How's My Driving? Plus Other OOC Info

[truthinfortune]

Standard HMD post. Constructive criticism for Naoto Shirogane of Persona 4. Anon posting is on, and IP logging is off. Comments are screened.

Questions? Concerns? Contact me thru AIM at glowy brows OR masterofthepen. You can reach me by e-mail at masterofthepen19 at gmail dot com.

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different!anon

[anonymous]

I can sort of give you the benefit of the doubt regarding the whole Ed/Winry/Al deal; nobody is saying that Naoto can't make friends, or even that she's not well-equipped to be making them. Although I don't personally stalk every thread with Naoto, and do not require hard evidence from you on the matter, I would still say as someone who follows the cast here even casually that the development seemed rather excessively fast-tracked. To be honest, no matter how close Naoto might become with Ed for instance, I would never personally consider her treating them as genuine family so relatively quickly to be "IC." Around the time when Naoto first started referring to them as her brothers or whatnot, I was more than a bit confused as to that overall development.

As for the dilemma with Greed, I think we can all agree upon the fact that it's the most concerning point for onlookers. No matter how much you cite character development for Naoto in the time that she's been a member of DDD, I find it at least mildly farfetched to consider that she has gone from one extreme of being a young woman who is so totally uncomfortable in her own (female) body that her most secret inner desire is to actually be a man, to the opposite extreme of someone who easily wears elaborately feminized get-up and is rather loose with her female sexuality. From the time this cast first came under my radar, which was some time ago I must admit, your Naoto was - even then - embroiled in some rather complicated affairs. From posts that felt like pure fanservice with you the player serving as the puppeteer to enact their contents and force character development rather than let the character fall more naturally into that development, to the whole messy love triangle business (which was not OOC in and of itself) and exactly how long Naoto toyed and waffled...

And now we've arrived at this strange business with Greed, where Naoto has put all that is charming about her particular character on hold in favor of becoming rather vapid and generic when it comes to her sexuality. Yes, it's perfectly feasible that Naoto has completely conquered whatever lingering body dysmorphia issues she had. Yes, it's perfectly feasible that Naoto enjoys sex. What is not feasible, however - perfectly or otherwise - is that Naoto has become someone that can, in full consciousness, cheat on someone who is not only one of her closest friends but her fiance as well, and not only once but twice. This last one was certainly no intense, heat-of-the-moment "indiscretion" - it was cold and calculated from both a player-to-player and character-to-character standpoint. The sheer disregard for Kanji is troubling on more than one level.

The Naoto we see in canon and the Naoto you've been cultivating have become quite divorced in terms of their overall characterizations. Some "fandom" conventions are cliche, and others are enduring for good reason - there are certain aspects of a character that can be reasonably figured to hardly deviate even given the luxury of time and development in other areas, and I just find it overall hard to believe that a girl with such an old-fashioned, gentlemanly way of approaching life and love has has been hardened into this unapologetically lascivious creature.

[truthinfortune]

After deliberating with the other players involved in the Christmas thread, we have decided it would be in the best interests of everyone involved to recton those threads and summarily deleting them. Those players who were directly involved in those threads gave me their express permission to do so, and those aware of the threads have been informed of my decision to retcon them.

I will admit that Naoto's involvement with Greed during the Christmas event was an egregious break in her character, hence my decision to retcon those events, so that I might start over and get her characterization back on track.