Naoto

Appearance: Naoto is the shortest member of the Investigation Team. She is androgynous in appearance with short blue hair and gray eyes. Naoto is often seen wearing formal clothing such as blue shirts, ties and her trademark blue cap. On days off during winter, she wears a dark blue double-breasted cardigan coat (which she says is custom made) with a light blue bowtie (on her white dress shirt underneath), yellow buttons, plaid blue pants and brown shoes. Naoto's summer outfit, however, is reminiscent of the clothing of Kyouji Kuzunoha and consists of a light blue shirt and a yellow necktie.

Personality: Having lost both her parents in a car accident when she was very young, Naoto is an orphan who acts very mature in spite of her age. As a descendant of a respected lineage of famous detectives, she wears formal clothing and deepens her voice when she speaks in a sophisticated, stilted manner. She is generally very serious, focused and mission-oriented. At first, this seriousness is rigid, unnatural and stubborn due to her secluded nature. This causes her to have trouble getting along with others by adamantly shutting them off, but even then she's not being taken seriously by those she wants to be acknowledged by as she comes across as trying too hard to be an adult. She rarely jokes around which can make her seem like a killjoy or party pooper when the team is involved in silly antics. In Persona 4 Arena, Kanji calls her out on this, saying she is too "uptight" and it makes her seem distant and on a different wavelength. She does get annoyed by the laidback nature of others, responding either with dry annoyance or brushing them off entirely. This has led to a lack of friends and while she does not show it often, she desires for friendship and a sense of belonging. As she bonds further with the team, she warms up considerably. In Persona 4 Arena, she notes the surprising difficulty in trying to balance her detective work with her newfound friends. In fact, she even expresses concern that she keeps putting work before time with them, showing how much her relationships with them have become to her. In reality, Naoto has been bound by labels and stereotypes that compromised her identity and sense of relations. As such, she would end up losing herself within her age group and sex, and it even compromises the genuine passions she has as a detective due to her title. All of that would not only make her sheltered from others, but she would become a kind of a workaholic when it comes to her job. Much of her troubles stem from having no reason to be who she truly is, causing her to forget her true feelings, even actively ignoring them. Instead, she tries to fill the hole in her heart by seeking acknowledgement. Due to her desires to be an ideal detective juxtaposed with people's prejudice towards her age both transferred towards an insecurity of her gender: she yearns to be seen as an adult, and expresses frustration at being treated like a child by the police force. She hates being looked down upon, and fears no one will take her seriously as a female in a male-oriented occupation field, thinking she'll be discarded for said difference.[4] The conceit Naoto tolerated and endured for her age had made her self-conscious in regards to her sex, trying to balance it with the image of an ideal detective. In response, Naoto disguised herself as a male from an age young enough to be able to fool most people around her, including wearing platform shoes. It is also implied Naoto began binding her chest to hide her breasts. When she confronts her Shadow, she comes to the realization that her true desire is not in becoming an adult or a male, but to be respected for who she is as a person, including accepting herself as is. However, years of disguising herself as male along with her own personality quirks have her struggling to embrace her femininity after denying it as a part of herself. She is comfortable with not only who she is, but also that everyone else is aware that she is female. Naoto is uninterested in romance, and seems easily flustered, embarrassed or dismissive when the topic arises. When she possibly receives a love letter, Naoto claims romance is "entangling" and she has no time to be "dilly-dallying with callow love affairs" and almost throws it away. Despite this, she shows a growing interest in the protagonist if one chooses so in her Social Link. It's implied her lack of interest in romance seems to be tied due to not wanting to be distracted from her work along with fear and insecurity in becoming close to someone in such a manner.