Veins and becomes noticeably angry when Rise begs her to stop her pole dancing routine.
BFG: In The Animation, Shadow Rise turned her pole into a cannon that could fire elemental blasts. She ended up with a large bundle of these cannons for an attempted finisher.
Bright Is Not Good: Shadow Rise's berserk form is brightly colored. She's also the only shadow the Investigation Team can't defeat on their own.
Buxom Beauty Standard: Rise notes (with some jealousy) that her shadow is bustier than her.
Fan Disservice: Shadow Rise in her human form might have been enticing and is very sexually forward. However, this attitude is portrayed as strange and disturbing. When Berserk, she becomes a disturbing multicolored creature who constantly makes wet squelching noises and moans lustfully while grinding on the stripper pole she's hanging from, even when she's attacked. Even Yosuke finds it off-putting instead of titillating.
Fragile Speedster: The point at which the fight becomes unwinnable is when Shadow Rise starts to dodge all of your attacks, which is frankly her only way out because she barely has more health than Shadow Yukiko, despite being the fifth Shadow Self to be faced.
Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: After taking off enough of her health- even if you empty her entire health bar- she will use Supreme Insight on her next turn, rendering her invulnerable to all attacks. A few rounds later, the battle ends and progresses onward.
Hopeless Boss Fight: Using her special ability to scan others, Shadow Rise becomes invincible and constantly exploits the Investigation Team's weaknesses. In the end, it falls on Teddie to beat her by "going bear-serk".
Leitmotif: It's SHOW TIME!
Loss of Identity: Shadow Rise represents Rise's uncertainty about who she truly is after living as an idol for so long.
Me's a Crowd: In The Animation, Shadow Rise creates several versions of herself in different outfits she wore as Risette, asking the human Rise which one is actually her.
Non-Human Head: Her berserk form has a fractal mirror as a face.
Rule of Symbolism: Shadow Rise being a stripper is a literal way of showing Rise's true desire, to make her "true" self known over her idol persona shown by the media, to lay herself "bare" in the most clear way possible. Her Shadow's multicolored body shows the consequences of how the public perceives her, painting her however they like and creating a colorful image of Rise in their heads without ever knowing her for herself, further shown by how her head, a satellite dish, hides her face while keeping her ponytails; Shadow Rise knows the public doesn't want to see her, just the idea of her they create. A satellite dish can both receive and send out information, and Rise's biggest want is to make her true self known and tell others who she is instead of constantly receiving adoration and praise over something she feels she isn't.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: She has it, and she's gonna flaunt it, much to Rise's horror.
Squishy Wizard: She has very poor health for her point in the game, but will spam ma-elementals to repeatedly knock down your party. Besides, she's not meant to be fought all the way.
Stripperific: She only has a yellow bikini on in her human form and threatens to lose even that.
Tarot Motifs: The reversed Lovers— False love, emotional loss, feelings of helplessness, and poor decisions. Rise is so frustrated with her life as an idol that she's taken the image of "Risette" as an insult to her sense of self. As a result, she doesn't know which version of herself is "real" and is burdened with the idea that the love her fans give her is also just a fabrication meant for the Rise that appears in the media. The Shadow reflects the "poor decisions" habit by how it chooses to settle the image problems Rise has: by literally bearing her naked body in the Midnight Channel for all to see.
Trick Boss: Shadow Rise, outside of her Hopeless Boss Fight phase, is fairly weak. The boss the player actually needs to put in effort to defeat is the subsequent Shadow Teddie.

Shadow Teddie

Arcana: Moon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/steddie.png

"The truth is unattainable... It will always be shrouded in fog. Though you reach through the murk and the gloom to grasp something, you have no means to know it is the truth... In which case, why...? What sense is there in yearning for truth? Close your eyes. Lie to yourself. Live in blissful ignorance... It is a much smarter way to exist."

