Last time, Yukiko got TV-napped and Chie’s Shadow revealed her darkest secrets, which were significantly less dark than Yosuke’s. Now it’s time to finally leave the prologue and start normal gameplay.

Anyway, time for school again! I’m so excited to see what these gossip queens have to say about all the juicy details we fed them last time. If the town didn’t know about our escapades before they will now, surely!

The next morning at school, Chie says she slept like a baby. I think we’re meant to assume this is because of the exhaustion and not because she’s stoked about the fact her friend is about to die, but boy does it sound weird.

And now the whole class will too, because you don’t know how to keep your mouth shut. They proceed to discuss Yosuke and John’s experiences too, because they are so, so bad about this. Yosuke deflects from talking about his Shadow by pointing out John didn’t have to fight a Shadow to get his Persona.

YOSUKE: Hm, could that be because you’ve got nothing to hide?

Maybe? Is this a cheeky wink at us being a blank-slate protagonist with no personality?

CHIE: Anyways, what’s most important right now is to rescue Yukiko.

Someone’s going to have an interesting story for the police.

Then the bell rings and Yosuke runs off to pee. Why must this be a running gag? Now that we’re alone with the gossip queens, Chie takes the opportunity to flirt.

CHIE: Th-Thanks for saving me… Yosuke’s cool and all, but…

He’s a sociopath, Chie.

That was glib, but I genuinely do think that’s a valid reading of Yosuke. He is (apparently) extremely convincing at faking concern for others despite not actually feeling any; he acts friendly and jocular in public, but switched on a dime to flat and pragmatic as soon as he learned there was no point in continuing the act, even after what should have been intense trauma; his motives and behaviors, even in regards to the investigation, have been entirely self-centered; and most damningly, his primary emotion (according to his Shadow) is boredom, which is a major problem suffered by sociopaths. (And it’s interesting that his Shadow also accused him of throwing himself into dangerous situations just to alleviate his boredom — many sociopaths are adrenaline junkies for the same reason.) Obviously this is not the intended takeaway, but I’m curious how long it’ll take before we see anything that definitively contradicts it.

Back to you, Chie.

CHIE: There really is something different about you. I feel like you won’t let me down…

What is with everyone always worshipping the blank-slate protagonist? It just feels so fake and artificial, which is all the worse when the character dialogue is otherwise relatively good like it is here. John has no personality. He has done nothing to earn this. Yeah, he saved her life, but so did Yosuke. Why am I the most specialest Gary Stu to ever live who everyone can tell at first glance is the perfect leader they’re willing to follow to the ends of the Earth? This just makes me feel sad for her, like, have some self-respect and don’t worship a guy you just met, Chie.

Anyway, scoring a new priest for my inevitable ascension to godhood scores me her social link: The Chariot, which I suppose is fitting for sporty girl.

Hilariously, after all that I immediately choke if I try to flirt back because I don’t have enough courage.

The narration then explicitly tells me in gameplay terms that I have to rescue people before the next onset of fog or I’ll get an automatic game over on account of the plot being unable to progress with a major character dead.

You should go to the Junes food court on days that you want to explore the other world…

You know, just the days where you feel like rescuing someone IN MORTAL PERIL instead of studying for tests or going on dates with your friends, all equally important activities.

We skip to the afternoon, where we meet a new teacher.

Okay then. He teaches us the etymology of the world “alphabet”, which I already knew but is probably more esoteric for Japanese players.

Then school ends and… nothing. I don’t get jumped by the teachers or the rumormongers, I don’t even hear any gossip about me from the NPCs. We spent so much time establishing everyone in this school is a busy little rumor bee, but it’s irrelevant. None of them care about us loudly gossiping about our supernatural escapades in front of the whole class. If you didn’t want NPCs gossiping about us why did you make them gossipy, game?

What are they talking about instead?

GUY IN GLASSES: Saki-senpai killed… That’s not a rumor I ever expected to find out was true. It’s all the more proof that discipline needs to be enforced in society. That’s how incidents like this are avoided. As a class representative, I think it falls upon me to make sure my classmates understand just how important that is.

Okay, future cop.

STYLISH STUDENT: I’m still shocked something so terrible could happen to a girl here at school right after that announcer lady… What kind of monster could murder a woman? He’ll never earn my forgiveness, I’ll tell you that much. Hanging out with women, going on dates with them, that’s fine. Killing them? Not so much.

