The True Face of Tohru Adachi; Persona 4 Golden Analysis 

One thing I got from Adachi while playing for like... the third time, is that He can be encapsulated as The investigation team´s shadow as a whole: The ressentment for getting thrown into the sticks like Yosuke, The envy for more talented and succesfull people like Chie, The helplessness of not scaping from your own self imposed rules like Yukiko, The not understanding of women and manhood that allowed him for the murder of mayumi yamano and Saki Konishi like Kanji, The wish to scape from a world that doesn´t understand you like Rise, The void of Teddie, and the "not taken seriously" by the police force of Naoto. Like, one step wrong, and not only Yu... but anyone could have been turned into Adachi.

"Do not kill the part of you that is cringe - kill the part of you that cringes" -Tohru Adachi

Going into persona 4 golden, I knew Adachi was the culprit. And even then my honest thoughts were: "How could this bozo be the killer?" - I thought, wondering if I'd been tricked. Then it all came crashing down as the evidence pilled on, leaving me shocked at the brilliance of it all (truthfully, I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't connect the dots on my own). Adachi was so well written that being spoiled had no ill effect on my enjoyment. In fact, it made me pay attention even more to Adachi's every word and action.

I like how Adachi is so jaded and feels like he's alone but his relationship with Dojima contradicts this. You can only see this in the accomplice ending, but Adachi carries around a lighter. He doesn't smoke, he carries it around in case Dojima needs it. The player can also see how much he enjoys hanging out with Nanako and Yu. Which I think is very realistic. I know in my life I've convinced myself that no one loves me or even cares but that was far from the truth

The funniest thing to me is that despite the meme of "Shut up, Adachi" is that no one can shut up about Adachi. Either through the spoiler memes, arguing over his viewpoint, or making an hour plus long analysis of his character. Kudos to you for that last one, it was great!

I need to say here and now that Johnny Yong Bosch did an amazing job at playing Adachi.

His role in P4 Arena Ultimax gives a nice bow to Adachi's story and arc. He plays by his word from the Golden ending and tries to live a quiet life in prison. The only reason things change is due to the intervention of Minazuki. He acts as a double agent who ultimately sides with Yu and the party.

Your comments about narcissistic people not being evil were like a breath of fresh air, so many RU-vidrs won't make that distinction even when they're directly implying such. Always such good vibes in these videos

15:50 So there’s one thing I’d like to point out. I didn’t choose “Good for you” for that conversation so I never saw the part about his mother. Instead I chose “Does it make you sad?”. Adachi says he likes being alone (which he also mentions in the other option). And when the MC agrees with him, he then says “Hahaha, you're so cold for a kid. But that's the smart way to be. You can't be around tons of people and feel bad every time they do.” And the next part says “> Adachi seems a little bit sad...” I think that part kind of stuck to me throughout the rest of the game. I wondered why he seems a little sad at it. Was he genuinely (even for a tiny bit) interested in his friendship with the old woman? Was he sad that he realised he was nothing more than a replacement? Despite his narcissistic tendencies and the way he claimed he disliked how the old woman treated him, it felt like he was truly reaching out a little for that attention she gave. From the part he mentions his mum and what he says in the option I picked, maybe he was replacing the old woman as his mum, just as she did the same with him as her son. Idk maybe I thought too deeply about this but I’d like to think that this is one of the rare moments he lets down his masks before the reveal.

The Jester is from the Thoth tarot deck. It represents the exact same principles as the Fool, but is hypocritical in a sense that it also represents someone fighting back and lashing out at both the idea of contribution or cooperation and, especially in more social or work situations. Basically it's the denial of what the fool represents. As for Hunger, it's synonymous with a card called the Lust, which is the Thoth equivalent of Strength, and represents danger of losing control and an insatiable hunger or lust for power and dominance, rather than strength from within. It also represents the abuse of power

I think they just got it right with Adachi. He’s such a good antagonist. They just made him very twisted but very human. He was full of himself and thought he deserved better. Blame went to everyone and the world around him. And once he had power then he abused it for his own amusement. Even before realizing he had the power to enter the TV he still tried to abuse his authority with Hiiragi. I can appreciate that he didn’t have a motivation or goal that would even attempt to justify him. There’s no comforting motive that can give peace to say Yosuke. Adachi just did terrible things. Not to say he’s uninteresting because he is interesting. I liked the bond with him compared to a similar one in another Persona game. Confronting Adachi alone in the TV was good. Same with lines like Adachi saying it’s ridiculous for the MC to be upset at Adachi’s “betrayal” based on a connection the MC decided on his side of it. Same with the gun shot later…scary guy.

