Licensed Persona - Trinity Soul [Archive]

duckroll

2007-11-07, 06:07

http://img180.imagevenue.com/loc578/th_32498_viploader512222_122_578lo.jpg (http://img180.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=32498_viploader512222_122_578lo.jpg) http://img147.imagevenue.com/loc890/th_33291_5780_122_890lo.jpg (http://img147.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=33291_5780_122_890lo.jpg)

Persona - Trinity Soul

Set in another furturistic city 10 years after the events of Persona 3, the anime revolves around the undead that disguise themselves as humans known as "reverse". It'll be a supernatural story like the Persona series and involve 3 brothers.

Director: Atsushi Matsumoto (Blood+ and GitS:SAC episode director)
Writer: Yasuyuki Muto (Chevalier chief writer)
Original Character Design: Shigenori Soejima (Persona games)
Animation Character Design: Yuriko Ishii (DtB and Ouran episode animation director)
Persona Design: Nobuhiko Genma (???)
Music: Taku Iwasaki (WHR, ROD)
Animation: A-1 Pictures (some studio started up by Aniplex)

Starts airing Jan 2008 on Animax, and selected Tokyo MX, MBS, CBC channels.

The official site is http://www.persona-ts.net/ but I don't think it'll be up until this weekend.

Katapan

2007-11-07, 07:58

Great timing. I was looking forward to the European release of Persona 3 in the beginning of 2008, but now that's two things at the same time.

Iwasaki Taku (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=132)'s last 2 works have been incredible (Kekkaishi, Gurren-Lagann), another OST of that quality would be more than welcome. We also finally get to see A-1 Pictures' second serious production, after their good adaptation of Oofuri (I'm not counting their shows aimed at children like Robby & Kerobby...). They sure have picked some interesting adaptations so far (though this can't really be called an adaptation, it seems).

The japanese wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_3) seems to mention a possible timeslot? which would be 22:30. That sure is an original one.

SonicX_Zero

2007-11-07, 08:45

Wow set 10 years after the game. O.O;; I wish they did the same thing with Persona 2, but Persona 3 is great as well. ^_^

Jesus Christnekoff

2007-11-07, 12:20

You know, they've had a lot of problems in the past adapting their games and such into cartoons/live action shows, so I'm not really looking forward to this. I'd warn y'all to be cautiously optimistic about it.

I hope they don't have to use Evokers though. Or at least, if they do, go the way of Soul Hackers and give people different types. Because really? The gun to the head thing was pretty lame.

Haha, the eldest brother is a Katsuya-wannabe.

Shouta

2007-11-07, 12:32

Well, looks like I'll have something to do in January! Is it an OAV or a short TV series?

saphyre

2007-11-07, 12:37

I hope they don't have to use Evokers though. Or at least, if they do, go the way of Soul Hackers and give people different types. Because really? The gun to the head thing was pretty lame.

I don't know about anyone else, but personally I found the gun to the head thing pretty cool. It was unique.

10 years after the events of Persona 3 huh... Sounds interesting.
Can't wait. :D

Jesus Christnekoff

2007-11-07, 16:59

Well, I mean, they've been using Guns as a means of summoning demons since, 1997 or so, with Devil Summoner on the Sega Saturn. Even if that were the case, should something be awarded simply for being unique? In other words, does unique automatically make something good?

I personally don't feel that way, I thought the whole gun thing was pretty cheesy. No one ever answers why it has to be a gun. Making it shaped like a gun doesn't provide any tactical benefits (they wouldn't be able to carry them in public, because, "HEY LOOK THOSE TEENAGERS HAVE HAND GUNS CALL THE POLICE!!!"; as Yukari demonstrates before the first battle, guns can easily be knocked out of your hands, and when you lose your Evoker you become pretty much worthless in battle. Seriously, the gun is like, the worst possible design choice)...

DragoonKain3

2007-11-07, 17:30

Wow, this is awesome. Being a huge persona fan, I've been yearning for an anime for the longest time, be it good or not.

And while they have used guns in the past to summon personae, I believe this is the first where they actually point it to their heads and 'shoot' themselves with it in order to summon the persona. And while it being unique doesn't necessarily means its good, the impact it had on me and my friends who have played the game would show that it is done well. IMO, it's the execution that counts, and me going 'wow' defintiely meant it had a positive effect on me. After all, you don't see many other games where kids commit pseudo-suicide battle in and battle out.

As for your other points.
1) Considering in P3 they only need to use evokers during the dark hour, when the police like other normal people don't move, they have no fear of them

2) I don't think they'll get in too much trouble in the first place considering the police is where you buy other forms of lethal weapons. If anything, they'll be caught because say, I dunno, Junpei was carrying that big ass sword rather than an evoker in which they can conceal more easily.

3) What other design choice do you propose that would still have the same imagery of blowing away your current self in order to summon your other self? Because IIRC from one of the interviews, that's exactly what the designers were trying to portray through the evokers

S_K

2007-11-07, 17:31

unfortunately i havent played the game, but im looking forward to this series, it sparked some interest in me

Jesus Christnekoff

2007-11-07, 18:27

And while they have used guns in the past to summon personae, I believe this is the first where they actually point it to their heads and 'shoot' themselves with it in order to summon the persona.

Well, in other SMT games, they've used Guns to summon demons to fight by their side (Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers's Gun-type Computer, and the Devil Children used a similar device). None of the Persona characters before P3 needed an sort of toy to help them summon. In that respect, they were not unlike Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (and by that, I kinda mean they were the exact same thing as Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, except the Persona kids glow blue when they summon their Persona).

After all, you don't see many other games where kids commit pseudo-suicide battle in and battle out.

Yeah, and there's reason: Its kinda lame. D:

2) I don't think they'll get in too much trouble in the first place considering the police is where you buy other forms of lethal weapons. If anything, they'll be caught because say, I dunno, Junpei was carrying that big ass sword rather than an evoker in which they can conceal more easily.

Well, the difference I think is that the other available weapons* tend to have legitimate purposes outside of actual combat. Fencing and other forms of swordsmanship are apparently really popular (if cartoons are to be believed), and so forth.

*Ok, Shinjiro's weapons aren't, but he's not on the up and up anyway.

3) What other design choice do you propose that would still have the same imagery of blowing away your current self in order to summon your other self? Because IIRC from one of the interviews, that's exactly what the designers were trying to portray through the evokers

Ideally, none. The whole image is absurd. Shooting yourself in the head results in death. When you die, your "other self" does not pop out, you die. You cease to be. You blow your brain up, which is where all that id, ego and superego crap exists. When your brain becomes tiny bits, your id doesn't take over, your super ego doesn't take over, and your ego doesn't take over, because they're all gone.

I would actually buy the whole "its meant to be symbolic!" argument if Aegis wasn't exempt from it. Just the very fact that her Evoker doesn't look like everyone else's destroys any sort of symbolism they tried to create.

Alright, I'm going to stop talking now, because this is not what this thread is for!

rg4619

2007-11-07, 18:57

Because IIRC from one of the interviews, that's exactly what the designers were trying to portray through the evokers

Developers can work in many secondary/symbolic explanations for a design decision (as they do all the time). However, the main purpose for the idea would undoubtedly be marketing.

The P3 producers were targeting junior high schoolboys, so they probably wanted a really hip and edgy image to reel in younger teens. With youth suicide being such a hot topic now, it makes sense to ride the media wave.

Yeah, and there's reason: Its kinda lame. D:

Yeah, it's lame.

ZODDGUTS

2007-11-07, 19:23

I for one didn't think it was lame. :p

Anyways hope the anime turns out though the only guy working on the anime who also work on the game is the character designer, I'm hoping Atlus would've overlook the project making sure it doesn't stray away from P3 feel to it.

BTW Just gotta say that Shinbo (Soultaker/Petite Cossette/Moonphase etc) would have been perfect for this anime.

u43368

2007-11-07, 19:29

Of all the megaten games, why did it have to be Persona 3?

ZODDGUTS

2007-11-07, 19:35

Maybe because it's their most recent game and it's also quite popular in Japan there's a crapload of Doujins on it as well... :heh:

Xcomp

2007-11-07, 20:21

Great news. You don't happen to be the Duckroll from that games forum, are you? :p

There was actually quite a lot of talk about the Anime on 2ch a few weeks ago but, looking at the sort of shows A1 Pictures produced, I dismissed the topic.

http://www.a1p.jp/works/

Hope this doesn't turn out bad :heh:

Edit: Ah wait... They're just the animators.

You know, they've had a lot of problems in the past adapting their games and such into cartoons/live action shows, so I'm not really looking forward to this. I'd warn y'all to be cautiously optimistic about it.

Well since the story's taking place 10 years later, they're not exactly adapting the game itself so never mind about the show being like the game. If you really want to enjoy the original P3 game as an Anime, just go check out those fan animated drama CDs in the games section here ;)

ZODDGUTS

2007-11-07, 21:16

MeganeShounen

2007-11-08, 00:30

Well, if it has been 10 years after the events of Persona 3, that would mean the story is set somewhere in 2020. From the looks of the magazine scan, two of the brothers are highschoolers, while the other one is a police official of some sort...

The term "Reverse" in P3 referred to Social Links that were currently set into bad terms with the protagonists... quite fitting name for the new antagonists(?).

I'm looking forward to this, though I'm not placing my hopes on this one too high. I've almost had it with game-to-anime renditions... :heh:

EDIT: Hmm... is that the middle guy's Persona in the background/shadows? Kinda looks like Griffon from Project ARMS...

yetanotherEDIT: Argh. Seems like it won't be set in Gekkoukan this time around. In a futuristic city called Ayanagi...?

Mithos Y

2007-11-08, 00:58

I wonder how Yukari would look 10 years older...

I think this could be a good thing, though as per Jesus Christnekoff's advice I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. I wonder how the battles will be handled. Nothing like Pokemon, I hope.

I liked the evoker idea. It demonstrated the intrinistic nature of the persona and the host human, served to support the recurring motif of death, and furthered the game's dark nature that juxtaposes so nicely with its light side. A bunch of kids just spontaneously summoning magical spirits out of nowhere wouldn't have worked.

DragoonKain3

2007-11-08, 01:50

@Jesus
You might miss the way P1 and P2 did things (particularly in regards with personae), but hey, P3 did away with almost everything its predecessor had. There might be around 5 things that you can find in P3 that was in P1/P2, but really, its whole different game. As such, I wouldn't expect most things to be the same despite it sharing the same name, Final Fantasy series just to name one example.

And while I can understand why some people find psuedo-suicide idea lame, well, they're the minority at least in my area. I've got a lot of friends intrigued just by the very mention of how these kids use spells, since its so much different from the charging, handwaving and/or chanting of the typical RPG. Now THAT, most people I know find lame because its just used so much, but hey, if you want to go back to the standard RPG fare, all I can say is whatever floats your boat.

I'd buy your comment about fencing and what not, but they're still real weapons. Vast majority of sports don't use the real shebang but instead use non-lethal varieties. Even those into archery unstring their bows outside of the target range. As such, my point still stands... these guys are going to be caught not because they're holding evokers, but because they're holding their other weapons. Heck, if they got caught with the evokers alone, they're not gonna get in trouble in the first place because they'll just think its just a toy considering it shoots nothing!

Aigis was special because well, she's a robot for crying out loud. I'd be more surprised if her way was the same as everyone else's, lol. Even the dog has a different way of summoning his persona.

Mithos Y

2007-11-08, 02:00

The dog was such a random character. He doesn't do anything, he was just there.

Swords *are* real weapons, but difference is they're weapons you can buy, use, collect and transport legally (at least over here). I myself have transported everything from sharp swords for exercise cutting to fencing swords walking outside in broad daylight. But I'm smart enough to put them in proper bags or to use discrete transportation methods. Swords and similar weaponry aren't going to get you in trouble with the law. Guns on the other hand are, and even replica firearms can get confiscated by the police.

DragoonKain3

2007-11-08, 02:12

I still stand by the fact that the evokers don't look anything like real guns. One might as well be arrested from holding a water gun, or one of those revolver cap gun thingies I've used when I was a kid. BB guns look FAR more dangerous and are FAR larger than evokers, and you don't see anyone getting arrested for that.

Mithos Y

2007-11-08, 02:22

Not arrested, per se, but confiscated, yes. I have a BB gun at home fashioned after a handgun, so they're not all big and bulky.

I do agree though that gun enforcement can be ridiculous when carried out zealously. A police officer probably would confiscate an evoker. When I first saw one, the general shape of it reminded me of a Luger.

U<3Anime

2007-11-08, 03:42

MeganeShounen

2007-11-08, 07:44

I'm more interested in Aegis. I wonder if she will still be functioning 10 years after the original story. If she does make an appearance and is still functioning, I wonder what kind of job would she be doing? XD

After the events of P3 (or more specifically, Episode Yourself), I recall Aegis agreeing to go back to the laboratories where she was created, since He wasn't around anymore. Although, that was before her "sister" Metis attacked the dorms and she gained the ability to change Personas at will, and I have no idea about FES's ending.. ^^;

But yeah. Aegis is probably still living, since she's still looking for that reason for being alive. Besides, she probably wanted to live, for *that* person.

