Project #103: Persona 4 the Animation Part 1

Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. We continue the month of Persona-mas by taking a look at Persona 4. After the huge success of Persona 3 Atlus and the team behind Persona 3 were quickly at work developing Persona 4 by working closely with the fans of Persona 3. In 2008 Atlus released Persona 4 exclusively for the PS2 which was nearing the end of its life cycle around this time so a few people missed this great gem of a game. The game was an indirect sequel to Persona 3 as the game takes place in the same world as Persona 3, set a few years after the events of Persona 3 and gives us a new cast of characters, story, and setting to make the game feel new and refreshed while also keeping the dungeon crawling and social interaction with the characters intact. Much like its predecessor it was a huge hit receiving praise in and out of Japan and winning a number of awards, in fact in terms of popularity Persona 4 beats Persona 3 and even has 3 spin-offs. Two of them are fighting games for the X-Box 360 and PS3 and the other a rhythm game for the PS Vita. Because of the game’s amazing success and worldwide fame a 25 episode anime adaption of the game was made. The anime got started in 2011 under the production of AIC (R-15) and is a faithful adaption of the PS2 version of the game. The anime pretty much had the same team working on it as the games; they got the original voice cast to come in and play their rolls, they got Shōji Meguro the original composer for the Persona series to come in and provide music, and they got Seiji Kishi the man who would go on to direct Danganronpa: The Animation to direct this anime. Thou art I and I art thou and thou shall have the blessing of reading my review of Persona 4: The Animation. Also I’m looking at the English version of the anime since I’ve played the games in English it’s only normal to review the English version of the series.

 

Opening and Ending Theme

 

The opening for this anime is “Sky’s the limit” by Shihoko Hirata who also sang the opening for the Persona 4 game. It took a few episodes to get into it but I have to say it’s a good song. I like the slow tempo it starts off with and slowly begins to build up to a faster pace tempo as the song keeps going. The instruments are good as well the piano steals the show at the beginning of the song and Shihoko sounds great building up suspense for the song and then unleashing all of it near the end. The ending is “Beauty of Destiny” by Shihoko Hirata feat. Lotus Juice, I tried but I didn’t really find myself enjoying the song. It’s not a bad song per say as it does create a good mode and fits well with the series I just didn’t find myself getting into it. I will say however that the animation that goes with the ending is awesome. We’ll see one or multiple arcana cards fall from the sky and join the other arcana cards as they circle around the main character of the show.

 

Episodes 1-4

 

