Persona 4: The Animation (2011–2012) User Reviews

It's worth it

[jaysshukla · 8/10 · 7 November 2020]

The story revolves around Yu Narukami, a young teenager, who moves to the town of Inaba. He and his new friends soon discover about an alternate reality when they were shockingly pulled inside one of the TVs in the Junes shop. On the other hand, some mysterious string of murders were taking place in Inaba. Upon confronting their dark personalities in a distorted TV world, Narukami and his friends acquired mysterious power called 'Persona' and decided to investigate the murders and save others from getting killed.

Despite the slow start, the storyline is quite intriguing. It keeps getting better and is unpredictable throughout. It has an issue with the pacing though. The show takes much time in introducing the characters and mentioning about their struggles.(The similar kind of a pattern observed in Demon slayer). But it's worth the wait. During the climax, you cannot help but think of Naruto Shippuden because of the way bunch of villains manipulate each other. Nevertheless, these kind of twists really suit to this concept. The ending, despite being quite dramatic at times, was very satisfying and everything felt resolved.

The anime does well in terms of characterization as well. Each character has at least something to offer and all of them are developed really well. However, the writing isn't really flawless. Many a times, even by the 'main character-standard', the show looks very 'Yu Narukami-biased.' It had many interesting characters. Almost each of them had a potential to contribute to the story. But after their respective character arcs, Chie, Yukiko, Rize and Kanji had very little significance for the plot development. Moreover, they had a group of maybe 8 people and yet each of them mostly think or talk only about Yu Narukami. Narukami was like everyone's Harry Potter. The villains, despite reminding us of Madara Uchiha or Kaguya Otsutsuki, were brilliantly handled. Their outlook for life/reality and the way Narukami overcomes their challenges felt really superb.

The anime has an awesome soundtrack. You may not want to skip the openings and the endings. The animation style somewhat reminded me of Steins gate. Both the shows are game-to-anime adaptation.

I totally recommend this show. I wouldn't advise to drop it after few episodes. It's worth giving it a chance as it keeps getting better. I enjoyed this show even though I have never played any Persona game.

Very good anime with spirit monsters involved

[Irishchatter · 8/10 · 7 September 2018]

Since it's all about cards and monsters, I personally think its putting Yu Gi Oh to shame since it sorta does have the vibe of duel challenges involved. Although I know that both animes are not the same since Persona concentrates on spirits as the alter egos of the main characters, whereas Yu Gi Oh only concentrates on just monsters that just randomly pop up in battles! Anyways that's just my own personal opinon like you could say I am pure daft on my statement but its just how I felt after watching this anime!

This anime was very entertaining like the battles, the characters and the mystery behind the disappearances of school girls being shown at midnight TV would make you wanna watch more of the anime itself! It was pretty decent as well, it was very eye catching and it did have some good little humour in it too so yeah definately would recommend to fantasy, psychological or action anime fans to watch this if they haven't already!

8/10

Reach out to the truth - of how amazing this anime is

[basato92 · 10/10 · 2 August 2013]

The story is a transfer student by the name of Yu Narukami arrives in a small rural town where he stays with his uncle and cousin. As he arrives there he befriends multiple, colourful personalities like Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka and Yukiko Agami. In their foggy town a series of mysterious murders occur and an urban myth about a mysterious "Midnight Channel" that comes on in rainy nights. Later on they discover that they can somehow enter the TVs into a strange world ravaged by "shadows" that they fight using "other selves" otherwise know as Personas. This strange world is also home to shadows that are sinister versions of our characters based on their repressed fantasies that they have to confront and overcome their issues. They discover that the murders, the fog, the midnight channel, the TV world and the Personas are all connected. With that in mind they scramble to solve the mystery behind the murders, meeting new friends with more colourful characters like Rise, Teddie, Kanji & Naoto along the way and forging unbreakable bonds with them.

This story will sound strange to "normal people" but it's essentially what you'd expect from an anime and truthfully all aspects of the story fit together nicely and provides lots of possibility for action, comedy, mystery and character development.

The animation and art style is breathtaking; it's vivid, colourful and very inviting. Despite taking place in a contemporary setting, each character is distinguished and identifiable with their color palettes, animated facial expressions and hairstyles. The action is also quite good, there's a lot of energy and it's exhilarating. Though I have to say a lot of the Personas in our heroes' arsenals aren't very well designed as a lot of them feel generic and/or randomly designed. Given that's they're gained after defeating their alter egos I was thinking that the designs would reflect their respective owners.

The setting of a small town is perfect for the story it's trying to tell. The Persona series is notable for taking place in the modern world we know whereas most RPGs take place in a fantasy setting of some sort. This is pretty risky as when you think about it, a lot of RPGs and popular anime take place in a fantasy world whether it's the Grand Line from One Piece or Gintama's alternate reality Earth where aliens immigrated. Though Persona 4 the animation does include an alternate reality inside a TV where they gain the abilities of Personas through bonds, surprisingly it subverts this by having much of the focus be on the characters solving the mystery of the murders while developing their relationships in the small town they live in.

The glue that holds everything together are the characters. Holy hell are they awesome, every single protagonist is likable. A lot of them are introduced at first as stereotypes; Hanamura is the goofball, Chie is the plucky tomboy, Yukiko is the shy sweetheart, Kanji the brute with a soft side and so forth. But they're far deeper characters than that. That's the brilliance of them, they're introduced to feel familiar to viewers (much like how RPG characters are to players) yet there's room for a lot of development. Yu Narukami is the main character who's stoic and reserved, but he has a big heart and will defend his family and friends till the end. To be honest, I initially didn't like him in the first few episodes as I felt he was very bland, especially next to the rest of the characters. But as the anime went on, he became the most developed and 3 dimensional character in the series with the bonds he forms with his family and friends is expanded upon while he himself grows as person as he juggles his family, friends, mission and commitments. It's very genuine and heartwarming.

And that's exactly why the series is so great, because the character's bonds is so genuine, everything else is more meaningful because it effects them so much while they effect their environment around them. As a result, you yourself end up forming a bond with them, when they're happy, you're happy, when they're sad, you're sad. Due to this the theme of people's bonds as an irresistible is very strong and enhances the narrative. They perfectly compliment all aspects of the show and it wouldn't be the same without them.

This is one of those stories that's mainly fueled by emotion much like most Disney and Miyazaki films. It's not based necessarily on what's logical, but based on what your emotions want to see. You don't really find yourself questioning why a world inside the TV exists where people's repressed fantasy is reality or how there are these mech thingies called Personas given to you by two people in an undisclosed location known as the "Velvet Room". You just go along with that as you're too swept up in what the characters are going through.

Of course I highly recommend this anime. As someone who watches shows like Full Metal Alchemist, Death Note and Trigun, I think Persona 4 the Animation definitely holds up against these anime and may even surpass them in my book. The story, the setting, the mystery and adventure is a classic and you just can't help but fall in love with the characters; they're familiar enough to relate to from the get go but are much deeper characters than that. Persona 4 the Animation is simply a gem, it's underrated and definitely deserves more attention.

The sky is the limit

[WeAreLive · 10/10 · 21 August 2018]

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.