(no subject)
character name: Tohru Adachi.
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.
Timeline: Post-game (spoilers for "true ending" canon.)
character's age: 25.
information
canon history:
Adachi grew up in a major Japanese city. It's implied he was always a bit of a disillusioned sociopath: after all, he became a cop in order to have the right to carry a weapon. Unfortunately, after only four months on the squad, he was transferred to rural Inaba.
Furious about having to work out in the sticks, Adachi found himself partnered with grouchy, tough-as-nails Detective Ryoutarou Dojima. Rather than a partnership of equals, however, Adachi discovered over the coming months that his job was to be Dojima's, in his word's, "slave". He fetched a never-ending supply of coffee, filled out all the paperwork, answered the phonecalls from the public no-one wanted to take, and was often put on long, boring stake-outs.
Adachi made no effort to prove himself. In fact, as the months rolled past, Dojima became fairly sure that Adachi was totally useless. He vomited at gory crime scenes, he was often running late and frequently clumsy, he would run his mouth and let key details about the case slip to civilians, and was generally a nuisance. Despite this, Dojima took Adachi under his wing, and Adachi endured his grumpy snapping with surprising loyalty, even going so far as to help a drunken Dojima home after a night at the bar, and other times have dinner with his family.
But the truth was, Adachi wasn't the nice guy he pretended.
It's unknown when Adachi found out about the strange business with the televisions. Certainly, it was after he came to Inaba. Little did he know, but the town was the force of a conflict between ancient, legendary powers, and Adachi was chosen to be the pawn of Izanami, the goddess of rain. All he was aware of that one day, the surface of his television was no longer an impassable barrier. At first it was just his hand, then Adachi tried experimenting with different body parts. But while it was unusual, it seemed purposeless, and he knew people would just think he was going crazy if he tried to show them what he could do.
And certainly it was before famous reporter Mayumi Yamano came to town. Adachi had always been a fan; now, with a scandal involving her affair with a married man under her belt, she had returned home. Desperate to meet her, Adachi pretended the police had offered protection from the media. Alone with her at the Amagi Inn, Adachi expressed his interest in Ms. Yamano. When she repeatedly spurned him and ignored his intrusive questions, he attempted to rape her. Instead, when he pushed her back against the large, flat-screen television provided for guests, she fell in.
Mayumi Yamano showed up dead days later when the fog rolled in, stretched gruesomely over telephone wires in the main street of Inaba. This brought a riot of media attention to Inaba - Adachi, meanwhile, was pleased, now that he knew the consequences of a human entering the television.
As an Inaba officer, Adachi was required to work on the Yamano case. He was responsible for interviewing the high school student who discovered the body, Saki Konishi. Again, Adachi tried to seduce Saki through his questioning, but she responded by slapping him. This time Adachi deliberately pushed her through the police station television into the television world, sealing her fate.
What Adachi didn't know, at least not then, was that people who had entered the television world were creating their own realities (twisted manifestations of their subconscious) and were being killed by their Shadows (manifestations of their negative thoughts and feelings.) These were showing up on the Midnight Channel, which had until then been a schoolkid rumour - look into your television at midnight on a rainy night, and you'll see the face of your soulmate.
Namatame, Yamano's lover, had tuned in accidentally, and then again before Saki Konishi died. When he found he could stick his hand inside the television, he began to think he was going crazy - but, certain the programs were linked to the death of the two women, he rang the police. Adachi answered. Surprised at this new development, Adachi thought fast and managed to convince Namatame that if he found the people who appeared on the Midnight Channel and pushed them into the television, they would be safe there, unable to be murdered. Already shattered by the death of his lover and caught up in a messiah complex ideal, Namatame begins to do so.
This caught the attention of not just the police, but also a bunch of high school kids, including Souji Seta. They also found they had the power to enter the TV, and though they didn't know who had committed the murders or was putting people in there, they began to rescue Namatame's victims - which of course lead to Namatame believing he truly had saved them. The police were baffled by the sudden rash of kidnappings. Adachi began to keep tabs on Souji Seta's "Investigation Team", made up of his friends and kidnapping victims, and often dropped both clues and misleading pieces of information during his interaction with them, enjoying his little games.
