Characters / Persona 4: Yu Narukami

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

This page details tropes for Yu, the main protagonist of Persona 4.

For tropes relating to him in Persona 4: Arena, click here.

The Protagonist / Yu Narukami / Souji Seta / Various ^note Hayato Asakawa

"Go, Izanagi!"

"Calm down."

Arcana: The Fool, The World
Persona: Izanagi, Izanagi-no-Okami, Wild Card
Weapons: Longswords
Voice actors: Johnny Yong Bosch (English), Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese)
Stage actors: Toru Baba (VisuaLive and VisuaLive Evolution), Keisuke Minami (Arena)

The main protagonist who can be named by the player at the beginning. He uses two-handed swords and is the only member of the Team that can switch Personas and fuse them to make better ones, granting extreme versatility. The manga gave him the name "Souji Seta" and the anime named him "Yu Narukami" - due to the anime's popularity, the latter became his official Canon Name.

Due to his parents having to work overseas, he has to move to the rural town of Inaba to stay with his uncle, police officer Ryotaro Dojima, and Dojima's six-year-old daughter Nanako, for 2011-2012 school year. At Yasogami High, he quickly makes friends with class clown Yosuke Hanamura and kung-fu fangirl Chie Satonaka. Soon enough he learns about the "Midnight Channel" and discovers his ability to insert his body into the television. This leads him into a quest to uncover the truth behind a series of inexplicable murders, in the process gaining a lot of friends and, when he has to leave Inaba a year later, lots of fond memories from an otherwise forgettable town.

His initial Persona is Izanagi, of the Fool Arcana. In Japanese mythology, Izanagi and his wife Izanami gave birth to the islands of Japan. After Izanami's death, Izanagi visited his wife in Yomi - the underworld - in the hopes of retrieving her. Izanagi broke his promise not to look upon Izanami, discovering her to have become bathed in the filth of Yomi. Chased by the demons of Izanami, he fled, coating himself in the foul matter, and sealed the entrance to the underworld, Yomotsu Hirasaka, with a large boulder. Enraged, Izanami swore to kill 1,000 humans each day, and Izanagi promised to give life to 1,500 each day. Izanagi cleansed himself of the filth, giving birth to several gods in the process. Much like Izanagi gave birth to many gods of Japan, the protagonist helps to create the Personas of the party, by rescuing them and later helping them overcome their flaws through Social Links, evolving their Personas - some of the Personas are even directly related to Izanagi in myth, such as Yukiko's Amaterasu and Yosuke's Susano-o. In the True Ending, he manifests the power of his bonds to use the World Arcana and evolve Izanagi into his Ultimate Persona, Izanagi-no-Okami - "great god Izanagi".

During the Golden concert scene, he plays the electric bass guitar.

