Persona 4 – 25 [END]

Ending with a ‘bang.’

After a long and wild ride, we’re here at the (sort of) final episode! It’s nice to see Adachi still on a rampage. I’ll never tire of seeing him do evil things that are…at the same time…highly sexually suggestive. I don’t think I’ll ever look at a gun the same way after this.

You know the episode is good when everything I try to write about the summary comes out sounding like some kind of xxx yaoi doujin. ….I tried my best to restrain myself, but it is what it is. Anyways, it’s the last episode and the last time you’ll see OC and I on the same post…. Until spring anime starts, that is.

The final battle with Adachi has begun, but right from the start, Adachi binds Yu/Izanagi and then sticks his gun in Yu’s face saying that he should just accept reality. ….No, that’s not crazy fujoshi code for anything, I mean his actual gun. A weapon, guys. Then it seems like Adachi shoots Yu in the head.

Big Man With A Gun

Meanwhile, the rest of the team is having a hell of a time fighting off the rest of Adachi’s Shadows. To make matters worse, there’s some big energy thing gathering and Adachi says that since life is boring, it’s better that the worlds combine and everyone become Shadows. However, Yosuke says that nobody wants that. Oh, remember that gunshot from before? Well Adachi didn’t really shoot Yu, he just shot at the ground because he could. You, see Adachi wanted a gun, so he joined the police force… Only, it wasn’t as exciting as he thought it would be. In the end, Adachi says that even if they did catch him, the focus would only shift to him. The truth holds no meaning. During this enlightening conversation, Magatsu Izanagi is busy beating up Izanagi and stabbing him with his sword.

So with Yu having his ass kicked and everyone losing badly, how do they win over Adachi? By comparing him to a child ヽ(‘ ∇‘ )ノ. That’s right. They just ignore all of Adachi’s logic and say that he’s acting like a spoiled brat. With that, the team starts kicking ass and Yu tells Adachi to own up to his crimes. Adachi starts losing it and Yu wins, so Adachi gives up and decides to shoot himself in the head… Unfortunately for him, this isn’t Persona 3. All of a sudden, Adachi floats up in some black ball thing and Ameno-sagiri, the real final boss appears. That’s right. The fog has been controlled by a giant floating eyeball-fog-machine-thing this entire time.

Rise notes that the worlds are going to collide and so the team needs to defeat it to stop that from happening. While the team attacks in futile, Ameno-sagiri explains that it was the one who gave them all their TV powers in order to spread delusion and madness into the real world. It was also the thing that set up the Midnight Television program and that it reflected what people wanted to see. Them turning Shadows into Persona was unexpected, but it’s no use in the end because Yu gets absorbed into Ameno-sagiri… Or at least that’s what almost happens, but his bonds with others made him realise that the real world isn’t that bad and after a brief flash to the Velvet Room, Margaret informs us that Yu’s bonds has created a miracle. All of the team’s Persona then level up and they save Yu and the world in a cheesy fashion using the power of love, friendship, megane, and magical laser beams. Before Ameno disappears, it says that it reflects human desires… which is a fancy way of it saying “yeah, if people want change, I’ll be back.” The team picks up Adachi to make him face his crimes and all is well again.

So fast forward to Yu’s return to the city and everyone is sad. Especially Nanako, who says that she’s going to marry Yu when she’s older (…yeah, it’s legal to marry your cousin in Japan). Dojima is surprisingly okay with this, but says hands off until she’s of age. Anyways, Yu boards the train and the entire team does that thing where they all run after the train, waving until they hit the end of the platform. To finish things off, there’s one last trip to the Velvet Room where Igor tells Yu that he’s come a long way from the beginning of the series… Yeah. That’s the end… For now.

These two? A couple? REALLY? <_<

Help, I have a gun fetish now:

Don’t shoot! This isn’t Persona 3!

He got the snot knocked right out of him. And spit. And tears. And…what even is that?

The photoshoot was going well. He had the style, looks and pose down in no time. His face…needed some work.

Susano-o: the power of wind, friendship and photobombing

End Thoughts:

Overcooled: SO KARA, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THAT LAST EPISODE?

Karakuri: …Uh. It was…. good? Yeah, let’s go with that. IT WAS GOOD. How do you feel about it?

Overcooled: I’m kind of sad it wasn’t the true ending just because it would feel more complete, but I liked it. It was pretty dramatic. Err, realllyy dramatic

Karakuri: So much bromance. It’s no coincidence that they had Yosuke be the one to call out Yu’s name there xD

Overcooled: I knew exactly what you meant when you said everything you wrote about the episode turned out like a yaoi fanfic. I saw the scene and I just KNEW.