Related to his freedom, Adachi seems to struggle to actually make use of his opportunities. We see this in the P4 Golden Anime where he has opportunities to join school clubs and make friends, but he actively avoids those opportunities. Same goes for the old woman as Adachi avoids her and refuses to go on the dates she wants to set up for him, much unlike Yu who spends most of his time socializing and creates opportunities. Adachi did have lots of freedom because of his good grades, but he never actually made use of it, possibly because he never really learned or knew how to connect with other people. He may see it as something he wasn't allowed to do due to his mentality and perspective, even though he literally could. He may have been jealous of Saki being popular and social, wanting that for himself in a way. Which could explain his line about him just working hard. I always found Adachi to be a really tragic character, since he is a dead ringer for so many people's experiences growing up. They get this idea that things will turn out well for them, and eventually someone will turn up for them, but that does not happen much. People neglect their social life and happiness for what they perceive will be long term benefits, not realizing that those social aspects are equally important too.

My girlfriend isn’t much of a gamer, so I watched Persona 4: The Animation with her so she could experience part of my favorite series. She suspected Adachi VERY early on because, and I quote, “Nobody gets that drunk off of beer.” I tried to play it off but I’m still amazed that *that* was the reasoning behind her guess.

Persona 4 Golden Animation (exclusively Japanese dub) goes even deeper into Adachi and his past. As a high school student, he was quite studious and was rather bright. When after school clubs and groups were formed, Adachi would politely decline. In his view it was a waste of time and would not benefit him. As time would progress, he would pass his tests but he would look out the window, notice those students have fun and feel lonely. In his mind though the ends would justify the means. Sure he might be a bit lonely now, but soon he would be an important detective so it would be worth it in the end. Fast forward and he passes the police academy with flying colors. His hard work, studying, and lonely nights seemingly paid off. Unfortunately in a case he was working, he accidentally contaminated evidence, and the accused got off on a technicality. Adachi rather than lose his job was sent to work for Inaba as punishment. As much as he complained about "working somewhere in the sticks", he grew to enjoy the time he spent with Dojima and eventually Nanako. Once Narukami entered the picture Adachi became a bit of an afterthought. His jealousy would begin to grow. Fast forward to the confrontation in Magatsu Inaba. I think the focal point of his speech wasn't exactly the part about talent being a free pass to an easy life. I think it was his line "Stop trying to act all tough. You brats can't stand on your own, unless you deny everything I've said! Stupid teenagers! You have no idea what kind of shit I've been through!" In his mind, how could these spoiled high school children know anything about suffering and how cruel life can be. In thinking this he completely shuts out their own torments and suffering. During the fight in the anime between Adachi and Narukami, they are shown each other's memories. Narukami gets to see Adachi's loneliness and his frustration with how things in his life turned out. He even acknowledged that had circumstances been different, he would have been exactly like Adachi. Adachi in turn gets to see Narukami's memories. The frustration of constantly moving from school to school and of starting over each time. The loneliness of leaving his friends each time. And yet upon realizing they are more alike than he previously thought, Adachi becomes enraged because his illusion is shattering. His illusion that he is just in this fight because he has worked his ass off and has suffered. And now a city boy like him knows his brand of pain and didn't reach the same conclusion he did. It should also be noted that it does show the accomplice ending. As Narukami is on the train he appears frustrated that he lied to his friends. We see Adachi look up to the increasing fog covered sky sigh and mutter in disappointment "How boring..." This was a great video on my favorite Persona antagonist. Phenomenal work.

The thumbnail of this video spoiled me when I was just starting my playthrough, 3 weeks and 127 hours later, I have returned

Oooooh, that's really interesting to hear about the pink alligator story being a dropped thread here in P4:Golden. That's actually an explored thread in the Adachi path in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, where Dojima's persistent friendship with him was the bird that was missing in the golden mention of the story here.

Could the bird be Nanako? While she isnt one of his victims, she does become a victim of the TV world due to him, and he does seem to warn Yu about someone he knows being the next victim despite having no reason to do so. He is also somewhat upset after Nanako dies, and I could believe he was genuinely upset there. Great video!

I read somewhere that "Magatsu" can also mean "Filth-Tarnished". For example, "Magatsu Izanagi" is Izanagi just as he escaped from Yomi, the underworld, and was covered in the grime and decay of that realm after feeling from Izanami. From that translation, "Magatsu Inabah" is the filthy, depressing, lousy place that Adachi sees it as, his punishment for one "minor" mistake. He doesn't see any good, only filth and despair.

i think the most interesting part of adachi is however much he parallels your embracing of social links and bonds- he's lying to himself. There's no reason to let the team know about namatame when nanako is kidnapped- it goes against the idea of the "game" he's been enjoying see go on this is strengthened when once caught his letter says he was thinking about dojima and nanako. In the end- he had no reason to help you other than....he does care for nanako and dojima. He's lying to himself and convinced of his self pity- he can't see that there was already a connection to people who did care for him

