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| “ | You're all students, right? Shouldn't you be studying instead of wasting your time with this? Study hard, get into a good college, work at a respectable company, marry a cute girl...Why are you guys so desperate when it comes to something so useless? Won't you regret it once you're adults? | „ |
| ~ Tohru Adachi, when cornered in Magatsu Inaba. |
| “ | Why choose reality when you can have a world of your own making? That's clearly the choice, y'know...I mean come on, we all prefer the easier life. Hehehehe.... You see, all reality ever gives you is boredom and bickering. And no one truly wants to live in a world like that. It's only because they think they have to accept it that they have to f**k up deal. There's only one thing that's going to set you apart and let you succeed in life: it's the magic ticket they call 'talent'. And if you don't have it, then your left to rot in despair. Game over. So wouldn't we better off without this reality crap? | „ |
| ~ Adachi while toying with Yu. |
Tohru Adachi is an antagonist in Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4. A police detective who keeps up the appearance of being incompetent and friendly, he is in reality the culprit behind the muderders plaguing Inaba, has almost no regard for human life and will stop at nothing simply to amuse himself.
In Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax, he returns as anti-hero.
Appearance
Adachi is a young adult with black bed hair and grey eyes. He wears a black suit with a white long-sleeved shirt inside, a crooked red tie and brown field boots. In Persona 4 The Animation he had darker blackish brown hair.
Personality
A cheerful and jovial detective, Adachi often serves as the story's comic relief. He jokingly refers to himself as the 'slave' of Dojima, complaining of the workload that his partner piles on him. Adachi also often accidentally blurts out the police investigation results to the Investigation Team, much to his own chagrin. He can be seen hanging around Junes Department Store, usually planning to buy cabbages to cook for dinner. His actions in public hide his normal thoughts and desires however...
It turns out that he is the one behind the mysterious murders of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi. Once the truth is revealed, he shows his true colors as a sadistic and manipulative man, seeking to have fun. He already knew how dangerous The world inside the TV was, and threw Yamano into it anyway. He manipulated Taro Namatame into "saving" the next victim before the murderer could get to her, all while hiding the truth that he was behind the first two cases. He even said that he got a real kick out of it when he threw that "Kubo kid" into the TV. He acts as if everything was a game, and watched the events unfold. He doesn't seem to care about the consequence of his actions. He also believes that there was nothing great about the real world. It was just "dull and annoying as hell" to him. Adachi is also hinted to be abusive towards women, as seen when he usually continuously calls Ms. Yamano and Saki by insulting nicknames, and his treatment of them when throwing into the TV World.
Profile
Persona 4
A cheerful and jovial detective, Adachi often serves as the story's comic relief. He jokingly refers to himself as the 'slave' of Dojima, complaining of the workload that his partner piles on him. Adachi also often accidentally blurts out the police investigation results to the Investigation Team, much to his own chagrin. He can be seen hanging around Junes Department Store, usually planning to buy cabbages to cook for dinner.
Should the Protagonist manage to stay calm and make the correct decision not to kill Taro Namatame (the Team's primary suspect of the bizarre murder cases), the Normal Ending is unlocked. The Investigation Team, upon further questioning of Namatame, realizes a horrid truth: everything they've deduced was the direct opposite. Namatame stayed true to his words- he was trying to 'save' the victims, but was merely misdirected. Although he did trap Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, and Naoto, he did not kill Mayumi Yamano nor Saki Konishi, the first two victims.
As the Investigation Team investigates further into the bizarre murder cases and the secret behind the Midnight Channel, they come up with bits of evidence and clues showing that Adachi had the perfect opportunity to murder the first two victims. As they investigate further, they find that Adachi has strong evidence of being the murderer.
Realizing this, the Team is informed that Namatame is going to have his transportation and rush to the Hospital, where they trick Adachi into accidentally revealing his connection with the murder cases. In an act of desperation, Adachi runs away from them and enters the Midnight Channel as his final escape.
The Investigation tracks down Adachi, and it turns out he waits within the very first reality the Protagonist, Yosuke and Chie ended up in - Mayumi Yamano's reality. Upon finding Adachi, the detective reveals that he held a romantic interest towards Mayumi Yamano and used his job on the police force to be alone with Mayumi while she stayed in the Amagi Inn, telling the others that he was sent by to protect her from the media.
When the two are alone in the inn's lobby, Adachi asks whether her affair with Namatame is real, which Mayumi brushes off and spurns his feelings. Enraged, Adachi pushes Mayumi back and attempts to rape her, but accidentally drops her into the TV behind them. Since Adachi only tried inserting parts of his body into the TV before, he was surprised and amused to see that humans can actually enter the TV. After the incident, Mayumi ended up as the first victim, with Saki Konishi being the witness of Mayumi's corpse.
Adachi later questions Saki about her discovery of Mayumi's corpse. Through his questions, Adachi tries to seduce Saki, but Saki retaliates by slapping him. Having his feelings spurned once again, Adachi pushes Saki into the TV inside the Police Station's interrogation room. Since Saki's body was lighter and skinnier than Mayumi, Adachi was able to push her with ease. Boasting his accomplishment, Adachi remarks that he wasn't committing crimes, but merely establishing justice by killing those two "gold-diggers" hoping to swindle Namatame's money.
