First Impressions / Persona 4 the ANIMATION

「I Want to Know the Truth」

Future harem leads, pay attention to Persona 4, as it contains an example of a character you should emulate – and one you should not (Yousuke, I’m looking at you).

Sometimes, I think Yuu only goes through all this trouble of rescuing people from Mayonaka TV in order to set them up as a future harem member. He even has the Velvet Room’s Margaret blushing and tongue-tied while she tries to tell him the story about Jack Frost, and she’s not even a real person as far as I can tell.

Yuu never ceases to impress the women he’s around, as is expected from a man of his caliber. Even when he’s old and wrinkled, they still find him attractive (or at least Rise does), and they’re awestruck when he fuses 6 Personae together without Igor’s help and when Beelzebub unleashes Megidolaon. Speaking of wrinkles, I found it hilarious that Chie, Yukiko, and Rise have faced numerous attacks by now, yet they fear wrinkles even more than death itself! Heck, if the sales of anti-aging creams are any indication, Shadow Naoto is every woman’s worst nightmare, able to add 50 years of wrinkles in an instant. I have Kuma to thank for sacrificing his fur so I wouldn’t become emotionally scarred at the sight of the elderly versions of our heroines (not that I have anything against the elderly, of course). I was, however, curious to see Yuu’s face as an old man – need to judge for myself if he’s still cool or not.

Naoto’s shadow represents issues of external validation that I feel many people could easily identify with, so I was a bit disappointed that only Kanji stood up to voice his empathy for her, but maybe it’s just because they’re setting us up for some good Kanji x Naoto action later on (if Yuu doesn’t get to her first). It is also refreshing that the show doesn’t beat us over the head with its life lessons, but sometimes there’s a little too much subtlety when issues are glossed over this quickly. The investigation team does have more pressing matters at hand than one person’s issues though, so I can understand why they’d want to quickly put the focus back on finding the culprit.

Despite Adachi’s drunken claims to be the brainiac of the police department, it appears that Doujima is the only adult who’s slowly putting all the pieces together. That said, I’m not sure I understand how he can take Yuu’s lack of expression to mean that he knows more about the case than he lets on, since it is Yuu we’re talking about here – the king of poker faces.

Out of all the guys on the Investigation Team, Yuu doesn’t really have to worry about any of them messing up his harem because Yousuke’s a pervert and Kuma’s not even human. Ok, maybe he does have to worry about Kanji, whose expressions upon to seeing Naoto as a woman were priceless, even if he does claim to be uninterested her bust size. How does she hide all that anyway? I am definitely rooting for him to get together with Naoto though, but Yuu might have something to say about that before the series is through. He is the Harem King indeed – you just can’t help but be impressed with his pickup line in this episode: “I have a case for you to solve…” Like I said, future harem leads — take notice and learn from a master.

* Full-length images: 07, 09, 13, 14, 15, 16, 23, 26

 

Preview

43 Comments

      2. I’d bet money on True Ending. Sure they still have a fair bit to do, and it’ll definitely depend on how they play their cards with dealing with the “mastermind” behind the kidnappings, but I just can’t see the story as complete without that one extra zing at the end.

        Aex
        Reply

  4. Thanks for the review Verdant !

    I… didn’t enjoyed that episode as much as the others, mainly because the battle with Shadow Naoto was so boring. Here’s a recap:
    – Chie and Yukiko not wanting to join the fight because they’re scared of aging; Really ? I mean, really ?
    – Yosuke, Teddie and Yu being incapacited because of the enervation status; I know that in-game, all status is cut in half… but you still can fight… or be wise enought to remove that ailment on your next turn. While it does hapen here, it takes forever to realise that.
    – Kanji not having enough screen time; it’s technically supposed to be his time to shine by saving Naoto… but no, he get swept aside too easily.
    – Shadow Naoto is always in shadows… there’s no clear moment where you get to see her in normal lighting, compared to the other shadows.
    – The team running away from the base, and Kanji has Naoto on his back… and you don’t to get to see HOW he saved her. I’m pretty sure that the table’s shackles weren’t THAT easy to break.

    So yeah, a bit disappointing on that part.

    As for the anime/game similarities/differences:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    I was really expecting more… but hey, maybe they’ll catch up next week. Thanks again for the review.

    JiCi
    Reply

      1. They never said that in the game. Its only implied that Naoto’s measurements shocked Rise. Its never explicitly stated if they were bigger than the other girls. The rest is up to the audiences imaginations.

        Also breasts are easier to hide than you think.

        fragb85
        Reply

      3. Female poster: NOPE, compression shirts!
        Much more comfortable then ACE bandaged and less dangerous. I’ve know a few female cosplayers that suffered cracked ribs with ACE bandaged … it’s just not worth it. O__o

        Also being as petite in stature of the girls Naoto measurements could come off as shocking if she was a C cup but being the smallest in the group also mean she would have less to hide physically.

        Ani_BEE
        Reply

      6. @D-LaN
        Charlotte’s hidden breasts were explained in the LN. Her suit is apparently special, basically making her breasts disguised as muscle. Don’t think too much about it, IS has really bad science.