SonicX_Zero

2007-11-08, 08:04

Personally I found the evoker far more interesting than hearing the characters shout "Perrssooonnaaaa" which IMO is wwaaaaaayyyy cheesy, its like staring at cheese itself.

As for the anime, I look forward to some cameo if ever there will be. xO

XiaNaphryz

2007-11-08, 14:40

I'm guessing something happens 10 years later to protagonist blocking Nyx, which is why the inside-out dead people are starting to run around. I'd expect at least some cameo appearances from the main P3 game cast, at least Kirijo and Aigis anyway. Would be neat to see all of the cast in their late 20s though.

/waves to duckroll

XiaNaphryz

2007-11-09, 13:00

TinyRedLeaf

2007-11-09, 14:25

Well, what do you know? I'm 170+ hours into the game, and nearly reaching the end, and I've been thinking, "If they turned Fate/Stay Night into an anime, chances are good they'd do the same for Persona 3."

It feels good to guess right every now and then. If only I were this lucky with my lotto numbers.

I'm glad that the anime wouldn't be based on Persona 3, but rather on events 10 years after. No worries then about how the anime isn't faithful to its source material and any other such potential gripes. I do wonder if they still have to use Evokers to summon their personae -- like Mithos_Y and DragoonKain3, I liked the edginess conveyed by the teenage pseudo-suicides. Certainly not lame in my opinion. Furthermore, it is part of the game's motif of death. I believe that it was Yukari who mentioned at one point that it's as though they were losing their innocence each time they fought in Tartarus. I'd imagine "shooting" yourself in the head every night would have that kind of effect...

Actually, given censorship laws and the inevitable need to market the anime to the widest possible audience, I doubt they'd retain the Evokers in the new show.

Nonetheless, I'd still look forward to this show come January 2008 (even though I don't hold particularly high hopes for the anime -- I hated Fate/Stay Night, truth be told). Meanwhile, it's back to dating Yukari. How can you not fall in love with a girl who bakes you a chocolate cake on Christmas Eve? :p

Xcomp

2007-11-09, 21:46

Anime website is up (http://www.persona-ts.net/), not much info yet.

Famitsu also has some info and character sketches (need to copy and paste for the URL to work, so I'm not linking it directly): http://www.famitsu.com/anime/news/1211732_1558.html

The site actually has quite a bit of new information (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/persona-trinity-soul-site-officially-accessible-concept-art-from-soejima/) about the storyline. The brothers reunite, Apathy Syndrome is back, students being murdered and a mystery organisation. All the dark style stuff P3 had. I'm guessing the series will start off with a missing submarine crew.

Those sketches give a tiny bit of insight to the characters too.

Well, what do you know? I'm 170+ hours into the game, and nearly reaching the end, and I've been thinking, "If they turned Fate/Stay Night into an anime, chances are good they'd do the same for Persona 3."

I'm glad that the anime wouldn't be based on Persona 3, but rather on events 10 years after. No worries then about how the anime isn't faithful to its source material and any other such potential gripes. I do wonder if they still have to use Evokers to summon their personae -- like Mithos_Y and DragoonKain3, I liked the edginess conveyed by the teenage pseudo-suicides. Certainly not lame in my opinion. Furthermore, it is part of the game's motif of death. I believe that it was Yukari who mentioned at one point that it's as though they were losing their innocence each time they fought in Tartarus. I'd imagine "shooting" yourself in the head every night would have that kind of effect...

Actually, given censorship laws and the inevitable need to market the anime to the widest possible audience, I doubt they'd retain the Evokers in the new show.

I've heard of 90 hours or so but 170? Is your clock wrong? ^^;

I agree with the no "potential gripes" part and how fun it was to see the Evoker guns being used. It's cool, unique and funny at the same time. Funny when I hear Yukari crying out, "Help me!" and then seeing her pull the trigger on herself :heh:

They'll probably leave it out for the reasons you mentioned.

I actually want to see the old cast brought back somehow. They did fight to help stop the Apathy Syndrome in the first place and now it's back. They'll have to be curious about it.

ZODDGUTS

2007-11-09, 22:11

I've heard of 90 hours or so but 170? Is your clock wrong? ^^;

The game is quite long I'm at 75 + hours right now with less then two months still left I should finished around of 90 hours total and that's with me skipping some side missions. :heh:

TinyRedLeaf

2007-11-10, 00:29

I've heard of 90 hours or so but 170? Is your clock wrong? ^^;

Two words: Fusion experiments.

Plus, I've often fell asleep while playing the game....well, I do work during the day, you know, I can't help it when the reptitive grind gets to me.... :heh:

Jesus Christnekoff

2007-11-10, 19:09

After the events of P3 (or more specifically, Episode Yourself), I recall Aegis agreeing to go back to the laboratories where she was created, since He wasn't around anymore. Although, that was before her "sister" Metis attacked the dorms and she gained the ability to change Personas at will, and I have no idea about FES's ending.. ^^;

But yeah. Aegis is probably still living, since she's still looking for that reason for being alive. Besides, she probably wanted to live, for *that* person.

Now, when I say this is spoilers, I mean, like, all of Episode Aegis and all of the original Persona 3. STOP READING NAO.

Anyway:
Aegis found her reason to live in P3: To protect the Protagonist. Since she kinda failed at that, what with him dying and all, she lost her reason to live, and she sort of spends Episode Aegis trying to find a reason to live.

This is sort of my complaint about that whole game, is that, according to the creators, the point of P3 was to have the characters learn how to deal with death and all that. (And they do, since like, all their major character developments amount to something like "Oh, I'm sad because someone I loved died. Now I'm over it! Yay Persona upgrade!") But when Ep Aegis comes around, someone else has died and they all lose their shit (again) and have to learn how to deal with death all over again. Way to go, scenario writers!

ANYWAY. Once Aegis finds her reason to live again, she becomes a real girl. In the ending of Episode Aegis, in the lab, all her vital signs and stuff show that she's "dead" but she's totally not! And she walks and talks and all that other mess. So, she's still alive.

I'd imagine "shooting" yourself in the head every night would have that kind of effect...

I don't think so. I think it has more to do with the fact they're being thrust into a dangerous situation and told to fight (especially when they're given horrendously impractical weaponry). Besides, it becomes less meaningful every time they do it. Its like, if you have to give yourself an insulin shot: The first time you do it, it might be kinda scary. But after you've done it over and over and over, it stops being scary and becomes a chore.

Personally I found the evoker far more interesting than hearing the characters shout "Perrssooonnaaaa" which IMO is wwaaaaaayyyy cheesy, its like staring at cheese itself.

Um? Like, some of the P3 characters say "Persona" when they summon, and every character from the previous 3 games had 3 or 4 different summoning quotes a piece that didn't include the word "Persona."

As such, I wouldn't expect most things to be the same despite it sharing the same name, Final Fantasy series just to name one example.

Well, slight difference here is that the first 3 Persona games were all heavily interconnected and followed the same storyline.

Aigis was special because well, she's a robot for crying out loud.

The gun thing is SYMBOLIC, remember? Just because she's a robot, she shouldn't be exempt from it. Because its deeply symbolic. Koromaru's shock collar works on the same "faked" suicide principle. Aegis's doesn't.

That also brings up the point of why they couldn't have fashioned collars and headbands for the rest of the group, because at least then they wouldn't have to worry about the Evoker being knocked out of their hands.

if you want to go back to the standard RPG fare,

Just because its different, it doesn't make it good dear sir or madam. I sure hope in Persona 4, they have to stab their own eyes out with frozen cat urine popsicles. How original would that be? Totally original, it'll be great and no one will think its lame or stupid.

As for the whole teen-suicide motif, yeah, its pretty lame, especially since they didn't have the stones to actually have anyone commit suicide. Oh, I'm sorry, except for the few who made valiant self-sacrifices for the greater good(tm).

Anyway:
Shin, our protagonist, keeps a necklace with a feather on it (I think that's what its saying?), as a memento of his father.

Ryuu, our big brother, went into police force and became the youngest superintendent in history of ever, because he's trying to solve a certain case. I'm not sure what superintendent translates to in American terms? Like, what that police ranking would be here in the United States. If you guys know, feel free to interject.

Jun is the youngest brother. Their parents disappeared eight years ago? Apparently he was in an accident around that time, and has become sort of subdued ever since? Or is sickly/dying? Or has become frail and fragile? It looks like it might be The!Anime!Disease (The unspecified, fatal disease seen in anime, comics, and games where the victim has vaguely flu-like symptoms, is frequently tired and almost always confined to bedrest. You know which one I'm talking about!)

SonicX_Zero

2007-11-11, 06:48

Um? Like, some of the P3 characters say "Persona" when they summon, and every character from the previous 3 games had 3 or 4 different summoning quotes a piece that didn't include the word "Persona."
I still think that having the evoker made things more interesting, I remember they did have other summoning quotes but from my experience playing 1 and 2 the characters shouting "persona" was far more frequent in which their voices got stuck in my head for some time. xD

Well, slight difference here is that the first 3 Persona games were all heavily interconnected and followed the same storyline.
The 2nd games had connection with the first one but they sure didn't follow the same storyline.

MeganeShounen

2007-11-11, 08:29

It looks like it might be The!Anime!Disease (The unspecified, fatal disease seen in anime, comics, and games where the victim has vaguely flu-like symptoms, is frequently tired and almost always confined to bedrest. You know which one I'm talking about!)

First off, thanks for spoiling the Episode Aigis ending for me.
No sarcasm here. Really. I appreciated it, since it'll be a loooong while (if it's even remotely possible) before I can play the game...

Koromaru suffered attack from a Shadow before he was inducted into SEES, and since Mitsuru and probably Ikutsuki had a hand on his recovery...

I'm guessing that they made a few modifications on Koromaru during his healing. Not sure if that collar's grafted into Koromaru's neck or otherwise... that poor chap.

And is that certain disease Tubercolosis or something? I've seen a few people in anime inflicted with that and exhibiting the same symptoms.. although with the common "cough up blood on your hand or napkin" thing. Or maybe Jun was just born with a weak body?

Actually, that sickness reminds me of Nagisa in CLANNAD. *hint hint*

TinyRedLeaf

2007-11-13, 12:45

Well, well, well.....let the bandwagon roll.

Persona - The Movie (http://www.persona-movie.jp/)

Can someone please translate what it says?

duckroll

2007-11-14, 05:17

Well, well, well.....let the bandwagon roll.

Persona - The Movie (http://www.persona-movie.jp/)

Can someone please translate what it says?

This has nothing to do with the game. It's just a coincidental title.

HikariKaZe

2007-11-14, 20:37

This has nothing to do with the game. It's just a coincidental title.

Lol.. That one shocked me as well.. Yep.. Coincidental title..

TinyRedLeaf

2007-11-14, 20:47

Well, I suspected it was too good to be true. :p

chinadoll_sakura

2007-11-16, 07:51

that's so funny you mention the pokemon thing Mithos. My friend and I were talking about how we wanted an anime based on P3 but he said he was afraid that it would turn out like some pokemon kind of thing. And in response to whoever said they would like to see Yuka tan 10 years later, I would also but I would love to see everyone 10 years later. I would love to see adult Ken!

Leon_Lelouch

2007-11-21, 07:36

Yep.... I want to see the P3 characters in the movie....
Also.... I wonder if the P3's protagonist's seal has broken or not....
About the gun..... Well.... it's kinda dangerous for them to use gun....
What IF someone change the evoker with a real gun.... It'll be funny...
The protagonist said "PERSONA" and then he shot his head and it's not persona that appeared.... but it's blood.....

Xcomp

2007-11-28, 14:15

130 lucky people are going to get to see the first episode early at the premiere event on Christmas Eve. Lasting for an hour, they'll get to hear live performances of the theme songs and enjoy a talk show with the cast.

Opening song will be "Breakin' Through" by Shuuhei Kita, the winner of Japan's 1st Anime Song Grandprix. Great performance from what I saw on NicoNico (http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm927348) so his debut song should be good too. Ending song will be sung by Nana Kitade (Full Metal Alchemist "Kesenai Tsumi").

Impressions on 2ch should be interesting.

Ialdaboth

2007-12-03, 15:51

Cast is online :
http://www.persona-ts.net/

Mai Nakahara, why not.
=

shaselai

2007-12-03, 16:13

anyone know if the "main char" will be there or what? Would be interesting for him and mitsuru together

XiaNaphryz

2007-12-07, 17:33

Promo video for the Persona anime is up! (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-07/persona-trinity-soul-tv-anime-promo-video-posted)

Website is also updated with some new images (http://www.persona-ts.net/)

http://www.persona-ts.net/character/img/shin.jpg

I'm not having any luck opening the vid links though.

