A familiar story, but in a different time.
Persona: The Okabe Files is a Persona fanfiction written by Arsene_Phantom. It is a "sequel" to Persona: The Sougawa Files.
Yuina Hisakawa is a student from the small town of Okabe, beginning her first year at Youkou High School with her Only Friend Kanako Inoue by her side. Despite wanting a normal school year where she can improve, Yuina's life takes a sharp turn when mysterious beings called Shadows and a disease known as Countdown enter the picture. Armed with a baseball bat and her Persona, Yuina must solve the mysteries behind Shadows and Countdown before she runs out of time...
The fanfiction was teased in the first chapter of Sougawa Files's Bonus Chapters; it was first published on May 30, 2020. It can be read on Archive Of Our Own here
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Persona: The Okabe Files provides examples of:
- An Aesop: Change cannot be forced on someone; the best thing you can do is support and help them through their change. People grow at their own rate and trying to control it is never a good thing, no matter how good the change would be for them.
- Anti-Hero: Yuina falls neatly into this - she's pretty much everything you wouldn't expect from a Persona protagonist; she's rude, brash, ready to beat people over the head with a metal baseball bat at a moment's notice, and has difficulty making friends. Still, she has a good heart and a strong will.
- Byronic Hero: Yuina, for sure. She only has one friend in Kanako and is a cynical loner otherwise - however, said friend brings out the best in her, showing that beneath all of that Yuina has a good heart and sympathetic qualities.
- Coming of Age Story: The Personas are themed off this - as an example, Yuina's Persona is Caulfield.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Yuina and Rina are nearly complete opposites - this was intentional according to
Word of God.- Their personalities are the obvious thing that sticks out. Rina is elegant, friendly, and careful; Yuina is crude, rough around the edges, and brash.
- They come from very different backgrounds. Rina is rich and moves in from an orphanage at the start of the fanfiction. Yuina is poor and has lived in Okabe for a while, with both her parents still alive.
- This even extends to their Personas - Gilgamesh is a hammy braggart who specializes in ice skills, while Caulfield is a cold punk with a fire affinity.
- Rina wields a rapier, showcasing her elegance. Yuina's weapon of choice? Her baseball bat.
- Darker and Edgier: While the last story was generally lighthearted, this one's thoroughly more grounded and depressing. The look at Countdown is far more graphic and disturbing than the Shadow disease from Sougawa, Yuina is a far more violent and vicious Anti-Hero than Rina, and the Shadow fights are more dangerous and scary (best displayed with Shadow Saburo, who is absolutely grotesque in appearance and mannerisms).
- Easing into the Adventure: Even more so than the previous fanfiction. The beginning is far more home-y and down to earth, giving readers a good glimpse into Yuina's personal life, her ideals, and her general situation.
- Establishing Character Moment: Arsene said she wanted to give each major character one of these.
- Yuina gets the strongest one, of course - some bullies are picking on Kanako, so she stands up to them, insults them a few times, and threatens to beat them with her bat if they don't back off.
- Kanako is introduced via her trying to befriend said bullies, only to timidly shrink down when she realizes they're picking on her.
- Fuyuko is introduced while half-asleep; her conversation with Yuina quickly devolves into a rambling mess and she even flirts with her a little.
- Taiki's introduction has him skillfully manipulating Yuina into nearly attacking him, causing her to get sent to a teacher's office.
- Saburo's introduction has him saving Yuina from the Shadows... and then correct Yuina on a meaningless distinction between dogs and dog-like Shadows.
- Shouhei and Haruna's introductions have the former catching the latter after a clumsy fall, complete with a flirty one-liner from Shouhei... and Haruna tearing up.
- Foil: Yuina and Kanako are polar opposites, which only serves to make them stronger friends. Yuina is headstrong, not very nice, and cynical; Kanako is cautious, kind, and optimistic.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Yuina and Kanako obviously care for each other very deeply, but it's also clear they're not in any sort of romantic relationship.
- Opposites Attract: Yuina and Kanako are such close friends because their personalities complement each other very nicely - Kanako helps reign in Yuina when she's being aggressive and keeps her from doing things she might regret, while Yuina helps Kanako be realistic when she's leaning too much towards being a Wide-Eyed Idealist.
- Parental Neglect: Downplayed. Yuina's parents are distant from her due to her uncaring and aggressive attitude, but they're not entirely neglectful - her dad has "given up" on her, but her mom tries to talk with her and support her whenever possible, even offering her tickets to a movie she wanted to see as a congratulations for getting through her first day of high school. Yuina states she doesn't hate either of them, even if their relationship is strained at best. Thankfully, "A Glimpse Behind The Veil" implies they're going to start mending things.
- Punctuated Pounding: Yuina's final smackdown on Shadow Yuina (being repeated guitar smashes to the neck) has her shouting in a fury along with each strike."Leave! Me! The! Fuck! ALONE!"
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Yuina has zero hesitance in swearing. The F-bomb was rarely used in the previous fic, but Yuina drops it several times during her intro alone.
- Take a Third Option: Shadow Yuina offers Yuina a choice: change to be a better person, or she'll possess her and do it for her. Yuina instead beats the crap out of her Shadow.
- Wham Episode:
- "Die Die My Darling": Yuina and Saburo confront the Shadow they've been searching for, but it turns out to be The Reaper, which nearly kills them right then and there.