Oh man, this is the video I've been waiting for, man. While Kanji's my favorite P4 party member, and Naoki's got the best social link, Adachi's really my favorite overall not just Persona 4 character, but Megami Tensei as a whole. I find him absolutely fascinating. All too often media (both real and fictional) likes to portray serial killers as far bigger people than they are or deserve to be. Usually they'll have some greater motives or a sad 'justification' and be portrayed as very intelligent and thoughtful, with their being tracked down usually being portrayed as a careful game of cat and mouse even though it's much more often the case that the police aren't even doing anything about it. Typically though, a 'game of cat and mouse' isn't usually had and is only argued by the killer and all the movies and documentaries about them. It's honestly a lot more rare for serial killers to actually be intelligent monsters who outsmart all those who pursue them. I love Adachi, because he truly goes against all of that and feels like what serial killers are. You can certainly see why he came to his cynical world view, absolutely what with his poor luck despite the work he put in, coming to the realization the world just...isn't fair sometimes. But it isn't used as a justification or a reason, in fact, he's called out for being a brat because of this. Because while sure, it's true, life isn't fair, it's no justification to make it worse for others or worse, end it for others. The reality is Adachi is just completely pathetic. He's not a cool killer, his reasoning isn't any good, he's not a genius constantly outsmarting those who pursue him, he's not actually accomplishing any further goal by doing what he does, he's honestly pretty sloppy and as soon as he was gifted a method to cause destruction and misery with, he happily used it just for the fun of it. I know all of what I'm saying sounds insulting, even though I said he's genuinely my favorite character. But that's sort of the thing. Adachi's the kind of guy who seems like he's really simple on the surface but you think there's something to see under there. But when you try to take a look at that layer under the surface, you see his second layer isn't any less shallow for the most part. (and very much in a good way). He's about as accurate to a serial killer as you can get with all how disgusting, pathetic and childish he is and the best part is he's an easy punching bag. Sure, he's frightening when he's actually alone with a woman, but once you take him away from that scenario, jokes at his expense are easy AND fun to make without feeling like low blows because there are no low blows when insulting actual filth like him. Adachi really feels to me like a piece of media actually portraying a serial killer right, and that's what makes me love and appreciate his writing too. And dipping into extended canon, the likes of his P4AU story really manage to expand on him more and even showing the potential for some growth without shying away from the awful shit he did. Nuanced, interesting and above all as I've said repeatedly, accurate, Adachi's the biggest character writing highlight I've seen across the MegaTen games I've played and I'm super super hyped to watch your analysis on him.

It's like the funny protein man says: I've been waiting for this!

In the words of Akihiko.. I've been waiting for this. Adachi is great, can't wait to see the dissection

Another amazing analysis on such a good character! One of my favorite things you mentioned is that Adachi, who’s supposed to be this evil heartless killer, is also the “every-man”. It really encompasses how brutal life is sometimes and how easy it could be to fall into this faulty world view. Replaying p4g and you coming out with these videos to help me understand it better couldn’t have come out at a better time in my life so tysm for your hard work!

I've heard several other people note that the difficulty of getting into a detective position in Japan, something Adachi would specifically be aiming for if he wanted to be able to legally carry a gun, would require top level academic performance. It's quite possible that either his own decisions or the demands of his parents meant that studying to keep up that high performance completely consumed Adachi's life as a kid.

I don’t remember if this was mentioned or not, but I feel that Adachi’s dissatisfaction comes from regret. In the magic trick social link, he states how he is good with his hands and that he could never make a living with them anyways, while also saying there is no job like a government job. This could be Adachi denying a form of his truth, as maybe we is only in this government job because his parents wanted Adachi to get a job that would make use of his good grades, which was all they really cared about for him.

as I always say regarding talent: "Talent is not a golden ticket to success. However, it does exist. It is merely the ability to pick up on and develop specific skills and abilities faster than on average, determined by the way your body is built or your brain is wired." If those skills are never presented or taught to you, or never trained, then you will never see that talent coming through. After all, hard work beats talent *until talent starts working hard.*

With everything that happens in 4/Golden, it makes his interactions with Sho/Minazuki much more cathartic for not only is it a mirror for Yu and Labrys, but mostly fits Adachi, his actions remind him of himself and becomes extremely disgusted with him. His entire store in Arena Ultimax is a great representation of not only the character but the evolution of what he learned in Golden. His ending with Dojima definitely makes me cry

Actually, the Hunger (known in the Japanese version as the "Lust" Arcana) is in the Thoth Tarot deck by Aelister Crowley. It's essentially a more chaotic, violent and animalistic version of the Strength Arcana.

There’s one thing that I find intriguing about Adachi. He sticks to his rules. He doesn’t cause more trouble because has a newfound empathy or take on life, but because he sticks to the rules of his game.

