PERSONA5 THE ANIMATION
STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
26
RELEASE
September 30, 2018
LENGTH
24 min
DESCRIPTION
Ren Amamiya is about to enter his second year after transferring to Shujin Academy in Tokyo.
Following a particular incident, his Persona awakens, and together with his friends they form the “Phantom Thieves of Hearts” to reform hearts of corrupt adults by stealing the source of their distorted desires.
Meanwhile, bizarre and inexplicable crimes have been popping up one after another…
Living an ordinary high school life in Tokyo during the day, the group maneuvers the metropolitan city as Phantom Thieves after hours.
Let the curtain rise for this grand, picaresque story!
(Source: Official website)
CAST
Ren Amamiya
Jun Fukuyama
Futaba Sakura
Aoi Yuuki
Gorou Akechi
Souichirou Hoshi
Makoto Niijima
Rina Satou
Ryuuji Sakamoto
Mamoru Miyano
Yuusuke Kitagawa
Tomokazu Sugita
Ann Takamaki
Nana Mizuki
Haru Okumura
Haruka Tomatsu
Morgana
Ikue Ootani
Tae Takemi
Yuka Saitou
Sadayo Kawakami
Mai Fuchigami
Sae Niijima
Yuuko Kaida
Hifumi Togo
Tomomi Isomura
Sojiro Sakura
Jouji Nakata
Igor
Masane Tsukayama
Munehisa Iwai
Hisao Egawa
Justine
Aki Toyosaki
Caroline
Aki Toyosaki
Lavenza
Aki Toyosaki
Yuuki Mishima
Daisuke Sakaguchi
Chihaya Mifune
Haruka Terui
Ichiko Ooya
Yumi Uchiyama
Shinya Oda
Aki Kanada
Toranosuke Yoshida
Keiichi Noda
Shiho Suzui
Akemi Satou
EPISODES
Dubbed
RELATED TO PERSONA5 THE ANIMATION
REVIEWS
AdmiralNyan
80/100A Super Stylish Examination of the Human ConditionContinue on AniListPersona 5 is an action, fantasy series that is about a group of high schoolers who come together due to various circumstances and formulate a criminal organisation known as the Phantom Thieves. One evening while infiltrating a high-stakes casino to steal a precious treasure, Ren Amamiya—the protagonist and leader of the gang—is captured by police forces. When he starts being interrogated in a small room, the scene flashes back to the first time he arrived in the big city and the story unfolds from there henceforth.
The animation quality is extraordinary as it captures the super stylish essence of the world of Persona 5 beautifully. The use of computer generated graphics and hand-drawn aesthetics were wonderfully balanced, and further complemented by the jazz and blues inspired music composition. Unlike most other anime, the animation quality remains consistent from start to finish, and I appreciated that very much because it does the series justice while paying tribute to the game itself. The voice acting, which was done by the original cast from the video game, is also very, very good. More than a couple of the characters have eccentric and loud personalities that are very animated (pardon the pun) and the actors were able to bring those traits to life.
Even with all of these brilliant technical things, I believe the second most important one is the execution of the narrative specifically, especially when you think about viewers who have not played the game and knew nothing about the storyline going into it. It’s perfectly presented to appeal to non-gamers, as well as being true to the original source material enough to satisfy the gamers. The inclusion of the finishing moves for some of the battles, for example, and the interesting mechanics for the boss fights translated much better into an anime than I ever could have expected, and honestly, I wasn’t expecting much in that department.
So… as an anime, Persona 5 ended up being one the best shows for the season, for me personally. It made me feel very nostalgic (mind-blowing considering how new it is) while I was watching and instilled within me a desire to pick up the PlayStation exclusive once again. However, putting aside all of the systematic titbits, the absolute best part of the anime are the messages and topics explored.
There are mild spoilers in the following section.
One of the things that the Shin Megami Tensei franchise does wonderfully is explore human nature, whether people are being murdered such as in Persona 4 or they’re being abused, as in this instalment. Humans are sensationally complex individuals. We like to say that this person isn’t complicated, that they are just an idiot or an asshole, but it’s never really that simple. There are tons of factors that affect whether a person will be violent, or introverted, or something else. Persona 5 takes an intimate look into why an individual behaves the way that they do, and that is what makes the show such a brilliant experience.
One of the earliest villains that the Phantom Thieves encounter is a coach who is abusing his athletes, particularly the girls. He’s a dirty bastard who has no qualms about beating up children, or sexualising them, to satiate his own superiority complexes. There are many school officials who know of his transgressions, yet they choose to remain quiet about it. This situation is the perfect example of multiple complex lines of thought.