XiaNaphryz

2007-12-07, 18:51

If you're still having issues with the trailer links, try this one (http://www.taleschannel.org/P3TS/p3tstrailer.wmv).

DesoNoto

2007-12-07, 21:02

I just started reading the manga and gotta say It's pretty good right now. Will definitely watch this show when it comes out. :)

U<3Anime

2007-12-09, 06:55

The personas are CG:(

flou

2007-12-09, 11:44

The personas are CG:(

Look on the bright side: at least it's good-looking CG and not GONZO-quality. -__-

Ialdaboth

2007-12-09, 15:15

Look on the bright side: at least it's good-looking CG and not GONZO-quality. -__-

So true... :heh:

I very disappointed by the trailer. The design of the anime lacks the sense of style of the original games and looks bland.

Xcomp

2007-12-09, 19:44

The animation and artwork's looking good IMO. The "reversed" body looked pretty gruesome. Things are already looking so gloomy! :heh:

As for the new info (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/persona-trinity-soul-website-renewed-with-character-profiles-and-trailer/)...

So Shin is returning to Ayanagi City for “some reason”… Reminds me of what happened with the MC in the game except this time, he has a younger brother Jun who has been staying with him. Could explain the sudden Apathy Syndrome cases again.The new characters kind of match up with the original SEES gang you know. Ryou is Akihiko, Megumi is Yukari, Kanaru is Mitsuru etc. I still want to see the old gang back, though. Lots of people on 2ch are talking what it would be like with Aegis back so perhaps Atlus will consider bringing them back.

Sticking the trailer in here for easy access.

KBkPRT3yvqk

Jesus Christnekoff

2007-12-10, 02:42

I very disappointed by the trailer. The design of the anime lacks the sense of style of the original games and looks bland.

Well, considering Persona 1's character designs, I don't think I'd really bring up the sense of style.

I'm not sure why people are surprised that the Personas, which have looked vaguely robotic since Persona 2 IS, are CG.

In any case: Buck up folks, these trailers are frequently misleading in that they're not how the show's going to actually look.

Ialdaboth

2007-12-10, 05:14

Well, considering Persona 1's character designs

US version or Japanese ? ;p

TinyRedLeaf

2007-12-10, 07:18

The new characters kind of match up with the original SEES gang you know. Ryou is Akihiko, Megumi is Yukari, Kanaru is Mitsuru etc. I still want to see the old gang back, though. Lots of people on 2ch are talking what it would be like with Aegis back so perhaps Atlus will consider bringing them back.

Kanaru's picture reminded me of Aegis actually. Probably because of her headband/hairclips. Kanaru's profile actually seems more like an amalgation of Mitsuru and Fuuka to me. Takurou is probably "Junpei", but not as goofy, by the sound of it.

If Ryou's 28 at the time of Trinity Soul, he would have been 18 at the time of Nyx's first coming. I wonder which high school he graduated from.....? :cool:

Jesus Christnekoff

2007-12-10, 14:02

US version or Japanese ? ;p

Well, they're mostly the same things except for some minor color changes. I mean, the Earring Boy has a stupid hair thing going on in the US version, and Mark goes black (and never goes back), but everyone else is pretty much the same level of blandness.

Ialdaboth

2007-12-10, 15:06

Well, they're mostly the same things except for some minor color changes. I mean, the Earring Boy has a stupid hair thing going on in the US version, and Mark goes black (and never goes back), but everyone else is pretty much the same level of blandness.

No (or not only). The US artworks are badly drawn and are a pain to look at, while the original designs succeeded in exposing more flair in the design of the characters : the attitudes, the mimics, that kind of details. Question of sensitivity maybe too.

But Persona 1 is not really the point after all (yes, references, universe, please spare me all that stuff), as P:TS will be somewhat of a sequel to P3. If we must draw comparaisons, it should be principally between those two.

U<3Anime

2007-12-10, 21:17

Judging from what I have seen from the trailer, the dark mood definitely feels a lot more similar to Persona 2 than 3. I have never played 1 or 2, but I have read things and seen videos about it. (Especially, with the whole situation of police investigating bizzare violent crimes) Plus, there doesn't seem to be any signs of evokers, so they are going to back the classic way of summoning by shouting "PERUSONAAAAA!" again. =D

FRS

2007-12-11, 01:01

The trailer doesnt look bad to me, there's a nice dark feeling to it, i hope it will not be a disapointement.

cleo

2007-12-12, 21:25

I like the trailer too, it looks quite dark and gloomy.
I haven't played the games, but I will definitely give the series a try.

MeganeShounen

2007-12-12, 21:45

The Persona design looks interesting... But it seems that only Shin and his older brother have pics out for their Personas.

Has there been any info about Shin's Persona? Like name or Arcana even? (Just in case I missed it.)

I'm guessing that from the looks of it (knight's mane, longsword, helm), it seems to be of the Emperor arcana, while his brother has a similar one (or maybe of the Strength arcana)...

The Bloodlust Kid

2007-12-13, 01:48

Well, in other SMT games, they've used Guns to summon demons to fight by their side (Devil Summoner and Soul Hackers's Gun-type Computer, and the Devil Children used a similar device). None of the Persona characters before P3 needed an sort of toy to help them summon. In that respect, they were not unlike Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (and by that, I kinda mean they were the exact same thing as Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, except the Persona kids glow blue when they summon their Persona).

Yeah, and there's reason: Its kinda lame. D:

Well, the difference I think is that the other available weapons* tend to have legitimate purposes outside of actual combat. Fencing and other forms of swordsmanship are apparently really popular (if cartoons are to be believed), and so forth.

*Ok, Shinjiro's weapons aren't, but he's not on the up and up anyway.

Ideally, none. The whole image is absurd. Shooting yourself in the head results in death. When you die, your "other self" does not pop out, you die. You cease to be. You blow your brain up, which is where all that id, ego and superego crap exists. When your brain becomes tiny bits, your id doesn't take over, your super ego doesn't take over, and your ego doesn't take over, because they're all gone.

I would actually buy the whole "its meant to be symbolic!" argument if Aegis wasn't exempt from it. Just the very fact that her Evoker doesn't look like everyone else's destroys any sort of symbolism they tried to create.

Alright, I'm going to stop talking now, because this is not what this thread is for!
Just curious but have you played the game at all?

1) The Evoker is not a real gun.
2) Junpei evens questions why it has to be a gun.
3) Why a gun? In the point of view of the developers, it was probably to justify why the main character is the leader of the party (recall what Akihiko said in the beginning)

Now I don't know who's making too much serious business out of this, me or you?

Anyway, back on topic. I'm looking foward to this. I'm expecting to see returning characters and the appearance of Philemon.

Haruyasha

2007-12-14, 18:48

Trailer looks disappointing and dull. A bunch of geezers in suits and guys talking.. :yawn: (Yeah, I'm so excited now. -.-)

The music is also a bit dull and doesn't conform to the standards of the game.

Seems to me like this is an amateur animation company. (Judging by the logo.) However I really do hope they do a better job in the actual anime. Persona is a great series.. and I wouldn't like to see it trashed.

Jesus Christnekoff

2007-12-15, 00:19

A bunch of geezers in suits and guys talking..

That's... pretty much what the Persona series has always been like.

7Th

2007-12-15, 11:38

Look on the bright side: at least it's good-looking CG and not GONZO-quality. -__-

impossible (ĭm-pŏs'ə-bəl)

1. Incapable of having existence or of occurring.
2. Not capable of being accomplished: an impossible goal.
3. Unacceptable; intolerable: impossible behavior.
4. Extremely difficult to deal with or tolerate: an impossible child; an impossible situation.

:uhoh:

rimaa

2007-12-15, 11:55

cant wait for this one, persona 3 was a pretty great game

Sciel

2007-12-15, 12:08

Played P3 recently and it was really a breath of fresh air compared to recent RPG's . Its a shame then ending had to be like that though .

Anyways , i'm really excited about this series and can't wait till it airs . Let's hope it doesn't disappoint.

ZeusIrae

2007-12-21, 13:54

I saw the trailer.While it looked a little cliche, I liked what I saw.The two guys talking while watching the sky caught my interest.

hachihachi

2007-12-22, 13:06

this caught my attention and i think it could be intense, coming from the director and writer of blood+. will definitely watch it.

Xcomp

2007-12-25, 11:50

Spoilers from 2ch.

There's a girl who looks exactly like Mitsuru.
When Ryou is talking on the phone, you can hear Akihiko's voice at the other end.
Apathy syndrome is already happening.
Igor is a fortune teller.

People are guessing Mitsuru might be married and the girl is her daughter. Maybe she got together with Akihiko? :heh:

Trying to find out if it's just Megumi, one of the new characters. If it's just her then, the surname's different so it can't be true then.Site's also been updated with a desktop widget so that you can stream the latest TS news, make memos and have the Kanzato brothers sitting around in their SD form.

Koroku

2007-12-26, 04:24

Could someone give a decent plot description of the games?

Reading some of the posts (90 hours O_O) I'm afraid to say that I probably wouldn't have time to play them all, and am semi-kinda interested in picking this up when it airs next month.

Or could one probably get by without knowing anything about the games?

TinyRedLeaf

2007-12-26, 04:50

Spoilers from 2ch.

People are guessing Mitsuru might be married and the girl is her daughter. Maybe she got together with Akihiko? :heh:

Trying to find out if it's just Megumi, one of the new characters. If it's just her then, the surname's different so it can't be true then.

Haha, so I'm not the only one who thinks that Mitsuru and Akihiko would make a great couple. Although, if the doujinshi is to be believed, Akihiko is a closet homosexual with a fetish for wearing female swimming costumes under his T-shirts. :p

Xcomp

2007-12-26, 10:17

It turns out...

This girl that looks "exactly like Mitsuru" is just the girl you see at the beginning of the trailer who is sinking in the water. I think there's only a very tiny resemblance really. This is an early scene in the first episode too. Afterwards, we see Ryou out at sea (investigating the disappearance of the submarine crew probably) and says, "So this is where she is...?"

Also Igor appears wearing a mask on a deserted street. He takes it off and says (to Shin?), "We meet again." There's no Velvet Room.Could someone give a decent plot description of the games?

Reading some of the posts (90 hours O_O) I'm afraid to say that I probably wouldn't have time to play them all, and am semi-kinda interested in picking this up when it airs next month.

Or could one probably get by without knowing anything about the games?

Well, Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_3#Plot) has a brief description. Persona 3 has a great story with a number of twists. Since they decided to set this 10 years after it, I doubt you'll really need to know the games to sub it. I'm sure they'll have some scenes where they'll run through things such as what Apathy Syndrome and Personas are so I doubt you'll have problems.

Haha, so I'm not the only one who thinks that Mitsuru and Akihiko would make a great couple. Although, if the doujinshi is to be believed, Akihiko is a closet homosexual with a fetish for wearing female swimming costumes under his T-shirts. :p

Well, Doujishin is Doujishin. What are you doing reading ones about Akihiko anyway? :p

meh

2007-12-27, 02:58

Meh, I liked Persona 3, but I'm not sure if this looks promising. Has there actually been a successful video game-turned-anime before? And I'm not talking about visual novels or dating games that are story-centric. But rather just a regular video game.

Had this been any other megaton game, I would've skipped it. Persona 3 was the only megaton game that didn't have a random encounter every 5 seconds to bore the crap out of me.

Xcomp

2007-12-27, 14:36

More spoilers :p

On the phone "Akihiko" says to Ryo, "Don't waste this important Specimen A."
Shin and Jun are on the way to a family restaurant. Jun spots a fortune teller store and drags Shin to go with him. Igor appears before them on the desolated streets and takes off his mask saying, "We meet again." Shin doesn't know what he means but suddenly everything goes dark. He wakes up in front of his house and wonders if it was just a dream.
While clearing up the things he's moved to their new house, he finds a statue of Igor. He decides to try finding Igor again but can't.
The brothers mention their younger sister who died in an accident. Shin and Jun are twins.
Ah, that's the details I wanted to hear!

Now I wonder if the mystery girl could be their sister. "Akihiko doesn't sound like Akihiko now that I've found out what they talk about.Meh, I liked Persona 3, but I'm not sure if this looks promising. Has there actually been a successful video game-turned-anime before? And I'm not talking about visual novels or dating games that are story-centric. But rather just a regular video game.

Had this been any other megaton game, I would've skipped it. Persona 3 was the only megaton game that didn't have a random encounter every 5 seconds to bore the crap out of me.

Well, lets see... I think the "Tales of" series did well, heard Disgaea was disappointing, Star Ocean and FFVII Last Order was pretty good. Pokemon and Digimon continues through the years but, I guess they don't count :heh:

And yes, the avoidable encounters is certainly one of the aspects I like about P3.

ZODDGUTS

2007-12-27, 16:52

Xcomp

2007-12-27, 21:21

Well the .hack anime was pretty good. Heard the Wildarms and Arc the Lad anime were pretty decent as well.