Okay, future incel.

FEMALE STUDENT: I can’t believe that Konishi-san is dead… But I can’t really feel sorry for her. She just did whatever she wanted to. There are a couple bad rumors about her, too… You could even say it was divine punishment.

Okay, future tradwife.

MALE STUDENT: Have you heard about the incident too? The victim was hung by an antenna! Why an antenna, I wonder… Do you think it has anything to do with radio waves, or TV? Can’t be.

It definitely does, then. The only question of if it’s simply because the other world exists in TVs or if there’s deeper symbolic meaning.

BRUNETTE STUDENT: Did you hear? Another challenger has stepped up for the “Amagi Hurdle”!

I suspect this was a mistranslation, as they called it the “Amagi Challenge” earlier.

ALMOND-EYED STUDENT (what a weird epithet): Wait, how many has it been this year? It’s amazing how popular Amagi is, huh…?
BRUNETTE STUDENT: Doesn’t it feel like the whole world’s different for her? I can barely talk to the boys in my class at all…

Why is everyone so surprised she’s popular? She’s really pretty and the heiress to a popular business. Of course she’d have suitors lining up for her.

A “shy” student tutorializes the library to me, which works like in P3 with the addition that you get an extra bonus for studying on rainy days. So, right before someone dies is the best time to study, got it.

One of the students asks if the blacksmith dude had a store in the city. She believes me whether I say yes or no. Why would the game give me a choice about that? Is it saying I get to define this one incredibly inconsequential backstory detail?

Another student is still claiming the Midnight Channel shows your soulmate, but is apparently too much of a loser to watch it herself. How is this rumor still going? A kid talked about what he saw on it on our very first day. You’d think the rumor mill would have progressed by now.

On the roof, there are solar panels and a girl who gives me a weather forecast.

On the third floor I encounter Racial Caricature, who gives me a very odd quiz (I have to recognize the top 6 flag colors in the world) and some chest keys when I pass. Why is a student carrying around keys to TV world treasure chests?

Back in town, I learn that if I sell monster drops to the blacksmith he can use them to make new equipment. Kinda reminds me of the forma system from Strange Journey, but with less overhead. It also looks like every Shadow has a unique drop.

The pharmacy now sells not just medicine but… revival beads, “stimulants”, and “ball lightning”. Who is making these and why is no one making a bigger deal about these clearly magic items?

At the shrine I can ruin a kid’s teeth by replacing his water with a soft drink, for which he will reward me with a bug.

MAN IN SUIT: The first murder victim, the news announcer Yamano? She was on the “Eye Television” sign… Her relationship with the council secretary was discovered, and she was pulled from her TV appearances. Cheating is a terrible thing. I was a fan of hers, so it was like she was betraying me personally. That’s why… when she became a victim I wasn’t really surprised.

Well, someone has issues. I do wonder if I’m onto something with the parasociality theory.

Despite narration claiming I can choose how to spend my time, I actually can’t do anything but go to the TV world. Inside, Teddie immediately says he wants to play, and has to be reminded that we are here to rescue someone. Why is Teddie so weird. He does, however, give us some escape-the-dungeon items, which is helpful.

CHIE: Yukiko’s still okay, right…?
YOSUKE: Don’t worry so much! She’ll be just fine.
CHIE: But we need to save her soon…
YOSUKE: She’s safe until the fog comes back, isn’t she? There’s no reason to rush things and try to save her this instant.

Your continued attempts to justify this just make it weirder, game.

The gang encounters Shadow Yukiko on 2F, in the same place Shadow Chie was. Everyone assumes this is the real Yukiko even though she’s dressed differently and has the evil Shadow aura, but okay, maybe the latter’s not diegetic. Shadow Yukiko plans to hunt for her Prince Charming, but the castle is so big that it’ll take a while for her to find him. Surely her Shadow knows there’s only Shadows here, though? Did she actually generate a Prince Charming in here somewhere or is she just insane? (Thinking she needs to hunt for another Prince Charming when three dashing heroes have already come to rescue her is also rather odd, something she will make even weirder by drawing attention to later.)

CHIE: You’re not Yukiko…

Chie I really don’t think you should be saying that. Fortunately Shadow Yukiko just asserts they’re one and the same, so it seems they’re only empowered when rejected by their host specifically. It’s at this point that Chie finally realizes they’re obviously talking to Yukiko’s Shadow.

