Persona 4 the Animation: No One is Alone

Firstly I'll assume that everyone reading this has seen the rest of Persona 4 The Animation, so there will be some spoilers.

Episode 26, titled "No One is Alone", is the true ending of the Persona 4 video game and takes place the day before the farewell scene in episode 25, with the group holding a goodbye party for Yuu Narukami after catching the culprit for the TV murder cases. However, he notices strange things occurring such as how the day seems to keep repeating itself, and tries to search for the truth by himself. This episode is mainly centred around our protagonist, exploring Yuu's inner ... self and hidden fears, and his personal battle with the true enemy and another side character in the Mayonaka TV. "No One is Alone" is just an extension of the main series rather than a proper OVA, but as it's a blu-ray only episode released months later one may have hoped that it was longer than 30 minutes and would have better animation. Unfortunately, this is not the case so in a similar fashion to parts of the main series, this episode also feels incredibly rushed.

The animation and its various flaws is nothing new after sitting through the main series. Stiff character faces and chaotically-animated battles are present, which is disappointing considering that the animation quality arguably peaked in episode 25, and at times episode 26 doesn't even match up to those standards. Building interiors/exteriors, especially some of the scenery towards the end, look great though.

The music, while a plus point in the previous 25 episodes, is a bit hit-and-miss here. As someone who's played the game, I think some of the track selections are questionable and others have been overused; the background and battle music are decent but more could have been done to make the true ending a stand-out episode. The OP theme is the same energetic one used in the series and I could never get tired of listening to the fantastic ED song "Never More".

As previously mentioned Yuu gets most of the spotlight, with the others such as Kanji and Naoto relegated to the sidelines for much of the episode. Margaret from the Velvet Room shows up to teach Yuu a lesson or two, while important revelations are made regarding another character. Apart from that, character development doesn't really exist; the majority of that has been dealt with in the main series.

I think that if you've enjoyed Persona 4 The Animation so far despite its obvious flaws, then there's no reason why this episode won't be equally good, as long as expectations aren't too high. As before, viewers who have played the game will get so much more out of this because they can fill in any gaps that the anime adaptation creates. The pacing and animation problems return and the length could have been twice as long to explore the true ending in more detail, but the episode manages to get its point across. There's a proper resolution to the world inside Mayonaka TV, and the slightly-altered final farewell scene is better than episode 25's in my opinion; the other characters each get their own bit of dialogue to show their feelings towards Yuu, and there's a greater sense of satisfaction knowing that the mystery is fully solved.

Esta review también está en español.

And is finally here. After four months of waiting, the final episode of Persona 4, where all the loose ends are tied and all the answers are given, is here. The moment of truth, resolution, explanations and final battles... and all that in only thirty minutes... damn it...

Ok, this is episode 26, and takes exactly in the moment prior to the final scene of the series: the case was solved, and Yuu Narukami prepares to return to his home. On the day before his departure, his friends made him a farewell party, where we see the whole gang ... doing their usual shenanigans: Chie and Yukiko are "cooking", Kanji made (very elaborated...) ornaments, Teddie tries to score, Rise is sitting awfully close to Yuu, Yosuke's victim of hilarious abuse... all of them are happy and carefree teens. But something's wrong. A strange sense of deja vu begins to bother Narukami, who starts to notice similar versions of the same events over and over... and each one of these situations (ala endless eight, no less) can bring him closer to the truth... if he's willing to face it.

That whole "strange sense" like I called it, makes the story a little... confusing. Using the same starting scene over and over, and making those calendar jumps (pretty common in the original series), it's not that hard to feel disoriented, especially if you didn't played the game. The mind fuck is pretty big: to give you an idea, I consider it's in the same twisted level of the Shadow Mitsuo arc... Yet, twisted is not bad, and the resolution justifies the whole thing.

However, there is an inescapable truth: while the resolution is logical, a lot is loss in the way. Everything feels rushed. Thirty minutes are not enough to do what needed to be done, or in the very end, it could be done better. The way in which the fight against Margaret (Igor assistant in the Velvet Room, Empress Social Link, and secret boss fight, no less) was indeed pretty clever, and the result was interesting: a battle with several Personas involved (and most of them top tier, including the fan favorite Yoshitsune) and lots of attack unleashed, each more spectacular than the previous. Sadly, this duel actually overshadows the true final fight, which ended being more an ideological and dialectic confrontation than a proper battle.

