About Persona 4

The Beginning

Set in 2011, the game starts with the protagonist (who is named by the player) being sent to the rural town of Inaba from the big city, since his parents are working abroad. He is living with his uncle Ryotaro Dojima and his younger cousin Nanako Dojima, and attends Yasogami High School, where he becomes friends with Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi and Yosuke Hanamura. His uncle Dojima is a police detective, whose primary assistant is an odd man named Tohru Adachi.

On the first day of the game, the protagonist has a strange dream that teaches him to use a Persona, specifically his first one Izanagi, in battle. Through Chie, the protagonist and Yosuke come to realize that an urban legend called the Midnight Channel is true; if you stare into a turned off TV at midnight on a rainy day, you will see a strange figure in there. Shocking the once sleepy town, a TV announcer - Mayumi Yamano - is found dead, hanging upside-down from a telephone pole. When the protagonist first watches the Midnight Channel after hearing the rumor from Chie, he finds that he has the power to physically go into the TV, but his TV is too small to support him.

When the protagonist reports this to his friends the next day, all three of them decide to then go through one of the large TVs at Junes; all of them make it through, and subsequently find a strange bear named Teddie; the group is let out by this same bear after wandering the strange world in fear, as well as finding out there are no exits except for the bear's T.V.'s that he can create. The next day, the body of Saki Konishi - the girl who discovered the body of Mayumi - is found dead as well. When Yosuke and the protagonist return to the television the next day, they find that there is a pathway to an area resembling Inaba. There, in this realm created by the true feelings of Saki called the Twisted Shopping District, Yosuke's repressed feelings of how he was not really liked by Saki - whom he harbored a deep crush on - manifest into a clone-like figure of himself. Yosuke's inability to accept the clone's claim that he did not enter the realm for Saki's death (and how it was all about adventure for him) allows it to become Shadow Yosuke. When the player defeats it with Izanagi, Yosuke accepts his true feelings, allowing the Shadow to manifest into Yosuke's Persona, Jiraiya. The player learns that he has a special power named the Wild Card which allows him to wield multiple Personas (unlike all the other party members who only have one).

Eventually, a shadowy figure begins to appear on the Midnight Channel, which is feared by the group to be Chie's best friend Yukiko Amagi who just made a recent appearance on the news, though she is still present in the real world. Unfortunately, Yukiko does become kidnapped eventually, and afterwards clear and vivid images of her appear on the Midnight Channel. With Teddie giving analytical support, the protagonist and Yosuke decide to venture into the TV World (specifically Yukiko's dungeon Yukiko's Castle) and use their Personas to fight. They both warn Chie that she shouldn't enter since she lacks a Persona, though she ignores the warning. On the 6th floor of the castle, Chie is caught up with and her emotions manifest and battle the pair as Shadow Chie; though after its defeat, Shadow Chie will turn into Chie's own Persona, and Chie will now join the trio as the third combatant. Shadow Yukiko is then defeated on the last floor of the castle, and upon its defeat it becomes Yukiko's Persona.

The protagonist and the group see another strange figure appear on the TV, and suspect it to be a biker who recently appeared on the real-world news; Kanji Tatsumi. While looking for the boy, the group spots a strange, blue-dressed slender young man who seems to be following him. They are unable to keep close enough an eye on Kanji to prevent him from being kidnapped, and once he is, he begins to appear clearly on the channel. After Kanji is rescued from his dungeon, the Steamy Bathhouse, he joins the group.