HomeAnimePersona 4 The Animation Volume 1 (Blu-ray) (Episodes 1-9) - Anime Review

Persona 4 The Animation Volume 1 (Blu-ray) (Episodes 1-9) – Anime Review

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CoverPersona4Title: Persona 4 the Animation Volume 1
Encompasses: Episodes 1-9
Published by: Madman Entertainment (Australia / New Zealand)
Based on: Persona 4 on the Playstation 2 / Playstation Vita by ATLUS
Genre: Murder Mystery, Comedy, Drama, Action-Adventure etc
Audio: English and Japanese Dubs
Subtitles: English and…. French
Runtime: 225 Minutes
Classification: This title has been classified as M for Sexual References, Coarse Language and Supernatural Themes
Special Thanks: Madman Entertainment for providing me with a copy of this release to review!

When Yu Narukami’s moves to the rural country town of Inaba, he’s expecting a lot more peace and quiet than he’s been used to in the big city. Instead, the peace has been shattered as a rash of mysterious murders and kidnappings sweep the countryside. With the police stymied, Yu finds himself joining with a group of eight other teenagers in a desperate bid to solve the mystery. A mystery that is somehow connected to both the local weather patterns and a strange video game world which Yu, his friends and the enigmatic killer can all enter. Journey beyond the Velvet Room as the hit PlayStation 2™ game becomes a spectacular anime in PERSONA 4 the Animation!

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While 2012 was the year for Persona fans in North America, Australian fans can consider 2013 equally the same – with not only the three-part release of Persona 4 the Animation but also Persona 4 Golden by NIS America / Namco Bandai Partners and hopefully Persona 4 Arena down the track thanks to Zen United. Unlike North America which followed a two-part release of the DVD and Blu-ray versions of Persona 4 the Animation…. Madman Entertainment are splitting up their DVD and Blu-ray releases into two different schedules. The DVD release will come in the same two part release while the Blu-ray edition will come with three installments – but to make up for this they are also including the Japanese dub in the blu-ray release, a perk that the North American releases do not have.

BUT of course, this means nothing if the series isn’t enjoyable right? See how it fares in my review of the Blu-ray edition of Persona 4 the Animation Volume 1.

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Storyline

Persona 4 surrounds the events which take place in the rural town of Inaba, where Yu Narukami has been sent to live for a year with his uncle and younger cousin. Since his arrival, the town sees itself the center of a string of mysterious murders – where the victims are found hanging from television antennas. To add to the mix, a mysterious television program known as the Mightnight Channel which appears on rainy nights leads Yu and his friends to enter the television world and through the power of Personas rescue those who have becoming trapped and are under threat of shadows and personifications of their personality. Oh… and they wear glasses and aided by a bear named “Teddie”.

The original video game release of Persona 4 was split up into two primary sections, each of which delivered equal value to the overall storyline. You had the dungeon-crawling aspect, where every month or two in-game the “Investigation Team” would find a new character appear on the Midnight Travel which leads them back into the television world to rescue them and hopefully figure out the culprit down the track. The second storyline aspect were social links, which filling the rest of the time required you to form bonds with your classmates and the wider community in order to unlock benefits when summoning new Persona. Both of these could have potentially been done very poorly…. but instead they delivered above and beyond my expectations (At least in these first nine episodes that exceeded my expectations).

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For those familiar to the game, the first nine episodes covers from where Yu Narukami first moves to Inaba until when Rise Kujikawa appears on the Midnight Channel, but unlike the game however they do not slow down for an episode given how many characters and dungeons they have to include. Most of these episodes focus on the main storyline, where Yukiko Amagi and later Kanji Tatsumi find themselves trapped in the Midnight Channel while also leaving some development for the other main characters Yosuke Hanamura and Chie Satonaka. While I won’t delve into the personalities of each of these characters, they are well developed and should prove interesting for newcomer and veteran to the series alike. Outside of character development, the world building is well-paced and interesting.

