Let's Watch: Persona 4!

[Nate]

And hey, maybe this thread will actually get viewers and discussion going instead of two posts a week like my other thread!



Persona 4 is an anime retelling of the events from the PS2 game Persona 4. No need to get into a discussion of SMT in general because it's not really related. The point is a young boy named Charlie Tunoku...

...er, Seto Souji...

...er, Yu Narukami (this joke would work so much effing better if this board supported strikethrough) moves to a small town named Inaba while his parents are overseas and stays with his uncle. While he's there, a series of bizarre murders start happening, and Narukami can go inside television sets! And there's a bear! And monsters! INVESTIGATION TEAM GO! They're gonna find the killer!

I should probably say when the show airs and apparently there's some kind of simulcast thing going on but I don't know about those. SOMEONE ELSE TELL PEOPLE ABOUT IT. I'm too lazy to find the info. I am a bad OP. deal_with_it.png

I'll give my thoughts on it more when/if I see other people posting. It literally JUST came out so I doubt too many people have watched it yet.

[ShiroiHikari]

Agghhhh I need to see this

[blkmage]

I like the music. I like the show's visual style. I like the video game-y stuff that they left in. People seem to be annoyed with Teddie's Japanese voice. Everyday young life Junes.

[S]also, fyi[/S]

[goldenspines]

Currently locating the first episode.

I've been excited for this series for a while. After all the hype I've heard about the game I can never play, the anime may be the next best thing.

So, officially hopping on the Persona 4 watching train.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

[SIZE="5"]Simulcast Info:[/SIZE]

[SIZE="4"]When: Thursday evenings, though I am still unsure of the exact time
Where: The Anime Network
How: Just register at the website then stream away; an HD option is available free of charge
How much: Nada. It's FREE and LEGAL

Goodies: All trailers, OP and ED[/SIZE]

[Fish and Chips]

[SIZE="4"]When: Thursday evenings, though I am still unsure of the exact time
Where: The Anime Network
How: Just register at the website then stream away]How much[/I]: Nada. It's FREE and LEGAL[/SIZE]

If you live in America.

[blkmage]

On a whim, I started the Giant Bomb P4 Endurance Run and well, I lol'd at the part where you find out the main character's real name.

[Popyman]

I need to watch this later. Honestly, all the cool stuff P4 gets really bums me out, it's my least favorite of all the Persona games. =/

[Twister980]

I've watched a ton of the giant bomb run through's, and have read Hiimdaisy's comics. It's nuts. xD

[Nate]

I like the music.

With the exception of the ending theme, all the music in this is literally straight from the video game. That's not a bad thing though, as Persona 4 had a great soundtrack.

People seem to be annoyed with Teddie's Japanese voice.

Really? But...it's Kappei Yamaguchi!

Actually this brings up kind of an amusing and hilarious point. All the voice actors in this are the voice actors from the original game. And everyone is always going on about how dubs are SO bad and original Japanese is SO superior and now they all complain about Teddie's voice? OH NORTH AMERICAN ANIME FANS, THERE TRULY IS NO PLEASING YOU.

I do wonder if they're going to get all the original voice actors from the English version to do the dub though. But I guess they'll have to get someone else to do the main character, as having JYB do both him AND Adachi wouldn't work in this (it worked fine in the game where all MC would say is the names of Personas and that was it, but now that he has actual lines of speech...not so much).

Everyday young life Junes.

Every day's great at your Junes!

Okay, so my thoughts.

Number one: I liked it.

Number two: they cut out a hell of a lot. I'm assuming this was done for two reasons, one being time limitations, and the other being to get to the action faster. I guess they figured if they just retold the events from the game, that it wouldn't draw in new viewers as well because the first couple of hours of Persona 4 the game are pretty slow moving.

Going off that, number three is a lot of events have changed somewhat significantly. In the game, they didn't meet Teddie until after they went to the creepy noose hotel room. They went there, got creeped out, and wandered back to where they came, and only then did they meet Teddie. He forced them out, and they all went home. Then another dead body shows up, school assembly about the new victim, there were wacky hi-jinx with bringing swords into Junes and getting brought down to the police station to get chewed out by Dojima, and THEN they went back in with a golf club and a couple of kitchen knives before MC got Izanagi.

So yeah. Events are transpiring much quicker and much differently (Chie was with them when Yu got Izanagi this time, though unconscious...in the game, Chie was outside the TV waiting for them to come back).

It's interesting how they're using the calendar from the game to show the passage of days in the anime though. And them showing the MC's social statistics for the eyecatches.

Also as far as voices go, it's Igor's Japanese voice that really made me go "wut." His English voice is so incredibly different, it's a bit weird hearing this one.

EDIT: One final thing. I'm surprised at how little Yu actually says in this. He's got a few lines of speech, but not a whole lot. He still tends to be pretty silent most of the time so far...which is kinda interesting.