Teddie's Shadow. After Shadow Rise's defeat, Teddie's own doubts about his identity and existence hit the boiling point, which spawns Shadow Teddie within the Striptease. Shadow Teddie represents Teddie's fears that there is nothing to his existence, believing that there is no purpose or meaning in life and that one should simply live in ignorance instead. After going Berserk despite Teddie never outright denying him, Shadow Teddie looks like a giant form of Teddie with large claws and a broken face mask, revealing only blackness inside the suit and a pair of glowing purple eyes. After being accepted, Shadow Teddie becomes the Persona Kintoki-Douji.

Attack Its Weak Point: In the anime, the "object" just under its chest (implied to be Ameno-sagiri) had to be struck before Shadow Teddie would go down.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A giant, nightmarish version of Teddie.
Awesome, but Impractical: Nihil Hand is an intimidating attack, but also one that takes two turns to charge and does no damage if you guard against it. As such, you essentially get a free turn to attack him when he first starts charging it up, and can have everyone guard on the second turn.
- It gets worse for him if you can dish out enough damage during the windup, as he drops the Nihil Hand on himself, opening him up for an All Out Attack.
Bears Are Bad News: As opposed to the Beary Friendly Teddie.
Creepy Monotone: Compared to the other Shadows, who speak in a similar (albeit taunting) tone as their counterparts, he speaks in a very creepy, almost dead-sounding monotone. This was changed in the Updated Re-release, when Teddie's VA was changed, and his Shadow developed a thundering bass voice, even if it still sounds emotionless and blank.
Damage-Sponge Boss: He's a pretty simple boss fight, mostly because Rise tells you how to get by most of his damaging attacks, but he has a gigantic HP value of 5000, at a point in the game where you're lucky or spent a lot of time level grinding if any of your party members besides you can hit for more than 100 damage a turn. For comparison, Shadow Naoto, a boss you fight two entire dungeons later with more levels and Personas, only has 500 more health than Shadow Teddie.
Diabolus ex Machina: Shows up after Shadow Rise gets beaten by Teddie so you have a real boss to fight. And he's given form and power by Ameno Sagiri.
Empty Shell: The giant holes in his face show that he has nothing but a void inside of him.
Evil Sounds Deep: Very deep compared to Teddie, even deeper in the boss fight. In fact, his voice in the boss fight is almost exactly the same as Ameno-sagiri's.
Foreshadowing:
- Its Berserk form has it coming out of a dark hole in the ground, much like the common Shadow forms in the dungeons before the player attacks them, serving as a subtle way of showing that Teddie is himself a Shadow.
- It's heavily implied (and all but outright confirmed in The Animation) that Shadow Teddie isn't just Teddie's shadow but also a puppet of Ameno-sagiri:
  - Rise flat-out notes that she felt another power intervene when Shadow Teddie appears, right after receiving her powers of navigation through Himiko, meaning this Shadow is either being controlled by or is an outside influence.
  - During Shadow Teddie's Breaking Speech, Teddie expresses genuine confusion about what the Shadow is saying, implying that it's not entirely a reflection of his thoughts. He also never outright denies his Shadow; it becomes a monster fully by its own will.
  - Every other Shadow imitates the speech of their counterparts, but Teddie doesn't have the faux-sophistication of his Shadow at any point, even when he's trying to act "smooth" with girls. Shadow Teddie uses an extensive vocabulary and talks about things the real Teddie doesn't even know the meaning of at that point.
  - Unlike most other Shadows, he directly mocks the Investigation Team for their fruitless pursuit of the truth. The other Shadow Selves are antagonistic, but only because they're lashing out at the party's rejection and reacting to their environment. By contrast, Shadow Teddie is not only downplaying Teddie's inner struggle, he's outright attacking the entire party's motivation and saying it's pointless, something the other Shadows didn't really care about (Shadow Yosuke comes the closest, but even then it only talked about Yosuke's personal involvement in the case).
  - Analyzing Shadow Teddie in battle reveals his Arcana as the Moon, while Teddie's Social Link is represented by the Star. If this is Teddie's Shadow, why does the Arcana not match?