Then I crawl through some more dungeon. One of Chie’s battle barks is “Protect me, Tomoe!” even though Tomoe is supposedly part of her. “Protect me, me!”

Oh I bet you did, John.

Then I run out of MP and go home to sleep in my nice warm bed while Yukiko spends another night alone. The help text notifies me that I might have a dream, and tonight I dream I’m Yosuke’s parent. “It was a surreal, awkward dream, but your relationship with Yosuke has intensified…” Very heterosexual thoughts we’re having.

The next morning Margaret calls just to remind me that it’s totally cool to tap out in the middle of rescuing our friend or indeed, to spend our day going on dates instead of rescuing her at all. Why do they need to hammer this in so many times? I have to wonder if the playtesters refused to abandon dungeons because why would you, so they wanted to make absolutely sure you got the message?

And indeed, on the way to school I learn sports clubs are opening today, so I guess I’ll be doing that instead of helping Yukiko. The day immediately skips to after school, so I can do that immediately. The game does let you be responsible and blow this off to try the TV world again, but I decide to be a bad person. I can pick either the soccer club or basketball club; I pick basketball on the basis that will probably give me better overall agility (and fewer concussions). As soon as I show up the P.E. teacher tells the entire club he’s thinking of making me captain. Wow, how much do you hate your students? I can boisterously go along with this; the soccer team hates it but the basketball team loves it because “Democracy is such a pain.” More followers for my inevitable ascension, then.

This time there is actually a different student for each club, but regardless of club I end up meeting both and they both form the social link. They’re Strength. Kou bemoans that the basketball team has no work ethic and hopes we can whip them into shape.

DAISUKE: …Are you stuck polishing the balls again?
KOU: Yeah, while they go to their parties, I get to stay here and play with balls. I loooove them balls.

So does John, apparently, because he spends his entire afternoon helping Kou do it. Can’t imagine what could possibly be more important than that.

Oh right.

Dojima is busy being a deadbeat so I can sneak out in the evening. The nightclub hostess offers to trade rare items for gems (which I don’t have yet). Chatting gets her to say, “I have a little one, named Akihiko…” Huh, is this an AU of P3 where Akihiko wasn’t orphaned? …No, it turns out she’s talking about her pet fish. Hm. Wonder what the point of that fakeout was. He wants the bugs I traded the boy for earlier.

SHIROKU HOSTESS: You’re so kind… I wouldn’t mind if you attempted to flirt with me right now.

My uncle is a cop, lady. Choose your words carefully.

SHIROKU HOSTESS: ……Haha, that’s only a little joke. Don’t take everything so seriously.

Haha wow, maybe John actually said that. That’s hilarious. Akihiko spits up a fishhook, so I guess I can do the fishing minigame now. However, he still won’t eat the bread crumbs the hostess is feeding him, so she gives them to me instead to use as bait for catching fish. The fish who, as we just established, don’t like them.

From this, Farla theorizes that the students from the other school are shapeshifters, and the fish really is the woman’s son. I find this farfetched, but crazier things have happened in this series. (“What’s crazier, this or not knowing there’s another school in your town?” Farla argues.)

I find Yosuke staring at Saki’s liquor store like a creep. I can hang out with him, but the help text informs me I can’t progress to the next social link rank this way. So I guess they’re giving us more opportunities to grind for social points, that’s… nice? I’d still rather social links didn’t require grinding at all. To my surprise, the conversation actually appears to be bespoke, unlike the generic stopover social links in P3. He talks a bit about the town being really boring and there being no good places to hang out, and also gives me a cough drop he totally didn’t steal from Junes. The cough drop actually has a unique description noting that it’s a gift from Yosuke, but its effect is just to restore some SP.

The next day, Yosuke decides to be an infosec nightmare.

You could just not put background NPCs in these scenes, game. That is a thing you could do.

Anyway, Yosuke actually has a good question, which is if we’ve tried to stick our hand in when the Midnight Channel is on.

> Tell him you tried that
> Say you don’t care

Okay, now you’re giving me a real choice, game? Over this? Seriously? I choose to not be a weirdo and tell him the truth. Yosuke is disappointed, as he was hoping we could jump straight to Yukiko’s location via the Midnight Channel. Actually, we still don’t know we can’t do that, since we only stuck our hand in there instead of going all the way in. He also points out Teddie’s claim that every TV connects to a different place seems contradictory with every TV displaying the same Midnight Channel. Hm.

