Crime and Punishment :: Character Profiles

Eriko is a kikokushijo, which is a child who lived abroad and returned during their compulsory school years - age 6 to 15. That's how she picked up all that English. She uses it correctly, and it's in roman letters, not in katakana. In Japan, English use is cool, (witness Eikichi trying to use it!) so her ability would be considered reasonably impressive. She calls her friends by their first names in English - they're KEI and REIJI and YUKINO - and everyone else by something like, "MS. AMANO" and "MR. PAOFU" and "MS. URARA" and "MR. KATUYA." (No, those are genuine ways that those names could be romanized, she's not being an idiot. ;;^^)

So they brought Ellie back! Everyone needs some ENGLISH to make their day complete, don't they?

Q: What was the reason for making Ellie a playable character?

Eriko learned her English by living abroad when she was a child. If Nanjou is a multi-multi-multi-millionaire, I suppose you could say that Eriko's upper-middle-class.

Q: Is she living by herself at the present?

After high school, Eriko went on to college - I'm thinking it's either outside of Sumaru, or in another suburb, because in Tsumi, Eriko said she wasn't very familiar with Sumaru and couldn't help them pinpoint the locations of the bombs Leo had set, other than to point out the correct direction and suburb. She also pursued a side-job as a model. Everyone initially thought that she was doing that because it was her dream - she'd said that she wanted to be a model in high school - but Eriko's smile and mannerisms were very stiff and uncomfortable in front of the camera, preventing her from really rising in the modeling industry. But nonetheless...

Q: Why did she become the target of a stalker?

Q: Has she had chances to use her Persona up until now?

Stalking, apparently, is a major problem in Japan, perhaps moreso than in the US, because there are almost no laws to protect the victims and keep the perpetrators in jail. There's also the element of social shame if the woman goes to the police with her complaint, particularly if the stalker is someone she knows. Actually, the anti-stalking laws were passed in Winter 2000, after this game came out, so really, at that time a Persona was just about the only way Eriko had of getting rid of her stalker. (read more)

So the real stalker was gone, but I guess the idea of the stalker still haunted her - and the possibility that she, like the stalker, would just be viewed as a creepy obsessive annoyance by the person she loved.

Q: Why did Ellie fall for Ibunroku's Main?

Q: What will happen between her and the Main Character from Ibunroku?

Q: Will she continue being a model forever?

One of the major themes of Batsu is "shedding your masks and being true to yourself," I suppose. All of the playables have that feat to accomplish, but Eriko is the one in which that struggle is most obviously displayed. She's modeling because she thinks it's what other people want her to do, but her discomfort with her choice makes it impossible for her to smile properly. But in the end, she doesn't express any hard feelings toward Maki, and seems to accept that what the Main wanted was to see her happy doing what she wanted to do.

I don't know, I liked her a lot. I think it was the way she went, "Oh my god! I'm in a parallel world! This is fantastic! It's my first time!"

[ OTHER SIDE]