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: He just suddenly pops up after Rise awakens her Persona with little warning.
Hidden Depths: Rise remarks on a "Powerful presence" intervening during the fight. This is a clue that what you're fighting isn't just Shadow Teddie, but an early manifestation of Ameno-sagiri.
An Ice Person: Not only uses Mabufula and Bufudyne, but also drains ice. This may be because of his cold outlook on life, or because of Teddie's affinity for ice moves.
Knight of Cerebus: All of the Shadows have goofy elements to them while still being disturbing. Shadow Teddie is dead serious, soul-crushingly nihilistic, and terrifying to look at. He is also implied to be connected to Ameno-sagiri in some way, giving him a greater amount of plot importance than any of the other Shadows.
Power of the Void: In The Animation, Shadow Teddie has a suction force that draws everything into the void inside his body.
Rule of Symbolism: Its monstrous alternate self is a reflection of Teddie's biggest fear; the idea that he might be hollow inside and never able to fill this void. The cracked mascot face reveals a pitch-black abyss within the creature, alluding to the feeling of emptiness and the idea that there is nothing underneath the bear suit. The huge sharp claws on the creature's hands and the more realistic-looking fur texture alludes to how Teddie fears he might be a monster or something completely detached from humanity just from residing in the Midnight Channel, the friendly mascot mask literally cracking and shattering to reveal a monster that consumes endlessly. The fact that Shadow Teddie's form is sunk into a hole in the ground reflects its speech about how the Investigation Team's search for the truth is pointless, content with keeping itself in a hopeless situation it can't get out of despite the means to do so, not even trying to make its way out, reflected in how its battle stance is to patiently tap its claws on the ground as if waiting for the party to act. The hole is also a more detailed version of how Shadows in the overworld appear, coming out of the ground, hinting at Teddie's true nature. Its eyes are also shaped like Ameno-sagiri's own giant eyeball, and the fact that they are in no way similar to a normal Shadow Self's eyes are another early indication this isn't fully Teddie's Shadow.
Sphere of Destruction: Nihil Hand, which Shadow Teddie charges in one hand before sweeping it across the field.
The Stoic: Speaks in a controlled voice devoid of all emotion.
Straw Nihilist: Shadow Teddie believes that there is nothing to life, that it's empty and meaningless. Even Teddie seems confused by these feelings, as he's never indicated that he had this issue before. To further drive the point home, Shadow Teddie's Ultimate Move is appropriately named "Nihil Hand".
Tarot Motifs: An interesting variation; Teddie's own Arcana is the Star, so the Shadow naturally plays it in reverse, but the game classifies it as a Moon type in game^notebecause, if you think about it, the opposite of the Moon, the Sun, is in fact, a Star;
- The Reversed Star means depression, self-doubt, nihilism, and despair. Teddie hits his first biggest low point after the fight with Rise's Shadow, her comment about how "there is no 'real me'" resonating with him and causing his Shadow to manifest in full. The Shadow exposes nihilistic thoughts that Teddie himself finds strange, but accurately remarks on his despair about being empty and hollow, fearing there is nothing within him at all and that the truth about his origin might lead him even further into darkness.
- The Reverse Moon, which the Shadow is categorized with in-game, represents illusion, fear, and anxiety stemming from faulty self-reflection. Teddie fears that he really is empty inside and fated to be so forever, and that the truth behind his existence is just as devoid of meaning in the end, afraid of what's coming his way. The part about illusion is also shown by the Shadow mocking the Investigation Team for their pursuit of the truth, which it deems "meaningless". One could also say that Shadow Teddie is itself an illusion created by Ameno-sagiri from Teddie's actual hidden fears.
Thousand-Yard Stare: His sole expression is a hauntingly empty stare.
"Uh-Oh" Eyes: Even by the standards of a Shadow, his eyes are disturbing to look at. Notably, they more strongly resemble Ameno-sagiri's eyes than they do any other Shadow's.
Wolverine Claws: Has some very large and grisly claws coming out of his hands.

