Chie Satonaka

Concept and characteristics

Chie Satonaka is an upbeat girl with an obsession with kung fu, even using those techniques in battle. Chie serves as the player's Social Link to The Chariot; this is symbolized in the animated series by Yu's usage of the Persona Ara Mitama (アラミタマ). Writer Patrick Hayes stated that her Shadow "represents her desire to maintain dominance over Yukiko in their relationship as well as her jealousy of Yukiko's feminine qualities and skills." In the designing of the character, various sketches were made with some of them being reminiscent to previous Persona characters.

She is voiced by Yui Horie in Japanese. In English she is voiced by Tracey Rooney for Persona 4, and Erin Fitzgerald provides her English voice for all other appearances. Minami Tsukui portrays her in the musical. A limited edition of Persona 4 Arena featured the buttons Chie wore in Persona 4 as a bonus.

Appearances

Chie Satonaka first appears in the 2008 video game Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, where she and her friends Yu Narukami and Yosuke Hanamura discover a world within the TV and meet a creature named Teddie and discover that someone is throwing people into the television which eventually leads to their death. Although initially reluctant, she goes into the TV world when her best friend Yukiko Amagi is thrown in, putting her in danger. There, Chie encounters her Shadow who represents her jealousy of Yukiko's feminine side and talents, as well as her wish and need to maintain control over Yukiko. With Yu's and Yosuke Hanamura's help, Chie confronts her other self and joins the Investigation Team. Following the encounter with her Shadow, Chie receives the Persona Tomoe Gozen (トモエ, Tomoe), a muscular female figure wearing a yellow outfit and armed with a naginata, that she uses in combat while she performs kicks. Throughout Yu's interactions with Chie (which can also be intimate), she discovers that she genuinely wanted to protect Yukiko without any underlying selfish motivations. After this, Tomoe evolves into Suzuka Gongen (スズカゴンゲン), whose yellow jumpsuit turns black and is decked in silver samurai armor. The desire to protect people eventually inspires her to seek a career as a police officer. In the re-release Persona 4: Golden, Chie's Persona can evolve to a third level to become Haraedo-no-Okami (ハラエドノオオカミ, Haraedo-no-Ōkami), which has golden armor and a long flowing cape. A promotional flash game for Persona 4 allowed players to "sneak a sexy peek" at Chie while she is in a hot springs.

She is playable in Persona 4 Arena alongside Tomoe Gozen; In Persona 4 Arena, Chie joins Yu, Yosuke and Yukiko to investigate the TV world after seeing the Midnight Channel. When she enters, she is forced to fight her friends as well as a man, Akihiko Sanada. She also appears in Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and in Persona 4: Dancing All Night.

Reception

Games journalist Leigh Alexander of Polygon felt that Chie was her favourite character due to her interest in strong women. She also cited her final Social Link sequence where she "realises that dedicating yourself to personal growth is cowardice, and that it's all meaningless unless you turn around and start fighting — start /using/ this strength you've amassed." Robert Boyd, creator of Breath of Death VII and Cthulhu Saves the World, ranked Chie as the second best "JRPG warrior heroine." He justified the ranking by saying that she "kicks things to death" and called her a "great foil to the main character’s best friend, Yosuke." Chie was named GamesRadar's favourite Persona 4 character. Kotaku's Mike Fahey called Chie his favourite Persona 4 character and discussed "swoon[ing] over" her. Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton felt that Persona 4 featured more depth to its characters than its predecessor Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3. The writer cited Chie's "fear for her friend Yukiko and desire to be seen as feminine" as an example of this. He also compared her to Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Bajo of the website "Good Game Stories" praised Chie's "spirited" personality.

Critical reception to both of Chie's English voice actresses have been mixed. While reviewing Persona 4, IGN's Jeff Haynes felt that Tracey Rooney's delivery as Chie sounded at times like a 30-year-old woman instead of a teenager. Reviewing the same game, RPGamer's Michael Cunningham felt that Rooney felt "a little stiff" during battle lines, but was fine elsewhere. While Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton was initially reluctant about Erin Fitzgerald while reviewing Persona 4 Golden, he eventually grew to like her. VG247's Johnny Cullen expressed excitement at the prospect of Chie's playability in Persona 4 Arena. In reviewing Persona 4 Golden, Destructoid's Dale North revealed he was not a fan of Fitzgerald's voice, due in part to the fact that he preferred Yui Horie, Chie's Japanese voice actress. RPGamer's senior reviews editor Adriaan den Oueden's initial impressions of Fitzgerald in his review of the same game were positive. She was also listed as the 10th best Persona character by Kimberley Wallace from Game Informer who commented "Chie remains one of the most likable characters to date". IGN also listed her as the eighth best Persona character, praising her upbeat personality and her interests.