Tag Archives: Persona 3

Persona 3 The Movie: #4 Winter of Rebirth Review

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It’s time for the end of the Persona journey. It’s definitely been fun to get to experience the story all the way from the beginning. The Persona games are super long so it makes sense that you would need 4 movies to tell the story. There isn’t as much action as you would expect for a while there but they make up for it with the climax which may be the longest action piece out of the 4 films. Hard to say if that’s the case for sure but it felt like it. This one ends the series off on a good note.

The film starts right where the last one ended off with Aegis being defeated by Ryoji. He informs Makoto that humanity is doomed. Ryoji is essentially death incarnate and the herald of Nyx. Makoto can choose to destroy Ryoji which will wipe the memories of everyone on Earth so they don’t have to dread their final 2 months and can live normally. Makoto doesn’t want to do this though and the rest of his team are also hesitant. Although Makoto is explicitly the only one who has the power to do this so he gets the final say. He just spends his final days zoning out until a visitor from another realm shows up. Can she snap him out of it?

I would say the main annoying thing about this plot is how everybody just gives up. They’ve all been through a lot of difficult challenges before so why is this any different? It feels like they all take Ryoji at face value about how invincible Nyx is and just don’t want to fight. I would even say they shouldn’t believe that destroying him would be pointless. I would have liked to see the heroes continue to fight and stay in denial if that’s what it took to keep their spirits up. At the very least they cannot just give up because that is the absolute worst thing that you can do. You have to keep on fighting for every inch for as long as it takes.

The only one who I won’t give any shade to is Aegis. She fought as hard as she could immediately and is written out for part of the film due to being broken. Otherwise she was not just giving up without a fight and if anything was dismayed to find out that the others didn’t share her energy. Aegis was ready to fight to the bitter end and that’s exactly how it should be. It’s just too bad that her sheer firepower isn’t enough to take on these big threats.

Elizabeth is the secret MVP to the film. She shows up and decides to help Makoto out even though it’s not like this was something that she needed to do. She simply decided that it’s something that she wanted to do and that is what really makes her role even more heroic. She helps Makoto see how much fun it is to simply be alive and spurs on the heroes’ final defense. Without her they would have continued to just go through the motions and lose without a fight.

Makoto may be the main character but he was pretty passive up to this point. His character is probably one that works a bit better in the game where you have hours upon hours of him doing the right things and hanging in there. I’d say what hurts him in the films is it feels like he gets depressed in every installment. I thought that film 3 would be the last time it happened until this one came in. Again, there just wasn’t a good enough reason for me on why the heroes would just accept that they couldn’t win this fight. Never trust a monologuing villain.

The animation is pretty solid as always. You could make the case for this being the best looking out of the 4 films. They really went all out with the shading and various camera angles. The final fights all look great and it is definitely a very chaotic fight. The colors are good and it’s also nice to still see the humans fighting alongside their Personas. It just makes the battles feel more personal and it is always satisfying when the humans actually land good hits in.

It was too bad that we didn’t get to see much of a fight against the enemy persona users in the last film so this time they get more of a full fight. They don’t last long against the heroes by this point in the series but I was glad that they weren’t just offscreen or anything like that. Now that would have definitely been a little disappointing. As for the final boss, Nyx is pretty impressive but doesn’t have enough time to have too much of a character. More of a final boss obstacle than a character one. Ryoji has to suffice as far as the character part goes and he looks good.

I would say he just works better as a villain than a hero with how he’s always smirking and looking like he is in control of things. That is exactly how you want your villains to act. For the heroes I have to give most of them a failing grade this time though. The kid and the dog are ironically the only ones really holding it together. Yukari and Junpei probably look the worst out of the group. Yukari goes into complete depression mode where she hides in her room while Junpei starts picking fights. Not very productive things to do when the world is ending.

Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Fuuka are mainly just staying quiet the whole time as they try and process the situation. Even though they also feel rather defeated, at least they aren’t just putting that out there. If you feel like throwing in the towel that’s one thing, but at least you can make sure not to bring anyone down with you. I’d say that’s one of the key differences between this group and the first one.