Another thing to have in mind is that this episode focuses almost exclusively in the protagonist: his strengths, weaknesses and doubts, all are explored. Yuu grows a lot throughout the series: he started as a closed semi autistic dude, and became a much happier and loose person (although his amazing poker face remains 90% of the time). And all that was thanks to his friends, the ones he's about to leave. It's understandable that he feels conflicted. The rest of the cast doesn't add that much. They are there, and collaborate, but their role in the final conflict is rather minimal. It's definitely a shame, but again, this is way too short, and focusing in only one character is easier (and, in the end, makes more sense).

Animation... well, we all know that the anime suffered many ups and downs in this regard (specially downs), ranging from good and acceptable to terrible (Yukiko was a constant victim of bad design, although, the two Chies in the same room won the cake back then), but this time, there was more time and budget, so the final product is better, right? Hell, no. The same weaknesses, the same mistakes, the same occasional abominations… it looks like it was on purpose. Apparently, it wouldn't be Persona 4 otherwise.

The sound is in the same league of quality of the original series, but unlike animation, that's a good thing. All the seiyuus made a very remarkable work again. The second opening, key plus words, is back for a last time, and replacing The way of Memories (second ending that lasted several episodes) is Never More, the ending present at the end of the game (a very appropriate way of finish the series, since the first opening was Pursuing My True Self, the opening of, you guessed right, the game). And speaking of the game soundtrack, it was a shame that they didn't use the final boss music (either Genesis or Fog), since both pieces are quite epic (and would give any final fight a plus in emotion)... it was weird that they didn't, since Atlus like to serve the fans (proved with the series in general, and with the Iwatodai episodes in particular).

Finally, the verdict. As I said, No One is Alone have two big enemies: a mediocre animation and a very short duration. The first one is incomprehensible, given that the creators had four months to do a good job... and the second one is, well, the one that truly hurt the project, especially since is quite obvious that things could have been handled way better with an hour special. Yet, despite its obvious shortcomings, there are some good ideas, the answers were given, and the circle is closed. There was action, comedy and emotion, and you are always in the edge to see what the hell is going to happen. In the end, Persona 4 was a nice trip, very fun and interesting, and proved that good videogame adaptations are possible. Of course, not everybody is happy with the outcome, but is impossible to please everyone. If you liked the series and this special, the game is highly recommended, in the case that you didn't played it yet.

And as a closure... you'd think that Atlus would learn from the mistakes made in this series and would take into account to not repeat them in the future... but recent news say that Persona 3 (a game even longer than this one... that means, more than 80 hours) is going to get a movie... Damn... well, we can only wait now.
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Y así termina. Después de varios meses de espera, el capítulo final de Persona 4, el que ata todos los cabos sueltos y da el cierre definitivo llego. Es el momento de la verdad, de la resolución, de las explicaciones, de las batallas finales… y todo eso en (tristemente) solo media hora…

Este es el capitulo 26, y retoma exactamente en el momento previo a la escena final de la serie: el caso se resolvió, y Yuu Narukami se prepara para volver a su casa. En el día previo a su regreso, sus amigos le hacen una fiesta de despedida, en la que vemos a todo el grupo haciendo de las suyas: Chie y Yukiko cocinando, Kanji haciendo manualidades demasiado elaboradas y lindas para ser ciertas, Teddie intentando conseguir mujeres, Yosuke siendo víctima de un abuso hilarante… todos siendo felices y despreocupados. Pero algo no anda bien. Una extraña sensación de deja vu empieza a aflorar en Narukami, que empieza a notar versiones similares de los mismos hechos una y otra vez… y cada una de esas revelaciones puede acercarlo mas y mas a la verdad… si es que está dispuesto a enfrentarla.

Esa “extraña sensación”, como yo mismo la llame, hace que la historia sea un tanto… confusa. Haciendo uso de una misma escena inicial una y otra vez, y pegando esos saltos temporales típicos de la serie (ya saben cuales, esos en los que vemos el calendario), no es raro que uno se sienta desorientado, especialmente si no se jugó el juego. Para que se hagan una idea de cómo es la situación de retorcida, emula el mindfuck de la pelea contra Shadow Mitsuo… Pero que sea retorcida no quiere decir que sea mala, y la resolución justifica el porqué de todo el asunto.