Shadow Mitsuo

Arcana: Hermit

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smitsuo.png

"I... have nothing... I am nothing... And you... are me..."

Mitsuo Kubo's Shadow. After being thrown into the Midnight Channel by the real killer, Mitsuo creates the Void Quest, a dungeon modeled after 8-bit video games. Shadow Mitsuo represents Mitsuo's belief that his life is meaningless, believing he and everything else around him is empty. After being rejected, Shadow Mitsuo becomes a baby with an enormous head who creates and operates a giant 8-bit video game character over himself.

After being defeated, Mitsuo doesn't accept his Shadow as a part of himself, and Shadow Mitsuo simply dissolves into nothingness.

Adaptational Badass: The Animation not only gives him full command over Void Quest itself, it gives him the ability to trap Yu in a Lotus-Eater Machine that projects Mitsuo's own insecurities onto Yu's life and tries to make him think that his friendships are all superficial in the end.
Battle Theme Music: Exclusive to Golden, Shadow Mitsuo gains "Shin Mitsuo Tensei", an 8-bit remix of "I'll Face Myself - Battle".
Barrier Change Boss: His true (baby) form will cast a Wall spell granting resistance to one element. This also signals which kind of spell he'll use, so whichever party member is weak to that should guard.
Creepy Monotone: Speaks in an empty, emotionless tone. Its boss form makes it even more hollow by adding an electronic filter that makes it sound robotic and cold.
Damage-Sponge Boss: The longevity of his battle is all because of that 8-bit armor he summons that must be destroyed to properly damage Shadow Mitsuo. Worse, he can regenerate the armor with a series of three commands, which he does at various intervals, and after the player reduces him to 75%, 50% or 25% health. On his own, Shadow Mitsuo actually has slightly less health than Shadow Teddie.
Defeat Means Playable: Subverted. Unlike the other victims, Mitsuo doesn't accept his Shadow. As such, Shadow Mitsuo never becomes a usable Persona and merely dissolves into nothing, not that Mitsuo would be someone the Team wanted around anyway.
Disc-One Final Boss: Shadow Mitsuo's fight is certainly a climatic point in the story, but it's still clear as day that the mystery doesn't end with Mitsuo, and Naoto still has a part to play in the story after this battle.
Dull Surprise: An example of this being played for horror. Mitsuo is so completely empty as a human being that his Shadow, the embodiment of his inner self, is barely even functional.
Empty Shell: Shadow Mitsuo represents Mitsuo's inner feelings of worthlessness and lack of being. He is the only Shadow to not claim to be the true self. At one point during the boss fight, he says that he needs proof that he exists. This is why he murdered Mr. Morooka.
Enfant Terrible: Shadow Mitsuo's real form looks like an evil floating baby.
Filler Villain: Downplayed; he's the only Shadow that doesn't become a Persona for a party member, his fight is fairly straightforward, and the one he comes out of is a Red Herring in terms of his identity as the killer. The only important things that come out of his arc are King Moron's death and the full introduction of Naoto.
Hell Is That Noise: He can use Ghastly Wail to instantly kill any character with the Fear status.
Lotus-Eater Machine: Traps Yu Narukami in one in the Animation, showing him all of his friends drifting apart and leaving him alone with nothing, as a reflection of Mitsuo's own lack of understanding of friendship.
Master of All: His unshielded form is capable of using virtually all elements; however, it picks just one and sticks to it every time its shield is destroyed. If one of your party members happens to be weak to that element and is downed by one of his attacks, he'll unleash Megidola on your party, so make any party members who are weak to his chosen element guard every turn he's unshielded (the element he picks is the same as the Wall spell he casts at the beginning of his unshielded phase, i.e. if he casts White Wall, then he's chosen ice attacks).