When Namatame realized that every victim that was murdered first appeared on TV, he contacted the police- however, Adachi was the one who answered Namatame's call. Adachi then reveals that he was the one giving Namatame the idea of pushing the people who appeared on TV into the Midnight Channel (supposedly to save them from the murderer), and mocks Namatame's efforts, wondering aloud whether he was caught up in a messiah complex. When a student named Mitsuo Kubo came to the police station to confess to the murders of Mayumi and Saki, Adachi's superiors were less than amused, and pawned off Adachi off with the student.
Since allowing Mitsuo to confess to the murders would effectively stop Namatame from continuing to kidnap the people appearing on TV, and Adachi couldn't bear to let his "game" of cat-and-mouse end so quickly, he formulated a plan to lock Mitsuo into the Midnight Channel. His plans were, of course, foiled by the Investigation Team, but because Adachi turned off the lights in the interrogation room Mitsuo had no idea that Adachi was the one who pushed him in. When the Team finds him in the other world, Adachi comments that the 'game' would be boring if the Investigation Team were unable to track him down, and congratulates the Investigation Team in a mocking manner. The 'Adachi' talking to the Investigation Team in Mayumi's reality was revealed to be an illusion, and Rise and Teddie later found out that Adachi was already in his reality.
Adachi's ultimate goal was to create a large rift between the Midnight Channel and the Real World, allowing the fog to completely engulf the reality, making the world a place infested with shadows. Taunting the Team, Adachi escapes into his reality, and became surprised when the Team actually gives in to his taunts. Adachi calls the Team "losers", and wonders aloud why wouldn't they take life simpler by just studying, growing up, and getting through marriage.
Adachi's reality inside the Midnight Channel Magatsu Inaba takes the form of a twisted maze, covered in yellow police tape, potholes, and signposts. Upon reaching the final floor, Adachi sarcastically gives the Team a round of applause. His justification for his actions is that humanity wants the world to be a place where there is no pain and no suffering, and should the world's population turn into Shadows, that dream could become a reality. Adachi also claims that he originally became a police officer just so he could carry a gun. He proceeds to express his disgust and contempt towards society, saying that everyone is condemned to live a life filled with boundaries- only the lucky few who are born with talent are able to get out, and everyone else is forced to either deny or accept the fact that they will never achieve their hopes and dreams.
Ignoring Adachi's words, the Investigation Team engage Adachi in a fight. During battle, Adachi reveals that he can summon a Persona, with his Persona taking the form of none other than the Protagonist' initial Persona, Izanagi. However, unlike the Protagonist', Adachi's variation of Izanagi takes the form of a bloodied, vein-covered and more malevolent form. After his defeat, it is revealed that Adachi was being controlled by an entity called Ameno-sagiri, who is the real mastermind behind Adachi's plans of filling the world with fog. However, Adachi himself expressed that it was also partially his true desire as well; and thus was not totally possessed by Ameno-sagiri, and is still to blame for the murders.
Upon Adachi's defeat, he questions the Team's reluctance of killing him, asking them wasn't that their initial goal of pursuing him, in which the Team replies that killing him would essentially continue the cycle: one dies; and somones else shows up on the Midnight Channel. Surprised by the Team's resolution, Adachi finally gives up, and willingly follows the Team out the Midnight Channel. Outside the Midnight Channel, upon the polices arrival, the Team was inquired that whether a stretcher would be necessary to carry out an exhausted Adachi, which reveals to be a personal favour of Ryotaro Dojima. Further surprised by the polices' exclamation, Adachi finally acknowledges that despite Ryotaro's strict orders towards him, Ryotaro still considers him as an assistant. Guilt-ridden and touched, Adachi swore to confess his crimes to the police, making full cooperation with them.
If the events of the True Ending Arc, which follows after Adachi's defeat, the Team receive a letter from the recently-convicted Adachi, stating his suspicions about there being a higher being orchestrating the entire thing. Unfortunately, he can only give vague clues at best- and tells the Protagonist it is up to him to solve the mystery.
Persona 4: The Golden
In the enhanced port for the Vita, Adachi is a newly-added Social Link, associated with the new Lust Arcana. The link can be started as early as May. If the player reaches rank 8 on his Social Link, you have the option of not revealing him as the killer, and later destroying evidence, thus letting him go free, or ignoring it and having him jailed. In the extended True Ending, after the Protagonist returns to Inaba for the summer, Dojima mentions that he occasionally visits Adachi, and that he has become a model prisoner, proving that genuinally wishes to atone for his crimes. Dojima mentions that he should remember to bring him a cheap cabbage the next time he visits.
Persona 4 The Animation
On May 18, while Adachi buys cabbages, he was seen spying on Yu and others at Tatsumi Textiles for information about Kanji. Then on June 27, he is seen in a police car with Mitsuo in handcuffs and another police officer taking him to the police department.