When a student named Mitsuo Kubo came to the police station to confess to the murders of Mayumi and Saki, Adachi's superiors were less than amused, and pawned off Adachi off with the student. Since allowing Mitsuo to confess to the murders would effectively stop Namatame from continuing to kidnap the people appearing on TV, and Adachi couldn't bear to let his game of cat-and-mouse end so quickly, he formulated a plan to lock Mitsuo into the Midnight Channel. His plans were foiled by the Investigation Team, but because Adachi turned off the lights in the interrogation room Mitsuo had no idea that Adachi was the one who pushed him in.
Unfortunately the Investigation Team managed to deduce Namatame was the one pushing in his victims, and catch him. From his wild and rambling stories, they piece together the fact that Adachi has been the mastermind all along. Adachi enters the television world to escape conviction.
Here, however, things begin to get the best of him. Adachi taunts the Investigation team with confessions of the truth, urging them to find him. Though the shadows co-operate with Adachi, and he enjoys being at the center of his trap-filled, maze-like reality, continually taunting those chasing him, the nature of the world inside the television takes its toll. Adachi begins to reveal his darker side; his total lack of interest in the real world, the way life is boring and often unfair, and when the Investigation team find him he is half-mad. They kick his ass, only to discover he is being possessed by his own Persona (see powers) which they are then also forced to face.
Though Adachi tells the Investigation Team to leave him there to die, they take him with them out of the television to face his crimes. Severely injured, and sick from the side-effects of the TV world, Adachi is loaded onto a stretcher, which is revealed to be a personal favour of Dojima. Realizing that despite the revelations about his character, his partner still cares about him in his own way, Adachi is touched. He swears he will confess his crimes to the police and accept his punishment.
Months later, Adachi writes to Souji from prison. He states that he is trying hard to come to terms with the real world and live a normal life - it's obvious he is attempting to overcome radical mental issues that were only amplified by the god-complex he gained from his sudden supernatural powers. Stating he is sorry for the things he did, Adachi gives Souji some valuable information and hints to the fact that there was a greater power behind this than even he, putting the Investigation Team on the train of the goddess Izanami.
personality:
Adachi is a pretty bitter guy. Disillusioned, too. At the young age of twenty-five, he's already disgusted by society. He believes everyone is forced to live a life filled with boundaries, and the only thing that saves your life from boring mediocrity is talent. Adachi seems to think he has no talent, and he certainly envies those who do.
It's obvious that he's had a hard life - not in the traditional sense of terrible things happening to him, but rather he's a rather bright guy who is outclassed in everything he does. This sense of inadequacy - at his job, with his social skills, and with women - that is the key to Adachi's personality.
From the way Adachi describes the world, when he's in the depths of madness, it's obvious he's angry at it for these perceived slights. He feels smug in that he has committed crimes and not been caught - Adachi loves to feel smarter than everyone else - but like many serial killers, Adachi needs other people to recognize how smart he is, and thus deliberately leaves a trail. Subconsciously, he wants to be caught. However, while he ends up feeling wracked with guilt, it's unlikely that he genuinely wants to face the consequences of his actions. Adachi seems generally torn between "easy but evil" and "hard but righteous". Souji's words, and Dojima's kindness, have recently inspired him to try for the latter.
Adachi doesn't really deserve to be called a sociopath. At first he seems textbook, having committed crimes and acts of violence with no apparent remorse or emotions. But then there is the fact that by the end of the game, Adachi seems genuinely guilty and is going to try and take responsibility, make himself a better person. While there is no doubt he has a serial killer's nature, and that he managed to detach himself from reality enough that he enjoyed the "games" he was playing regardless of the lives they cost, the Adachi who wanted to destroy the world was in some ways just another persona. When this confident, smirking trickster is defeated, he loses confidence in it and allows himself to feel something again.