So the anime starts off just like the game with a limousine driving in the fog heading to an unknown location. This little scenario represents the soul of our main character, a wondering soul heading to a destination that has become blocked and obscured by a dense fog. This scenery will also act as the Velvet Room throughout the anime (yeah first it was a spacious elevator now it’s a cramped limousine. Well on the plus we do have a minibar). We go inside the limousine where we’re greeted by Igor the old creepy long-nosed caretaker of the Velvet Room who will be acting as our guide in this anime (you know that creepy old janitor from your high school? Apparently this is his side job). And he’s not alone, with him is his lovely assistant Margaret a stunning beauty who is the older sister of Elizabeth from Persona 3 and let’s be honest one of the main reasons why you go to the Velvet Room. After greeting you they talk about you having a unique destiny and having a long difficult road in the future (you’re gonna solve a murder mystery, have multiple girlfriends at the same time, befriend a fox, and fight strange beings using what’s known as a persona. In short it’ll be an interesting year for you. Also, attack from behind to get the advantage and be weary of televisions and gas stations). We then cut to a train being ridden by our main character of the anime Yu voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash from Trigun), he’s going to the quiet little town called Inaba to live with his uncle and cousin in the country because his parents are traveling overseas for work and rather than bring their son with them they just decide to dump him on the relatives (well give them some credit at least they cared enough to leave him with relatives so he won’t be lonely or starve to death, most anime parents just leave town and let their teenage child live alone in their house). He arrives in Inaba where he’s greeted by his uncle Dojima who is a cop and his cute little cousin Nanako who will be taking care of him during his time in Inaba. They drive home but not before stopping at a gas station where the creepy gas attendant greets Yu by shaking his hand causing Yu to feel sick (now normally I wouldn’t shake the hand of someone who works at a gas station because I have no I idea where their hands have been but when in Rome). The next day he goes to his new high school where we see that his teacher is some buck-tooth beaver man named Morooka or King Moron as the students like to call him, a teacher who is just a straight up asshole who belittles his students every chance he gets and goes out of his way just to make their lives a living hell (you have a small penis don’t you Morooka?). In the class Yu befriends Chie a tomboyish girl who loves action movies and steak voiced by Erin Fitzgerald and her best friend Yukiko a black haired beauty and heir to her family’s inn who all the boys (and a teacher for that matter) would like to do the horizontal bop with. She’s voiced by Amanda Winn Lee (Rei from The End of Evangelion movie). While that’s going on there’s a murder going on in town, it appears that somebody has killed a female newscaster and strung her up on a TV antenna (it’s times like this I’m glad I don’t have satellite TV). The next day Yu befriends my favorite male character in the game Youske voiced by Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke from Naruto). Much like Yu he too used to live in the city but had to move out to Inaba with his parents because his dad is the manager in charge of this world’s version of Walmart stores, Junes which seems to be stealing customers away from the shopping district so Youske is often talked about badly by the towns folk even though he’s a pretty funny and cool guy. In order to celebrate their friendship and welcome Yu to town Youske invites Yu to dine at Junes free of charge with Chie tagging along to get revenge on Youske for breaking her DVD. As the three are eating Chie tells them to check out the Midnight Channel tonight, a channel that only comes on at midnight and is said to show the soul mate of those who watch it (are you sure it’s not Hell Girl trying to take your souls to Hell? In my experience anything that comes on at the stroke of midnight is never a good sign). So that night Yu checks out the Midnight Channel and sees the silhouette of a girl and begins to hear a voice in his head that causes him to fall and slip his hand into the TV (man TVs have come a long way). The next day Yu tells Youske and Chie about his experience but they don’t believe him so he decides to show his trick on a bigger TV in Junes where they all fall in and land in some mysterious new world unknown to them (hmm~ using an electronic device to travel to an unknown mysterious world. Where have I seen this idea before? Oh right, the second season of Digimon! Yeah, it’s literally the same idea as Digimon. Except in this anime they use a TV instead of a computer. Talk about idea stealing, I’m surprise the creator of Digimon didn’t sue them). They explore the bizarre world where they’re followed by a strange creature and they come to a room with torn posters and a noose in the middle of the room (//youtu.be/YRMvvds6MpM?t=27s). Creeped out they decide to leave (it’s the paint isn’t it?) where they run into the mysterious creature that’s been following them. A human-sized talking blue bear! This is Teddie voiced by Sam Regal (Faust VIII from Shaman King) a resident of the bizarre world who’s only purpose seems to spew out bear puns and act as the official mascot of the anime (oh what an unbearable situation). He tells them to leave saying they’re in danger of being attacked and he gives Yu a pair of glasses before running off (it’s dangerous to go alone, take these). After he runs off the gang gets attacked by the series antagonists the shadows who make the appearance of giant licking balls as well as other weird forms and creatures. They chase the gang and lick Chie causing her to faint (wow they gave her an orgasm) and they focus their attention on Yu and Youske where we get this scene of badassey (scene here: //youtu.be/f8mEz-wlZQk, okay as cool as that was that look at the end was pretty creepy. Also here’s a little bit of trivia for those who haven’t played the game. In the game Yu doesn’t awaken his persona powers until his second trip into the TV world and only Youske and Teddie were with him when he awakened his powers Chie wasn’t there. Now you’re probably thinking I’m gonna bad-mouth this scene for being different from the games but in all honesty I like this awakening more than the original. The situation is a lot more dire, suspenseful, and feels more natural. In the games it just sorta happened, the shadows just appear not really doing anything but in this scene they are actually trying to harm them so that makes Yu summoning his persona all the more epic and inspirational because he has to save not only himself but his friends).