---

A - E

• 11th-Hour Superpower: Gains access to Izanagi-no-Okami in the True Ending's last battle, and he can be summoned in a New Game Plus... after reaching Level 91.
• The Ace: If all of his stats are maxed out (Knowledge, Understanding, Expression, Diligence, and Courage). The trophy for doing so in Golden is even called "Mr. Perfect", to the point Yosuke asks him how perfect he is after winning the Midnight Channel Miracle Quiz finals. Practically becomes canon from the anime forward, where Yu is portrayed as talented in nearly everything he tries with little effort.
• Adaptational Wimp: In the manga, he doesn't have the power of the Wild Card and never changes Personas once throughout its run. This does little to hamper him and instead subjects his initial Persona Izanagi to Adaptational Badass.
• All-Loving Hero: He makes friends with all sorts of people pretty easily, regardless of their age or gender, and befriends dogs, cats, and a fox.
• Almost Kiss: An optional scene in Golden has this happen between him and Teddie. They're interrupted by a returning Dojima.
• Amazon Chaser: Potentially. He can romance Chie, Yukiko, and Naoto, all of whom take right to the field and crack Shadow skulls alongside him. It's marginal with Yukiko (the most feminine of the three), zigzags a little in Naoto's romance (Naoto's romance has some "coax her to act more feminine" options), but is played totally straight with Chie; the player can even admit to finding her appetite attractive.
• Ambiguously Bi: In Golden, he can ask for a male police officer's number and flirt with Yosuke and Kanji during the group date café. In Shadow of the Labyrinth, he has the option to say gender doesn't matter "as long as there is love." Though a lot of it is up to what actions the player takes, there's plenty to suggest Yu isn't the straightest arrow of the team.
  • Dummied Out lines from Yosuke (as well as being able to hug Yosuke during his Social Link only if you've hit the right Event Flag beforehand)^note This is considered pretty intimate in Japan, and in-game usually indicates that you're entering a girl's romance route. indicate that it could have been a lot less ambiguous, explaining a lot of the remaining subtext.invoked
• Angel Unaware: He's how the Shrine actually grants the wishes posted on its emas. Even though he's not subtle about how he aids them, the people he helps still believe that the Shrine was the chief cause of the solution... which actually isn't too far from the truth.
• Animal Motifs: Accoring to Word of God, his design motif was a loyal and sincere dog.
• Art Shift: In Dancing All Night, Yu has his in-game portrait redrawn, the end result making him look more like he stepped right out of Persona 5. That his teammates weren't also redrawn make him stand out enough, but looking at them side by side, he's not even in the same style as the characters that debuted in the same game.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: He's no Teddie, but he can rock a skirt and sailor suit better than anyone else. In the anime, Chie, Yukiko, and Rise all blush at the sight of him, and in Q, if the player is using Makoto and Yu becomes his "Destined Partner", he wonders if his special talent is dressing in drag.
• Badass Adorable: It's a given, just like the P3 heroes. He's the leader of the team, has the ability to change Personas, and is undeniably handsome.
• Badass Back: In Golden, one of his alternate Victory Poses when wearing Dojima's outfit is to turn his back to the camera◊.
• Badass in Distress: In the manga, Kunino-sagiri captures him with his puppet strings, turning him against Teddie. Chie saves him by having Tomoe cut the strings.
• Baritone of Strength: He's the strongest out of the Investigation team by virtue of being The Leader, with a voice to match. Daisuke Namikawa portrays Yu with a smooth voice, but Johnny Yong Bosch gives him an even deeper baritone to highlight his Nerves of Steel and confidence.
• Batter Up!: A special weapon received as a reward from Margaret. Presumably, as a reference to Casey at the Bat, it deals a whopping 200 damage and boosts Critical Hit rating - with the downside of having a measly 30% chance to hit.
• Battle Aura: Deserves special mention; his Battle Aura is several times larger than those of the rest of the Investigation Team.
• Battle Couple: With any female party member, if romanced. It comes up most frequently with Chie's, as both can express a mutual desire to protect each other.
• Beneath Suspicion: Dojima's instincts catch onto him and Investigation Team almost immediately, but he can't bring himself to suspect the person who watches over his daughter.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Nanako, and a core point of his characterization in Arena.
• Big Brother Mentor: Yu adopts this role with several of his Social Link contacts, notably Kanji and Teddie, and to a lesser extent Shu Nakajima and Naoki Konishi. Special mention for Kanji who will even, albeit sarcastically, refer to Yu as "Big Bro" during his Social Link- his mother also thanks Yu for being a role model to Kanji if you complete his social link.
• Big Eater: He has no problem eating a large portion of food and is able to keep up with Chie, who is known to have a big appetite. If the player maxes out his Courage, Understanding, Knowledge, and Diligence, he can finish the Mega Beef Bowl Challenge at Aiya, a very large bowl of Gyudon that is said to have so much meat, you can't even see the rice. In Q2, he and the P3 Hero compete in a donut eating contest which resulted in a tie.
• Big Man on Campus: If everything's done right, he'll be the top-scoring student at his school, the best athlete on either the soccer or basketball team, on friendly terms with every student, regardless of whether or not they have a Social Link, and pined after by the entire female student body. Naturally, the game runs with this.
• Blithe Spirit: By serving as essentially a therapist for much of the city, his actions can help transform Inaba from a Crapsaccharine World to a much more pleasant Quirky Town.
