Reviews Anime / Persona 4 The Animation

One of the best "Anime of the Game"s out there.

As someone who grew up with, and hated, the Pokemon anime, this one surprised me in how faithful to the games it is. The first few episodes, for instance, play out nearly exactly like the beginning of the game. Personas and bosses have the same weaknesses and immunities as they do in the game, and fusion requirements match up. These details are subtle enough, however, so as not to alienate anyone unfamiliar with the source material.

The anime does a decent job of condensing a 100+ hour game into 26 episodes, covering every major boss fight and plot event, with a few cases of welcomed Adaptation Expansion (especially the final episode). Strangely, it's the Social Links that get cut down the most, which can be annoying in some cases but at least them manage to show them all.

Pacing is a major flaw with the show though. The first half rushes through plot boss fights, with only a few left at only 12 episodes in, leaving most of the second half for Breather Episodes. That said, some of the "Breather" episodes are among the highlights of the show for comedy (13, 14, 15, 19) or drama (18, which may actually be the single best episode of the series IMO, the emotions they conveyed downright floored me), but it does make the main plot feel a little weirdly-paced at times. Then again, the original game could be like that too.

Comedy is a real strength of this series, actually, with a lot of really hilarious moments in the Social Link adaptations, with a good bit of self-deprecating humour too. (ep 13 is basically all about how weird S Links look out-of-context) The main protagonist gets his own personality that's a paradoxical combination of The Stoic, Deadpan Snarker and Large Ham, and it is glorious.

Finally, something I really have to praise: the English dub. This may be the only anime that's dub is actually tolerable to me. No, more than that, it's amazing. Nearly all the V As from the game reprise their roles, with fantastic performances from Troy Baker, Laura Bailey and Johnny Young Bosch in particular. The dialogue is faithful for the most part, but there are several lines I actually find funnier in the dub ("She said you were one big man whore!"), and it also makes an effort to downplay some moments of Unfortunate Implications like Episode 8's tent scene. Definitely recommend it even if you're a Japanese purist.