 

In episode 2 they wake up Chie, find Teddie, and he opens up a portal to send them back into their world (Persona-port open). They make it back to their world where Yu sees the poster he saw in the TV world. It turns out it’s the poster of Misuzu Hiiragi an Inka singer who’s been all over the news because her husband Namatame had an affair with news reporter Yomino who is actually the person who was hung dead on the TV antenna in the previous episode. Police thought Namatame was behind it but he has a solid alibi and there’s no clues or evidence that shows he had a hand in Yomino’s death in fact when he heard about her death he was just as shocked as everyone else. They all decide to go home and rest and the next day they receive some bad news at school. It turns out that Saki a 3rd year student who Youske has a crush on died yesterday (the ultimate cockblock). They say the body was strung up in telephone poles around town hanging from a street pole (//youtu.be/BrGrOA4g6Yk?t=9s). Later on, Youske comes to the conclusion that Yomino and Saki’s deaths are related to each other since they both appeared on the Midnight Channel (I told you nothing good happens at midnight) and that both must have somehow fallen into the TV world and got killed by the shadows (a very good theory). Youske wants to investigate this and decides to go back into the TV world with Yu where he hopes he’ll find some clue to their deaths. They go into the TV world where they meet Teddie who accuses them of dumping people in the TV and having them killed but they convince him they aren’t behind the murders and they work out an agreement where they’ll work together to find the real culprit (well gang looks like we got a mystery on our hands). They explore the last place Teddie saw Saki which is a dark version of the town’s shopping district where Saki lives and where her parents own and sale alcohol beverages (well I see that Saki was the friend with benefits big time when she was alive. Also, I know where her name came from). When they reach her house they hear her true feelings about how she wished Junes would closed down, how she never really liked Youske and was just being nice to him to make her life easier at Junes (bitch! I call bitch. I can understand her being upset about her family business doing poorly but Youske has done nothing to hurt her. I don’t like that, I don’t like when people hate on others for no apparent reason whatsoever. Youske has treated her with the utmost respect, has looked out for her a lot, and she repays the kindness by just saying she hates his guts even though he’s done nothing bad to her. She is a class A bitch). Youske breaks down from hearing all of this and he gets approached by his own shadow who says that in truth Youske is the one who hates everything and doesn’t give a rat’s ass about life. Youske denies all of this which causes his shadow to go berserk, attack him, and changes into the form of. . . a bad cosplay of Mickey Mouse. . .riding a demonic frog. . .while wearing what I believe to be a ninja suit (https://youtu.be/OWDozBLKdJ4). Yu activates his Persona card and summons his persona Izanagi to fight Youske’s shadow (scene here: //youtu.be/gwPKZDgt-gI). After the fight Youske accepts his shadow and gets his own persona Jiraya (and no it’s not the guy from Naruto though I have to admit it is kind of weird that the VA is in a show that has a character named Jiraya who is also known as the Toad Sage and Youske’s persona is said to be a frog). They make it back out into their world where they apologize for making Chie worry about them and Yu and Youske form a partnership and vow to find the guy who murdered Saki and Yomino (and with that Yu has established the Magician social link).