Anyways for the first episode of Persona how was the animation same goes for the CG if it had any.

Ah yes, how can I forget .hack. It was a great show with great music. I lost interest after the Twilight Bracelet series, though.

According to one person who went to the première the animation was smooth, battle scenes were cool and the artwork in the ending was extremely surreal. As a Persona fan however, he thought the Persona that appeared was not very good design wise. P3 fans should get a smile out of the soundtrack even though it's by GetBackers' Iwasaki and not Shoji Meguro.

So just like you mentioned a few posts back, A-1 Pictures seem to have done a good job here too.

There weren't many comments about the animation quality. That was the only poster in fact... Everyone's been talking more about the story itself ^^;

meh

2007-12-27, 21:46

Well, lets see... I think the "Tales of" series did well, heard Disgaea was disappointing, Star Ocean and FFVII Last Order was pretty good. Pokemon and Digimon continues through the years but, I guess they don't count :heh:

Well the .hack anime was pretty good. Heard the Wildarms and Arc the Lad anime were pretty decent as well.

Anyways for the first episode of Persona how was the animation same goes for the CG if it had any.

So those did pretty well? I've actually never even heard of the FFVII Last Order, Arc the Lad, and Wild Arms animes until now. While the few episodes of 'Tales of' and Star Ocean didn't seem interesting.

I did forget about .Hack though.

cyth

2008-01-05, 11:08

http://shrani.si/t/2j/9R/4wfMRNZ2/personatrinitysoul.jpg (http://shrani.si/?2j/9R/4wfMRNZ2/personatrinitysoul.jpg)
I've also written a short impression (http://www.moedosed.com/%e3%80%8cpersona-trinity-soul-%e3%80%8d-01-overview/) on my blog (new anime series are inbound, so kind of lazy to retype).

IchiKyo

2008-01-05, 11:58

I have seen the Op and the Ed
The Ending is KINDA STRANGE O_O
But the opening is pretty good...

Deathkillz

2008-01-05, 12:35

ep 1
Pretty interesting. Not mind blowing but it holds my attention for the moment :) I guess this is the background setting ep that introduces the characters to the viewers. We see some commotion in the middle with a guy trying to drain someone's spirit? soul? using his own. A detective guy uses his own powers to stop the madman which was pretty cool ^^ Some mystery concerning what the hell these things are and one of the brothers use his to protect himself.

ThoHell

2008-01-05, 13:49

I was quite impressed with he first episode. Well done, well done indeed. Looking forward to this series, hope the characters don't become emo (I just felt some of the characters gave off that vibe).

aroduc

2008-01-05, 15:20

OP

GZR-XSJhTvI

I was underimpressed actually, but I'm not really a fan of the Megaten series, and didn't really get drawn into the intrigure, so *shrug* At least the production values were decent.

Shouta

2008-01-05, 16:02

Not a bad first episode but it has a vibe similar to Blood+. I love Blood+ but this vibe doesn't work at all for Persona. It makes it feel a bit too generic. Animation is quite solid when it needs to be, particularly a few moments in the action scenes, but the rest of the episode is a bit boring. A good description would be a Blood+ version of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure but not nearly as interesting as either.

I've got a bunch of complaints as a Persona fan but I'll save them for when there's more of the show.

Haruyasha

2008-01-05, 17:57

Changing Seasons from Burn My Dread -Reincarnation Persona 3- is played quietly in the first episode when they are at the restaurant. This satisfies me.

Does Shin's brother look like a girl to anyone else? His face is very feminine.. as is his voice.. I didn't read the character bios before.. so when I saw him on the airplane.. I thought he was a girl.

Manji Midou

2008-01-05, 19:35

If this anime is related to P3 and takes place 10 years later..is there any chance we will get to see Aegis *_*?

Haruyasha

2008-01-05, 21:11

There is a chance, yes.

Xcomp

2008-01-05, 23:03

Well, I enjoyed the first episode. I think it makes a good start on letting viewers know what's happening and what the protagonists are like so far. Persona designs are disappointing though.

Full summary on my blog (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/persona-trinity-soul-episode-1-and-so-the-show-begins/).

Like Haruyasha, I liked how they inserted remixes of the P3 soundtracks, "Changing Seasons" and "Velvet Room" :D

orion

2008-01-06, 08:18

I never played the games but I enjoyed the first episode.

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-06, 08:41

Hmm. I don't know what to think yet, but that's normal for a first episode. I agree that the persona designs are disappointing, and the OP and ED aren't exactly memorable. But at least the rest of the animation looks promising.

And, yes, like everyone else, I enjoyed the inclusion of "Changing Seasons" and "Velvet Room". ;)

I don't know where this series will go from here. Persona 3 was built a few main themes, chiefly, the importance of personal relationships and of seizing what life has to offer. I wonder what kind of story Trinity Soul will attempt to tell?

U<3Anime

2008-01-06, 16:19

None of the characters said "PERUSONA"

I'm disappointed......

Manji Midou

2008-01-06, 17:03

If apathy is kicking in again what happen to the MC of p3?
Isn't he suppose to prevent that or...just the coming of nyx?

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-06, 18:41

We don't know yet. Maybe the seal is falling apart.

I do know, however, that I dislike the frequent imitation of the Great Seal in the first episode. The sinking girl pointing upwards towards the water surface. Ryo pointing his finger to release his persona.

It cheapens the majesty of the MC's gesture at the end of Persona 3, I feel. There was something profoundly mysterious about the way he pointed upwards, possibly a reference to Michaelangelo's Creation of Adam, painted on the ceiling (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/sistine-chapel-photos/slides/ceiling-adam-wga.htm) of the Sistine Chapel. But the sense of mystery is destroyed when every Tom, Dick and Harry makes the same gesture.

NakedAngelX

2008-01-06, 21:29

A pretty decent show, though i've never played the game and i am very very confused about what's going on haha. But the boy's summoning was pretty cool, how it came out and all... will stick with it to see what reveals.

Manji Midou

2008-01-06, 21:31

Hmm..just curious...will this be subbed by anyone? o_0

inthemirror

2008-01-07, 01:11

Orange-Side released preview images of their release.
Supposedly they just have karaoke FX left before they encode and release.
Looks pretty good.

Source: http://orange-side.v-a-a.com

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/coreymaddox/Persona01work-rawA0FFE102_001_3076.png
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/coreymaddox/Persona01work-rawA0FFE102_001_3761.png
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/coreymaddox/Persona01work-rawA0FFE102_001_7241.png
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/coreymaddox/Persona01work-rawA0FFE102_001_10919.png
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/coreymaddox/Persona01work-rawA0FFE102_001_14159.png
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/coreymaddox/Persona01work-rawA0FFE102_001_15982.png
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e338/coreymaddox/Persona01work-rawA0FFE102_001_17677.png

-reflection

arkxkra

2008-01-08, 02:29

finish watch ep1, not bad.
BTW, the youngest bro is have 2 personality or wat? or another sister become ghost or wat??

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-08, 09:37

^

Your guess is as good as mine? At the moment, I think he has a split personality. But I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he's actually communicating with his missing twin. Or maybe with her persona?

After all, a persona is a reflection of your personality. And twins tend to share similar personality traits. So, it's not inconceivable that the youngest brother (I forget his name) is keeping a part of his sister "alive" within himself.

What I'd like to know - does Shin know about this? He didn't seem particularly surprised to see his younger brother lay out that dress. In fact, he seems to treat it like a secret between the two of them. He didn't tell Ryou about it.

Xcomp

2008-01-08, 11:01

Your guess is as good as mine? At the moment, I think he has a split personality. But I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he's actually communicating with his missing twin. Or maybe with her persona?

After all, a persona is a reflection of your personality. And twins tend to share similar personality traits. So, it's not inconceivable that the youngest brother (I forget his name) is keeping a part of his sister "alive" within himself.

What I'd like to know - does Shin know about this? He didn't seem particularly surprised to see his younger brother lay out that dress. In fact, he seems to treat it like a secret between the two of them. He didn't tell Ryou about it.

You're thinking along the same lines as I am.

I think whatever happened to their sister must have been a shock for Jun or something. That's why part of her is still with him and the dress is kept as a memento. Ryo doesn't interrupt when he hears Jun talking to himself because he probably knows this.

On the other hand, Shin doesn't know about it. When he left the room, he wondered why a guy would get angry because someone didn't knock on their door before entering. Unless his brother Jun was *cough* in there :heh:

ApostleOfGod

2008-01-08, 17:22

This is sick lol

ZODDGUTS

2008-01-08, 17:49

Just saw the first episode the subs were good had no problems with it. From what I could tell they were accurate.

Anyways as for the episode at first it didn't really have much of a Persona 3 type of vibe but about towards the end it started feel like Persona 3. It was great to hear that one music track from Persona 3 when they were at the restaurant and to see a familiar face that Persona 3 players will know.

There's one character that seems to resemble Mitsuru Kirijo but I don't think that may be her...

I was surprise about the split personality that the youngest brother seems to have... or maybe it's something else? @_@

Also the characters don't use evokers but they do use those pills that Strega used from Persona 3 I think so it's still true to Persona 3 in how they summon their Persona just another way they did it in the game.

The animation was pretty good had no problems with it. So far pretty positive about the first episode.

BTW Love that slap miss scene with that girl lol. :P

FlareKnight

2008-01-08, 18:23

Well things are starting up pretty well. At least the question of people being turned inside out was answered pretty quick. Their persona's were being dragged out and consumed which had that result. Makes sense since that's a reflection of your personality and having that ripped out instead of summoned would be fairly bad.

Curious about the youngest sibling. Is it just a split personality that was born from the loss? Or did he absorb her persona or some kind of of fusion of their personalities? Guess that's something to be revealed later.So Igor has shown up which would put the middle sibling as being the main guy for all of this. Seems he's been having plenty of dreams about different persona's curious how that's all going to turn out.

That one guy was apparently using the same pills as strega. Though as we know its not exactly a great thing to be using for your health. The two brothers seem to be able to summon their persona's without any assistance. Maybe they felt invokers were too much for tv or something.

Seems like that guy's persona was causing apathy syndrome. Though I only remember shadow's being responsible for that before. Do wonder what is going on overall here. Is the seal weakening? Does that mean the MC is going to wake up? Also curious about the involvement of the other characters. I can't imagine Aigis being all that far.

ZODDGUTS

2008-01-08, 18:31

[Spoiler=More game side]So Igor has shown up which would put the middle sibling as being the main guy for all of this. Seems he's been having plenty of dreams about different persona's curious how that's all going to turn out.

That one guy was apparently using the same pills as strega. Though as we know its not exactly a great thing to be using for your health. The two brothers seem to be able to summon their persona's without any assistance. Maybe they felt invokers were too much for tv or something.

Seems like that guy's persona was causing apathy syndrome. Though I only remember shadow's being responsible for that before. Do wonder what is going on overall here. Is the seal weakening? Does that mean the MC is going to wake up? Also curious about the involvement of the other characters. I can't imagine Aigis being all that far.

It looks like the older brother is also using those pills, in one scene at 9:56 minute mark in his office you see pills. Not sure about the midde brother though doesn't look like hes doing that.

FlareKnight

2008-01-08, 19:54

It looks like the older brother is also using those pills, in one scene at 9:56 minute mark in his office you see pills. Not sure about the midde brother though doesn't look like hes doing that.Good catch. Certainly could be that brother is using the pills. If I remember they were to control the persona's so they wouldn't kill the user. Really need to get a refresher to remember if those pills are dangerous for the character's health. If the characters aren't using invokers its not like they have many options.

Though the middle child isn't using them yet. Of course he just discovered he had a persona so that may come.

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-08, 19:54

I wonder how soon before we start hearing immortal lines such as:

"When you fall down, get back up."

"The kiss of life!"

"I won't lose!"

"Tres bien."

DragoonKain3

2008-01-08, 22:24

First impressions? I thought the youngest brother was girl at first being the art and his voice, but then I remembered from the synopsis its all guys. So next thing came to mind was that he's gay. The I heard his name, Jun, and things get really suspicious. Then we see Jun seemingly gawking at his older brother, and I rotfl'ed on the spot. XD

Of course, still too early to say he's not straight, but man, the odds are against him lol. Either that or the person he's talking to (most probably his dead twin) is the factor for his gender-bending qualities lol.

In any case, I'm kinda disappointed. One small thing is that they don't shout persona or the name of their persona, though I can kinda forgive that since it can easily look cheesy. But the one thing that annoyed me is that when the persona's come out, no sfx can be heard. And ever since P1, there's like this loud whoosh sfx or equivalent that signifies their other self has come out. With it being almost a whisper in the anime, it lacked the 'oomph' I feel playing the games when these people summon their persona.

One little thing that irked me though was Igor. Instead of sounding old and eerie, he just sounds old. Then again, maybe if I haven't seen a Japanese trailer for P3, I wouldn't be irked I guess.

