Persona 3 the Movie 1: Spring of Birth

Persona 3 The Movie: Spring of Birth is directed by Noriaki Akitaya, director of the Bakuman series. He’s also been an episode director for series such as Code Geass, Honey and Clover II and Nodame Cantabile.

The first big-screen outing of Persona 3 is roughly 90 minutes long and it covers April to June. They have cut out much of the school life aspect, and there is no mention of the characters joining clubs or taking exams. Instead, it focuses on the members of SEES and how their bond grows stronger. Makoto Yuki was a blank canvas in the game and at the beginning of the ... film he still feels like one; he is quiet, doesn’t say much and doesn’t really care about his own life or have much of an interest in those around him. Seeing Yuki piece together his emotions and learn what it means to have friends and comrades is a nice touch to the movie.

If you’ve never played the game but have seen or played Persona 4, the first Persona 3 movie is darker and doesn’t have as much comedy. It focuses more on jealousy, bullying and friendship. It jumps from one Full Moon battle to the next, with moments in-between where the group gets to know each other better. Yuki, Yukari and Junpei’s first battle within the Shadow-infested tower, Tartarus, is very fun and beautifully animated. Junpei ends his battle with his famous line about levelling up, before becoming jealous of Yuki’s abilities. Akihiko and Mitsuru haven’t had their time to shine yet, but there is plenty of time for that in the next movie.

After the credits we see a certain character opening their eyes and are told that the second movie is coming Summer 2014.

I couldn’t help but smile when the opening credits started accompanied by Burn My Dread: Spring of Birth Version and that smile stayed on my face for almost the entirety of the film. Shouji Meguro’s music is always fantastic and this film’s soundtrack is no exception, the memorable themes of Tartarus, The Velvet Room and Gekkoukan High School all return. These familiar pieces alongside the impressive animation makes the film that much stronger.

As a fan of the game, I found Spring of Birth very enjoyable, Makoto Yuki’s character development, the battles and the fantastic animation made it well worth the wait. I would’ve liked to have seen more of the side characters and school life, but overall it did a really good job of bringing the characters to the big screen.

I originally wrote this review for my own website, but several users have messaged me asking me to review it on here as well.

[No one can escape time.]
[It delivers us all to the same end.]

The latest effort in animating this esteemed JRPG series is finally here, aaaaand it's a movie series. This means the release schedule will be hell to endure, but the payoff is definitely worth it so far.

First things first, the animation is beautiful. Anyone let down by the Persona 4 anime’s low quality should breathe easy, for the P3 movie looks stunning. The backgrounds looks great and the characters are sharp and on-model at all times. That movie budget is showing. The Dark Hour in particular looks great, with a muddy painting-esque look differentiating it ... from the daytime sequences. It works very well in making it look all otherwordly and creepy.

As for soundtrack, here’s where this follows the P4 anime’s footsteps. Most of the OST is lifted from the game, and occasionally slightly remixed, with some original compositions in here and there. It works, even though they liked using the main battle theme just a bit too much. (Several scenes opened with the iconic chant of BABYBABYBABYBABYBABYBABYBABY.)

The 90-minute movie covers the game up to and including the Fuuka Yamagishi arc, which is well over 10 hours of game time. There was a lot of daytime fluff scenes cut, much like in Persona 4, but here it didn’t really end up making the story or characters suffer at all, nor did it make the movie feel rushed. The fluff scenes were important world and character-building in Persona 4, but entirely superfluous and sometimes even badly written in Persona 3, so it’s more like they just trimmed the unneeded fat. What we have in its place is a more tightly paced, suspenseful story, which is more in line with what I expected Persona 3, the game, to be before I played it. The social links are relegated to background props and one-scene extras, but I never liked P3's social links, so I've no problem with that.

With the fluff scenes cut, the main story sequences are relied upon to give the characters depth, which works wonderfully. The movie’s version of the protagonist, Makoto Yuki, manages to show great amounts of depth with very few lines. Just like with P4’s Yu Narukami, the shift from silent protagonist to actual character has gone swimmingly. Other characters I felt gained a lot from the movie were Yukari Takeba and Fuuka Yamagishi. Yukari’s interactions with Makoto are very different from the game, and definitely make her come across as much more than just “designated love interest girl”. Fuuka never got much attention in the game, but her struggles here are played up a lot, which is only a good thing. Other characters, like Junpei, Akihiko, and Mitsuru, aren’t given overhauls that big, but we’ll see how the other movies handle them.

My main complaint is the action sequences. It’s nice to see the party make use of weapons, which was missing entirely in Persona 4’s anime, but the action sequences themselves are very static and awkward, with competitors often just standing around, waiting to get hit. I suppose that’s accurate to the movie’s source material as a turn-based RPG, but it doesn’t make for compelling action scenes.

I’m not used to hearing the cast in Japanese, so that was a semi-new experience for me. It was weird, because the game’s dub was how I first experienced P3, so I’ve come to associate the English voices more closely with the characters than I do the originals. Nevertheless, the Japanese cast is, as is typical, stellar. I particularly like Mamiko Noto’s Fuuka, who projects a whole different image than whoever her English VA is.

I wouldn’t recommend Persona 4: the Animation to someone who hasn’t played the game. The opposite is true here. Despite the limited time, Persona 3: Spring of Birth is a very good adaptation of the game’s opening hours, and many scenes I’d argue were even improved a lot in the movie. There’s a lot to see for P3 veterans, too. Basically, everyone should watch this. You should watch this. If you’ve already watched it, rewatch it.

That is all, dismissed.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have played the Persona 3 video game and will probably mention minor spoilers about the storyline and characters.

After what felt like a eternity for me the first Persona 3 movie has been release on bluray for all to enjoy. Does this movie live up to the famous and popular game. Well in one word yes, But it definitely isn't perfect.

Story
The Story line covered in the first of four movies covers up to Fuuka's recruitment into S.E.E.S. The movie follows the original game almost completely, but because of it's one and a half hour run time alot of smaller scenes are skipped and the ... pacing of the movie is very fast. thankfully this doesn't really detract from the movie, but if you have a favorite side character they will only be given one or two lines or will just be placed into the background. The movie changes from action scenes with the S.E.E.S members fighting shadows and scenes where the characters are at school or other dramatic parts. The fighting scenes are handled very well having the character switch from fighting with weapons to using there evokers to summon there personas. unfortunately the fight scenes aren't quite as epic as I thought they would be. They aren't bad by any means, but at the same time they could be better. The scenes focusing on school or other drama are also handled pretty well, but also have there share of problems. The highlights probably being the couple of scene's with Yuki and Pharos. These scenes do a really good job of adding a eerie vibe. Many of the other scenes are unfortunately clunky and a little awkward. The worst of the bunch probably being the scene near the end where Fuuka is talking to her friend during a battle. all of the scenes I am referring to also have a similar feeling of being out of place and kinda sudden. I am guessing these problems will be fixed as more movies are added and they figure out how to do the fighting and drama scenes better. One other thing that needs to be addressed with the storyline is that the movies should probably be a little longer, so that they can add more scenes and give more context to whats going on and more time to get to know the characters.