 

We start episode 3 with a young Chie (hey, she looks like a girl now. Cute) meeting a young Yukiko and becoming friends (yin and yang those two). After that Yukiko begins to appear on the Midnight Channel dressing up as a princess and telling everyone she’s going hunting for a stud muffin (look no further baby I’m right here) which is totally out of character for her. Once Yukiko finally goes missing the group believes that someone has thrown her into the TV and meet up at Junes to go into the TV and rescue her. While Yu and Youske are waiting for Chie to show up they get arrested because Youske was showing off authentic swords as weapons they could bring into the TV world (screw the weapons we have personas). Luckily Dojima is there to clear up the misunderstanding and the two are set free (it pays to have an uncle as a cop) but they find out from Adachi, Dojima’s partner who’s considered a goofball who keeps messing up, that the police suspect Yukiko of murdering Saki and Yomino (really? The sweet and innocent high school girl is the murderer? Even though you have no proof or evidence that she’s behind this. For all we know it could be the convenience store old lady, the old man by the river, or the guy who hangs out around the bookstore. The possibilities are endless) which pisses Chie off that she almost attacks him (Chie SMASH). Oh and guess who does the voice of Adachi? Johnny Yong Bosch (look at Bosch earning his pay check). They go into the TV world and find the castle where Yukiko is being held at (oh hey the anime turned into Mario Bros.) and Chie goes charging in alone with Yu and Youske chasing after her (she’s just begging to be killed). Once inside Chie is confronted by her shadow who tells Chie that she was just using Yukiko to make herself feel superior. The shadow goes on about how Chie was in fact jealous of Yukiko at how she was pretty and popular with the boys the exact opposite of Chie (I find you cute Chie. I know this sounds a little crazy but her out-going, energetic, and tomboyish personality just makes her a fun and likable person to have as a girlfriend) and instead was just pretending to be Yukiko’s friend so she could warped Yukiko’s way of thinking to make herself feel superior to her. Chie denies all of this and rejects her shadow which means it goes berserk and Yu and Youske have to fight it (//youtu.be/FUc2N24R-3s, not to belittle the awesomeness of Yu summoning Pyro Jack which you couldn’t get until the 4th dungeon in the game but Chie’s weakness is wind magic if anything Youske’s persona has the advantage and should be the main force in this fight. Yu probably should have summoned a persona that can use wind magic like Sandman. Also, why does Chie’s persona look like the main character from Kill Bill if her head was shaped like a banana and for that matter what’s with the dominatrix KKK shadow sitting on top of a bunch of Chie clones? I feel as if I’m tapping into the creators’ sexual delusions). They decide to retreat for now to give Chie a chance to rest and Yu encourages Chie not to give up and that they’ll rescue Yukiko no matter what (now we have the Chariot social link. Another word of advice, bringing females to your room often leads to great experiences).

 

In episode 4 the group storms the castle in search of Yukiko. We get a closer look at Yukiko’s personality by seeing she considers herself to be a caged bird tied down by her family. The truth is Yukiko doesn’t want to inherit the family inn but instead wants to try other things, we see how she wishes some knight in shiny armor would come to save her and take her faraway from Inaba where she can start a new life, and how she’s actually jealous of Chie. Yukiko longed to be that outgoing energetic girl that could speak her mind and make friends easily like Chie (so in truth the two friends were actually jealous of each other without really realizing it and were instead actually using each other for their own selfish agendas). The group finally finds Yukiko and her shadow where Yukiko rejects her shadow (these guys really need to work on a more effected way to stop them) and we get are climatic fight scene (scene here: //youtu.be/jQFchGG2L6k, surprisingly Yukiko’s persona looks like a cheerleader but on another note we got our team healer and mage fighter the team is balanced now).

