Persona – trinity soul – 07

Summary:

Megumi flashes back to her last Persona encounter with Toma. As she starts to scream for both Shin and Takurou to stop, a windshield shatters, and she awakens to find herself on the bus with a couple of onlookers giggling at her outburst. Megumi settles back down and looks grim as she continues to reflect on the fight. Meanwhile at a coffee shop, Takurou tells Shin, Kanaru, and Jun that Megumi has been acting strange lately and that he feels like she has been keeping her distance from them. Kanaru thinks that Megumi is acting that way because Takurou isn’t going on the Kurobe Coast trip with them. Takurou, feeling guilty, decides to go with the group. Kanaru invites Jun along and tells them that this was their reward for being “Chief Inspector” for the day. While Inui cleans, he hints in the background that he is free to go as well. Jun then says that they needed a driver, and Kanaru asks if Inui would drive the six of them.

On the rooftop of Ayanagi Hospital, Yumi watches the cars below from the balcony and sees a white feather floating to her. As she reaches over to touch it, Megumi calls Yumi’s name, and the feather disappears.

The next morning Shin runs downstairs to get Jun ready for their Kurobe trip. Ryou tells Shin that Jun is already outside waiting for him, and tells Shin to be careful on their trip. The group sets on the road in a van with music blaring in the background. Yumi apologizes for being an inconvenience, but Takurou tells Yumi that with her there, they make a perfect set for a group date. Yumi then asks if Shin and Jun were Ryou’s brothers. She tells them that he saved her life and asked if Shin would send him her gratitude. She then turns to Kanaru and asked if she was the one that did Kagenuki with her before class once. Megumi becomes very upset at the two girls even though Kanaru and Yumi both apologize saying that it was in their past. All of a sudden a truck passes them, which triggers a flashback of a car accident in Megumi. Jun appears as though he has read her thoughts, turns and looks at Megumi with an astonished expression. Then as if nothing had happened, Megumi jumps back to chastising the girls all the way to the inn.

At the police station, Eiko enters Ryou’s office and hands him a piece of paper for him to put his seal on. Ryou tells Eiko that he didn’t want her to come by his office very often. Back at the inn, the innkeeper welcomes the group to the Inn. The girls ask the innkeeper if she remembered them. The innkeeper said that she did and asked how their dancing was coming along. Shin inquired if the girls had been to the inn before, and they said that they came once for a school trip. As they walk down the hallway, Jun asks Shin if Megumi had a little brother, but Shin said that he didn’t know. Meanwhile at the station, Eiko uses the police archives to look up all of the missing person’s reports for the past ten years. As the reports appear, Eiko sees the name Hiroji Semi, the innkeeper’s name on the list.

Back at Kurobe Jun, Shin, and Megumi decide to go get some drinks, while Kanaru and Inui hang out on the beach. When Shin and the rest meet up with Kanaru and Inui they ask where Takurou and Yumi was. Kanaru said that she didn’t know where Takurou was, but that Yumi was in the lighthouse. Megumi immediately runs to the lighthouse thinking that Yumi was going to try to commit suicide again. When Megumi reaches her, Yumi asks what she was doing, and as she looks into Megumi’s face, she understands the reason why Megumi invited her along. It was because she didn’t want Yumi to try to kill herself again. Yumi then reassures her that she no longer wanted to end her life. The two watch the sunset from the beach and reminisce about the past when they came to Kurobe. Yumi tells her that she feels as though something is bothering Megumi, and that she is trying to divert her attention to something else. Megumi asks Yumi if it was ok to give up on something that seemed impossible, but quickly realizes that she was wrong, and tells Yumi that she promised her once that no matter what happens, she would never give up. As they go back to the inn, another white feather floats down and lands in Yumi’s hand.

At the inn, the innkeeper tells Shin and Jun about the time when Megumi and Yumi stayed there. She told them that Megumi seemed troubled at that time, but when she came back, seemed much happier. Jun then asks if the man in the picture was the innkeeper’s husband. She said that he was, but that he had disappeared out in sea ten years ago. Kanaru and Megumi take a bath together that evening. Megumi notices Kanaru’s chest when she gets up, and tells her that breasts are perfect just as a naked Takurou accidentally walks in on them. A mortified Takurou tells them later while playing B.S. that it was dark and that he didn’t see anything. Megumi asked where Takurou went off to that afternoon, to which he said that he was just out and about. As Inui puts down his hands of cards, Jun calls b.s. and amazingly wins again.

Back at the station, Eiko and Ryou try to compare the similarities of all of the missing persons cases. Eiko tells Ryou that the one thing that links everything together is the white feather, but she didn’t know how or why.

After everyone is asleep Shin and Jun sees Takurou sneaking out of the inn and decide to follow him. They walk for a little bit before they find Takurou on the beach practicing fighting with his Persona. Shin and Jun watch as Takurou becomes frustrated when he is unable to control his Persona. Megumi soon arrives and says that she knew he would be out there. The three walk down the beach and ask Takurou if he was preparing for battle, but Takurou said that it was more of a self learning rather than preparing. Megumi gets upset and tells him to stop doing dangerous things, but Takurou defends his action by saying that they never know when Toma may show up again. As Megumi and Takurou continue to argue, Shin interrupts them and tells them that Yumi’s Persona had been forcefully taken as well, and that the police were unreliable in helping them. As Shin and Takurou continue on with their reasoning for using the Personas, Megumi flashes back to a car accident scene where her little brother was thrown from the car. Jun reads her mind and understands her feelings of resentment towards the Persona. To the surprise of Shin and Takurou, Megumi said that even with a Persona, she wasn’t able to save anyone. Soon Inui and Kanaru catch up with the rest of them, and when Megumi notices that Yumi wasn’t with them, runs towards the lighthouse. Takurou tries to use his Persona to try to get him there faster, however still unable to fully control his Persona, he falls into the ocean. As Shin awakens his Persona, he sees the red hair girl fly to Yumi. The red hair girl sees Shin from across the beach and flies directly to him, stopping within inches of his face. As she begins to pull at Shin, his Persona slashes through just as she turns into a pile of white feathers. Megumi then looks up at the lighthouse and sees Yumi fall over the ledge. Megumi releases her Persona and saves her just before she falls to the ground. As the rest of the group watch the two float back down to safety, Jun sheds a tear because he feels that a heart has broken.

Preview

Let’s start off with character development – I’m glad to see that Jun is honing in on his psych skills, but I am still curious to see what he is going to do with that ability. We learn a little about Megumi’s past in episode 7, and now we get why she is so opposed to kagenuki – she blames Persona for not saving her little brother’s life. Now looking back at the previous episodes, I’m wondering if everyone has a Persona?  Here’s what I really don’t understand, who is Inui? What is his role, or does he have one? Where did he get that camcorder at the end of the episode? Does anyone know?

Next we have story development – I still think that this show is lacking key elements in this section. It’s dragging its feet by trying to throw in way too much information on one episode, but lagging on others – it’s not consistent at all. There are so many stories in this show that it seems impossible to focus on one major plot – it just seems so messy at times. I would like for them to highlight a bit more on the Yuki/Jun story, or maybe even focus on Toma for more than one episode at a time – is that wishful thinking?

I’m still on the fence with this anime. Yes, I know that some of you absolutely LOVE this show and will defend it to the very end, but so far I think A-1 can do a heck of a better job developing a stronger foundation with the story line.

Sanada_kikyo