• Broken Ace: The anime establishes that even though he's pretty much an expert at nearly everything and can max out a Social Link within a short amount of time, he's actually broken inside due to having to leave his school and friends in Tokyo for a year, as shown by his wincing upon seeing his previous school uniform while unpacking and being reminded of his departure. This gets even worse due to the fact that he now has to leave his new friends in Inaba which was apparently the most fun he's had, leading to the point where he's willing to let Izanami trap him in a Lotus-Eater Machine just so he doesn't have to leave everyone behind. Margaret manages to snap him out of it and confront his Shadow.
• Brutal Honesty: Quite a few of his dialogue choices in Social Links are this - when it's done to help point out the person's issues, this is almost always the best option to take and results in the most "points" to rank up.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: By picking the trollish or humorous dialogue options, you can play a protagonist who has an incredibly odd sense of humor and is prone to the art of the Moment Killer. The anime goes into full-blown Flanderization mode by making him straight-up eccentric, almost into Cloudcuckoolander territory. His status as the leader of the Investigation Team and all-around badass is still unquestioned.
• But Now I Must Go: He's only in Inaba for the year, while his parents are working abroad. Returns for the holidays in Arena and then later Golden for a new epilogue. This is inverted during the events of Dancing All Night; as Rise's concert takes place in the city, the Team goes to him and then pulls this off after the game ends.
• Calling the Old Man Out: During episode 18 of the anime adaptation, after Dojima runs out for work and leaves Yu to take care of Nanako when she was unwell, he calls out Dojima on his workaholic tendencies and how much he neglects her to the point she has an emotional breakdown and runs away from home.
• Canon Name: He has no default name in the game. The manga adaptation of P4 gave him "Souji Seta", and the audience got to select the name for the stage play (the name used in the DVD release of VisualLive Evolution uses "Hayato Asakawa." The Animation named him Yu Narukami. Due to the popularity of the anime, he is named Yu Narukami in almost every spinoff of the original game - the Arena games, BlazBlue and Dancing All Night all use it, and even Golden rerelease was given this treatment for players who had changed the language midway through the game. In his DLC boss fight in Persona 5 Royal, he doesn't have a name, being called "Investigation Team Boy" instead.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Can tell his uncle, as well as some social links, about what's really going on and what his involvement with the case really is, as well as telling his friends about the Velvet Room. Dojima assumes he's making it all up to hide the truth, in at least one instance with the Social Link they assume he's speaking of another murder case entirely and assume he's in Inaba for witness protection, and his friends think the Velvet Room is just a ghost story that "almost sounds true" when he says it.
  • In the manga, he tries telling Dojima everything he knows when Dojima brings him in for questioning on November 5. However, since Dojima doesn't completely trust him at the moment, he doesn't believe Soji.
• Character Catchphrase:
  • The phrase "Calm down" appears more often than any other dialogue option (in a similar vein to the Persona 3 hero's "Whatever"), and subsequent media has cemented it as his catchphrase.
  • The anime turns some of the narration's comments from the game into phrases Narukami says, most notably "[Let's/I should/We should] leave him be." "Let's leave him be" disappears as a representation of his Character Development. It's significant enough that when the Killer asks the Investigation Team to "Leave him be" for the shadows to finish him off, Yu instead offers a hand to him to help him up after the team decides to drag him back to reality.
• Chick Magnet: By the end of the game, it's possible for Yukiko, Rise, Chie, Naoto, Ai, Yumi/Ayane, Marie, Margaret, and even Nanako to fall for him, along with Sayoko hitting on him early in her Social Link. Based on a conversation after rescuing her, Yukiko develops feelings for him. Rise develops an attraction to the Protagonist near instantly upon joining the Investigation Team and proceeds to start flirting with him at every chance she gets. In other games that he appears in, he's portrayed as single to not fully commit to a singular love interest given the great amount of options the player can choose, but it is very much still implied that his female teammates still have crushes on him to some degree.
• Chivalrous Pervert: In the anime and an option in the game. In both cases, it leans more on the chivalrous side because the girls rarely act negatively towards his come-ons like they do with Yosuke and Teddie.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome:
  • If Social Links are done, it is almost impossible to stop him from helping others.
  • Nearly every sidequest consists of him running around town, helping complete strangers with random, often-trivial things.
  • Parodied in the anime at first, as Yu doesn't so much agree to help people as get volunteered to at an almost alarming rate by others. Later episodes play this straight.
• Cloudcuckoolander: The option to pick Non Sequitur responses in the game leads to Yu coming off as someone with a very bizarre sense of humor who enjoys killing the mood. The anime takes this even further by having him be unfazed by basically everything (so long as it isn't life-threatening) and spouting the bluntest, random responses to situations.
• Combat Stilettos: Izanagi wears a bladed variant of these. They don't get in the way as he's capable of flight, and they're quite useful in cutting enemies in half with a solid kick in the anime.
• The Comically Serious: The anime does this a bunch, as he's amusingly stoic when most people would be laughing or screaming. Yosuke lampshades it:
  Yosuke: [Sweat Drop] Dude, does anything faze you?
  Yu: Huh?
  • When Yu and Yosuke get knocked into the river for making perverted comments to Yukiko and Chie, Yosuke is laughing and flailing about, while Yu is completely flat-faced and falls like a rock.
  • When he, Yosuke, and Kanji have been booked in the same room of a former love hotel, his drapes himself over a chair, drink in hand, and asks:
