FIF#52-Persona 5: The Animation

Ren Amamiya has just transferred into a new High School after committing a heinous crime that has netted him a criminal record.  The school knows this and isn’t going to make moving in easier.  But, turns out, having a shady past is the least of Ren’s worries.  On his first day of school, a mysterious app appears on his phone, one that draws him through a portal into a world where the darker side of humanity reigns supreme and has some influence on the real world.  Gaining the power of a “persona” named Arsene and stalked by the mysterious Igor, Ren must find a way to fight the evils of this underworld and maybe save some lives in the process.

 

Persona 5: The Animation comes with a lot of hype behind it.  The video game was one of the biggest hits of 2017, a title with characters and gameplay that really made me want to get a PS4.  Not to mention when it comes to Video Game Anime Adaptations, the Persona games have gotten really good treatments (especially Persona 4).  That brings us to Persona 5.  So how is it?

 

I wonder if you have to be a fan of the game to really appretiate it and I know there are die hards out there who have been begging for this since the game dropped last year.  It did take me a second to realize that most of what we are seeing is a flashback to prior events as the show opens with Ren getting arrested in costume.  Did the game start out like this, I wonder?  The world beneath the world isn’t anything new but it was taking me time to wrap my head around how the system of how Ren and allies get there works.  Granted this is early on so I doubt everything is going to be laid out so simply.  These nitpicks aside, P5 The Animation has a very Durarara feel to its first couple of episodes.  The world looks ordinary but theres extraordinary hidden literally underneath it.  There’s also a ton of demented danger and im kind of upset the lecherous, violent gym teacher hasn’t been dealt with yet, especially after it’s hinted that he might be doing naughty/illegal things to one of the main characters.  No Ann in a sexy bikini doesn’t make me forget that the Gym Teacher is a sleeze and needs to get his ass kicked and arrested ASAP!!!

 

I do like the action of the show as I feel that it might be how things play out in the game, with turn style attacks from each Phantom Thief striking an opponent with a flashy finishing move to top it all off.  There’s already a very Anime style vibe to the game itself so it re-translates to Anime with ease, from the world aesthetic to the character designs.  I also cant help but wonder: if Persona 5 ends up being a beat for beat retread of its source material, why would I enjoy it but not the Ace Attorney Anime from a couple of years ago?  Maybe it’s because ive never played Persona 5 at all whereas I played the first couple of cases in Ace Attorney and the Animes first couple of episodes played out exactly the same as in the game.  Maybe I have more of an interest in Persona than the adventures of Phoenix Wright?  Maybe im just ready to see Ann Takamaki kick some serious ass in her red Panther costume?  I’ll lean more towards that last one.

 

All in all, I might keep up with this a couple more weeks and then just wait to binge it all (kind of what I might end up doing with My Hero Academia this season).  Persona 5: The Animation looks great and is off to a decent start thanks to some good production values from Studio Cloverworks (though I wonder why Production I.G., which did the Anime cutscenes for the video game, didn’t take on the project, they’ve got energy to spare) an intriguing premise and some fun action.  Maybe by the time the show is over, ill have saved up for a Playstation 4 so I can play the sensation everyones been talking about endlessly.  For now, the Animation will do just fine.