Karakuri: lolol

Overcooled: I almost wish Yosuke was the only one who called out teehee. But then I guess they couldn’t have the epic persona evolution :/

Karakuri: No, but that whole Persona evolution thing was…. extremely cheesy. Though I guess it was cheesy in the game too. “The power of friendship has leveled up! Have a new Persona.”

Overcooled: Lol at least it wasn’t all at once in the game!

Karakuri: Well I guess they needed to save Yu from the giant eyeball somehow. …Who was that Persona Yu used at the end again? I didn’t recognise it.

Overcooled: I don’t know. I was like level 2 when I fought that thing since I never trained. Let me check… It’s Lucifer

Karakuri: Oh. Well that’s ironic.

Overcooled: In…fallen angel form. …level 93?! JESSSUSSS

Karakuri: Riiight… Which Arcana is that…? The fool? Wait. HOLY CRAP.

Overcooled: Uh, did you ever get that far, Kara? This makes me feel bad.

Karakuri: ….Nope. Not for this game.

Overcooled: ._. Well, goes to show how badass Yu is

Karakuri: ……No kidding.

Overcooled: So the eyeball fight was kind of cheesy…Rewinding a bit, I really liked Adachi’s section. Mostly because I never tire of seeing him almost win with his morals and then have it blow up in face..

Karakuri: Yes! Adachi! Though I think his argument was pretty valid in the game…

Overcooled: Me too! It’s very wordy, but his argument definitely had a lot of truth to it.

Karakuri: …And then everybody just kind of shuts him down. No moral struggle with the team or anything. They just outright deny him.

Overcooled: I like how they made a come back so fast too haha.

Karakuri: I’ve never liked how they just say “NO. YOU’RE WRONG SO THERE.” and that somehow works on him. You’d think he’d be used to people telling him he’s wrong. …Or maybe I just don’t like seeing him lose xD

Overcooled: Well, it’s more like they say “no matter how you dress it up, you slaughtered a bunch of people and now you’re destroying the world” …So I guess it’s revealing the truth of his actions? lol I don’t like seeing him lose either. I wish he resisted more.

Karakuri: Oh yeah, that makes more sense.

Overcooled: I think Adachi was always alone and told no one about his murders u_u. ADACHI BABY, I’D BE YOUR FRIEND

Karakuri: Good luck with that xD hmm… moving on?

Overcooled: The post-eyeball events ahaha

Karakuri: Oh yeah lol. Though speaking of eyeball events, I liked what they did with the sky after the defeated the thing. Nothing says ‘post boss battle’ quite like having the world rip a hole in the sky.

Overcooled: Lol yes the two worlds fusing together looked cool too

Karakuri: That it did.

Overcooled: This week’s derp was kept to a minimum

Karakuri: I still think that Adachi’s face looked like it was derp sometimes, but agreed for the most part.

Overcooled:  True. Minimum aside from Aderpchi.

Karakuri: But that ending part with Nanako waking up in the hospital next to her dad was ADORABLE

Overcooled: Oh, I didn’t really care lol.

Karakuri: Σ(ﾟДﾟ|||)

Overcooled: I thought it was cute when she cried though! A horrible person. That is me.

Karakuri: Ahahaha….ha. Yeah, that was cute too. When she said goodbye to Yu, right? Man they just went straight into that one.

Overcooled: And wanted to marry him. lolwut

Karakuri: AND DOJIMA WAS OKAY WITH IT.

Overcooled: I KNOWWWW

Karakuri: WHERE DID THAT EVEN COME ROM?! …crap. The ‘f’ key on this thing doesn’t work half the time

Overcooled: It’s just that intense. You broke the f key

Karakuri: Anyways, yeah. I can only imagine the fanfics now. I wonder if she says that in the Jap version of the game.

Overcooled: I don’t know. In Japan that kind of incest is legal, right?

Karakuri: Yeah, you can marry your cousins.

Overcooled: …And there’s already fanfics *sobs*

Karakuri: OTL

Overcooled: Ok incest aside, I always get sad when Yu has to leave town. The running and waving was kind of dorky though LOL

Karakuri: LMAO. It happens in every anime with a train scene. They always run after it waving even though it’s a freaking  TRAIN and they’ll never catch up even if they tried….. I wish Yosuke had cried. Or had gotten some special goodbye scene.