But certainly, he isn't whole of mind. Adachi also shows signs of clinical depression, and to some degree he is schitzotypal, though his delusions of godlike power were augmented by the supernatural powers he was gifted with. The use of the television in the game is especially potent: Adachi's disconnection from and bitterness towards reality comes from years of the media showing him unattainable goals, happy dreams and fairy-tales that cannot possibly be achieved.
Adachi's a bit of a coward, and he isn't afraid to strike a low blow when he's cornered (more with words than in actions.) He's perceptive enough about people's character to know right where to 'hit', so to speak - before the final fight with the Investigation Team he calls all of them out on their weaknesses. More importantly, Adachi is a would-be rapist. He is terrible with women, and often sets his sights on unattainable goals. When they injure his already fragile ego with their rejection, he manages to rationalize the blame back to them. Incredibly sexist, Adachi believes he has the right to be a sleazy creep to any ladies he likes, and god forbid they fight back.
While Adachi may be apathetic, sadistic and bitter, he's a good enough actor that none of it shows through in his day to day life. However, while he wears the "mask" of a good person, it's obvious there are elements of truth to the charade he puts on. While in many ways he is a competent, intelligent and manipulative criminal, his insecurities manifest themselves in an almost comedic facade.
To anybody he talks to, Adachi seems innocent enough. He's pleasant, if a little grating, and he'd like to be liked. These are real traits. In addition, he puts up the front of the bumbling rookie cop - ineffectual at his job, clumsy and babbling and awkward, a little shy around women. This is partially because those traits make him seem innocuous and endearing, but they are also a manifestation of his lack of self-esteem; that in pretending these ignoble parts of his personality are a charade, Adachi can separate them from himself. Essentially, the "role" he "plays" for other people is a self-deprecating parody of his real nature.
It also contains very real elements: Adachi seems to really like Dojima, especially when it's proven that even though the man treats him like shit, there's real loyalty and care felt for Adachi underneath his tough exterior. Adachi appears in a few scenes with Dojima, his daughter Nanako, and nephew Souji, and each time he seems to genuinely be enjoying the cosy family atmosphere. Though he may cynically scoff at the ways of the middle-class and mediocrity, Adachi finds human companionship important.
Fandom: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.
Timeline: Post-game (spoilers for "true ending" canon.)
character's age: 25.
information
canon history:
Adachi grew up in a major Japanese city. It's implied he was always a bit of a disillusioned sociopath: after all, he became a cop in order to have the right to carry a weapon. Unfortunately, after only four months on the squad, he was transferred to rural Inaba.
Furious about having to work out in the sticks, Adachi found himself partnered with grouchy, tough-as-nails Detective Ryoutarou Dojima. Rather than a partnership of equals, however, Adachi discovered over the coming months that his job was to be Dojima's, in his word's, "slave". He fetched a never-ending supply of coffee, filled out all the paperwork, answered the phonecalls from the public no-one wanted to take, and was often put on long, boring stake-outs.
Adachi made no effort to prove himself. In fact, as the months rolled past, Dojima became fairly sure that Adachi was totally useless. He vomited at gory crime scenes, he was often running late and frequently clumsy, he would run his mouth and let key details about the case slip to civilians, and was generally a nuisance. Despite this, Dojima took Adachi under his wing, and Adachi endured his grumpy snapping with surprising loyalty, even going so far as to help a drunken Dojima home after a night at the bar, and other times have dinner with his family.
But the truth was, Adachi wasn't the nice guy he pretended.
It's unknown when Adachi found out about the strange business with the televisions. Certainly, it was after he came to Inaba. Little did he know, but the town was the force of a conflict between ancient, legendary powers, and Adachi was chosen to be the pawn of Izanami, the goddess of rain. All he was aware of that one day, the surface of his television was no longer an impassable barrier. At first it was just his hand, then Adachi tried experimenting with different body parts. But while it was unusual, it seemed purposeless, and he knew people would just think he was going crazy if he tried to show them what he could do.
And certainly it was before famous reporter Mayumi Yamano came to town. Adachi had always been a fan; now, with a scandal involving her affair with a married man under her belt, she had returned home. Desperate to meet her, Adachi pretended the police had offered protection from the media. Alone with her at the Amagi Inn, Adachi expressed his interest in Ms. Yamano. When she repeatedly spurned him and ignored his intrusive questions, he attempted to rape her. Instead, when he pushed her back against the large, flat-screen television provided for guests, she fell in.
