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I first really got into anime off the back of Clannad: Afterstory and Toradora. No anime since had ever really given me the same level of gut punches until Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho (which I'll shorten to Sorayori for the rest of this review). I might even go as far as to say that no anime series had ever left me pondering about life as much as this series did.

Sorayori deals with many themes that speaks directly to the heart - making the most out of life, dealing with loss, and the meaning of friendships. This series quickly make us sympathize with the main ... girls, and drags us through the ups and downs on their quest to reach Antarctica and realize their dreams. It will undoubtedly leave you pondering whether you had really made the most out of life, or whether you should grab your friends and go on a trip with them together.

The story telling is undoubtedly the star of this series. There is very few unnecessary moments in this series. Every episode has a purpose, every moment has something to contribute to the story or to flesh out the characters, and every trial and success you will feel too. There are many hints alluding to larger story arcs which warrants multiple watches. I had seen this series about 5 times now, and I am still spotting new things on each rewatch. The characters are also very well written and complement each other well. Even side characters get some fleshing out.

The sound is also amazing, with several great insert songs. My only gripe is that sometimes the voice recording sounds too loud its almost like yelling in my ear. But for the most part all voice actors gave amazing performances.

Art is perhaps the only aspect which could have been better, and even then it is already pretty good. The background is beautiful and detailed, and the color palette of the main characters is pleasing to look at. However, the character animation can sometimes be very jerky, and the facial expressions or character composition feels off at times. It is not a major issue, but it occurred frequently enough to be noticeable.

Overall, this is an amazing series, and if you haven't already watched it, you should.

tldr - watch the original adaptation or play the game first before watching this series, since it only covers what is new in the Golden game.

I first watched the first Persona 4 anime when it was released in 2011, watched one episode of P4GA when it was first released in 2014, and never touched it again until after playing the steam port of the game. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the first epsiode of P4GA. it was that the original adaptation had aired relatively recently, and I did not feel like rewatching through the entire storyline again.

Now that I have finished the series proper, ... my initial impression that this series was simply a retelling was right and wrong at the same time. And that sums up the issue with P4GA. It does not really know what it wants to be. Part of it wants to have the same continuity as the original (heck, Episode 6 in P4GA reused scenes from P4A), while others is a complete retelling.

In essence, P4GA is mostly a supplement to the original series. It focuses mostly on events and characters which were new to the Golden version of the game; which is basically Marie's social link, her backstory, and a few new bonding events of the investigation team. Therefore, new viewers would have zero idea as to what is happening, particularly the first half of the season since about 90% of the events from the original series is happening during the same timeframe.

This does not necessarily mean that the adaptation was bad (at least for someone who understood the story of the original and was not confused by the choices made in this adaptation). Story-wise the animation team took some liberties from the game material and did flesh out Marie's character a bit more. Art-wise I felt it was more appealing than the original adaptation. Colors are brighter, the color palette of the characters match more closely with the game. It was still very flawed in parts, but I felt for the most part it was pretty decent. Sound is great, as is most Persona-related things. Characters are still loveable as they were in the original adaptation. Overall, I felt this series as a whole was pretty good.

I think the choice that the animators took to only animate the new aspects of P4G made sense considering that the original aired just 3 years prior. The only anime in memory that did a completely new adaptation in such a short time-span was probably Kanon. However, I just wished they fully committed to it, and left events which were already covered in the original alone and focused only on the new content, and made it very clear that this is purely meant to supplement the original series rather than replace it. Heck, even shortening it into an OVA series would probably work well. Instead, we end up with a confused mess that will satisfy fans of the material but confuse the heck out of new comers.