The way I knew Adachi was the culprit was because his silhouette matches perfectly with the shadowy figure you see in game from time to time...

Adachi is a really good character, and one I sadly find myself relating to a fair bit. A very human character, and one of the best of Persona 4s cast

Somehow I got spoiled about Adachi being the true culprit just after learning Nametame’s full story. I guess that was the best possible time to get spoiled. Adachi is such a fascinating villain. I think he might be my favorite all out villain of the Persona series. He’s very real. I feel like I’ve met Adachi. That’s the creepiest thing about him. Like you said, his views are a fallacy but they aren’t technically invalid because they are rooted in emotions. He’s goofy and lazy. He’s deplorable and self-centered. Every facet is true. He had and has the capacity for good, but let that fizzle out in favor of bitterness. He’s a tragedy of his own making. He’s truly fascinating. This was an amazing analysis of my favorite villain of the franchise.

''Babe wake up, its time to watch the Adachi analysis video again''

adachi is my favorite villian in persona, he has many layers to his character that doesn't make the writing feel sloppy, and the way he goes about himself both before and after he's revealed as the murderer makes me enjoy his character even more (even though i already knew he was the TV Tossing Troglodyte before getting into p4)

Once upon a time... I went threw exactly what Adachi went through. I could have turned out exactly like him. I got good grades all through elementary school. Then everything changed. My mom quit her full time job to make time for me. Almost smothering me. Then she remarried. She remarried someone who cared too much. We had very similar lives at that point. Only difference was that people cared to much about me. I regressed. Felt like nothing mattered. I rejected the care I was given and grew more and more hateful and bitter at their attempts to better me. If they gave up on me at anytime after I broke... I would be another Adachi. We share many of the same opinions, life views, and even likes. When I first met Adachi I could immediately tell that he was bothered by aspects of life. Tired of it. Kindness was annoying. No longer caring about learning just the task itself. Everything I have felt at one point and, to a degree, still do. I saw him and felt pity. Not of his position nor his treatment throughout the game but the fact that "there are people out there like me." I could never hate him. Not even when he killed and forced his way of life on to others. I only thought "I agree with a lot you say but... I can't agree with forcing your world into others." When I saw him again during p4 Arena, I was happy for him. ... I don't know exactly what Adachi has been through but I can understand. I too had, on the outside looking in, a not hard life. The truth is that it was hard. And that we were both unfortunate sissys that couldn't accept or deal with it. I'm glad I learned from him. Even if associating with him made my mom think I idolized a serial killer... I'm glad I learned from his mistakes.

I think the story with the pink alligator is suppose to contrast with Adachi as a character. Adachi IS the pink alligator, and while he is made fun of and is mostly seen as incompetent, he is still an alligator. A viscous animal. He hungers for food and is depraved from loneliness and while the story book pink alligator found friendship through the bird, Adachi found murderous excitement through Mayumi and Saki. He didn't value the bird for their friendship or help, he took advantage of them and made them his supper. But he still hungered for more.

Some people give Adachi crap, because his motives for being a villain just didn't seem to pay off, and it's easy to see why they feel that way, but I also feel like that's what makes him a memorable villain. There's another video on him from a few years ago now that details how sometimes, being too isolated from the world can be all it takes for a person to become as twisted as Adachi is. You might start to think you're above it all, or that the world sucks, or that only you know the "real truth" about the world. Plus, this analysis shows that a lot of careful thought and deliberation was still put into Adachi's character, even if he seems cartoonishly evil on the surface. It's probably why P4 remains the best Persona for me. It just feels the most thematically complete, even if it can get tropey at times.

I think "talent" could be described as any inherent skill or advantage you naturally possess. At least that's how the Japanese seem to use it. It's often correlated with genius, but I think it could be applied to something like beauty too. Sure, being beautiful doesn't guarantee you'll be an idol or something and you'd still have to put in the time...but if your dream is to be an idol and you inherently look gross or ugly, there's not much you can do about it. And there's quite a few studies related to IQ and its high correlation with success as well as many barriers to certain types of work based on your intelligence. Of course the real irony is that Adachi himself is actually quite intelligent and talented. This is shown quite a few times in P4/Golden/Arena but is also commented on by the developers IIRC. In the end, I think he failed because he's the type of person who always half-asses everything and refuses to make connections with others--and I think part of that can be attributed to his intelligence and ego, which makes Adachi view himself above others. Ironically Adachi's "talent" ended up being a setback in some ways

I think the thing that sells me most about adachi is he’s meant to be the darker side of what can happen when you let the feelings of self doubt and thinking you’re all alone. He’s such a generic guy that you could see it being anyone. Whether it be the team, Yu, or even the guy next door. It’s such great writing for that reason. It’s hard to nail a character like adachi and that’s just another reason I love this game

The final episode huh.... been a great series. Nice job Also dojima teleporting into Junes was just great

12 hour ann takamaki analysis: nah 1 hour adachi analysis: ZAMN!!!! 😛

I think that the bird to Adachi's Pink Alligator might be Yu during the accomplice ending, where he completely envelops Yu into his scheme, instead of outright on the nose killing him

Glad you mention how much he like to contradict himself. It's very intentional and is a big part of his identity of choosing only convenient truth for himself instead of seeing the reality as it is

I'm a simple man. I see an hour-long character analysis video of Adachi, and I like.