Characters
The characters also remain faithful to the source material keeping there original personality's, but unfortunately many of the characters don't get very much screen time and there is only hints about what there characters are like. Also because of the short run time of the movie and the amount of the story that is covered character development is at a minim, but this is the first out of four movies so this is to be expected.As I stated above all the side characters are barely given any screen time and are only there in passing. This is probably for the best though, because it allows more screen time for the main characters which are much more important anyways. Junpei and Yukari are both given alot of screen time and you get to see both of there characters develop alittle, but unfortunately Akihiko and Mitsuru are given far less. Atleast the few scenes they are in give a good foundation for future movies, but I still would have liked to see them more. Shinji is Only shown briefly but it is the same in the game so it isn't a problem. Fuuka receives quite a bit of screen time and is shown through out the entire movie. There are also some added scenes so that you have a sense of who she is by the climax. Now we get to the most important character of all the Protagonist who in this adaption has been name Makoto Yuki. I was really worried about how they where going to handle Yuki, because in the game he is purposely not given much of a personality so that the player can make him into the character they want. I actually really like the direction they decided to go in. Yuki's character is a completely uncaring person and basically will do whatever you ask him to. He doesn't even really care that much if he lives or dies. This allowed him to be able to really develop and he is already starting to change by the end of the movie. It also make me really excited to see how he is developed as more movies are added. The only real problem I have with his character is that he hardly ever talks. If he had just been given a couple of more lines per scene I think he would of made a much better character. Overall the characters are in a good position to develop and grow throughout each movie.

Animation
The animation does a perfect job of capturing the look and feel of Persona 3. Backgrounds are dark and creepy, characters look great, and the combat looks awesome. The highlights definitely being any scene that takes place during the midnight hour. The only complaint I have about the animation is that in a few scenes the characters look alittle awkward and the details in there cloths aren't there as much, but overall the animation is amazing and fits perfectly.

Sound
Anyone who has played a Persona game knows that the game has amazing music and the movie adaption doesn't disappoint. Almost all of the songs are just slightly different versions of the original songs from the game so fans of the game will enjoy hearing there favorite track.

Enjoyment
Overall the first Persona 3 movie was a very enjoyable movie. After finishing the movie I almost wanted to watch all over again. It also made me very excited for upcoming movies.

I can easily recommend this movie to anyone. Fans of the original game will enjoy that the movie remains true to the source material and newcomers won't have any problem following the movie and enjoying it themselves.

Disclaimer: I have only ever played the very beginning of Persona 3, and have never played any Megami Tensei/Shin Megami Tensei other than that and a brief outing in the original Super Famicom SMT game. This means that this review is from the perspective of a complete outsider, and does not factor in everything that would contribute to the enjoyment of someone who is already a fan.

To put it bluntly, I went into this film with very high expectations. The Persona sub-series seems to be almost universally beloved in my online friend-circle, and frankly, after years of waiting (I own no Sony consoles besides my ... (now broken) PSP), I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. What I found here was technically a disappointment, but only because of my artificially raised expectations.

The story of this film is fairly good, but has hints of developing into something extraordinary in the next films. Being an adaptation of what is only the first part of a larger tale, it has very little in the way of plot, focusing instead on (somewhat clunky) exposition and the introductions of the main characters. While I am pleased with what I have seen of the cast so far (particularly Makoto and Junpei) I cannot help but feel that the nature of the film as an adaptation artificially constrained how far we could dive into them in this outing. Mitsuru in particular strikes me as having her development held back because that is how the story unfolds in the game, rather than following how it should naturally go in this medium.

Bolstering the weaknesses of an adaptation is the gorgeous but understated animation. The characters are on-model at practically all times, and the designs of the shadows and personas are breathtaking to see in action.

Overall, this is a solid film for those who are unfamiliar with Persona 3, but my intuition tells me that first-timers like me would likely be better served by biting the bullet and playing the actual game before viewing this. That said, I was sufficiently intrigued by the film to be motivated to get off my ass and buy a used PSP so I can play it, so the film definitely did its job in that respect.

MEMENTO MORI - Remember, you will die.

Story:
Being the first installment in a four-part series of movies adapting the persona 3 game, this movie has the task of adapting possibly the least narratively interesting part of the game. Of course, it still does this quite well, but the pacing is little bit funky. Things seem to be moving very fast, except when there's a specific action scene, where they take the appropriate amount of time they need. I think the pacing was done quite well during the climax, but it still left a fair bit to be desired when it brushes over a school exam in ... less than 30 seconds.

Art:
Because this is an anime movie with a higher average budget than a tv series, it would naturally have a higher quality of animation. This alone explains why the animation in this movie is so damn beautiful. It not only portrays the characters' facial expressions well, but it goes above and beyond in making such pretty animation to the point where you get a highly detailed shot of a coffee can. I can't commend enough the brilliant work done by AIC. The later movies in this film series are animated by A1 pictures, and from what I can tell, there's almost no visual difference between this movie and the others. At least from the trailers.

Sound:
This movie mainly includes the OST featured in the base Persona 3 game, but it also has a few original songs, such as a brand new remix of the game's opening 'burn my dread' and the ending song 'more than one heart'. I in particular love the ending credits song, since it has such a happy feeling to it in an otherwise dark plot.
The voice acting in this movie is clear and succinct, as well as being fitting for the characters. I would have preferred if there was some sort of English dub for these movies, but I'm not mad that there isn't one.

Character:
For the most part, the characters from the P3 game are intact, with little significant changes made to them. The only exception to this being the main protagonist, who has had significant characterization in this movie series. The first movie portrays him as an aloof, blunt person who has the potential to be empathetic and caring when he needs to be. There is character development shown in the first movie, but it isn't the entire package, just enough to satisfy it's 100 minute run time.

Persona Spring of Birth is a film adaptation of the 2008 game Persona 3. At this point, it’s common knowledge that video games don’t typically make for good television shows and almost never make good movies, animated or live action. Much of the problem comes from both trying to fulfill obligations to fans of the source material as well as making an adaption that can stand alone as a good film, tv show, play etc. The end result is usually something so far off base that it doesn’t even slightly resemble the original story line or, something so copy-pasted to the point that it ... doesn’t look as if any effort was put forth into editing the material into a watchable format. In the case of P3M, it falls uncomfortably between both descriptions.