[goldenspines]

Episode 1:

Who knew glasses would change someone so much. Yuu's personality seemed almost switched (not that he had much of a personality to begin with, though).
If I had glasses like that, I'd switch back from contacts.

Allrighty, I only know a little about the game and characters, so the storyline is somewhat new to me.
The beginning definitely seemed video game-ish with the whole "This is your mission if you choose to accept it" sort of thing. I did kind of like that sort of spin on things, though.
Midnight Channel! Oooo. Sounds like some horror movie. Of course everyone has to check it out.
Apparently, Junes is very important.
Going through the TV is pretty interesting. I liked them avoiding "it's a parallel world!" ploy for now (it looked like a whole different dimension).
Teddie (knew about this character previously) is adorable, even when scared. And I like his voice. He makes me smile every time I see him.
In the heat of battle! Literally. Yuu looked like he was being cooked. I liked the enemy and Persona designs. And the fight animations and shots were lovely, though short.
Oddly enough, with all the action, I almost forgot about the poor dead reporter found on top of a antenna (I think?). Poor lady.
Yosuke and Chie are pretty fun and complete a good trio team for now. They were kind of worthless with the Shadows though. But hey, they didn't get the classy glasses.
This Konishi girl acts a bit weird. That may just be me and probably because she was probably the one to discover the dead reporter first, but still.

Overall, the episode seemed too short. Waiting patiently for next week.

[Nate]

Overall, the episode seemed too short.

Yeah, I'm really disappointed at HOW MUCH was cut. I don't mind them cutting, I just wish they hadn't cut such a large chunk.

I was hoping/expecting they wouldn't even go into the TV world this week, that it would all be setup for that to happen NEXT week, but they cut even more than I anticipated, and I think the beginning is suffering for it.

[blkmage]

I wasn't actually aware of how much was different until I started the Giant Bomb thing. But yeah, I thought Kuma's voice was fine, although that could be my own inoculation to Japanese voices. In comparison, the English voices in the game weren't bad either, but holy crap, the dub really drives home that honourifics have no place in an English script.

[Popyman]

Watched it. Animation was amazing and so was the video game things they left in (the calendar, the still frame picture for critical attacks, etc.). I don't like the Japanese voices though so I'll probably wait for the English version (who is doing that by the way? Are all the original cast members coming back?). I also didn't mind the fact that it's going faster because, IMO, the beginning of the game dragged on for AGES. It took like, what, two hours to get to playing? Not even a Metal Gear Solid game is that bad...

Only thing I didn't really like was that the MC talked. They kept so many game-y features, it seems like they should have gone all the way and had a silent protagonist. Speaking of him, he was really creepy looking at the end of the episode...

[blkmage]

Only thing I didn't really like was that the MC talked. They kept so many game-y features, it seems like they should have gone all the way and had a silent protagonist.

Normally, this is already impossible to do with a protagonist that is actually silent. In the case of P4, it isn't even that he's actually silent, because he does speak to other characters. Trying to make him silent and interact with other characters like a normal human being is simply ridiculous.

[Nate]

Right, most "silent protagonists" in games ARE actually speaking, it just doesn't SHOW them speaking. Even in Persona 4, Yosuke would ask Charlie something like "What do you think?" and you'd have to pick from a list of responses and then someone would go "Yeah I think that too!" or "But what about this?"

It was obvious that Charlie said SOMETHING, the game just didn't show him saying something. Unless you're under the impression that he was performing charades to express his opinion.

who is doing that by the way? Are all the original cast members coming back?

Sentai Filmworks has the English language rights, and as far as I know they haven't announced anything about a dub cast yet, probably because the show only just started airing.

They probably wouldn't have much trouble (I would assume) getting most of the big names like JYB or Yuri Lowenthal to come back for anime voice work, but they might have trouble getting some of the less well-known voice actors to come back.

Also, I wouldn't mind if they got someone completely different to voice Yukiko. I did not like her English voice at all.

[ShiroiHikari]

I loved the visual style and the voices. Showing Narukami's stats in the eyecatch was a stroke of brilliance. I'm hoping that he will develop more of a distinct personality as the series progresses and his stats increase. Also, it does not bother me in the slightest that he talks. There's no other way to do it without it being completely retarded.

I hated the fact that they were like "OH SNAP WE GOTTA SHOW IZANAGI IN THE FIRST EPISODE". Seriously, why? What was the point of that? Don't most people watching this show already know what Izanagi looks like and all that? Hopefully after this they'll slow down the pacing some. Of course I might be one of the only people watching this that gives a crap about pacing, so whatever.

Also, the game dub was very very good but I doubt they'll be able to recapture that if they choose to dub the anime in English. For one thing, in the game they didn't really have to worry as much about matching the lip flap.

[Nate]

Seriously, why? What was the point of that?

I think it's for two reasons.