“It is easier to never try and believe in your own potential, than to give it your all and fail.” I absolutely love the way you worded that.

shoutout this video’s thumbnail & title for single handedly spoiling the entire end to p4 for me

This video’s title and thumbnail were my spoiler for adachi lmao

I would like to thank you for your comment on narcissism, I was worried that I was a bad person for having these thoughts, or how my imagination consisted of only how it involves me

Yeah I didn’t get Adachi spoiled until seeing the thumbnail of your video thanks

One take on Adachi’s social link is that it demonstrates his inability to do good in life with his powers, unlike Yu. It sets him up as a foil to our protagonist at every step. Like Hiding pointed out, the first conversation in Junes centers around his resentment for being sent to the boonies. We, on the other hand, inevitably embrace every aspect of the sleepy town of Inaba, up to and including its residents. Meanwhile, Adachi rejects any meaningful bonds he might forge, stewing in his misery and passing much of his time in idle frivolity. The old lady who befriends him represents the kinder side of human nature (its very existence of it belying Adachi’s skewed negative perception of humanity) reaching out even in spite of his complete apathy - a goodheartedness that he refuses to acknowledge even when it’s presented to him in a time he’s in need of companionship. The old lady , who bears a resemblance to the Death persona, could just as well have been a social link for Yu. It is Adachi’s ultimate shortcoming that he cannot find friendship and truth in others, whereas Yu is making friends left and right, becoming stronger through said bonds. Even in Adachi’s advice toward Nanako, we see subtly where he fails to see the big picture: he is guiding her toward shortcutting a mandatory task. He’s unable to understand her genuine desire to complete it properly and learn/grow, as he sees his work as a compilation of necessary chores that just need taken care of; he lacks real purpose/fulfillment. If this were a “normal” arcana as opposed to the Jester, it may have seen the social link’s arc pay off with the eventual realization that he needs meaningful interaction, as he forges a bond with the old lady. The fact that he falls horribly short of said redemption and takes a 180 into seclusion really juxtaposes him with everything we’re meant to be.

One thing I appreciate about Adachi and how he's written is... he's kinda spoiler-resistant. As in, you get spoiled and you're like "Oh, this guy's the killer, okay" and then you play the game and you're like "...Wait, this clown is the killer? How? Have I been bamboozled?" And then the evidence piles up and it all comes crashing down and your mind is blown after all, even despite having been spoiled

I have to comment on the talent discussion because it's something personal to me. I think we can clearly and concisely define talent. I will do so here. It has everything to do with one's ability to master something. To process, understand, replicate, and iterate on a specific skill or action. Take learning piano for example. A talented person at piano/music can learn and understand the basics of music, learn how to read sheet music, and possess the hand/eye coordination to master said instrument faster and more deeply than someone less talented. Not to say someone less talented can't be successful at piano, but the trend would be that less talented people at piano would take longer to master, and their mastery would be more shallow as compared to the mastery of someone talented. I think this is where people like Adachi can sink into despair over talent because it can feel like a stacked deck against you. Sure you can work your ass off as an average guy and obtain moderate amount of success but someone more talented has passed your mastery level in a shorter amount of time with less effort. It's demoralizing at best and at worst maddening. I have personal experience with this in my school as one of my best friends was extremely talented at playing trumpet. He never practiced a day in his life but found himself at first chair in high school with all of the trumpet solos. He would show up to band practice and blow away other kids who, no offense to them, were less talented. What stood out to me was that the other kids had personal one on one instructors tutoring them but they still were never better than my one friend, it was never close tbh. This lead me to really think about the nature of what is the difference between talented people and average people. Talented people can "master" something faster, more deeply, and sometimes with less training/instruction than others. I can't imagine how those other kids must have felt putting in so much effort practicing and getting tutelage from professionals only to get passed by someone who never practiced and was largely aloof about it. This is where Adachi is coming from I think in the conversation of talent and how it can be infuriating.