 

Episodes 5-8

 

In episode 5 Yukiko takes a few days off from school to rest so we take this episode to focus on the main and best aspect of the game the social links (what are social links you ask? I’ll get to those later on in the month. For now just know that they play a very important part in the games). In this episode we shift our focus on the Strength and Moon arcana. In the game you get the choice to join the school’s basketball club (best club in my opinion) or soccer club (soccer is for noobs) where you’ll form a social link with Kou the captain of the basketball club or Daisuke the captain of the soccer club who are both childhood friends. In the anime Yu joins the basketball club and befriends Kou who we find out was adopted by a prestigious family where his grandmother (the head of the family) doesn’t like Kou playing basketball because she considers it too barbaric (I hate to see what she thinks about Football. The American version). But when the family decides to let him do whatever he wants and focus their attention on raising Kou’s younger sister he begins to feel depressed and unsure of what he really wants to do. Now the strength arcana represents one’s internal struggles and facing them, Kou’s internal struggle is wondering if he’s truly loved by his family even though he’s adopted and wondering what he truly wants to do. As that’s going on Yu also befriends the team manager Ai a beautiful girl who is actually a troublemaker at school and a rather selfish and materialistic girl as well who treats people like dirt and won’t bother with anyone she considers ugly or annoying. She represents the Moon arcana which stands for one’s hesitation/acceptance of one’s self. In the episode she has a crush on Kou and wants to confess her feelings to him so she gets Yu to find out if Kou is interested in her or any girl. Kou admits to Yu that he actually has a secret crush on Chie (good choice, I like her too. Her energetic personality makes me smile) which upsets Ai that she decides to commit suicide by jumping off the school building (that escalated quickly). Yu manages to talk her out of it and she opens up to him by talking about how she used to be made fun of as a child because she was fat and ugly but once her family moved to Inaba she changed herself entirely by losing weight and engrossing herself in fashion magazines to look good and become the girl that all the boys wanted but at the same time forgetting who she really is. She ropes Yu into being her boyfriend threatening to kill herself if he refuses (hey~ this is how I got my first girlfriend) and the two start dating where Ai becomes clingy not giving Yu any time to himself (like a snake trying to suffocate a human). Going back to Kou’s story he tells Yu he plans on quitting the basketball team to focus more on his family duties so he asks Yu to help him win his last game. The day of the game comes with Youske and Daisuke playing in the game because the other members of the team are LAZY BUMS who decided to skip out on the game and we see emotions run wild both on and off the court (scene here: //youtu.be/38Eb7ZZNBqs, sorry to see you get dumped bro. Also, how the hell did those guys ignore the cat fight going on the sidelines?). After the credits we see that Yukiko has returned to school all better and decides to join the others in their journey to find the murderer (new character got).

 

In episode 6 it’s the start of Golden Week and unfortunately Dojima has to work which upsets Nanako because the family was scheduled to travel. The next day Chie comes over and invites Yu to hangout with her and Yukiko and he invites Nanako to join them. They go to Junes where Nanako tells them that her mother died in an accident long ago but she’s okay because she still has her dad (whose never around to begin with) and now she has a big bro (cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute~). After Golden Week and the dreaded midterms the group watches the Midnight channel believing that whoever appears on the channel will be the next person to be kidnapped. The next person to appear on the channel is none other than Kanji a 1st year student who’s considered a troublemaker around town getting into fights at school, arguing with police, and rumor has it he took out a whole biker gang single-handedly. They go to his family’s textile shop where they see Kanji voiced by Troy Baker (Excalibur from Soul Eater) talking to Naoto a young detective boy who comes from a long line of detectives whose been called in to help in the investigation of the murders. He’s voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (Motoko from Ghost in the Shell). Naoto takes an interest in Kanji and tells him he wants to meet with him after school tomorrow. Kanji mistakes this as Naoto being interested in him sexually and freaks out a little bit (Isis: I say just calm down and accept it. It’ll make you happy. It’s already got me happy *grabs a camera*). The group overhears this and they make plans for tomorrow to split into 2 teams to watch over Kanji and to keep an eye on the shop. Yu and Yukiko (or team Y as I like to call them) keeps an eye on the shop and exchange phone numbers (first the numbers, than the dating, than the room visit) while Chie and Youske keep an eye on Kanji and blow it (scene here: //youtu.be/j6BGEcULuiE, why on earth would she accuse the guy of being gay? Okay true the game does leave that question up for you the player to answer but still none of the players actually came out and asked him that). After being chased by him they all return home where they see Kanji on the Midnight channel wearing nothing but a towel covering the family jewels and talking in a homosexual voice and gestures (Mira: Ohh~ I think I’m gonna like his dungeon. Scene here: //youtu.be/-IZ0JU9aC3w, (Nitsuj): and with that I am scared).