Firstly, we have conservative communities who fear the shame and negative association that is tied with a scandal of having an abusive or predatory teacher in the ranks of their faculties. Not only does it make the school look like a shady place, it also represents an environment that is unsafe, weak, and imperfect. When you have a society, such as Japanese society (quite akin to many other Asian societies actually) that is all about disciplined perfection and exquisite etiquettes, abuse can be a dangerous thing. It is far easier to pretend that abuse is non-existent than to admit it as reality and face the uncertainty that the consequences of such behaviours can bring.
We see this in one of the members of the Phantom Thieves, who obtained a criminal record because they saved a woman from being assaulted. Instead of being rewarded or acknowledged for stopping predatory actions, they were in turn charged with assault and labelled a delinquent. The school and the people who allow the coach to continue abusing these kids is no different.
Then you have the kids who are suffering themselves. To be a victim of abuse—speaking from experience—is a humiliating and degrading thing. It makes you feel like you’re a weak piece of shit, like you are incapable of being independent or brave. Bravery is an association given to those who subsist with abuse rather than fight against it. The ones suffering are the ones who are ultimately judged for being the victim rather than the assholes who choose to be violent. Many of the students are afraid to speak up about what is going on during practise sessions because this stigma of being frail and cowardly looms over them like a black cloud.
Lastly, we have the coach himself, Kamoshida. His whole purpose for being the son of a bitch that he is, is due to entitlement and privilege. Since he was a star athlete and a champion, and he’s obtained some relative success as a coach, he feels that he has the right to treat his students however he sees fit; that they are the slaves to uphold his triumphs and maintain that level of superiority that he feels. His untouchability on campus makes him bold enough to openly abuse people in front of other teachers and students. This warped sense of power is something that is very common in hierarchical communities where fame is equated with superficial accomplishments.
The exploration of the causes and consequences of maltreatment is done so in a way that is forward and intense. We see how abuse affects not only the victims, but also the loved ones who are ultimately helpless to stop it. The lessons of what helplessness truly entails is a provocative and profound one. Sometimes when we feel we are helpless, that isn’t necessarily the case. Oft times there is a fear that hides beneath the surface, usually similar to the ones the victims may be feeling. The fear of admitting that this is reality, the fear of what happens in the wake of bringing such a dark and fucked-up thing into the light, the fear of being seen as nothing more than a weak-willed individual, plus many more.
Persona 5 takes similar instances such as this one, difficult subject matters (greed, corruption, grief), and tackles them in penetratingly empathetic ways. The arc that dealt with grief and how immobilising it can be, to the point where you can’t even leave the house, also resonated so fucking personally with me. I remember when my brother died, my ability to be outgoing died with him. I’ve been an agoraphobe ever since. While I have learned to live outside of the comforts of my prison-ish bedroom walls, it’s still something I struggled with daily.
The series is far more contemplative than it gets credit for being. Most of it is buried beneath the camaraderie the Phantom Thieves share, which as light-hearted as it is genuine, as well as the tons of stylish theatrics. Nevertheless, below all of that jazz, there are layers and layers of depth that are extremely relevant in today’s day and age, and that is what makes it such an astounding narrative and exceptional series.
If I undeniably had to choose one flaw for Persona 5: The Animation, it would have to be the ending. While I totally saw it coming, I know that non-gamers (and maybe even fans of the VG) will hate that HUGE cliff-hanger. There is an OVA special scheduled to release at the end of the year that should (theoretically) wrap it all up, but until then we all get to twiddle our fucking thumbs in anticipation.
Overall, Persona 5: The Animation is a spectacular series that scrutinises serious subject matters that most other shows won’t touch with a ten foot stick. Toss in a variety of imperfect, compassionate characters, tender moments of friendship, sweet action sequences, and the cutest fricking cat around, then you have one hell of a blend, my friend.
8 coffees outta 10.
CaninnTurtle
65/100Persona 5 the Animation stumbles trying to recapture the game's flair, but does a fair job at retreading the story.Continue on AniListPersona is one of my favorite game series out there. It's stylish, musically incredible, and most importantly, it has fantastic characters and stories to tell. I've recently been on another Persona kick since I've been playing through Persona 4 Golden on Steam, which prompted me to do the unthinkable: pick up Persona 5 the Animation from my paused list. While I can safely say that Persona 5 is the superior Persona in my mind, the animation just failed to actually capture why it was that much better: its style. Persona 5 is a game that sits you down and slaps you back and forth with stylish menu after stylish menu, but don't get me wrong, that's not all the game does well. It's well animated, the characters are good (even if they don't have the same kind of group closeness as in Persona 4), the day to day life is engaging, the combat is incredibly engaging, the villains are detestable, but not entirely cartoon villains, and the music absolutely slaps. Personally, I'd say Persona 5 the Animation captures maybe one and a half of these points which I'll explain as we go.
