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    Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

    Game » consists of 5 releases. Released Jul 10, 2008

    Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is a role-playing game developed and published by Atlus for the PlayStation 2. It is chronologically the fifth installment in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series. Like its predecessor, its gameplay combines a traditional role-playing game with elements of a social simulation. Its critical and commercial success spawned a sizable media empire, including several spinoff titles.

    Naoto?

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    SmasheControllers

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    #1  Edited By SmasheControllers

    I notice something on my second play through, Why do they still call Naoto Naoto-Kun?

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    ArbitraryWater

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    #2  Edited By ArbitraryWater

    Because:
    A: The investigation team has a hard time breaking a habit
    B: The localization team mistranslated it
    C: Something weird involving Japanese Culture that we will have to ask Pepsiman about.

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    SilvarusLupus

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    #3  Edited By SilvarusLupus

    Because Naoto-kun sounds better than Naoto-chan? I don't know. 
    I'm going to go with choice A.

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    tovan

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    #4  Edited By tovan

    Hmmm, that's a really good question, never even noticed it before.

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    FrankCanada97

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    #5  Edited By FrankCanada97

    I think the investigation team is respecting Naoto's preference of being male oriented.

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    FluxWaveZ

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    #6  Edited By FluxWaveZ

    I think they even do this in anime; because she's basically a tomboy, they still call her -kun instead of -chan.
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    metalsnakezero

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    #7  Edited By metalsnakezero

    Kun is mostly use for boy names in Japan like Naoto.
    Here is a wiki on Japanese names and reasons for the kuns and chans after their names.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_honorifics

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    Satune

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    #8  Edited By Satune

    Yea, I noticed that while watching the Endurance Run.
    And after watching over 100 episodes of the ER, I came to a realization that  the Investigation Team is a little slow on these kind of things.

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    applesaucemen

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    #9  Edited By applesaucemen

    Just a term of endearment? Just to be fun and cute probably because it a habit.
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    bulletstorm

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    #10  Edited By bulletstorm

    I was going to make a thread about... a similar discovery.. during Naoto's shadow confrontation the shadow reveals that she thinks "Naoto" sounds like a tough manly name; is Naoto a unisex name/ is Naoto a fake name she used? 
     
    Basically a question about the name Naoto in general, is it just a unisex name that sounds badass for guys?

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    Pepsiman

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    #11  Edited By Pepsiman
    @ArbitraryWater said:

    " Because: A: The investigation team has a hard time breaking a habit B: The localization team mistranslated it C: Something weird involving Japanese Culture that we will have to ask Pepsiman about. "

    Aaaaaaand that's my queue.
     
    Contrary to what you'll typically see in most Japanese pop culture exports, the kun and chan titles in Japanese aren't completely gender centric and their useage doesn't just boil down to being gender-specific versions of san. It's a bit hard to explain, but kun and chan have a tendency to be more implicit of the person's masculine/feminine natures. So while it's true that kun will most often be applied to guys and chan will typically be for girls, there are times when it's fine to break those conventions. In Naoto's case, as FrankCanada already pointed out, I'm pretty sure as well that Naoto still retains kun because of her tomboyish nature. Chan would still be gramatically correct, but it has the potential to presume that Naoto is girlier than she would prefer to be seen. Kun just does a better job of alluding to her standing in a male-dominated profession, as well as her personality overall.
     
     I would like to point out, too, that Naoto isn't the only character in Persona 4 who garners that sort of unconventional titling. Yosuke is actually referred to as "Hana[mura]-chan" early on in the game by Saki Konishi. He gets that title for reasons that are completely different from Naoto's case, but suffice it to say that Naoto isn't an isolated case in the game.
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    SmasheControllers

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    #12  Edited By SmasheControllers
    @Pepsiman: Ok thank for clearing it up. 
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    Ping5000

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    #13  Edited By Ping5000

    Crazy Japan. You so crazy.

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    Koihime

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    #14  Edited By Koihime

    Maybe because if they called him Naoto-chan, people will further know Naoto's secret as a girl... Just a hunch ^_^

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