This whole episode pretty much covers Teddie's human form, Rise officially joinning the gang, Naoto being all cold detective like, and Mitsuo being all creepy like. And I have to say it was well paced.

This is kinda where the fast pacing works out for the show since it is skipping over minor parts and using its time for the more develop details. I do question if it was necessary to skip a few the days but but most of it was the week of their finals so maybe it was a good idea to do so. Seeing Mitsuo before he gets thrown in to the TV pretty much tells us that he a god damn creep. Its pretty obvious that he is design to be unlikeable from all of his action whether or not he the killer. I mean he was about to attack Nanako of all things!

The interesting parts of this episode was the ones with Naoto in them. Naoto is still the cold calculating detective at this point with all of the warnings and cold stares at our team. One of my favorite moments was when Yu and Naoto locked eyes for a bit with Naoto trying to intimidate him but Yu wasn't having it. While it is subtle, Rise does make a good point that Naoto is kinda playing around. Why would Naoto need to come to them and say that the police has got the killer when they could had found out from a newspaper or TV news? This is all for Naoto's arc later on and so far it is building up nicely.

However, what isn't being build up is the small hints of Adachi misleading our gang. As of now, he only been in a few scenes but aren't strong enough to hint at he hidden agenda later on. I wonder how they will handle it when the time comes. Otherwise when he is reveal, it'll feel like it came out of left field.

Everything else about this episode was pretty much solid. The Teddie parts was all enjoyable like the game, the scene with the rainy beef bowl was a good throw in, and Noriko Kashiwagi is pretty much the strange homeroom teacher who hasn't crack yet.

Overall another solid episode and next week it's game time.

Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

We head back in to the TV this week, saving Rise and uncovering Teddie's hidden side.

Compare to Kanji's arc, this was a lot more straight to the point, avoiding the over the top humor with a more emphasis on Rise's other self. It's a interesting twist to have multiple Rises and not just the bikini top one, which helps work with the whole problem of Rise not being sure who she is. The scanning ability has a interesting concept to finding weakness. Where in the game it finds what elements are shadow is weak strong to, here is also pinpoints where on the body does the enemy has a chip in their armor. In a way, its a realistic approach to how it works and something that doesn't need to be added in but it is a nice detail. Again, they are really pushing the whole Yu X Rise relationship with all the scenes where Yu catching her, protecting her, and even Izanagi was doing a gentleman like hold with Himiko.

Teddie's event was pretty similar to how the game version want. However, the extra scene with him talking to his other self helps shows that Teddie does has some backbone and isn't about to push away his journey to founding out who he is. It also has some nice imagery of the foggy inners of Teddie's shadow self and both being cut in half.

Besides the main points of the episode, there was Kanji being all badass, putting on his shades and busting shadows up while rock music is playing in the background. There was also Yu's attempt at recording the midnight channel, which was a bit creepy at first, but finding out that it can't be recorded shows him that the midnight channel in some way is some sort of other worldly thing. So what was with the velvet room thing? Was Yu doing fusion for a future battle since he didn't use it in this battle?

While another person is saved, the Investigation team job is far from over as we all know too well. Next week human Teddie, more Naoto, and game world.

Investigation team, GO!

Highlight

Talk about changing the routine of things and in Rise's episode, the changes help form what her problems are and how they came about.

We all know that Rise is an idol who is adored by many in the game universe but we never really seen what it looked like besides the small commercial. Here we have her in multiple commercials of different styles, ads, and even a stage performance as an opening to the episode. All this helps convey the big idol life she had and which ties in better later on. It was also smart to not to over use these elements, putting them naturally in a scene like it was always there. However, that beach photo magazine near the river bank was a bit too convent but it did help bond Yu and Rise together.

Thats another thing. This episode is really pushing the Yu X Rise ship hard with the beginning scene of him giving her cell, their little moment near the river bank, and taking a shortcut out to avoid the press. I can't be sure if Rise will be the anime's love interest for Yu but we'll see if they will build on it.

From hearing about the announcement of the anime, I and many others were afraid to hear Rie Kugimiya again with her high pitch voice for Rise. However, it looks like her tone it down for the anime, allowing for a more more tolerable Rise. Of course at this point in the story Rise is a little down in the dumps and isn't in her happy mood yet so there will be a chance in the future where her high pitch voice will be say "Senpai!" most of the time -_-; But hey, she can sing.