Well at least TS does what Persona did best, and that is mystery. People disappearing w/out a trace in a sub that's underwater? Apathy syndrome on the rampage again? Personas outside of the dark hour? Why only high school student as targets? The list goes on, and for that, I'm still hooked in this series.

All in all, I'd rate it the opening a B. It ain't great, but so far its miles above the other first episodes I've seen this season, which would top out at C- at best. Sadly, looking at the other shows coming this season, this might be the best of the bunch as I don't have much hope for the others. Oh well, good anime in the winter season has always been lacking from my experience, so I guess I'll quit while I'm ahead lol.

DangerMouse

2008-01-08, 23:00

I thought it was pretty enjoyable for a first episode, as a Persona fan I can't rank it yet though as it's too early and Persona has always relied on the mystery aspect so I hope there's some good payoff down the road in terms of reveals.

I already like the animation style and the atmospheric visuals thanks in part to the original art being by Soejima (the character designs felt right even if they got adapted to animation by another artist a number of them were still very P3) and the music and the nicely atmospheric lighting of both the daytime and nighttime scenes. The action scenes were quite nice, particularly the extended one in the middle, the middle brother's one with the sword could make for awesome action later as well.

The first ep was a good setup, I really like how they kept Persona storylines' mysterious qualities. As someone said I could see the the Blood+ parallel made, it was heavy on the character dialogue and non-special bits with short bursts of really atmospheric stuff, however, unlike in Blood+ I actually got hooked on the action scenes whereas Blood+'s version of Saya's lack of skill was often a drag every time action broke out making the action extremely underwhelming and more clumsy than exciting (until the Shif showed up), also there seems to be more "style" here IMO thanks to the uniqueness of the SMT/Persona setting.

I think it's going to come down to the atmosphere for me and how strong Iwasaki's soundtrack is (I'm usually a big fan of his stuff so I'm sure it'll be fantastic, loved it in the first ep), and whether or not the show remains mature with good revelations and equally good mysteries.

My only nitpick is that they should have had a stylish Velvet Room for Igor :P Though atleast they had Igor reference it in his speech when he talked to the middle brother so that's good enough.

As for Aegis or any others, obviously no clue, but it's certainly possible and wouldn't surprise me, they seem to be trying to make something with substance and not a quick cash hence the start with original characters and they still got to nicely use a piece of music, so it wouldn't surprise me at all, especially when things really get more serious, experienced characters like Aegis would certainly be some big payoff later in the show!

Do we have any news on how long this series is going to be? I hope it will be more than 13 (hopefully atleast 26) as I'd like to see a deep plot befitting the Persona series.

u43368

2008-01-08, 23:47

Saw the first ep, I enjoyed that it seems to be leaning more toward the P2 style. No evokers/dark hour yet, yes!

Haruyasha

2008-01-09, 00:18

Well since there's a sub out for this.. shall this topic be moved?

tbl

2008-01-09, 05:10

I'm confused about pretty much everything. I've never played the games so what happened?

Manji Midou

2008-01-09, 07:25

I'm confused about pretty much everything. I've never played the games so what happened?

the main character reached enlightement and sacrificed himself to seal up nyx and get rid of the apathy, thus saving his friends. He leaves behind Aigis....:(.....he isn't really dead, dead just in a coma which the game hints will never wake up from..if he decides to return to his body the seal will break and nyx would return again....which makes me wonder if the seal is breaking apart....did the main return to his body? ...it sure would be nice for aigis if that's the case

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-09, 07:37

^

But, but, but, Aigis is a robot! :uhoh:

It'd be nicer for, uh, Yukari!

My only nitpick is that they should have had a stylish Velvet Room for Igor :P Though atleast they had Igor reference it in his speech when he talked to the middle brother so that's good enough.

I'd like to see Elizabeth too. You can't have Fate without Free Will. Where has she gone? :p

Manji Midou

2008-01-09, 08:00

^

But, but, but, Aigis is a robot! :uhoh:

It'd be nicer for, uh, Yukari!

I'd like to see Elizabeth too. You can't have Fate without Free Will. Where has she gone? :p

at the end she's more human then robot...yukari would be my 3rd option for the MC after aigis and yuko. l would like to know y elizabeth wasn't with lgor.

Oppius

2008-01-09, 08:30

I just watched the first episode of Persona Trinity Soul and I was impressed with it although not as impressive as Rosario to Vampire.

I also thought that this anime might aimed towards female audiences.So far no leading female characters ever introduced and Jun, the protagonist's younger brother is a 'pretty boy'.I started to fear the most, this is a perfect recipe for yaoi doujins of this anime.I hope I may wrong someday.

I noticed that Persona summoners no longer need to use the Evokers to summon their Persona. Instead Personas just emerged from the summoners' body, much like their 'second soul'.

It played the Velvet Room's theme when Shin met Igor for first time, in piano version of it, just like two earlier games.I prefer the third game's one, which had vocal for it.

ZeusIrae

2008-01-09, 08:30

First, I will say that I have never played the game so I can't judge how faithful it is to the original game.

As a first anime episode, I think it's very good.I like the atmosphere and the character design.

For Jun, his voice really sounded like a girl when he was talking to himself.Even for a 14-year-old this voice was too high.

Skyfall

2008-01-09, 09:29

For Jun, his voice really sounded like a girl when he was talking to himself.Even for a 14-year-old this voice was too high.

Isn't that because he was imitating the voice of his sister ? (whom i assume to be dead). He was sort of having a talk with his sister, him playing his sister's role as well.

ZeusIrae

2008-01-09, 10:33

Yes.

But I don't understand why he would imitate the voice of his twin.

Eclipze

2008-01-09, 11:08

Seems more like a split personality/having his sister's soul in him or something though.

Zephyr_Mage

2008-01-09, 11:20

the main character reached enlightement and sacrificed himself to seal up nyx and get rid of the apathy, thus saving his friends. He leaves behind Aigis....:(.....he isn't really dead, dead just in a coma which the game hints will never wake up from..if he decides to return to his body the seal will break and nyx would return again....which makes me wonder if the seal is breaking apart....did the main return to his body? ...it sure would be nice for aigis if that's the case

He's dead. Igor said so in FES.

mdauben

2008-01-09, 11:26

I watched the first ep last night and enjoyed it for the most part. A lot of people are complaining based on knowledge of the game(?) or manga(?) storyline, but since I am unfamiliar with the "Persona" frachise, any such problems don't matter to me. :p

The only thing that really bothered me is the way all the battles take place in the dark. Due to that, I found it just about impossible to see WTF is going on. This is an issue I have had with a lot of other anime, so I'm not sure if it's my computer set up, or if its a deliberate "trend" in the industry to make thing look "cooler" or more "mysterious" but it just bugs the crap out of me. :mad:

Manji Midou

2008-01-09, 12:13

He's dead. Igor said so in FES.

NyooOoOooOoOOo!!!!!!!!!!!!:upset:
I haven't played Fes...so i did not know that...poor MC....:upset:

LKK

2008-01-09, 12:27

The Chaos

2008-01-09, 13:22

I Finally watched The First Ep ....Really Not Bad Anime...The Animation Look Like Darker Than Black (IMO)...
But I Guess I'll Watch This Anime Tell The The End...

Matrim

2008-01-09, 13:50

Pretty good first episode, I had virtually no prior information about the series. The atmosphere was suitably dark and mysterious and the music very nice, especially the battle pieces. I am not too sold on Sawachiro Miyuki voicing a boy for now (and I wondered for most of the episode whether her character was a boy) but generally listening to her is a joy, so I am not gonig to complain. Add the almighty Takehito Koyasu and we have a promising series that I am most liekly going to watch even if the mystery aspect or the plot in general starts to suck.

The only thing that really bothered me is the way all the battles take place in the dark. Due to that, I found it just about impossible to see WTF is going on. This is an issue I have had with a lot of other anime, so I'm not sure if it's my computer set up, or if its a deliberate "trend" in the industry to make thing look "cooler" or more "mysterious" but it just bugs the crap out of me.

Same here. Battles in the dark are very annoying. It's like Claymore all over again.

Haruyasha

2008-01-09, 15:00

I gave the first episode a try based on the blog previews and the sample character art. Never played the game, so I didn't know what to expect. There was a lot going on in the first episode I didn't understand. I'm okay with that. I don't expect to understand everything after the first episode. That would be boring to me. But I do hope they don't assume I know the game's background info and therefore *never* explain stuff like "apathy". (I think that's what it was called.) Otherwise, I expect I'll remain lost forever.

I liked the character designs. They're what caught my eye in the preview art. I agree mdauben's complaint about all the fighting being too dark. The translucent fighters were a cool idea, but add those to the dark scenes and it was hard to tell what was going on occasionally.

Ok, so:

Basically, there are mysterious events of high school students getting turned inside out. I guess that happens when those gifted with a persona have it pulled out.

When Shin and Ryou are walking back to their house, they run into that fortune teller. He's called Igor, and played an important part in the game. Apart from allowing persona fusion, he led the main character through the game.

When Shin talks get near him, Igor starts saying stuff about meeting him again. I guess that's hinting at Shin being inside the Velvet Room (a place where Igor resides) in his dreams. Igor then proceeds to tell him that there are people whose potential is being robbed. (aka their persona is being stolen).
It's what they use to describe people who act like zombies.. In the game they would just stand around and moan or not do anything. It was a result of Shadows absorbing their souls during the dark hour. Apathy victims would decrease when a Shadow was defeated, and would increase when a full moon approached. (Which is when the Shadows appeared.)

Same here. Battles in the dark are very annoying. It's like Claymore all over again.

Well, that's Persona's theme, seeing as how all battles in the game were during the night.

FlareKnight

2008-01-09, 23:26

NyooOoOooOoOOo!!!!!!!!!!!!:upset:
I haven't played Fes...so i did not know that...poor MC....:upset:Trust me I know your pain...I just thought the guy went to sleep at the end. Once I wanted to discuss the ending I found out the truth...Completely sucks either the guy spends eternity protecting the world or he comes back and wakes, but means the end of the world will come.Wonder if people are able to summon their persona's with no consequences if they don't use invokers. Only one episode so will keep an eye on it.

plzd0ntkeelme

2008-01-10, 00:01

Being someone who has never played any of the Persona games, I gotta say this first ep is great. The pacing is great and so is the atmosphere. Many mysteries which obviously should not be explained now in the first ep. The battle is pretty cool especially the Persona summoning part. The only thing that bugs me is that trinity is supposed to be a Christian stuff but it seems that this has nothing to do with it, but I could be wrong.

psycrop

2008-01-10, 00:28

Nothing groundbreaking, but so far, this anime looks very interesting. I've never played the game so I have no knowledge of Persona, but this first episode has really given me a good introduction of what I could expect. The atmosphere seems tense and it looks as if lots of mysteries revolved around the three brothers. Hopefully the anime runs for 26 episodes so it would give room to explain in more detail what they are all about.

Jazzrat

2008-01-10, 00:48

Jun reminds me of Hansel and Gretel from Black Lagoon.... can we expect some psychopathic behaviour from the youngest brother of the 3? :p

Not having the whole gun to the head to summon their Persona dampens the feel of the anime. Hopefully they can make it up with some darker plot or story as opposed to just having lots of dark scenes literally.

psycrop

2008-01-10, 01:46

.... can we expect some psychopathic behaviour from the youngest brother of the 3? :p

Right off the bat, that seems to be the case with the younger brother. If its some mindfk type, even better :)

Grimkill7

2008-01-10, 03:45

Manji Midou

2008-01-10, 04:17

Alright, I have a question. I have episode 1 downloaded and it's on standby. I am probably going to get the game sometime soon. Now, should I just start watching the anime, or should I wait to complete Persona 3 since the anime is a direct sequel? Basically, what I'm asking is, will not having played the game beforehand take away from the story here?

I would recommend you play the game as soon as possible...since it's a great game...as for as of right now you could watch episode 1 with no need to play the game...since little was revealed... aside from the apathy kicking in an a certain familiar voice being heard....

MeganeShounen

2008-01-10, 08:00

About Jun and his scene in the bathroom where he's talking to his "supposed" dead twin sister, I'm thinking that his Persona (if he ever gets one) could be either related to the "twins" theme (Gemini? Castor and Pollux?) or it might even be his sister herself.

Seeing all the cameos and throwbacks to the game makes the first episode worth it, especially the BGM during the time the brothers were eating in the restaurant and of course, Igor. But still, I'm still in the dark about who Ryo was talking at the phone. It certainly sounds like Akihiko, and the conversation certainly fits (about "protecting the others").

What troubles me is what Igor mentioned to Shin when they first met. He said that they've both met somewhere (possibly the Velvet Room), but how?

Could it be that since Shujinkou/Arisato Minato/the Main Character "died" in the end of Persona 3, Shin is his reincarnation (cue Messiah theme). Then again, if the current series is 10 years after the fight against Nyx, that would make Shin around... 4-5 years old?