As always the soundtrack is also really good. I was still waiting for my favorite theme to show up but I suppose it might have clashed with the tone. Either way you have a good amount of action tunes in here and Persona music has a whole lot of range. This film is taking a more somber approach and the music is able to match that. It’s definitely a creative approach to ending a movie series as the final film will usually be a whole lot more lively and action packed. I guess that just didn’t work out here based on how the game was structured as well.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend checking this one out. You’ll be pretty lost if you skipped the first 3 films and of course if you watched those, why would you skip this one right? It’s a solid action title with a lot of introspection. The main characters may not look all that good here but sometimes it is hard to keep up with how high the stakes get. These guys just weren’t ready for all of that this time. As for the ending itself, I tend to interpret it as more of a happy one similar to Saint Seiya. The mission was accomplished, everyone is doing well and now the crew can all have a lot of other adventures going forward. I picture them all moving past this experience but I can see there being a lot of different theories on this. It would absolutely change the tone if the ending was more on the negative side but even on that end then you can pick a sub theory that makes it positive again. I do like when you can really speculate on an ending so that’s another point in the film’s favor.

Overall 7/10

Persona 3 The Movie: #2 Midsummer Knight’s Dream Review

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It’s time for the next Persona installment! This one covers a whole lot of ground as we get more characters added to the main crew and some villains even show up. There’s also a good amount of lore here so it’s safe to say that we’re totally done with the prologue. If you enjoyed the first film then you’ll definitely like this one as it takes things to the next level.

The film starts off with the heroes taking care of a particularly devious boss that was trying to use its charm ability on the heroes. The heroes are finally able to hold their own at least a little bit without Makoto. While he was out getting charmed they were actually landing blows and dealing damage. I also wonder how long he and Yukari were under the mind control. In theory it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes or the rest of the team would have been crushed but the enemy certainly wasn’t rushing them.

Still, things have been looking up for Makoto. He has been showing more emotion lately and is really getting along with the rest of the team. That seems like a good thing at first but then some doubts begin to creep in. What will he do once the monsters are all gone? The heroes are ultimately fighting to save the world and remove this demonic hour but will Makoto go back to being a loner with no friends? That’s something that he is really going to have to contend with.

So it’s not all sunshine and flowers for Makoto this time. I admit that I do miss his more emotionless self to a degree but his character was always going to go this way in the long run. Persona isn’t the kind of title that even considers having static characters. It would go against the entire concept of the series. Likewise this movie isn’t quite as mysterious as the first film now that we’re actually getting answers to different questions like what is the 25th hour, who created the demons, etc. We even have main villains to take care of now.

So in the place of mystery we have more action and character development this time around. It’s a pretty fair trade off. The stakes are higher here as we’ve got an actual body count. The heroes are always fighting around death with how powerful the demons get but at least there are a lot of them so they can back each other up. It still feels like the others can’t fight near the level of Makoto but at least they are doing something compared to film 1 where they were borderline hostages the whole time.

I also have to give Yukari a lot of credit in particular here. She has gotten over her doubts and is a proud fighter with the rest of the team now. She no longer has any hesitations about combat and is right there on the front lines. Now her main threat is Aigis, one of the newer members of the group who is always hanging around Makoto. That’s naturally going to be a point of tension throughout.

Aigis quickly becomes one of the best characters though and as far as this film goes she was my favorite. It’s great to have someone who can effectively fight the demons even without her Persona. She is 100% focused on the mission and has a very emotionless style to her like Makoto. Aigis is helpful right from the start and doesn’t need any time to adjust to what is going on. Of course in a sense that’s because she is essentially a weapon. So in a way you could say she was literally built for this kind of job.

This movie also introduces a dog who gets to be part of the main group. I gotta admit, I’m not a big fan of including any animals with the group. This is naturally way too dangerous for any pup like this. The dog does a good job of quickly learning how to summon a Persona and everything but I still think that’s a bit much. No way to ensure his safety while protecting everyone else.

Then you have a little kid named Ken who also joins up. Even this is stretching things because he’s so young. It also turns out that he has a chip on his shoulder and some very personal reasons for wanting to help out. This leads to a pretty intense confrontation later on. I have to give Ken some props for actually wanting to take care of things on his own. It certainly wasn’t the heroic thing to do but yeah he was really taking care of business.

