In a way, we are half way in with Persona 4 and it continues to keep at it. This episode was interesting as it was split in to two different events, one was the Void Quest level with boss fight and the other was the omelet scene.

The Void Quest section had the nice designs and sounds like the game and a really cool battle sequence with the Shadow Mitsuo. The omelet event was just as hilarious and touching as the game with the return of mystery food X and the promise between Nanako and Teddie. The interesting part was the odd split when they just about to fight Shadow Mitsuo. At first it was a little strange to jump from the past event to a future event but it all kinda made senses when it was all just of Yu being trapped inside of Shadow Mitsuo and reflecting on where of this midnight channel and the murders are taking him. We really never did get a chance to sit down and think about what all of these events really mean for Yu and it was a interesting opportunity to have him see if he was doing the right thing.

There were some nice comedy from Teddie's fist time fighting and obviously the omelet event, complete with Yukiko fainting and Nanako doing her best to make everyone happy.

Next week we got some summer fun, the hospital, and Death.

Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

In a way, we are half way in with Persona 4 and it continues to keep at it. This episode was interesting as it was split in to two different events, one was the Void Quest level with boss fight and the other was the omelet scene.

The Void Quest section had the nice designs and sounds like the game and a really cool battle sequence with the Shadow Mitsuo. The omelet event was just as hilarious and touching as the game with the return of mystery food X and the promise between Nanako and Teddie. The interesting part was the odd split when they just about to fight Shadow Mitsuo. At first it was a little strange to jump from the past event to a future event but it all kinda made senses when it was all just of Yu being trapped inside of Shadow Mitsuo and reflecting on where of this midnight channel and the murders are taking him. We really never did get a chance to sit down and think about what all of these events really mean for Yu and it was a interesting opportunity to have him see if he was doing the right thing.

There were some nice comedy from Teddie's fist time fighting and obviously the omelet event, complete with Yukiko fainting and Nanako doing her best to make everyone happy.

Next week we got some summer fun, the hospital, and Death.

Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

Wait, when did King Frost appear? When my computer kinda froze for a bit (I imagine; that's the best explanation I have)? Also kinda surprised that you don't have a picture of that damn fetus.

@Video_Game_King: Didn't find a good quality of it or one with a good angle of it.

DAT Persona bumrush! Was hoping to see Black Frost make an appearance, High Pixie? Yu is carrying around some duds for sure.

I'm interested to see if they manage to fit all the new arcana (Tower, Hermit, Devil, Temperance & Death) in a satisfying way, probably not seeing as there are FIVE! Like I said in the thread though I think a few will neatly intersect with one another, namely Death & Devil seeing as that happens within the game anyway.

I'm still enjoying this although I feel as though it has plateaued in the past few episodes. For a while there it was just upping its game with each subsequent episode.

I'd say the personas Yu uses in battle are related to how developed the link is at the time.

Since he is pretty close (hehe) to Yosuke/Rise and spent some time with Ai and Daisuke/Kou their respective arcanas give him the highest lvled personas. While the rest is weaksauce. King Frost still rules though.

@DarkSentry: I don't think that's true. Not only do I not think that the in-game power of the Personas is comparable to the anime, but Yosuke's S. Link Persona is Pyro Jack and Ai's is Yamata-no-Orochi. Why would Yu be closer to Ai than he is with Yosuke?

@FluxWaveZ: While they are friends, I don't remember seeing Yosuke talk much about his problems with Yu, and he didn't change that much when compared to when the Magician S.link was formed, if that makes any sense. They got closer mainly because of the Investigation Team and that would only make Isanagi (Fool) stronger.

With Ai he heard about her problems and helped her get over it, even if he was just being pushed around all the time. I felt their link was weak indeed, but she started to change and that's how the arcanas get stronger in a nutshell.

I talked about 'lvl' because of their persona choices for his recent S.links, but I agree we can't compare then that way. In the end the arcanas that had more development are more useful in his battles, and that's it, I guess. Since we're going to see 5 new arcanas in the next 2 episodes, maybe in ep. 16 I'll be able to see how they fare against tanks and jets.

Hope he gets some big personas later (lol Yoshitsune), even if it's just for eye-candy.