Mayumi Yamano showed up dead days later when the fog rolled in, stretched gruesomely over telephone wires in the main street of Inaba. This brought a riot of media attention to Inaba - Adachi, meanwhile, was pleased, now that he knew the consequences of a human entering the television.
As an Inaba officer, Adachi was required to work on the Yamano case. He was responsible for interviewing the high school student who discovered the body, Saki Konishi. Again, Adachi tried to seduce Saki through his questioning, but she responded by slapping him. This time Adachi deliberately pushed her through the police station television into the television world, sealing her fate.
What Adachi didn't know, at least not then, was that people who had entered the television world were creating their own realities (twisted manifestations of their subconscious) and were being killed by their Shadows (manifestations of their negative thoughts and feelings.) These were showing up on the Midnight Channel, which had until then been a schoolkid rumour - look into your television at midnight on a rainy night, and you'll see the face of your soulmate.
Namatame, Yamano's lover, had tuned in accidentally, and then again before Saki Konishi died. When he found he could stick his hand inside the television, he began to think he was going crazy - but, certain the programs were linked to the death of the two women, he rang the police. Adachi answered. Surprised at this new development, Adachi thought fast and managed to convince Namatame that if he found the people who appeared on the Midnight Channel and pushed them into the television, they would be safe there, unable to be murdered. Already shattered by the death of his lover and caught up in a messiah complex ideal, Namatame begins to do so.
This caught the attention of not just the police, but also a bunch of high school kids, including Souji Seta. They also found they had the power to enter the TV, and though they didn't know who had committed the murders or was putting people in there, they began to rescue Namatame's victims - which of course lead to Namatame believing he truly had saved them. The police were baffled by the sudden rash of kidnappings. Adachi began to keep tabs on Souji Seta's "Investigation Team", made up of his friends and kidnapping victims, and often dropped both clues and misleading pieces of information during his interaction with them, enjoying his little games.
When a student named Mitsuo Kubo came to the police station to confess to the murders of Mayumi and Saki, Adachi's superiors were less than amused, and pawned off Adachi off with the student. Since allowing Mitsuo to confess to the murders would effectively stop Namatame from continuing to kidnap the people appearing on TV, and Adachi couldn't bear to let his game of cat-and-mouse end so quickly, he formulated a plan to lock Mitsuo into the Midnight Channel. His plans were foiled by the Investigation Team, but because Adachi turned off the lights in the interrogation room Mitsuo had no idea that Adachi was the one who pushed him in.
Unfortunately the Investigation Team managed to deduce Namatame was the one pushing in his victims, and catch him. From his wild and rambling stories, they piece together the fact that Adachi has been the mastermind all along. Adachi enters the television world to escape conviction.
Here, however, things begin to get the best of him. Adachi taunts the Investigation team with confessions of the truth, urging them to find him. Though the shadows co-operate with Adachi, and he enjoys being at the center of his trap-filled, maze-like reality, continually taunting those chasing him, the nature of the world inside the television takes its toll. Adachi begins to reveal his darker side; his total lack of interest in the real world, the way life is boring and often unfair, and when the Investigation team find him he is half-mad. They kick his ass, only to discover he is being possessed by his own Persona (see powers) which they are then also forced to face.
Though Adachi tells the Investigation Team to leave him there to die, they take him with them out of the television to face his crimes. Severely injured, and sick from the side-effects of the TV world, Adachi is loaded onto a stretcher, which is revealed to be a personal favour of Dojima. Realizing that despite the revelations about his character, his partner still cares about him in his own way, Adachi is touched. He swears he will confess his crimes to the police and accept his punishment.
