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• Checked the sub for Episode 1 and Japanese Kamoshida is bad, but no voice filter
• Seems like they actually got rid of the filter on Kamoshida for Episode 2? Or at least made it less overbearing?
• Ren A-MA-miya, lmao even in animeland they’re beholden to weird pronunciations
• Lmao, Ren fuckin makes the rumors worse for Ann in the classroom, what a weird change
• Wow, I’m five minutes into this and I’ve already heard Cassandra Lee Morris twice
• Though not as Morgana, because they fuckin skipped his intro
• The transition into the Velvet Room scene is so goddamn abrupt, I thought I missed something but nope! You don’t even get a shot of Ren falling asleep!
• Did they just give the “Kamoshida spikes Mishima in the face at the volleyball rally” scene to Ren? But, this is before that, and also Kamoshida said it wasn’t the rally yet… For such a deliriously paced adaptation, it’s weird that they’re adding scenes.
• On that topic, I guess it works that Ren takes the spike and keeps standing as a nod to his true nature
• Random closeup on Haru for like three seconds, okay
• They moved one of the track team scenes from Ryuji’s Confidant into this episode, but the team is so much less dickish than they were in the game (which was hilariously so). They even say they’re sorry about Ryuji’s leg! It’s weird!
• And now the scene with Kawakami complaining that the students found out about Ren’s record and her telling him not to hang out with Ryuji, they’re moving scenes around all over the place
• There’s a tiny beat where Ren’s soda spills over and I laughed because it’s so out of place
• There’s a moment where Ann and Shiho are talking and Kamoshida shows up and Ann runs away, and then Kamoshida gets angry and Shiho looks scared. The immediate next shot is the cannon in Kamoshida’s castle firing while Ryuji watches. Back-to-back, these shots create a really fucking disturbing Kuleshov effect moment implying violence against Shiho.
• Oh, hey, I spoke too soon, that violence isn’t just implied but actively shown!
• It also seemed to me like potential sexual abuse, so that’s fun!
• Also, having Ann actively ditch Shiho to avoid Kamoshida leading directly into the implication of him beating her is… not a great change, imo, even if Ann is unaware of the consequences here. At best, you’re just doing the same moment twice (as when later the protagonist will comfort Ann and she decides not to go to Kamoshida, leading to bad things for Shiho). At worst, you’re making the character that much more culpable for Shiho’s abuse.
• Morgana finally showing up halfway through the episode
• Why is the key hanging like a foot and a half outside the bars? If Morgana wasn’t a cat with stubby cat arms he could easily grab it, and furthermore
• Joker’s Persona doesn’t work for reasons
• I will say, the shot of Kamoshida getting paranoid in the middle of his Shiho abuse because his guards noticed the team is better setup for Shido getting paranoid during the Thieves’ assault on his own Palace than anything in the game
• Morgana the exposition robot
• Parts of this are using very similar line choices to the original game script—“Wassup Persona” is exactly the same, for example
• This “battle” is… uh… lacking
• They don’t even TRY to explain the characters pulling their weapons out of hyperspace
• Yeah, the All-out Attack looks bad, I’m not gonna dwell on it
• Please don’t give me loving cheesecake shots of Cognitive Ann’s boobs and crotch, show
• I appreciate the shot of Kanami Mashita performing, but it just makes me wonder why she looks exactly like she did four years earlier.
• The judge in Ren’s court case is Jamieson Price again!
• Still using every game VA so far

Episode 3


• WHY DOES THIS SHOT WITH IGOR LOOK SO MUCH BETTER THAN EVERYTHING ELSE? IS IT BECAUSE HE BARELY MOVES?
• I like how they have to have Igor and the twins exposit about cognitive beings here
• Here comes a special boy!!!!!
• Are these scenes with Sae going to be once an episode?
• Holy shit they’re introducing Mika this early?
• Oh my god, really did not need that bit of Kamoshida licking his lips and saying Shiho will “have to take responsibility for her friend’s actions”
• “You like teasing me little kitten don’t you?” I NEED AN ADULT
• Okay, so they cut away from the Ann confession scene before Ren actually says anything to comfort her, then is the Kamoshida grody scene, then we go to Ren at Leblanc flashing back to earlier in the day when they ran into Morgana, what the shit? It confused the hell out of me at first. Why backfill the information like that?
• SONY
• Wait, Kawakami wasn’t teaching during Shiho’s suicide attempt! This is Ushimaru erasure!
• It also makes Kawakami seem… pretty callous!
• The composition of the shot where Shiho jumps is pretty solid but I’m a little unnerved that they felt the need to show it so clearly at all
• This is completely unrelated but I find it funny: the reason Persona 4 and Persona 5 got full anime adaptations and Persona 3 could instead be broken up into four movies is because nothing fucking happens in Persona 3
• Wait, they get to the Treasure room without Ann having joined the party? What?
• They haven’t gotten their codenames yet, for that matter
• Another turn of phrase that got weirdly reproduced in both dubs: “enjoy the dismemberment show”
• Actually, upon checking, the game used “dismantlement show,” which is somehow even weirder
• Lmao, we’re backfilling Ann and Shiho’s friendship now of all times????
• Finally, some prominent music that’s not ripped from the game
• They included the pointless “both these drinks are carbonated” moment?
• Xander Mobus sounds… weird with more dialogue. It’s like he’s projecting his voice? Like, there’s no matching Jun Fukuyama who just naturally sounds like that even when concealing himself but I think I’d prefer a performance that was a little more natural-sounding here. It works in smaller doses for me but not like this.

Episode 4


• Still love the idea that Ryuji went down to a print shop and made these calling cards
• Okay, so they’re moving the calling card scene to the evening (which is ridiculous, Sojiro would never let Ren out that late ) and putting the scenes at the clinic and airsoft shop before it?
• Abby Trott is here as Takemi, sounding… fine, honestly. I probably prefer her performance here to the game’s.
• REN NO DO NOT TAKE UNSOLICITED MEDICATION FROM THE STRANGE LADY
• We have no context in this adaptation for why Ren is making these tools
• Also, we haven’t gotten the scene where Sojiro meets Morgana yet!
• Okay, here’s the context for why he’s making the tools: he has to pick a lock? But they already found the Treasure, so wouldn’t it be open already?
• Persona 5 the Animation, prominently featuring Ann’s ass
• Actually, it’s spelled PERSONA5 the Animation, according to Funimation
• They’re putting the “find the eye” task from the game in NOW of all times?
• What’s the point of thi—OH IT’S SO THEY CAN DO THE WILD CARD STUFF
• “It’s a girl, too! I didn’t need to use sex appeal!” Ann, it was a guard. It’s literally their job to chase you
• This is a startlingly accurate take on negotiation, in that it’s disjointed as hell
• OH GOD HE TURNED INTO A BAD 3D RENDER
• They’re doing an okay job of translating the mechanics of the fight into action, I suppose
• Honestly, most of this show looks pretty good, it's just that the shots that don't are way too frequent
• Putting fusion in the middle of the boss fight? Sure, whatever
• I like that he fuses Agathion, the Persona I always fuse first
• Oh god, Cognitive Ann turned into fucking sludge
• Weird to start Kamoshida’s confession with something as weak as “yelling at students”
• And then he fucking dances around the sexual shit with “I was… inappropriate with some female students,” what?
• Shiho woke up, but we’re still not giving her any lines
• I completely forgot they skipped over giving Ren a codename until the end of this episode
• HERE’S THE SOJIRO AND MORGANA SCENE
• Sojiro doesn’t even fight on the Morgana issue here, lmao
• WHAT IS THIS AKECHI FLASHFORWARD SCENE DOING HERE