For a while now I been playing around with my new Vita. I got it right after I sold some games and my Wii and saw that I had enough to get one and pre-order this years Persona games. It is a Wi-fi model, not going to pay for some damn contact with AT&T -_-, and got one Vita title, Gravity Rush. So here are some things that I think about it.

Smooth sailing

The system interface and loading time is very smooth. Sliding from menus, moving from one app to app, leaving and returning to games are all very slick with hardly any slow down or lag between them. It was impressive to have the ability to pause a game when backing out to the main menu and then able to go back to the game without having to restart. Another cool thing was the multitasking it was capable of from playing music while playing a game to to opening multiple social apps and still able to keep running without a hitch.

Lovely features

One of the things I liked about the PSP was the way I was able to customize my system look and it still applies to the Vita, allowing any kind of picture to be used for the wallpaper. Moving the icon around is a nice way of being organize with the apps, specially when you start to downloading apps and games to the system. Camera system is pretty functional with the ability to read AR cards similar to 3DS, which is pretty nice. PSN store interface is easy enough to navigate but could use some additional filtering features like low priced games or list by titles. The trophies app is pretty smooth with it syncing up right as you enter it as well as loading up your PS3 trophies too. By far the best feature is the fact that I can download games to it instead of having a physical copy of the game, making it easy for travel.

Unneeded features and lacking ones

There a few features I question there needs. First the rear touch is hardly used. I seen some games try to use it in some ok fashion but it is limited to a few touch gestures. Near, social networking app, is similar to 3DS's streetpass, where small data can be pass between systems. While it a cool feature, I hardly see it as some important enough to waste battery life on when I could just be playing games. Speaking of battery life, it has about 4 hour limit depending on how many apps you're using. However, it is nothing to riot in the streets about since you may not be playing for more than an hour or 2 since it is a portable device. The browser is pretty clunky with navigation being swimming and the lack of flash and HTML5 to play video is a bummer when most sites I would be using the browser for would be ones with video. This could explain the reasoning for the YouTube (Coming soon) and NicoNico app on the PSN store.

Gravity Rush

As I said before I got two games for my Vita. The first one being Gravity Rush, an open world action-adventure game staring Kat who is on a journey to finding out who she is while help saving the strange city she is in using her gravity abilities. It a pretty well made game, pushing the system's graphic and processing abilities with a interesting cell-shading look, while utilizing the touch screen and tilting sensor for a few of Kat's abilities. However, it isn't as smooth when using them, even when getting use to them. For the game as a whole it above average, with it strongest point being the story and the uniqueness of the gravity gameplay.

Overall it a pretty well made system that has a lot going for it. There are many things that'll help push this system up (Persona 4 golden for one) and as long as Sony really does push it with it cross play abilities and backward compatibility, it'll do well.

So yeah we know that the Persona 4 spin-off novel is coming, equip with a new designed Naoto and a look at her new life. But there are many things I would like from this interpretation.

1. How Naoto is holding up

A interesting story element is a look at a person's life after a life changing event. In Naoto's case, after understanding her position as a woman in a mostly male work environment as well as knowing her limits as a kid, it'll be interesting to see how she is after year. Is she still having problems dealing with her male co-workers or have they seen her in a new light after solving the Inaba case. From the cover art, Naoto looks to combine her masculine outfit with the tie, pants, and jacket, while embracing her feminine features with revealing her bust and letting her hair grow (Although how hair grows so fast in a year is another story). She also sporting a motorcycle which could mean she's more adventurous than her self-restraint younger self. I could go on with what she eat, buys, and where she lives but we can wait and see (Or read).

2. Her past relationships: From family to friends

I wonder if we will meet up with the other characters from the series? There can many logical explanations from any of them to show up in this novel centering around Naoto being away from Inaba for a year. Rise and MC are characters that will most likely bump in to Naoto since they move around a lot. Chie would have some connections to meet up with Naoto since she's was planning on joining the police force after the end of P4. There also a possibility that she made a few friend at her time at the new school, can't spend a year alone in a new place without shaking a few hands. As for family, she only has her Grandfather and butler, which would give her support from time to time, but we don't know much about her parents. Since this is Naoto's story, it is a good opportunity to talk about them for a bit but not too much so that it would feel overbearing.

(Update): Naoto will be partnering with a “mechanized” detective name Sousei Kurogami. Not sure how that is going to work out but since Naoto has experience with other androids (When they're not shooting or axing her) she'll probably have a good time dealing with Kurogami.

3. Dat plot

So what is this case she's on? Could easily be a simple case of kidnappings and it'll just show Naoto using her detective knowledge to get the case down. However, this is Persona we're talking about and nothing is simple. With the experience from jumping in to TVs, Naoto would expect something is odd with the disappearances.