Neck Lift: Shadow Mitsuo's true form tries to strangle Yu within the Lotus-Eater Machine before the others rescue him in The Animation.
Retraux: The Void Quest and "Mitsuo the Hero" are all styled after classic 8-bit RPGs which Mitsuo is obsessed with.
Rule of Symbolism:
- Mitsuo is a creep who hides behind video games and the internet in order to shelter himself from a miserable life where no one ever approaches him because of his standoffish, childish behavior, reflected by how the Shadow is literally a crybaby hiding under an 8-bit shell of a video game character. The Shadow's baby head is surrounded by a "halo" of what seems to be computer code, not to mention being very pronounced and big, reflecting how Mitsuo surrounds his mind with technology and thinks about it often, but ultimately it does little to hide his sense of entitlement to others' attention. The "Hero" shell is clearly his own idea of getting people's attention as the main character of his own "quest", acting out of Protagonist-Centered Morality and placing himself under the public eye as a killer, despite still seeing himself as a "hero" just because he's trying to seize control of his life.
- In the anime, the Shadow's Lotus-Eater Machine power is essentially projection made manifest, as he tries to destroy Yu's morale by showing him what Mitsuo thinks about the idea of friendship in the long run; that it's artificial and pointless, and that his friends and family will leave him as soon as the case is over with and he has to return home. It's a perfect reveal of Mitsuo as a Green-Eyed Monster who is projecting his insecurities onto Yu just because he has what Mitsuo could never achieve on his own.
Shielded Core Boss: His Berserk form is surrounded by a shell of pixel blocks resembling a gigantic 8-bit sprite. You have to destroy his outer shell before you can attack him directly. He can restore his outer shell by acting three times (First Whisper, then Chant, then Prayer), and uses two of those after losing roughly half his health, so you will likely have to break the outer shell at least twice to win. On the plus side, though, every time you do so, you can gain an All-Out Attack on him, and if you do enough damage while he's reforming his outer shell.
Shock and Awe: After leveling up, Mitsuo the Hero can use Gigadyne, which, while apparently a lightning attack, is Almighty-based. Shadow Mitsuo, however, uses Zio spells along with the other three elements.
Shout-Out: A big one to both the original Shin Megami Tensei game that gave birth to the Persona series (namely "What If...") and Dragon Quest, particularly his "Gigadyne" attack which is an SMT-style satire of "Gigadein", an electric spell from Dragon Quest III.
Synthetic Voiceactor: Shadow Mitsuo, when hiding inside "Mitsuo the Hero".
Tarot Motifs: The reversed Hermit— Extreme isolation, loneliness, and lack of regard for society. Mitsuo is completely detached from society as a whole, living in his own little cubicle of a bedroom where he only interacts with others through the internet, and the interactions he does have on the outside are minimal and antagonistic, stemming from a complete disregard of personal space and a desperate craving for attention from the public. Shadow Mitsuo is the personification of that life, devoid of people, isolated and alone.

Shadow Naoto

Arcana: Wheel of Fortune

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/snaoto.png

"The fools all say it, don't they...? 'You're only a child,' 'Keep out of our business, kid,' and so forth. No matter how many cases you spend hours cogitating over, no matter how many crimes you solve, you're a child in their eyes. It's your brain they're interested in. The grey matter locked up in that skull. As long as they need it, you're an ace detective! But once you're done, it's back to the playpen with you. You haven't the means to deal with society's two-faced nature... You're just a lonely child."