    Yu: How long are you two going to stand there?
  • As Yosuke, Kanji, and Teddie are all sprawled on the same bed, his response?
    Yu: I'm posting this picture on my wall. (snaps photo)
  • His countenance does not change during the entire King's Game, when he's supposedly drunk (he's not) and the girls are literally clinging onto him like Saran Wrap.
    Yu: I'm the King.
    Yu: [throws dart, which hits its mark] Number 2... my lap is yours...
    Yosuke: Dude! You can't hog all three of 'em at once!
    Yu: I can. 'Cause I'm the King.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To the male P3 Protagonist:
  • While the P3 protagonist is an orphan moving to the city, Yu still has a family and is moving to a small town area where his relatives are staying.
  • Yu serves as the leader of the Investigation Team while the P3 protagonist is simply a field leader of SEES with Mitsuru being the actual leader.
  • Though both are sometimes stoic, Yu mainly plays along with his friend's goofiness, while the P3 protagonist shows little emotion with his occasional reply being "Whatever" or "I don't care".
  • Yu's Persona is of Japanese Mythology, while the P3 protagonist's is of Western, in particular, Greek Mythology.
  • While the P3 Protagonist holds his sword with one hand, Yu holds his with two hands (though Yu would later end up using a lighter katana that allows him to hold it one hand instead in both Arena games and his P 5 R DLC boss fight).
  • Yu, in a rare occasion for an SMT game, receives a happy ending while the P3 protagonist dies after performing the ultimate sacrifice.
  • Yu finds the theme for Tanaka's Shopping Commercial catchy while the P3 protagonist finds it annoying.
  • The first Persona they summon in the anime other than their Initial Personas are part of the Jack Brothers. While Makoto summons Jack Frost, Yu summons Pyro Jack.
  • Even their initial Personas are a foil to each other; both Izanagi and Orpheus went to the underworld to rescue their respective wives only to fail miserably - but where Orpheus's story ended in him tragically losing his loving partner, Izanagi's ends in him heroically banishing his now-demonic wife.
  • The P3 Protagonist is discovered to have a plot-critical past (he became the Soul Jar for Death after his parents died in a car crash), and going back even further Tatsuya and Maya did as well (her apparent accidental death at his hands when they were children drives The Heavy's quest for revenge). Yu, on the other hand, is The Everyman who only gets involved with the plot by chance.
• Cool Big Bro: Is pretty much nothing but supporting and protective of Nanako, particularly in the various adaptations and her Social Link. Notably, in his Optional Boss appearance in Persona 5 Royal, he wields the Persona Sraosha, which can only be obtained in his home game by completing Nanako's Social Link.
• Cool Old Guy: Get turned into an old man briefly in Naoto's dungeon in the anime. Rise leads the other girls in squeeing over him anyway.
• Covert Pervert: Some of his text options are pretty perverted. In the anime, his response to Shadow Yukiko talking about scoring a hot stud is to remark to Yosuke (coolly) that he wished he had taped it. As of Episode 7, he did start recording it. It's become something of a Running Gag that Yu and Yosuke will say something equally perverted, but only Yosuke will get hit for it. Chie even says at one point that the girls don't find it creepy when it's Yu who's doing it, but it is when the other guys are acting perverted.
• Crossover Cameo: Appears as a downloadable costume for the Mii Swordfighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
• Depending on the Writer: While he's consistently portrayed as being The Stoic Team Dad with a bizarre sense of humor, which of the traits are most prominent tend to vary depending on the medium. Yu in the anime is portrayed as incredibly weird, trolling his friends when he's not being an unflappable ace, while he's a more straightforward hero in his fighting game appearances. Q has him in a medium where he's still the straight man to his comrades' wild antics, but does show his own quirky moments from time to time.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Multiple times. And he didn't even break an arm.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: If Marie is romanced.
• Dueling Player Characters:
  • In Persona 5 Royal, he appears as a DLC Optional Boss where he, along with Izanagi and other Personas at his disposal, square off against the Phantom Thieves.
  • In Persona Q2, he and Joker get into an altercation when the Thieves first enter Junessic Land in a 2D animated cutscene.
• Dull Surprise: Especially in The Animation. For example, when Yosuke removes Teddie's head to reveal nothing but an empty costume, Yu's only response is a nonchalant, "Huh. There's nothing inside."
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In a Shin Megami Tensei game, even. Golden has an even sweeter ending.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Teddie is obviously interested in him, and will even go out of his way to try and kiss him on 2 separate occasions. Yosuke has a surprisingly deep and sentimental relationship with Yu, and it's especially apparent in his Social Link - likely because he was originally intended to be a Gay Option. The anime considerably ramps up the subtext between him and Yosuke.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Yu and Adachi serve as foils to one another - they're newcomers to Inaba empowered by Izanami on their first day in town, but represent the opposite ends of the spectrum - Yu is heroic, friendly, and fearless while Adachi is nothing but antagonistic and cruel.
  • Izanami, in her humanoid form, looks very, very similar to Yu. This is obviously reflected in Yu's Persona, and how the final battle concludes — Izanagi-no-Okami uses Myriad Truths to wipe away the lies of Izanami-no-Okami.
• Extreme Omnivore: Has the option of eating anything found in the fridge, regardless of how inedible it is. In one of the most memorable instances, he can eat a pot of grass. Many of those times do result in him getting sick, though, but while he has to go to bed early, he's fine in the morning.

