The Investigation Team of Inaba

The Investigation Team is a fictional Japanese crime investigation group formed by high school students of Yasogami High School in the small town of Inaba, located within the Yamanashi Prefecture of Japan. They serve as the primary protagonist group of Persona 4, being the successor of Special Extracurricular Execution Squad, and the predecessor of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
== Description ==
The Investigation Team is a small rag-tag team of young high school students who desire to crack the serial case of a murderer within the small town of Inaba, Japan. Those who are recruited often had to awaken to a hidden power unbeknownst to everybody else besides them.
Their powers are called Personas, but they had to face their Shadow selves in an alternate dimension called the Television World, which was accessible through a large television set in the Junes Department Store.
They used the television world to rescue potential murder victims, and to find the true killer.
== History ==
=== April, 2011 ===
In April of 2011, the team was officially formed by Yasogami High School students Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, and Chie Satanoka when they tried to investigate the tragic deaths of Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi, both of whom were found dead on antennas and posts. Yu was the first member to awaken to his power of Persona, summoning thr Persona and Japanese legendary figure, Izanagi. Yosuke followed suit not too long after by facing his darkest self, which was a Shadow, but accepted it as part of himself, summoning Jiraiya. Chie did not gain her Persona until her best friend, Yukiko Amagi, was kidnapped and pushed into the TV world. In the TV world, they met a strange creature named Teddie, who offered to help them in exchange that they stop whoever is pushing people inside the TV.
After Yukiko was pushed in, the team realized that they had to find and rescue her before her Shadow would kill her, as the Shadows do not typically attack themselves unless the fog appears in the real-world, which clears in the TV world and aggravating the Shadows. The team deduced that the fog in the real-world does not appear unless it rains consecutively for a few days. If the team does not rescue the victim by the time the fog sets in, the victim will die and their body will be found by the police.
The four original members found out Yukiko’s location - a medieval castle full of Shadows and about eight floors high, with the floor layout changing each time they went and gone up or down to different floors. Along the way, however, Chie had to face her Shadow self as well, who felt great pride and wholesomeness whenever she protected Yukiko and viewing her as weak, initially denying it as well, but after Yu and Yosuke defeated it, she finally accepted it, awakening to her own Persona. They eventually finally locate the real Yukiko, who was held hostage by her Shadow self, calling out for a “prince” to save her and take her far away. The Shadow expressed hatred over Inaba and wished to go far away, preferably with someone who could care for her properly. Yukiko also denied her Shadow self, causing it to go berserk once again. The three Persona users defeated the shadow, saving Yukiko and convincing her to accept her true self, acknowledging her true feelings but understanding them. She finally accepted and awakened to her own Persona.
== Members ==
Member 	Role 	Persona	Tenure
Yu Narukami 	Leader 	Izanagi	April, 2011 - March, 2012
Yosuke Hanamura	Fighter/Right-Hand-Man	Jiraiya	April, 2011 - March, 2012
Chie Satanoka 	Fighter 	Tomoe 	April, 2011 - March, 2012
== Gallery ==
== Trivia ==
* The Investigation Team is the only team of Persona users who tend to work under the law and not against it.
** S.E.E.S. worked in secrecy due to the unnatural phenomenon of the Dark Hour, which is where they used their powers to stop the present evil.
** The Phantom Thieves used illegal methods to change the hearts of corrupt individuals through real-world blackmail, coercion, breaking and entering, as well as manslaughter, but the last case was caused by being framed for a murder. The Thieves worked outside of the law, being mostly vigilantes.
* Much like S.E.E.S. and later the Phantom Thieves, the main protagonist is the leader of the group, with Yu Narukami being the protagonist and leader.
** The leader of the Persona team, Naoya, is the main protagonist.
** The leader of the Innocent Sin team, Tatsuya, and the co-leader, Maya, are both protagonists.
** Makoto Yuki, another protagonist, was appointed team leader of S.E.E.S., but not the official leader of everything that S.E.E.S. had.
** Ren Amamiya was appointed leader of the Phantom Thieves through an unanimous vote by Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, and Morgana due to his capabilities.
* The Investigation Team is the only Persona user team that does not have any casualties, excluding Nanako and the non-canon deaths of each member, as well as the first two groups.
** S.E.E.S. lost two members - Shinjiro Aragaki and Makoto Yuki from being shot and murdered and being sacrificed respectively.
** The Phantom Thieves potentially lost one, albeit a temporary, member - Goro Akechi from being presumably shot and killed by his Cognitive Shadow self, and the entire team was erased from existence, but they were revived. Also, Ren Amamiya had his cognitive version killed by Akechi as well, but the real person survived.
* Unlike S.E.E.S. and later the Phantom Thieves, the Team did not fight a large God-like entity for their final battle, but rather a corrupt killer with high levels of power.
** S.E.E.S. fought against Nyx, the harbinger of Death.
** The Phantom Thieves fought against Yaldabaoth, the false God of Control.
* The Investigation Team is the only team of Persona users that did not primarily use guns for any purpose, excluding Naoto.
** Naoya’s team used guns of different types to kill Shadows. Whether they are real or not is unknown.
** Maya and Tatsuya’s team use guns as well.
** S.E.E.S. used Persona summoning handguns called Evokers, which they used to shoot themselves to summon their Personas, but it is non-lethal.
** The Phantom Thieves used model guns of different kinds to kill Shadows, which have no effect in the real world, but in the eyes of Shadows and cognitive enemies in the Metaverse, the guns are real and loaded.
* Much like all other Persona user teams, the Investigation Team members are high schoolers between the ages of 15 to 18.