Naoto's Shadow. After purposefully becoming the next victim, Naoto's subconscious created the Secret Laboratory. Shadow Naoto represents Naoto's insecurities in being both a woman and a Kid Detective in a male dominant career, being looked down on as a woman or child. She wears an oversized lab coat and constantly switches between an over-the-top Mad Scientist and a crying child, and plans on televising the sex change operation she intends to perform on the real Naoto so that she can finally be a respected man. When rejected, Shadow Naoto becomes a toy robot version of herself with wings and childish ray guns. After being accepted, Shadow Naoto becomes the Persona Sukuna-Hikona.

Achilles' Heel: Downplayed; Zio skills deal extra damage to her, but it's not counted as a weakness per se. It will hurt her plenty, but there's no knockdown.
Confusion Fu: She's got access to a TON of max-level single-target elemental spells, status moves and conditional Almighty skills that will keep players on their toes, even moreso if they allow her to target the party's weaknesses. It's a very good idea to head into the battle with some good coverage.
Evil Knockoff: The Berserk Shadow Naoto looks like Naoto made into a toy robot.
Eye Beams: In the Animation, Galgalim Eyes is portrayed as a series of rings fired from her eye.
Family-Friendly Firearms: Shadow Naoto has two enormous laser guns, contrasting Naoto's darker and more serious pistols.
Five-Second Foreshadowing: When being belittled by Naoto, she completely drops the manly voice.
Glass Cannon: Shadow Naoto can't take much punishment (especially from Zio skills), but will throw out a variety of very painful moves and will target weaknesses if the party doesn't have a way to cover for them.
Hollywood Cyborg: Berserk Shadow Naoto's left side is made of robotic parts, along with Electronic Eyes.
Jet Pack: Part of Shadow Naoto's robot body, complete with airplane wings.
Just a Kid: Repeatedly tells this to Naoto during their confrontation.
Large Ham: Contrasted to Naoto's calm and demure detective persona, her Shadow cranks up the overacting and chews the scenery when confronted, talking poetically and sophisticated about everything Naoto's been hiding within herself like a supervillain doing a monologue.
Living Toys: Her berserk form is a toy robot in the shape of Naoto.
Mad Scientist: How Shadow Naoto presents herself mostly.
Mood-Swinger: Flip flops between a Large Ham Mad Scientist and a crying child, showing that Naoto's cold attitude is just her trying to overcome being seen as "just a kid".
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The smallest of the Berserk Shadow Selves, but easily the most dangerous.
Professor Guinea Pig: Talks aboutt wanting to be "experimenter and experimentee" in her Sex Change Operation.
Rapid Aging: Her Galgalim Eyes causes this to happen to anyone it hits in the anime.
Rule of Symbolism: Deep down, Naoto is still a child, but one who's trying to look more mature than she is despite still being treated as one by her superiors in the force. As a result, her Shadow takes the form of a half-human mecha inspired by countless pieces of media, outing Naoto as a geek who likes science-fiction material. Her Shadow also looks like an action figure with toy ray guns, not only alluding to Naoto's fascination with sci-fi but also what her Shadow said earlier about how the force uses her, a toy they play with for clout until she's done being useful, putting her back in the playpen afterwards. The cyborg half also neutralizes her human half's feminine attributes, referencing her desire to fit in with the male-oriented police force and her attempts to hide her femininity.
Sophisticated as Hell: Her reaction to Kanji's being confident that he can defeat her.
Shadow Naoto: You'll kick my ass, huh? Fine... Go ahead and try, you lizard-brained imbecile!
Tarot Motifs: The reversed Wheel of Fortune— Bad luck, loss of control, and negative external forces. Naoto's life was influenced by a desire to be a detective, but the fact that she chose to be a lady in a male-dominated workplace hasn't placed luck on her side, with her superiors treating her like a child who wants to play detective rather than someone who takes her job very seriously and has the mindset to go as far as she deserves to go. She has no control over how others think of her, can't make them take her seriously otherwise, and has to constantly fight to show how reliable she is.
Weaksauce Weakness: Unlike most other bosses, Shadow Naoto is missing Contractual Boss Immunity for Silence. Should her Mute Ray be reflected there's a good chance she'll get silenced and completely defanged for a while.
Wham Line: It's Shadow Naoto that reveals to the Investigation Team (and the audience) that Naoto is actually a woman.
Zeerust: Her Berserk form's ray guns are very reminiscent of retro space operas like Flash Gordon, or early space-focused comic book characters like DC's Adam Strange. The Animation even gives her Mute Ray attack a sound effect not unlike one heard in older Hanna-Barbera cartoons like Space Ghost, which also followed a similar theme.