F - K

• Face–Heel Turn: Adachi's Social Link in Golden can make the protagonist relate with him so much to the point of not exposing his crimes and leaving the town on schedule, invoking the Accomplice Ending.
• Fast as Lightning: The spinoffs give him the ability to zip around in bursts of lightning, such as his Lightning Flash skill in Persona 4: Arena Ultimax and the Lightning Duo Combination Attack with Joker in Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth. Interestingly, he's not the fastest of the team— that would be Yosuke.
• First Kiss: On his final day in town, Margaret steals his in a moment of Genre Blindness to romance if her Social Link was maxed. In the anime, he gets his first kiss from Ai instead. In Golden, during Valentine's Day, Marie can be his first kiss if she is romanced.
• Friendless Background: Heavily implied in the anime, and this may actually explain his odd antics. In the manga, it's suggested that since he had to move often and with hardly any warning, he didn't let anyone get too close.
• From New York to Nowhere: In the anime, it is stated a few times that he moved to Inaba from Tokyo.
• Genius Bruiser: In canon, Yu is both an excellent student with fantastic deductive reasoning and an expert fighter. Whether or not he's played like one in the game is up to the player.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!:
  • Does this to Yosuke in the manga and the anime when he meets his Shadow. He decks Yosuke in sync with Izanagi as it lands a good punch to Yosuke's Shadow. Then made hilarious by Yu's response:
    Yu: [completely deadpan] Oops, wrong guy.
  • Also, in the Normal/True Ending, he shouts down the entire team to calm down and make them reconsider avenging Nanako on Namatame, realizing something is off with the situation.
  • Episode 26 of the anime has this happens to Yu himself, by Margaret, in order to snap him out of his Heroic BSoD.
• The Glasses Come Off: He throws away his glasses when he summons Izanagi-no-Okami to defeat her single-handedly after being on the ropes for most of their fight, as he no longer needs them now that his bonds allow him to see through the fog of deception.
• Golf Clubbing: His first weapon, where according to the item description, Yosuke swiped it from the bargain bin. He also can unlock a few other golf clubs for purchase during the early game.
• Go Through Me: Twice in Social Links.
  • In Chie's, he has the option of protecting her from a group of bullies ganging up on her.
  • Toward the end of Naoto's, the man the two had been tracking pulls a knife on her, and he again has the option to defend her, which has him run between the two. Entirely pointless, as it was a fake knife, but if the player does this after telling Naoto "I'm glad you're a girl," the player can then choose to make a Love Confession to Naoto.
• Guile Hero: Saves almost everyone around him with words and simple emotional guidance.
• Guilt by Association Gag: Yu falls victim to this numerous times during the events of the game:
  • Early on, Yosuke arrives at the food court stupidly brandishing his weapons and swinging them about. Somehow, Yu gets arrested along with him despite doing nothing but sit there and look pretty.
  • The girls sign up both him and Kanji for the crossdressing pageant out of revenge for themselves having been signed up for the beauty contest against their will... which was done entirely by Yosuke and Teddie.
  • During a second visit to the hot springs, Yu is zapped by Marie's Hot Lightning alongside the rest of the guys, despite being completely uninvolved in their efforts to peep on the girls.
• Hates Being Alone: This is Yu's secret weakness in the anime. He apparently was an unwilling loner before coming to Inaba, and it's implied that he has abandonment issues.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: When the quality of your relationships actually power your Personas to fight against the Shadows, of course, this trope applies.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: While the manga, anime, Arena, and Dancing All Night give him a name, the initial game does not. In fact, Golden simply refers to him as "Hero" when it lists everyone's names. In the game, whatever name you've given him will be written out, but not spoken, although some characters call him something else to get around this anyway (senpai by his kouhais, sensei from Teddie, big bro from Nanako, partner from Yosuke, and so on).
• Henpecked Husband: He can come off this way, depending on player choices, when forging Ai's Social Link in the game, where he serves as a rebound-boyfriend for her. This is the wrong choice and makes the Social Link harder to max, as well as precluding an actual romance with Ai. In Episode 5 of the anime, which adapts the Social Link, this ends up happening. He's totally whipped.
• Hero Protagonist: He's the main protagonist of Persona 4 and assembles a team of teenagers to use their supernatural powers to rescue victims of a serial killer and bring the one responsible to justice.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: He wields various types of two-handed swords (and other similar weapons, like a golf club or baseball bat). Unlike the protagonist of Persona 3, he can't switch weapon types - he always uses a sword.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • It's very brief, but he seems to lose some composure and lowers his head onto Nanako's body when she "dies" near the end of the game.
  • In Episode 12 of the anime, Yu is hit by a Lotus-Eater Machine set by Shadow Mitsuo in the form of experiencing his worst nightmare: All of his friends in the Investigation Team leaving his life gradually, Yosuke being the last to leave and ending with Shadow Mitsuo appearing in his room as Yu fails to summon any Personas as his Social Links have all broken. Shadow Mitsuo grows to a large size and begins strangling Yu to death. He snaps out of when Yosuke bails him out.
  • In episode 21, when Nanako is kidnapped. When they find Namatame's truck, with both Namatame and Nanako gone, he completely snaps, to the point that Teddie has to physically restrain him as he attempts to dive into the TV to follow them (it was established earlier in both the game and the anime that entering any TV other than the one in Junes is extremely risky, and potentially too dangerous to attempt). Rise is able to talk him out of it.
  • Episode 26, the True Ending episode of the anime, shows Yu exhibiting quite possibly the ultimate example of this: after seeing all of his Investigation Team friends dragged down to their deaths by Izanami, he becomes so broken that he forcibly - albeit unwittingly - traps himself in a "Groundhog Day" Loop of the day before he is meant to leave Inaba, just to he can spend more time with his friends. It takes getting slapped in the face by Margaret and facing his Shadow to make him come to his senses and finally beat Izanami.
• Heroic Safe Mode: In Episode 23 of the anime, Nanako's apparent death causes Yu to enter this state, and it's scary as hell, particularly his expression◊ when he nearly kills Namatame. He's able to regain control of himself long enough for the situation to calm down, but once everyone goes their separate ways (save for Yosuke), he snaps out of it and breaks down crying.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: He carries the entire inventory on him with no explanation ever provided.
• Identical Stranger: According to Hisano, he looks a lot like her deceased husband when he was younger. Especially more poignant in the anime, where him handing Hisano the comb she threw away earlier ended up recreating when she first received it as a gift years ago from her husband.
• Idiot Hero: Depending on the player's choices, Yu can fail to get any smarter over the year or meaningfully contribute to the mental aspects of cracking the case, leaving his friends to pick up the slack.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: In episode 23 of the anime, he stops himself from throwing Namatame into the TV world to die with this reasoning and points it out to the others, promptly silencing those in favor of doing so and making them see sense.
  Yu: And if we do that, we would be no better than he is!!
• I Just Want to Have Friends:
  • This gets more attention in the anime than the game. The Tanabata tree's options are half this, either expressing a desire to be able to spend more time with Nanako or to have a girlfriend.
  • In the anime, Yu's biggest fear is that after the investigation is over, the group will go their separate ways and he'll be by himself again. Mitsuo's shadow exploits this fear and causes him to have a tremendous Heroic BSoD. It's possible that Yu has not had any lasting friendships due to transferring a lot, with the Investigation Team being his most consistent at that point, which would explain his Sugar-and-Ice Personality.
  • Episode 26 (the True Ending episode) has Yu finally face his own Shadow, who says that he doesn't even care if the world is lost in fog as long as it meant he did not have to go back to a life without any friends. Yu freely admits this as the truth, allowing him to regain Izanagi.
• Improbable Weapon User: He can be equipped with a variety of unorthodox weapons in Golden, including shovels, mops and flags.
• In-Series Nickname: Yosuke calls him "Partner", Teddie calls him "Sensei", Nanako calls him "Big Bro", and the first-year members of the Investigation Team call him "Senpai". Obviously, this is to to avoid calling him by whatever name the player actually gave him. While this still happens in the anime, he's also addressed by his last name "Narukami" a lot more often.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: In the original release, it's possible to become romantically involved with half a dozen girls all at once, with little to no hints that they know about each other, with zero consequence. This includes best friends Yukiko and Chie - there's even a conversation when they realize they've both been in his room. Unlike the Persona 3 hero, it's not necessary to date them to get the max Social Link, so it's entirely up to the player if they want to have their cake and eat it too. However, in Golden, the girls will passive-aggressively call him out on cheating if he has, but nothing ever comes from it. If the player has multiple girlfriends among the Investigation Team by Valentine's Day, the game will have rejection scenes for the ones you decided to not spend the day with. That being said, it's still possible to date up to four girls with little to no consequences (as long as the player only dates one girl on the Investigation Team and accepts her invitation on Valentine's Day).
• Katanas Are Just Better: His iconic weapon has to be the katana; it's the first weapon he's shown wielding in the game (during the dream sequence battle in the fog before the first murder), it's the first weapon he can buy from the weapons shop, and it's his weapon of choice in Arena.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Shows signs of this if one follows the various 'Feed the Cat' sidequests. He can spend a whole afternoon doing nothing but petting a cat outside his house. In Golden, while hanging out with Kou in the evening, he remarks that the murders are a big shock to a town where the news is usually about a lost cat. One of the responses is asking about the cat's well-being.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: The player is given the option to throw Namatame in the television in retribution for Nanako's death - doing so leads to the worst ending. Yu nearly did do this in the anime, but managed to stop himself.

