First Impressions / Persona 4 the ANIMATION

OP4 Sequence

OP4: 「key plus words」 by 平田志穂子 feat. 川村ゆみ (Hirata Shihoko feat. Kawamura Yumi)
Watch the 4th OP: Streaming ▼

「A Stormy Summer Vacation 1/2」

Alright, who put Tantei Opera Milky Holmes into my Persona 4? I honestly haven’t watched anything from the magical detective girl genre yet (shocking right?), but after seeing Nanako’s turn as the pink-haired detective Lovely’n, I’m beginning to understand how such a genre even exists in the first place. Even if you don’t like Nanako or mahou shoujous, this episode was a great example of what adaptations can add to the source material – namely, showing the story from a point of view not found in the original game. A healthy dose of humor definitely doesn’t hurt either, especially when it comes after a couple of more serious episodes.

Back in episode 08, I remarked on how much I felt sorry for Nanako because she basically spends her days watching TV alone, neglected by both her father and cousin. Hers was a character that was ripe for development and I knew that she would eventually get her time in the spotlight, but I could have never foreseen that her episode would turn out this way. Not that I’m complaining – the setup and progression of the episode was a textbook perfect execution of a focused character development episode.

The setup: Nanako’s personality. This girl is so nice and caring that she’ll even abandon an umbrella to shelter a fox, despite knowing nothing about it. She even gave up the umbrella even though it had her favorite magical detective girl, Lovely’n, on it. How many people do you know who could give up a prized possession without any hesitation, and to an animal no less? This random act of kindness to animals along with how quietly she handles being left home alone by Ryoutarou and Yuu elevates her character to the rarefied pantheon of “Best Elementary School Aged Daughters in Anime”, joining Rin from Usagi Drop.

What truly distinguishes Nanako from other girls is that the blood of detectives that runs strong in her veins, which brings us to the conflict of the episode: the mystery of Yuu’s free time. Other imoutos, when faced with the mystery of why their onii-chans don’t spend time at home with them, probably just give up and go back to watching TV. Not Nanako. Her favorite anime and her detective bloodline have developed Nanako into a girl of action. Seeing her don the costume of the caped crusader known as Lovely’n was arguably better than any Persona summoning seen so far in the series. Nanako might want to get rid of that wand though – it seems to always deliver the weirdest lines at the worst times, and the creepy old man voice doesn’t help either. She even knows how to choose her sidekicks! At first, when Nanako ran into Kuma, I thought that she had just found the best person to investigate with, thanks to the skills of his nose. Turns out all that nose is ever good for in the real world is leading Kuma to food. Thankfully, she runs into the true Investigation Team, who is probably itching for a case to crack open again, and Kuma actually helps them out this time. I thought that Kuma’s help was going to be some cross-dressing disguises, but his nifty disguise glasses that never fail to crack Yukiko up works too.

Ever wondered what Yuu’s social links with older women might look like to other people? I don’t think I ever stopped to ask that question, but after watching this episode, I’m glad that this adaptation chose to answer it. And what better way to answer this question than by turning Yuu’s relationships into a harem! The misconceptions from Yuu’s friends when they were investigating him were priceless, making Yuu look like a guy with a taste in cougars of all ages – from Uehara Sayoko, to Minami Eri, and the “super old” Kuroda Hisano. I’m sure Yuu knew of people’s potential misconceptions about his relationships with all these different women; why else would he don Kuma’s costume/suit and ride it on the bus? The sensei needs to learn from the student though – his impression of Kuma wasn’t very convincing, but it was good for one of the most hilarious moments of the show so far.

With Nanako’s investigation into Yuu going nowhere, we come to the final part of a good character focused episode: the character’s monologue (sometimes internal), insight, and resolution. I really liked how everything came to a full circle at the end and included many of the characters we know from game. Naoto being the person to encourage Nanako to continue her investigating felt quite appropriate given their shared circumstances, and the sage advice of Daidara (who has been recast as a fireworks maker instead of a weapon smith) was a nice touch as well. Nanako truly does share more than a love for detective work with her cousin Yuu. In putting a smile on the same people that Yuu’s helped in the past, like Kou, Daisuke, and Ai (how the heck did she get a scarf stuck in a tree, and how does she know how to use that wand?), Nanako realizes her investigation is finally complete.

Next episode, we get Yuu’s side of the story, on what exactly he did with all those older women. With those many stories, five by my count, I am a little worried that each one won’t get as much time allotted as the story deserves. Maybe they should add in another Nanako episode somewhere down the line, with a new investigation into the mystery of how Yuu’s popped collar is able to attract so many women in Inaba.

* To clear things up, unlisted does pretty much all of the caps while I do the writing, so please give him credit for all of his hard work, especially the full-length images, like this week’s ED cap
* Speaking of the ED, loved the artwork and innocence of Nanako
* Full length images: 04, 07, 13, 16, 23, ED3
* All ED sequence thumbnails link to the same full length shot. Enjoy! -unlisted

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「恋する名探偵」 (Koi Suru Meitantei) by 堀江由衣 (Horie Yui)
Watch the 3rd ED: Streaming ▼

Preview

45 Comments

  4. Gotta love this episode. It may not have been as funny like the previous eps, but it was set up pretty well. Eagerly awaiting next episode!
    Also did liked how they managed to sneak in the female shopkeeper from the game (who sold items and such) and the guy from Daidara.