After being discovered at Mayumi Yamano's reality in the TV world, he did not fully explain how he killed the previous two victims. Instead, he leads separate members of the Seekers of Truth to different pasts where he killed them. He was finally located at the ruins of Yu's home at the Dojima Residence and faces off with Yu in battle with their Izanagis. During their battle, he continues setting traps for Yu and his Izanagi that prevent him from moving, leaving him with an advantage on taking him down. Adachi had Yu at gunpoint, but missed on purpose to scare him.
After his defeat, Adachi was about to commit suicide by holding his gun to his head, but was stopped by Ameno-sagiri, who takes control of him.
Persona 4: Arena Ultimax
Adachi's involvement began when he was interrogated by two police officer where he notices that one of them was corrupt once he speak ill about Dojima. He calling him out for this, only for the man suddenly behaves strangely bu threw him into Midnight Channel that ironically, in the same manner of how Adachi causes deaths of Mayumi and Konishi.
Upon meeting Minazuki, the other tells Adachi of his plan to destroy the world and that he needs the latent remnants of Ameno-sagiri within Adachi and his Persona in order to tame the being that he intends to summon. He tells Adachi that he has no choice but to follow along with his plan - otherwise he'll kill him, and the murders in Inaba will resume (implying that anyone who dies that night, including Adachi himself, will show up in town the same way the original victims did). While Adachi expresses an understanding of Sho's mindset, he wants no part of the plan due to his promise to abide by the rules of the world, but he also can't allow anymore victims to appears, otherwise his last few months in jail trying to get the case closed as soon as possible and all the experiences that made him who he is now will be for naught. So he smiles and nods and pretends to go along with the plan, while never actually agreeing to anything outright. After meeting the other personality, Sho, and being told he can do whatever he wants so long as it doesn't get in the way, Adachi tries to come up with a method to sabotage Sho's plans and help the Investigation Team stop him.
From there, he acts like double-agent for both Minazuki and Investigational Team. When encountered Yu, Chie, and Yosuke, he puts on a big act pretending to be cooperating with Sho, while never actually denying or confirming his involvement. Avoiding answering any accusations with yes or no answers he instead spends the whole conversation trying to drop hints and important information for them, so that they may figure out Sho's plans, all while being careful so that Sho doesn't catch onto what he's doing. He soon leaves, taunting them into trying to hurry up and rescue their friends.
His cover as double-agent nearly blown when Minazuki nearly killed the trio until Naoto and Labrys showed up. But the cover eventually blown once he attempt to sabotaging Minazuki's plan by destroying the collection of Persona Fragments that Sho had gathered for his plans. In an ironic twist, when Minazuki figures it out and tries to killed him, Adachi calling Minazuki out with the exact same words that Yu and his friends once said to him, and telling Sho not to lump the two of them together. Fortunately, Investigational Team, whom learned that Adachi secretly aid them to stop Minazuki, interferes, in which Adachi passed out due to his injuries.
When Investigational Team overpowered by Kagutsuchi, Adachi recovers and join forces with Yu by using their Izanagis to to defeat Kagutsuchi for good, using imagery that calls back to the original myth of Izanagi cutting Kagutsuchi apart with his sword, Totsuka. Adachi collapses once more afterwards, relieved that everything is finally over.
Before they return to the real world, he spends some time talking to Sho; he admits that he sees a lot of himself and the way he once was once was in the boy, and that the two of them are very similar, hence why he's able to understand why he did what he did. But he also feels that being as young as he is Sho has plenty of chances to redeem himself now and actually enjoy his youth. He tells Sho that he can't just run and hide in this world, something Adachi himself had to learn in the original game. After imparting those words to him, Adachi attempts to leave and go back to jail, telling Yu that he just wants to do his time in peace and never wants to see him again. Before he can leave though, Yu stops him to tell him of Dojima's intent to visit him. After wishing him good luck with Dojima, Adachi insults Yu one last time before leaving for good.
In the epilogue many months have passed, the investigation is finally closed and Adachi's trial date is set. As he thinks over everything that happened, who he was during the murders, who he is now, why he did what he did and what "his rules" are, he is informed that Dojima has finally come to visit him. Despite taunting one another playfully, Adachi mulls over how Dojima has all right to never want to deal with him ever again and yet still keeps coming back no matter how often Adachi tries to severe their connection. Finally beginning to understand the bonds that Adachi used to regularly push away and mock, he tries to hide a smile from Dojima, while accidentally admitting out loud that maybe having a bond like this isn't so bad after all.
Gallery
Trivia
- His style in summoning Persona is clutching his head in pain, similar to Takaya Sakaki from Persona 3. The difference is that Adachi's eyes are vacant like a madman while invoking, while Takaya's eyes are normal (although he drops to his knees from the pain).
- In episode seven of Persona 4 The Golden Animation however, he summons his Persona in a similar way to Yu, except he uses his left hand, akin to works portraying villains sometimes being left-handed.
- When Yu confronts Adachi in Persona 4 the Animation, he calls out his Persona's name. This is the only time he says the name of his Persona.