Persona 4 the Animation

(Spoilers incoming) This review is coming from someone who's played the game multiple times. I think it's an understatement when I say the show is a very big disappointment.

Story: 7/10. The story is really nothing special: there's a series of murders going on, and our protagonist and his friends investigate a parallel world using their Personas in the attempt to save victims and find a lead on the murderer. The setup for the story is alright, and the biggest appeal is the mystery of who the murderer might be. Other than that, the execution of the story is pretty formulaic and uninspired. It essentially follows ... the pattern of:

1) Person gets captured
2) Hero + friends find a lead and jump into the TV world
3) Big persona battle happens, person is rescued
4) Person joins the team
5) Bunch of filler social life until next kidnapping occurs

After a while, the story gets stale until we actually reach the climax of the show.


Art: 6/10. The art isn't anything special, in fact there were times where the characters just looked awkward and stiff.


Sound: 8/10. Persona is known for its fantastic music, although I'd say even in the games Persona 4 is known for having the 'worst' OST. I say 'worst' in relative terms because it's still a fantastic OST. I think better choices of music could've been used for certain scenes though.


Character: 4/10. The characters suffer from a lack of depth and are essentially caricatures of what they are in the game, although that's to be expected when you only have 20 or so episodes to flesh out a team of several people. If you played the game and come into this, you'll probably be surprised at how shallow the characters are compared to their game counterparts. If you're coming into this show without playing the game, you'll might still think the characters fall flat.


Enjoyment: 2/10. Instead of watching the anime, I should've just replayed the game. The anime does little to convey the true appeal of Persona, which is to engage the player into the world and characters as an active component in the narrative. With a game, you're part of the story: a driving force that can do whatever you want, building the relationships you want and forging the story you want to follow while enjoying a well-made RPG. The show in comparison is just a slideshow of Persona 4's main situations and social highlights. Personally, I found the show something unnecessary, as it just showcases parts of the game and adds nothing new to the series itself.


Overall: 4/10. Despite my abysmal enjoyment, I think someone who hasn't played the games might be able to find (marginally) more interest in the show and be able to look over some of its flaws. However, I still think these flaws bring the show down quite a bit, and whether you've played the game or not I think the flaws of the show far outweigh the positives. I highly recommend picking up the game and playing through it yourself, because Persona shines as a phenomenal series when you experience it through the video-game medium. As an anime, it's nothing more than a sub-par detective story with mediocre characters and awkwardly fitted social events made in an attempt to cram 80 or so hours of content into a 20+ episode series.