    Oh, and also according to the 5th pic from the OP, Naoto doesn’t have her gun… aw well.

    kingboo
    Reply

  10. Those sneaky animators! Trying to hide all their QUALITY moments with a wall of Nanako moe. But its so hard to resist since its Nanako. I do love the different perspective though, at least the show does try something new. This episode sure got a load of cameos, even the Weaponsmith and the General Goods seller were shown.

    And damn was Yuu burning his social links FAST. It has to be a New Game+ at this point. I’m severely worried how they are going to cram five(!!!!) social links into next episode though. Especially since Sayoko is among them.

    fragb85
    Reply

  11. Thanks for the review Verdant and Unlisted ! Really appreciated…

    So… where to begin with the differences between the game and the anime (BTW people, get used to it, I’ve been doing since the begining and I’ll do that until the end of the series):
    Show Spoiler ▼

    I can’t really recall the social links very well, but I can assure you that the watermelon is accurate.

    BTW, can someone please explain to me what’s the deal with the watermelon ? Is it that much of a rarety in Japan ? Is it really expensive that no one buys them ? Is Japan not a well-known client for the watermelon market ? What’s the whole deal ? I never understood that in-game… and I still don’t get it in the anime either.

    Anyway, thanks again for the review !

    JiCi
    Reply

  13. Love the new opening, I’m worried that were not going to have enough time to dedicate a lot of time to seeing how the main casts develop and level up their personas but I hope we have enough time for a Yuuxrise romance at least.

    Anza
    Reply

  17. Both Rise and Nanako are now forced to wear the glasses of shame. Would be funny to see serious Naoto in them.

    Great episode I kinda feel the next one won’t live up to the nice pace this episode had. Might be rushed with hisano, sayako, shuu, fox and eri slinks.

    More Naoto is needed.

    On a off note, thought it was funny how Rise got so upset to hear about Narukami being with other women, while thinking Chie and Yukiko actually cared, to go and check with her lol. That confirms Yu’s harem being only Sayako and Rise who want a piece of him.

    Burnout
    Reply

  18. This was a new take on the anime, and unlike most animes that attempt to throw in a bad slice of life element, Persona 4 pulls off the old-school style that the older animes were known to be good for. Obviously amplified by how adorable Nanako is. Was Yuu wearing the bulletproof vest found from chests and a katana case? https://randomc.net/image/Persona%204%20the%20ANIMATION/Persona%204%20the%20ANIMATION%20-%2013%20-%20Large%2023.jpg
    probably going to the T.V. world for righteous extra mini-boss smashing.
    The new op wasn’t as thrilling as the first one, but I really liked when they introduced the enemy advantage warning.

    Ramen
    Reply

  19. Did we skip the Sun Arcana Social Link(s) or is that being held off for a later episode? Just something random I noticed.

    I’ll admit the changes so far are interesting and definitely add to the story, especially the previous episode. I mean, I knew there were a few that would happen going into this like Margret having to take over for Igor (I’m glad Igor has some dialogue, even if it is recycled from the game itself) and Social Link paths being passed over (The anime went with Kou’s path for the Strength Arcana Link as opposed to Daisuke’s path unless we’ll get a random Daisuke side story down the line). Daidara being a fireworks expert is different, but works for his character, oddly enough.

    Thrudgelmir
    Reply

  20. Loli Rin > Nanako
    I know I am in the minority, but this episode didn’t really do anything to impress me, in fact I found said Nanako adventure pretty boring (cliche) and not cute at all. Actually I’d prefered if they had skipped the mystery surrounding the social links. Of course the animation problems didn’t help either.
    Are we in for a lot more of those social link eps with random characters? Because so far those were the weakest eps. for me.

    boingman
    Reply

  21. I for one really enjoy this kind of adaptation because it breaks from the formula style of the game. While the formula style works in the game, it has shown to not work so well when animated. However, the depth of the social links do take a hit and it is unfortunate that show isn’t longer.

    darkkodiak
    Reply

    1. Wow at that picture. I’ve been watching the TV broadcast version on MBS. I would like to think I would have definitely caught something like that since I re-watch the episode 2-3 times while capping. Anyway, the MBS version DOESN’T have this animation screw up. There have been some subtle differences between the broadcast and simulcast versions. Most notably, the transition animation for jumping into the TV (which zooms in game) differs sometimes between the broadcast and simulcast. Sometimes it zooms in with the black and white tv outlines and sometimes it doesn’t. I’m no expert at how the industry works but I think they may have received an earlier version (for English subs) and thought it was good to go only to have the studio find the mix up and correct it before the TV broadcast. I see a lot more animation screw ups with simulcast shows than I do with TV only shows.

      unlisted
      Reply

  26. Ryotaro drunk and Kanji screaming for watermelon made this episode memorable for me. Kanji really loves his watermelon that he vigorously munches at it while shaking salt on it.

    Catanthill
    Reply

  30. So, this is how it will be like when you’re doing multiple social links at once. I love his fishing outfit, looks freaking hilarious… guess he’s going for that legendary fish!

    Serapita
    Reply

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