I wanted an Adachi video ever since I stumbled on your channel making P4 character videos but damn how did I not expect it to be this Long! *I love it*

its ironic how he starts the video off by talking about how he managed to avoid the adachi spoiler, meanwhile this video (title and thumbnail) was the main spoiler for my playthrough

Something I just thought about too, the Jester arcana is numbered 0 like the fool, then becomes Hunger, it's like Adachi is the fool of his own journey but since he has no friends (social links!) he never completes the journey and hungers for the world that Yu obtains

I am so excited for the full length video.

the talent segment toward the end is some powerful stuff, thanks

Overall, a very great video! I think something that I don't see touched upon often in the general Adachi analysis sphere is how unreliable a narrator he is to his own actions and emotions, especially in his first confrontation with the Investigation Team, so it makes me glad that you mentioned that! As you said, his /emotions/ are valid; but the way he expresses them outwardly to others and acts on the surface is the problem; he's rife with contradictions. He's desperate to make sense of the world in a way that still makes him come out on top-- all signs point to emotional neglect, or at the very least a feeling that Adachi didn't feel comfortable enough to express things as simple as his dislikes to his family (like the tough renkon) or just that he did, but was never heard-- something that I always like to juxtapose to how he immediately notices when Nanako is saddened by the wasabi in their sushi meal, asking her what's wrong. But instead of processing all of his own hurt (as he grew up and didn't get everything he thought he would through studying/achievement alone) and understanding that his situation wasn't indicative of the entire world and what it must be like, he projected outward and lashed out in an attempt to look like he understands things that 'those teenagers' don't. It's as you said-- Adachi is a version of the truth, but a stagnated one that stopped searching; whereas Yu and his friends continue searching, even when 'convenient truths' present themselves to them. I especially love that you tackled his flawed view of 'talent', too. Admittedly, I was a bit perplexed by the random announcement that he'd shot someone. I don't think it's ever explicitly stated what Adachi's mistake is that gets him sent to Inaba, and his own comments about 'wanting to join the force so he could carry a gun' doesn't seem like a strong argument to that effect to me. I think that discussion hinges a lot more on deconstructing Chie's prior line, mentioning that out of all the career paths he could have chosen, he specifically joined the police force-- the inherent implication that Chie naively thinks the police are all just, and join in service of something greater than themselves (which doesn't correlate with her current view of Adachi at all). While I think it's a fair assumption to equate him joining for legally carrying firearms = holding power over others/being respected, implying that his mistake sending him to Inaba was directly related to the gun itself feels a bit much. Especially given that he's not really shown to have a trigger finger or impulse to use his weapon in a lethal manner- the farthest he goes is the incorporeal Adachi pointing the gun at Yu when his arcana changes and shooting beside him to attempt to get him to leave, but even the protagonist comments that Adachi's words don't feel like a threat (implying that he doesn't sense that Adachi actually will shoot him, even if they're at an impasse). I also definitely don't think the accomplice ending is really a 'meme' ending and there's a fair bit to glean from it both for the protagonist's characterization as well as Adachi's, even if it isn't a true or canon ending. The version of the protagonist that would sacrifice the truth to protect his bond with Adachi, and Adachi's absolute shock that Yu would do something so awful, trying to understand Yu's 'game' when it's really just about Yu's self-destruction in service of preserving the convenient 'truth' as it is, is super interesting even in its morbidity! I think Adachi's shock is both tied into his /own/ assumption of Yu's character of being the perfect person who he envies so deeply being shattered, and the fact that someone would go so far to protect him from culpability. Especially given his own undercurrent of self-loathing. I like to view the 'bad' endings as facets of the protagonist's character-- not things that actually happened, but things that imply his flaws, and what 'could' happen if he let his weaknesses get the best of him. I definitely appreciated this deeper dive into Adachi though, and definitely will go back to watch prior videos in this series! :)

I feel like a broken record, since I said this under many of your videos, but again, MAD respect for your work☆ This was yet again an absolute delight, perfectly putting into perspective the different interpretations of "truth" in P4(G)

you can tell how passionate is this guy about the topic. awesome video

there is so much i could say about this video, i can not describe just how much I learned and got enjoyment from this video, weirdly enough the learning and enjoyment kind of resembled the way I feel when I play the Persona games, very fun but also educational and very intellegent and interesting, I also never really thought about how well your voice is for these videos especially this one the way you speak really shows your emotion and makes the analysis all the more stunning, truly, a beautiful video :-)

Amazing video man! My first experience finding out Adachi was the true villain was during a playthrough I was watching and my jaw dropped. You made a great analysis on him and made things a lot clearer about him in terms of hus social link, persona, arcana, etc.

This was an insanely informative video. I'm currently trying to suggest to friends who've played P5R to give P4G a shot. 32:10 is "yokubou" I played with the Japanese voices, and I can say Adachi sounds so goofy until he's not.

Your speech about talent really hit me at the perfect time. Very intriguing video for a very intriguing character, as well. For better or worse, I see a little bit of Adachi in everyone.

