386 | Naoya Toudou

Also known as
The Pierced Boy (P1)
Naoya Toudou (Manga)
Naorin (by Brown in manga)
Yuuya Narumi (Drama CD)
Jihei "Jay" Suzakuin (Novel)
SIR Pete (Revelations: Persona Manual)
Brachan (Revelations: Persona Manual)
Edward Tanaka (internal nickname)
Date of Birth
December 24 c. 1979
Age
16
Zodiac
Scorpio (Hindu)
Capricorn (Western)
Height
175 cm
Weight
56 kg
Blood Type
O
Weapon
One-handed sword
Firearm
Submachine gun
Arcana
Emperor
Secondary Arcana
Strength, Moon, World
Appearance: The protagonist has black hair, brown eyes in Megami Ibunroku Persona or purple eyes in Eternal Punishment, and a ring piercing on his left ear. He wears the St. Hermelin uniform without alterations. He has a black wristwatch on his left arm, and black shoes. He also appears to be wearing light lipgloss or lipstick, as shown in Megami Ibunroku Persona and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. The manga does not keep this feature or his more prominent eyelashes.
In Revelations: Persona, he was one of the many characters redesigned to make him "more American": his skin was paler, he had shorter red hair, he had blue eyes, had no color on his lips and no pierced ear.
Personality: Get it now? I'm every inch like you. I'm you... and you're me. We're two sides of the same coin... No, not just two. There are tens of thousands of "you"s inside yourself. ...Someone seems to be aiming to take your place, but that won't happen. Your will is rooted nice and deep. You have a good grip on yourself.

For the most part, the protagonist is silent, and his personality is controlled by the player, setting up a pattern the protagonists of later games would follow. However, the decisions that lead to the game's true ending and the gaining of the ultimate Personas paint the protagonist as a natural leader; a compassionate, perceptive, yet blunt person who is motivated to seek his personal reason for life and discourages hiding from the truth. He also shows a rather rude or informal and laid-back side, his other self in Alaya Cavern telling Maki to shut up so he can concentrate on his game when she expresses her shock at seeing another version of the protagonist and referring to Igor as "old man Igor" after giving the protagonist the items to fuse the party's ultimate Personas.
In the manga, Naoya also inherited this same trait, though since he is mostly going along with everyone else, the rest of the party are surprised when he shows his hot-headed side while leading them. Like Eriko, despite the dangerous situation they were put in, Naoya couldn't deny the excitement he felt whenever he's summoning his Persona, describing the feeling as liberating. He can also be extremely pragmatic in combat, as he doesn't hesitate to use lethal force against Aki, who is a child. According to Kazuya, Naoya can't express himself well so he always acts like everything is other people's business and always playing cool, which caused him to often get misunderstood as a quiet or unsociable person. He also suffers from survivor's guilt due to his twin brother Kazuya's death and as a consequence he has very low regard of his own well-being. This can be seen when Naoya blocks Reiji's attacks against Hariti by jumping in front of Reiji's attack and taking the hit. All those times being mistaken as Kazuya by his mother left Naoya subconsciously suffering from identity crisis and he depended on his earring to assure himself that he is Naoya. Recovering his childhood memory and confronting Kazuy

In the manga, Naoya also inherited this same trait, though since he is mostly going along with everyone else, the rest of the party are surprised when he shows his hot-headed side while leading them. Like Eriko, despite the dangerous situation they were put in, Naoya couldn't deny the excitement he felt whenever he's summoning his Persona, describing the feeling as liberating. He can also be extremely pragmatic in combat, as he doesn't hesitate to use lethal force against Aki, who is a child. According to Kazuya, Naoya can't express himself well so he always acts like everything is other people's business and always playing cool, which caused him to often get misunderstood as a quiet or unsociable person. He also suffers from survivor's guilt due to his twin brother Kazuya's death and as a consequence he has very low regard of his own well-being. This can be seen when Naoya blocks Reiji's attacks against Hariti by jumping in front of Reiji's attack and taking the hit. All those times being mistaken as Kazuya by his mother left Naoya subconsciously suffering from identity crisis and he depended on his earring to assure himself that he is Naoya. Recovering his childhood memory and confronting Kazuya made Naoya realized how indecisive he was and determined to face his problems, which finally helped him to come into terms with his self-resentment. At the end of the series, Naoya has learned to speak out his thoughts and became more sociable with his friends.
The protagonist is a nameless protagonist, who has to be named by the player at the start of the game. All that is known about his life is that he is a second year student at St. Hermelin High School,

