I really do like Tiana, who believed that hard work would get you what you wanted.  I really liked that message  <3  I also have a lot of love for Storm because she really was the first black female character I saw in a cool, superhero setting as a kid.  I had seen white girls there, and even Asian (Chun-Li in Street Fighter or Trini in Power Rangers), but the only black characters I remember until Storm were the likes of Fat Albert (which were men), Zack from Power Rangers (I don’t remember if he was before or after the X-Men cartoon), the MC Hammer cartoon (again, male), some sports cartoon with Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, and Wayne Gretzy (all men), and the lady in Tom and Jerry, you’d only see her legs.  So Storm is a big deal to me, she was my, “OMG IT’S A BLACK LADY IN THE COOL ACTION SHOW” moment, I was pretty young and it was great  :)

I also really, really love Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4.  I like her story and her message, and the fact that her story focuses on her being in a male dominated industry, and being so convinced that she would be seen as weak for being young and female that she disguised herself as a man, to the point of calling her “he” throughout a good portion of the game until the big reveal.  I also like the trans argument for her, which is due to the fact that her shadow hints at a “certain procedure.”  I like that there’s a character like that in a game.  I just don’t like the drama/arguments of the fandom about it.  Frankly, I like BOTH view points and I think it’s great that we can even have such discussions about a character.

My opinion is that she was doing it for respect and, in the end, she learns that it’s fine to be female.  I think that’s an important message because, honestly, I think there are some girls who think that there’s something wrong with being female.  I use to think something was wrong with me because I played video games.  I was told that I wasn’t a “real” girl because I was good at them, and that it wasn’t something girls did, so I thought there was something wrong with me.  This isn’t nearly as severe as Naoto’s story, but I think those feelings happen sometimes, and it doesn’t get addressed the right away.  It’s little things, you know, like, “Why don’t you wear dresses,” and stuff like that.  I use to hate dresses growing up (which may seem odd because look at who I cosplay, lol, but that goes to show that I don’t need someone to tell me that I HAVE to wear a dress, if I want to, I will).

Though while this is my opinion of Naoto, I respect the trans camp and find that argument very interesting  :)  I’ve read a lot of great trans fanfiction with Naoto and I like that there’s different ways to interpret her.