L - R

• Large Ham: Dips into this during his Not So Stoic moments in The Animation, such as during the Mega Beef Bowl challenge:
  Yu: It takes understanding to accept it as a whole, knowledge to set the proper pace, courage to attack the mountain of meat, and dedication to keep on eating. All these skills are needed to finish off the MEGA BEEF BOWL!
• Last-Name Basis: In the anime, most people address Yu by his last name when they're not using a nickname. Yosuke eventually switches to First-Name Basis, while flirty Rise always addresses him as such.
• The Leader: He's the unquestioned head of the Investigation Team, deciding upon battle strategies, directing their efforts at investigating, preventing them from blaming the wrong victim and seeking out the true killer....
• Lethal Chef: While Yosuke treats him as a Supreme Chef, especially in comparison to the girls, he can potentially be a lethal one when cooking school lunches, if the player chooses the wrong options. At one point, he has the option to spray cologne on creme caramel.
• Living Lie Detector: Once he obtains the World Arcana at the end of the game, he gains the ability to not only tell when a person is lying, but also force them to speak the truth.
• Master of All: Can switch between Personas at will, making this his specialization, although each Persona does carry its own weaknesses. His ultimate Persona, Izanagi-no-Okami, has extremely high, perfectly even stats in every aspect, learns attacks from every magical element simply from leveling up, and resists damage from everything but Light and Darkness.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Yu's full name is written in kanji like so: 鳴上 悠, which can be read as "quiet calling upper stream". This is in reference of him being The Quiet One.
  • Apparently unintentionally according to the episode one commentary, "Yu" sounding like "You" signifies that every viewer is actually the protagonist, and "Narukami" relates to Izanagi's lightning motif.
• Mirror Character: While it's not touched on in the games proper, a song in The Golden Animation, "Ying Yang", emphasizes this with Yu and Adachi's relationship — they're both out of towners who had powers bestowed upon them by Izanami. The lyrics imply that Adachi and Yu could have served the role the other did if other paths had been taken in their lives:
  Yu's vocals: You and I we ain't so different
  I guess I had more blessings
  Without it, got belligerent
  But I totally understand
  Glass was half full for mine
  Adachi's vocals: And it looked half empty for me
  Both: Maybe that one glass made the path we took, who knows?
• Mistaken for Cheating: If the protagonist has only one girlfriend among the Investigation Team but declines her invitation for a date on Valentine's Day, they will become suspicious and assume that he might be cheating on her (even if the player is not dating anyone outside of the Investigation Team either). While the protagonist's responses to these claims in routes where he does have multiple girlfriends are clearly meant to be lies/non-answers, they come across as more genuine here.
• Mistaken for Gay: In the P4 side of the Q manga, when he asks the P3 Hero if they've met before, Chie and Yosuke immediately assume that he's hitting on him.
• Moment of Weakness: In the manga adaptation, Soji is about to throw Namatame into the TV in revenge for Nanako's apparent death, but is unable to go through with it.
• Morality Chain: Nanako is his in the manga, since losing her causes Soji to strongly consider killing Namatame for revenge. In the end, he backs down because Nanako would want him to.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In the Accomplice Ending, finally gets this reaction once he boards the train and gets a message from Adachi.
• New Transfer Student: Arrives in town at the beginning of the story due to his parents having to leave to work overseas. The manga goes further and implies that he changes school almost every year.
• Nice Guy: Like most Persona protagonists, he's a pleasant guy who easily befriends a variety of people in Inaba.
• No Name Given: In his Superboss appearance in Persona 5 Royal, he is referred to simply as "Investigation Team Boy".
• Noodle Incident: It's never explained what circumstances led him to entering the Velvet Room for the first time.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: Discussed in episode 23 of the anime; Yu wonders, having a breakdown as he does, to Yosuke if he made the right decision to spare Namatame, since Namatame was responsible for Nanako's kidnapping and subsequent death. His decision ultimately turns out to have been the right one, leading to both Nanako's revival and The Reveal that Namatame, while responsible for Yukiko, Kanji, Rise and Naoto's kidnappings, was not responsible for the murders.
• Not So Stoic: There are plenty of moments where he breaks his stoicism.
  • After summoning Izanagi for the first time, he can be seen enjoying a taste of his new power.
  • Will finally lose his cool and tell the rest of the party to "Calm the hell down!" to stop them from throwing Namatame into the TV near the end of the game.
  • He often shows when he's concerned or surprised about something, rather friendly during conversations with his friends, and there's a distinctively afraid/shocked tone in his voice when he and his friends stumble into Mayumi's Shadow room during the first episode of the anime. He also smiles at least once an episode.
  • Yu suffers an emotional breakdown twice over the course of the anime series. The first time after having doubts about sparing Namatame and the second time when he willing allows himself to get trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop in the final episode.
  • In the manga, he loses his composure when faced with Nanako's kidnapping, and tries to go straight into the TV in Namatame's truck despite Teddie's warnings not to.
    Soji: Nanako is just a child! Nevermind the Shadows, she might not survive the rigors of being over there by herself! Now it looks like Namatame entered the TV World too! That means he's over there... with her!
    Yosuke: Calm down! This isn't like you!! I understand how you feel, but Teddie's right! We should choose our next step carefully and follow the same method that has led to success before!
    Rise: Yeah, Soji! If we fail, there'll be no one left to save Nanako!