In the true ending of the game, unlike the other students, his fate is unknown.

The plot of this game is followed in exactly the same manner by the English adaptations of Megami Ibunroku Persona while different in the manga.

Naoya is a childhood friend of Maki Sonomura and the two of them often played together. He used to have an older twin brother named Kazuya whom he had a close relationship with and the two of them were always together. According to Maki, both Naoya and Kazuya were not so different in personality that she and their parents sometimes mixed both of them. One day, when he was a 4 years old, Naoya had a cold and was being taken care of by Kazuya and their mother. Kazuya and their mother had to go shopping, but Kazuya went out of his way to buy a manga to cheer up Naoya. On the way home, however, Kazuya was hit by a truck and passed away. Kazuya's death greatly shook their mother to the point that she started to treat Naoya as if he was Kazuya.
During Kazuya's funeral, one of his relatives gave her condolences by telling how kind Kazuya was for trying to buy a manga to cheer him up, which led to his death. This made Naoya feel responsible for Kazuya's death. To comfort his mother who was still unable to accept Kazuya's death, Naoya started to act like Kazuya to the point he almost believed himself to be Kazuya while thinking that it would be better for "Naoya" to disappear because he was unneeded. His mother's breakdown and treatment of him led her to separate herself from Naoya by staying in her parents' house while Naoya was taken care of by a hired housekeeper and Maki's family. After his mother recovered from her loss, Naoya overheard his parents arguing over what happened, so Naoya pierced his ear as a proof that he is not Kazuya and made himself forget the day Kazuya died out of guilt.

The resulting guilt caused Naoya's shadow to manifest in Maki's ideal world and takes the identity of Kazuya with the same appearance as Naoya, but his ear is not pierced.

During Kazuya's funeral, one of his relatives gave her condolences by telling how kind Kazuya was for trying to buy a manga to cheer him up, which led to his death. This made Naoya feel responsible for Kazuya's death. To comfort his mother who was still unable to accept Kazuya's death, Naoya started to act like Kazuya to the point he almost believed himself to be Kazuya while thinking that it would be better for "Naoya" to disappear because he was unneeded. His mother's breakdown and treatment of him led her to separate herself from Naoya by staying in her parents' house while Naoya was taken care of by a hired housekeeper and Maki's family. After his mother recovered from her loss, Naoya overheard his parents arguing over what happened, so Naoya pierced his ear as a proof that he is not Kazuya and made himself forget the day Kazuya died out of guilt.

The resulting guilt caused Naoya's shadow to manifest in Maki's ideal world and takes the identity of Kazuya with the same appearance as Naoya, but his ear is not pierced.
Growing up, Naoya and Maki grew quite distance after the latter got sick with Naoya thinking that she was too gloomy and felt sorry for her. He always took notes and handouts in her place whenever she's absent due to her illness. Because of their closeness, their classmates misunderstood their relationship and teased them. Though annoyed, Naoya wasn't bothered by the teasing, but he noticed that Maki "always looked like she was about to cry," so Naoya began to distance himself further from her out of consideration to her feelings, but both still remained on good terms as friends.