Months later, Adachi writes to Souji from prison. He states that he is trying hard to come to terms with the real world and live a normal life - it's obvious he is attempting to overcome radical mental issues that were only amplified by the god-complex he gained from his sudden supernatural powers. Stating he is sorry for the things he did, Adachi gives Souji some valuable information and hints to the fact that there was a greater power behind this than even he, putting the Investigation Team on the train of the goddess Izanami.
personality:
Adachi is a pretty bitter guy. Disillusioned, too. At the young age of twenty-five, he's already disgusted by society. He believes everyone is forced to live a life filled with boundaries, and the only thing that saves your life from boring mediocrity is talent. Adachi seems to think he has no talent, and he certainly envies those who do.
It's obvious that he's had a hard life - not in the traditional sense of terrible things happening to him, but rather he's a rather bright guy who is outclassed in everything he does. This sense of inadequacy - at his job, with his social skills, and with women - that is the key to Adachi's personality.
From the way Adachi describes the world, when he's in the depths of madness, it's obvious he's angry at it for these perceived slights. He feels smug in that he has committed crimes and not been caught - Adachi loves to feel smarter than everyone else - but like many serial killers, Adachi needs other people to recognize how smart he is, and thus deliberately leaves a trail. Subconsciously, he wants to be caught. However, while he ends up feeling wracked with guilt, it's unlikely that he genuinely wants to face the consequences of his actions. Adachi seems generally torn between "easy but evil" and "hard but righteous". Souji's words, and Dojima's kindness, have recently inspired him to try for the latter.
Adachi doesn't really deserve to be called a sociopath. At first he seems textbook, having committed crimes and acts of violence with no apparent remorse or emotions. But then there is the fact that by the end of the game, Adachi seems genuinely guilty and is going to try and take responsibility, make himself a better person. While there is no doubt he has a serial killer's nature, and that he managed to detach himself from reality enough that he enjoyed the "games" he was playing regardless of the lives they cost, the Adachi who wanted to destroy the world was in some ways just another persona. When this confident, smirking trickster is defeated, he loses confidence in it and allows himself to feel something again.
But certainly, he isn't whole of mind. Adachi also shows signs of clinical depression, and to some degree he is schitzotypal, though his delusions of godlike power were augmented by the supernatural powers he was gifted with. The use of the television in the game is especially potent: Adachi's disconnection from and bitterness towards reality comes from years of the media showing him unattainable goals, happy dreams and fairy-tales that cannot possibly be achieved.
Adachi's a bit of a coward, and he isn't afraid to strike a low blow when he's cornered (more with words than in actions.) He's perceptive enough about people's character to know right where to 'hit', so to speak - before the final fight with the Investigation Team he calls all of them out on their weaknesses. More importantly, Adachi is a would-be rapist. He is terrible with women, and often sets his sights on unattainable goals. When they injure his already fragile ego with their rejection, he manages to rationalize the blame back to them. Incredibly sexist, Adachi believes he has the right to be a sleazy creep to any ladies he likes, and god forbid they fight back.
While Adachi may be apathetic, sadistic and bitter, he's a good enough actor that none of it shows through in his day to day life. However, while he wears the "mask" of a good person, it's obvious there are elements of truth to the charade he puts on. While in many ways he is a competent, intelligent and manipulative criminal, his insecurities manifest themselves in an almost comedic facade.
To anybody he talks to, Adachi seems innocent enough. He's pleasant, if a little grating, and he'd like to be liked. These are real traits. In addition, he puts up the front of the bumbling rookie cop - ineffectual at his job, clumsy and babbling and awkward, a little shy around women. This is partially because those traits make him seem innocuous and endearing, but they are also a manifestation of his lack of self-esteem; that in pretending these ignoble parts of his personality are a charade, Adachi can separate them from himself. Essentially, the "role" he "plays" for other people is a self-deprecating parody of his real nature.
It also contains very real elements: Adachi seems to really like Dojima, especially when it's proven that even though the man treats him like shit, there's real loyalty and care felt for Adachi underneath his tough exterior. Adachi appears in a few scenes with Dojima, his daughter Nanako, and nephew Souji, and each time he seems to genuinely be enjoying the cosy family atmosphere. Though he may cynically scoff at the ways of the middle-class and mediocrity, Adachi finds human companionship important.