Nanako Dojima

Nanako Dojima is a character in Persona 4.

Appearances

 * Persona 4 / Golden: Supporting Character; Justice Social Link
 * Persona 4 (Manga): Supporting Character; Justice Arcana
 * Persona 4 The Magician: Minor Character
 * Persona 4 The Animation / Golden Animation: Supporting Character; Justice Arcana
 * Persona 4 Visualive the Evolution: Cameo
 * Persona 4 Arena / Ultimax: Supporting Character; DLC Navigator; alternate color for Yu Narukami and Rise Kujikawa
 * Persona 4 Arena (Manga): Supporting Character
 * Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Manga): Supporting Character
 * Persona 4: Dancing All Night: Playable Character
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth: Supporting Character, DLC Navigator
 * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth - Side:P4: Supporting Character
 * Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth: Cameo, DLC Navigator

Design
Nanako is a little girl with brown hair tied into short pigtails by pink ribbons and brown eyes. Normally, she is seen wearing a white turtleneck under a sleeveless pink dress with two shades of red, white socks and pink penny loafers. In summer, however, she wears a light pink and white sleeveless shirt with a pink skirt. Along with the rest of the girls, Nanako sports a kimono at the summer festival.

Despite never being seen without her pigtails in Persona 4, Persona 4 The Animation depicts Nanako with her hair down while sleeping, and also revealed that she had her hair shoulder length. In the new true ending in Persona 4 Golden she is shown with longer hair.

In Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Nanako wears an outfit identical to Kanami's dance outfit, but the minor difference is her ribbon resembles a bow tie, her collar shirt has puffy short sleeves, a red, yellow and blue strap wristband on her right wrist, red ribbon on her right leg, puffy white socks and red shoes.

Personality
Nanako is a mature and kind person for a girl her age, though has moments of childish innocence, such as when she wonders if the weather reporter "decides" the weather. Her refreshingly honest way of thinking and speaking is noted by many characters in the series. She is selfless and tries her best not to hurt anyone's feelings, such as when she stomached all three of the omelets made by the Investigation Team girls and stated that they were all good, despite clearly having some distaste to them. She tends to be shy around strangers, but becomes friendly once she warms up to them. She is quite responsible and reliable, and has handled a lot of housework, such as cooking, doing the dishes and laundry in her home, ever since her mother passed away. Dojima notes that she resembles her late mother not only in appearance, but also in personality. Nanako is an adept learner, as Kanami Mashita's Dance Instructor noted that she managed to completely learn a particularly hard dancing maneuver in a short session.

Nanako's most notable quirk is her love for Junes, in both singing its slogan and in visiting their Inaba branch with her family and friends. Even when given the choice to pick a location for a vacation, her go-to answer is always Junes. She also idolizes several famous people starting with Rise Kujikawa as well as her "Risette" character, defending her to her classmates when they state that Kanami Mashita is better than her. Ironically, she later becomes a fan of Kanami during the events of Dancing All Night and even strikes up a friendship with her. In the new epilogue of Golden, she becomes a fan of Marie, the new Inaba weather girl, and has even adopted Marie's catchphrase. She is usually found in the Dojima residence living room, completely absorbed in quiz shows during her free time.

Nanako loves her father dearly, but wishes that he would spend more time with her. She sometimes feels that he cares more about his job than he does her, but understands that Dojima does in fact love her. While she does not show it openly, Nanako also shows some deep sadness over losing her mother, reflected in her Social Link. Nanako still fondly remembers spending time with her, often picking flowers with her at the Samegawa Flood Plain, where she often visits when feeling upset. She believes that her mother has gone to Heaven, and this belief becomes the structure for her dungeon. Aptly named Heaven, it is filled with her innocent thoughts of her sadness of losing her mother. However, it is also filled with her happiness, thanks to her father and the protagonist.