        @The Moondoggie
        Its definitely possible. Anime and video games have lied to horny teens for ages. Real-life breasts droop and sag, not perk up and bounce.

        fragb85
        Reply

      7. Wow, I guess it is pretty easy to hide them. It’s just she seems so thin, just adding orbs in front of her is…pretty hard to imagine. Maybe if I read some doujins…

        …wow, even the hentai ones have a cute story. So confused…

        Da5id
        Reply

    2. – The team running away from the base, and Kanji has Naoto on his back… and you don’t to get to see HOW he saved her. I’m pretty sure that the table’s shackles weren’t THAT easy to break.

      They did. While everyone was fleeing, Kanji’s persona came over to where Naoto was and broke her shackles. Then it probably grabbed her and brought her to Kanji, who then carried her out of there.

      riki
      Reply

  5. “…Because Yousuke’s a pervert…”

    I don’t know, if Amagami SS is any indication, some girls secretly like those kind of guys :p

    In other news, Beelzebub looks badass and Megidolaon truly is ALMIGHTY 😀

    Chaos2Frozen
    Reply

  6. He summoned Beelzebub this early!? Yuu is now officially either hax or New Game +. Wish I could summon that at Naoto’s dungeon. Kanji continues to be awesome because he’s Kanji. At this rate he’ll be GAR enough to get Naoto’s attention.

    As for the hospital scene, Yuu and Kanji get more man points for being restrained about the measurements of the girls. Yosuke of course, fails spectacularly.

    fragb85
    Reply

      1. I’m kinda waiting for that Shyamalan Plot Twist where…

        [spoiler]Yuu reveals that up till the point where they catch the true murderer, he’s been reliving his life in Inaba, and making up for mistakes in the past. But now he has to fix the biggest error of all- leaving before finding all the answers.

        This time, he WILL find the truth, and he’ll save Inaba… It’d be epic, but judging how acts around Adachi, I doubt it’d actually happen… [/spoiler]

        Zero
        Reply

  8. I was, however, curious to see Yuu’s face as an old man

    An old version of Yuu would be somewhere among the likes of Morgan Freeman, Samuel Jackson, Ian McKellen etc.

    As for the episode itself, it was a great conclusion to Naoto’s arc though I would have preferred more NaotoxYuu moments.
    Lol at Yuu using Mudo at Shadow Naoto. Someone wants an easy win.

    Nhelraios
    Reply

  9. how many time this anime Yuu has finished the game before he is this awesome and powerful? I am not complaining, but judging from the power level of his personas, it must be pretty darn hard to achieve 🙂
    and yes, master of poker face and harem leader… kanji, you might have just got NTRed… RIP man…
    thanks for the write up Verdant 🙂

    ps. Is “Kuma’s not even human” link about Kuma’s X-ray? right now it is linked to Kanji’s expression.

    jrj
    Reply

  10. First off, Margaret is as real as Kuma, maybe even more-so. She can come out of the Velvet Room, we just never see her do it. Dunno why, but that “not real” comment urked me >.< Glad they put in the measurement scene, great bit of fun and shows Naoto's less-serious side well, plus it's not a bad hint out what Kuma really is.

    Otherwise, Beelzebub!!! SWEET! Rise also gained some points here for even going nuts for old-man Yuu XD It felt like Naoto's acceptance was half-hearted though. "I should accept myself? Okay." Not much of a lead-up besides Shadow Naoto screaming. Guess we can let that slide though with how cute Naoto is, plus the ending was great with the meat-bowl-case 😀

    Aex
    Reply

  11. Kuma could be said to be in between a shadow & persona.

    Kanji declaring to Yuu that he is his best bud, does this mean that the social rank is reaching its maximum soon? will we get to see resolved personas?

    Think next episode will be the dojima family social link, then we’ll be left with magaret’s & the Sun. Then it’ll be Show Spoiler ▼

    saka
    Reply

  14. I’m liking how they make Kanji’s crush on Naoto more apparent in the anime. Must be both a shock and relief for him to find out Naoto’s a she. I think in the game they only touched on it subtly, mostly when the gang was still investigating Kanji. Oh and Margaret getting tongue tied, THAT I didn’t expect. For a minute I thought my screen froze when the music stopped while she was talking.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  15. Shadow Naoto is every woman’s worst nightmare, able to add 50 years of wrinkles in an instant.

    I LOLZ at this.

    they still find him attractive (or at least Rise does)

    Rise is into old guys? 0_o’ LOLZ

    The Moondoggie
    Reply

  17. For a moment I’m like wow, they are breezing through the game and then I realize it’s episode 17. It seems we will be getting one of my personal favorite social links next week. Unfortunately, I don’t think they will give it a whole episode. I hope they have time to put in the cultural festival event and the Amagami Inn event as those two events were really funny. Poor poor Kanji on those two events XD.

    darkkodiak
    Reply

  21. So, they rolled with this until the end? Not complaining, since it was a nice change from what they did in the game. (The battle sequence i mean.) The rest is just par for the course, since they’ve already taken some liberties with this series. So what’s a few more gonna hurt? Though it would have been since if some more bit from the game were left in.

    However, with that in mind, lets hope it doesn’t skip to the next ‘rescue arch.’ Since there are some amusing parts, from that game between the two. That would be nice to see animated.

    …00

    Snicket
    Reply

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