The story is centered around S.E.E.S., a group of persona users posing as a school club, whose mission is defending the public against monsters called ‘shadows’. New to the group is an orphan transfer student named Yuuki Makoto and resting on his shoulders are many of the problems within Persona Spring of Birth. His characterization is laughable. Regardless of individual experience with the protagonist (if you played the game), you were still left with a sense that he was a charming, fairly optimistic and caring person with a healthy sense of humor. But in the film, all that is stripped of him for no reason other than to make him a 2 cool 4 skool, badass who doesn’t give a shit about anyone or anything and yet he always saves the day. Most of Makoto’s script is either silence or sarcasm which gets really annoying really fast. It’s hard to root for this guy seeing as he has no purpose for what he’s doing besides being asked to do it (I thought Aegis was the robot?). In the game, it was easy to get to know and empathize for him as the story progressed and the fact that they couldn’t translate not one drop of this into the film really irritates me - he simply lacks the curiosity and initiative to be human.

The rest of the cast, if only by contrast, is better but none of them are great with Yukari being the only one who comes off even the slightest bit believable. Pretty fucking ironic seeing as Yukari was largely disliked by much of the fanbase, including myself. She was the only character to have gradual development instead of flip-of-the-switch progression as with the rest of them. Development just feels rushed. I understand that it’s a lot of work condensing some 80+ hours of gameplay into a 4 part film series, but most of the problems with the characters boil down to poor and inconsistent handling which ripples throughout other aspects of the film.

Most games listed under the Shin Megami Tensei family (or rather just Shoji Meguro) are widely known for the high quality and extremely fitting soundtracks in each of them. Of course I was hoping to hear maybe one or two tracks but boy was I surprised to hear EVERY SINGLE SONG used in film. I quite enjoyed the title sequence and I thought the decision to use Persona 3 Portable’s “Burn my Dread” opening was well thought out and visually appropriate. But was it not just a tad bit overkill to incorporate so many songs in such a short amount of time? It’s not like the tracks used were utilized in such a way that was fitting with the situation at hand, they just felt slapped into the background – like the choice in music was an afterthought as opposed to a conscious decision made during production.

Lastly, the animation and design choices of P3M weren’t so hot either. Persona 3 incorporates this lunar calendar type sequence as a visual for the progression of time. It’s pretty fucking stylish for the game but choppy and stupid looking in the movie, even more so because the story is set in 2009. I’m left with the impression that the story of P3 is actually within alignment of Persona 4, so while I understand the decision to keep the setting within the original timeline, it doesn’t excuse the weird way of showing it. I mean, a lot of the game does happen at school where people undoubtedly write the date of assignments and whatnot somewhere in their work, so why not just include a few scenes with people asking or writing down what day it is? Or even better, why couldn’t there have just been a cleverly placed calendar somewhere that resembled the in game progression sequence? Little things like this actually have a bigger and better impact on fans than frivolous use of in game visuals (which there is a lot of).

I was really hoping that Persona 3 would’ve been given a movie as stirring and visually appealing as the game was. And in case you haven’t played it then please don’t let this mediocrity of an adaption deter you from playing the game as so much of what was important to the story was either only just mentioned or completely left out of the film. The characters felt too distant, the relationships were obligatory and transitions between events were lazy and unedited. You can’t leave it up to a game to the job of a full length film and Persona 3: Spring of Birth is yet another disappointing example of this.

This is my first time writing a review so I do apologise if I get some things wrong or forget some things.

Now for the actual review. I'll just write this at the start. Unless you've played the game, this movie is not worth it. My reasons are below.

To be honest, I'm probably a big persona fan. Persona 3 was the first game i played in the series and i liked it so much i played it and then directly after that I played it again just because I liked it so much. You can thus imagine my excitement and glee when i found out that ... Persona 3 had a movie as well. I decided to watch this movie with a friend in hopes of getting him to play the game as well. Boy was I wrong. I'll go through the good bits first.

Art (8). The animation and character design was very well done. The fight scenes were fluid and the characters movement didn't jar with the background at all or feel unnatural. The backgrounds were just as good as it helped create the ambiance that the world wanted to created very well. Apart from that, there's not much else to be said apart from that everything looks very pretty.

Music (8). I've always been a fan of pop and the way Persona 3 mixed jazz and pop was interesting and it's one of the things i find most unique about Persona. The music gave a very cool and chilled feeling that I've come to know and love while the battle music was very upbeat and suave. I'm sure my decision on this was clouded by the fact that I enjoyed the game music as well and given that the music used in the game and the movie was about the same, I would naturally not have a problem with the music here.

Characters (5). Right off the bat, the main character (MC) was very emotionless. I know that it's never easy when there's a transition between a playable game character and any animation they're in but Persona 4 the Animation did a much better job at this by making the MC then much more relate-able from his sense of humour to his weaknesses. It wouldn't be an exaggeration here to say that the MC in the movie feels like a dead fish or more like a puppet with a very bad puppeteer.He barely says anything giving him a very blank persona (pun intended) and even the decisions he makes remind me more of what a machine would say than an actual person.

Enjoyment (3). If I had watched this alone going into the movie as a persona fan, I would have enjoyed it much more. However I went into this movie with a clean slate and my friend and i sat there for what felt like a 3 hour movie when it was only an hour forty. My friend kept yawning and I struggled to keep my eyes open. At the end of it, both my friend and I felt a sense of relief when the credits started rolling.

Overall (4). I'm normally a person that would be more unwilling to give a high score but would think twice before rating an anime below (5). This movie is no way to get introduced into the world of Persona 3. The most you'll get out of it is that this game is boring and the guys that like are just avid fan-boys of the franchise. If you do want to watch the movie, I cannot recommend enough that you play the game on psp (it has an english release) before you watch the movie.

If I were to rate this from a person that has played the game though, I'd probably give it a solid 8 but from a new persons point of view, it would have to be 4. There were many other ways that this movie could have been improved giving the MC more personality to maybe focusing a bit more on the social links and how they actually come into play. Overall, not a good way to enter the Persona 3 universe and since i can't add it in anywhere (MITSURU-SENPAI FTW!!!)

Anime without pathetic girls? Check.
No high-school squealing fan servies? Check.
Action through out the whole anime? Check.
Likable characters? Check.
Modern/decent artworks? Check.

