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[Image: 1306333462_212_FT0_persona_4_the_animation.jpg]

It's an anime based on the hit video game, Persona 4. There is a god.

At first, I wasn't very excited for this. I thought "Yeah, a Persona 4 anime. Could be cool. Might check it out." but then, I remembered, while playing it, that it's one of my favourite freakin' game and, after watching the opening for the anime, got very, very hyped. Unlike with Persona 3: Trinity Soul, which was 'based' on Persona 3 but didn't really follow its story, P4A is supposed to be exactly like the game (I would imagine they'll cut a few useless things)

Here's the opening, called 'Sky's the Limit' by Shihoko Hirata: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym4dgw6cRTI

I'll watch it in Japanese, but I hope they'll dub it, considering the awesome cast the game has already.

What do you guys think? I'm curious, would you watch it?

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I saw it on Crunchy Roll, when they had the lineup for the Fall anime season this year, and I was impressed with the art involved. And I'm biased as hell, so of course my immediate reaction was "Will watch at all costs." My position hasn't changes, this is a must watch series as far as I'm concerned.

The fact that they changed the iconic "Souji Seta" to "Yuu Narukami" is what disappoints me about it in the first place. They should have just kept the name...

The opening is great as bawlz, though! I hope it comes out with a full version in the future. Everyday, I grow more and more disappoint knowing that Persona 4's game opening doesn't have a full version compared to Persona 3's...and I like that one a LOT.

I'm watching just for Nanako .I would like the opening to be the persona 4 game opening though o.o i liked that opening ^-^ ....No Naoto -.-

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Spoiler (Click to View)

Well can u jack my swag :P

....No Naoto -.-

From what I understand, Naoto will be in it, just not in the opening because, in the game, we're not supposed to know right away that Naoto will join the group (Though it is fairly obvious)

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Video game based anime series always turn out great, no matter how strictly or not they adhere to the plot, and universe of the original material.

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Project Rising Beetle→
I Miss Bionix→

Video game based anime series always turn out great, no matter how strictly or not they adhere to the plot, and universe of the original material.

...Was that sarcasm? With you, I can never really tell.

Well, either way, I'm pretty hopeful this will be at least decent. I also hope it'll get dubbed...crossing my fingers, here.

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Probably not. The guy adores Medabots, which was originally a game series before it became an anime. There's also an internet series (not anime but still stands) called "Red vs Blue" that's based off of (and uses) the Halo games, and it's one of the most popular series out there.

I'm actually excited to see how they'll do this anime...Social Links in action! lol

I very much like the opening, the more I watch it. I see a lot of the social links present within the game, though I don't know if they'll really develop 'em or just make a quick cameo, the Midnight Channel scenes look hilariously awesome (i.e Yukiko doing the little heart with her fingers, Kanji flexing his muscles and Rise being sexy) and I really, really like how they put in the part where the character's eyes appear on screen, when they do a good move in battle (Don't know if it'll still be in the actual anime, though, but it'd be cool)

Also, something odd I've noticed is that we've only seen Izanagi teaming up with the Protag (Or Yuu, as he's apparently called here) so maybe he won't have the ability of the Wild Card, in the anime? I guess that would be kind of needlessly long when Izanagi is plenty awesome for a whole 26 episodes.

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My post was stenched in sarcasm, come on guys.

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Project Rising Beetle→
I Miss Bionix→

My post was stenched in sarcasm, come on guys.

Sorry, you're an enigma, to me

Why don't you think this'll at least be okay, exactly? Persona: Trinity Soul wasn't very good, but it wwas okay

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Yeah, I quit after midway in Trinity Soul. I think it's because it wasn't just a sequel, it was a FAR off sequel.

Thing is, I don't know who they'll use to play Igor. His original voice-actor died a bit back.

The problem with video game based anime is this; the plot that works in a game doesn't necessarily work in the world of serialized television. An RPG has 30 or so hours to develop characters, atmosphere, and a sense of what's going on. This anime series has at most (because nothing gets a 52 episode order in Japan anymore) 26 episodes, or about 10 hours. This causes a problem. If you do an adaptation of the game, you've got to strip 2/3rds of the story out, which can make the plot a bit hard to follow for new comers, and a good place to tick off fans angry at story omissions. If you go the way of a sequel, or side story you face the problem of ignoring any potential new viewers, and finding out that certain concepts don't work in the confines of television (see: Devil May Cry the anime). That's why I'm not particularily optimistic in regards to video game based anime.

Yeah, sure there are some good ones, but the rule of thumb generally is they're poor quality products because you can't judge them without playing the game, or are getting a heavily condensed version of the events that took place. Things like Medabots, or Pokemon don't necessarily follow the plot of their video games, but adapt the concepts in a way that both those who haven't, and have played the games feel welcomed. A lot of the older youth targeted adaptations don't know how to do this juggling act at all.

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Project Rising Beetle→
I Miss Bionix→

Interesting point, I hadn't thought of that. I can actually think of a few cases where that happened (i.e The .hack//G.U Trilogy movie that barely included 20% of all the plot from the games...(Movie I still found good, though))

Oh well, I'll still remain optimistic about it. 26 episodes can be a lot if the time is used properly. Death Note only has 37 episodes and it's one of the most popular anime out there (It goes without saying that I'm not expecting Persona 4 to be as good as freakin' Death Note, either) so, if time is managed well, this could still work.

I can actually think of a few things they could cut, but...well, we'll see

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New PV reveals Naoto's presence in the anime!