YOSUKE: Well, looks like we gotta suck it up and march straight into that castle… But we can’t really complain. Yukiko-san has it way worse than us!

But not worse enough for you to consider skipping school, of course. Speaking of which, there’s a new teacher today.

Oookay. He asks me how many parts there are to the story “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle”. I have no idea. I guess two, which is incorrect. I assume Japanese players would have a better chance of knowing this.

I got to the Velvet Room, which gets me a new scene. Margaret says Marie is connected to me in some way, and also that Marie is “not of man”, whatever that means. She asks me to take Marie out on a date so she can gain a better understanding of the world and oh god it’s Elizabeth all over again. Maybe this is controversial, but personally Born Sexy Yesterday skeeves me out even more than the reverse (1000-year-old lolis). I won’t be summarizing the date because watching it once was bad enough; I’ll tell you if any of it turns out to be plot-relevant. Her Arcana is Aeon. Did that Arcana not exist in the original P4, or was it given to another character?

Alas, no. No one wins today, Yukiko.

On the 21st I go dungeon crawling again, and manage to just barely crawl to the boss room. The enemy progression in this dungeon is crazy; they jump straight from easy level 5s to a bunch of level 10+ enemies (many of which resist physical attacks) once you reach the second half. I take a nap so I can fight the boss at full strength and come back on the 22nd.

On the sixth floor we hear a reenactment of the creep’s interview with Yukiko, but this time she pushes back and tells him to shut up. It’s interspersed with bits of other guys hitting on her, to which she says “I’m sick of it!” That’s going to be confusing in a few scenes.

Why is she only now acknowledging us as princes?

Miraculously, Yukiko is somehow still alive after five days without food or water. We have some very unnecessary comic relief of Teddie assuming he’s the third prince and bantering stupidly about it. Shadow Yukiko confirms that no, the third prince is…

SHADOW YUKIKO: Chie… *chuckle* Yes, she’s my Prince…

Okay, I’m now 100% certain the gay subtext is intentional. There’s no way they are choosing to reference Revolutionary Girl Utena without knowing the implications.

Shadow Yukiko rants that as princely as Chie is, she’s not good enough for what Yukiko wants: escape from this backwater dump. Yukiko wants someone to whisk her away to place where she can be a nobody, and Chie can’t do that. (Unspoken subtext, I presume: Because gay marriage isn’t legal.) Everyone claims the inn is wonderful, but Yukiko hates how it shackles her to this place.

SHADOW YUKIKO: I never asked to be born here! Everything’s decided for me! From how I live, to where I die!

I will say, the gay subtext dovetails with this amazingly well, especially considering that rural areas tend to be more homophobic.

SHADOW YUKIKO: Someone, please take me away… I can’t leave here on my own… […] I have no hope if I stay, and no courage to leave… So I sit on my ass hoping that someday my Prince will come! I don’t care where we go! Anywhere’s fine! As long as it’s not here, I don’t give a damn!

Here’s the problem, though: This doesn’t match Yukiko’s behavior up to this point.

The Shadow claims that Yukiko is absolutely desperate. She wants to escape no matter the cost. That should manifest as her being extremely outgoing and willing to accept dates from even the sleaziest guys for the chance at an escape route. However, what we’ve actually seen of her is that she refuses to date anyone. When she isn’t seemingly oblivious to boys’ advances, she turns them down outright, despite the whole school fawning over her to the point they’ve turned it into a meme. And plenty of the students outright say they want to leave the town when they grow up, so it’s not like she’s rejecting them on the grounds they can’t or won’t grant her wish. She just… doesn’t try. Shadow Yukiko’s method of waiting around for someone to rescue her is, amazingly, more proactive than what we’ve seen from Real Yukiko.

My first impression of Yukiko was that she was acting reserved because she knew that, as a public figure, she couldn’t engage in frivolous teen dating like her peers (because gods, have you seen idol culture?). This was, perhaps, something she wanted but knows she can’t have; that would match up with her repressed id being extremely sexual. But instead it’s this completely different thing that doesn’t line up with either of their behaviors. Honestly, the only way this makes sense is if Yukiko is so incredibly closeted she’s been rejecting all these men without understanding why she’s rejecting them or that she’s really waiting for Chie, so she thinks it’s just a matter of finding the “right” guy. (And that would kind of fit with her statement that she wants a massive harem so that she can pick only the best one.)