As a stranger at the beginning, Nanako is apprehensive with connecting with the protagonist, but during the course of the game, she begins to build a sibling-like relationship with him, even calling him "Big Brother"/"onii-chan" as if he really was her older brother. If her Social Link is maxed, she even expresses a desire to marry him when she's older. Nanako also becomes friends with the Investigation Team during the course of the game and uses the "onii"/"onee" honorific when addressing them, except for Teddie (i.e. Chie-oneechan, Yosuke-oniichan, etc.). However, this only takes place in the Japanese version, as in the English version Nanako simply refers to them by their names.

Persona 4
Nanako lives with her father Ryotaro Dojima, a detective in Inaba, at the Dojima Residence. She is also the maternal cousin of the protagonist. Her mother, Chisato Dojima, died in a hit and run when she was in preschool. The event caused a slight strain in her relationship with her father as he became obsessed with catching her mother's killer and Nanako maturing at a young age, taking on her mother's duties in her absence.

In 2011, the protagonist is sent to live in Inaba for a year due to his parents working overseas. At first, Nanako is shy around the protagonist and does not speak to him much. With time, and progressing her Social Link, she opens up to him more, eventually referring to him as "big bro."

Heaven
Late in the game, a political figure visits Yasoinaba. While there, he visits Nanako's school, where he surveys the students about their worries and the worsening occurrences of fog. Nanako gives the politician an innocent yet genuine answer, which later makes the local TV news. However, her image is not shown on television; only her quotes and vague details about her were mentioned.

A few days later, when Dojima intercepts a second warning letter left in the Dojimas' mailbox, he angrily brings the protagonist to the police department for questioning, and leaves Nanako home alone. Eventually, he leaves his nephew detained at the station, confiscates his phone, and leaves him under Tohru Adachi's watch. The Investigation Team is unaware of what has happened — only when Yosuke and Teddie idly call the protagonist on his cell and home line do they find out from Nanako about the situation. Immediately, the Midnight Channel reveals the next victim: Nanako.



Realizing that Nanako is in danger, the Investigation Team leaps into action, half of them heading for the police station to talk the protagonist out of detainment, and the remainder to the Dojimas' to check on Nanako. Along the way, Naoto Shirogane explains how Nanako's image could have appeared on the Midnight Channel despite never having become famous on TV. Though Nanako's picture was not shown on the TV news, her picture was shown in the original newspaper article, allowing the culprit to identify her without her appearing on TV.

Among the confusion, and before the Investigation Team can interfere, Nanako is kidnapped. In the police station, gathering the salvaged bits of clues Dojima managed to collect relating to the initial two murders, the Investigation Team eventually deduces the culprit's identity and method: Taro Namatame, council secretary and lover of the first victim Mayumi Yamano, and whom now works for his father's delivery business. Dojima takes off in his SUV in pursuit of the kidnapper's delivery truck, causing Namatame to panic at the wheel — the truck spins out, Dojima loses control, and both vehicles crash into the façade of a nearby building. Luckily, the Investigation Team is not far behind and Dojima is quickly attended to by an ambulance, but the kidnapper and his victim are nowhere to be found. Finding a large TV in the back of the delivery truck and a diary listing information regarding all the victims thus far, the Investigation Team affirms their theory and plan Nanako's rescue along with Namatame's pursuit.

If Namatame isn't defeated and Nanako isn't rescued by 11/20, Kanji will call the protagonist and tell him that they found some bodies, Namatame and Nanako's (which Kanji can't say out loud since the protagonist already knows). The protagonist blacks out and drops his phone in failure as Kanji asks if he's still on the phone. He is then summoned to the Velvet Room and given the choice head back a week later by Igor.



Inside the Midnight Channel, Nanako's presence creates her reality, Heaven, which reflects her innocence and her wish to see her mother, whom Nanako believed to be in Heaven after her death. The team notes that the ambience of the dungeon is much more peaceful and beautiful than in previous ones. Working their way toward her, Rise asserts that Nanako is not the only person trapped inside this reality; they realize with horror that Namatame didn't throw in his victim and escape, but instead that he followed Nanako inside to escape the police.