Shadow Yu

Arcana: Fool

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fd366a93a4e919f0665281910de2fa96.png

"I wanted to stay with everyone forever... I didn't care if it was an illusion created by the fog. Life without a connection to people is miserable. It's not the life I want! I just need them here, no matter what the cost!"

Yu Narukami's Shadow, exclusive to The Animation. Shadow Yu appears on the screens of a pile of old fashioned TVs during the Protagonist's Heroic BSoD, representing Yu's hesitation and fear of leaving Inaba at the end of the year, forcing him to say goodbye to all the friends he made and goes at length explaining that all he wants is friendship, even if he has to live a lie to keep those friends. Yu is shaken out of his Heroic BSoD by Margaret and accepts his Shadow, turning him back into Izanagi.

Canon Foreigner: This version of Shadow Yu ended up getting "canonized" in Persona 4: Arena Ultimax.
Despair Event Horizon: The first instance of a Persona reverting to a Shadow because of its owner falling prey to their inner demons.
Hates Being Alone: Embodies this side of Yu, who really hates it.
Heroic BSoD: The result of Yu's Despair Event Horizon after his friends fell to Izanami's power. Unable to go on without them, he willingly let himself be trapped in her illusion until Margaret intervened and made him face the truth, including that Izanagi had been reverted to a Shadow bearing his face several times at once.
I Just Want to Have Friends: Shadow Yu's only motivation. He'll do anything to keep his friends, even if that means living in Izanami's Lotus-Eater Machine.
Rule of Symbolism: Yu's face appearing on multiple TV monitors is reflective of several aspects tying back to his status as the Fool, the one with the power of the Wild Card; Like his ability implies, Yu is able to wield multiple Personas and, therefore, able to talk to several different people in different ways, creating bonds with them that strengthen both himself and the others he meets, metaphorically wearing different faces for each that are all, uniformly, still himself in the end. The faces appearing on TVs show his biggest insecurity, as well as his biggest sense of importance, are directly tied to his adventures in the TV World, thinking that if the adventure ends, he'll never have his friends or bonds again. Furthermore, all the TVs show different angles of his face as he talks about how much it hurts to be alone, showing how he fears that despite all the bonds he's created, they could be nothing but moments on a screen that all end with only himself in focus.
Tarot Motifs: Unmentioned because of the shift in medium, but he's the reversed Fool— Recklessness, naivety, and taking unnecessary risks. Yu has been caught in Izanami's most powerful illusion, which is concealing the fact that his friends are all succumbing to the Thousand Curses and effectively dying around him, as well as his hesitation to leave Inaba, trapping him in a dream world where he'll always have them around because he refuses to go on without them. Yu's recklessness has finally manifested and cost him his Persona, and his short-sighted decision is making him fall prey to the goddess' manipulation until Margaret snaps him out of it.
The Unfought: Unlike other Shadows, Yu was able to accept his Shadow without it going berserk.

Personas

Izanagi

Arcana: Fool, World ^noteas Izanagi-no-Okami

The Father of Japan

^{Click here to see Izanagi-no-Okami}

The Protagonist/Yu's first Persona, who manifested on his own within the Midnight Chanel. Izanagi fights with a long spear and the Zio spell line. Later it is discovered that Izanami was the one to grant Yu his Persona. By unlocking the True Ending, Izanagi will become Izanagi-no-Okami of the World Arcana, which embodies Izanagi as the Grand Kami, the ruler of all kami.