If the above are your type, then this is definitely YOUR anime to watch! Even though it is a movie, don't be put off. It is quite awesome in case you are wondering. There are little or close to none romance in this anime. So those action/comedy fans will definitely enjoy this.
This anime is engulfed in mystery, suspense and action, making it a must watch for all watchers out there who are tired of watching slice-of-life animes.

When I first ... found this anime, I immediately thought that it will be another anime with a weak MC that TRIED to develop throughout the anime but still resulted in being weak+1. But no, how wrong I was. The Main Character was very powerful and he gain more powerful as he goes. The overall character development is quite good and realistic.

I highly encourage you to watch this anime. But if you are looking for romance, you should just quietly shrink away....This is not your type.

Peace out.

I'm writing this as a fan of the Persona 3 video game.

Persona 4 the Animation was very well done and this movie was equally good at both keeping true to the source and even expanding on it. The thing I liked was the development of Makoto; how he went from beyond aloof to truly appreciating the people around him and wanting to protect his teammates even to the point of getting seriously hurt as well.

I kind of wished that the fight scenes had been more action packed but they were still great. Unlike P4A though it did not include much involvement with Social Link ... characters aside from showing them every so often.

All in all I would say that; if you are a fan of the game, watch this movie because you won't be disappointing; and if you haven't played the game, GET ON IT!

Persona 3 the Movie 1: Spring of Birth is based on the Atlus game Persona 3, more specifically it is focused on the first 3 months events. The story of Persona 3 revolves around an young man who returns to his hometown after several years, discovers that there are unusual events and through a series of events gains access to people's power.

I played the game and i liked the movie but not as much as i like the game, i i'll try to give the good features in the movie, here the game was better and why.

Story: 8 out of 10

A good aspect about the ... movie is that they keep the story equal to the game with a little few changes to it, the main characters and the main events are all there and he can get a better point of view at the MC mind.
The bad thing is that because is just a movie, the support characters don't have almost any screen time and any development, maybe if they made a four season anime it It could be better but they did good enough with the movie.

Art: 10 out of 10

The art is the same as in the game, it is a beautiful kind of art that fits the game very well.

Sound: 10 out of 10

It is so good they i have nothing to say about it, the bgm fits every scene, the voices and the other sounds are also very well done.

Characters: 8 out of 10

I really liked that they explored the feelings of all the main characters better that how they did in the game, but they payed a high price for it. Unfortunately support characters don't have almost any screen time, in the game the MC wins power through the bounds that he creates with all the other characters.

Enjoyment: 9 out of 10

Just from my anime fan side the story is good, the sound and art are excellent and from my game fan side i enjoyed looking for the differences between the game and the movie.

Overall: 9 out of 10

If you're thinking about watching the movie to know if you should play the game, DON'T DO IT! First play the game than watch the movie.

Persona 3 the Movie 1: Spring of Rebirth follows the story of Makoto Yuuki, a boy who is able to witness strange events during the period known as the Dark Hour. During this time, there are some people who are aware of this are able to move while others cannot. The story follows a group of people who can move during this time as they try to discover what is the cause behind it. The only problem is that there are some odd cuts that kind of mess up the pacing and would have been better if it was just flat out introduced in the ... beginning instead of in the middle of a battle. The way they do it make it sometimes look like the main character not a new power out of nowhere. Characters take the time to compare their experiences as well instead of just writing off some battles as past experiences.

The quality of the art and animation is very high. The animation and character designs are great, with no signs of off model characters or silly looking animations that are sometimes present in TV shows. They definitely make great use of lightning and shadows. One of the things I like is how the Persona are clearly CGI while the characters are not as obvious. This gives them an "otherworldly" feel that makes it seem like they do not belong in the world.

A lot of the sound in the anime is directly taken from the Persona 3, but I feel that there is a noticeable improvement in the quality. The voice acting is also pretty good. They also make great use of timing and changing the music to reflect the sudden shifts in tone.

Overall, the movie is pretty good. It is a great adaptation of the early parts of the Persona 3 game though they do kind of start rushing things towards the end. The music is good and the characters do have some development to make them interesting. The only downside is that it starts to get rushed towards the end.

I played Persona 3 FES at a time when I started losing interest in gaming. From the opening intro, right till the end of its short post credit scene Persona 3 rejuvenated my interest in video games. While Persona 2: Eternal Punishment made me a fan of the Persona series it was Persona 3 that made me into a Shin Megami Tensei addict. Persona 3 FES was heavy on the exploration of death, the lore setup in the world was fascinating, the music was good, and finally the gameplay (while repetitive in design) kept me hooked for around the 84 hours it took me to ... beat it. Regardless if it’s in film, or in a tv series format anything based around video games generally end up being down right awful at worst, and just barely average at best. The amount of watchable video game adaptations can be counted on a single hand. Now, you think the film adaptation of Persona 3 would easily please a fan of the video game. Sadly, that is not the case as certain choices make the film a hindrance to see. The video game storyline was not adapted into film format properly, nor were the necessary changes made in order to create a good film. Even with my single-minded love of the video game this film ended up being average at best, and boring at its worst.

Persona 3 The Movie: No. 1, Spring of Birth follows Makoto Yuki, a transfer student at Gekkoukan High School, suddenly awakened with the powers to control a Persona (a demon like manifestation of one’s personality). First order of business if you have never played any incarnation of the video game Persona 3, or know anything associated with the game you’re completely out of luck with this film. Not only does it required multiple films to solve its main course of conflict, but doesn’t offer a story that can stand alone without supplementary material to understand it. Like the fact there is no movie or anime adaptations of the first, or second Persona games in the series, nor are all the games within the series connected together to weave a single narrative. This sort information will be lost to anyone outside of the Persona fandom. With the inclusion of No. 1 in the title should give the uninitiated an idea of what to expect. If not, the short version is a main conflict that doesn’t get resolved, characters that are underdeveloped, story elements that are underused or lack explanation, and a series of questions that serve to bait viewers instead of intrigue. Newcomers will be left in the dark on anything going on in the film.

In general, the writing ranges in good decisions, and delivery as it introduces characters, and certain story elements, but does very little with them. For example, in the film you get a random scene in what’s called “The Velvet Room”. An elegant blue colored elevator constantly going up where our protagonist, Makoto Yuki, is told by long nose proprietor Igor the power of friendship by building bonds will unlock more Persona/Demons. Within the film context, this is a pretty cheap plot device since it basically means our protagonist can be given any Persona/Demon simply through the film loose definition on the power of friendship if the plot demands it. Before that though, you’ll be wondering how in the world did Makoto Yuki entered “The Velvet Room” since the first time he enters “The Velvet Room” we last see Makoto riding on a train. The next time Makoto goes into “The Velvet Room” it’s after he fights demons referred to as Shadows on a roof top. The next time is when he’s on a train, with two of his friends fighting a powerful demon. It is explained that “The Velvet Room” is a place between mind, and matter. A place within dream, and reality. Between WTF, and helpful explanation for how Makoto enters “The Velvet Room”. Every time Makoto enters “The Velvet Room” what happened in the previous scene is different. When witnessing Igor give Makoto Yuki a key it’s natural to assume it would come into play in the film somehow. If something as minor as this key was not properly used for anything than the chances of it actually succeeding where it counts have been lowered.