    Soji: NAMATAME IS A MURDERER!!
  • The manga also has him lose his composure when confronting Adachi, such as asking whether Adachi would be as willing to write off his friendship with Dojima as he is with his connection with Soji, and when Adachi leaves.
  • In Golden's OVA, "Mr. Accomplice", he lets out a huge scream knowing he let the killer get away with their crimes by burning the letter. The fact that he betrayed the rest of the investigation team as well as his friends as a result factored into said scream.
  • In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, if Yosuke is Yu's destined partner during the Love Café dungeon and they're presented the photo of a wedding couple with their faces pasted over the husband and wife's, Yu can say "Oh no... Is it from that time...?!" to Yosuke and trick him into thinking that Aliens Made Them Do It and Yosuke doesn't remember. When Yosuke finally realizes Yu is joking, Yu actually cracks a smile.
    Yosuke: You've got that serious look, but you're laughing inside, aren't you?
• Off with His Head!: Combined with Your Head A-Splode, this is Izanagi's preferred method of dispatching Shadows in the anime and does so with either its weapon or bladed footwear.
• Old-School Chivalry: Usually, the Protagonist is quite a gentleman. Without any prompting from the player, he will almost always walk girls home or offer to protect them (although, sometimes the game allows you to play a subversion).
• Omniglot: Based on the books in his room and several of his dialogue choices, he seems to have at least a basic knowledge of Korean, Spanish and French. He tutors Shu in English in the Tower Social Link, so he's at least conversant in it. One of the jobs that can be taken is a translator (implied for English, as the book "English Made Easy" provides an extra Expression bonus each time you work), but the narration says that he does occasionally have trouble with some phrases.
• One-Man Party: His access to the Wild Card immediately places him here, being able to fill out any and all combat roles on the fly. As a tradeoff, however, his Personas level up at a much slower rate than his teammates. Since his Personas will fall out of use as he levels up, this means that he will constantly have to upgrade his Personas or risk falling behind.
• Only Sane Man: Comes with the territory of being an almost-entirely blank slate protagonist. Yu is the most levelheaded and thoughtful member of the Investigation Team by far, and it's suggested a few times the reason he never had to confront his Shadow to obtain Izanagi is specifically because he didn't have any underlying issues, although the True Ending reveals that he actually got his Persona from outside influence. While The Animation, Arena, and Q characterize him a bit more than his original game, he's still presented as a very calm guy with far less issues than the rest of the party.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He's generally a very level-headed young man, so it's a sign that things have gone seriously sideways when he loses his temper. Most notably, when the Investigation Team contemplates murdering Namatame in order to avenge Nanako, he blows his stack and yells, "Calm the hell down!"
• Optional Boss: He appears in Persona 5 Royal as a DLC boss fight.
• Parental Abandonment: In the game itself, his parents are only mentioned two or three times. The manga states that he moves a lot due to their jobs, and implies that his self-reliant nature stems from a lack of their presence in his life (due to always being busy).
• Parody Sue: In the anime, Yu is portrayed as ridiculously talented at practically everything he tries, and is loved by everyone around him making him a perfect contrast to Yosuke. This gets carried over in both Arena and Golden, where Yu's perfection continues to get played for laughs.
• Perpetual Frowner: His bangs and Izanagi's mask were designed to make the two appear as if they were always giving off a half-glare.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • While he can curse several times throughout the story, one line, in particular, gets special mention because this is the one time he loses his temper and yells for the first and only time in the entire game to make the party reconsider killing Namatame.
    Calm the hell down!
  • Yu delivers this in response to the True Killer's Motive Rant in Episode 25 of the anime:
    I've heard enough. It's all bullshit!
• Present Absence: Downplayed in Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight and Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight. While he doesn't directly appear, his actions in Dancing All Night are what provoke the pissing match between Elizabeth and Caroline/Justine that leads to the games' Excuse Plot.
• Promotion to Parent: His relationship with Nanako, due to the constant absence of her own father from her life. Part of his Social Link with Dojima encourages him to spend more time with her.
• Punny Name: Yu Narukami — he's "you". Even better, Narukami phonetically can mean Become a God, so his entire name can literally be "You become a God." Quite the contrast to the kanji used for his name which would literally mean the calm that roars from above or calm thunder.
• Quickly-Demoted Leader: In the P3 route of Persona Q and in Persona Q2, he's introduced as the leader of the Investigation Team, but quickly cedes overall command of the group to your protagonist.
• The Quiet One: In the manga where he is allowed to talk, he is still awfully quiet, only speaking at crucial moments and when he's the one initiating a conversation - it creates quite a parallel to his Silent Protagonist role in the game. Some of the audio dramas also portray him this way. More-or-less averted in the anime. While he is portrayed as a calm, composed, and soft-spoken individual, he speaks just as frequently as everyone else and gets numerous Not So Stoic moments, especially comedic ones.
• Ret-Canon: In his Optional Boss fight in Persona 5 Royal, his default stance is the one used in Persona 4: Arena, as opposed to the Sha-no-Kamae stance he uses in his game of origin.
• Running Gag:
  • No matter how long of a distance he falls, he will always stick the landing.
  • The numerous, numerous options to eat random objects from the fridge - which often results in him feeling sick and going to bed early.

