a whole is greater than the sum of its parts so wouldn't you feel more depth in a character if you enjoyed both halves

according to the p4g official premium fanbook, Marie was written with the combination of the two ideas, "writing a story about a character who came to the velvet room as an outsider," and "to dig into Izanami's character"

which they did a pretty good job at if you look hard enough.

sure, you'd get a lot out of the base game about Izanami without Marie. But ultimately, Marie ties up so many loose ends--not just about Izanami or the sagiri, but the entirety of persona 4

the "hollow forest" in the velvet room death message and whatever the hell Ame-no-Sagiri was trying to say?

WHAT even were the sagiri & Izanami's roles in the story OTHER than being bosses and "blah blah blah I AM GOD" like ok final boss inspired by the creation myth that was only used to provide symbolism of hiding the truth for th greater good & is the clear antagonist of the story

yes. you can explain a lot by basing a character or entire concept off of a well-known one, leaving less effort in elaborating things--but this also leaves a few questions unsatisfyingly left unanswered and (/but?) a lot of room for a lot of interpretation

you will definitely find more depth in Izanami's character when analyzing Marie and vice versa. Sure, it's ok enough to look at each character by themselves, but there's greater appreciation to see if you put them together--

they were written to explain each other ! Marie explaining her duties connected to the other sagiri, also revealing how much power Izanami holds, and Izanami explaining their view of Marie, how inferior they regard her as a piece of themself--a diety.

Disappointed of her existence alone and even finding it humorous of how 'pathetic' she is.

and at the end of the game you see how they're connected--how they were one whole. How they functioned, what 'Izanami' really is and what it means for Inaba

something something providing more depth related to the myth it was inspired by, the thought disappeared im sorry

the things I learned about Marie that supplemented Izanami's character, like how high they think of themself, the measures they are willing to go to "fulfill the wish of man" (either letting her die as a vessel full of fog just to dispose of it or

getting rid of her memories and her mind just to take over her body and use its powers to cover the whole world in fog--while being able to destroy anything that gets in its way)

or what the whole Izanami was before, and how much collective human desire, greed, and ignorance can tear a deity apart. the human empathy, good judgement, and heart that broke off of a powerful being and how it affects their work ethics and the fate of the world

i know this is getting mimi centric but i swear i'll write something marie focused one day !! i just dont feel i have the knowledge to analyze her yet :'0

theres like. so much more. and i havent even talked about marie alone !! shes a great character. brushing away her 'tsundere' personality, her 'cringe' poems, or how 'she was focused on too much, her involvement looks forced, and shes not even important. mary sue'

shes a great character that was taken harshly by the non-jp community, whether it be the localization or simply a personality that is taken well by its intended audience, but not for others

theres more to what im sayig here im just. jello brain

personally, what i thought was bone chilling was the effects of her death. all memories of her would disappear. and the fact she wasn't included in the base game? one could think of it as the same timeline where one really did forget about marie

how everything DID happen. you just forgot. and playing p4g is just saving her and your memories of her. reliving through everything just to try again. to see what you would miss if you forgot about her

sure, one could suspend their disbelief and think of everything as simple fantasy rules where 'it just works' but theres a bit of satisfaction in finding things out than making stuff up, you know?

my brain has dissolved into mush i'll talk about her being a character who came to the v room as an outsider some other day

this thread is all over the place than usual but marie made me realize so much and i love her beyond her clothes or pretty portrait

summer's coming up so i might finally be able to watch p4ga emotionally prepared.

anyway! go love marie