The Investigation Team eventually makes it to the top, where they find Nanako being held hostage by Namatame. In his own messiah delusions, he states that he intends to "save" her, putting her in immediate danger. The team manages to distract him and release Nanako, allowing the protagonist to make a timely rescue. However, Nanako is in deep pain and Teddie notes that her young age and innocence makes her ill suited for the TV World as she lacks a Shadow. Instead, Namatame's is revealed to be one and the same with his own Shadow, creating a bizarre human-shadow fusion known as Kunino-sagiri that the team manages to defeat. Though Namatame is subdued, Nanako seems to have fallen strangely ill, and passes out in the protagonist's arms.

After the police arrive to apprehend Namatame and rush the young girl to the hospital, Nanako eventually awakens and stabilizes, but is suffering from an unknown affliction. The doctor is perplexed and admits to a worried Dojima that they cannot actually identify what is wrong with her, and are just numbing her current pains with medication as well as they can. Teddie expresses concern that Nanako spent too much time in the TV world, and that the fog must not have been good for her, to the Investigation Team's chagrin.



Days later, while out with the team buying Nanako a Christmas present and a new, the protagonist receives an urgent call from Adachi telling him that Nanako's condition suddenly became critical. The Team rushes to Inaba Municipal Hospital where the protagonist is the allowed into her room while Dojima is being escorted there. Nanako weakly converses with the protagonist. She manages to call out for her father before she quietly slips away just as Dojima enters the room. In a rage, Dojima runs to Namatame's room, but is later escorted by the police guard back to his room, giving the Investigation Team the opportunity to sneak in. Grief-ridden and devastated, and convinced on Naoto's word that it's likely the court will never find him guilty, the Investigation Team contemplates bringing Namatame to justice by pushing him through his hospital room's TV. This decision turns out to be crucial, as can be seen in the ending threads below.

Bad Ending
Should the protagonist choose to kill Namatame to avenge Nanako, the game ends with her death, and Dojima grieves over being unable to see her one last time. Teddie returns to the TV World, leaving the Investigation Team a note, and the case goes unsolved. Only Dojima is there to see the protagonist off as he leaves Inaba and the stifling fog over Inaba never dissipates.

Neutral Ending
The 'neutral' ending can be unlocked should the protagonist choose to talk the Investigation Team down and spare Namatame, but still fail to identify the real culprit. Teddie then returns to the TV World, leaving the Investigation Team a note. Nanako is revived, although she remains in a coma, the stifling fog is never lifted, and the case goes unsolved. The 'neutral' ending fast-forwards to spring of the next year, during which Dojima takes the protagonist to the train station to head back home to his parents, lamenting that Nanako had yet to recover enough to see him depart.

Good Ending
Should the protagonist talk the Investigation Team down and spare Namatame, expressing some inconsistencies in the case and wanting to confront Namatame himself about the case when he is sane. Immediately after choosing to spare him, the doctor summons the protagonist and the team back to Nanako's room where she has miraculously revived herself. Even the doctor is stunned by her sudden turn around, but admits that such things do happen, much to the Investigation Team's relief and joy.



After the case is finally solved and the true culprit apprehended, Nanako is discharged from the hospital, having made a full recovery. She spends the next few months with the protagonist and her father before the final day when he departs. At the train station, Nanako sadly hugs the protagonist, expressing that she does not want him to leave. However, when the protagonist boards the train, she sends him off with a happy smile.

True Ending
The True Ending follows the same path as the Good Ending. However, on the last day in Inaba, the protagonist feels that there was someone orchestrating the events of the game from behind the scenes and enlists Nanako's help to remember what they did the first day he came to Inaba. Nanako recalls that they stopped at the gas station, allowing him to remember the gas station attendant he shook hands with on the first day. This allows him and the Investigation Team to confront the true mastermind of the story and eventually defeats her.

The story ends the same as the Good Ending with Nanako saying good-bye to the protagonist in full health.

Social Link
Shortly after Yukiko is rescued, Chie invites the protagonist to hang out with Yukiko and Yosuke at Junes. With nothing else better to do that day, Nanako tags along after being invited as well. At Junes, she opens up a little about her past, including the revelation that her mother was killed in an accident, however, she has since moved on and has become happier since the protagonist has begun to live with the Dojimas. After Chie jokingly calls the protagonist "big bro," Nanako adopts the name when referring to him and the Social Link is established.