@FluxWaveZ said:

Why would Yu be closer to Ai than he is with Yosuke?

Hos before bros? (And Ai is a total ho.)

@Video_Game_King said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

Why would Yu be closer to Ai than he is with Yosuke?

Hos before bros? (And Ai is a total ho.)

Word.

Nanako is way too much of an Imouto in this anime. She's only on screen to either showcase that she is:

1. Vulnerable
2. Cute

@DarkSentry said:

@FluxWaveZ: While they are friends, I don't remember seeing Yosuke talk much about his problems with Yu, and he didn't change that much when compared to when the Magician S.link was formed, if that makes any sense. They got closer mainly because of the Investigation Team and that would only make Isanagi (Fool) stronger.

Yu had a frontrow seat in seeing Yosuke's inner demons with his shadow and all. He didn't need to "talk", Yu saw all of it. And helped him with his weekly friendship speech. He's interacted with Ai for all of, like, 4 days.

Also, there is literally no rhyme or reason to the Personae Yu has used so far. If you want to go by the game, plenty of the Personae he used would be downgrades. He used Pyro Jack in episode 2 and Rakshahsa in episode 7-- what, did his friendship with Yosuke decrease?

...This theory is pretty far-fetched to say the least.

I really like this episode,through out this series the bosses were mainly focused on accepting them,i was really wondering how were they gonna make a boss which isn't supposed to get accepted.

when it suddenly jumped to the future i was completly confuzed,i though maybe the video i was watching was glitched,but after a while i slowly started to understand this,and really love it,as Yu doesn't have a personality in the game as we controll him,we don't really think of "i got these friends only becaus of this,what will happen once this stops?" and now that it showed how Yu whould be so weak and have no personas without his friends(altho didn't he had the Fool arcana to begin with? even before he actually befriended anyone?)

and i really loved the persona barrage to show how powerfull all of the bonds Yu made are making him and all the arcanas that he has that are always with him.

also....

Man. This Episode is probably my favorite so far. Everything was going smooth until that abrupt cut and then their at the food court talking about about how things are over now. I played the games and I was freaking lost like hell when the whole mood went south for Yu. Then when the status screen came up, I thought I was too drunk or something because it came up blank(I am drinking btw). Finally when it came to Yu being in his room and the fetus came it all made sense. It must have grabbed him after being summoned and took Yu with him inside it's shell of "Nothingness" and that was Yu's mindset for awhile.

I loved this whole transition because unlike adding a scene to something that's there to explain how someones past(like the new footage we seen with Yukiko and other characters) played out, this surprised the viewers and more so the fans of the video game because this was so left field.

I'm just impressed. And did anyone notice the song they played was different? Its a different rendition of "I'll Face Myself" from the Persona 4 Reincarnation Soundtrack. Here it is if you're interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHxd_hY0yos

I expect this to be in the Vita game somewhere...

@mutha3 said:

Nanako is way too much of an Imouto in this anime. She's only on screen to either showcase that she is:

1. Vulnerable
2. Cute

That was pretty much her role in the game. I don't know what your comparison is, here.

@Hailinel said:

@mutha3 said:

Nanako is way too much of an Imouto in this anime. She's only on screen to either showcase that she is:

1. Vulnerable
2. Cute

That was pretty much her role in the game. I don't know what your comparison is, here.

I disagree because she's characterized as being strong, at least emotionally, particularly when there's discussion about her mother. That's one of the reasons why Heaven is so tragic.

@Hailinel said:

@mutha3 said:

Nanako is way too much of an Imouto in this anime. She's only on screen to either showcase that she is:

1. Vulnerable
2. Cute

That was pretty much her role in the game. I don't know what your comparison is, here.

Also, she's, like, five. That's pretty much how toddlers behave.

@FluxWaveZ said:

@Hailinel said:

@mutha3 said:

Nanako is way too much of an Imouto in this anime. She's only on screen to either showcase that she is:

1. Vulnerable
2. Cute

That was pretty much her role in the game. I don't know what your comparison is, here.

I disagree because she's characterized as being strong, at least emotionally, particularly when there's discussion about her mother. That's one of the reasons why Heaven is so tragic.