Finally we also have Shinjiro also joins up. He was briefly in the first film but did not want to get involved with the team. Well, they’re closing in on the goal now and convince him to help out. The guy doesn’t have a whole lot of time left though as he has a hard time controlling his abilities. There is a kind of medication that he can take in order to stave off the effects but it’s definitely more of a short term fix and not something that he can rely on forever.

He absolutely has the most tragic plot from all of the characters. It would just be hard for anyone to move on from what he did in the past and it’s easy to see why he doesn’t know how to atone. Saving the world from the demons would be a good start of course but if he messes up then he could easily just end up making things worse for everyone which would defeat the entire point. Still, I ended up liking the guy quite a bit. He was dealt a rough hand in life but played it as well as he could.

The older members get a little less to do this time. Fuuko, Kirijo, and Junpei are around the whole time but don’t have particularly big plots here. Fuuko and Junpei got their big plots in the first movie and I feel like Kirijo will get more of a focus later on. Of course we will also have to make time for the 3 new villains. These characters haven’t gotten a whole lot to do yet but they have made their goals clear. They want the dark hour to continue forever and so they aim to stop the heroes from destroying the final demons. I believe the heroes have beaten 7/12 of the dark captains needed to end the demons once and for all. So they are pretty close at this point.

The villains definitely have a lot of potential. In a title like this it’s always fun to have a dark mirror where the villains use the same kind of power sets but for their own purposes. There are only 3 of them though so for now it feels like the heroes should be able to crush them rather easily. We’ll see if they just have busted units though. In the quick skirmish their main monster seemed tough but it was too quick to call this a proper fight.

The animation was definitely solid as you would expect. The character designs are on point and the film also had a lot of great music. Persona is definitely really good at that and the movie doesn’t disappoint. There is a bit of fanservice this time around between the beach and the opening scene. Nothing too crazy but Persona had been pretty good about avoiding this before now so hopefully it can stay rather light the whole time. I’m here for the action!

In general though I’d say the movies have been good about not being too extreme. The topics are serious and the characters can take some big injuries but it never gets to the point where it feels like the film is being too try hard about the violence. It’s more like a standard shonen I’d say. At least up to this part and again, we still have the serious themes and tragic backstories so it’s not like this one’s all fun and games. I’d say that it is probably happier than the first film overall but that might be debatable.

Overall, I look forward to seeing where the next film goes. In theory Makoto should be past the biggest doubts now so I don’t expect any more backsliding from him. Additionally the other characters should all be pulling their weight without a doubt. The team is just so big by this point so they should be rolling past a lot of fighters. Naturally the last bosses will be the strongest ones but the team is up for the task. As long as you like a good supernatural action film then you will enjoy this film as well. It’s just very strong all around.

Overall 7/10

Persona 3 The Movie: No. 1, Spring of Birth Review

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It’s time to delve back into the world of Persona! I really didn’t know much about Persona 3 except for the song “It’s Going Down Now” which is absolutely generational. Unfortunately that song isn’t in this film but it still has a lot of fun tunes throughout. The movie is really fast paced so you have to keep up with it but this makes for a good watch from start to finish. It also ends off in a way where you know that the adventure is just starting.

The story starts off by introducing us to Makoto who is one of the most emotionless characters you’ll ever see. He’s walking through town when people start turning into coffins. He doesn’t have time to care about that though as he’s on the way to his dorm. When he gets there, a girl points a gun at him and Makoto just shakes his head as he gets to his room. Unfortunately giant monsters are trying to tear the place down so the ladies ask him to help out. This involves shooting himself with a gun that allows him to summon demonic entities known as Persona to help him fight. Makoto is now on a team known as SEES which fights back against these demons. Makoto will help out…because why not?

Now obviously there is a reason for his lack of emotion and the film gives us a few quick flashbacks to his past. Nothing substantive yet though, we’ll likely be getting that in the sequels. This one is really about having Makoto slowly open up to the characters around him. A part of me is going to miss how emotionless he was though. The fact that he was taking everything in stride was just really funny and I wish more characters were like that. There is a time for panicking after all but most characters abuse it.

