When Yu Narukami moves to the country town of Inaba to stay with his uncle and cousin, he’s expecting a lot more peace and quiet than he’s used to in the big city. What he isn’t expecting is for his uncle’s job as a police detective to spill over into his own life, or for the murders that are occurring across town to be somehow linked to Yu’s own strange experiences, odd local weather patterns, and a mysterious TV show world that seems to be attempting to get Yu to enter it!
Now, together with a new group of friends, Yu must plunge into a bizarre alternate reality where he gains unique abilities that will either help him solve the riddle of the mystery killer… or lead him to his doom.
Persona 4 takes place in a rural town named Inaba. There have been mysterious murders occurring whenever there was fog after heavy rain. There were also rumors about a channel on television airing only at midnight called Mayonaka TV, during which it is said that one can see his/her “other half” when staring at the TV screen.
After hearing about a recent unsolved murder which occurred during the fog, the characters—Narukami, Chie, and Yosuke—discuss how each of them had attempted to watch the mysterious TV channel and witnessed the murder victim. The protagonist later realizes that during midnight when the channel is on, his body can phase into his television set as a gateway to enter another world infested with shadows.
After discovering this, they all decide to explore. When first completely entering the world, dazed and confused, Narukami meets Teddie. Mayonaka TV and the town murders seem to have a connection. The murder victims may be merely victims of Mayonaka TV. Everyone decides that they will together try to solve the mysterious murders by exploring the hidden world of Mayonaka TV.
The normally sleepy town of Inaba has recently fallen prey to a string of bizarre deaths, where the deceased are discovered dangling from TV antennae and telephone poles. But that’s not the only mystery that’s cropped up lately: the “Midnight Channel” has gained notoriety in the local high school for allegedly revealing a person’s soul-mate to them. When transfer student Yu arrives in town, he quickly becomes enmeshed in the center of all these mysterious goings-on, especially after the teen and his friends are pulled through the television into another world! How is this strange place connected with the other mysteries plaguing Inaba?