Persona 4 the Golden Animation

If you haven't played Persona 4 Golden, this really isn't for you. Even if you have played it, don't expect a full adaptation like the Persona 4 Animation. Think of it more as a compilation of the cutscenes and events from the game.

Overall I give this a 10/10. This isn't because of its merit as a stand-alone series. In that regard it's actually terrible and you would have no idea what's going on if you watched it in a vacuum. I give it a 10/10 because of how well it adapts key scenes from the game- which is probably the goal rather ... than making an adaptation of the entire narrative.


Not only do you get memorable events in full animation, but they retroactively add in Marie for events she wasn't actually present in. Normally, this alone with a few minor plot changes would put me off, but they did a really good job of fitting the narrative together in a way that wasn't at all confusing...if you already played the game. It's almost like an alternative universe in which Marie had an even larger role. If anything, it's refreshing, since watching the exact same scenes happen in the exact same way would get pretty boring.

If you think of this as DLC for people who completed the game instead of an actual show, I think you can get a lot of enjoyment out of this. Especially when you go looking for easter eggs that show that this is a New Game+ run with max character stats.

Watch Episodes 6 & 7, Persona fans! As for the rest, well, my (first) review.

The Golden Animation, simply put, is all the scenes from the updated rerelease from the game, animated and stretched out a bit.

As opposed to the strange combination of social life, school days, and vigilante-Shadow-fighting-crime-solving that was Persona 4, Golden, when taken at face value, comes off as a typical Slice-of-Life with a mystery sub-plot that isn't even explained well. Which is admittedly understandable, though it doesn't improve the series.

Our returning characters have their previously established relationships hinted at, as with their slightly more complex personalities, but they're mostly shoved to the ... side to make room for the amateur poet amnesiac with enough tsundere to give Ms Rin Tohsaka a run for money, Marie(a.k.a. canon love-interest). The series has no direct focus, but Marie's story in context of this expansion, translating to giving the girl some memories that might jog her old ones.

Cue the beach.

As a fan of Persona 4, I can admit that I found it enjoyable to watch, though that might have been somewhat mitigated by the conscious knowledge that I was supporting the ludicrous overmilking of Persona 4 that still continues with its yet to be released PS3 port and Rhythm Game spinoff. Even if the new artstyle took a moment to get used to, they were the guys who did the cutscenes for the game and they weren't too shabby here, either. Props, Madhouse.

I say watch the aforementioned episodes because they have direct relevance to the original Mystery/Reach Out For The Truth story by offering a look from the killer's eyes through the whole story; from before the murders to his inevitable defeat by the heroes.

Aside from that, though, I can only recommend this to someone who has already seen or played the original story and wants the canon equivalent of a fanfiction added on. I have no malice for this series, no anger with it that motivates me to give it a low score. But it just doesn't do anything noteworthy aside from the moment in its midpoint where it briefly returns to its source material to do what one might have wished at least half of the episodes had done. Perhaps it's for the best, though. Golden did have a happy & satisfying alternate ending, though.

Live long and prosper! :)

What began as a triumphant success, both critically and commercially, in the gaming culture, even outside the JRPG community, has now devolved into whoring itself out. That is not a negative connotation, as the spin-off games and the Vita port are excellent in their own right. However, the event that started the whole milking process began with announcing an entire adaptation of Persona 4 in anime form back in 2011. It would be of no surprise to anyone that it was a thing that, in the end, would be looked at as a project that could not be called anything but unnecessary.

Speaking as someone whose ... favorite game is Persona 4 and will cherish it till the day I die, I’ve also adored its Vita port, Persona 4 Golden. Its different mechanics and new fantastic scenes also brought a new character, which breathed all new life into it. After much popular demand by absolutely no one, Aniplex thought to themselves, “Remember that Persona 4 anime we made a couple of years ago? Why don’t we make another one for the port to cash in on the hype for Persona?” Atlus probably had a hand in the decision too. Still, Persona 4 the Golden Animation is nothing more than just decent fan service for fans to see, even with the inevitable cringe-worthy attempts to adapt it fully.

For those who aren’t aware of the concept of Persona 4 Golden, it is another version of the original game with a different side character that we get to know throughout her own story. The anime wants to solely focus on the new one, named Marie, and find out the mystery of who she is and why she is there. These do not bode well in how they handle the pacing and development. At one point, there are several parts where they skip over significant growth to fit 13 episodes in with Marie’s and animate the extra scenes; this includes the beach fanservice, the band practice, motorcycle licenses, etc.

Ironically, this problem of fitting too much content into one season was the same problem with the 1st season. The creators wanted to include as much content as possible to make it feel like an authentic Persona game in full anime spectacle. While it is admirable of them to at least try to accomplish this, it fails considerably. There are many instances where the pacing felt too quick for us to understand and feel for our characters. If they were to make this into a bonafide hit, a more prolonged episode count would’ve sufficed a bit more for one. But in this day and age where shows more extended than 24 episodes all come and go, I don’t think Aniplex has that kind of budget to have had that accomplished.

Art and animation have their moments of eerie distinctiveness, where the characters are drawn quite an on point to how Atlus usually draws their Shin Megami Tensei characters. However, there are moments where the art quickly goes down south at a draw distance where the characters look very deformed. The animation can be guilty of this, too, with rigid motions at specific frames and cutting corners here and there. When the battle scenes occur, the art and animation are pretty stellar to see, so you can tell where Aniplex put most of their budget towards.

Despite this not being an excellent adaptation, should this be outright slandered by Persona fans? Not entirely. What is still intact from the source is the humor, which can still serve to be a delight on multiple occasions. Seeing them in the animated form helps make it more memorable in this light. Not only that, but there are a few exciting bonuses they added to the story, despite its flawed presentation. Adachi’s past is given a lot of in-depth analysis, which has him seen in a more sympathetic light in how he became a police officer.

Many will ask the obvious question: Should I play the games or watch the anime? Or should I watch/play Persona 3 first before 4? Depending on your preference, they will prove to be more fruitful in experiencing a truly brilliant story. Golden only proves to have more of the same systematic problems from the previous iteration. Even without mentioning it in regards to how it compares to the game, it isn’t anything that noticeably special. Fanservice shows are of no small quantity these days, so your best bet is to leave the fanservice for the fanatics to dive into.

Grade: C-