 

In episode 7 they enter the TV to get Teddie’s help in finding Kanji but he can’t detect Kanji because he knows nothing about him (what are you a dog or a bear?). So the group heads back out of the TV to find something that belongs to Kanji so Teddie can pick up his scent and find him in the TV world. During their search they find out that the reason Kanji beat up the biker gang in the first place was because they were waking his mother up each night with their loud noise (well that was thoughtful of him) and he’s actually good at arts and crafts making some really cute dolls and phone straps that are well done. However, Kanji hides this from everyone in the world because people in the past have made fun of him for it (shallow bastards). The group gets a phone strap that he made from a kid and gives it to Teddie where he’s able to detect Kanji in the TV world and he leads the group to a bathhouse for men only (oh no! oh no! I ain’t going in there. I ain’t dropping the soap and getting you know what from behind). The boys reluctantly enter the bathhouse with the girls where they run into Kanji’s shadow (scene here: //youtu.be/MDfIM4syudk, *grabs Samurai sword* okay let’s kill him. I’m ready). The shadow runs away from them but they catch up to him where they see the real Kanji on top of him while holding him down (//youtu.be/6nSKkwzwdW4?t=3s). The shadow begins to talk about how he’s everything Kanji wishes he could be (I seriously doubt that) and that Kanji needs to be true to his desires. Of course Kanji outright denies these claims (um guys stop him before he says you know what) and rejects his shadow which causes the shadow to go berserk and a fight begins which I have to admit is probably the funniest fight in the entire anime (scene here: //youtu.be/dyfOXVIVOqo). After saving Kanji a few days go by and Kanji officially joins the investigation team to end the episode.

 

Episode 8 serves as a filler episode in-between the kidnappings. It’s time for the school’s annual camping trip where the school goes into the mountains, cleans up the trash, and take a dip in the river. The day of the camp comes and on the first day Chie and Yukiko make curry for the guys which results in one of the funniest scenes in the anime (scene here: //youtu.be/XezqecUSpRs, wahhh~ a wild mountain monster came out of nowhere and began eating that nasty food). After that we meet Naoki, Saki’s little brother who’s being treated distantly by everyone because of the murder and expresses his hatred for Yu and Youske (whatever punk). But after talking to Yu and the others and opening up he takes back what he says and wants to hangout with them again in the future (geez bipolar much Naoki). That night the laughs continue with Kanji sleeping in the same tent as Yu and Youske (scene here: //youtu.be/1_zn-yr9cEc). After Kanji barges in on the girls Chie and Yukiko go to Yu and Youske’s tent where they sleep for the night leaving Kanji in the tent with the mountain beast (I doubt even he could come out of their unscratched). The next day the group goes down by the river where we get a little fanservice with laughs (//youtu.be/ynnKwLlBjr8, gotta love Yu’s face throughout this). The episode ends with one final laugh courtesy of Kanji and Hanako (scene here: //youtu.be/qfihvwPl8NU, best ending to a camping trip ever). Oh we also get this cute scene earlier in the episode (scene here: //youtu.be/wZW2kxru0Mc, very nice scene).

