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Shout Out / Persona 4

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  • When introducing the protagonist during class, Mr. Morooka will mention kids using their "my-places".
  • After blatantly and repeatedly propositioning the player character, Sayoko offers to pour him a cup of hot coffee.
  • When it's time to interrogate Yukiko about her kidnapping, Yosuke rules out the possibility of the culprit wearing bright yellow clothes at the scene of the crime.
  • During the guys' beauty pageant, Kanji's outfit resembles an iconic Marilyn Monroe. While Teddie strongly resembles Disney's Alice from Alice in Wonderland. The MC's outfit and sword during the "Miss" Inaba contest is a shout out to Saya from Blood: The Last Vampire, right down to the braids.
  • Chie's initial Persona, Tomoe, wears a yellow jumpsuit similar to Bruce Lee's in Game of Death.
    • In Golden, Chie gets one of her own as a costume.
  • The entire Void Quest dungeon is a shout out to Dragon Quest and retro JRPGS in general. The boss uses the Megami Tensei battle screen for several attacks, and some of the text that pops up as you progress through the dungeon is directly taken Shin Megami Tensei I. One specific shout out occurs when you beat the bonus boss of said dungeon, a pile of bones in the boss lair, when examined "No response. It must be a tile, not an object" alluding to the recurring Dragon Quest line "No response. Looks like a corpse."
  • If you return to the Void Quest dungeon later when you are meant to rescue Nanako, Yosuke will make a comment about their princess being in another castle.
  • The Persona Hell Biker. Its Japanese name is Hell's Angel, which makes it a double Shout-Out.
  • In the US version, one of Chie's winning quotes is taken from Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon: "Don't think. Feel." Given her love of martial arts films, this is an example in universe. Furthermore, if you watch her bouncing around idle during battle, she'll sometimes stop to do his signature nose-thumb flick.
    • The Golden adds to it; when she uses Dragon Hustle there is a chance she'll say "Don't miss all this heavenly glory!". And of course, the Yellow Track-suit costume.
  • One of Naoto's weapons is called Algernon. Its description states it was created as part of an "experiment to find happiness", no less.
  • One of the game's healing items is Antibiotic Gel.
  • There was no way that someone at Atlus wasn't thinking God Hand with Chie's Galactic Punt follow on technique and her God's Hand move.
  • Your friends from the sports teams, Daisuke and Kou, belong to the soccer team and the basketball team, respectively. Both in looks and attitude, they are shout outs to popular sports anime: Daisuke resembles Kyosuke Kano of Hungry Heart: Wild Striker and Kou resembles Kaede Rukawa of Slam Dunk.
  • At one point, Yosuke comments on something giving him the jibblies. At least one NPC uses the phrase too.
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  • In one of the Death Arcana S. Links, she talks about how her husband was diagnosed with a disease that made him forget who she was, and each day she had to remind him, and the day ended with him remembering her-only to forget her the next day. Her husband's disease led to her wanting to kill him, but couldn't, out of her love.
  • ...not to mention another story that has to do with a mysterious fog that may or may not have monsters lurking in it. A few of the students even bring up how similar the situation is to a book that they read.
  • When preparing for the omelette cooking, Yosuke begs the MC "Help us, (name)! You're our only hope!"
  • Witch Detective, a hard to obtain book, is an obvious reference to Twilight.
  • In Golden, when you, Yosuke, and Kanji have a contest in Okina City to see who can get a girl's number: one of the numbers you get will be an angry boyfriend who threatens to "rip off your head and spit down your neck".
  • Golden: When you decide to go bug harvesting in the first two weeks of January, Teddie will join you and say, "It's dangerous to go alone. Take me!"
  • The Secret Laboratory dungeon is a reference to locales of that type in tokusatsu shows, and the bird logo hung all over the dungeon bears a strong resemblance to the Shocker symbol.
    • The Boss of the Secret Laboratory Shadow Naoto is divided into two halves down the middle with one half being more obviously mechanical, complete with a clear half that reveals it's mechanical brain much like Kikaider.
  • During the nightclub scene, Naoto begins talking about the Shirogane family and how they've been lending their powers to the police from time to time. Chie suddenly relates them to a guy from a movie she watched before: Kuzonoha.
    • In the Japanese version, the reference is Kindaichi, a Japanese detective character.
  • During the King's Game, Yukiko will declare herself the "queen" after the two rounds, and gives Naoto orders. In doing so, she declares "Ah, Naoto-kun! I choose you!".
    • In Golden, during the Ski Trip, one of the dialogue choices says "I'll catch you all!"
  • Also during the King's Game, when Teddie draws the red stick, he says "I, the King, command thee to smooch the King without delay!" If only Yu got to say that.
  • The Persona Nata Taishi is clearly patterned after Astro Boy.
  • The murder victims being strung up on telephone poles seems to be a reference to Keicho Nijimura's death.
  • The screenshots seen in the PS2 Manual for the game have the protagonist's name set as "Raidou Kuzunoha".
  • Naoto and Kanji's Combination Limit Break is called Beauty and the Beast.
