Persona 4 – 23

Bros in the Snow Without Hoes: Tender Moments Edition

I am not Overcooled today, but OverCOLD because I am sick and my nose won’t stop running. It’s not stopping me from doing much but it’s annoying to have to reach for tissues every 5 minutes. Maybe I should use my current energy to finish my essay but meh, I’d rather be writing about anime right now :3

…I should probably be finishing my essay as well, but here I am instead writing about animu. …Yeah. I REGRET NOTHING. Anyways, I should probably get on to Persona here since a main character just kind of… died.

HOLY CRAP, THERE WAS NO VELVET ROOM. Oh yeah, and Nanako is dead now so it’s one big BAWWWWfest. Dojima goes to Namatame’s room to get revenge, but the police stop him. So instead, the team goes to see Namatame and man are they pissed. It gets even worse when Shadow Namatame appears on the Midnight Channel (even though the real Namatame is outside the TV) saying that he’ll keep saving people. The team then divides between those who want to push him into the TV and those who don’t want to murder anyone. There’s a huge moral struggle that goes on (apparently none of the hospital staff care about angry yelling coming from the room) and Yu almost kills him, but a flashback of Nanako ends that thought quickly. Yu decides that he doesn’t want to become like Namatame. Also, there’s something about this whole thing that’s bugging him so the team decides that they’re going to find out the truth. …The real one this time.

Instead of asking Namatame the facts though, the team goes off to speculate. They remember that Namatame actually had an alibi for Mayumi’s murder, but they’re still puzzled by the fact that her name was written in Namatame’s diary notebook.  They also notice that Kuma is missing, but the team decides to just go home. …Everyone except for Yosuke that is. The two share a bromance moment, but it’s kind of ruined by the fact that Yu is busy crying over Nanako.

The team gets together to speculate and they realise that a.) the threat notes Yu received don’t add up with Namatame’s theory of saving people and b.) Namatame considered Nanako’s death a failure on his part. They actually go ask Namatame directly and he never sent them any threats. Also, he finally tells his part of the story. He noticed Mayumi on the Midnight Channel and then the next day she died. The same thing happened with Saki as well and so when Yukiko’s turn came around, he decided to hide her somewhere where he though was safe- the TV. So he really was trying to save them and didn’t notice until he went inside himself that the TV world wasn’t so friendly.

The TV told me to do it! That’s a totally legitimate reason!

Meanwhile, Kuma decides that he doesn’t belong anywhere. However, this in unimportant for now because Nanako is still alive… somehow. Suddenly, it’s VR time and Igor and Margaret tell Yu that his collection of Arcana is complete. Next on the list of random things accomplished, Yu finally completes the rainy day challenge at Aiya. After that, Yu finally realises that there’s someone else who fits all of the criteria of the murderer…

MORE MANHUGS

Rainy Day Special, On The House!:

“You can call me the Beef Bowl God, if you want. I won’t mind u_u”

Sad girls in the snow…a staple in anime everywhere.

Teddie’s depressed side. I guess you could say he’s a….BI-POLAR BEAR…! *STUDIO RECORDED LAUGH TRACK*

*casually drags a struggling, fully-grown man across the room with ease*

End Thoughts:

Yet another emotionally-charged episode of Persona this week. Everyone was either sobbing, pounding a wall, or going haywire at the news of Nanako’s death. Seeing the whole investigation team in shambles was really something. You could really feel the toll that her death took on everyone all throughout the episode. Everyone was on edge and snapping at each other, and that’s rare for such a tight-knit group. They almost made a really bad decisions because they got caught up in their emotions. For a moment I thought he might actually throw Namatame in! Even after that scene ended, everyone still seemed uneasy. I still see Yu as a very reserved person, so seeing him break down sobbing was yet another sharp kick to the gut. Yu crying on Yosuke’s shoulder may be one of my favourite scenes in the series so far. This guy has spent his entire year in Inaba helping people get over their complexes and troubles – I think it’s time for him to lean on someone for a change. I know all of the cards Yu has symbolize that his friends are there for him, but it’s nice to actually see it. Yosuke is a true friend…My heart has been moved.

So there you have it – this series can nail comedy and tragedy. Except for one thing. Oh yes, there’s always one thing. “WHAT IS IT THIS TIME, OVERCOOLED?” you say with a dramatic eyeroll. It’s Teddie. I never liked him in the first place, so I’m pretty happy that he’s gone. Do you really expect anyone to take a depressing scene seriously if the character is a brightly-coloured bear? Or if he talks like a 5 year old on helium? Or if he’s only done incredibly annoying things in the show thus far? Teddie can bite it and I’ll be just fine, dude. Don’t ruin the episode with that monstrosity. The dash of humour at the end fit in a lot more than Teddie did. Now that Yu has his stats maxed, he can wolf down the Rainy Day Special in no time! Awesome! It was kind of satisfying to see him finally able to finish it. This is a bit of a tangent, but I actually made the Rainy Day Special myself following this recipe and it turned out FANTASTIC. If you like to cook and like being a bit dorky – TRY IT.

Alright, back on track before I get too hungry. For the people that haven’t played the games, Namatame’s story revealed a ton of new stuff that probably has you going crazy right now. The episode had the balls to end with Yu about to utter the name of the second person involved with the murders too. That is one beast of a cliffhanger. At least now I can ask you guys who you think the second person is.  It took a lot more explanation from Naoto before I finally clued in on who the killer was in the game. Anyways, it’s safe to say things are CRAZZZYYYY right now. Even rewatching the reveal, I still felt that “oh snap” aura take me over. Next week’s episode needs to come faster…

So next on the list of emotions we never knew that Yu had, his grieving over Nanako was really something. …I actually felt his pain. Once again, something that would have never happened, say, 22 episodes ago when he was still a soulless cyborg. I don’t know if it’s because of his stats being maxed or what (props to him for finishing the Rainy Day Special, but it’s kind of useless now that his stats are already maxed), but his character has really come a long way. What the anime did with the team was pretty awesome as well here. That scene with Namatame was actually really, really tense and like OC, I thought he was actually going to push him in there. While him stopping because he wants to know the real truth seemed kind of shallow (hell, I know what’s going on and even I thought Namatame sounded more like the true culprit), it’s probably the best reason they could give. Case closed? Not just yet.

Well at least Namatame’s explanation kind of makes up for all of the crap he did before. I think the anime handled his flashback well, though why the team didn’t just ask him right away is still a mystery. I don’t care if there was a time lapse in the game, if you want the truth, go ask the guy directly. Anyways, back on topic, you could really tell from his flashback about how desperate he was to save the people he saw on TV. There was just something there that you don’t quite get from 3D game models and a voiceover like the game had. Same with the part with Yu and his friends in the snow, there was just a ton of great things there… So yeah, long story short, this was a great emotional episode.

Ahahaha so how many of you feel trolled beyond belief now that you know that Nanako is still alive? Especially after the great tearfest that was the beginning of the episode? Yeah. You didn’t really think that they’d really kill off the most moe character in the game, did you? Well Persona isn’t quite done with trolling yet by a looong shot, believe me. What do I mean by that…? Pfft I’m not going to tell you. Have fun wildly guessing who the real culprit is while waiting for the next episode.  ヽ(´ー`)ﾉ

Preview: Time to figure out who the culprit is… Part 3.