As a devoted fan of the Persona game series (or at least, I've played P3 and
P4 and consider them by far the greatest games I will ever play) I had been
meaning to get around to watching the anime for a long, long time.
Finally got
around to it. But this is kind of a lazy review, to be perfectly honest.
Shin Kanzato and his younger brother Jun move back to Ayanagi
City, their hometown, a place they haven't been in ten years.
Basically, they're moving in with their older brother Ryou, who has become
Chief of Police in Ayanagi. He doesn't really want them there at all. He
tells them to leave.
But they can't do that. Instead the brothers get involved with the creatures
known as “Persona”, an inner form of self.
Persona Trinity Soul Anime Review
Pretty much, with their Personas they start learning what's going on with
some secret organization and there's a lot that I can't get into here
without completely ruining the storyline, and we know I like to avoid
spoilers.
So sadly, this section has to be short. Too many complications to the
plotline. Seriously, I got lost midway through the series and it took me
awhile to figure out why I was confused.
The Characters: Persona Trinity Soul
I was never quite sure what to think of the characters in Persona. Of the
three brothers, I really couldn't bring myself to adore any of them.
Shin
seemed sorta bland to me, like he was only there to tie the other two
together.
Jun is one of those characters where I kept thinking you're too nice, stop
that. And then with Ryou, it was a matter of wanting to like him because he
had some serious badassery going on, but at the same time, he was also a
Grade A douche. Don't get me wrong he had his reasons for being a douche.
Those reasons
though, were pretty typical of anime older brother figures, way too
overused, so they just didn't cut it for me. Then there were the side characters.
I think I kept unconsciously drawing
parallels between them and the characters from both Persona 3 and Persona 4.
The thing is, the anime characters just didn't leap out at me the way the
game characters did. They just seemed so much more bland. And also annoying.
Megumi isn't too bad; of the secondary characters she's probably my favorite
if only because she shows a spine.
Takurou reminded me of a disturbing mix between Junpei (P3) and Yosuke (P4),
which is to say he annoyed me as much as Junpei but also had some of
Yosuke's awesomeness going on.
Still, he just didn't stand out. Their other
friend, Kanaru, just made me rage. But saying why would be a spoiler.
The Connections: Persona Trinity Soul
Honestly, Persona Trinity Soul is in no way connected to the games. It's
kind of like how P3 and P4 were completely unrelated, but did take place in
the same universe.
Same deal here. Trinity Soul is in the same universe as the games; the
storyline has no relation. There were really some unmistakable connections
though.
The first I noticed was the music. A lot of the BGM for the series was new
and purely for the anime.
Still, there were several scenes where I would perk up and be excited
because I would hear them using a song straight out of the games.
Then there was Igor. If you have played Persona, Igor is unmistakable. He
has the longest nose in the history of noses.
I showed it to a friend and she proclaimed a desire to hang Christmas
ornaments off of the thing. I can't say I blame her. I mean, look:
Now for all his creepy looks, Igor is seriously one of the coolest
characters in the Persona series.
I was hoping he'd end up with a bigger
role. But no. It just flashed over him a few times.
My favorite thing pulled in from the games though? Oh, Akihiko Sanada, I do love you so.
The man is gorgeous, and 100% badass,
and also not a jerk. Plus, in the games, he's most definitely paired with
Shinjiro. I am sticking to that.
So those were the parallels from game series → anime series.
Conclusion?
If you want to watch a mindscrew, watch Persona. Seriously. When I say it
lost me, I mean it lost me.
I spent a good 10-15 episodes sitting in front of my computer screen going,
“Whaaaaat? What am I watching? Why did he just wait, but, no, it's...WHAT?”
And that was me. If you're a fan of the Persona games, give it a shot.
If you're a fan of supernatural things in general, give it a shot. If you're
a fan of series that you don't have to think about at all, BACK THE HELL
AWAY FROM PERSONA.
Oh, and if you want to just sit and stare at Akihiko for awhile...well, I
view that as a perfectly valid reason for watching this series. It was
always best when he was on-screen.
Then he would leave and I'd have to cry
for a few minutes. (Please note that the last statement was a lie).
My rating: 5/10
I wanted to enjoy this series. Really, really I did. And I went into it with
an open mind, but I was frustrated by the plot.
Not saying it was an awful plot it just didn't live up to the game plots for
me. And when a series has the name Persona in it, it damn well better have a
Persona-worthy plot. This anime didn't.
Persona Trinity Soul | |
| Episodes | 26 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Sci-Fi, Supernatural |
| Aired | January 5, 2008 to June 28, 2008 |
| Directed by | Jun Matsumoto |
| Producers | A-1 Pictures, Aniplex |
| Opening Theme | Breakin' Through by Shuuhei Kita / Word of the Voice by Flow |
| Closing Theme | Suicides Love Story by Nana Kitada / Found Me by Yumi Kawamura |
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