I have to give credit where credit is due and the opening is wonderful. It has style of the character that is singing it, the fact that she is singing the song makes it more personal to that character, the movements were well choreograph, and it all works in favor of the episode. However, I suspect that this was where most of the budget for the episode want because many parts had some glaring issues, especially the scene where the team were at Junes and only the character's mouths were moving, which made it very creepy after looking at it for a while.

This was a pretty well handled episode that makes me happy that I'm continuing to watch this show.

Next week, Rise will really show it all off. Investigation team, GO!

Rise's Opening [True Story]

Highlights

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and what a treat we have with this weeks episode of Persona 4 as the gang goes on their camping trip. A nice mix of humor and a bit of intrigue on the murder mystery. The format is pretty similar to the game with the mystery food X, tent sleep over hijinks, and swim suits scene, which all flowed well and let us have some fun with the characters. What I find interesting is what they added.

First comes Naoki Konishi, younger brother of Saki Konishi. His behavior at first is very harsh to our main characters due to the events of his sister's murder but we also learn of people always being sorry for him for his lost, which he is getting tired of it. However, a few kind words and a nice offering of a Aiya beef bowl helps keep his mind off of these annoyances. As a person who just recently lost a love one, it can be annoying to have people try and comfort you out of no where. It reinsuring to have some people offer some real help. And hopefully we'll see more of Naoki as having friends would help him a lot.

Next is the additional information on our murder case as the gang figures out that the way a person gets thrown in to the TV is by being on TV. Its interesting that they put it here instead of having it when Kanji was joining the group but their in a more private area to discuss this matter as it has importance to the story later on. I mean, what else can you talk about when you're picking up trash?

Next week Rise is going to show it all off! Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

Nothing like a whole episode of the bad bad bathhouse to make my relaxing afternoon even better.

Its interesting to see where speeding up the pacing works well when its the point in the game involving grinding for EXP and moving up a floor or two. Here the episode goes from exposition of the gang confirming if Kanji is missing to their journey inside the TV mixing in some nice comedy that is fitting with the setting. At first I wasn't sure if the comedy they were going for in the bad bad bathhouse would work well since it can be a bit goofy but considering how the bad bad bathhouse is like the way it is, it works in its favor. However, its transition from a really funny moment to a more serious one, like where Kanji accepts himself, could had been a little smoother and would had like it to be more impacting as Yukiko's was but seeing Kanji punching his own shadow is a different type of impact. In the end, it was another put together episode with nice beats to it. But least forget about the now and look to the future, because the good damn camping trip is coming! Mystery food X, here we come!

Highlight

It makes me happy to see the show move at a good pacing. Especially when it involves Nanako and Kanji.

The first half of the episode, or at least a good chunk, was of Nanako spending time with Yu and the gang. It wasn't super major or the most impacting part of her social link but it does show her openness to Yu as being a brother figure. However, this is only the beginning of her social link and it'll be interesting on how they will split it on in later episodes. The rest of the episode involves Kanji, as the gang put all of the clues together and confirm if he really is the next person to go in to the TV. The scene they used for the show were pretty solid as it keeps focus on whats important like the possible reason why Kanji may have been the next target, even if it leads to a miss direction. The Yukiko with Yu scene was a nice touch that shows how Yukiko is holding up. While the scene they kept from the game worked pretty well, I'm a little mix with some of the new scenes they added. The Yu finding Kanji's key chain bear, the study group, and the after test taking parts added to the show in a meaningful way but the whole beef bowl scene, while funny in a way, felt unneeded and did it need Aika to be in it for like a few seconds? Also what happen to the Yosuke talk about who does Yu like? That would had made the Yukiko scene with him a little interesting if Yu had some sort of interest in her (implying that he also likes Chie too).

Kanji has the perfect tough guy voice thanks to Tomokazu Seki, who has done many tough guy characters in the past, with nice screams and attitude. Another good voice was from everyones favorite detective, Naoto, who is voice by the lovely Romi Paku. You could not found a voice that can sound both male and female than hers. And while Susan Dalian does a good job with her, it fails to hide Naoto gender, which is part of her story and a nice shock value when it is reveal.

And so another solid episode that leads us to Kanji being in the TV and we will see all of it next week. Even if you don't want to see all of "that" Kanji -_-;

Hightlight

I did question how the adoption was going to handle some of the social link arcs. However, I wasn't expecting them to make it this short.