One, they're trying to draw in new viewers. While the majority of the viewing audience is obviously going to be people who have played the game, they want to bring in new viewers too, get people who haven't played it interested in the show. To do that, they want to pull out the big guns of "Wow look at what this guy is doing it's crazy you wanna see more of that don't you?"

It may be their opinion that if they had ended the first episode without showing any action, people wouldn't have been interested in it because it wasn't exciting enough or something.

Two, I think they want to really appeal to the people who already played the game. The people who already played the game know the characters, know the setting, know the plot. There's no need to say, flesh out what kind of person Yosuke is because most Persona 4 players did his entire social link and already know what Yosuke is like.

And so, they're getting to the stuff that would be better for players to see, something that wasn't in the games, like Izanagi actually doing some fight scenes instead of showing up and casting Zio and disappearing.

I understand why they did it and I do think it was a smart move but again, I really wish they hadn't cut out QUITE so much.

[mechana2015]

I'll admit, I havn't played the game, so I was really happy when they introduced the TV thing first episode. If it had just been the 3 of them talking it wouldn't have caught my attention as much.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

And now for some bad news:

According to the tweet of animator Arai Jun (the key animator of "Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto"), the episode 2 of Persona 4 The Animation was leaked to video sharing sites with French subtitles before the TV airing in Japan. The OP sequence of the anime was also leaked yesterday prematurely. Arai Jun disclosed that the production studio AIC A.S.T.A. has been swindling the animators and his salary hasn't been paid even after the deadline. Animator Murata Toshiharu (the character designer of "Hellsing") agreed with Arai that there is something wrong with the whole AIC studios. Two anonymous animators (@zouni and @bito) also tweeted that they quit the team of Persona 4 from the episode 3 because of the bad management of AIC.

Sources: Arai's twitter, Mutara's twitter

[ShiroiHikari]

Well...

Crap.

[Nate]

Whelp looks like this thread won't be serving its purpose for very much longer.

[blkmage]

I heard about this earlier and the animator who was tweeting said that episode 2 isn't even worth watching. However, someone on another forum I go to watched the leaked French version and said that it was about as good as the first episode. I guess we'll see what happens with episode 3.

I like the OP though.

[MasterDias]

Yeah, Episode 2's art/animation is about as good as Episode 1's. Now, I wouldn't necessarily call it great, but it's certainly not bad and is very "watchable."
...with the possible exception of the OP animation. It's kind of slow and unenergetic, and looks obviously like they were cutting corners on it. Game OP is way better.

At any rate, it's probably not a good idea to listen to random animators complaining on twitter, even if the complaints are somewhat justified.

[blkmage]

It's got some neat details too, like the cranes and and the teachers and the stats screen. And the punch was great too.

Also, between Giant Bomb and hiimdaisy, Persona 4 has become hilarious.

[ShiroiHikari]

I dunno about anybody else but I think the pacing of this show sucks. I mean, look at all the stuff they're cutting out. Yosuke already has Jiraiya? Wut.

[MasterDias]

I mean, look at all the stuff they're cutting out. Yosuke already has Jiraiya? Wut.

Huh? Jiraiya was his first persona.

[ShiroiHikari]

I mean that they're cutting out a LOT of the setup and rushing through everything at mach speed. In the game it took a lot longer for this stuff to take place because they were establishing the setting, plot, and characters and providing much-needed exposition. In the game, by the time Yosuke gets Jiraiya, you feel like you know the character a lot better and you've grown to like him. In the anime it's just like "AND POOF, HERE'S JIRAIYA!" The game's plot is the Midnight Channel and the mystery of the disappearances and murders, and I feel like the anime is just totally glossing over all of that.

[Nate]

The only thing they really cut though was the day of the assembly (where it was announced Saki died) they went to Junes with weapons and got a stern talking-to from Dojima, which is also where they overheard the information about Yamano staying at Yukiko's family's inn, and got let off with a warning, and then they came back with a golf club and kitchen knives.

But since the anime has the Personas fighting the entire time, they don't need weapons, which is why they cut that bit. The only reason for all that was to explain in-game "This is why you start with a golf club for a weapon." Most of the character intro stuff for Yosuke was actually cut from episode one. This episode honestly was paced much better because they cut so little.

Also I noticed Yu's Courage went up a level. Makes sense. But yeah this was pretty good, especially the punch, and the fact that Yu actually was pivotal in helping Yosuke accept who he was, rather than just "Yosuke accepted it because you won the boss fight," this one gave an actual explanation for why Yosuke could accept Jiraiya. I'm hoping that Yu will continue to be the one who talks sense into each person.

Also a bit more original music in this episode. The music right before the Jiriaya fight wasn't in the games, and I think they use it again afterwards too. The fight music was pretty much straight up the boss music from the game though which is fine.

I'm wondering if the ending will slightly change each time Yu establishes a Social Link.

[blkmage]

Looks like the anime didn't melt down or anything. Charlie seems like he's sassing people a bit more as the episodes go by.