(Update): It looks like it is some supernatural event since the case is surrounding a website called Mayonaka Site. Naoto is teaming up with a “mechanized” detective name Sousei Kurogami to search for Touko Aoi, another detective. So yeah, a Persona story with a robot in it. Surprised!?

What we do know...

The novel is being handled Natsuki Mamiya who has experience with writing super natural story-lines, had worked on a few police animes, and is getting some help from Atlus so it safe to say that the writing would be solid. Shuji Sogabe will be the Illustrator and his past work on the mange versions of P3 and P4 have shown he can do it well. And to show that this isn't some cheap tie-in on the series, Shigenori Soejima is the person who done the cover art, showing that this product is in good hands.

So that is all I hope to see in this novel when it comes out soon (And translated soon).

Most video game adaptations haven’t been able capture the aspect of the game properly. Many fail to integrate the mechanics of the game into motion or ignoring the story elements for something that isn’t fitting. Persona 4 the animation is was able to bring the game into a different media right. While it does fall short in some places, it was able to keep everything that made the game great intact.

For those of you who haven’t played the game, the story revolves around the main character, who is named Yu Narukami in the show, as he moves to Inaba due to family business. During his stay, he finds himself in a strange event involving two murders and the midnight channel, that only shows up at midnight that shows the person you most desire. Soon Yu and his new friends, Yosuke and Chie discover that there is another world in the TV full of suppressed emotions called shadows and is being used to evil deeds as people are being thrown into the TV and killed by their own shadows. It is up to Yu and his investigation team, consisting of Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Teddie, Kanji, Rise, and Naoto, to solve this murder mystery using their new found powers called Persona. The story doesn’t just talk about the murder mystery and school life but also subtle hints of social issues and personal problems that help develop the main cast as well as the people Yu meets in his stay in inaba and allow him to understand himself in some ways.

The story is filled with good development but it isn’t all paced well. Many scenes lose some impact due to how fast they go by and how a huge chunk of a 60 hour game is fit in a 25 episode series. There was a whole episode that had Yu social linking with 5 people at once and a few weren’t given proper development. The issue is mainly a problem to those who haven’t played the games yet and may not pick up on the missing parts. I give the anime credit that they do some logical implications. Many of the people Yu have conversations with either show up or meet in settings that make sense. The shows went as far as to integrate the multiple Persona summoning and fusing that works in the fights when it was just a game mechanic. It's the attention to detail and the smart use of the game mechanics that allows the Persona 4 anime to be a step above other video game adoptions.

Speaking of details. Since the anime isn’t limited by hardware, the show is able to convey scenes of emotion and simple conversation a lot more with voices and animation than a talking portrait of a character, even if that still works. The whole Nanako arc has a lot more impact when you see Nanako crying her heart out to her father with tears falling down her face instead of just hearing her. There also use of symbolism in the TV when the characters are facing their other selves. In Yukiko’s arc, she felt trapped by her family inn job and the bird in the cage helps implicate that as well as how she was when she was working. Every aspect from gender issues, roles, and social problems that were talked about in the game are given the proper time to be showcase, even with the pacing issues. The humor has it ups and downs. When done right, like the school festival or the king’s game, it allows us to see the characters in a innocent moment and offers a different perspective on the characters. However, it can get in the way at times like in the Kanji arc as it somewhat lessen the impact of Kanji’s hidden self. Despite that, the comedy aspect had a lot more hits than misses. Actually, without the humor and the more casual scenes, the more tense and dramatic scene wouldn’t be interesting if we didn’t see these characters in a more happier time.

Like the game, the visuals are pretty incredible. There been a lot of work that went into the details, despite of early complaints, and it shows. Nice use of lighting and shading, different use of colors, and lively expressions and motions from characters. Character designs are given a more rounded look than the portraits in the game and are slightly simplified to enable them to make more expressions. Settings in the real world are of typical rural setting with nice lighting and density of building and people. Over in the TV, however, shows off the creativity of the designers using wild colors and abstract designs to convey that you’re in another dimension. Animation is pretty good especially during combat with all sorts of movements and effects. I think the most impressive part of the show is it use of lighting from glowing effects to its ability to tell the time of day in a scene. Many tense scenes had two different lighting to show contrast between conflicts. There were a few quality issues in some scenes where character faces looked a little off, bland coloring, or a lack of motion but those will be iron out on the DVD/Blu-ray releases. The Persona series, at least 3 and 4, had great music and the anime doesn't go short on that department. Getting the composer, Shōji Meguro, to make music for the show was a great choice that allows the show to retain the same music style as the game. Every music, from the intro and outro, to the background noises, old and new, fit the scene and not thrown in like what happen with Trinity souls. The voice acting is pretty solid with all of the voices fitting well with the characters. There are a few voice that are pretty hard to listen to like Teddie but surprisingly, a few voice actors want a subtle approach with their characters, like Rise, where they weren’t the high pitched voices when they were in the game that allow them to be more tolerable. It’ll be a nice intro to people who never get the chance to hear the Japanese cast of P4 and hear how they did their characters.

