YMMV / Persona 3: The Movie

• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Makoto has garnered this since the movie came out. His cold, distant, and stoic attitude make him come across as a Jerkass without any redeeming qualities at first and thus is too unlikeable. Though some like this since it gives room for development, as the events later in the film indicate. This has cooled down some since the second movie, thankfully, as Makoto has become less of a jerk and more openly friendly. Ironically, he was actually much worse in the first draft. He was toned down a lot. See the Trivia entry for more details.
    • Some find Makoto not yelling at the seniors who are badmouthing Shinjiro, at his own funeral, to be a bit of a letdown. Though it's justified since he's in the middle of a Heroic BSoD at the time.
  • Aigis's expanded presence in the movies is heavily contested. The movies push her as Makoto's Implied Love Interest to the point that he barely interacts with the other girls outside of S.E.E.S. activities, and a lot of the subtext between Makoto and Yukari that was present in the game is downplayed or outright removed - perhaps best demonstrated by the scene where Makoto comforts Yukari after she finds out her father is responsible for the Dark Hour. In the game, the Male Protagonist can comfort her with a hug (With Portable not even giving the player the choice to do otherwise) before Junpei interrupts them to remind them about the Dark Hour; here, Makoto and Yukari are attacked by shadows without any of their equipment, at which point Aigis interrupts and kills the shadows, before hugging Makoto herself. Aigis fans are happy with the decision, as it gives her a greatly expanded role compared to the original game, whilst people who shipped the Protagonist with any of the other female characters are less pleased - particularly Yukari fans, as she not only loses her role as the resident Exposition Fairy to the no-longer Silent Protagonist like Yosuke before her, but she also loses her Implied Love Interest status and subsequently has a far less prominent role than in the game.
  • Ken. His portrayal in the movie is much better received to how he was in the game, but some people still hold what happened on the October Full Moon incident against him.
• Better on DVD: While each of the films holds their own as standalone features, they benefit from being watched back to back; their combined six and a half hours of runtime makes them prime fodder for binge-watching.
• Broken Base:
  • The Protagonist has the name Makoto Yuki in the movie, as opposed to Minato Arisato. Then again, this is par for the course.
  • Also, the use of the Male Protagonist as opposed to the Female Protagonist from the PSP port. Fans at least wanted her to appear in as a cameo, if nothing else.
  • The fact that an animated adaptation of Persona 3 would be released as a movie rather than a series like both its predecessor and successor. Some felt that the movies, with a shorter running time than a full-on series, would cut down on scenes at the cost of Character Development. Others defended the choice as it gives the development team a bigger budget to focus on better animation.
• Catharsis Factor: Watching Takaya get beaten by Akihiko in Winter of Rebirth, especially since Shinji was Akihiko's best friend so him getting revenge by proxy is quite satisfying.
• Ho Yay:
  • Ken looks up to Shinjiro a lot in the second movie. He has quite a few lingering stares in Shinjiro's direction and nervously invites him to the summer festival in what's totally Not a Date. Really, the whole thing comes across as Ken having a crush on Shinjiro. It makes The Reveal that much worse.
  • Instead of the original game where Shinjiro kneels on the ground and walks away before dying, in this case he died as Akihiko was holding him, not to mention the two holding hands as it happens. And one of the last things Shinjiro says to him (also in the original game) is to protect Ken, akin to Take Care of the Kids. It's surprisingly similar to tropes traditionally used in romantic contexts.
• Improved Second Attempt: The third movie significantly changes the events of November 4th from the original game to make it more plausible. In the original game, Aigis singlehandedly defeats the rest of SEES (who had turned up armed and ready for a fight) outside of Tartarus on Ikutsuki's command, which can be confusing outside Aigis having Cutscene Power to the Max at the time. Here, Mitsuru's father does not stay at the dorm for the team's celebration, and only stops by to thank them for their efforts and remove their weapons. Subsequently, the party are unarmed when they head to Tartarus, and on top of that, Mitsuru's father is already being held hostage by Aigis when the rest of SEES arrive.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: The movie version of Ken is much better received than he was in the game. Unlike the game, he has a relationship with Shinjiro and his desire for revenge is more sympathetic, as it comes off as a lot less coldhearted and is shown to be conflicted with it.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A minor example during Winter of Rebirth, where the soundtracks for the battle with Nyx Avatar and Nyx itself are swapped. Some dislike the change as the soundtracks don't befit the mood of their respective battles.
• Video Game Movies Suck: There's a camp of fans who dislike the movies for a number of reasons, including cutting out the social sim elements from the game that made up most of the game's playtime in order to focus on SEES. That said, there's also a consensus that the movies are incredibly faithful to the games and manage to tell a compelling story, with far less Off-Model moments compared to the Persona 4: The Animation and Persona 5: The Animation adaptations, due to the higher film-quality animation budget.
• Vindicated by History: The anime adaptations of the Persona games have always been contentious due to how much content ends up getting cut and less than stellar animation. Over time, the reception to this film series has garnered better positive reception than either Persona 4: The Animation or Persona 5: The Animation. Due to having a feature-length film budget, the movies were considered higher quality and Makoto Yuki was praised for his characterization giving him a consistent character arc.

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