This right here was the analysis I've been waiting for. In a twisted sense, Adachi's my favorite character in P4 not because his ideology is airtight or that he had amazing character development, cause he didn't. Instead, he's my favorite because he's ordinary. He's just a guy, like any other you'd see on the street. I even greatly disagree with what he says, especially talent as you've mentioned. But even if his argument can easily be debunked, there's a haunting truth in it. If life goes just a bit little different, 'anyone' can be like Adachi. Just a little of our worst sides bleeding out, not so much we'd commit 2 murders and act as a catalyst for a handful of kidnappings, but enough where we'd change. We can either recognize it and work to better it, ignore it and go on with life, or refuse it endlessly. Or even worse, recognize it and embrace it. A resentment that we carry for any number of reasons. Adachi's my favorite not because of growth or mastery, not because I even remotely agree with his viewpoints, but because he's a flawed ordinary man with a view of reality that, though warped, is one that can develop in anyone.

Kinda unrelated to most of the video but it's nice to see someone else who is also growing frustrated with the "analysis" content on this site. I've been watching you for a long time and I always felt like you brought something different to anime analysis whether it be the way you connect it to your personal life or the EXTENSIVE amount of research you do. You are one of the rare anime analysis channels where I actually get something out of watching your videos rather than just putting them on for background noise. Your last video got me to read Flowers for Algernon, which was one of the best things I experienced this year. Anyway I just wish you the best in life regardless if you keep making content or not. The world needs more people like you in it that geniunely care about the impact they have on the world.

your note on analysis versus recapping was really insightful. i like watching recaps of games, etc, if i haven't revisited them in a while, but that one tangent made me realize how much work real analysis is, especially if you need to do background research.

I appreciate your work, its always great to see someone who recognizes the genius of P4. I have a few notes regarding adachi, I think you are missing some crucial points. I think you are doing a disservice when you present adachi as merely a self indulging coward in denial. A key point to understanding the game, is that on a practical level, Adachi is right. Adachi isn't motivated by malice alone, he also has an ideology granted to him by Ame no Sagiri. I suppose the line between Adachi and Sagiri becomes blurry at this point, but their common assessment is correct. Adachi isn't simply in denial of reality, he actively sees the truth as a hindrence and seeks to rid the world of it. Given the chance, people would rather wrap themselves in coping mechanisms and distractions rather than root themselves in reality. Most people, most of the time think and act this way. Truth is often too gruesome and is a hindrance to the life you wish you could've had, unless you are one of the lucky ones, who are born into a reality that is easy to accept. Its easy for a westerner to think anyone who works hard enough can have the life that they wish for, but if you are born in a country and into a family that allows that path, you are already one of the lucky ones. Adachi doesn't see himself as lucky, and uses the "talent" excuse, but he is fundamentally correct. The investigation team under youthful idealism clings to the concept of truth as if there is a moral absolutism to it that they are naturally drawn to, without understanding what it is they are fighting or, or what ideal they supposedly cling to. Which is why they fail to refute Adachi and simply assault his character and tell him to just shut up. Why do we need truth to ground us to reality? Why do we need to be grounded to reality in the first place? That is the question Adachi proposes, he is the inverse of the investigation team. He represents the protagonist's shadow self and possibly he is the protagonist 10 years into the future, where he encounters and crumbles under the gruesome hardships of lonely adult life. It is in many ways a personal inner struggle between the instinct to avert from reality and the need to ground yourself in truth. Under that lense, Yu and Adachi are the same person, undergoing this struggle and perhaps you can look at their conflict as a person having an inner dialogue with its younger / older self. The game proposes the case for these two opposing forces. You can't toss Adachi's words as that of a madman, these are the thoughts and ideas of any thinking man who went through something in their life. To deny him is to deny your own shadow in a sense. After his defeat Yu is faced with the question of why truth is so important in the first place, and failing to answer that is equivalent to admitting Adachi was correct.

I didn’t expect a video essay about Adachi to hit so hard. Good job 👍, this is a really good video essay

You know it's really great coming to see this while watching a RU-vidr I'm a fan of go through Persona 4 golden completely blind, while I myself have played through P4 it's always fun to see other people come into it blind. And it's like you said in the Video Adachi is the least well kept secret in Persona 4, but I gotta admit I was surprised how most of this guy's watchers kept their mouth shut about him being the true culprit, made it more interesting when he suspected Adachi naturally.

Awesome retrospective dude! Also, in regards to the “pink alligator” story and how it relates to Adachi, maybe the bird is referencing the protagonist if you go through with the accomplice ending? While the protagonist doesn’t exactly die, his willingness to reach out to Adachi and cover for his crimes fundamentally ruins the life and relationships he made in Inaba. In a way, he’s consumed by Adachi and his greed by becoming an accomplice, and it’s implied that he will continue to do so for the rest of his life as Adachi continues to commit more crimes unscathed. The protagonist dies in a sense by having his life torn apart by lies before being used to further fulfill Adachi’s destructive desires. Ultimately, our protagonist is effectively consumed by the arcana of Hunger he tried to reach out for. How ironic.

