es, this may just be a case of my over-analyzing, but I’ve found a few symbols that pertain to Naoto very well. I’m in the process of re-reading the chapters in which she is involved in and noticing a few more symbols than usual.
The Church
Naoto enters the church during the second volume of Dogs, Bullets & Carnage. A church often represents a sanctuary and is sometimes associated with people who are “lost” in a way or confused. Naoto lost any memory of her past and she is, someway, “lost” as she tries to find the murderer of her parents. The church is where Naoto finds two other people, who she eventually learns to trust. They will be, no doubt, a guiding hand to helping her.
Nil, the Angel
This kind of goes hand in hand with the church symbol that I already covered before hand. An angel can sometimes be associated with innocence, which Naoto has (most likely) never had with the traumatic death of her parents. As the manga continues, it seems that Naoto has pretty much established a solid relationship with Nil, which you can read over here.
Newspapers
You may also be interested in reading this, which has a lot to do with the subject that I’m about to talk about now. Newspapers are used to record information that happened during that day and, later on, used for reference in what happened to the past and past dates. Naoto has forgotten her past (which I’ve mentioned a lot in this tribute as it’s the basis of her story) and has no reference to retrieve them again.
Time
During the flashback when Naoto’s parents were murdered, she explained to the readers that she was unsure of how much time had passed. Naoto, essentially, lost her sense of time in general as she has no past to look back to, and her future is connected to finding her past.
Other symbols and the like will be added when I come across them. If you have something that you'd like to add, feel free to contact me. I would love to hear it. :)
Symbolism