 

Episodes 9-12

 

In episode 9 the group follows a new theory that the killer is targeting people who appear on TV in town and the latest person to appear on TV in town is none other than Rise voiced by Laura Bailey (Kayko from Yu Yu Hakusho). Rise is a young popular idol who just moved back into town to help her grandmother run her tofu shop under the guise that she’s taking a hiatus from work. But in truth she’s actually thinking about quitting the idol business for reasons only known to her (you have a sex tape out there don’t you?). A silhouette of Rise appears on the midnight channel and the next day after school they discuss what they saw (//youtu.be/iBfvF7QNwcw, I have to agree with Yu her legs are nice. Youske man, how can you not be charmed by her legs?). They go to the tofu shop (man this must be a vegan’s fastfood paradise. We can call it McTofu they’ll come swarming in like ants on a pile of honey) and warn Rise about the recent strings of murders and that she could be next. Dojima and Adachi come in to warn her as well but Dojima is surprised to see a group of teenagers beat him to the punch when they had no inside information to go off on so he decides to have Adachi keep an eye on them. The boys stick around watching the shop and are joined by the girls and Adachi where this scene happens (scene here: //youtu.be/dsMOHi9iix0, geez for a minute there I thought the fan was King Moron what with the teeth and all). Yu takes Rise to the riverbank where he thinks they’ll be safe and we find out that the reason Rise wants to quit is because nobody sees Rise for who she really is all they see is the manufactured idol Risette and nothing else (so basically she’s from the same factory Justin Bieber, 1-D, Jonas Brothers, and Miley Cyrus came from. Only difference is she knows it). They return back to the shop after Yu receives a text message from Youske and the next day Rise comes to school because she’s going to start going there as a 1st year (alright. Time to use the senpai card to your advantage Yu). As Yu and Rise are leaving the school they see the press outside waiting for her so they use the back way to get to her house but the press is there as well waiting for her (do these people have anything better to do with their life. They’re just as bad and annoying as TMZ). Yu begins to ask Rise if she really wants to retire from being an idol and she snaps at him saying he doesn’t know the real her (because you never showed him the real you). The episode ends with Yu checking out the Midnight Channel and seeing Rise’s shadow in a swimsuit showing off her body (scene here: //youtu.be/PMUGOEDuikc, nice try Yu I would have done the same thing).

 

In episode 10 they go into the TV where we see that Teddie is feeling lonely and sad because he has no idea who or what he is (that’s an easy one, you’re that creepy doctor from Shaman King obsessed with his dead wife. Beary disturbing if you ask me). After the girls cheer up Teddie he leads them to the place Rise is at which is a strip joint (so we went from a castle containing a girl horny for a hot stud, to a gay bathhouse, to a strip joint where a girl is gonna bear it all for everyone to see. This isn’t an anime or an RPG it’s a fetish fantasy thought up by the creators). Shadow Rise brings out the guest of honor on her striptease the real Rise (hey Rise welcome to the Rise show how you doing today) and the gang tries to save her but get pushed back by the shadows and a fight begins (scene here: //youtu.be/3GbPUDGs3D0, man was that the sugar from my Kool-aid or did Teddie just go super saiyan on us and save everyone. How is it that out of all the characters in this show it’s the bear that winds up going super saiyan? Life is full of surprises). After saving Rise the fight isn’t over yet as the group now has to fight against Teddie’s shadow which I have to admit is probably the most scariest shadow in the game and anime (scene here: //youtu.be/NtbZM1IqKNc, man that thing is creepy. How’s that for nightmare fuel. Also, Yu killed the thing in one shot!? Oh come on! During one of my playthroughs I had a level 99 Yoshitsune with maxed out strength and it still took me 2 ½ turns to beat it and you’re telling me Yu defeated this thing in one shot using Izanagi. Get out of here). So Teddie gets his persona and begins to do some self-training to get stronger and the gang takes Rise back out into the real world where she decides to join the group and she’s fallen for Yu. After the credits we see a familiar body hanging from the roof of a building.