SuperKnuckles

2008-01-10, 08:03

Sageblink

2008-01-10, 08:11

Random Curiosity said it resembled Mai Hime a bit and I'd agree. It seems that the avatars somehow feed off the emotional resonance of a person and they're directly connected to their master.

Now, I don' t see the Hime-connection as a bad thing. I loved Hime quite a bit. I wonder if this show will do the same.

Well, I do love Mai-HIME as well, but it's just a "manga thing"...

Characters / Persona is a relation which look like Shinigami / zampakto, Hime / child, Dragonaut / dragon, Exorcist / innocence...

All is a "feeling thing". ;)

Jazzrat

2008-01-10, 11:41

Persona is more like a physical manifestation of a person's personality, not so much as feelings.

In the game, some of the characters' persona changes/evolve as they mature and grown stronger mentally. For the main character, his persona gets stronger as he socialize with different people.

It's only first episode so i cant say how much game spoiler there is in the series but afaik, the anime is a different storyline but set in the Persona universe. Fans of the game probably get a bit more kick seeing familiar faces (Igor) and hearing some of the excellent soundtrack from the game.

Of course, having some knowledge of the Persona world would be less confusing.

Looking forward to see more of the Persona design in the series, their design in the game was pretty awesome especially the main characters' Persona :)

kininku buster

2008-01-10, 13:36

The first episode was OK but I was kinda shocked when I found out that Jun was a boy! :(

Guardian Enzo

2008-01-10, 14:02

The first episode was OK but I was kinda shocked when I found out that Jun was a boy! :(

There's just something traptacular about that name, I guess...

BadCookie

2008-01-10, 14:09

MCACJAPWCKAPWCJAWOPCJAPSJKFVA AWESOME i have the game and now the ANIME the first EPISODE WAS NFMAOMCOAWCMAPWMKCAPWMCAWOMNCOLAWMNCOAMSCOMAWOCMWA KOCMLKAWMCLAWNLCFNAWLC
guardian enzo :D
sorry but the first episode is so awesome that i'm speechless

Guardian Enzo

2008-01-10, 14:20

Deathkillz

2008-01-10, 14:57

The Bloodlust Kid

2008-01-10, 17:38

Manji Midou

2008-01-10, 19:42

The animation's pretty impressive. (I guess I wasn't expecting much ever since the other campy Megami Tensei anime :p) Bonus points for crossovers. Hope to see returning characters from the past, and not just the ones from 3.

And Kaneko had nothing to do with the Persona designs? Oh well...

Is that possible? only reason I think characters from P3 can make appearance is because the anime is like a sequel to p3....I've never played the other Persona games...but isn't every Persona game it's own unique story? If not then don't mind me....:heh:

gummi

2008-01-10, 21:54

Hi all. This series looks pretty interesting to me and I always wanted to start on an anime series that just began the fansubbing process. Has any one had a chance to watch the various releases from the groups who have started on Persona? I'm reluctant to start right now as it seems the first group OI seems to just release 2 or 3 eps of a series and then just quit.

Thanks to anyone who can help me being lazy.. my dl speed isnt that great so :P.

bbduece

2008-01-10, 23:12

i was really anticipating this series since i was playing persona3 a few months back but so far this 1st episode is boring

i personaly perfer more character developement but seems like they spent the 1st episode building the atmosphere which is still kinda bland

no enough action, no enough drama, no enough fleshing of character....i'm probably expecting too much .......i'll give it a couple more episode to see how it turns out

The Bloodlust Kid

2008-01-11, 01:48

Is that possible? only reason I think characters from P3 can make appearance is because the anime is like a sequel to p3....I've never played the other Persona games...but isn't every Persona game it's own unique story? If not then don't mind me....:heh:
Possibly. And while each game has its own unique storyline, they're still on the same timeline (as opposed to other timelines in the SMT series). Plus there's speculation that Nate Nanjo from the first game may have some involvement in the events that led to P3.

Oppius

2008-01-11, 01:51

Jun was heard talking to himself with girly voice in his room. Is that some sort of fanservice for female viewers?

White Manju Bun

2008-01-11, 08:55

Well first epi wasnt bad. Ive never played the game before so I have no idea what to expect but Luck Gandor/Neuro's seiyuu is always nice to hear and it took me nearly the entire epi before I realized Shinn's seiyuu is John from Ghost Hunt, a bit different though but I knew I recognized it :heh:

EarlyBlake

2008-01-11, 14:27

The first episode was pretty good; though I was hoping for something more. I didn't realize it was based on a game. I got the wrong impression of what the anime would be about from a trailer I saw. I thought it was going to be something deeper like, or Ergo Proxy. I'm mood for another anime like Death Note, Ergo Proxy or Ghost in the Shell that has a complicated plot or worked on two levels. But I'll watch until something better comes a long, which could be a long time.

Ash Falls Town

2008-01-12, 05:30

Haven't played the game but going to pick this up regardless.
From what I've seen I'm definitly going to like Jun and I'm going to like Shin even more unless they do somthing weird with his character. The older brother is definitley going to be less liked but I'm sure he'll never dip below intolerable.
I admit I too thought Jun was a random girl at first until he said that they were related. Still very trapish. The mystery with his sister seems interesting.

I just hope that we meet the girls in the ending soon so I know what they are there for. I hate it when OP have characters I can't discern the purpose of.

MUAHAHAHAHAHA

2008-01-12, 06:19

I thought the ED is pretty cute and for some reason,it reminded me of Clannad's ED.

i have a feeling that Ryo is not as bad as he seems

Xcomp

2008-01-12, 20:35

Haruyasha

2008-01-12, 22:46

Nice second episode... Until the end. Full summary up (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/persona-trinity-soul-want-to-try-out-kagenuki/).

That was pretty eery when Ryo spotted that red-haired girl on top of that pillar. I can still feel the chills.

So now everyone can summon their Persona as long as they follow the Kagenuki procedures. Kind of odd you know but at least it seems not everyone can withstand the strain.

Mystery "Akihiko" speaks once again but we still don't see any familiar faces. And again they slipped in two songs from the game. Remixes of "Want to be Close" and "When the Moon's Reaching out the Stars". Not really my favourites.

But why did they have to end the episode with a rape scene?! Those guys better not manage to go through with it.

What you mean? The end was the best part.

Obviously we know what's going to happen next.. lol.

Oh and one other thing:

The pills the guy keeps on taking... aren't those the pills that forcefully bring out a persona for a person who cannot naturally summon one?

Eventually if the user stops taking the pills, he loses control of his own persona, and it will most likely kill the user. That's what it looks like is happening in the end of episode 1.

But I thought Strega was the one making those pills..? Were they?

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-13, 02:02

Still not sure what to think of the series so far. But I reckon it's not going to stop me from following it. Not yet, at least. Trinity Soul is starting to remind me of a cross between Blood+ and Witch Hunter Robin, ie, mix of sci-fi and horror. The animation and art reminds me of Robin in any case.

I didn't mind the inclusion of the two Persona 3 tracks. I thought it was quite appropriate, given that they were in a KTV lounge.

I'm not sure what to make of kagenuki. Does it imply that everyone in the school has the potential to summon personae? That makes this school a lot more "special" than Gekkoukan High (the high school from Persona 3). But I guess it doesn't transform at night. :p

No surprises that the floating feather symbolises the missing/dead sister. Apparently, only Ryo sees it. So, the speculation may turn out right -- Ryo might have something to do with the sister's disappearance/death.

I think the episode ended at a good cliffhanger. It's your standard will-the-hero-save-the-maiden-in-distress ending.

By the way, the windmills. Do they have any symbolic meaning? They were present in the game, and they appear again in Trinity Soul, near the brothers' school and their home.

DangerMouse

2008-01-13, 02:59

I haven't gotten to watch episode 2 since it's not subbed yet, however I must admit since I like and am still playing P3, even if it's only fanservice unless we get any of the original characters back it was still neat hearing the tiny part of the school theme from the game in the building when I skimmed a bit of it. I wouldn't mind seeing the certainly unique battle music make it in here somehow as long as it would be appropriate. As long as they are used in appropriate ways and don't overshadow the soundtrack tailored to the show, since Iwasaki is a great composer, I think it's a nice little extra touch. I just hope they manage to pull together a deep and hopefully intricate storyline/mystery/action as that's the most important thing.

I haven't played P2: Eternal Punishment in ages, but the spot where Ryo messes with his glasses in the OP made me think of the police officer party member with the flashy red shades in a way, though it's been ages since I played the game since I played it back when it first came out on the PS1 so I can't remember the differences in their characters, it was just a quick visual thing.

Haruyasha

2008-01-13, 03:56

Windmills are to generate electricity. Nothing special about them.

U<3Anime

2008-01-13, 04:08

Manji Midou

2008-01-13, 05:02

Great episode until the end that is....
I wonder how long it will take until we get to hear "master of shadows" that song is so godly >_>;

Deathkillz

2008-01-13, 05:50

ep 2
Wow...that is some end O.o
I didn't know that "persona" spirits can be called upon so casually...so far I thought it was only limited to special people so it was a surprised that the kids at the school made a game out of it. Isn't it a bad thing if your persona gets killed? Kanaru is also a surprise for me...normally I wouldn't consider her character design as being cute...but her personality makes her just that - another weakness of mine, a "strong back slap" from a girl :heh: This is getting more interesting ;)

Guido

2008-01-13, 17:58

To be honest I initially picked up this title out of a whim in order to kill time due that the fansubs for episode 01 to Shigofumi and Hatenkou Yuugi respectively have not arrived yet, although I read about the story at Omni's blog.

Nevertheless, I'm fortunate that I started watching Persona.

The winter season going on in the city of Ayanagi evokes a gloomy and grissly mood, that reminded me the same feeling to Blood+ when Saya and the Red Shield arrived to Russia.

Still, I have to complain my issues with the manner the staff sketched and drew the characters' faces, particularly the eyes and mouths.

Nonetheless, the suspense and atmosphere of looming mystery at the crime scenes where Ryou was investigating the murder cases nicely intertwined when the scenes cut to Shin and Yun reminiscing their childhood times at Ayanagi and the nostalgia that came to haunt them both back upon their return.

I have this dreaded hunch that Shin and Yun ended being Ryou's younger siblings after all, and, indeed, it was correct.

This is because how the camera shot from Ryou to Shin & Yun back to back during the course of episode one.

Truthfully, this is the first time I have heard about the Persona franchise. I have never ever in my life played the videogames, however, I did research at wiki.

The anime presumedly is the canonical sequel to the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, taking a decade later after the events of the game.

What piqued my interest during the climax scenes was when the murderer manifested a spirytus entity that drew out another spirytus entity from the girl that was assaulting.

It comes quickly for a twist when Ryou confronts the assailant and draws out a spirytus entity of his to fend off the attacker.

Then, at the end of the episode I have a certain gut feeling that one of the younger siblings would end up involved with that strange phenomena, and so it happened to Shin.
For one last shock twist before the episode concluded, another spirytus entity manifested from within him and eradicated the one of the guy that previously attempted to kill the girl.

Ok. So far that this what I got from watching the first episode.

What would had happened if the assailant's spiritual entity had successfully extracted the spiritual being of the girl had Ryou not arrived in time?

I remark that when the bastard started the extraction the girl began to feel convulsions all over her body and soon felt like suffocating or throwing up.

I wonder if extracting the spiritual entity of the victim causes the so debated "Reverse" syndrome, that Ryou is seen discussing about to his subordinates throughout the episode, or if there have to be other requisites to cause the condition?

Xcomp

2008-01-13, 18:57

What you mean? The end was the best part.

Obviously we know what's going to happen next.. lol.

Oh and one other thing:

The pills the guy keeps on taking... aren't those the pills that forcefully bring out a persona for a person who cannot naturally summon one?

Eventually if the user stops taking the pills, he loses control of his own persona, and it will most likely kill the user. That's what it looks like is happening in the end of episode 1.

But I thought Strega was the one making those pills..? Were they?
Bit early to put the heroine through a traumatic event. It's only episode two. Besides, Megumi's too nice to get treated this way :p

As for the pills, we don't know what they really do yet but yes, they certainly appear to be the same ones used by the Strega in P3. However, the Strega didn't make those pills. They stole them when they escaped from the Kirijo labs where experiments were conducted on them to give them their Persona powers.
I'm not sure what to make of kagenuki. Does it imply that everyone in the school has the potential to summon personae? That makes this school a lot more "special" than Gekkoukan High (the high school from Persona 3). But I guess it doesn't transform at night. :p

I think the episode ended at a good cliffhanger. It's your standard will-the-hero-save-the-maiden-in-distress ending.

By the way, the windmills. Do they have any symbolic meaning? They were present in the game, and they appear again in Trinity Soul, near the brothers' school and their home.

