Persona 4 The Animation

[greektornado]

Originally Posted by Itoukaiji01

Episodes 3 and 4:

I know we're only watch two episodes a day but I might be able to watch tomorrow so I went ahead and watched now.

The last three episodes have followed the same pattern with more of the cast gaining their personas. This time around they made it a bit more clear that these are the characters darkest feeling that they try to hide even from themselves. During the fights they have to accept that part of themselves to weaken the shadows so they others (mostly Nurakami) can defeat them.

The concept is solid enough but they treatment of these characters coming to terms with their secrets is pretty shallow in execution. It always follows the same pattern; meet the shadow which taunts with the problem, the secret is shown through flash back, a lot of yelling from the character and then acceptance. It makes it all seem to easy. There is a reason these are deep dark secrets, and they wouldn't be that way if you could come to terms with them after wrestling with them for five minutes. I know this isn't a psychological series so they can't go in depth with this concept, but the flow of episodes still makes everything seem too easy. Episode 4 changed it up a bit because Yukiko needed support to overcome her inner secret, but it still followed the same pattern.

On the one hand this is a clever way to introduce and develop the characters but on the other hand giving each character five or ten minutes of fight to introduce themselves and gain their Persona makes these characters pretty shallow and one dimensional. So far everything has followed a very predictable route and the characters still lack depth for me. Everyone of the characters can be summed up pretty easily. Now that's pretty good for a video game but for an anime, it doesn't make these guys the most compelling to watch.

The other thing is the main guy needs to step back and let everyone else do some stuff because when it comes to the main fight he does almost all of the heavy lifting. Again he's the main in the video game so I can see why he gets the special power and everything, after all the game wants to give the player a sense of power. I just don't want to see the other characters shoved to the background every time or have them only be useful when fighting the chump enemies. As has been mentioned before the main guy has very little personality. I know they want to be faithful to the game but it wouldn't have hurt to make him less of a blank slate. For a game it's fine because you're shaping the character for an anime it's kind of boring.

I have to say that the action scenes aren't really to my liking either. They are okay but I feel that they cut around too much. The animation is nice because I can find the action getting a bit distracting sometimes because it can't hold onto any one thing for too long. I guess it does give these battles a sense of chaos though.

Overall, I think the show is easy to watch but there isn't much to it either. It's got some nice animation and the concept is cool, but the characters are shallow and this first part of it is pretty repetitive. I'm sure that will change when the cast is fully introduced though. So I guess for now it's entertaining enough even if it doesn't really impress me.

Couldn't have put it better myself. What also really bugs me is how they wrap every story by saying "So what?" That's like the universal explanation for everything in Shounen, along with "you are you"
Also i cant get over that weird face shading thing i mentioned before. Really, at some scenes it looks like they stuffed their faces with spaghetti sauce! Doesn't it bother you guys?

Episode 3

"We are not criminals, we are big sword entushiasts" I love this guy.
I didn't really get what Chie's issue was, but then again i wasn't really paying attention.

Episode 4

Pretty standard storyline for Yukiko. Her Persona looks the best so far.
So far the main guy has 3 personas whereas everyone else has 1 or 0. That ranks him as "Raging Badass". Let's hope he escapes from his Poker-face personality and we get some real insight on him

Hopefully the rest of the characters will be introduced and get their Personas soon enough, and then we'll get into the main plot (if there is such a thing)

[Thrawn]

Originally Posted by Funkgun

Ep 3/4
So now the girls have

their Powered fighters. The voices are interesting for the Persona's. Like a high pitched voice in water.
They tied the history of the two girls together nice enough. I do like how easy going they are about the whole situation. Ok, let;s do some TV diving!

It is great that their super glasses are very stylish, and somewhat hipster. I actually want Chie;s trendy rainbow stemmed specs.

H ot

Loved the shadow's voices in English for P4, there's a specific one I'm waiting for.
Kids will be kids; when a friend needs to be saved, we'll dive into a TV in an electronics store to kick some ass!

Kids these days, with their hip specs and cool cat shades...