Nanako's social link requires that the protagonist improve his Expression to advance. In her Social Link, her school is having a teacher sit-in day and his having difficulty asking Dojima to come. Knowing of how important his wife's case is, later on in the link, Nanako accuses him of caring more about the case than his own daughter and runs off, eventually being found by the protagonist at the Samegawa Flood Plain where she and her mother once picked flowers together. With the protagonist's guidance, he helps her realize that her father does in fact still love her and, to make up for his absence, signs off on her waiver that he will be willing to go to her school event anytime. By the end of her Social Link, Nanako and Dojima's familial bond is restored and Nanako has fully accepted the protagonist as her de facto big brother, even stating that she loves him openly. On the final day, with her Social Link Maxed, Nanako is saddened by the fact that the protagonist has to leave and declares that she wants to marry the protagonist when she is older. Dojima laughs at the statement, but subtly tells the protagonist that it will not happen without Nanako picking up on his statement.

Persona 4 Golden
Several new events with Nanako occur in Golden.

The day after New Year's Day, Nanako, Dojima, and the protagonist decide to build a snowman outside of the Dojima Residence. The efforts of their collaborative work results in a Teddie shaped snowman, much to Nanako's joy.

On Valentines Day, Nanako wants to make the protagonist some chocolate so she enlists the aid of the Investigation Team girls for advice to make it. Due to Chie, Yukiko and Rise's suggestions, Nanako creates a Slime-shaped multi-colored chocolate substance. Naoto managed to call Nanako, but Nanako already had finished, so Naoto merely told her that the protagonist would appreciate her chocolate. The protagonist, alarmed by its appearance and composition, almost backs out, but Nanako innocently tells him that she loves him. Not wanting to hurt her innocent feelings, the protagonist eats the whole "chocolate." Unfortunately, this causes him to black out.

New Epilogue
Should the protagonist rescue Marie before defeating Izanami, time shifts several months after the events of the True Ending (and after the events of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.)

In the months since the protagonist's departure, Nanako has begun to take piano lessons, much like her mother once did. The protagonist makes a visit to Inaba and the Investigation Team and the Dojima's throw him a party at the Dojima residence. Upon returning from her piano lessons, the party is already underway and Nanako is overjoyed to see the protagonist and everyone from the Investigation Team. During the party, the Inaba local news comes on with Marie now as the station's new weather girl. Nanako has become a fan of Marie, mimicking her catchphrase. Nanako then rallies everyone to welcome the protagonist back to Inaba, causing the protagonist to smile.

Persona 4 The Animation
In the anime, when she receives a gift from her father on May 5th, it is a blue shirt with a picture of a platypus instead of an orange one like in the original game.

On July 10th, when she is out shopping at the market, she encounters Mitsuo Kubo. He attempts to grab her, frightening her but Yu intervenes.

At the Dojima household, after they defeat Shadow Mitsuo and catch the original, the group hangs out with Nanako. Each of the girls make horrible food that Nanako eats, and says nice things about in order to cheer them up. She then makes a pinky promise with Teddie and notices that Yosuke calls her "big bro" by his name, Yu.

On August 8th, she encounters the Fox while it is raining. She gives it her umbrella, to which it expresses its gratitude. While at home with Yu, she notices that he's been very busy lately, and hasn't been spending as much time with her. Thus, in the following days, she wears her superhero outfit to investigate Yu's whereabouts. As Nanako continues spying on Yu, Teddie interrupts her and sniffs out Yu's scent. He tells her Yu's location, and in spite of being aware the information is false, she chooses to follow him anyway to a food shop. The next day, she continues to look for him with the help of Yu's friends. They continue the search, but are ready to give up. That is until they see "Teddie" take a bus and begin questioning him until he runs away from them.

