| Kanji Tatsumi | |
|---|---|
 THAT WAS JUST A WARM-UP! | |
| Vital Statistics | |
| Title(s) | Brash Delinquent |
| Gender | Male |
| Race | Human |
| Faction | Multiverse Garden |
| Relatives | Unnamed mother, deceased father |
| Alignment | +2.5 |
| Level | 1 |
| Status | Alive (Inactive) |
Kanji Tatsumi is a playable character from the Playstation 2 hit RPG, Persona 4. He is also featured in the anime based on the game.
He is currently played by Paused, and is the second member to do so.
Background
Kanji was born to the owners of a textile store in the small town of Inaba. He grew up learning to sew as part of the family business. In school, he tried to fix the backpack of a girl, who then started to cry because she thought weird he knew a skill that was usually reserved for girls. After facing more ridicule from girl, he hid his hobby from everyone. When his father passed away, Kanji became obsessed with being manly, trying to live up to his old man's final words.
He became a juvenile delinquent, skipping classes, going out late and getting into fights. When biker gangs moved into the shopping district, their bikes kept his mother awake at night. So Kanji went and beat up ALL of the bikers. All of them. Some people then claimed that he became their leader, but that was false.
Kanji was living day to day until a string of serial murders started happening in his home town. One day, a news crew snuck up on him, so punched the reporter in the face. The next day, a boy, Naoto, visited him in front of his house and told him that he was interested in him. That same day, a group of upperclassmen started following him around for a few days until Kanji was kidnapped and dropped into the world behind the television.
In the TV World, Kanji was confronted with his shadow self, a version of him that hyperbole'd the feelings he repressed. His shadow represented not only his fear of girls, but his fear of rejection in general. Given Kanji's background of being made fun of by girls, his shadow acted openly homosexual, preferring how easier it was for him to interact with boys. Kanji rejected his shadow, giving it the power to take on its own form. He was rescued by those upper classmen who had been following him before.
After being saved from certain death from the TV World, Kanji joins the Persona 4 protagonist, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko in their quest to find the person who was tossing people into the TV World. He helps rescue Rise and Naoto after they are thrown in. During Naoto's dungeon, Kanji is very vocal about letting Naoto face his shadow self, knowing that he needed to face the truth that he was running from or continue suffering.
In the conflict with Naoto's shadow self, it was revealed that Naota was in fact, a girl. After rescuing her, Kanji acts a lot more awkwardly around her, often clamming up, staring away from her, and blushing. He continued to have random outbursts about proving that he is a real man, which often involved Naoto acting feminine around him.
The teenaged investigation team faces two false closures of the case until they learned that the world was going to end with the help of a Goddess. After defeating the Goddess, the protagonist left Inaba. Kanji would keep in touch with the others, even going into the TV World to make sure all was well. During one of those trips with Naoto and Rise, him and Naoto ended up in the Multiverse, falling into the Sea of Moondust.
Involvement
After landing in the Sea of Moondust with Naoto, the pair encountered Minato and Dracula. Dracula attacked the kids, and they not only learned that Minato could summon a persona too, but they could summon theirs outside of the TV World. After knocking out Dracula, the kids went to Minato's newly rented apartment to get their bearings.
Kanji joined the Multiverse Garden alongside Naota and took part in the Hotdog Eating Contest. He was the first to drop out due to a poor training regime.
On a trip to the Mall, he was separated from Naoto and encountered Aqua and Serina. Aqua told him some encouraging words and left him with Serina, whom he then played an arcade fighting game with.
Powers and Capabilities
Kanji, his desk, and his Persona. All equally deadly.
Kanji is a tank character with high Health Points and High Defense. Many attacks that would one-shot his teammates he can brush off. When he isn't fighting with a school desk or chair, he uses a shield to smash enemies with.
Kanji has the power to summon a persona, Take-Michizuki. This persona uses lightning magic, physical attacks, and has some defense-increasing buffs.
Quotes
- "I hope you like it firm." - To Minato, while on his bed.
Trivia
- In the anime, Kanji is the only character to defeat his own shadow self.
- The game's development team says that Kanji is homosexual, however, Kanji does respond to Naoto and the other girls in the party when certain things are said that could be construed as sexual: "Don't worry, I'll be gentle." It is more likely that Kanji is bisexual with a strong attraction toward masculine traits, which Naoto embodies.
- The former incarnation of this character was only in one thread.
See also
- Naoto
- Multiverse Garden