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「Although the Case Was Closed」
One thing that separates great detective stories from good ones is the creativity of the “traps”. Now I’m not necessarily saying that Persona 4 is a great detective story by any means, but how many of you concentrated so much on looking for the usual places that traps exist (like false suspects and misleading evidence) that you failed to realize that the detective themselves may be a trap?
While Persona 4’s foray into slice-of-life was very entertaining, it was only a matter of time that the mystery of Inaba returned as the focus of the story as Igor alluded to in the Velvet Room. I hope that his prediction that the ordeals will increase in both number and difficulty will keep these upcoming episodes fresh – even if it means anime original material like Yuu’s trip to the dream world while fighting Shadow Kubo. You would think that having already been warned that the case is not yet closed, Yuu would pass the news onto the rest of the Investigation Team. Instead, it was the Detective Prince who made them realize that there were still too many inconsistencies to call it a wrap. I was also happy to hear someone finally asking, “What the heck is Mayonaka TV?”, even though the question wasn’t really answered, because it at least made them realize for a second how absurd their story really does sound.
It was also quite risky of Naoto to appear on television to test his theory about the kidnappings/murders without first consulting with everyone, but not at all surprising either since he had a history of acting alone anyway. Then again, if Naoto had told them beforehand, we wouldn’t be able to see how much a tsundere Kanji truly is, besides from his interactions with his mother. Kanji’s hospital visit was an effective way of developing his character, similar to the way Chie’s story was added in last week’s episode. My only concern is that these scenes will occur too far apart for people to remember each character’s entire story and their development.
The more I see of Aika, the more convinced I am that she needs some loving as well. Something tells me she’d make a great bartender, and I wish we could hear more of her deadpan delivery (or maybe I just want to hear her laugh once). Who knows, maybe she’d be a perfect match for Yuu as well? We also see a more observant side of Yukiko as well, with her observation about how Inaba feels strange because everyone seems a little too happy. It’ll be interesting to see if the show ties her comment with the kidnappings, or if this is merely another trap to lead us astray from the true culprit.
With all the emphasis on the Kubo as the “trap” suspect, I’d be willing to bet that a lot of people weren’t able to channel their inner Ackbar when it came to Naoto. I loved the way Kanji’s face reacted upon hearing the news, but I felt that the rest of the Team’s reactions weren’t as surprised as I expected them to be. It really appeared like their reaction to seeing Shadow Naoto turn Yousuke into an old man was more extreme than when they found out about Naoto’s true gender. In any case, even though I’m not looking forward to seeing my favorite girls being turned into hags, I am hoping to see more of how the Team deals with their newfound knowledge about Naoto – and especially if any romance develops between her and Yuu. And more “traps” to discover.
* Finally, someone realized that just telling people not to say “You’re not me!” wasn’t ever going to work!
* Let it be known that the Aika x Yuu ship first set sail on RandomC
* Yuu’s persona of the week was Genbu, and their enemy were Fail Genes
* Full-length images: 01, 05, 09, 20, 21, 31
Preview
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Hahaha…Detective “Trap”.
It’s funny because the gender of the character was implied to be the opposite of what it actually turned out to be. And she’s a detective.
Is that a Bakuman reference? xD Meitantei Trap!
Indeed it was!
AH! We finally get to this part.
https://randomc.net/image/Persona%204%20the%20ANIMATION/Persona%204%20the%20ANIMATION%20-%2016%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
Shadow Naoto is, IMO, way better than the other shadows.
just who aika is…
is she the true mystery of the show?
Honestly, to me she looks a little too much like a genderswapped version of the MC from Persona 3.
Did someone else notice the new battle animation in the OP? That was alot better than that rehash one from the first OP.
I wonder how people who haven’t played the game reacted to the Naoto twist.
Pretty good episode. Looking forward to more Naoto next ep!
Based on some of the reactions I’ve been reading, there’s more than a few that are on the “WTFwasnotexpecting” side. It’s always amusing to read~
From what I heard, there actually was “old” voices recorded for the party members in the case of being hit by an enervation spell in the game but was cut so seeing it play out in the anime was great. Can’t wait to see more Naoto <3
Well as someone who never played the game, let me summarize my reaction thusly:
“Hahaha WHAT.”
Flat what with some chuckles. Frankly, “Character is not the gender they appear to be” is a well worn plot device in anime so it’s hard to be really shocked by it anymore.
daga, otome ga…
I do hope that they give Naoto some attention in the romance department (and that we’ll see her in her girls’ uniform), although I’m not too sure after last week’s development…
Aaawww … no drunken scene. 🙁
That ramen girl is awesome, btw…. no idea why she’s awesome, but she is!!
GASP! NAOTO IS A GIRL! THE MOST POPULAR GIRL IN P4 FANART JUST HAPPENS TO BE A GIRL! HOW SHOCKING!
Seriously though, I’m quite amused at how many people were surprised that Naoto is a girl. Back when the P4 Game was released, almost no one was surprised by this “twist” largely because Susan Dalian did such a poor job sounding masculine. That or they acccidentally stumbled to the dozens of Naoto fanart during the peak of P4’s popularity.