Overall, Persona 4 anime was able to do what most adoptions couldn’t. Despite some shortcomings and it won't replace the original, it was able to present what made the game so great in a different media. There is still one episode left that is DVD/Blu-ray only but I’ll gladly purchase it when it comes out since I’m happy with what I’ll be watching, dub or no dub.

Investigation team, GO!

If you like to rate my review head over to my Animevice review post: http://www.animevice.com/persona-4-the-animation/11-6101/user-reviews/?review_id=1131

Its here, the festival episode and it not just any anime festival episode but a Persona 4 one.

The festival event was one of my favorite moments in the game and now the anime since it was really letting lose all of the characters in some sort of strange event. We finally get to see the rendition of Romeo and Juliet / Hamlet, Yu trying to avoid fortunetelling Margaret from Ai, and the group dating café goes well with YU getting in to character. By far the best one was the famous beauty and cross-dressing pageant. Seeing the people's reactions to the guys dress up was just hilarious. I still wonder how was Naoto able to pull off dressing Teddie up? The beauty pageant also had some nice comedy moments

While all of this was happening, Yu was getting his social link on with Ayane Matsunaga (Sun arcana). Her story isn't very dramatic as Yumi Ozawa was but it a nice one that is supported by Yu helpful nature. It was also nice that they gave it little more time for her little story to develop than some other social links. There was also some development with Rise as she's figuring out what she wants to do with her life. It looks like Yu is taking the friendly route with Rise problem instead of the lover which means he may be looking at someone else to fall in love with.

The fun isn't over yet as we head to the Amagi Inn for some hot bath time.

Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

Sorry about missing a week but I'll make it up for it by doing a double impression on last weeks episode as well as this weeks.

Episode 17

Back in episode 17, Naoto is rescued and revels to the team that the killer is still out there. With Naoto on the team, they hope to get a better look at who's the real killer. Meanwhile, the mystery behind what Teddie is still foggy despite the hospital examination and Yu strengthen his bond between him and Naoto with a little meal.

Nothing too new about this episode if you already played the game from the revelation that the killer is still out there and the nice little relationship of the team. However, there were some nice anime specific situations like Kanji lending a hand to Naoto and the interesting use of abilities like Teddie's energy shower which does kinda work that way. By now I have to wonder what level Yu is at because the ability to fuse Beelzebub doesn't happen till level 77. By now the Persona's abilities have been used in an interesting way that works realistically while also borrowing from the game from what attacks work and their effects. However, Yu should had known that Mudo does not work on boss!

The hospital scene had a nice touch with showing us the process they want though when being examine. The test results part was a lot less funny due to how Naoto sounded despite her action of taking the result sheet and about to rip it apart. The bonding relationship between Yu and Naoto was short but a nice one since it took Naoto away from something serious and into something simple.

Episode 18

This week we have the Dojima family episode where we learn of the problems Nanako and her dad, Ryotaro. With a little help from Yu, father and daughter get back together.

It was a touching episode that was well paced and packed in lots of emotional scenes. Nanako just wanted to know if her father really does love her and Dojima is just realizing that he only been running away from Nanako by just looking for the person who ran over his wife. The thing that kinda sticks out in all this is the Ms. Dojima face. Not a single scene of her had her face showing which kinda takes us out of the emotion of the scenes. They could of made one up that just for the anime. Despite that little issue, the episode held up because of the emotional hits it made.

Next week we have the god damn festival!

Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

And so we enter the TV again

With the fun times of the trip behind us, we return back to the story as Naoto try her best to pick at the team and hints at them on what she has in store with the murder case. Its soon apparent that Naoto is thrown in to the TV and having her secrets reveled by her own shadow that twist our level headed detective's world.

For those of you who don't know, I like Naoto's character above most of the other cast. She's cool, smart, and later on innocent in some cute ways. But its her background of hiding her gender and the way she acts like an adult that is reflective in society. She may be strong minded and tough but its really all an act even if she doesn't realize it. She's pretty much a kid playing around with adult type business. Her gender conflict isn't about should she act like a girl but does her gender fit with the ideal setting she's in. Even in these times it is hard for woman to fit in to fields, like the law enforcement, that men have mostly been in for years.

