Mechanics and Imagery in Persona 4's Boss Battles

*CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 4 GOLDEN READ AT YOUR OWN RISK*

There's a game I've been playing lately that I've fallen in love with. That game is Persona 4 Golden on the Vita. There's something I really like about this game (well, actually, there's many things I like about it, but that's a story for another day), and that's the boss battles. The majority of boss battles in the game are what are called Shadows- manifestations of suppressed thoughts and emotions of a person that take on a monstrous form when someone denies that they're part of them. The boss battles and the dungeons they reside in contain some really powerful imagery that helps you understand the characters and their struggles better. The game’s characters face some difficult issues that you don’t see explored that often in games, and I find them really interesting. I'm not overly far in the game (I say that, but I've played for about 25 hours- it's a long game) but two of the boss battles I've encountered so far have really stood out from battles I've seen in other games- the ones with Shadow Yukiko and Shadow Kanji.