I've tried to bring up how harmful and transphobic the Naoto storyline is, but have been shouted down by people - on this forum - saying it couldn't be transphobic because Naoto's "not *really* trans." Naoto deciding against transitioning is part of the reason it's problematic!
The whole shadow dungeon is framed as trying to prevent Naoto's shadow from performing an unnamed "procedure" - obviously implying bottom surgery - and the surgery is treated as if it's this scary horrible thing that our heroes need to prevent. As a trans person, it feels incredibly familiar, seeing the very common conservative argument against "children being allowed to medically transition before they know what they're doing by liberal parents" - this feels exactly like that, the idea that we can't listen to trans people about our experiences and needs, because what if we "regret it?" (Also, FWIW, no doctor is performing medical transition on children - minors transitioning is basically just changing names, pronouns, dress/presentation etc, and sometimes reversible puberty blockers to allow the kids to have more time to decide what they want to do without going through the "wrong" puberty.)
The Persona 4 writers writing Naoto as a "gender confused" teen who ultimately ends up embracing her femininity smacks of this sort of rhetoric, of "thank goodness you didn't make *that* irreversible medical decision!" - which is harmful for the vast majority of trans and gender-questioning people who *do* need to transition, since it reinforces that doubt that cis people have about our ability to know our own identities.
Sure, there is room for a narrative about people who question their gender and ultimately decide against transitioning, but it's a much less common experience, and I think it's disingenuous to suggest that the Persona 4 developers were trying to make a story about that experience in good faith. It seems much more likely to me that the Naoto storyline was informed by some really problematic ideas about trans people.