 

At the start of episode 11 we see that the dead body hanging is none other than King Moron (YES! I mean how terrible! Who could have done such a terrible thing to a good and decent man- oh who am I kidding he had this coming. Asshole of a teacher). The group feels down and begins to doubt themselves (why!? Because some crazed killer killed a teacher who gave you guys crap everyday for no particular reason other than to make your lives a living hell and make himself feel better?) because King Moron didn’t appear on the Midnight channel  throwing their theory in the trash but Yu tells them they gotta keep at it and never give up. They decide to go check on Teddie where they see that he has entered their world and not only that but he has grown a human body and turned himself into a pretty boy (//youtu.be/tfDVs0mCq5k, and here’s my response when I first saw this in the game: //youtu.be/CuOq0Twz31w). The girls rush him to get clothes and then go to meet Rise will they officially let her into the group. As for the rest of the episode not a whole lot happens. Yu’s class gets a new homeroom teacher named Ms. Kashiwagi a lady on the wrong side of 40 who tries her best to seduce young boys around her (Seras: What? No sexual comment or anything? (Nitsuj): Even I have standards Ms. Seras). Exams are around the corner and Naoto who suspects that Yu and the others might have something to do with the murders tells them that the real culprit has been found and that their interference will no longer be required. Teddie becomes the new mascot of Junes and moves in with Youske. The episode ends with Yu watching the Midnight channel and seeing a boy around their age claiming to be the murderer (time to go knock a bastard out).

 

In episode 12 the group enters the TV world and sense the presence of the murderer in a dungeon with an 8-bit Dragon Quest theme to it (best dungeon in the game in my opinion. I love this dungeon it’s such a good shout out to old school RPGs and the idea of making the dungeon 8-bit while leaving the characters in 3-D form was a cool idea). We find out that the person in the dungeon who is claiming to be the killer is a guy named Mitsuo who I’m not gonna lie is a creepy-ass person. I mean it he’s got these dead fish eyes and goes all hysterical on us at random. But how does he tie in with everyone who’s been thrown into the TV? Well for starters he actually tried to get Yukiko to go out with him at the beginning of the anime but got turned down pissing him off. Everyone around town believed that Kanji was a part of a biker gang which was making a lot of noise that pissed him off even more. And the icing on this pissed off cake was Rise ignoring him when he came into her shop (dude, your boring, it’s as simple as that. Girls don’t want to be bored). The group figures all of this out and believe that he really is the killer so they hurry up to go face him where we get one of the best fake outs in anime I’ve ever seen. They rush pass the shadow fight and fast forward us to the after party where the group is celebrating their victory over Mitsuo. Then they rush through the year where the group begins to drift apart from each other leaving Yu alone and empty. When he tries to summon his persona he can’t do it and as he’s getting consumed by the shadows Youske comes in and saves him. It turns out that when they were all fighting Mitsuo’s shadow, Yu somehow got consumed by the shadow and got put in a fake reality where his fears came to life (that was an awesome fake out. When I first watched this in the anime I was totally fooled by this. They got me good I was really impressed by that fake out). With Yu back the fight reaches its climax with a very controversial ending (scene here: //youtu.be/sU3QSETROlU, yeah try marketing this anime to your friends now. One of the highlights of the series is a scary talking baby getting decapitated. You guys gotta watch it’s gonna blow your mind). After defeating the shadow and handing Mitsuo over to the police he confesses to the murders and gets arrested (make sure you trial him as an adult). They decide to celebrate by having an omelet cook off at Yu’s place with Nanako as the judge, Teddie decides to stick around, and they all make plans to go to a summer festival and hangout with each other now that the murders are all done with (now that’s what I call friendship).

 

So with Mitsuo caught I guess the anime is over right? There’s gonna be no more murders right? *Chuckles* You guys clearly don’t know your Shin Megami Tenshi games. Nothing is ever what it seems to be. This anime has only just begun. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.

 

*All videos, music, and pictures used in this blog do not belong to me and belong to their respected owners. All rights reserved*

 

Thanks for reading, as always feel free to leave a comment, feedback, or request in the comment section below or send them to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com

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