Naoya joins in on the bet made between Mark and Uesugi (he placed his bet on Mark to even the bet) to play the Persona game. Once they played the game, a little girl suddenly appeared and he, along with everyone else, falls unconscious and dreams about Philemon. Following their teacher's suggestion, they all went to the hospital for a check up and also to visit Maki. Naoya apologizes for not visiting her for the past few days, and Maki reveals that they are childhood friends to Mark when he questioned their closeness. However, Maki's condition suddenly worsened, and she was taken for emergency surgery while Naoya and everyone else waited for her.
In the middle of the surgery, an earthquake occurs and the surgery room was suddenly blocked by a wall when they opened the doors leading to the room. Monsters then started to appear in the hospital, attacking and killing the people inside. This incident awakened Naoya's Persona, along with his friends' Personas, allowing them to escape from the hospital. They then find out that they cannot leave the town. On their way back to school, they met up with Eriko Kirishima and Maki's mother, who reveals that the organization that she was working with, SEBEC, is the one responsible for what happened to their town.

Seimen Kongou: Naoya's initial Persona, gained while trying to defend himself from demons at the Mikage Hospital. Despite not being used after the fight with Tesso, Seimen Kongou protected an unconscious Naoya against Kazuya for a brief time.
Airgetlam: Awakened during the fight with Tesso, Airgetlam was used multiple times due to his powerful Mamagnara spell. Naoya also tried to use Airgetlam's Dorminer spell on Kazuya, but it didn't work since Kazuya's Persona, Lilim, made him immune to ailments.
Marduk: Was first used in the fight against Tesso to reflect a Megido spell back to him. Aside from that, his only appearance was when his Tetrakarn spell protected Naoya and Maki from the Harem Queen/Chisato Kasai.
Vishnu: Was used in the final fight against Pandora.
Naoya never used Amon Ra, his ultimate Persona from the game.
Despite not making any physical appearances in Persona 2: Innocent Sin, the protagonist is mentioned a few times, mostly by returning Persona characters comparing Tatsuya Suou to him. For example, should Tatsuya visit Honmaru Park before the first boss fight, Yukino will say to Tatsuya that he reminds her of an old friend who "also liked to take the scenic route." Also, Eriko tells Tatsuya that he reminds her of their "old leader."
When Maya Amano's party, after choosing Eriko Kirishima's route, ends up in a reverse dimension and are trying to find a way out, the party finds the protagonist from Megami Ibunroku Persona there. However, it is revealed to be Chizuru Ishigami's Shikigami in disguise.

In Eriko Kirishima and Kei Nanjo's flashback at Araya Shrine, it is revealed that after the events of Persona, he had to go away and would not be able to see his friends for a while. The reason behind his departure isn't stated, as when he gives his reason, there is no text box. Later on, in the epilogue, the St. Hermelin Persona users have a reunion in Parabellum Bar. There is a knock on the door and the door opens, but the person entering is unseen. It is assumed that this is the protagonist from Persona.
A character with a similar appearance to the protagonist appears as a major antagonist in the second season of the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner (TV Series). In season 2, episode 12, Kyouji Kuzunoha fights a student known as Kamiya from St. Hermelin High School who is working with the Dark Summoner Haruna. He summons Vishnu but is overpowered by Kyouji’s own Susano-o in the ensuing battle. Despite the visual similarities, Kamiya is likely only referential and not meant to be the literal protagonist of Persona.
The protagonist has black hair, brown eyes in Megami Ibunroku Persona or purple eyes in Eternal Punishment, and a ring piercing on his left ear. He wears the St. Hermelin uniform without alterations. He has a black wristwatch on his left arm, and black shoes. He also appears to be wearing light lipgloss or lipstick, as shown in Megami Ibunroku Persona and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. The manga does not keep this feature or his more prominent eyelashes.
In Revelations: Persona, he was one of the many characters redesigned to make him "more American": his skin was paler, he had shorter red hair, he had blue eyes, had no color on his lips and no pierced ear.
As for his fate... That's for you to decide.