Pacing is episodic like treating each act in the film as a mini-arc. The first half hour attempts to set up a normal life routine with some element of something otherworldly. Its intention is nice setting up a mystery, but when one of the first things you see is Makoto Yuki walking on a sidewalk with coffins just outside it fails immediately. This odd scene it chooses to open with only begins the series of unanswered questions. For instance, there’s a mention of Makoto Yuki parents being dead, and a couple of flashes of Makoto past that hints at a tragedy. That’s about as far as it goes in exploring his backstory. This sort of treatments applies to everything else in the film.

Another unanswered aspect is the creation of Tartarus (a giant tower filled with demons/shadows), and why Gekkoukan High School transforms into it is skipped over. At most, there’s a reference to a specific event that might have caused it, but the film doesn’t go into that detail either. Withholding information in this case makes no sense since the characters whom participate in stopping the shadows/demons should question their cause for fighting for SEES (Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad) who are against these creatures. The heroes never do which seems odd when one of the main characters, Yukari Takeba, states her dislike for the protagonist fighting on missions for his "just because" attitude, but not question herself for the cause she fights for.

Aspects in the world like “The Dark Hour” is explained by continuing a theme of vagueness in its creation which is also only referenced. One example of vague explanations being within the same scene establishing technology doesn’t work in “The Dark Hour” viewers will be shown Mitsuru Kirijo (a member of SEES) riding on a motorcycle during “The Dark Hour”, and the only explanation for it functioning is “It’s specially made”. Also in this scene, it makes sense for the newcomers who are Junpei, and Makoto not to know this fact, but Yukari who has been in SEES longer barely learning vehicles don’t work in “The Dark Hour” is questionable on character consistency.

One aspect that is done away with quickly is our three main characters Yukari, Junpei, and Makoto learning to use their abilities for the first time. Even though it’s their first time fighting, and the audience is told it has a toll on their psyche the action on screen goes against the information given. Makoto in his first time fighting against a powerful shadow in Tartarus beats it virtually by himself. Action scenes are animated nicely, but the context, and the plot armor prevents them from being exciting. The only real consequence in these battle is shown the first time Makoto fights against the Shadows resulting in him losing consciousness for several days. It shows Makoto waking up from a hospital bed which sets up the idea there is actual consequences to using your Persona. Afterwards the physical, and mental toll that can result in using a Persona become absent for the rest of the film.

This film adaptation only adapts the first three full moon incidents, which in the game is three months’ worth of story material to work with which probably equals around 20 hours of gameplay. To further highlight this problem, progression of time is shown through a calendar that goes through dates in linear fashion showing stills, or animation without dialogue of what occurred on those days. It's rushes through material hurting itself in the long. What this doesn’t get across is the characters are bonding like it wanted since every time it cuts back into telling a story there’s something upsetting the group of characters the film follows. With so much on it plate the struggle between balancing saving the world, and having a school life is ignored. During the opening sequence several characters are shown most of whom don’t make an appearance in the film. Serving as foreshadow for the answers you’re not going to receive in the film.

Protagonist Makoto Yuki characterization in the film is a transfer student loner who learns the value of friendship, and showing more emotion. Beside the typical dead parents background, Makoto expressions is limited to being uninterested through the entire film. The journey leads up to a smile, and in terms of interaction the film decides to end before seeing the result his journey had on him. So throughout the film Makoto doesn’t have a personality, and his past is only briefly discussed. While Makoto arc is written in a typical way without surprises it’s handle competently. His lacked of any distinguishable trait from an overpowered emotionless lead makes him uninteresting as a protagonist, but his transformation is steadily done not falling victim to being an unnatural one-eighty change.

Yukari Takeba fares the best of the supporting cast. She gets developed, has an arc that gets completed, and contributes to the story. Having scenes interacting with Makoto helps develop Makoto, and herself. Her inability to trust Makoto with her life because of his lack emotion is touched on. However, she tells the strongest member of the group she doesn’t want him to go on a rescue mission because he doesn’t have an emotional input in it. If Makoto wasn’t overpowered Yukari outburst wouldn’t be idiotic. That’s not the case so Yukari looks like an idiot in this scene by being fully aware of this fact, and voicing her opinion to make SEES rescue operation more dangerous. Aside from this very plot point, Yukari develops competently as well.

Junpei Iori is delegated to being comedic relief without doing much comedy. Why the film made this decision is up in the air for debate. In the film, maybe Junpei class-clown attitude could have been used as a way for him to hide his discontent self-image, but it’s not. Junpei develops an inferiority complex at one point in the movie out of nowhere, and gets resolved minutes later. Then later on in the film, Junpei wants to redeem himself for acting irresponsibly on one of the team's operation. What exactly his arc was trying to accomplish is sketchy. Fuuka Yamagishi who has less screen time then Junpei has a simple arc of being bullied by one of her friends, but not letting that get in the way of her friendship. Or Fuuka just has low self-esteem too. She’s not developed much as a character beyond what’s introduced about her, but her arc also gets completed even if Fuuka remain largely unchanged.

Then finally leaves the remainder of the underutilized cast. Mitsuru Kirijo has little to do in the film. Her small contribution is feeding the team information on the environment during operations. In a routine setting, she is simply in the background. It's hinted Yukari doesn’t like Mitsuru, but that goes nowhere. Shinjiro Aragaki is only used to deliver exposition in two scenes, and helping the main cast out of trouble in one scene. Akihiko Sanada is just in the film. He’s a fodder character regardless if the film attempts to paint him as an important member of SEES. Then the oldest character in the film being Shuji Ikutsuki who is only important in one scene where he explains “The Dark Hour”, and the purpose of SEES. Beside that one scene he’s in the background not doing much either. There’s Natsuki Moriyama who is the bully/friend of Fuuka whose change is telegraphed by this description of her archetype. That’s a lot of wasted room for characters who mostly do nothing in the film, and that’s not including three supernatural characters that serve as deus ex machina, and info dumping on an impending catastrophe.