Absolutely my favorite part so far. It feels like a lot of themes of every other part got tied in so beautifully. Cant wait for the compilation vid!

I'm pretty sure that it's mentioned somewhere that the mistake adachi made was modifying a model gun to shoot real bullets or something I also think that the bird in the story is yu and the dojima, because they may not die, but they put their trust in adachi, imitating the bird trusting the alligator and ending their relationships with him, being severed by adachi, acting as if they never meant anything to him

your analyses are so in-depth. i can tell how much effort you've put into all of them. great work!!

calling mitsuo quango bongo caught me so off guard 😂

ADACHI! *vine boom* ADACHIiiiiii! **vinebooms**

I always assumed that at the start of the game, when Chie was mentioning about the rumor of the midnight channel how one student said that they heard their neighbor scream about how Mayumi Yamano was their soulmate that the person yelling was Adachi. Here was a man who clearly wanted more in a woman than just "Being able to cook" find out that his supposed soulmate was a hot news anchor, only to find out that she was already embroiled in relationship scandals. In the end he snaps and throws her inside the tv, claiming that if she begs hard enough then maybe he'll let her out. Only for a few days to pass and then they discover her body hanging off of a tv antenna. I also thought that the puking at the start was genuine, he probably thought he'd scare her into submission with his tv teleporting power, only to end up killing his supposed "soulmate".

absolutely masterfully made nice job!!!

I am so glad I clicked on this video when it showed up in my recommended feed! I loved your analysis in this video, so I decided to check out your other videos on the other party members. I LOVED those videos, they're amazing!! Your analysis is very refreshing, I'm so used to youtube analysis videos only acting as boring summaries. I hope that this video showing up in my recommended feed is a good sign for your channel. You deserve wayyy more recognition!

Thanks for talking about the translation of magatsu! I’ve always seen some differing translations of it, so it’s cool to see you analyze it!

Note on the arcana; Hunger is XI. XI is typically the justice card in Rider Waite decks. You could see it as that hunger for the justice of what he is entitled to, versus the true justice that (in theory) a police officer should help with. Stealing of the number could also be how he, indirectly, almost killed the person symbolizing Justice, taking it like a vulture. Idk I i know they had to have chosen that number for a reason

i reallu love your persona 4 analysis series so much.. imreally hope you get the recognition you deserve! these are really well excecuted!

9:13 I really appreciate this part you say about narcissism. Great explanation!

It brings tears to my eyes how far this side channel. I remember back when it was only at 35 subs and was only used for twitch clips.

I love the Persona series and retrospectives like this let me see some of the small things I missed when focusing on certain social links or just forgetting lol. Awesome video bro

We all love adachi

Always look forward to these videos

50:35 I guess how I would define what someone means when they use the word "talent" in this way would be something akin to: "A genetic or otherwise inherent characteristic of a person that allows them to exceed the average amount of success in a given activitity for an average amount of effort." For instance, I could train my entire life in the field of sprinting. If Usain Bolt puts even a bit of practice in, chances are, I'm getting smoked. We are, unironically, built different.

Finally, the uncontested best persona villain

Poggers Adachi video a whole day early.

Literally just opened RU-vid super excited to watch this one.

Good way to start the morning, and good on you for undertaking this project. I'm a bit late but I hope it was worth it to do all of these analyses on your end.

Damn bro the videos thumbnail spoiled me

“What’s the difference?” I usually dismissed that line and considered it as a way of demonstrating how truly amoral he is. I’m no philosopher but I’m reasonably confident in saying there’s a pretty significant difference between murdering people and not murdering people.

This series truly is one of the best things on youtube

Shoutout to you for spoiling the plot twist for me btw, seeing the thumbnail and title on my recommended was enough to hint at the twist

Great video and analysis for my favorite persona character. I didn’t know it was adachi the whole time because somebody told me it was nanako and I believed it the whole time thinking it would a good twist but was genuinely caught off guard it was adachi at the end.

I think Adachi does bring up good points, that they certainly are ahead of their time for how we view how discourse goes on the internet. But the points he brings up are just like the rhetoric he uses outside the dungeon, they are truths meant to couch a lie, making it a half-truth. Like he is correct that not everyone wants ugly truths. But that is up to a listener to decide on what they want to do with such information. Likewise, he is correct that people tend to latch on whatever claims to be the truth. But again, its up to the listener to accept it at face value or to inspect further.

I have been wondering for a while what the hell he did to get sent down to Inaba. Knowing him, of course he accidentally shot someone with his gun when he first got it. 🙄 Fantastic video, as always.

I been waiting for this one :D, one of my 2 favorite characters in the series.