Sin embargo, hay una verdad ineludible en todo este asunto: si bien la resolución es lógica, se pierde mucho en el camino. Simplemente, treinta minutos no alcanzan para hacer todo lo que debía hacerse, o como mínimo, podría haberse hecho mejor. La forma en la que la pelea contra Margaret (ayudante de Igor en la Velvet Room, y jefe optativo secreto en el juego) fue incluida fue ciertamente aceptable, y resultado fue interesante, en lo que fue una batalla con varias Personas por bando (y no cualquiera, si no las top tier, entre las que se encuentra el favorito de todos, Yoshitsune), en lo que fue un intercambio constante de ataques, uno más espectacular que el otro. Tristemente, este enfrentamiento termina opacando a la verdadera pelea final, que término siendo un duelo dialectico ideológico, más que un intercambio de golpes. Una lástima.

Otra de las cosas a tener en cuenta es que este capítulo se centra casi exclusivamente en el protagonista: sus fortalezas, debilidades y dudas, todas son puestas sobre la mesa y analizadas. Yuu gano mucho como personaje a lo largo de la serie: arranco siendo un tipo cerrado y casi autista, para volverse una persona mucho más feliz y emocional (aunque su cara de poker perdura un 90% del tiempo). Y todo eso lo gano gracias a sus amigos, los que está a punto de dejar para volver a su casa. Es más que comprensible que se sienta conflictuado. El resto del cast no aporta mucho, la verdad. Están ahí y colaboran, pero prácticamente no participan de forma activa en el conflicto final. Es decididamente una pena, pero, otra vez, la maldita corta duración no daba como para mucho más (al menos no si se quería terminar con algo de sentido).

Animación… bueno, todos sabemos que el anime sufrió de muchos altibajos en el aspecto visual, variando entre bueno, aceptable y terrible por momentos (Yukiko era una víctima frecuente del mal diseño), pero esta vez, hubo más tiempo, y mas presupuesto, así que el resultado final debería ser mejor, verdad? Pues no. Las mismas falencias, los mismos errores, las mismas abominaciones ocasionales… se ve que querían mantener el mismo espíritu rustico de la serie. Aparentemente, no sería Persona 4 de otra forma.

El sonido también está en las líneas de calidad del anime, pero a diferencia de la animación, acá es bueno. Todas las voces vuelven a realizar un trabajo muy satisfactorio. También vuelve el segundo opening, key plus words. El que si cambio es el ending, que en este caso es Never More, o sea, la misma canción del final del juego (y también cerró el ciclo, dado que la serie empezó con Pursuing My True Self). Eso fue un buen detalle. Algo malo es que, tristemente, en el enfrentamiento final no se usaron ni Fog ni The Genesis… una lástima ciertamente, porque Atlus venia tirando fan service para todos lados (algo que quedo claro en la serie en general, y en el capítulo de Iwatodai en particular) y esas dos canciones son de las más populares, al menos entre los fanáticos del juego.

Para finalizar, el veredicto. Como ya dije, No One is Alone tiene dos grandes enemigos: una animación mediocre y una duración muy corta. La primera es incomprensible, dado que tuvieron cuatro meses para hacer un buen trabajo… y la segunda… bueno, esa condiciona todo el proyecto, especialmente cuando es obvio que todo podría haber resultado mucho mejor (y menos confuso) con el doble de duración. Pero a pesar de sus obvias falencias, las respuestas fueron dadas, y el círculo se cerró. Hubo acción, comedia y emoción, y hasta el último momento uno está al borde. Persona 4 fue un buen viaje, uno muy divertido e interesante, que demostró que pueden hacerse buenas adaptaciones de videojuegos si uno le mete realmente ganas, obvio que no todos quedaron conformes, pero nunca puede tener a todos contentos. Si la serie y este especial les gusto, el juego es ampliamente recomendable.

Y como cierre, cualquiera pensaría que Atlus aprendería de los errores cometidos con esta serie, y los tendría en cuenta para no repetirlos en futuras encarnaciones, pero la noticia de que iba a realizarse una película de Persona 3 (un juego todavía más largo que este, o sea, mas de 80 horas de duración…) parece que desmiente eso. Ahora solo podemos esperar…