Persona 3 The Movie: No. 1, Spring of Birth was animated by AIC A.S.T.A. The art direction captures the game’s dark atmosphere perfectly. The usage of lighting is key since most of the film takes place in the dark. Thanks to the clever usage of moonlight, the action in the film is easy to see while the lighting is used to keep the setting looking ominous. Locations from the game are brought to life, and given a vibrant new look, whilst also retaining the same details that any fan of the game will remember fondly. Plenty of foreboding compositions, oppressive shots, and generally solid direction help to keep things aesthetically impressive. Animations such as the school turning into Tartarus are rendered beautifully (even if the 3D in the scene is weak), and action that were previously left to the imagination (like how Persona are used in battles) are now visually stunning. Action scenes while lacking excitement are nice eye candy. One thing the film fixed about the characters’ designs were the long necks from the games. All the characters look more natural in the film with some minor touches like adding more line details to the hair to update the game arts style.

Shoji Meguro returns in his role to produce the soundtrack, and as usual his work is stellar. Crazy techno/hip-hop soundtrack creates a unique tone. The game's soundtrack is largely reused in the movie, and fits perfectly well. If anything, the movie does a special service to the soundtrack by not playing the same tracks for several hours like in the video game. As a fan of Shoji Meguro in general, the best part of the film was the opening credits with a remixed version of “Burn My Dread”—complete with an added strings section. This film does not provide many new materials worth looking into in terms of music, but the rearrangement of familiar tracks makes it a nostalgic trip for fans. The original Japanese voice cast from the video game returns to reprise their role, and are just solid in the film adaptation. In particular Akira Ishida gets allot more to say besides some grunts and demon names. While limited in dialogue, Akira Ishida grim voice fits the broken character of Makoto. Unfortunately, with the sloppy writing grants no one else the opportunity to deliver much of a noteworthy performance from the character they play. As of this moment, there’s no English dub even though it’s licensed for North America distribution by Aniplex of America. Take that as you will if you liked the English cast from the video game.

Persona 3 The Movie: Chapter 1, Spring of Birth is a movie that I wouldn’t recommend seeing, including fans of the video games. The production side of things capture the aesthetic of Persona 3, but the writing doesn’t emulate what made fans hold the video game in their heart so dearly in the first place. For newcomers, it’ll leave them in the dark with too many unanswered questions, and the inability to work as a stand-alone feature film weakens the narrative when divided in segments. Fans of the video game might be able to enjoy it as whatever doesn’t get explained they’ll still know what’s going on. However, I would just rather say replay the video game for a better experience. As an adaptation it’s not a train wreck since the story introduces some interesting ideas, and some character arc are handle well, but not enough was changed to make Persona 3 in a different medium.

Persona 3 the Movie: Spring of Birth is a movie tie-in that is based on the 2006 JRPG video game, Persona 3. It has three other sequels which come after this, and the movie was set in the same story as the Persona 3 video game storyline with only a few tweaks to help differentiate both the movie and the game AND to avoid any repetitions from the story that could ruin the experience of the audience of this movie.

And before you continue on to read my review, let me get you a warning that the following you're about to read here are SPOILERS related ... to the Persona 3 game. If you haven't bought the copy of Persona 3 or you didn't play Persona 3 before, BUY IT! I MEAN, RIGHT NOW! But I'll recommend you to buy Persona 3: FES and it is currently available now through PSN! And for those who don't have PS3/PS4, PCSX emulator is your second choice. If you don't have a PC, but you're reading this on your android, play the Persona 3: Portable for the PSP, PSVita(?) and for the PSP emulator as well. But if you don't have any PS consoles, ranging from PS2 to PSVita, but you own a XBox, that's a bad news for you. No Persona 3 for you guys. Sorry.

Alright, enough beating around the bush. Let's focus now on the review.

So, the story has almost the same as the game though. It has the same plot where your character, (insert name here), goes to the dorm and signed a contract. It has also the moving calendar that help you what date it is, and it has the same chores, like going to school, meet new friends to develop a new social link for your Persona, beat the s*** out of those shadows ever dark hour, etc..

But here in the movie, well, on the very first part, it has now explained why the train was "delayed" while you were on the train on the very first cutscene of the game. According to this movie's first part, a one guy who wears a hoodie decided to suicide for unknown reasons. When I watched that scene, I was like... 'huh? Where did he come from? And why did he take suicide?' So, after that, we went to another scene where we saw our protagonist, (insert name here), was listening to "Burning my dread" in his earphones, while riding the train to Iwatodai Station with some announcement that there's a "delay" because there's an "incident" happened on that place. And as the protagonist already touchdown the Iwatodai Station, he looked at the pamplet that shown where our protagonist must stay, at the dorm, and after for a few moments, the dark hour spawns. The same as in the game I've played on P3P, he's just walking calmly until reaches to the dorm. There, he met the mysterious kid, who later name as Pharos, gives him the contract to sign the deal to choose his own will, etc.. thingy. And as the protagonist write his name, it was revealed that his name is "Yuki Makoto". And as the day goes by, he went to school, he met both Junpei and Yukari on the very first day, you did the same assignments as you've played in P3 like, killing the first shadow who climbed to the rooftop of your dorm, killing the shadow who controlled the train, and battling the two arcana at the entrance way of Tartarus.

But there's a difference though, because during the rooftop incident, if you're wandering if the fight scenes on the game (choosing attack, skill etc. to attack the opponent) has the same as this movie. Well, movie newbie to the tie-in games person, you're wrong, silly. We instead watch our protagonist, by name of Yuki Makoto, is going to fight the shadow in a fighting scene just like we're watching "Fairy Tail" or any magical anime shows you can think of. Although, the battle was a bit short but at least, it gave a dramatic style of fighting as we could feel how P3 was like without the "player choosing a tactic to defeat the enemy in the game" style.

The plot here in this anime was ranged from the very first part up only to the part where they've rescued Fuuka Yamagishi from being stuck in Tartarus for 12 days (12 hours in Dark Hour time). And to be honest, it's quite a good start to begin with. But I don't see any memorable moments just like I played the game on my PSP emulator due to the slow pacing of the plot. But at least they bring the stuff from the game and put it into a movie, which is great! And making this movie as a movie rather than a live-action movie is a very good way, AND IT MUST STAY THAT WAY TOO. Because if P3 became a live-action movie, let's face it guys, IT SUCKS. Because if this P3 became a live-action movie just like Attack on Titan did, we might be able to see so many cringe worthy fights and expressions coming from the actors, screaming "YAMETE!" with their horrific dramatic pose as possible, and horrific CGI shadows that will ruin the face of the game itself. And it might cause chaos to some fans of P3, myself included.