So that's the whole main cast! This is looking good

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Sentai Filmworks have announced that they've licensed the series for North America with plans for digital, and physical releases. Digital likely refers to their simulcast regime that sees series on The Anime Network.com

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Project Rising Beetle→
I Miss Bionix→

Yep. Having heard that, I just got on my rooftop and yelled some gutural cry of joy. Saddly, my neighbors seemed to mistake my for some sort of ape that escaped from the zoo and I ended up in jail

But that's great news! =D

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i shall call forth my... PERSONAAA!!!
Wonder if they will put an epic Izanami-no-Okami vs Izanagi-no-Okami Fight....
Anyway, still on the lookout... haven't really been updated so if there is/was already an episode could someone PM the link to me?

GO TEDDIE!!!

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Great Scott! Signature made by me finally!
"That's what they'll say to me, say to me, say to me... This One's A Fighter!" Gym Class Heroes Feat. Ryan Tedder, "The Fighter"

Call me Septy, if my name's too long; Read my stories: Shadows of The Condemned, The Lost Birthday and The Crimson Winter

Not yet. I think it starts in October or November

And I also hope for an epic last battle. The one in the game was actually pretty short XD

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Sentai has confirmed they'll be doing a simulcast of the series on The Anime Network, Hulu, and Hulu Plus:

The Anime Network confirmed on Thursday that it will simulcast the Persona 4 The Animation television anime series. The Anime Network will make each episode available for free at 3 p.m. EDT on Thursdays (the same day the show airs in Japan) starting on October 6. In addition, each episode will be streamed on Hulu and Hulu Plus within 24 hours of being posted on The Anime Network.

Anime News Network

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Project Rising Beetle→
I Miss Bionix→

Watched the first episode. Got a good feeling, so far!

It basically follows the first three days of the protag's arrival in town and ends right after he awakens his Persona and kills a bunch of lesser shadows. The Japanese voice cast kinda surprises me, to be honest. I've never even seen a single Japanese cutscene from the game, so it was a pleasant surprise. Most of them sound pretty nice and just about what I was expecting, but Chie's voice is much more high-pitched than it s in the english version (Which makes her much cuter and attractive, if you ask me) and Teddy's voice is even more annoying. I didn't even think that was possible. Another thing they change is that they meet Teddy right after exiting the "ominous room" and he gives the protag the glasses right away. In the game, if I recall correctly, they investigate the liquor store Konichi-senpai created and then fight the shadows. But that's very minor and I don't think anyone cares, it actually saves time more than anything else. At several moments, in the anime, they play remix of music from the game, which feels nice: It's not lazy, since they actually worked on remixes, it's not dated, since it feels cool to hear new versions of the songs we like and it's familiar.

It's a pretty fast episode, but it needs to be. They pretty much had to introduce Izanagi in the first episode, otherwise, on what could they have ended? Yukiko, Chie and Yosuke are all introduced very fast, but, then again, it was also the case in the game.

So yeah, this is pretty damn sweet. I'll certainly tune in for more. Something weird is that, at the opening of this episode, it was the opening song of the game that played while Sky's the Limit played at the ending. Maybe it's a one-shot deal or maybe they've recieved complaintsand decided to change it, or something.

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Now up to episode 4 and we've made it to Yukiko's awakening of her Persona. This was a truly excellent episode. The action is good, the music is great and we get some bits of Yukiko's backstory that I don't think we had in the game. Of course, the big metaphor going on with Yukiko's Shadow is that she feels like a bird in a cage and thinks everyone expects her to take over the family inn, which she doesn't care about. We learn that she actually had a caged bird, which she's been raising herself. One day, though, she gets back in her room to find that the bird has escaped and is mortified by this, shocked by the thought that this bird, which she thought to be just like her, was actually strong enough to muster up the courage to leave his cage, while she wished someone else would save her.

It does hammer in the whole 'caged bird' metaphor a bit much, but I find it works. We also get a really cool moment where Yukiko breaks the bars of the cage her Shadow had locked her in with her own strength while the room is covered in flames. So far, this is an excellent show. They add superb and fresh elements to the story while keeping what already made the game's plot fantastic.

Next episode seems to be somewhat filler-like, since I didn't see much action in the preview and heard a line about the soccer team. Maybe the protag'll develop a few Links? Oh, speaking of that, the protag actually uses the power of the Wild Card! He summoned Pyro Jack and Ari Mada-something-something. That's awesome!

So far, this is seriously one of the best anime I've seen in my life.

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As I predicted, episode 5 was essentially filler to develop (And I use that word very lightly) the Ebi and Kou Social Links, like it can be done in the game. It raises one good point but two bad points. The good thing is that it's faithful to the game and adds interesting bits here and there, like a bitchy fight between Ebi and Chie, Ebi thinking that Chie wants to charm Ichijou too and Chie just wanting for Ebi to treat to protag a bit better. The first bad thing, though, is that everything is very glanced over. In the game, the Kou social link was one of my favourite because we seriously got into the pressure and stress of a guy who's pushed by his parents into quitting a sport he loves. Here, his pushy parents are barely even mentioned, but we have to get back at the actual story, so it's okay. The second bad point and one I fear a lot is that this probably means we'll go over every single social link like that. If we just glance over them, like we did in this episode, it's no good.

A nice lilttle touch was that the protag's ringtone was the Love is Over music from Catherine. I cracked up when I heard it XD

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I would def watch it! I love the games! I was really hoping they would make a show about it =o

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Check out my Youtube vids =)

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Yeah! Episode 7 was Awesome!!! (So Hilarious!)

Funniest and also features fusing!

I Love P4 The Animation!

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Great Scott! Signature made by me finally!
"That's what they'll say to me, say to me, say to me... This One's A Fighter!" Gym Class Heroes Feat. Ryan Tedder, "The Fighter"

Call me Septy, if my name's too long; Read my stories: Shadows of The Condemned, The Lost Birthday and The Crimson Winter