Much like the early games in the Persona franchise, Persona: Trinity Soul doesn't get much love from fans of the series or even Atlus. In fact, unless you already own the DVDs or are willing to shill out a lot of money, there doesn't appear to be any currently LEGAL means of watching the show. But does the anime deserve such a brutal fate? Well, I decided to take a look and see for myself.
The series follows Shin Kanzato, a young high school student returning to his childhood home of Ayanagi City alongside his younger brother Jun to live with their elder brother Ryo, the
...
local chief of police. Ryo, however, makes it clear that he'd rather they live just about anywhere else, and as cold as his treatment of his brothers is, he sadly may have a point. Teenagers throughout the city are being targeted for mysterious reasons, their bodies turned inside out and the police assigned to protect them left alive but unresponsive to the world around them. Before long, Shin himself is attacked, but awakens to a strange ability that enables him to defend himself: the power to summon another being tied to his personality called a Persona. Now irrevocably involved, Shin strives to find out what's going on, all while trying to restore the bond the brothers once shared in their youth.
Story: Trinity Soul actually has a rather compelling story, with some pretty neat twists and turns. Unfortunately, it is only executed somewhat competently. Not helping is that any version of the show I've been able to find never have great translations, with typos and bizarre wordings often making it hard to understand what characters are talking about when discussing exposition, of which there is a LOT. And while the source material can also get a bit exposition heavy in just about any of the games, these translation issues make it all feel a lot clunkier in comparison.
Art: The art of the series is easily one of its best aspects. The characters are physically consistent throughout the series, the designs of the Personas are absolutely incredible, the locations are all pleasant to look at, and every Persona user has a very distinct design. That being said, sometimes Personas are too transparent to get a good look at during fights, only a few characters who aren't Persona users have memorable designs, and some scenes it's all too clear to the well-trained eye that they were cutting corners with how characters move around.
Sound: The music in the show itself isn't bad, but most of it isn't too memorable, either. That being said, the first opening theme, "Breakin' Through" by Shuhei Kita, gets me pumped up every single time I hear it.
Characters: The heroes are all pretty likable, with Shin easily being one of the most expressive Persona protagonists outside of (and possibly even including) spinoffs. Both of his brothers as well as their circle of school friends are also pretty interesting, with some really engaging backstories, motivations, and depth. Unfortunately, only a handful of the antagonists and side characters receive similar treatment.
Enjoyment: For the most part, I did enjoy the series, with a handful of episodes in the second half really hitting me emotionally in a great way. Unfortunately, there were two key factors that prevented me from completely enjoying myself.
First is how Trinity Soul attempts to tie in to the Persona series as a whole. Specifically, how it fails to do so with one key reveal: adults cannot naturally have Personas, nor hold onto ones they had in their youths. True, this anime came out several months before Persona 4, where an adult is later revealed to have a Persona of their own. But one need only take a quick look at the Persona 2 duology and they will immediately realize that this idea is utter nonsense. Not only will a lot of modern Persona fans find it hard to take this plot point seriously, it also serves as quite possibly the most blatant example of Atlus disregarding any Persona game prior to 3. And the fact that a few of the characters bear a startling resemblance to certain Persona 2 characters just makes the discrepancies with how Personas work even worse. Admittedly, as of this review, I have yet to actually play Persona 1 or either entry in the Persona 2 duology, but not only do I actually intend to, I actually acknowledge that those games, as well as their characters and stories, exist and are worth experiencing at least once.
But for me, what was the most problematic part of the anime is the inclusion of a specific character from the Persona 3 video game, or more specifically, how said character is handled. This character is someone who, while far from perfect in their source material, was very likable and even admirable. Here, they are complicit in several government-sponsored schemes that are effectively what they and their comrades were fighting to correct (such as experimenting on innocent youths), and they are later shown to have used a child as bait in order to track down the antagonists’ hideout. True, they are rightfully punched in the face for this latter act, it is established shortly afterwards that it was the child’s idea and that they and their coworkers only agreed to it because they felt that they were out of options. And admittedly, much further down the line, when this scenario is brought up again, the character shows far more remorse on their face. Even so, I had to pause the episode where this scenario is revealed for over an hour once it occurred, and while I was later cheering when the character got punched, it wasn’t just for what they did, but that they were supposed to be the same character that I loved in their source material, someone whose end-game self would never agree to be part of this after what happened to them and their friends, and that their supposed remorse was only stated, not shown. All of this is behavior that the character in question was very much opposed to, especially by the end of the game, but this anime is supposed to take place 10 years after the events of the game, and none of that character development nor the expected reactions of this returning character are present. And to make matters even more infuriating, I’m in the middle of another Persona spinoff that came out much later where this character is also present, and while there are legitimate arguments for them and other characters being flanderized in said game, they and their personalities are still unmistakably RECOGNIZABLE. To summarize all this, a blatant attempt at fan service ended up doing FAR more harm than good.
Overall: Safe to say, Persona Trinity Soul is an extremely mixed bag. There are characters, stories, and ideas here worth checking out, experiencing, and even exploring in future Persona games. But the clunky storytelling, not giving the minor villains and side characters sufficient depth, and the failed attempts to tie into the series proper can easily make one wonder if it would have been better served without any blatant connection to the Persona series and just an entirely separate property that was openly inspired by it. All that being said, I don't think it would have too hard to successfully tie it in to the overall franchise without things that would wind up making the show non-canon by default.
All in all, Persona Trinity Soul deserves a fair shake, much like the Persona games prior to 3, even if it is extremely different to what people have come to expect. I legitimately feel that Trinity Soul and its merits should be acknowledged, possibly even incorporated into more official products of the series (Heck, I'd be happy just seeing more fan works of the series, even if it's primarily in crossover-type work with other Persona series). It does have some serious issues, though, especially with its poor attempts to tie into the mainline Persona series, and I won't blame any long time Persona fans for getting mad. After all, I know I did. In other words, if the opportunity presents itself, don't hesitate to give the series a shot and come to your own conclusions, but whatever you do, don't just pretend the series doesn't exist, regardless of its actual place in canon.
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May 25, 2020
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Much like the early games in the Persona franchise, Persona: Trinity Soul doesn't get much love from fans of the series or even Atlus. In fact, unless you already own the DVDs or are willing to shill out a lot of money, there doesn't appear to be any currently LEGAL means of watching the show. But does the anime deserve such a brutal fate? Well, I decided to take a look and see for myself.
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