In the show, the conversion between Naoto and her shadow was a intriguing one compare to the game where it had many mood changes due to visual cues. At the start the mist around them was a greenish yellow and light blues but as the shadow start to poke at Naoto's emotions, the colors changed to reds and oranges, making the mood more unsettling just like how Naoto feels at that moment. Its an example of what makes animation great is that you can do things that help set the mood.

This episode of what turns out to be a two parter continues on the struggles of one's true self and I look forward to Naoto's conclusion.

Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

A trip of a life time.

So far, this is my favorite episode. It has all of the beats from the game that slightly progress the story while also having the characters spend time off from the case. It has some anime original scene that add to the comedy and one that may progress to some love interest. Last, it has some clever beats that fit the setting more than what they had in the game.

The stuff I found interesting was the small scene with Chie and Yu. By now Yu hasn't really shown too much interest in any of the girls but this scene kinda does hint at he may have someone in mind. However, it could be that was worry about Chie in a friend sort of way so it may just be a misunderstanding on Chie's part.

Using the Persona 3 music was a clever idea since it makes the place the gang is going to a completely different world from where their from but still holds on to the same style. It wasn't like in trinity soul where it was thrown in and hope that the scene fit the song.

By far the best scene was the King's game and it wasn't just because parts of it was from the game but the anime had added some nice extras like having Yu get drunk and just letting himself go.

Next week we have our Naoto arc.

Investigation team, GO!

P.S. The screenshots are made from me since the site that I been getting these shots from wont be doing anymore for P4. Tell me how they hold up and give me some advice on doing screenshots. Thanks.

Highlights

Gallery

Can't believe this all started because of some expensive umbrella.

The events of Nanako handing off her umbrella to fox soon led Yu to many trials from signing up for jobs, comedy routines, and understanding of other people. If I have to describe this episode with one word, it would be bold. Bold enough to cram 5 social links, Hermit Fox, Tower Nakajima Shuu (Ichiki Mitsuhiro), Death Kuroda Hisano (Tani Ikuko), Devil Uehara Sayoko (Kuwatani Natsuko), and Temperance Minami Eri (Itou Miki). We all know what their stories are. Shuu was lacking friends, Hisano wasn't sure if it was right to remember her husband after his death, Sayoko really does care about her career despite her flirtatious nature, and Eri wanting to win the love of her husband's son. Because of jumbling them in to a single episode, the social links suffer from a lack of development as the Sayoko's and Hisano's story arcs go a lot deeper with the hospital work and the life spent with the husband. Shuu's and Eri's story arcs still kinda work as a simple talk about friendship does help out Shuu and a bit of a violent solution helps show the son that Eri is a mother when realizing she all he has.

I guess I give the episode some credit by how there is a coherence between the people from Yu taking Hisano to the hospital where he meets Sayoko and the bus stop scene. It made it feel like it was happening at the amount of time Yu was spending outside the house and wasn't any jarring moments of time skepping ahead too fast. The comedy aspect of the episode was pretty good too with most being Yu's reactions to things, specially when that fish jumped out of the water.

I would say this was probably one of the weaker episodes due to the lack of development with the social links stories. If this part was split in to two episodes than maybe it would been possible to flesh out these social links more.

Gallery

Next week, FIELD TRIP and possibly the kings game!

Investigation team, GO!

Highlights

A filler episode was bond to show up but it's one that is nice to have.

What makes this episode interesting is the perspective we are watching it from. How do the other characters feel when they see Yu going around forming social links and what would they do about it. Its a nice break from the usual events of how the social link breaks down as Yu goes through them, which will be shown next week. Of course the main star of this filler episode was Nanako and dressing up as a Magical Detective Girl. It was mostly of her being all cute and stuff but it also shows her worries over what Yu and have her interact with old characters from pass episodes. There were some nice throw in cameos like the Shiroku Store Owner, Smith master and turning out to be a fire works person, Master Daidara, and F-ing Fox!

Since we are half way through the Persona 4 anime it is time for a change up of Opening and Ending (I assume it will change next week). The new opening, from both a visual and song aspect, are both well done and fitting with the series style. However, a few bits are of footage from the last opening but I assume that is due to lack of time to make some new animation and will most likely change later on or on the DVD/Blu-ray. This weeks ending is more specific to this episode featuring Nanako, some cute drawings, and a happy little song from Chie (No really, Chie (Horie Yui) was singing this).

After watching many filler episodes in my life time of animes, this one works out in the end since it keeps itself in the logic of the series and connects to the currents events as we see them from Yu's perspective next week.

Magical Detective Nanako, GO!

Hightlights

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