11th-Hour Superpower: Izanagi-no-Okami is only obtained when dealing the final blow to the True Final Boss.
Adaptational Badass: In the game Izanagi's just a cool-looking Persona with low-tier stat growth/elemental affinities/skills that most players will have gotten rid of by the second dungeon; but in the anime he comes off as the biggest badass of the entire bunch, regularly being the go-to Persona when Yu needs to wipe out a particularly dangerous Shadow. This carries over in the Arena games, where Izanagi is (barring his upgraded form) the only Persona Yu uses.
- In the Persona 4: The Golden Animation, Izanagi wipes out a veritable swarm of Shadows in his introduction scene with high-level skills like Maziodyne, Vorpal Blade, and Megidolaon.
Badass Longcoat: Both wear equally cool ones, but with different meanings:
- Izanagi's appears to be a black trench coat, fitting the delinquent style and fighting back.
- Izanagi-no-Okami's meanwhile appears to be a white greatcoat, looking more ornate and mature along with a tie, showing how much Yu has grown and his transition into becoming a fine young man.
The Comically Serious: Persona 4: Dancing All Night has the Father of Japan relish on a guitar solo. Even worse is Izanagi-no-Okami, who pulls out a two-headed instrument with a bass and guitar on both ends. It's even implied that he even makes a pun when Yu watches the Midnight Channel at home, with "Yu shall open the door".
Cool Helmet: It also has protrusions at the top which looks like a Cool Crown. Fitting, given his mythological status.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Can somewhat indirectly get this in the Golden Ending, if the protagonist has a romantic relationship with Marie, whose true identity is Izanami-no-Mikoto. Given the history between the two deities, this is close to a reconciliation of sorts.
Former Teen Rebel: Izanagi-no-Okami's sharp white suit and tie contrasts with Izanagi's Japanese Delinquents getup, which symbolically shows the coming-of-age elements of Yu going from a teenager to a responsible, respectable and reliable young man.
Gold and White Are Divine: The primary color scheme of Izanagi-no-Okami.
Instrumental Weapon: Izanagi-no-Okami uses his weapon for a guitar solo to close out the dance sequence for Reach Out to the Truth in Persona 4: Dancing All Night.
Japanese Delinquents: Izanagi was modeled after the look. Helped symbolize Yu's nature and development, as seen in Former Teen Rebel.
Master of All: Izanagi-no-Okami has lots of elemental resistances, being weak to nothing, and he boasts incredibly high stats across the board. He can do just about anything the player wants, which is even emphasized in Golden where he learns each elemental Amp and respective heavy damage single target spell.
Shock and Awe: Electric affinity with the Zio spell line.
Signature Move:
- Arena introduces Cross Slash as Izanagi's signature skill. This is later carried on to Persona 5, where it deals twice the amount of heavy physical damage on an enemy with high accuracy.
- As Izanagi-no-Okami, his signature skill is Myriad Truths, which is initially a storyline endgame skill Yu used on Izanami, and then a Finishing Move in Arena. In Royal, it deals thrice the amount of heavy Almighty damage to all enemies.
Took a Level in Badass: Played straight in the animes. Zigzagged in Persona 4 Golden; on its own, Izanagi is no stronger than in the vanilla game, learning only a small array of low-level skills. With the ability to select Fusion skills, and to acquire skill cards, it's possible to give him much more powerful attacks and then level him up to become a Shadow-slaughtering monster. In his DLC appearances in Persona 5 and its spinoffs, Izanagi gains a few physical moves he didn't have in the original, as well as naturally learning a mid-tier electric spell.
Too Many Belts: Many belt buckles, rather than buttons, line Izanagi's jacket, right up to the mouthpiece. Considering the history with the mythical figure and his wife, there may be a reason for such imagery.

Jiraiya