Persona 4 anime licensed for North America!

[Jessweeee♪]

Persona 4 Anime Licensed for U.S. Release, News from GamePro

By the way, the first episode aired in Japan last Friday. I wonder if we'll see any fansubs soon? Though I suppose this piece of news makes that illegal

[Wolf Kanno]

I thought they announced this awhile ago? Either way, its going to be awesome when it comes out. I still wish they would release the manga though.

[*Devore*]

That looks amazing! I haven't played any of the games though, will it still make sense?

[Wolf Kanno]

For the most part it should unless the anime throws a curveball and actually puts Philemon into the plot. For the most part, the games are standalone and only mildly connected. It shouldn't be an issue getting into the anime.

[Jessweeee♪]

It ought to. It appears to be faithful to the game, with very minor changes here and there to make it flow more smoothly as a television show. I watched the first episode, and it was a bit fast. Like, if I hadn't played the game first I might have been able to follow it still, but afterwards when asked about it I'd be like, huh...now...what happened again? TV? Persona? Like they spent a nice amount of time introducing us to Dojima and Nanako, but everything from the first day of school to the Persona awakening was a big blur. But I think this may have been done in an effort to show us what the show was about in one episode, and it probably won't be like that from here on. Twenty six episodes ought to be just enough to present the plot in a nice pace that isn't too fast and doesn't drag. We'll see I guess!

I'd say P4 makes more sense than any Persona title so far. Despite all of the whacky elements involved, it's a murder mystery at heart, and if you pay attention and think it through logically you might be able to solve it yourself. I never would have guessed the first time around, but then the second time I saw all of the clues, and they're quite clever.

[Edge7]

Yeah, I noticed that the pacing was off too. The first episode felt really disjointed. Granted, it was an understandable measure, having to present the titular creatures within the first episode, but I felt like the transitions really could have been done better. The second episode is significantly better, although the episode still went by a bit too fast without building any drama:
Yu: Hey Yosuke, you like Saki right?
Yosuke: Right!
Headmaster: Hey guys, Saki's dead
(I did like Yosuke's reaction, though)
Another complaint I have is that it seems like they're resolving Yosuke's character arc during the fight with Yosuke's shadow. I might be making this assumption too early, but the entire appeal of the Social Links is how you learn about your companions over a gradual amount of time, thus making you more attached.

With all these complaints out of the way, I say it's too early for me to reach a conclusion on how I feel about the anime. Hopefully they'll have Yu reveal more of his personality as he spends time with other characters outside of the murder investigation. Well, time will tell.

[Wolf Kanno]

No, he really did address most of his issues in his Shadow fight, the game just decides to turn around and make a social link out of it and drag it out for another 40 hours. Its one of the reasons why I felt the social links were pretty weak in P4 cause all the party member social links are basically them dealing with their major issues that the story mode already addresses and seems to clear up before they join you. I kind of feel a similar issue with when they did it in P3P as well cause the main story actually addresses all of the guys personal quirks and issues, it seems kind of weird to get a double dose in the social link side as well.

[Jessweeee♪]

Hopefully they'll have Yu reveal more of his personality as he spends time with other characters outside of the murder investigation. Well, time will tell.

I don't know if it was something added to the fansub or if it was there all along (some fansubs like to do their own transistions) but I saw in one of the transitions there was a personality chart like in the game and it was blank. I was thinking that it would be really neat if as the plot advanced, the chart slowly expanded bit by bit as Yu becomes more of a solid person.

[Edge7]

No, he really did address most of his issues in his Shadow fight, the game just decides to turn around and make a social link out of it and drag it out for another 40 hours. Its one of the reasons why I felt the social links were pretty weak in P4 cause all the party member social links are basically them dealing with their major issues that the story mode already addresses and seems to clear up before they join you.

I respectfully disagree. I felt that confronting his shadow was only part of the conflict. He accepts the worst of himself. It's only through interacting with the main character that he finds his "true feelings". That's just my interpretation.

[Wolf Kanno]

I just felt like his search for his true feelings was mostly him rehashing what we already know: I don't like being the kid whose dad owns the Junes, I really like this girl (even though she thought he was a creep), I like being special, something interesting is finally happening in this boring little town. Everything you would know about him by the time he confronted his Shadow.

It just felt like the first few hours spread apart into long optional dialogues with him, and it was pretty boring to me. I always felt his and Chie's SL's never went anywhere new for the characters. I actually felt that way about all of the party members (except Teddy but his is tied to the plot) its just that the others were at least entertaining. These two felt like going out with friends who just can't seem to let go of past bulltrout that you thought we resolved.

[Laddy]

I take the Shadow as accepting their negative qualities and insecurities and their SL's as getting over them, personally.

[Jessweeee♪]

I just saw the third episode. I'm really liking this. It's been done very well. Also, Pyro Jack! Yay!

[JKTrix]

I don't exactly know what areas of the world this is applicable to, but it's worth noting that Persona 4 is being legally streamed with English subtitles here.

Watch | Persona-4 | Anime

They get them up pretty soon after the Japanese broadcast, an hour later at the earliest. Episode 4 just aired in Japan yesterday and they have it there now.

I'm not crazy about it, but it's fine.