  • Chie's second and (in golden) third persona trade in the dual-bladed naginata for Saber Staves.
  • By the bus stop in the shopping district, you may see a guy who greets you with, "Hey! Listen!"
  • One optional discussion with Chie about midterms has her ask "what are midterms good for?" One of the responses is "Absolutely nothing!" to which she'll respond "say it again!", referencing Edwin Starr's famous song, "War."
  • In Golden, Naoto talks about one of the detective novels she read as a child, describing its protagonist as "frequently [making] impulsive decisions when pursuing his suspects". While the name of the book itself is never said, she mentions the name of said protagonist - "Sam". It's more explicit in the original Japanese, where she says the protagonist's full name and it's indeed "Sam Spade".
  • After the mid-term exams, Chie asks Yukiko what she chose for the question which asks what "that" refers to in the sentance. They both have different answers and neither of them really seem sure. This is most likely a nod to Meat Loaf's famous song "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" since it's long been debated what "that" is refering to.
  • Much of the game can be interpreted as one giant love letter to JoJo's Bizzare Adventure, more specifically to Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable.
    • The story is the fourth installment in a series in which each installment is only tangentially related to the last one by similar themes and the occasional returning character. This time, the plot takes on a smaller scale than before, now a murder mystery as opposed to a more horror themed story, but said murder mystery is unsolvable by the police because they lack the knowledge of how the killer commits their crimes and would never believe the truth if told. It takes place in a small town and features many threats that hit closer to home than the previous installments, especially the idea of someone disappearing, presumably dead, and their loved ones never being able to find out what truly happened. There is a heavy emphasis on character development outside of the main plot, and the main plot features heavy themes of searching for the truth and finding justice. Did I just describe Persona 4 or Diamond is Unbreakable
    • Characters are put through a trial by the villian in which they either die or gain the ability to manifest a physical representation of their subconscious. Bonus points for having the requirement to survive being based on the character's mental fortitude, JoJo's requiring incredible drive and/or fighting spirit and Persona 4 requiring the characters to have the strength to face the part of themselves they hate the most.
    • Naoto is a young prodigy who is relatively anti-social that kickstarts the final parts of the investigation because of her tenacity and investigative skills, much like Rohan Kishibe
    • Kanji is a punk/delinquent who could easily outclass almost anyone in a fair fight, but he secretly has a softer side. He isn't the brightest member of the team, but he's reliable. He only has one parent who he loves more than anyone else. Finally, his character arc ends when he learns to stop relying on others to tell him what to think and think for himself. Sounds a lot like Okuyasu Nijimura
    • Nanako is younger than the main cast but ends up becoming an honorary member of the group. she is put into danger by the villain and dies (temporarily) which causes the characters to investigate the case with renewed resolve, much like Shigechi
    • Saki Konishi is a young girl who is murdered because the killer was attracted to her physically but didn't particularly care for her personality. Her voice is heard even after her death and her death motivates the gang, especially Yosuke, to solve these murders. She plays a similar role to Reimi Sugimoto
    • The killer: Adachi kills his victims because while physically attractive their personalities are ugly to him. His ultimate goal, though, is for a life without pain. The rest of the (attempted) killings are for his own pleasure. He believes himself to be impossible to catch but when he is put under pressure by his imminent discovery he panics. He attempts to hide his crimes by hiding behind another face (both in the case of hiding behind a rookie screw up and in the case of attempting to pin all of his crimes on Namatame). All of this is incredibly similar to Yoshikage Kira.
    • Yu Narukami is a strong but quite man who comes to town for a simple reason. He ends up getting pulled into the murder investigation by simply showing up at the right time and because his friends need his help. He has an incredibly powerful ability when it comes to Personae, even compared to everyone else. He is instrumental in defeating the villain when no one else can, but arguably he is the least interesting character. Jotaro Kujo, much?
    • Finally, there's Teddy. At first, he's a weak character that supports the main cast. He isn't someone who should normally be able to have a persona, but he manages to anyways. He undergoes three physical transformations that give him new power: first to protect his loved ones in an emergency (Shadow Rise, his normal persona), once when he becomes determined to become self reliant (after Shadow Teddy, the power to leave the TV and appear as a human), and finally when he saves someone he cares about and becomes strong enough to face his problems head on and stand along side them (when Nanako tells him his voice was what pulled her back from the brink, his ultimate persona). All of that sounds a lot like Koichi Hirose.
    • This is far from the first time a Persona game was inspired by JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Persona has been stated to have been inspired by Part 3: Stardust Crusaders for the concept of Stands. Persona 3's envokers are a reference to an early scene in Part 3 in which Jotaro demonstrates his stand, which he believed to be an evil spirit, by attempting to shoot himself in the head and his Stand, Star Platinum, catching the bullet before it could reach his head. Many parallels can be drawn to Persona 5 and Part 5: Vento Aureo (most obviously that they both star the most fabulously dressed criminals ever). Persona 4 just happens to be the one in which it's easiest to see this inspiration.
  • After seeing the large amount of ingredients the girls gathered for an omelette cook-off, Kanji quips that they look like they're about to enter the "Ultimate Frying Championship".

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