Thanks to the Japanese Persona Magazine interview of Atlus staff member Kazuhisa Wada, transcribed by the hardworking Gematsu staff, we know a whole lot more about Persona 4: Dancing All Night. Through watching the trailers, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that each character has their own unique look and style. For me, it was Chie that really emphasized this. Her dance moves incorporate martial art moves – which is definitely a characteristic of her personality. This concept doesn’t stop with just Chie though.
Each of the dancers’ styles come from a different genre of dance. Each character also has a unique real-life dancer doing their choreography. After all, there is no way Yukiko would ever have the same dance style as say Teddie. Since this game is canon and takes place after P4 and the two Arena games, the characters have grown since reaching out to the truth and coming to terms with their shadows. Wada mentions that Naoto no longer is carrying the weight about her identity so she can start embracing her femininity more – stuff like that.
So here is what Wada said about the dancers he mentioned:
Yosuke: “Takes after male idols with some hip-hop flare to his moves”
Chie: “Her usual Kung Fu mixed with some street dancing sensibilities”
Yukiko: “Her movies are derived from ballet while still retaining aspects of her ditziness”
Teddie: “His dance moves come from gymnastics, which I feel makes for an interesting combination in tandem with the costume”
Naoto: “Naoto’s dances come from house music, placing a big emphasis on deliberate step routines and all wrapped up in a certain layer of sex appeal”
Kanji: “Fundamentally rooted in a type of dance known as “Locking,” but with some modifications to it, as real Locking has some moves that just don’t really jive with his character”
Yu (protagonist): “Well, let’s be honest, with the protagonist, you could make him do most anything and he’d probably still have a dumb grin on his face the whole time. (Laughs.) We actually were a little wary about maintaining that facet of his personality for his dances, but at the end of the day, we agreed that’s ultimately part of his charm and, indeed, it’s worked out really well. His dances are made that much more fun and unique”
Rise: “It’s probably pretty obvious, but her dances are a little mischievous, the sort you often see in the idol world she’s from. Obviously, she’s running around in a pretty revealing outfit while she dances, but what you see underneath in a few places isn’t actual underwear or anything like that; it’s all a part of the getup that’s meant to be seen so as to avoid any potential problems going other routes design-wise”
Nanako: “Of course you don’t want necessarily everyone in the game to have sex appeal going for them, either. Nanako’s in the game, too, and if she was out being flamboyant and provocative, that’d be completely out of character. Getting her motions down pat was therefore really hard. We had an idol come in for Nanako, rather than an actual child dancer, but no matter what they did, Nanako’s moves still had a certain allure to them that was off, so we had to spend a long time fine-tuning her animation to get it to where we needed it to be”
Kaname: “Key to the proceedings, so on that end, she’ll have her own songs and dances specially made for her. She’s got a lot of interesting quirks going for her, both inside and out, that make her a really charming character in her own right”
So a few things about all these. Yukiko being based on ballet and ditziness seems like a gross contradiction but I guess that is the point. I’ll say it works. Teddie being based on gymnastics while wearing that ridiculous outfit is so damn Teddie it’s perfect. Then there is Naoto, thanks to the explanation I get what they are doing. Seeing Naoto as something sexualized is something really opposite of the character we know her as. There is fear in my head that this could be used just for fan-service-esque shenanigans but I’ll choose to trust Atlus. I love that Yu is just full on swag-goofy at this point and Atlus recognizes this as fact; I’m more than okay with that.
The more I learn about Persona 4: Dancing All Night the more it honestly intrigues me. It’s such a great mix of Persona, rhythm games, and dumb that I need it. When I say dumb, I mean that as a compliment. It’s a game about dancing to defeat shadows, there is a limit on how serious it can take itself. If anything, this interview as confirmed that even Atlus recognizes this and that makes me very very happy.
[Gematsu]