Yosuke tries to warn her but once again the Shadow successfully baits its host into saying, “You’re not me!” So one minute after we stumble onto the scene Yukiko aggros her Shadow, but she totally would have been fine if we had waited a few more days? How does this make any sense?

SHADOW YUKIKO: Aaaah! This feels wonderful! It’s building… more and more… If this keeps up… I’ll… I’ll…

Why did I have to read this. Again, nothing about Yukiko points to sexual frustration (unless perhaps you interpret the gay angle that way).

A bird in a glided cage. Very on the nose, but it works.

She and Chie are mutually weak to each others’ spells, which is very fitting. Like Shadow Chie she can use a shield buff to cover her weakness; I assume this will be the standard for all bosses. Once I reduce her health to half she summons a “Charming Prince”, who targets Chie with silence. Specifically Chie: even if John has a Persona with ice magic equipped, it prioritizes her. If I reduce the prince to low health without killing it, it runs away, whereupon Shadow Yukiko will attempt to summon it again, but no one will appear. …Could that be an Undertale inspiration too, I wonder? At low health she says “You’re not princes… Die, you worthless commoners!” and starts inflicting Fear on… it seems Yosuke specifically for some reason? (I’m still not sure what Fear does yet; it doesn’t seem to make you take more damage like in P3.)

Then it did an AoE nuke without warning, got a 1-More because I didn’t have Chie guard in time, and critted John to death, so I had to redo the fight a second time. Sigh.

After the fight Yosuke once again delivers the “Everyone has a dark side” speech even though this was not remotely in the same ballpark as how dark his dark side was. Some of us want to escape our crappy socioeconomic circumstances, some of us are sociopaths, same diff you know? Chie, meanwhile, apologizes for not noticing what Yukiko was going through and actually confesses to what her Shadow said about feeling jealous of Yukiko.

YUKIKO: I never saw the real you either… I was too busy trying to find an easy way out.

By rejecting all the easy ways out that were literally throwing yourselves at your feet.

Yukiko’s Persona is Konohana Sakuya, and it looks like we finally have a dedicated caster. She fights with… fans, apparently?

Yukiko collapses and Yosuke has the gall to ask “Are you okay?” after bullying her friend into leaving her here for five days. Yukiko claims she is somehow “Just a little tired…” The one who advances the plot is, amazingly, Teddie: He asks the pertinent question of who threw her in here. Of course, the game would be over too quick if we learned the culprit’s identity this early, so she conveniently was in a trance when she got thrown in.

YUKIKO: I think… someone called my name… But my memory’s a blur. I can’t remember who it was…

Hm. That could still fit with the parasociality angle, if the culprit is able to lure people through the TV or something. Teddie claims this means we have no new clues, but Yosuke points out this confirms someone really is throwing people in here. Was that under question…? Teddie is grudgingly willing to admit this proves we’re not the culprits, even though it doesn’t. It’s theoretically possible for one of us to be a double agent who’s been kidnapping people in secret. We know that can’t be the case because we can always account for Chie and Yosuke’s whereabouts in the real world, but Teddie wouldn’t know that.

Teddie proceeds to whine about being left behind. Yosuke points out that he lives here. Teddie stammers incoherently. I presume the implication is that he feels lonely, even though he was extremely hostile to us on our first meeting and claimed he liked the world better before people started sticking their noses in.

YUKIKO: I’m sorry, Teddie. I promise to come again… So be a good boy and wait here until then.

Yukiko either has brain damage from the dehydration or has decided this is hallucination, I see. Teddie makes a happy “Raaaawr!” in response. The voice actor plays it like an actual bear’s growl; no idea if it’s the same in the Japanese.

Why is this happening.

Back in the real world, I’m given the opportunity to interrogate Yukiko again even though she already said she doesn’t know anything. Maybe John’s reasoning is that she didn’t want to talk in front of the creepy mascot.

That evening, Dojima comes home with Adachi in tow to helpfully inform me Yukiko’s been found. She told the police the same thing, that she doesn’t remember anything, and the police can’t account for her whereabouts while she was missing. Adachi obviously finds this incredibly suspicious, but Dojima tells him to shut up. None of them find it weird that she was wearing the exact same piece of formal wear she was the day she disappeared without it being damaged or dirty at all, even though that should strike them as extremely, extremely weird.