Yay, the whole Kirijo group thing again. If that's so, this show would really become more and more like an alternative telling of P3. I just don't see how everyone there can summon without going through what the Strega did... Unless the food at school's been poisoned :p

What I wrote above. Some of the Japanese viewers are thinking Megumi's persona will end up awakening to save them. I think that's possible since in the preview we see a note saying she's fallen into a coma and has been transported somewhere. Maybe to where "Akihiko" and all the "Special A" research is taking place.

On the other hand, Newtype's (http://pc.webnt.jp/anime/detail0071090108.html) summary of episode three (that isn't in riddles) says, Shin and his friends are found at the crime scene of another Reverse case. When Ryo finds out, he tries to make Shin leave the city. Shin doesn't understand why he's doing it and can feel the gap that the ten years has created between them.

Wonder which part of the next episode this comes in then?And er, what windmills...?

Haruyasha

2008-01-13, 21:05

And er, what windmills...?

They are wind turbines to generate power:

http://www.taiga.net/yourYukon/col436.jpg

Xcomp

2008-01-14, 04:56

I was really asking where are they in the show but never mind, I see them now. I agree they probably don't have any real significance. Maybe Ayanagi City is just a very environmentally friendly place? :p

EarlyBlake

2008-01-14, 07:57

Wind mills turn up in a lot of anime. Maybe there are a lot of windmills in Japan.

sumitsukihime

2008-01-14, 08:37

persona is the best in Jan . not 1 of

echo1590

2008-01-14, 08:52

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO is after NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Hemisphere

2008-01-14, 11:25

Hmm. Consider me hooked on this series now that I've actually seen the first ep.

Regarding Strega, the pills, and everyone having Personas...

Aren't Shadows and Personas basically two sides of the same coin? And thanks to the Nyx incident, Minato did manage to save the world, but if I remember correctly, a lot of Shadows were also "unleashed"/given birth to during that moment, thanks to the utmost despair of people felt during that time. Maybe that's what gave everyone - well, almost everyone - the ability to have Personas?

Wasn't Apathy Syndrome caused by Shadows devouring the mental health of people? And if people with Personas are now causing Apathy Syndrome...then maybe these Personas aren't really Personas?

And if I remember correctly, the pills weren't used to help the person summon his/her Persona, but instead to suppress it.

What's the deal with Igor telling Shin that they met in the Velvet Room a long time ago? There better be a contract for Shin to sign! Is he related to Minato, or something?

rpgkiller999

2008-01-14, 14:15

Sigh, the moment I thought megumi will become a commade of Shin brothers they put her in coma. What a let down. =(

And isn't only a selected few can visit velvet room and see Igor? Wonder what's so special about Shin.

bbduece

2008-01-14, 15:54

i didnt like the 1st episode but the 2nd episode is very good, awesome cliffhanger at the end

plzd0ntkeelme

2008-01-14, 17:20

Ep2 is pretty weak in terms of plot and char development.
It feels too fast for Shin to develop friendship in his new school. Heck, he went karaoke with his new friends first day he met them? lol They seem to be too trusting of one another.

Shadows pulling feels like something too powerful and mystical for random high school kids to be doing. Granted, this is entirely fictional universe, but even cops seem to have no idea about it.

Why was Ryo asking his bros to move to a new city when they just move in and find a new school? They're not even adults. They would probably end up in an orphanage or crap like that.

And then why did the red-haired girl fall asleep there? Did the rapists use their persona powers or something? Drugs? I'm not clear about that one.

Jesus Christnekoff

2008-01-14, 17:26

This might be considered spoilers? I don't know, its all speculation based on previous games, so...

What's the deal with Igor telling Shin that they met in the Velvet Room a long time ago? There better be a contract for Shin to sign! Is he related to Minato, or something?

It just means they met a long time ago. I'd wager it has something to do with Shin's Persona manifesting itself ten years ago, or something, and him forgetting about it. I base this on the fact that its what happened in Innocent Sin.

Sigh, the moment I thought megumi will become a commade of Shin brothers they put her in coma. What a let down. =(

And isn't only a selected few can visit velvet room and see Igor? Wonder what's so special about Shin.

Well, don't worry too much: In Persona 1, Maki is in a coma throughout most of the game, but she still manages to hurl the city into an alternate reality, split her self into like, four or five different beings (True Maki, Mae, Aki, the party member Maki, and the Masked Girl), and be a useful member of the party throughout the game. Comas mean nothing.

As for the Velvet Room, anyone can enter the Velvet Room as long as they can find the doorway. In Eternal Punishment, two people who aren't Persona users are allowed entry (Makimura and Anna, although both had Personas in an alternate reality, so maybe that's not the best example?)...

FlareKnight

2008-01-14, 17:30

Yeah uncertain on a few things. The whole shadow pulling thing still left me a bit lost. Are they just reaching into the person and screwing around with their persona? Does everyone in this city have one which seems to go against the extreme rarity of them in the game.

Plus what is up with Megumi just collapsing. Unless the food is laced with some tranquilizer seems a bit out there to me. But will see how things go in the next episode since they ended it on such a serious tone.

saphyre

2008-01-14, 18:35

Plus what is up with Megumi just collapsing. Unless the food is laced with some tranquilizer seems a bit out there to me. But will see how things go in the next episode since they ended it on such a serious tone.
I have a feeling that it may have something to do with the 3 guys they saw on the way in, probably spiked her drink or something? Since it did show her cup a few times.

Skyfall

2008-01-15, 05:49

Episode 2 was not bad overall, but the thing that seemed a bit "huh" was the shadow pulling ... a seemingly widespread activity through the school(s) and well known, yet it seems so simplified and i find it a bit odd none of the teachers are questioning/reporting these activities. The process of performing it was kinda a letdown as well ... just place a hand on the shoulder, close your eyes while pretending to meditate and voila ... ye, sure.

Why aren't all the school students targeted ? I would think they are easier pray than the ones protected by police ... unless the "bad guys" know about this, but leave things be for some reason of their own. At any rate, going by Shin's brothers comments (him preferring if they wouldn't be in this city at all), i assume this phenomenon is directly related to this city in question.

Well, the show is fairly entertaining for me, so i will stick with it for now.

ZeusIrae

2008-01-15, 11:49

This "shadow-pulling" remind me of a "game " that existed in some schools in my country.Basically, if I remember well, you strangulated someone until they almost lost consciousness.Apparently it was "fun".It disappeared after a while.I suppose it was one of those fads that disappear as quickly as they appear or the the medias were just making things up.Since stupidity is universal, it's very possible that "sadow-pulling" is some kind of metaphor for this type of dangerous behaviour.

onigirinews

2008-01-15, 12:05

thanks so much

orion

2008-01-15, 14:17

Isn't the strangulation, suffocation stuff erotic also? So do they get high or turned on from Shadow pulling?

Anyways that was different going into a rape scenario by the end of ep. 2. So how did her drink get spiked?

LKK

2008-01-15, 15:50

So how did her drink get spiked?
If the scriptwriters are good, they'll explain it in ep 3. My guess though is that's one of those plot hole questions you're not supposed to ask about.

Deathkillz

2008-01-15, 16:48

It's not hard to spike someone's drink, but it's a miracle that she happened to drink the one that is spiked :heh:

The shadow pulling thing still puzzles me...now that it think maybe during the game, the "players" aren't actually concious of what happens and only wakes up "destressed" (or dead :uhoh:) after the persona re-enters the body. Also maybe not everyone has a persona they can pull out and hence why that dude (can't remember his name :rolleyes:) has been winning all his matches thus far - perhaps his opponents were never able to call out their personal, and was only beaten to a pulp.

LKK

2008-01-15, 16:59

It's not hard to spike someone's drink, but it's a miracle that she happened to drink the one that is spiked :heh:
Especially when you factor in the fact that the boys who (presumably) spiked her drink weren't in the karoake box with her when she finally got around to drinking it. They really had to trust their luck to fate if them spiking her drink is what happened.

Guardian Enzo

2008-01-15, 22:01

Anyone else getting a bit of a Jyu oh Sei vibe off this?

MUAHAHAHAHAHA

2008-01-16, 00:33

Anyone else getting a bit of a Jyu oh Sei vibe off this?

Jyu oh Sei?Why?

Guardian Enzo

2008-01-16, 01:28

I dunno - the character designs, for one, especially Jun. Something about the overall tone and pacing just reminds me of it, though I can't quite say specifically what.

HaZzArD

2008-01-16, 01:29

anyone know the name of the song from 11:40 to 12:15 in the first episode?

TIA

Haruyasha

2008-01-16, 02:43

I dunno - the character designs, for one, especially Jun. Something about the overall tone and pacing just reminds me of it, though I can't quite say specifically what.

That he looks like a girl?

Xcomp

2008-01-17, 21:19

Regarding Strega, the pills, and everyone having Personas...

Aren't Shadows and Personas basically two sides of the same coin? And thanks to the Nyx incident, Minato did manage to save the world, but if I remember correctly, a lot of Shadows were also "unleashed"/given birth to during that moment, thanks to the utmost despair of people felt during that time. Maybe that's what gave everyone - well, almost everyone - the ability to have Personas?

Wasn't Apathy Syndrome caused by Shadows devouring the mental health of people? And if people with Personas are now causing Apathy Syndrome...then maybe these Personas aren't really Personas?

And if I remember correctly, the pills weren't used to help the person summon his/her Persona, but instead to suppress it.
Shadows and Personas both live in the unconscious part of a human. Evokers are not needed to summon Personas. They are used to create fear in the user to help stabilise the summoning process when they reach beyond their conscious minds to unlock their Persona.

This is maybe the reason why there needs to be more than one person taking part in Kagenuki. They probably need someone to help draw out that Persona but... It's just a guess. I don't see why people would be summoning Shadows really.

And no, Apathy Syndrome isn't Shadows devouring minds. Shadows are an essential part of the human mind for them to think and act normally. As a part of Nyx, they are sealed away safely until a person seeks or has forgotten about death. The Shadow then grows in power, breaking free from the mind and will look as if it is devouring away within the Dark Hour when in fact, it is reuniting with the others that have been freed. When the human has lost this essential part of their mind, they can no longer act normally causing Apathy Syndrome.

Yeah, I read all this from the Persona FES Fanbook (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2007/11/11/persona-3-goodies-p3-fes-fanbook-and-drama-cds/) and P3 Club (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/persona-club-p3-book-a-collection-of-fanart-and-interesting-details/) :eyespin:
Ep2 is pretty weak in terms of plot and char development.
Shadows pulling feels like something too powerful and mystical for random high school kids to be doing. Granted, this is entirely fictional universe, but even cops seem to have no idea about it.

I was thinking about that too but, maybe only the summoners can see what's happening or the "chosen" ones.

Why aren't all the school students targeted ? I would think they are easier pray than the ones protected by police ... unless the "bad guys" know about this, but leave things be for some reason of their own. At any rate, going by Shin's brothers comments (him preferring if they wouldn't be in this city at all), i assume this phenomenon is directly related to this city in question.

Seems only the special class A ones that are listed are being targeted for their Personas. And yeah, probably is something big happening with the entire city. Otherwise Ryo wouldn't try to make his brothers leave.

Especially when you factor in the fact that the boys who (presumably) spiked her drink weren't in the karoake box with her when she finally got around to drinking it. They really had to trust their luck to fate if them spiking her drink is what happened.

The drinks were probably brought to their rooms. Notice the phone in the room? When you go to these places, you can order stuff with it and someone will bring in what you want. Those guys look intimidating enough to stop the waiter before spiking the drinks and forcing him to direct the drink to Megumi. Evil, I tell you.

Zephyr_Mage

2008-01-18, 01:43

The kids don't know about pulling Personas out of their bodies. It is just an in-thing to do at high school.
Junpei Mk II knew nothing about Personas.

Guido

2008-01-18, 14:40

Episode two was packed with lots of interesting things and connections revealed, and this series is starting to exceed my expectations.

With all the stuff that I've picked up from episode two I can conclude the following statement with solid evidence:

Persona as Shin told to Takurou at the end of the episode must be the spiritual entities that manifested from within him, Takurou, the stalker guy from the previous episode, Ryou, as well as other that might possess a Persona inside of them.

I assume, since I have never play the games, that Persona's are independent manifestations from the host's consciousness; the darkest realm of one's own consciousness.
I assume that some of them, if not most, are independent because every time that Shin felt threatened by their pressence his own Persona manifested out from within him without him being ever consciously awared of. His Persona likely acted out of survival instinct to protect him.

As well I also assume that the apathy syndrome may or not be provoked through shadow-stripping. What the stalker did to that girl, named Yumi, in the previous episode was to forcefully extract her Persona with his own Persona.
However, inspector Ryou interfered at the last minute with his Persona before the extraction could be succesffuly completed.

Unfortunately, Yumi's Persona suffered serious damage making it unable to be recovered, and Yumi herself was lost as a potential or what Ryou refers to the people with Persona as latent ones.

