Yu Narukami is a playable character and the protagonist of Persona 4 and its spin-offs. The name Yu Narukami was originally the protagonist's name in Persona 4 The Animation, later adopted for Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4: Dancing All Night. The name became the protagonist's default name in the Steam and subsequent re-releases of Persona 4 Golden, which the game defaults to if its text language settings are changed.[1]
Profile
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The protagonist of Persona 4 is a teenage boy from a large, unnamed city who moves to the smaller city of Inaba for a year to live with his uncle and cousin while his parents work overseas. He begins attending Yasogami High as a 2nd year high school student and quickly makes friends with fellow 2nd years Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, and Yukiko Amagi. Together, the four of them are the founding members of the Investigation Team that comes together to use their Personas to solve the serial murder case. During his stay in Inaba, he grows close to Nanako, who greets him every day when he returns home. She begins addressing him as her big brother, and he cares for her while his uncle works late. Though he is a silent protagonist, his possible dialogue choices during the game's school and slice-of-life moments have a humorous tone, while his choices during the more serious moments help shape him as a leader who keeps the team on track. He often has the option to tell the others to remain calm so they can focus on uncovering the truth of the murder incidents.
Gameplay
The protagonist starts out with Izanagi. Unlike other party members, the protagonist can never be swapped out of battle, and having him faint will result in an automatic Game Over.
The protagonist has the special property of being a Wild Card, making him able to summon and switch between different Personas in battle, as well as change his stock of Personas to an extent. This lets him swap out between multiple different strategies, as well as switch his elemental affinities.
Game Appearances
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The Hero is silent and nameless with a malleable personality like other silent protagonists in the franchise.
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Side P4: On this side he is the player character and once again silent and nameless. The Hero is referred to as Leader on this side, while the P3 Hero is referred to as Vice Leader.
Side P3: On this side he is a supporting character, despite being a vocal supporting character he is still nameless. Because of this, he is referred to as Vice Leader while the P3 Hero is referred to as Leader.
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Anime Appearances
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Manga Appearances
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Audio Drama Appearances
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Novel Appearances
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Stage Play Appearances
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Other Appearances
Yu appeared as a unit in the Persona collab for the mobile game Kotodaman during the collab's original run in 2020, and once again during the rerun in 2024. He can be obtained by rolling in the Persona gacha. As a game unit, Yu is a 5★ light-attribute unit who can be used to form words using the syllables that make up his initials: ゆ・ゅ and な. He can be evolved into a 5★ unit. His skills are named Zionga and Ziodyne, following how Izanagi learns Zio in Persona 4.[2]
Nomenclature
Names in Other Languages
| Language |
Name |
Meaning
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 Japanese |
鳴上 悠 |
Narukami Yū. The family name means "above the animal cry" and the given name means "calm" or "eternal."
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Trivia
- According to the Persona 4 Art Book, Soejima states if the P4 Hero was a Sentai Ranger he would be the Blue Ranger rather than the Red Ranger.
- Despite this, his later outfit is ironically the Red Ranger in both P4G and P4D.
- According to the Persona 5 Art Book, the Hero is described as being designed to remind you of a dog: loyal and sincere.
- In the US manual for the original Playstation 2 release of Persona 4, the protagonist is shown to be named Raidou Kuzunoha.[3] This is a reference to the character of the same name from the Devil Summoner series.
- In the JP manual for Persona 4, the protagonist's name is Kōsuke Tsukimori, a glasses-wearing doctor from Atlus's Caduceus series. In the US, the series is known as Trauma Center and the character was renamed Derek Stiles.
- Yu Narukami has several alternate color palettes in Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle intended to reference other media.
- In the manga, Soji forms bonds with both characters of the Sun and Strength Arcana, despite this being impossible in-game.
- In the stage plays, the Hero's name is changed with each showing as the audience would choose the name.
- Yu's cell phone in Persona 4 The Animation is the teal and silver EXILIM CA003.[4]
- The protagonist was nicknamed Banchō (a delinquent gang leader) by the Japanese fanbase due to Izanagi wearing a traditional boy's school uniform, how some of his Japanese dialogue options such as how he greets Dojima sound manly, the delinquent-looking Kanji having a great deal of respect for him, and him wearing a Japanese girls delinquent uniform for the crossdressing contest.[5] This was later used in his title for Persona 4 Arena, with banchō being localized as Kingpin in his English title.
- Though the city the protagonist comes from is never named, it is implied to be Tokyo due to the green sign that says "Inoue Line for Akihabara" that can be seen in the opening movie when he boards a train, therefore making the Inoue Line a fictionalized version of the real world Yamanote Line. Akihabara would become a location in Persona 5, again using a green colored train line route on the subway map.
Gallery
References