Back to the topic, as for the fight scenes, well, the only thing I do like about fighting scenes in this whole movie is that after they rescued Fuuka Yamagishi from Tartarus, the group must fight the two arcanas. But as they struggle to fight back, Yuki came to the rescue from the dorm (yes, the plot changes here for those who wanders) and tries to defeat the two arcanas. As they struggle to fight every inch they've got, Fuuka then soon realize that one of the two arcanas has a weak point. And with that, the group fight back to defeat both of the arcanas thanks to Fuuka's advice. It's not actually on the game though, ESPECIALLY when the time that Yuki is riding Mitsuru's motorcycle. Which is cool though, especially from his entrance from entering through Tartarus, but that's unprecedented to see that. I really laughed when Yuki did that, yeah I know, I admit that was cool, but I don't think that fits on his style as he's a HS student WITHOUT any background to any vehicle he drove. Seeing him in a bike really fucked my mind though... And I really laughed on that scene at the same time... xD I can't take it...

Is there any changes that could help differentiate the movie to the game? Yes. Too lazy to write this so I just took it from the "http://megamitensei.wikia.com/". So here's the ff. difference from the movie to the game:
- All the major characters appear in the movie intro (except Aigis), while the anime cutscene at the beginning only shows the Protagonist, Yukari, Pharos, and Mitsuru.
- Makoto doesn't interact much with other social link characters, only a few.
- It is revealed in the movie that the first victim devoured by shadows in the anime cutscene was named Sakata Masashi.
- In the anime cutscene he appears in Tatsumi Port Station, but in the movie, he appears somewhere in Port Island Station.

- Some characters make a cameo appearance:
- Bunkichi and Mitsuko make a cameo appearance during Fuuka's visit at their
bookstore.
- Koromaru and Maiko Oohashi make a cameo appearance together.
- Ken Amada also appears briefly.
- Kenji Tomochika appears in the arcade and after exam results are posted.
- Kazushi Miyamoto makes a brief cameo after exam results are posted.
- Hidetoshi Odagiri appears while interrogating one of the students of class
2-E.
- Nozomi Suemitsu makes a brief cameo in Wild Duck Burger.
- Aigis appears in a post-credits scene.

- When the Shadow attacks the dorm, the Protagonist stops to look at the full moon outside the window. Yukari asks him if he cares if he dies, and the Protagonist says he doesn't and he asks her if she's scared of death. A Shadow attacks the window and Yukari dives to save the Protagonist. In the process, her leg is cut by a glass shard and bleeding. None of this occurs in the game.
- Junpei's Believe or Don't was told in May instead of June 1.
- While discussing about the ghost rumor from 2-E, their meeting was in Wild-Duck Burger instead of the dormitory.
- Makoto does not accompany SEES during the June full moon operation due to his personality until he fully realizes his friends are in danger and he goes to save them.
- This is first time where Makoto and Natsuki interact with each other, whereas that was not featured in the game.
- In the movie, Natsuki heard the voice after witnessing the school transforming into Tartarus, but she heard it in the dormitory in the game.

For the art, the characters' appearances here are heavily modified though from light colors from the PS2 game to dark colors to this movie. And as for the scenery of this anime, it's pretty good. Overall, it was a fantastic art to see here.

The sound here is remarkable though. Because when it comes to OSTs, they bring some of the P3 soundtrack to the movie, which really gives a nostalgia feeling to some viewers who've played the game. As for the VA, to be honest, I felt like kinda uncomfortable when I watch this on English sub rather than the dub because, the dub version on the game is pretty good. But when it comes to Japanese dub in this movie, it seems kinda odd, I never heard what they'd sound like in Japanese. But I'd say it's quite good nonetheless. But as for the MC, Yuki, well, it's kinda a bit-odd also seeing the first time my character talks, but in a quiet fashion rather than his personality in the game who sounds like more energetic and has a colorful life.

Speaking of personality, the character development here didn't do much here at least. Especially Yuki, who is an introvert, one-sided guy who doesn't care about anything. To top it all off, Yuki, unlike on my character on P3, he's more like a selfish type of guy and doesn't talk too much. He doesn't even show some emotions and whether they're already nearing at the signs of danger, just like on the train scene, he looks calm and collected rather than he's going to panic and don't know what to do. But his character just changed at the ending of the movie where he smiles after he rescue Fuuka. But it still doesn't change the fact that Yuki is still raw when it comes to the development. And as for the other characters here, again... ALL OF THEM have no development whatsoever. Maybe we'll going to see that on the next film.

Overall, the movie was good. I don't expect much of the change here. But I was intrigued and enjoyed at the same time. Hope there's more changes on the next film just like this one, and I hope it's better than the first one.

Persona 3 The movie 1: Spring Of Birth, Feelings of disbelief and very hapy when first saw the news. Why? This anime is adaptation from the game in PS2 which i really like.

A touching story and also one of J-Rpg produced by atlus, which produces many interesting and entertaining games, The game itself is titled : "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3"

My review, this anime also have very good story such as the game, also have interesting character and action. In 4 movie we can feel the protagonist Has many options to choose the way of life to be taken.

Sory for bad review and ... bad translate :D

Probably the most disappointing anime i've ever seen. There are a lot of great shots here, the art is nice and there are some really well put together scenes. Makoto's awakening and the first run through of Tartarus being good examples. I also love the characterisation of the Makoto. He's still a pretty silent mc but they found a way to make it work unlike P5A, turning him this anti-social edge-lord that fits P3's darker tone.

However the pacing is off which kills a lot of enjoyment for me. Too much stuff happens too quickly and we don't get to spend nearly enough time getting to ... know the characters.
The calendar is a terrible example of adapting gameplay elements. It messes with the flow of the film leading to a bunch of disjointed events rather than flowing scenes. A shame considering how cool the source material is and how how much potential some parts of the movie show.

;(

This presents the world the story will be set in... and that's it. No character development, not even presentation. No plot. No nothing. It's just some scenes put one after the other. Not even good scenes either.

The world the story (which doesn't exist in this movie) will be set in, is one with a 'pocket' of time (reminiscent of tales from the fairy, I would guess), and with some gifted youths that are able to use the 'persona', which it's a reminiscent of avatars (like in some ancient indian or egyptian mythologies). That was the only interesting aspect of this waste of time.

P.S.: Be careful ... with the translation too: it can turn this bland piece of waste into one even duller.

This is probably exactly what you were expecting but also hoping for it not to be. A typical, albeit high budget, video game adaptation that dilutes the strength of the original story without giving us a new angle that's worthy of the time investment. I like Persona 3 more than 4 as a lot of people probably know about me by now, and I'm not really interested in direct adaptations of games I've already played. Obviously the original format is probably going to better because there's so much more space, but since I'm playing a Shin Megami Tensei game right now and plan to hit ... the entire franchise's English output I thought I'd at least try and see if I could get back some of that magic of the original game's setting and characters.

