After finishing this anime yesterday I have to say I am pretty impressed with what I saw from beginning to end. I would seriously recommend this if you like a good mix of school life, murder mystery and card fighting then this one is definitely for you.
The story is about a student by the name of Yu Narukami who has moved to a rural town with his cousin and his uncle. During his visit he meets and befriends multiple and colourful people like Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Agami. In their town there has been so many rapid murders going around and their town is mostly foggy, they hear this urban myth which called midnight channel that only comes on during a rainy night. It turns out that they can enter the TV which leads to a world filed with shadows; they have to fight these shadows using these monsters from cards which are called Personas. They also have to overcome their own shadows by realising that they are a part of them and he/she is a part of their shadow after this they earn their own persona. Later they discover that the fog, the murders and the midnight channel, the personas are all connected meanwhile we also get to meet new characters like Kanji, Teddie, Naoto and Rise and creating unbreakable with them.
In terms of plot wise it is very good and mysterious, it feels like a jigsaw puzzle like once when you have ever put together it leads you to the real truth and perpetrator behind it all. Although, the characters have to come face to face with challenges ahead and this is when a piece of the puzzle gets lost and you have to find it, once when you have found it: it links in with the actual story. However, if you have already played the game of it's anime you might already know everything. I have to admit as well that the persona's on the cards remind me a lot of Yu Gi Oh.
At first though I actually thought the characters were just plain annoying stereotypes for explain: Chie being a foolish tomboy, Yukiko always being shy, Yosuke just being a goofball, Yu just getting spoil, Rise being the always attractive damsel in distress, Kanji always being the strong and aggressive one and Naoto just being the noisy detective who can't mind his own business. But as the series goes on they are far deeper characters as what you think they are sure they wouldn't appeal to you at first but once when you get to know them better, you get attach to them and eventually like them.
This is the one must thing I like about the series because the bounds that the characters make are meaningful because it shows that strong bonds can't get broken and stronger ties you have, more power you would gain. The animation and art style was very breath-taking it sort of reminded me of the art style Dwayne McDuffie used to use back in his day when he used do projects. It mainly reminded me of the art style for both Justice League shows and both Ben 10 Alien Force and Ultimate Alien's art style.
I also enjoyed the voice acting it had to offer from the English Dub from Johnny Yong Bosch, Yuri Lowanthal, Amanda Winn Lee, Erin Fitzgerald, Troy Baker, Matthew Mercer, Sam Riegel, Mary Elizabeth Glenn, Laura Bailey, Karen Strassman, JB Blanc, Daniel Woren and Michelle Ann Dunphy were all very good especially during serious or emotional moments. Props to Johnny Yong Bosch as both the hero Yu Narukami and the slippery Tohru Adachi. The only downside to the cast was that Troy Baker didn't manage to record all his lines as Kanji Tatsumi because he was on his honey and was replaced by Matthew Mercer. Regardless Matthew Mercer is a servable replacement but he is not as good as Troy Baker. If you are going to watch the anime just expect a bit of a voice change from Kanji after episode 11.
My favourite episodes are definitely Kanji's introduction, the episode where he faces his own shadow, Rise's introduction episode and the episode after it, the episode where they go camping, the episode which focuses on Narako and her father's relationship and the final episodes.
I also enjoyed the music it had to offer from the theme songs, to the end credits and finally the background music in every episode. But my favourite one is definitely The Sky is the Limit song.
If you love a good murder mystery, a school life or card fighting anime then I would really recommend you look in to Persona 4 the animation. Now I just hope that Aniplex of USA and Atlas localise Persona 5 the animation and the Persona 3 movies so I can do a review on them eventually.
The story is about a student by the name of Yu Narukami who has moved to a rural town with his cousin and his uncle. During his visit he meets and befriends multiple and colourful people like Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Agami. In their town there has been so many rapid murders going around and their town is mostly foggy, they hear this urban myth which called midnight channel that only comes on during a rainy night. It turns out that they can enter the TV which leads to a world filed with shadows; they have to fight these shadows using these monsters from cards which are called Personas. They also have to overcome their own shadows by realising that they are a part of them and he/she is a part of their shadow after this they earn their own persona. Later they discover that the fog, the murders and the midnight channel, the personas are all connected meanwhile we also get to meet new characters like Kanji, Teddie, Naoto and Rise and creating unbreakable with them.
In terms of plot wise it is very good and mysterious, it feels like a jigsaw puzzle like once when you have ever put together it leads you to the real truth and perpetrator behind it all. Although, the characters have to come face to face with challenges ahead and this is when a piece of the puzzle gets lost and you have to find it, once when you have found it: it links in with the actual story. However, if you have already played the game of it's anime you might already know everything. I have to admit as well that the persona's on the cards remind me a lot of Yu Gi Oh.
At first though I actually thought the characters were just plain annoying stereotypes for explain: Chie being a foolish tomboy, Yukiko always being shy, Yosuke just being a goofball, Yu just getting spoil, Rise being the always attractive damsel in distress, Kanji always being the strong and aggressive one and Naoto just being the noisy detective who can't mind his own business. But as the series goes on they are far deeper characters as what you think they are sure they wouldn't appeal to you at first but once when you get to know them better, you get attach to them and eventually like them.
This is the one must thing I like about the series because the bounds that the characters make are meaningful because it shows that strong bonds can't get broken and stronger ties you have, more power you would gain. The animation and art style was very breath-taking it sort of reminded me of the art style Dwayne McDuffie used to use back in his day when he used do projects. It mainly reminded me of the art style for both Justice League shows and both Ben 10 Alien Force and Ultimate Alien's art style.
I also enjoyed the voice acting it had to offer from the English Dub from Johnny Yong Bosch, Yuri Lowanthal, Amanda Winn Lee, Erin Fitzgerald, Troy Baker, Matthew Mercer, Sam Riegel, Mary Elizabeth Glenn, Laura Bailey, Karen Strassman, JB Blanc, Daniel Woren and Michelle Ann Dunphy were all very good especially during serious or emotional moments. Props to Johnny Yong Bosch as both the hero Yu Narukami and the slippery Tohru Adachi. The only downside to the cast was that Troy Baker didn't manage to record all his lines as Kanji Tatsumi because he was on his honey and was replaced by Matthew Mercer. Regardless Matthew Mercer is a servable replacement but he is not as good as Troy Baker. If you are going to watch the anime just expect a bit of a voice change from Kanji after episode 11.
My favourite episodes are definitely Kanji's introduction, the episode where he faces his own shadow, Rise's introduction episode and the episode after it, the episode where they go camping, the episode which focuses on Narako and her father's relationship and the final episodes.
I also enjoyed the music it had to offer from the theme songs, to the end credits and finally the background music in every episode. But my favourite one is definitely The Sky is the Limit song.
If you love a good murder mystery, a school life or card fighting anime then I would really recommend you look in to Persona 4 the animation. Now I just hope that Aniplex of USA and Atlas localise Persona 5 the animation and the Persona 3 movies so I can do a review on them eventually.