On August 18th, she finally finds Yu, catching him with an older woman with black hair, and believes he's on a date. While at the Junes Court, sitting disappointed and depressed, she encounters Yosuke and Teddie. She tells them everything about Yu dating older women. Together, along with Kanji, they go to find Yu, and end up discovering him with another older woman. Nanako notes that this is not the same woman she initially saw, which the guys react to in shock. This time with disguises given to the girls by Teddie, notably Yukiko, Chie and Rise, they continue following Yu and find him with a much older lady. They respond to the discovery with a great deal of shock, remarking together, "He's dating someone's grandma!?!?"

At the Summer Festival, as she begins to give up and leaves her mirror behind, Naoto appears and gives it back to her. She encourages her, and tells her not to give up until the case is over. Before she can do so, she notices Kou and Daisuke having trouble with their stand, as all their shaved ice has sold out. She helps them by talking to one of Yu's friends, as they have ice at their restaurant and can deliver it. She also helps Ai get her scarf out of the tree with her extended mirror-like stick. She later sees Yu while he is holding something and continues her investigation of him. However, before she can get any further, she stops once again, to help Daidara from choking on his snack. Eventually, she is able to find Yu, and they are able to watch the fireworks together. The boy she saw from yesterday then appears, needing to ask Yu for something. She notices that he is smiling even as he cries. As Nanako meets the people Yu has befriended, during the festival she gets to spend time with her father and "Big Bro" as a family. As the summer comes to an end, she questions Yu on what he's been doing over the summer.

On October 11th, Nanako becomes depressed that her father is at work all the time, and isn't able to spend time with her. Nanako tells Yu that it's like Dojima is not even her real father. Throughout the weekend, she asks her father to sign a form to observe her class at school. When he doesn't, she accuses him of putting his job first and foremost. Later, Nanako overhears Dojima and Yu's conversation about a "hit and run." Nanako confronts Dojima about never listening to her, then repeatedly calls him stupid, tells him he never cares about her, and exclaims, "You're not really my father!" while leaving the home in tears.

She is later found at Samegawa Flood Plain, where Dojima, Chisato and she used to have picnics before her mother's untimely death. Nanako starts to cry again, asking why her mother had to leave her, and begins to wonder if her father would do the same. She sobs in her father's arms, and begs for his forgiveness. During the credits, she is glad that her "Big Bro" and her father are now a family.

In November, Nanako is abducted by Namatame and thrown into the TV, where she subsequently creates Heaven. After he merges with his Shadow, Nanako is still caught in his clutches. When the party finally arrives, Yu tries to rush in to save her, but his body becomes controlled by Kunino-sagiri, and is turned against the party. He summons Beelzebub and almost kills the entire party with Megidolaon, but Nanako manages to wake up and pleads with him not to fight them. This prompts Yu to notice the ring she had given him, giving him the strength to resist Kunino-sagiri's control long enough for Tomoe and Take-Mikazuchi to disable the Devil Persona.

Sukuna-Hikona then cuts Nanako free of Kunino-sagiri's grip, but ends up causing her to fall from a great height. Yu manages to gather his strength to break free from Kunino-sagiri's control, and catches her before she hits the ground. His bond with Dojima then gives him the strength to summon the ultimate form of the Hierophant Arcana, Kohryu, allowing him to protect Nanako from further harm, and freeing the rest of the party from Kunino-sagiri with Salvation. Nanako later gives him the strength to summon the ultimate form of the Justice Arcana, Sraosha, allowing him to purify the remaining Shadows with Mahamaon.

On December 3rd, Nanako dies in the Inaba Municipal Hospital, but later on December 4th, Nanako mysteriously comes back to life much to the relief of everyone there.

After Ameno-sagiri was defeated, she woke up and told her father that she dreamed that Yu and his friends had defeated the "bad guys."

Persona 4 Arena
She is an unlockable Navigator, by way of clearing Score Attack Mode with seven different characters. Nanako is only seen in Yu's story mode.

In Ultimax, she only appears in Persona 4 Chapter. She is last seen where she accidentally went inside of the train with Yu.

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth
Nanako shows up in the P4 route, where she appears at the beginning and is trying to cook. She is also impressed by how cool Kanji is. She later shows up in the epilogue.