Originally Posted by greektornado

Couldn't have put it better myself. What also really bugs me is how they wrap every story by saying "So what?" That's like the universal explanation for everything in Shounen, along with "you are you"
Also i cant get over that weird face shading thing i mentioned before. Really, at some scenes it looks like they stuffed their faces with spaghetti sauce! Doesn't it bother you guys?

But they are they, no matter what their inner demons are. It wouldn't change who they are and coming to accept their inner demons is the point of confronting their shadows.
Oh crap, you're just making it even worse

Originally Posted by greektornado

Episode 3

"We are not criminals, we are big sword entushiasts" I love this guy.
I didn't really get what Chie's issue was, but then again i wasn't really paying attention.

Just whipping out two swords in the middle of a populated food court and even licking one was damn hilarious
Essentially it was jealousy of Yukiko.

Originally Posted by greektornado

Episode 4

Pretty standard storyline for Yukiko. Her Persona looks the best so far.
So far the main guy has 3 personas whereas everyone else has 1 or 0. That ranks him as "Raging Badass". Let's hope he escapes from his Poker-face personality and we get some real insight on him

Hopefully the rest of the characters will be introduced and get their Personas soon enough, and then we'll get into the main plot (if there is such a thing)

Hohoho, you're already in the main plot

Episode 4
Love the jazz in this episode. And dat boss theme. All ready to kick some ass.

The boss was the first one to kick your teeth down your throat, and liked the backstory with the widdle birdy, more allusions before the shadow confrontation is always nice. Chie revealed herself to Yukiko to help her come to terms better and yeah, I liked it.
And all that fire, no joke. Kicks major ass in that boss battle.

Continuity, god I love it.

[Itoukaiji01]

Episode 5:

Who spilled bad rom-com on my alternate world murder mystery anime? Because that's just what I wanted an episode that does nothing but highlight Narukami's lack of charisma as a lead. I found the first four episodes tolerable, even mildly enjoyable but this episode was awful. A bunch of rom-com cliches with a horrible bitch character.

And that's it. This episode had nothing to do with the plot and unless these new characters are going to be get personas or become relevant then I fail to see the point of this episode. Really though I spent most of the episode pretending Narukami was a block of wood. Oddly it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

[Thrawn]

Originally Posted by Itoukaiji01

Episodes 3 and 4:

I know we're only watch two episodes a day but I might be able to watch tomorrow so I went ahead and watched now.

The last three episodes have followed the same pattern with more of the cast gaining their personas. This time around they made it a bit more clear that these are the characters darkest feeling that they try to hide even from themselves. During the fights they have to accept that part of themselves to weaken the shadows so they others (mostly Nurakami) can defeat them.

The concept is solid enough but they treatment of these characters coming to terms with their secrets is pretty shallow in execution. It always follows the same pattern; meet the shadow which taunts with the problem, the secret is shown through flash back, a lot of yelling from the character and then acceptance. It makes it all seem to easy. There is a reason these are deep dark secrets, and they wouldn't be that way if you could come to terms with them after wrestling with them for five minutes. I know this isn't a psychological series so they can't go in depth with this concept, but the flow of episodes still makes everything seem too easy. Episode 4 changed it up a bit because Yukiko needed support to overcome her inner secret, but it still followed the same pattern.

On the one hand this is a clever way to introduce and develop the characters but on the other hand giving each character five or ten minutes of fight to introduce themselves and gain their Persona makes these characters pretty shallow and one dimensional. So far everything has followed a very predictable route and the characters still lack depth for me. Everyone of the characters can be summed up pretty easily. Now that's pretty good for a video game but for an anime, it doesn't make these guys the most compelling to watch.

The other thing is the main guy needs to step back and let everyone else do some stuff because when it comes to the main fight he does almost all of the heavy lifting. Again he's the main in the video game so I can see why he gets the special power and everything, after all the game wants to give the player a sense of power. I just don't want to see the other characters shoved to the background every time or have them only be useful when fighting the chump enemies. As has been mentioned before the main guy has very little personality. I know they want to be faithful to the game but it wouldn't have hurt to make him less of a blank slate. For a game it's fine because you're shaping the character for an anime it's kind of boring.

I have to say that the action scenes aren't really to my liking either. They are okay but I feel that they cut around too much. The animation is nice because I can find the action getting a bit distracting sometimes because it can't hold onto any one thing for too long. I guess it does give these battles a sense of chaos though.