“Social Links” have generally been refined to one episode per character or set of characters rather than continuously building the characters, with a total of four characters focused on over two dedicated episodes. Outside of this the characters might make small appearances but otherwise it is left to the main character cast, Nanako and Ryutaro Dojima (Yu’s cousin and uncle) and a small set of secondary characters to pull the weight of the series as a whole. But overall the characters retained their quirks and purpose, proving equally interesting to their video game counterparts and providing an overall interesting and fun watching experience.

Not every video game to anime adaptation has proven successful in the past, however Persona 4 the Animation has provided a great watching experience. The first nine episodes have remained overly loyal to the source material, even carrying over / adapting several gameplay aspects to the anime format, however do make minor but noticeable anime-exclusive contributions in the form of minor characters and plot points. Content which was renamed for the video game release (Eg. Kuma –> Teddie) remains intact – so you can listen to Nanako sing “Everyday’s Great at your June!” in the first episodes. It is debatable if Persona 4 the Animation would appeal to those not familiar with the game series, but despite the smaller number of episodes in this volume I was pleased with the content provided up until now.

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Design

The visuals and character designs included in Persona 4 the Animation remains faithful to the original source material, including a few visual aids such as the use of the scrolling calendar each day and the personality trait “status” bar which appears at the middle of each episode (Untranslated surprisingly). With areas around Inaba present in the game, they do a solid performance of replicating them while incorporating new areas which also capture the theme of Inaba or where they take place. Characters have also been replicated well.

The animation quality does shift between scenes and episodes, however the character and environment designs are well detailed and are coupled well with the high visual quality. It is a series that has had enough effort and content put into it to warrant a Blu-ray release.

Dominatrix Banana Head!

Music / Voice Acting

Within the nine episodes were several opening sequences coupled with a single ending sequence. The main opening theme is “sky’s the limit”‘ by Shihoko Hirata was nothing special but did its job well and was coupled with great animation. In addition to these the games original opening theme “Pursuing My True Self” also by Shihoko Hirata makes an appearance during the standard version of Episode 1 and “True Story” by Rie Kugimiya plays in Episode 9 to welcome in the storyline surrounding idol Rise Kujikawa who makes her first appearance that episode. The single ending sequence “Beauty of Destiny” by Shihoko Hirata feat. Lotus Juice was a much better song and featured animation that progressively built each episode as you unlocked “Social Links”.

The remainder of the anime’s soundtrack is a mix of new tracks and ones from the game, both of which where used effectively and contributed to the overall experience.

As I mentioned above, unlike the North American release of Persona 4 the Animation, the PAL region releases include both English and Japanese dubs on Blu-ray format. The English dub features similar ammendments that appear in Persona 4 Golden and Persona 4 Arena – Tracey Rooney has been replaced by Erin Fitzgerald as Chie Satonaka while Sam Riegel replaced Dave Wittenberg as Teddie. They both do a solid performance although are to some extent noticeably different from their original counterparts. Johnny Yong Bosch, who also voices Adachi also takes up the reigns as Yu Narukami and I felt played both roles well.

Overall both language dubs are of good quality, so it really comes down to personal preference.

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Extras / Packaging

In addition to the small Madman Anime Update booklet included in the cover, the on-disc content is as follows:

  • An extended “Director’s Cut” version of Episode 1, which you have the option of watching instead of the original episode.
  • Clean Opening and Ending Sequences. The Clean Opening only includes the main one and not the two additional ones, while the ending is sourced from the first appearance. Interestingly, I would be more inclined to say these are Clean Karaoke sequences considering the subtitles highlight the individual word or part thereof as it is sung.
  • Short Drama “Jikken-Kun”
  • Japanese Teaser and Trailers for the Show

Madman Entertainment make use of Kaze’s menu system, which means there are no Madman trailers on the disc, but in return it seems like we are also given French Subtitles provided you select the language when first loading the disc. The menu itself is simple but easily navigable.

Overall

While it is hard to judge a series on just the first third of the episodes, so far I am pleased with the production and localization work which has gone into the title, and hope the same standard will continue through until the end. Newcomers to the series might want to check out game first to fully appreciate the series, but otherwise it is a title I could happily recommend considering picking up.

Final Score
Storyline / Character Development: B+
Design: A-
Music/Voice Acting: A
Extras: B
Personal Preference: A-
Overall Score: A-

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.
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