She is strong, particularly for a six-year-old, but her cuteness and vulnerability are also major traits of her character.

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel said:

@mutha3 said:

Nanako is way too much of an Imouto in this anime. She's only on screen to either showcase that she is:

1. Vulnerable
2. Cute

That was pretty much her role in the game. I don't know what your comparison is, here.

Also, she's, like, five. That's pretty much how toddlers behave.

She's six, and a five-year-old is not a toddler.

@Hailinel said:

@mutha3 said:

Nanako is way too much of an Imouto in this anime. She's only on screen to either showcase that she is:

1. Vulnerable
2. Cute

That was pretty much her role in the game.

Not really. She was a character with an arc.

Her cuteness is just a character trait, there's more to her than that....at least in the game. In the anime, they don't seem particularly concerned with showing off how Nanako and Dojima's relationship works, they don't seem particularly concerned with showing how cold and awkward her initial reception towards the MC was. The game was particularly effective at showing this through use of its mechanics(For instance:not being able to talk with her until your expression was high enough, the rarity in which her S-link is available). They're not showing the part where Nanako is frighteningly self-sufficient for a girl her age outside of one little scene where she tells Yu that she'll be okay staying home alone. In the game, this was subtly(one of the rare times P4 has been able to be subtle) reinforced by having her be the one who practically takes care of all the household duties. Cooking, cleaning, laundry? All Nanako. At the start of the game, she declines MC's help when he offers help clean up after Dojima's crap, but after you establish her S-link in Golden week, she allows MC to help with the dishes. Y'know, character development.

What they did show? a new scene where Nanako acts like a scared little imouto and gets saved by her big bro from fake creepy raper guy.

She's just an anime imouto. On screen to act cute for this week's episode and maybe blush. I'd be amazed if they did more than shove her S-link in the back 4 minutes of an episode.

@Hailinel:

My point remains valid, though. It's hard to expect maturity from somebody who still hasn't hit double digits.

@mutha3 said:

@Hailinel said:

@mutha3 said:

Nanako is way too much of an Imouto in this anime. She's only on screen to either showcase that she is:

1. Vulnerable
2. Cute

That was pretty much her role in the game.

Not really. She was a character with an arc.

Her cuteness is just a character trait, there's more to her than that....at least in the game. In the anime, they don't seem particularly concerned with showing off how Nanako and Dojima's relationship works, they don't seem particularly concerned with showing how cold and awkward her initial reception towards the MC was. The game was particularly effective at showing this through use of its mechanics(For instance:not being able to talk with her until your expression was high enough, the rarity in which her S-link is available). They're not showing the part where Nanako is frighteningly self-sufficient for a girl her age outside of one little scene where she tells Yu that she'll be okay staying home alone. In the game, this was subtly(one of the rare times P4 has been able to be subtle) reinforced by having her be the one who practically takes care of all the household duties. Cooking, cleaning, laundry? All Nanako. At the start of the game, she declines MC's help when he offers help clean up after Dojima's crap, but after you establish her S-link in Golden week, she allows MC to help with the dishes. Y'know, character development.

What they did show? a new scene where Nanako acts like a scared little imouto and gets saved by her big bro from fake creepy raper guy.

She's just an anime imouto. On screen to act cute for this week's episode and maybe blush. I'd be amazed if they did more than shove her S-link in the back 4 minutes of an episode.

You missed the scene where she decides the weather is good enough to hang the laundry, thus impressing Yu, apparently.

She's 7, guys!

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel:

My point remains valid, though. It's hard to expect maturity from somebody who still hasn't hit double digits.

Agreed. But Nanako isn't supposed to be a normal 7 year old, though. Sometimes, circumstances can force you to grow up.

@mutha3:

Although I'm guessing that doesn't happen until next episode, where she plays detective. Up until now, she's mostly stayed at home, sometimes hanging out with the gang. Not a lot of room to be anything other than cute. (I guess the vulnerability came into play when Mitsuo creeped on her?)

@Video_Game_King: That's the point he's making. In the game, it's obvious she's very mature from her age compared to the same point we're at in the anime currently where not much of that aspect of her personality has been explored.