Overall, I think the show is easy to watch but there isn't much to it either. It's got some nice animation and the concept is cool, but the characters are shallow and this first part of it is pretty repetitive. I'm sure that will change when the cast is fully introduced though. So I guess for now it's entertaining enough even if it doesn't really impress me.

They went with this route in the game, throughout the dungeon there are snippets of dialogue on the character in question and then it gets to the shadow itself where the route you described occurred. It's faithful to a fault but having friends there to assist in the shadow conquering makes the trial go more smoothly, so to speak.

I don't think they'd spend too much time on the beginning with introductions and since the ones we've seen the persona of so far have arcana of their own, I'm assuming they'll get their own episodes later on to give them a couple extra dimensions.

Narukami let some of the other persona have some screentime, especially with Chie just smacking the shit out of three shadows in the same hit, having them smooshed together. But they were more prominent in episode 4 and for the beginning phase of Yukiko's shadow fight, that little red one Narukami summoned is the only one who resists physicals in their party and Jackie is the only one who can even stand to the kick ass fire of Shadow Yukiko. Wrecks your party she does. For the ending, it paid homage to the team-beatdown system, letting others get some good shots in.

And for Narukami being a blank slate, I got nothing for that. Don't know how they'll flesh him out apart from developing him through social links.

I got nothing bad to say about the action, except that Chie's persona wasn't used to her full extent. Yosuke got his elemental Wind and Inazuki... Inazami... had Thunder. Why not her special elemental shazam?
But love my chaos.

[Funkgun]

Ep 5, that Ai girl was pretty clingy. Like someone get her a dude quick. Was she there to show another side of Yu? Does she have something big to do later? Who knows, but for now she is that girl who likes you, and likes you kinda uncomfortably.
Like the kind of chick who has a razor blade sandwich for you if you cheat on her.

Originally Posted by Thrawn

Episode 4
Love the jazz in this episode. And dat boss theme. All ready to kick some ass.

Dude, As odd a tune as it is at the end of the show, I find myself listening to it every time. I have not jammed to an ending title tune for a show since Un Go last year.

Upon looking up the ending song however had this shit thrust upon me.
Persona 4 Live Action OP and Ed LOL - YouTube
Illuminating.

[Thrawn]

Total trip and the falling cards, dang son.

Episode 5

Their relevancy (Kou, Daisuke (Strength) and Ai (Moon)) is to nurture Narukami's bonds, "with bonds, he see the truth" or along the lines. After this episode, pretty sure that most other arcana would only get an episode of development.

On Ai Ebihara

Ai's pretty much like that in the game, think she's in love with love by using Narukami in a way that she would be loved, even if it isn't real. That's pretty much the end of her and the Moon arcana, there to forge another bond where bonds are the true power. Shouldn't have been surprised at them combining those two S.L. into one episode but I am. Might have been able to get more out of both of them if they had separate episodes but it might have dragged on. Kinda on the fence on this one.

Delivery everywhere, the Diner at your service!

[gos100]

Episode 3

It's still kinda good. I still don't really get the story all that well. Yukiko gets taken to the other world this time. It seems like she has some issues with her life. Chie has to face her inner self, and gets through it with help from her friends. Narukami gets to use a new persona. It's cool as long as it's useful to the story, and not just something they have him pull out of his ass to wrap up battles quicker. Until now, I didn't realize the segment at the beginning was talking to Narukami. Yukiko doesn't get saved in this episode, so the next one will probably be about her, and the guy at the end didn't really have an expression on his face, so I don't know what he had to do with it.

Episode 4

Chie's persona is badass. They chase Yukiko's inner self to where the real Yukiko is being held. Her fight is different because she isn't ready to accept her true self. Narukami pulls out another persona, so now it's starting to look more like a video game. I like how the problems are more or less common. The battle sequences are getting kinda repetitive, but they're not forcing tragic back stories on characters to make it more interesting. Yukiko's fight was pretty good. Her persona was stronger than the others because she was dealing with a lot more pent up shit than the other two, and she couldn't handle it by herself. She finally overcomes it, and gets a cool persona. I guess the people who died so far weren't able to cope with their true selves. Hopefully, the introduction episodes are almost over, or at least they could space them out over a few episodes to explain why this is happening to them.