An instant roadblock in that is the fact that the rights to the original dub cast couldn't be obtained for whatever reason, so I'm immediately getting partially different identities from the characters that lowers my built up affection for them that'd make me more sympathetic to this movie's weaknesses. I adapted quickly anyway since you're focusing on reading subtitles, but since the Persona 4 anime got a dub this is disappointing nonetheless and regardless of the excuses feels like more neglectful behavior towards Persona 3. The most interesting thing about the movie compared to the game's story is that the main character, who was previously a near blank slate for the player to insert themselves in, has been made into a more specific character. The way they went about this was actually quite clever. For a while, people insisted that P3's MC's personality was reflected by the alternative third response in each dialogue option. You typically had two different but tactful responses and then a third one which was usually humorous and sarcastic. People joked for a long time that the Persona 3 MC was secretly an asshole because of this consistent option, and surprisingly the writers of the movies adopted that personality for him. What's doubly clever though is how this bitter, sarcastic personality complements a new distant side to the MC's personality that gives an excuse for him to have a low amount of dialogue and personal input replicates how little he actually speaks in the game. The writers of the movies had to give the MC some agency now that the player wasn't choosing it, but they compromised between his representation in the games through possible dialogue responses and also retained some of his anonymity and non-involvement while making it all feel in-character.

Well that's pretty intelligent, but the rest? It's all Persona 3 but weaker. Only the most minimal of new transitional scenes and original content are allowed because the movie's plot is already struggling to hit the same emotional stride as the game. The movie's predicted focus on only the story's plot climaxes like the full moon battles and party member introductions ensures that each has less impact because a huge chunk of the flavor dialogue inbetween these segments that would allow you to understand the characters and empathize with them in times of crisis is cut down considerably. If nothing else this provides me something to point at when people say nothing happened during Persona 3 between full moons. Watch the movie cut down all of the so-called "fluff" and realize how insignificant all plot development is when it doesn't have proper emotional payoff behind it. Just because Persona 3 wasn't constantly concerned with advancing the story of the Shadows doesn't mean every other scene wasn't deliberate build and progression, namely in that aforementioned flavor text that's now missing that would've detailed the setting and characters into diverse, real-life parallels that were actually worth caring about and saving. Every little bit that made these aspects more understandable and relatable could be considered plot development, because as we can now literally see, the plot isn't much without them.

The movie is forcing the plot along so much that there's not enough scenes that show the characters interacting or influencing each other without some forced goal on their minds. The movie covers the first three full moons (including the intro) which would've taken several times the movie's length to reach in-game, and even when you cut out Tartarus's play time (which is still some player/character bonding) it's still a large chunk of time spent on world building that's now missing. There's so much action and plot exposition in Persona 3 that it feels soulless compared to the games, which can be a bit ironic since many people wanted that focus. If someone hadn't played the games before watching this for whatever reason, I doubt anything in the movie's set-up would've been enough to force them to care. As someone who has played the games and is trying to watch this as a separate experience in order to justify its existence, I also find it hard to care because when isolated from the knowledge of the game I'm using to fill in the missing blanks it's still an amateurishly constructed movie as stated earlier.

When you get right down to it, the most enjoyable thing about the Persona 3 movie as someone who's already experienced the story in a better way is that it at least gives us a new visual angle to see Persona 3's world and story from. The animation quality is great, and seeing Shigenori Soejima's phenomenal art transitioned perfectly to animation is always a treat, even though it still feels very familiar in how accurately copied it is. The surreal Dark Hour design is given a lot of attention without any gameplay to focus on and being in the background of several frames, and though the plot's emotional strength is missing the emotions to come from the game's somber sense of tone are all perfectly on-point. The lighting and color design is still mellow yet pulsing with curious mysteries, and locations like Iwatodai Dorm instantly evoke the same atmosphere as they do in-game. The reuse of Shoji Meguro's game soundtrack works just as well in the animated scenes, although the extended sections of old songs are nothing to write home about even though the effort's appreciated.

Does this adaptation do the video game version of Persona 3 justice? I don't know whether to say yes or no. No, because the game is a superior format to experience everything that is Persona 3. Yes, because with the time limitations they did about the best they could. But if this is the best they could do, then maybe the real answer is that an adaptation just wasn't a good idea in the first place. If nobody needs it, I don't see the point of making it and insisting it as a genuine complement to the game, but I guess it would seem pointless to me when I'm not the one making millions of yen in profits. I think I would've taken a fourth game version of Persona 3 over this movie.

WOW this is epic! , I have persona 3 on my PSP and I loved the game I also read the manga but nothing beats the animation , seeing there reactions and all , however I felt that the story was a bit rushed I played the whole game and let me tell you that the movie is moving very quickly , I mean it takes alot of time to reach the third boss in the game but I guess they didn't want the movie to last forever . what I really liked about this movie was the highly detailed animation , I ... mean it is one of the best animations out there , the movie also used some of the orginal soundtracks that were used in the game which was a nice touch , All in All every persona fan must watch this and if u don't know much about persona 3 watch this movie as well since it basically covers everything you need to know I hope this helped out.

First of all I want to point out that I played the video games before see the film.

This adaptation is very poor for me. The background of persona is interesting and the universe very powerfull in the game but on the screen one feels absolutely nothing. The animation is pathetic with many fixed-time moments and one feels too much the fact that the story is taken from the video game without adapting to the format. For example scenes in the velvet room or the calendar indicating which day is.
To this is added an OST of elevator which totally prevented me from entering the film.


Very disappointed

For someone who's already played the source material and knows all the story beats, this movie is an absolute joy to watch. Its gorgeous art direction and animation is a breath of fresh air from the animated adaptations of the game's sequels, and it's genuinely fun to watch these PS2-era cutscenes transformed into such beautiful and compelling animated scenes.

The pacing sucks though. It really is one event jumbled after another. Put in more exact terms, it feels more like two separate narrative arcs mushed together into a full-length runtime than anything particularly cohesive--(It's the sort of thing that makes you go, "Wait, that wasn't the ... climax? This flick's still going?")--not to mention how the film's time constraints butchered the setting exposition beyond recognition. It seems to me that this movie would be almost painfully incomprehensible to anyone who was not already intimately familiar with the plot of Persona 3.

TL;DR: Great eye candy if you already like Persona 3. Best avoided otherwise. Maybe look at some GIFs from the film on Tumblr or something?