I like how they inserted some of Kanji’s social links on the search for Naoto. Because Kanji is awesome. And he pretty much continued to be awesome when he was in the dungeon.
Even with the JP release it wasn’t THAT big a surprise since there was a popular rumor before its release that Naoto was actually a reverse trap. Plus, it’s a little hard to keep Naoto’s secret considering most people refer to her as “she” or “her” without spoiler tags even when talking generally about the game.
A: Who are you?!
B: I’m you.
A: You are not me!
B: Yay, me power up!
A: I am you, you are me!
A: Yay, me power up!!
And rinse and repeat.
…except that there are no more Personas to get…*sadface*
WHAT?!? A two pater in in Persona?!?! BLASPHEMY!
Na, I kid. I’m just poking fun at the fact that things didn’t tied up in one episodes, like they usually do. Well the dungeon parts anyway. They usually do those in one episode.
Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to this arch for a while. Seeing it play out rather close to how the game did it was an added plus. Though it would have been funnier if the Naoto Shadow would have fired a ‘gender bender beam’ rather then a ‘hyper aging one.’ However from what i read in the comments, the ‘aging one’ was planned but cut, so what ever.
My only grip is that they didn’t have Naoto yell back at her shadow, In a less masculine (more girly) voice. Confirming her shadows claims of her true gender. With one of the other characters saying something like; “well that proves it.” Or something like that. Like in the game.
Thanks a bunch for the review Verdant !
Hmmm… the first and second parts were accurate, but the last part got a few tweaks:
Show Spoiler ▼
That’s about it… Shadow Naoto is supposed to be one of the hardest bosses in the game. I’m eager to see the battle next week. (Some people claim that it’s Mitsuo’s Shadow which is the worst, but in the anime, it gets wiped out in like 5 minutes.)
Thanks again dude, keep up the good work !
Enervation is implied to make you an old man in the game the spell “Old One |SP:12 |Cause Enervation on All Enemies.” “Aging |SP:5 | Cause Enervation on 1 Foe” Enervation halves all stats
The protection equipment says “young or kid” on it.
And Shadow Naoto does use it.
Oh yeah… it’s been a while since I’ve played the game. Guess that slipped out my mind.
Aika!!!!
Perhaps it’s cause I’m not a big Naoto(I do like her though) fan like most people, but I didn’t “LOVE!!211” this episode, like everyone else did. I thought it was just decent.
That sudden scene of Kanji’s mother going to the hospital to only get a 4second “development” was terrible, it kinda made it awkward for a bit. Hopefully the other rank ups aren’t as rushed and horrible as this one was.
As for Shadow Naoto, what I’ve seen from this episode was okay, this also seemed a bit rushed to me. I don’t see a romantic relationship with Naoto and Yu happening in the anime, or anyone else for that matter. Perhaps Naoto blushing a bit, but all the girls did with him. *Gets major thumbs down* lol
Wow, they breezed over Naoto’s reveal in a big way. “Holy crap, he’s a she?! On to something else!!” If they were gonna do a cliffhanger they should’ve had Shadow Naoto talk more, since the Naoto/S.Naoto is probably my favorite Shadow conversation. As for romance… if Kanji is the one to comfort Naoto after the rescue(which wouldn’t surprise me), then no love for Yuu, and vice versa. As it is I’m disappointed Rise isn’t putting more effort into pursing Yuu (that King’s game was great though! XD). Aika x Yuu… don’t see it. Never known two dead-pans to work that well together for extended periods of time, even in comedies. Yuu might get her to blush once or twice, but if anything I’d see them making a shock out of her secretly liking Yuu all along and telling someone out of the blue like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Wonder what Persona Yuu’s gonna dig out to de-age Yosuke… be kinda lame if it just wears off on its own after the faces the girls made.
Pogi ako
while I know it’s good to change things up for the anime, I don’t really like that they’re introducing Naoto to the group so soon. But it was an okay episode otherwise.
Consider there is only 6 to 8 episodes left I thing they want to spend more time with the ending.
So, wht does the shadow of Naoto symbolise? Aside from gender issues.
Seriously, is the shadow planning to do a trans-gender surgery on Naoto!? and apparently the aging beam effect is so bad tht they can’t show yosuke face… (sweat)
Now, let’s sit back to see whether Naoto ends up w/h Yu or Kanji.
A question was raised early how Naoto can pull off a boy’s figure in a previews post. Being a thin as she is just padding the shoulders and lowering your belt line past the hip bone make they difference.
There a reason why female asian cosplays can pull off pretty boy characters so well. lol
Oh, the switch-a-rue where he is a she…
Must admit, I was surprised and totally off guard.
I really loved the extra emphasis on Kanji in this episode, alongside Naoto’s many reveals. I’m hoping for a romance between the two of them in the future, as a friend of mine – who’s played the games – just adores them together, and I’m already getting why.