Nanako, along with Marie and the Velvet Siblings, is available as a DLC Navigator for $3. The DLC Navigators do not have additional skills, but can replace Fuuka's or Rise's voice to provide vocal support by selecting them from the "Support" section of the "Party" menu.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night
Shortly after the events of the Persona 4 Golden epilogue, Yu Narukami returns to Inaba at the request of Rise Kujikawa, who wanted the Investigation Team to be her back up dancers for her career revival at the Love Meets Bond's festival. Arriving at Junes after the Investigation Team records a message for themselves, they ask Dojima and Nanako to give them a message to encourage them for their performance. Minoru Inoue provides them with tickets to come and see the performance.

A month later, Nanako and her father head to the city to meet up with Yu and the others. Upon arrival, they learn that Yu and his friends have gone missing. Meanwhile, another idol, Kanami Mashita, asks Dojima's help to find them and the other members of Kanamin Kitchen. During their investigation, Nanako befriends Kanami who invites her to her dance practice. Later, when Kanami is busy talking to Dojima regarding his investigations, Nanako receives a lesson from Kanami's dance teacher and is surprisingly adept at dancing, able to learn an extremely difficult dance move that even Kanami struggled to learn for weeks.

With Kanamin Kitchen and Rise and her friend's gone, Inoue gets the bright idea to have Nanako dance at the Love Meets Bond's festival with Kanami. When Dojima consents to allowing her to participate, Nanako spends the rest of the time up to the festival training, even participating in an interview for the festival where she is well received thanks to her cute appearance and innocent personality. The duo, now named Kanakoko, performs at the festival and are well received by the audience. However, a Shadow of Kanami appears on stage, who taunts Kanami. Nanako defends Kanami, calling her the real one. Nanako, left in the dark about what had really transpired in the end, believes that the events that took place were nothing more than stage effects.

Nanako does not participate in any dance battles like the Investigation Team, but she still has three lead character dances and appears as a supporting character for three of Yu's dances and two of Kanami's. Her dance style is playful and revolves around her having fun.

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
Nanako is only seen in the epilogue of the game welcoming the Investigation Team back to reality. She prepares sunny-side eggs for the Investigation Team as they return. It was also revealed that she likes dinosaur movies.

Persona 4 Arena

 * English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PQ0GcUru8Q
 * Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GBqDErxoLc

Gallery

 * Persona 4

Etymology

 * The name Nanako means "vegetables, greens" (菜) (na) and "child" (子) (ko).
 * Nanako's surname Dojima means "hall" (堂) (do) and "island" (島) (shima/jima).

Trivia

 * Nanako can cook sunny-side eggs and toast bread.
 * In the video game, Nanako receives an orange shirt with a picture of a platypus, but in the anime it's a blue shirt with a platypus.
 * In the final episode of Persona 4: The Animation, she told Yu that she was going to marry him someday. Her feelings and actions are similar to Maiko at the end of her social link with the protagonist in Persona 3. This statement was also made in Persona 4: Dancing All Night. 
 * Nanako's starsign is Libra, depicting scales and the Justice Arcana, her Social Link, also depicts scales on it.
 * In Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, there is a color variation DLC for Yu Narukami which is based on Nanako's clothes (pink and red).
 * With her playable appearance in Persona 4: Dancing All Night, Nanako is the youngest playable character in the Persona series, replacing Ken Amada.
 * In Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, the DLC Nanako Navigator calls every character, including Goro Akechi, "big bro."
 * Nanako is the only character not to have a Shadow self despite being forced into the Midnight Channel. It was implied that since Nanako is still a child who hasn't done anything in her life yet, voices of people saying bad things about her can't be heard and her repressed emotions aren't negative nor do they attract public attention.
 * Nanako's (known) classmates are: Emi-chan, Mai-chan, Yo-chan, Takeyoshi-kun and Miwa-chan. It is also stated that Takeyoshi-kun sits next to Nanako in class, and that Miwa-chan has a crush on Takeyoshi-kun.