Overcooled: Me too . They were nice with the bromance but… I’ll always want more o w o

Karakuri: True that. I’m still surprised at all of the bromance they gave us though. I was expecting hardcore yuri.

Overcooled: ChiexYukiko, yeah?

Karakuri: Yeah. Or Naoto x anyone else since she’s a trap and they could get away with it. Hell, I figured she would be THE OTP for this show since she was the detective who figured everything out.

Overcooled: True. She’s the only one who does anything in the last part, everyone else is useless after she comes in XD

Karakuri: Lol yep. They’re just there because they were there at the beginning. Though Yosuke was there for pointing out the obvious.

Overcooled: Yeah, Yosuke did a lot of explaining in the beginning… But now it’s..over D:

Karakuri: !!! Except for the true ending. The true, true ending. I don’t know how many times that I’ve lied and said that they found the real culprit. This was just merciless when it comes to trolls.

Overcooled: Half of what we wrote in our post was lies. It… it hurt me too. Especially for you since you do summaries. …Having to call Naoto a he.

Karakuri: The worst part is that even though it’s over, we’ll still have to lie.

Overcooled: Uwaa well, I guess we won’t have too much to cover up

Karakuri: Yeah. That’s true… The giant eyeball makes for a good cover xD

Overcooled: So, uh, if anyone asks…EVERYTHING EVER WAS THE EYEBALL’S FAULT.

Karakuri: SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN. LET’S BLAME THE EYEBALL.

The last episode was overall rather satisfying, although it had some ups and downs. I loved Adachi’s scene and hearing his twisted logic as everyone writhed in pain, but I couldn’t help but grow bored at Ameno-Sagiri’s long monologue. It’s a very thought-provoking speech that targets how humanity always wants an easy way out, but it felt like it was dragged out. I guess two talking scenes in a row filled with things I’ve heard before in the game was too much. Well, it was a cheesy finish, but it did actually finish (which is more than I can say about some anime endings). No rushed, or open ending to leave us raging. Thank goodness! I suppose we’ll be back again for the “True Ending” so this isn’t goodbye just yet for us Persona-blogging sisters. Furthermore, I wrote an editorial about Persona 4 and Carl Jung so you can still read that. EVEN FURTHERMORE, you can listen to the Anivision hosts discuss Persona 4 with me as a guest if you listen to episode 120 of their podcast. Yes…I’ve been very busy working on Persona 4 stuff! It just never ends! Moving away from turning into a human infomercial, let’s look at the series as a whole. Persona 4 was a good show, and certainly one of the best video game adaptations out there. I hope this opens the door for more adaptations to follow the same trends as Persona 4 did. It stayed loyal to the game while adding in new stuff that felt like it belonged in the series, and even improved it. There were some very impressive episodes (Episode 7: Kanji’s dungeon. Episode 15: the king’s game. Episode 18: NANAKOOOO T_T) that definitely stand out as excellent, while some of the others were a bit more dull or shallow. Tag-teaming Persona 4 was fun, and so was reading the comments of both those who have also played the game and those who haven’t. For now, our time together is over, but I’m sure the strength of our bonds will bring us together again. *cheesy end thought finale to match the episode theme*

As an anime adaption of the game, Persona 4 was… okay I guess. It had it’s moments and I was super excited at the beginning, but I’ll be honest and say that my excitement kind of… wore out after the first few episodes. It sure as hell wasn’t as good as the game was, but as a game turned anime adaption, I’d say that it was highly successful (…especially if you compare to something like Disgaea). But I guess it’s hard to adapt a game so that EVERYONE enjoys it since there’s just so much content and I’m sure that everyone has their favourite parts and such. Anyways, maybe the rest of the team didn’t develop as much as I wanted them to, but Yu certainly changed over the course of 25 episodes. Whether the writers planned this from the start, or if they were just responding to complaints, either way, it was subtle and it was good. I also liked how they went off script for some parts like with the addition of Aika or when they played around with the setting like during Yosuke’s Shadow with the TVs (yeah, I’m still not over how good that was yet). I kind of wish they had done that more, but I’m happy that they bothered with it in the first place. On the other hand, the game aspects they did add like the calender, the battle cut ins, Yu’s stats and all of those other things were fun to see when they popped up. Really, I think this anime was a great middle ground for people who have played the game and those who haven’t played the game. I just wish they had less derp in the animation. So to wrap things up, while I’m sad that they didn’t go into the true ending (all of my cryptic hints were for nothing!!), I guess team KaraCool (we seriously need a new name) will be back in August… The trolling will begin anew then. This story isn’t quite over yet.