I also like to think that the lack of emotion is part of why he is so strong. The other characters tend to get knocked around real quickly and don’t re-summon their monsters too quickly. Makoto just spam summons the Personas over and over again. This drains your soul/willpower so it’s risky but he wasn’t worried about that. Without Makoto the rest of the characters could have been crushed more than once. Which….is a knock against the others.

I’m no stranger to the concept of “The Chosen One” but it’s a bit of a stretch on just how weak the others are. It’s hard to see how they have survived at all without Makoto. They are unable to beat even a single boss without him. It seems like they never had to deal with bosses before Makoto showed up with how surprised they were though. So maybe in a way this loops around to all being Makoto’s fault. This may just be a pacing issue and with more time they could have shown off the other fighters a bit more.

The most unintentionally funny one is when the final member (for now) joins the group. Fuuko is a really shy girl who got picked on a lot and by the end of the film finally gets to fight. The problem is that she loses her first fight and seemingly her Persona’s only ability is to make a barrier which can delay the inevitable. Usually you’d expect the new character to do well in a TV show but I guess those rules don’t apply to a movie. So Makoto still had to save her even if she did help out in a support role.

I also want to see Fuuko standing up for herself more. In this case the bully saw the light and stopped picking on her but we haven’t gotten to see Fuuko confront anyone yet. It’s good that she is a really nice person but it definitely should not come at the expense of defending herself. You always have to continue to fight back and hold some kind of boundaries. Takeba is another character who is rather timid but in a very different way. She is tough around other characters but it’s more of a mask that drops when she is up against the monsters.

Takeba tends to annoy me more than Fuuko because she should be a pro by now. I do get how it would be hard to shoot yourself even if you know that it’s not a real gun though. The others are probably a bit weirder for accepting it so easily. At least Takeba is past all of that now so she should be looking better and better as the films go on. Panicking and nearly shooting Makoto was just not a good look for her.

Kirijo is one of the more disappointing ones when it comes to combat. It’s a bit of a clash in expectations because when she’s first introduced you get the feeling that this character is a bigshot. It turns out that she is another support type fighter so you don’t really see her on the frontlines. I think that was a mistake, we don’t need more support fighters. So she doesn’t really fight at all and loses off screen to her first big opponent. Just not a great showing at all. Yes at this point Makoto is really carrying the team. The others are still fun characters but in a fight they aren’t pulling their weight.

Junpei is at least another fighter on the group although he doesn’t have a ton of experience yet. In fact he is brand new to the game and immediately gets jealous of Makoto for outshining him in all areas. I was worried this would be a big plotline but it seems like the guy has calmed down for now. The stakes are too high for any infighting right now. Junpei’s the classic overconfident kind of guy so until he is able to back up the tough talk, he will be in hot water.

Akihiko is the final main member of the strike force. At least he actually seems to be powerful. The opponent was just a really bad matchup for him with how he could become immune to the elements. Without that then this would have been a very different fight. The electricity looked really sharp and he was also able to re-summon his Persona a lot. Hopefully he’ll continue to be on the front lines for future fights.

The animation is pretty sharp all the way through. I like the way they would do the colors for the characters’ hair and the fights were solid. I wouldn’t call this a high-end production or anything like that but it flows well. The songs are also really good like I mentioned before. They may not have brought out the A tier songs yet but you know that they are around. This film had a lot to cover with the character intros and nonstop action so the next one will hopefully be able to match that. In theory we need the nonstop fighting to continue in order to see more fun battle tracks.

That said, it’ll be hard for the sequel to capture the same intrigue and mystery that this one had. The film hasn’t really been addressing any questions yet so Makoto is just as lost as anyone else. Of course he’s not the kind of guy to ask about the details anyway. All you need to know is that monsters come out during an extra hour of the day that only specific people can see. It’s an interesting premise and that’s really all you need some times. With that I’ve got a good basis for the fights and there are always the classic mystery characters who appear in visions and meanwhiles. The film even had some post credit scenes which was cool.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this film. Whether you are familiar with Persona or not, it makes for a good action title. There is a lot of suspense here and the writing is good. The film’s also not very long so it really breezes right by you. It may not feel like a complete adventure but that’s normal for a part 1. It just means that you have to stick around so this will be an investment. You’ll be able to truly see just how solid it is once you have finished all of the films.

Overall 7/10