By far the biggest detractor from Persona 5 the Animation is the visuals. I mean just look at this travesty:
It's not like this kind of thing was rare, either. It would be terribly animated or drawn constantly. I mean, just compare it to the in-game cutscenes and you'll get an idea of just how much a step down this was from even that. (Game on the left and anime on the right)
It's such an obvious step down that it's actually kind of embarrassing for A-1 to release something of this quality publicly. Even the easiest scene for them to recreate, the All-Out Attack, was butchered by their 'anime'd' version of the end card which looks cheap and uninspired compared to the brilliantly expressive All-Out Attack cards from the game. The animation did so little right in the style department that they would have been better off ditching the idea of trying to replicate the game's flamboyant style and going for something completely different and unique that would work for a medium that's far less interactive than a video game.
Sound design is fair in the animation. They reuse a lot of the same music and sound effects, so automatically that elevates the audio side of things, but otherwise there's nothing too remarkably new about Persona 5 the Animation's sound. The only good new song that came from this is Break in to Break Out, the first opening which is an a banger of the highest degree. Everything else, the endings and second opening, are kinda meh. P5A could have used a dub a lot earlier, in my opinion. I realize that one got announced for October of this year, but it would have done it a lot of good in the west if we could have heard these characters in the language that most of us played the game in, because, lets be honest, most people who are watching this came from the game.
Favorite Character: Ann Takamaki
I'm going to come clean first and admit that I haven't played Royal yet, I'm kinda waiting until after I beat Persona 3 and 4, but I have to say, Kasumi might take this spot. Having said that, I love each and every character in this game, but you know me, I have to pick a best girl and it's most of the time the blonde girl. I'd like to take the time to say that I absolutely hate the Persona 5 fandom when it comes to the dating scene in the game/anime. It gets so elitist and nasty that if you say that anyone but Makoto is the best romance option you get absolutely toasted. Kinda makes me dislike Makoto just because of those people, even if I do like her as a character. Having said all of that, both in the game and anime, the most magical scene in the show always has to be when you meet Ann for the first time in the rain. That scene is beautiful and captivating in such a enamoring way that I fall in love with Ann and her character arc immediately after watching it.
Something that I wish P5A had done was actually give Joker a personality. No one is controlling him, why not let him actually talk and seem like a real person? P4A already does this better and I'm only 5 episodes in. Narukami vs. Joker is like comparing a real person to a cardboard cutout if we're comparing their anime personalities. It annoyed me in the game too, because I thought that they could have had Joker talk a lot more and not have it break the 'insert character' mold, but still give him some life of his own. Also Akira Kurusu > Ren Amamiya.
I'm having a hard time saying that I'd recommend P5A at all, because if you're not looking for a nostalgia trip, it's not really worth watching. It doesn't provide anything extra to the game experience, which is entirely disappointing and there's not a lot here to attract any non-game viewers because all I'd say to those people is to just play the game for a much fuller and fulfilling experience. There's a lot of watering down sections and not a lot that they improved upon, except for maybe giving Haru some more spotlight. I do have to say that the way they ended the main series was a banger of an ending, but having to slog through two hour long OVA's afterward wasn't entirely a great time, though the Valentine's Day special was absolutely phenomenal and a really creative way to give the viewers the romance ending of their 'choice'. Though, all it made me want is a romance option with Sae, who is low key a contender for best girl.
Honestly, I had fun watching P5A, even if objectively, it wasn't that good. It was really enjoyable to relive the game in an abridged version and re-watch some of my favorite moments and, once again, revisit the Phantom Thieves who I hold so dear. I hope to do it again in Royal sometime soon, but until then, this will have to do.
theJokerEvoker
38/100Squandered potential at its finestContinue on AniListI absolutely love Persona 5. Though it might not be the largest numbers, I have put over 350 hours into the vanilla version and 130 hours and counting into Royal, and I enjoyed every minute of it. The everyday life simulator combined with the dungeon crawling and turn-based RPG, the overflowing and elegant visual style, the absolutely godlike soundtrack—it is hard to understate how much I adore this game. Then I was reminded a few months back that this game had an anime adaptation, and even though I knew that people said it was horrible, I, for some reason, went and watched it. I do not know why.
