Previously on Persona 4:

The Investigation Team once again enters the T.V. World. Their target, Naoto Shirogane, the “Detective Prince”. When they reach their target facts come to light as it is revealed that Naoto, is a girl! Spoilers Ahead.

The team continues to battle Naoto’s (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn) shadow. She turns Yu (Johnny Yong Bosch), Yosuke (Yuri Lowenthal), & Teddie (Sam Reigel) into old men (in Teddie’s case a moldy old bear) forcing Kanji (Matthew Mercer) and the girls to handle the shadow until they are able to get back on their feet. Eventually coming out on top, Naoto joins the group and gives her own insight into how the case is progressing.

As expected we get more insight into Naoto as the group battles her shadow. She never was really good at making friends so she closed her self off from others. This mentality only intensified when her parents died and she was taken in by her grandfather and began to emulate “hard-boiled” detectives. She wants to be taken seriously as a sleuth but she hates that she is always being handicapped by her age and gender. This probably is the reason why Naoto is my favorite character in Persona 4. Her road to acceptance is portrayed as much harder than everyone elses, the idea of self identity affects her more than everyone else as she is not just torn between two genders, but also two age groups. She wants to be herself, but she also wants to be taken seriously for her abilities as well.

Naoto & Her Persona: Sukuna-Hikona

The case also begins to expanded upon as Naoto sheds some light into her kidnapping. She tells them that someone rang her doorbell, kidnapped her, and threw her into the T.V.. She reveals that her kidnapper was a man and that he is most likely the serial killer. We also get a sort of an expansion into how the murders in the Midnight Channel are committed and that the evidence against Mitsuo prbably won’t hold up in court since he only committed one murder establishing him as a copycat. The mystery only deepens when the group goes to the hospital when Naoto arranges check ups to not only see what Teddie really is but to also see if the TV world has any adverse effects. This leads to Teddie having nothing shown on his x-rays as if his body is completely hollow and a discussion as to whether Naoto is “packing heat” in the chest if you catch my drift. Naoto also gets a couple scenes to bond with Yu as he enlists her help in solving the mystery of the harrowing mega beef bowl.

Teddie’s X-Ray

Kanji also gets some more development in this episode. It was established early on in the series that Kanjihad an attarction to Naoto when he thought she was a boy, this has only seemed to have intensified when it is revealed that she is the opposite. He praises her for accepting herself and that he needs to work harder on showing his true self to others as well. While I think this kind renigs on ambiguity of his sexual orientation that was established in the game, this is still handled well enough.

“I Want to Know the Truth” is a pretty good wrap up to Naoto’s story arc as she learns to slowly start accepting herself for who she is and comes out of her shell a bit. Kanji also gets to mature a bit more and the case is also expanded upon adding more mystery as things progress in the story. The Investigation continues next week as more clues come to light.

3.5/5