Naoto Shirogane

"Is this an army of idiots?"

- Naoto Shirogane

Naoto Shirogane is a playable character in Persona 4. A skilled private detective, Naoto is a refined, serious youth, with formal speech and body language.

Appearance
Naoto is androgynous in appearance, with short blue hair, gray eyes (Although blue in the Animation and the Arena), and slightly tanned skin. She wears Yasogami High's gakuran, save for one optional occasion in which she wears a seifuku-style school uniform. Naoto is often seen wearing formal clothing such as blue shirts, ties, and her trademark blue cap. On days off during winter, she wears a dark blue double-breasted cardigan coat with a light blue bowtie (on her white dress shirt underneath) and yellow buttons, and plaid blue pants. Naoto's summer outfit, however, is reminiscent of the clothing of Kyouji Kuzunoha and consists of a light blue shirt and a yellow necktie.

In Persona 4 Golden during the ski trip in the winter, she wears a snow suit with a white hoodie, light blue snow jacket, dark purple gloves, dark pants, and gray shoes, with a pair of goggles hanging around her neck.

In Persona 4 Arena, her appearance is the same as in the game (her winter outfit).

In Persona x Detective, Naoto is seen with much longer, nearly waist-length hair. Her trademark cap is absent and she wears a gray suit with a white shirt and a blue tie.

Personality
Having lost both parents in a car accident during childhood, Naoto acts very mature in spite of being young of age. As a descendant of a lineage of famous detectives, she wears formal clothing and speaks formally in a deep voice, wishing to be treated as an adult, and expresses frustration at being treated like a child by the police force. It is also implied in the story that Naoto has (like the other female party members) no talent in cooking.

Persona 4 Arena

 * Naoto's introduction line, "The body of a child-the brain of a genius", may be a reference to Edogawa Conan of Detective Conan since they both have a child's body.
 * Naoto's ground throw is based on her Wake-Up Hit. Her awakening supers Hold Up!/Hands Up! (localized as Raid in the US versions) and Critical Shoot/Shot are both parts of her critical hit.
 * Naoto is the only human character of the Investigation Team who doesn't wear their school uniform.
 * Naoto is the only character who does not use her Persona for her Awakening Supers.
 * She is also the only character alongside Elizabeth to have an Instant Kill system (her foes' Fate Counters for her Hamaon and Mudoon spells which are supers) aside from the universal Mortal Blow attack.

Other

 * Naoto is the only character in the game who has a Persona of the opposite sex, possibly in reference to Naoto's androgynous appearance.
 * Shigenori Soejima, character designer and art director of Persona 4, stated in the annotations of Persona 4's artbook that Naoto was originally planned to be a boy.
 * Naoto's casual summer clothes are similar to Kyouji Kuzunoha's.
 * One of Naoto's usable weapons, "Athena Kiss R" might be a reference to Aigis' Kiss of Athena.
 * In the North American release, the gun left behind by the bonus boss in Secret Laboratory is called Algernon, with its description stating that it was named after an experiment in finding happiness. This is a reference to the book Flowers for Algernon.
 * Naoto constantly ranks in the top 3 in character popularity polls.
 * In the Japanese version, Chie compared Naoto's family to the Kindaichi family. Kosuke Kindaichi was a character in a series of detective novels that were popular in Japan and later spawned an unofficial spinoff named Hajime Kindaichi.
 * Naoto is the only party member whose Social Link can Reverse if you pick the wrong option during one of her Social Link events (the option that says "You're on your own." on the Rank 4 to 5 event), as well as having one of the two Social Links in the game that can be compromised in such a manner (the other being Ai Ebihara's Social Link).
 * In Persona 4: Golden, When wearing a Gekkokan High uniform, Naoto imitates Aigis' victory pose and says her lines.
 * In Persona 4 Golden, Naoto says that she has some experience playing a keyboard, since her grandfather suggested taking piano lessons when she was younger.
 * During the ski trip event when Yosuke tells his ghost story, Naoto says that she has read a case file relating to his story, meaning she may have been at Port Island during the events of Persona 3 when Fuuka Yamagishi had gone missing.
 * In Persona 4, after it is revealed that Naoto is female, her voice becomes notably more feminine as she opens up to the Investigation Team.