S - Z

• Scary Shiny Glasses: When Izanagi is first summoned.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Unintentionally has this brought up after he and Yosuke are arrested for brandishing weapons in broad daylight. Both would've likely had gotten a criminal record for that if Dojima didn't intervene.
• The Scrounger: Most sidequests consist of him finding random objects for people, usually taken from Shadows in the TV World.
• Secret Art:
  • His unique skill Persona Q is Heat Riser, which raises an ally's attack, defense, and hit/evasion rate.
  • His unique skill in Q2 is Swordbreaker, which occasionally halves physical damage dealt to his row. This upgrades to Protecting Sword with a higher activation rate.
• Serial Romeo: While he's notorious for his reputation as a "gigolo/manwhore", he seems very genuine when he's trying to help each of the girls he can potentially date overcome their problems.
• Serious Business: For Yu, everything. It does not matter if it is solving the case, making origami, or eating the Rainy Day Special, he treats them all with the same focus and determination.
• Shock and Awe: His main Persona, Izanagi has an affinity for electricity.
• Silent Protagonist: Only in his original game and when chosen as the protagonist of Persona Q. While still a little quiet sometimes, he speaks freely in all the other games.
• Silver Fox: In the anime, after being aged into an old man by Shadow Naoto, Rise gushes about how he still looks good.
• Skyward Scream: Does this in Golden's OVA. Said scream was the result of allowing the killer to get off scot-free by burning the letter, thus also betraying his friends and undoing many months worth of investigation.
• Slasher Smile: Lets loose one when Izanagi is summoned, much like Makoto from Persona 3 and Joker from Persona 5.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Considering the number of spin-offs and adaptions Persona 4 has, Yu was this for the whole series as well as the entire SMT franchise until Joker from the sequel Persona 5 came along. He is also appears in Lord of Vermilion II as well as being the first representative of Persona 4: Arena for BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle.
• Standardized Leader: His most prominent traits are his levelheadedness, deductive reasoning skills and ability to keep calm under pressure. While he's given his own quirks in later adaptations, he's the only member of the team who isn't bogged down by any emotional baggage.
• Stepford Smiler: In both the manga and anime, the protagonist hides the pain of constantly transferring to school and his parents not being around with a smile on his face. The fact that this is so difficult for him is one reason why he bonded with Nanako.
• The Stoic:
  • He never speaks outside battle and often has the option to tell others to calm down; there are only two points in the game where he has the option to become visibly angry. The eyes of his model are pretty cold too.
  • The anime adaptation also depicts him this way. In contrast to the other cast members he is rarely fazed by extraordinary events, and he almost always keeps a straight face. Taken to absurd levels in the school trip episode, when he has the same serious expression plastered on his face as he's tossed over a cliff by Chie and Yukiko.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: During the Group Date event, in which Yosuke plays the girl, Yosuke mentions that Yu would be his ideal guy, before backtracking.
• Superpower Lottery: Let's face it, he's the only character who has access to almost every Persona, and is the only character who is able to defeat Izanami because of his ability to upgrade his own and everyone else's Persona via The Power of Friendship.
• Supreme Chef: His friends treat his meals like the best thing they ever ate, he's asked to save the day by Yosuke when the girls are proposing to cook for an event and during this, if the player decides to make the omelette that will please Nanako the best, she's literally blushing with happiness.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: On the ice side, Yu is stoic, a loner, and harsh. On the sugar side, Yu is open, warm, and quite odd. Yu is one of the few people who have his trope that tend to be more on the Sugar side than Ice, more so in the Anime.
• Supporting Protagonist: He's reduced to this in Dancing All Night. While he's still a prominent character and delivers the Coup de Grâce to the Big Bad, it's pretty clear that the story is focused more on Rise and Kanami than it is on him.
• Sword Drag: It doesn't quite touch the ground, but he still carries his sword like this, giving the impression it's a bit too heavy for him. Noticeably drops this trait by Arena, since he's using a lighter katana he can wield with one hand.
• Take a Third Option: Invoked by the Protagonist himself.
  • Kill Namatame for revenge or let him live and hope he'll never kill again. Answer: let him live because of the correct suspicion that he's not the Killer.
  • In Golden: Let Marie kill herself, or let her live and cause the world to disappear due to the fog inside her. Answer: Have the fog turn her into the monster, and kill the monster itself instead of her.
  • In a less serious matter, one rainy day finds Yu, Yosuke, Kanji, and Naoto outside with only Yu and Naoto having umbrellas. Yosuke and Kanji debate on who among them should go with who, Yu can opt to instead give the two of them his and go with her.
• Take Over the World: When Nanako sets up a tree for Tanabata, he's humorously given the option to list this as your wish.
• Team Chef: Among the Investigation Team members, he is the only one who can put together a good meal as an individual, though this is largely contingent on the player's own cooking skill. In The Animation, Yu is shown to be a pretty good cook.
• Team Dad: The most responsible and reliable of the entire team, who manages to help everyone else with their problems if you max out their Social Links. It's telling just how much the others look up to him.
• 1000 Origami Cranes: He can volunteer to fold origami cranes for charity as a part time job — unlike other jobs, you don't get paid, but if you complete the set (with the time it takes being influenced by your choices and how well they work out), you get a rare item as a gift. The anime promotes this trope into his hobby when killing time, and he's pretty good at it too. He made a crane out of a paper napkin, which is harder to fold than regular paper. Episode 9 shows that origami cranes is Serious Business for him.
• Touched by Vorlons: The reason his Superpower Lottery payoff was so large is due to having his powers granted to him by Izanami.
• Tough Love: Related to his Brutal Honesty. The game generally encourages taking the harsher responses in Social Links when appropriate, all under the pretense of helping the other person see their own issues easier. This continues in The Animation, where Yu isn't one to mince words if it helps.
  Ayane: For a nice guy, you're kind of a jerk.
• Tranquil Fury: How he expresses his anger. Particularly in Episode 23 of the anime when he comes within a hair's breath from tossing Namatame into the TV world (basically a death-sentence) in retaliation for Nanako's apparent death, and without any hint of emotion on his face. It's one of the most chilling scenes in the show.
• Uncatty Resemblance: When donning the Cheer Squad Outfit in dungeons, the others mention that he looks a lot like Izanagi.
• Visible Silence: There is a whole series of dialogue options which are ellipses (".....") in the early days of the game.
• Warrior Therapist: Because tailing a serial killer (and incidentally saving the world) doesn't mean you can't save time to deal with the psychological issues of your whole team, your family, half your school and if we consider the fox path, half the town. The therapy is so good he can end up seven-timing and somehow convinces his uncle that since he's so great, he can marry his own cousin. And let's not get started on all the mancrushes he can start.
• Weirdness Magnet: As a consequence of being chosen for Izanami's little social experiment, strange things continually happen around him as his time in Inaba goes by, making the murder case more difficult and confusing. This even continues outside the events of Persona 4 because of his fate as someone who has to live out their life with the Wild Card, since his continued involvement in supernatural events is because they basically land on his lap wherever he goes.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: When the crossdressing competition occurs, he's given the option to enthusiastically admit that he signed himself up for it. In the anime, he's totally fine with crossdressing, to Chie's delight and Yosuke's dismay.
• Worf Had the Flu: In the manga adaptation of Persona 4: Arena, he suffers heavy injuries from his fight with Akihiko, which ultimately leads to him losing against Yosuke when they fight.
• You Bastard!: You felt awesome dating all of these lovely ladies at the same time right? Well, since Golden now includes Valentine's Day, you have to make one lucky lady very happy and potentially reduce the others to tears.^note This only applies to members of the Investigation Team. Ai, Yumi, and Ayane all lack rejection scenes, and the player will always meet up with Marie regardless of whether they're dating or not. Choosing to not go out with any of the girlfriends you have (whether it's six or even just one) and hanging out with Yosuke, Teddie, and Kanji at Junes will have Yosuke lightly berate you by questioning why you're not out on a date.
• You Fool!: On the receiving end when the Killer cracks up at Yu in Golden's accomplice ending for actually burning the letters that could get him convicted. Not unjustified, considering his actions throughout the rest of the game, and the fact that Yu gave the Killer an opportunity to blackmail him with the threat of reporting that he destroyed evidence.

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"You need to face reality!''