[Funkgun]

Originally Posted by Thrawn

Total trip and the falling cards, dang son.

Episode 5

Their relevancy (Kou, Daisuke (Strength) and Ai (Moon)) is to nurture Narukami's bonds, "with bonds, he see the truth" or along the lines. After this episode, pretty sure that most other arcana would only get an episode of development.

On Ai Ebihara

Ai's pretty much like that in the game, think she's in love with love by using Narukami in a way that she would be loved, even if it isn't real. That's pretty much the end of her and the Moon arcana, there to forge another bond where bonds are the true power. Shouldn't have been surprised at them combining those two S.L. into one episode but I am. Might have been able to get more out of both of them if they had separate episodes but it might have dragged on. Kinda on the fence on this one.

Delivery everywhere, the Diner at your service!

To split, or not to? That is the question. I agree it would have dragged, and this show seems to pride itself on keeping a fast pace. But I agree it felt sandwiched.

Originally Posted by gos100

Episode 3

It's still kinda good. I still don't really get the story all that well. Yukiko gets taken to the other world this time. It seems like she has some issues with her life. Chie has to face her inner self, and gets through it with help from her friends. Narukami gets to use a new persona. It's cool as long as it's useful to the story, and not just something they have him pull out of his ass to wrap up battles quicker. Until now, I didn't realize the segment at the beginning was talking to Narukami. Yukiko doesn't get saved in this episode, so the next one will probably be about her, and the guy at the end didn't really have an expression on his face, so I don't know what he had to do with it.

Your not the only one. I still want to know more about banana nose old man with giant mustache and hot assistant. Mercy.

[stingreis]

eps 3 & 4

wow I'm intrigued even further

its cool how the persona responds only to the character overcoming their own ego - in the words of Metallica "I'm your only true friend now... I'm You... Sad but true"

wonder what other surprises the wild persona will bring in further episodess

Originally Posted by greektornado

Couldn't have put it better myself. What also really bugs me is how they wrap every story by saying "So what?" That's like the universal explanation for everything in Shounen, along with "you are you"
Also i cant get over that weird face shading thing i mentioned before. Really, at some scenes it looks like they stuffed their faces with spaghetti sauce! Doesn't it bother you guys?

Episode 3

"We are not criminals, we are big sword entushiasts" I love this guy.
I didn't really get what Chie's issue was, but then again i wasn't really paying attention.

Episode 4

Pretty standard storyline for Yukiko. Her Persona looks the best so far.
So far the main guy has 3 personas whereas everyone else has 1 or 0. That ranks him as "Raging Badass". Let's hope he escapes from his Poker-face personality and we get some real insight on him

Hopefully the rest of the characters will be introduced and get their Personas soon enough, and then we'll get into the main plot (if there is such a thing)

I must agree about shading and about big sword enthusiasm! Oh and I also hope the accumulation of persona don't take up too much time cause it does seem slightly repetitive so hopefully story will get deeper.

[greektornado]

Well the good new is a managed to get through the next 2 episodes without the shading thing bothering me so much. Perhaps i built an immunity...
Episode 5

CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!

Seemed like a comedy-relief episode. I didn't really mind it

Episode 6

The smell of Yaoi is in the air... I foresee awkwardness of great proportions in the future!
I wish i could have food delivered when i was chased but a closet homosexual delinquent. It would make life so much easier...

Originally Posted by Itoukaiji01

Episode 5:
Who spilled bad rom-com on my alternate world murder mystery anime? Because that's just what I wanted an episode that does nothing but highlight Narukami's lack of charisma as a lead. I found the first four episodes tolerable, even mildly enjoyable but this episode was awful. A bunch of rom-com cliches with a horrible bitch character

From the start i figured this anime would have some classic High-school situations, so it's natural to spend a few episodes in this way. As i said i didn't mind, it somehow made the characters feel more...real. At any rate, I doubt we will see much deepness in this anime.

PS.: I'm betting Gintoki's 300 yen that in the next episode someone will say "So what" to help Kanji deal with his shadow