With Ai Ebihara Moon social link, it was a nice twist to introduce her in the beginning when Yu joins the basketball team. Just like the game, she is pushy ice queen who falls for Ichijo, but only to feel rejected when Kou tells Yu that he likes Chie (Good choice :D). From here the show takes a interesting twist with her arc where Ai only uses Yu as a stand in for a boyfriend and after understanding her situation, with a small slapping fight with Chie, comes to terms with what she needs to do to make people like her. This was the route I took in the game since it made Ai a interesting person when it didn't involve falling for the main character to solve her issues.

While Ai's arc want pretty well I can't say the same for Kou's arc as it was just a few lines of dialogue and resolved pretty quickly. What they should had done was split it up and have it pop after every social link episode to better develop Kou. Also will they do something Daisuke Nagase? You see what makes the Strength social link interesting is the bonding of Kou, Daisuke, and Yu and we don't really build on that here. Maybe they will come back to this later on but I just hate to see it end here.

As someone who has seen the Japanese version of the game, it nice to listen to Itou Kanae fully voice Ai as she does a good job playing pushy character with that voice of hers. Daisuke Ono also does a good job with Kou with a nice cheerful voice which is a interesting contrast to his other roles (One involving throwing vending machines). We also get to see the anime original character, Aika Nakamura for a few seconds which is a bit odd as it didn't lead up to anything but hey I get to hear Aoi Yūki :D Also missed opportunity for the ramen scene on the roof, should had been longer.

Despite some issues, the episode held up well for what it did. Next week we have the Kanji arc with a splash of Nanako Golden week. So least get bent! Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

Its interesting how the anime is adding some nice details that help build these characters. We all know that Yukiko's problems come from her feeling that she can't go anywhere due to her family's inn and being protected by Chie to some degree, but we never get to see those moments and that is what the anime fills in. With the few bits of her being unhappy while working and the symbolism of the pet bird helps emphasize where Yukiko's problems are coming from and where it lead down to. There was also a nice emotional moment between Chie and Yukiko with nice beats and pacing to it. On other notes, the fighting had some nice twist like how Pyro Jack absorbing the fire, which is a game mechanics, but works well within the contexts of the show. Animation is still hold up pretty well but I did see some what I like to call weird anime faces in a few scenes. So far another good episode and coming up next week Yu will be spending some time building some social links. Let see how well that goes. Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

Man, this episode hit every good mark. From a story standpoint of the Yukiko arc to the interesting imagery. The relationship that Chie has with Yukiko from their first meeting, which helped set the stage in the start of the episode, to the revelation of Chie's other self with Yukiko's red room and Chie's masks, was handled pretty well. It is the very reason why I like the game for the development of the characters and I'm glad the anime is taking that concept and working it in with a nice twist. The battle was really well done as well with lots of style and flares. And it is confirm that Yu can change out Persona as he makes more bonds but I do question why Pyro Jack at this point? Where is Jack Frost Ho!? Comedy wise, it hit some good beats like the Yosuke’s weapon incident and the

anime version of the Yukiko in the TV which wasn't sexy but pretty cheesy in a good way. Despite how well this episode want there were a few problems. The scene with Kou and Daisuke want a little too fast but I'm pretty sure that they will show up later, we really to see those balls, and the calling over Teddie using Yu's hand felt out of place due to how fast it want. Overall this was a great episode. There is a rule that I go by when watching anime that if the show gets better after 3 episodes or shows signs of good development, it is worth continuing watching, and I can say that Persona 4 episode 3 pass with flying colors.

Hightlights

Most of us agree that the first episode had some pacing issues that skipped all of the build up. However, episode 2 definitely makes it up for it with our focus on both the inner workings of the TV world and Yousuke’s other self. While the show does move at a fast pace it should be noted that the events that they used, like the scene with the stalker talking to Yukiko or the talk at the end with Yousuke and Yu willing to solve what is going on, makes the show flow better. There were some interesting use of details with Yousuke’s other self scene like the video of the Junes workers and Saki’s confession that help push the fact of Yousuke’s problems that wasn’t shown in the game. Despite one of the animators complaint on twitter, the show still look great and the battle scene with Izanagi and Shadow Yousuke was really well choreograph. It also should be noted that Yu was a lot more talkative and more forward than before, guess that point of courage has helped out. This weeks episode also features the real Opening and Ending. The opening offers interesting visuals and concepts of the series using imagery and styles along with some funky music. The Ending may be a bit simple with Yu standing in a circle of cards and a more slow pacing music but it works for what is trying to do. Our first two members of our yet to be call investigation team has formed and now it is time to go deeper in to the TV land as the next episode shows that Yukiko’s and Chie’s problems will manifest themselves soon. Investigation team, GO.

Highlights