In general, I like the story of Persona 5. It’s certainly not perfect, with certain moments and arcs that feel weird and plot holes that aren’t filled, but it’s a story that is compelling, makes sense, and is ultimately satisfying and cathartic. Persona 5: The Animation retells the story of Persona 5, though it changes elements to fit the medium. Some of the confidant relationships were handled decently well in the anime, considering the confidants were a core gameplay element that would be difficult to adapt. The anime has golden moments that weren’t in the game—everyone’s favorite example is the scene at the school festival where Ren tries to unmask a ghost in his school’s haunted house out of habit from his Phantom Thieves shenanigans. Additionally, the anime also explores the relationship between Ren and Akechi much more in depth than vanilla Persona 5 did, which was interesting to see. But the elephant in the room regarding the anime’s story, as I think anyone who knows about it can tell you, is the god awful pacing. The vast majority of the time, the story is incredibly rushed. Events that take time to occur in the game are presented at breakneck speed, with whole arcs in the game being crammed into a fewer number of episodes than you can count on half a hand. Many scenes are painful to watch with how rushed they are, with characters following each other’s lines up with almost no time to breathe. Half of the entire game’s content, infiltrating and exploring palaces, is substituted for mere minutes of badly animated sequences showing the Phantom Thieves running around, with the occasional reference to unique portions of the palace—there was so much that could have been done with the Metaverse exploration that wasn't. I could go on, but the bottom line is that the storytelling in Persona 5: The Animation is pretty garbage, and it definitely doesn’t the do the game’s story justice. If this anime were given more episodes and more time, it certainly could have been a good retelling of Persona 5. Alas, it was not. 3/10.
The characters in this adaptation largely suffered as a direct result of the bad writing. Given the vast amount of characters, including the Phantom Thieves themselves and Ren’s confidants, and the limited timeframe the anime was pigeonholed into, it’s not surprising that the majority of the characters in the anime are sorely undeveloped, uninteresting, and, in the case of most of the confidants, don’t make much sense unless you already know who they are from the game. There’s honestly not much to say here. Some people argue that Ren Amamiya, the protagonist, actually has a personality in the anime as opposed to in the game—as should be the case, considering the game’s protagonist is meant to be an insert for the player. In my opinion, Ren’s personality isn’t even strong enough in the anime. Sure, he can still maintain the cool and quiet persona, but there’s no reason for him to be as silent and passive in the anime as he usually is in game. Line choices in the game for Ren are often witty and funny—some of this spirit was captured in the anime, but not nearly enough. But again, given the quality of writing, having strong characters is a bit of a tall order. 3/10.
And then there are the visuals. Persona 5 is a game renowned for its gorgeous visual style, yet the animation in the anime adaptation is nothing short of embarrassing. A simple comparison of the All-Out Attack animation in game and the meager effort to reproduce it in the anime is a pretty good summary of the disparity in quality between the two mediums. That also isn’t to mention the awful fight choreography in the anime, which might as well have not existed. The cutscenes from in-game look better than most of the content in the anime, with the occasional exception, usually in the form of character expressions. Put simply, the visuals suck—and that’s even speaking from an objective point of view without comparing it to the game. 3/10.
One of the “potentially” redeeming factors for the anime was its music, and it’s mostly just because it took much of the soundtrack directly from the game, whose music, as mentioned, is god-tier. Granted, there were some soundtracks that were exclusive to the anime that also were pretty great: one that comes to mind for me is the track that plays when Ren and Akechi play chess for the first time. The first opening, “Break In to Break Out,” was also a certified banger. That being said, “potentially” is in quotes because occasionally the timing and mood-setting of songs felt a little off, but this is a pretty minor problem compared to everything else. 7/10, because Persona 5 music absolutely kills it.
It’s honestly really unfortunate that Persona 5: The Animation was as much of a mess as it is. I genuinely believe that if this anime was given a few seasons of time to develop, it could have been an absolutely amazing adaptation—after all, the source material quality is there. And even aside from that, the anime itself had, as mentioned before, moments of brilliance that could have been even better had the rest of the adaptation held up. It seems blatantly obvious that this anime was rushed through production to capitalize on hype around Persona 5, which is almost made more apparent by the fact that the dub version was released on Blu-ray not too long ago from the time of writing for a whopping $300 (or for streaming on Funimation, to which the point still stands). The bottom line is: if you’re interested in Persona 5 at all, just go play the game. Please.
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SCORE
- (3.05/5)
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Ended inSeptember 30, 2018
Main Studio CloverWorks
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