General Thoughts:
I’ve had the Persona 4 TV Game on my to buy list for years since I didn’t have a PS2 when it first came out, so when I heard this anime was planned I was very excited and eager to give it a try. I am happy to say that I wasn’t disappointing at all and thoroughly enjoyed it! I found the concept of each main character meeting their “shadow self” to be an intriguing concept and I liked the idea of confronting ones’ hidden doubts and insecurities. I will say that towards the end the usual “you’re a part of me and I’m a part of you” monologue after each character defeats their shadow got a bit repetitive towards the end, but the variety of stories kept each sequence fresh and somewhat new. In addition to the overall theme, I fell in love with the diverse group of colorful characters. I found myself very engaged and interested and it doesn’t hurt that the anime pulled off humor and comedy masterfully when appropriate.
I had a few minor nitpicks here and there that mainly go back to the anime being based off a game. Some of the filler episodes felt out of place in the anime, mainly the summer festival sequence in the middle of the series. While the bond-building and relationship dialogue had it’s place in the original game, I felt the handling of it was a bit unsteady, resulting in an unsteady story progression. Another minor quarrel I had were some of the later action sequences were almost entirely of Yu shifting though various Personas in rapid sequences that were probably required during gameplay, but felt a little odd while watching. However the action was generally quite good and the Personas were animated very well regardless of any questionable battle sequences.
In general though I thoroughly loved this anime! The characters completely sold it to me and despite some minor cliches here and there or the awkward summer festival arc, the characters were always a joy to watch. The ending also had a nice twist and a villain I was not expecting which was a nice little bonus on top of a solid series in my opinion.
Dub Presentation:
Sentai enlisted Bang Zoom Entertainment for the audio dub work which was a smart move in order to retain majority of the original game’s cast. With the exception of Chie played by Erin Fitzgerald and Naoto by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, pretty much the entire cast reprised their roles and it shows in the final product as performances all around were top-notch (though the new actors and actresses were outstanding as well). Johnny Yong Bosch played Yu right on the money and it was refreshing to hear Yu have much more spoken dialogue compared to the game. Yuri Lowenthal as Yosuke and Troy Baker as Kanji were two standout performances for me, stealing the spotlight whenever their characters popped up. While I have been unsure of some of Kristi Reed’s past directed works, this is by far my personal favorite of hers as the resulting dub is near perfect with the exception of one principal cast member which I will mention later.
It’s also important to note that Kanji’s voice actor changes mid-way through the series though I believe most listeners won’t notice the change unless they actively listen for it. Though Troy Baker’s performance as Kanji as superior in my opinion, Matthew Mercer’s voice match to Baker is so ridiculously close it blew my mind. While I feel Baker’s lines flowed a little more natural and captured the Kanji’s humorous moments a bit better, I commend Matthew Mercer for such a respectable replacement job, these two could be voice twins for this role!
Unfortunately holding back this dub from a perfect 10 for me is Karen Strassman as Nanoka. While I found her voice and inflection spot-on for the age of the character, her acting and dialogue felt incredibly inconsistent and forced. At times she sounded so genuinely young but a good majority of the time her acting fell very flat and dulled many of Nanoka’s key emotional scenes. Another minor nitpick is the double casting as Johnny Yong Bosch as Yu and Adachi. For the most part Bosch does a good job at distinguishing the two characters (which is very respectable considering the amount of scenes both characters converse with each other directly), however in later scenes where Adachi gets fired up and yells, the distinction between characters gets a little fuzzy. However this is a very minor issue which does not detract from a very strong English dub presentation.
Recap:
I found both the overall series and dub to be very strong and solid. A few minor cliches and nitpicks and one particular actress holds this series back from a perfect score on both departments for me, but it is very close. The story and concept is unlike any other anime I’ve heard of and the outstanding English dub only heightens the viewing experience. While I’ve been disappointed by many of Sentai’s recent works, their handling of Persona was great; an awesome anime with a likewise awesome dub.
