Since Rise month is coming to a close, I figured I'd ask you guys a bunch of Rise related questions.
1) What are your general thoughts on Rise? Why do you like/dislike her?
2) What do you think of her Social Link?
3) What did you think of her problems and her Shadow?
4) What are your thoughts on her Persona(s)? Say anything that comes to mind.
BONUS: Favorite Rise outfit
1) By far, my favourite main character in P4. She's breezy, playful, and above all, genuine. I think what separates Rise from the chaff, as far as that bubbly idol archetype goes, it's that Rise has some real texture to her. There's a sincere, natural warmth that you get from her, and she rarely ever seems like she's forcing it. She radiates charisma from her every pore. I really want to say more, like how she looks after her friends, or how serious and how goal-oriented she really is, how that determination (and really, everything else) really speaks for a serious inner strength, but all I have to say is that Rise is the full package.
2) Her Social Link is one of my favourites. Not
the favourite, which jointly goes to the Dojimas, but I really liked her Social Link. It did a great job exploring how she arrived at her decisions up to that point, added the context to let her know why she felt pushed out, and tackled a lot of things fairly well. Like, I actually really liked how it acknowledged how disposable idol culture was, with everything going on about Kanami, and that girl who'd been sending her the letters telling her about her life. I don't think it was necessarily a huge aspect to it, but it was there, and added substance to Rise's retreat from that world. Nice resolution, Rise is, of course, a fun personality in the first place, it was highly enjoyable.
Had no problems with the hug because I've never been able to say no ever.
3) Her problems were interesting, and I really wouldn't say they're hard to relate to, necessarily. We'll never be Japanese idols, but the reason for Rise's self-loathing is directly connected to how she thinks of herself. Which is, sure, affected by other people (which is where the Shadow comes in), but I don't think Rise ever has image problems, per say, more of an identity problem. She's stuck between two people she wants to 'be', and it's pretty obvious how self-conscious she is about it. How many times does she ask you if you were excited to meet/be friends with 'her', or 'Risette', for instance. She's looking for the person she 'wants' to be, and going up against the person everyone else 'wants' her to be. She doesn't think she can meet that in the middle. And I think when you boil that down, there's something pretty down-to-earth to that.
Her Shadow, like any other Shadow, was a pretty extreme exaggeration of those identity issues, and for that, it did its' job super-well.
4) As classy a design as she deserves, at least Himiko. Really liked the satellite theme, although I've always thought the visor that goes on her head was sort of dumb. I think I might have preferred a more... mystical thing going on there. Can't pick it apart much further than that.
Bonus: I'm gonna go ahead and vote for the New Year Yukata.