The conflict issue rose in episode two is that the police is finding among the teenager population those who are latent ones and try to secure them. On the other hand, stalker guy forms part of a sinister group along with the rough guy and the green-haired girl seen in episode two, who are also busy finding and screening among the population latent ones and trying to secure them for some murky purpose, although I presume that the police intentions upon the latent ones that they secure cannot be that good-will either.

Another aspect explored in episode two was shadow-stripping likened to a common trend among the high-schoolers of Naginimori high school.

Takurou says that everybody does it, but Megumi objects that it may be dangerous; Shin later holds to that disposition after doing shadow-stripping on Takurou's request.

What I speculate is that while maybe or not all the people have a Persona within them not all of them are latent ones.

Shin had the bad news of getting his Persona accidentally seen and him being identified as an A plus level by his pursuers.

Takurou was amazed as well that Jin possessed also a Persona like him; a high possibility that Takurou might be a latent one.

I also suspect that Morimoto maybe a latent one as well.

Grimkill7

2008-01-18, 15:36

I knew I should have finished the game before I came into this thread. Because of my idiotic habit of clicking spoiler tags no matter what the contents, I now know the ending despite only being done with 25% of the game. I'm so stupid :eyespin:

Anyways, I just watched episodes 1 and 2 back-to-back and I like what I'm seeing for the most part. I miss the evokers though, very much so. How badass would it have been for people who haven't played the game to see the main character point a gun at his head and pull the trigger? The summoning of personas doesn't seem as epic or exciting in the anime.

On the plus side, the series is finally earning its M for Mature rating. People torn inside-out, rapes and illicit drugs?
I say yay.

Btw, did anyone else notice something strikingly familiar with the karaoke song that was playing as the girls went to the restroom? :heh:

KiNA

2008-01-19, 04:49

I know nothing about the game or even the anime .. but I saw the title .. and I saw the subbing group .. and say, what the heck and proceed to download this :D

Sticking.. ep 1 kinda interest me despite the lack of object of interest for me :D

Deathkillz

2008-01-19, 12:21

ep 3...
Confusing ending to the ep >_<

Half of the evil gang is terminated by ryo while the other half goes after shin. They tried to suck shin but something happens with causes one of them to have a spazm (really confused here O.o). We see a strange red haired girl also near the end...seems like she has some connection with the brothers (?).

Pretty nice ep...decent action as well. So megumi didn't get rapped afterall because at the time Kanaru happened to pull out her persona and turns one of the guys inside out - kinda creepy :heh:

Shin manages to hack into his brother's computer...and any time now he should have finished reading all the details on persona...

The girl from ep 1 ended up in hospital and in a vegitative state. So happens that she is megumi's senpai O.o

rpgkiller999

2008-01-20, 02:52

Glad that Megumi is fine and kicking. Surprise how strong Shin's persona is. I mean his persona woke up not so long ago but he can handle 2 at a time. From what I see, the guy who gank up on Shin tried to save his partner's persona and absorbed the pain himself.
I am guessing the red hair girl at the end is the brothers' long lost sister.

Haruyasha

2008-01-20, 04:05

I noticed that the game lacks 'The World' arcana. Perhaps they could somehow incorporate that into the anime.

Hemisphere

2008-01-20, 07:10

The World is in the game. It's just not that obvious till you see it for yourself.

Xcomp

2008-01-20, 09:48

Episode 3 Summary (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2008/01/19/persona-trinity-soul-03-the-battle-with-the-marebito/). Don't read if you're waiting for the fansubs and hate spoilers :p

So, it really was the waiter who spiked their drinks. Surprise. Good to see those guys didn't manage to have their way although it was obvious it wasn't going to happen. It's the typical route stories go. Too bad they didn't get a normal beating :p

Kanaru seems to be awfully suspicious after this episode. Last time it looked as if they were dragged off by force when in fact, it was Kanaru who agreed to have a game of Kagenuki with them. It's heavily implied she has something to do with the Reverse cases and the Marebito but who knows.

Should be interesting to see what Shin manages to dig up from Ryo's computer. What did Touma mean when he said they were after the same thing Ryo was?

Also looks like Takuro had a visit from Igor too! We need to see some Velvet Room footage!

Haruyasha

2008-01-20, 18:31

The World is in the game. It's just not that obvious till you see it for yourself.

Well, that's based on assumptions.

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-20, 19:15

^ huh? Given how the end turned out, assumption or not, it's probably safe to say that The World (or The Universe) was the last card to appear in the game.

No surprises how the attempted rape turned out. Although I can't tell if it was Kanaru's persona or Megumi's persona that killed the punk.

It's pretty early in the show and half of Marebito has already been KO'ed. So I guess they aren't really that important in the larger scheme of things?

The persona battles are disappointing. Quite frankly, unless you've previously played the game, you'd probably think that the characters are summoning spirit-mechas to fight their battles, rather than mythological creatures. Look - Ryo's persona uses a laser cannon. Wow. It's Gundam!

I'm not sure why Shin and Jun are so shy around Eiko, or is simply teenage infatuation for an older woman?

The mysterious red-haired girl is most likely the missing sister, Yuki. But she didn't originally have red-hair, so I could be wrong.

At this point, the show hasn't quite grown on me yet and to be sure, I don't it's likely to happen anymore. But I'm still going to keep watching, simply because it's the sequel to Persona 3.

plzd0ntkeelme

2008-01-21, 08:17

Ep3 is a huge improvement from ep2. I'm glad the director doesn't try to fit too many things in one ep to come up with a cliffhanger. Eiko is a great addition to the series altho' she might not have anything to do with Persona. What I dislike is probably the over-convenience of the persona. Shin was hijacked from behind by one of the marebitos and lost consciousness and then, instead of his persona disappear or returning to him, it defeat the girl's persona and cut the tentacles all with its own mind. The problem with this setting, is that as opposed to using strategy to outsmart each other, the winner will be decided by simply who has the strongest persona. I'm looking forward to ep4 hopefully with some explanation about the red-haired loli.

FlareKnight

2008-01-21, 17:56

Well at least they took care of the what the heck was going on with the drinks. Having a waiter who works with those guys and spikes the drinks so they can rape girls works. Though I'm Kanaru girl, you say shadow pull to her and she'd follow you right to hell. Seriously obsessed with it and that time it almost got her burned big time.

Marebito better have a powerful boss or something since they got taken down big time. They certainly are no Strega.

Well something hasn't quite pulled me in with the show yet. Though since its a sequel to the game will keep following along to see how it all goes.

The Bloodlust Kid

2008-01-21, 18:12

anyone know the name of the song from 11:40 to 12:15 in the first episode?

TIA

I think it was Changing Seasons. Reincarnation version.

By the way, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Kagenuki similar to the ritual used to summon Personas in the first two games?

Oh and I like how Junpei Mk II said "Let's do that again!" after his persona was summoned.

Xcomp

2008-01-21, 22:16

No surprises how the attempted rape turned out. Although I can't tell if it was Kanaru's persona or Megumi's persona that killed the punk.

It's pretty early in the show and half of Marebito has already been KO'ed. So I guess they aren't really that important in the larger scheme of things?

The persona battles are disappointing. Quite frankly, unless you've previously played the game, you'd probably think that the characters are summoning spirit-mechas to fight their battles, rather than mythological creatures. Look - Ryo's persona uses a laser cannon. Wow. It's Gundam!

It's pretty much implied it was Kanaru with the look she had on her face when the others arrived. The sort of dazed look the others get when they summon their Personas.

And yes, the Marebito are ridiculously weak. The show's not going to last long if they don't throw in some powerful or smart enemies soon although this "Kyujou" guy is still in the dark.

So what's your guesses on the number of episodes, people? I think it will probably be 25 so that it lasts until summer.

Shin was hijacked from behind by one of the marebitos and lost consciousness and then, instead of his persona disappear or returning to him, it defeat the girl's persona and cut the tentacles all with its own mind. The problem with this setting, is that as opposed to using strategy to outsmart each other, the winner will be decided by simply who has the strongest persona.

Yeah, the power's kind of unbalanced between the "sides" just now. However, Personas are supposed to be born from the unconsciousness anyway so Shin's Persona should still be able to move. Only thing is, they are supposed to listen to commands so I don't know why only Shin's one seems to be able to act on its own. Part of the mystery I guess.

anyone know the name of the song from 11:40 to 12:15 in the first episode?

TIA
That's the rapping part isn't it? It wasn't in the game so it will probably come out on the OST. It's Lotus Juice (http://www.lotusjuice.com/) who does the rapping though, the same person who rapped for the P3 tracks.

Oh and I like how Junpei Mk II said "Let's do that again!" after his persona was summoned.

LOL, Junpei MK-II... Where are you guys getting these names? :heh: I don't blame you though since the new cast of characters do feel like a replica of the P3 cast. There are Japanese referring to Megumi as "Nise-Yukari" which means "Fake Yukari" or "Yukari Imposter" :p

Sageblink

2008-01-22, 04:42

Yeah, the power's kind of unbalanced between the "sides" just now. However, Personas are supposed to be born from the unconsciousness anyway so Shin's Persona should still be able to move. Only thing is, they are supposed to listen to commands so I don't know why only Shin's one seems to be able to act on its own. Part of the mystery I guess.

As his brother seems to take some suppressant pills, I'd say...
That Shin is the only "A type user" we've seen so far in combat. That's why his persona is summoned without drugs or game... Or whatever.

Then we got the B type, activated by playing the game.
User in trance, Persona acting on its own.

And the Junkie type. User full awake, Persona like a puppet.

But it's just my guess...

Guido

2008-01-22, 19:38

Persona continues to dazzle me with its complex story. Rather than focusing on developing the characters the animation staff are investing their efforts upon building / developing the storyline.

Every episode is packed with loads of information whether be revealed or to have the viewer make his or her speculations about what's happening.

Toma and Soutarou belong to the 'Marebito'. Looks like from Toma's conversation with Ryou, they have been wanting the chief for quite a while.

The Marebito are looking for special latent ones, or more specifically for latent ones that have a special type of Persona.

The rest of Nagemori police department either is at odds or plainly distrusts Chief Ryou, because he's upholding and keeping the information about what really happened to the victims that suffered the apathy syndrome, although I believe it's more like that Ryou doesn't want the police to meddle because as Toma commented they can't do anything to track the 'Marebito'.

Shin had another assault due that they deemed his Persona a special type, but their plan backfired.

Other thing mention is that Yumi's failed extraction of her Persona, resulted in her becoming a carrier. A 'carrier' of what? for the apathy syndrome? or the reverse syndrome?

And what exactly happened in the room when Morimoto was forced to witness helplessly as those jerks were about to abuse of Megumi, who was unconscious due to the effects of the drug?

Morimoto's face looked quite regretful, or more like she couldn't find the words or timing to tell both Shin and Takerou what really happened on that room.
I speculate and suspect like Shin and Takurou Morimoto has as well a Persona, but she's afraid and ashamed to tell them her secret.

Since I have never played the game, I have a scarce idea of what triggers the Reverse syndrome. What can I only come up with at the moment is maybe or not one person's Persona get infused with another during a painful extraction. But this is only a personal inference.

Then, we have that mysterious, red-head girl watching over Ryou's every movements and whose presence barely he can sense. Who is she? and what is she's waiting for?

This episode was the turnaround. At least, we now know what the Marebito are after, and why Ryou is acting hostile towards Shin and Jun.
He's concerned about his silblings' safety and do not want them to get involved in the mess that's happening everywhere in the city, so he wants to send them back but is now too late because Shin has already gone past the point of no return once he broke through the password and got access to the 'A'-list that Ryou compiled in his computer.

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-22, 21:00

Since I have never played the game, I have a scarce idea of what triggers the Reverse syndrome. What can I only come up with at the moment is maybe or not one person's Persona get infused with another during a painful extraction. But this is only a personal inference.

The Reverse Syndrome is an anime-original and has nothing to do with the game, so those who have played the game wouldn't have any idea what's causing it either, beyond what we've already seen in Episode 2.

Edgewalker

2008-01-23, 00:25

Im amazed that this is extremely good and not fail. Most of the time games like this tend to cause poor/rushed anime in their name. ( those that shall not be named... )

gonzo562

2008-01-23, 01:06

i think this series is pretty interesting. Its nice to see something different then the typical mecha anime

Sageblink

2008-01-23, 07:09

i think this series is pretty interesting. Its nice to see something different then the typical mecha anime

It's different because Personae are not Mecha-type beings... :heh:

U<3Anime

2008-01-23, 18:42

It's different because Personae are not Mecha-type beings... :heh:

That`s my only gripe with the series so far. The designs for the personas are too mecha-like.

Larsith

2008-01-23, 22:21

That`s my only gripe with the series so far. The designs for the personas are too mecha-like.

They look more like similar to the armoured ones so far, but I blame the mecha-like thing on the fact that you can barely even see the damn things in the night fights. It doesn't help that they are translucent too. I wish the fights had more Bufu.

By the way, anyone have any suggestions for which group to grab from? Oi was late this week so I grabbed the EIGS release and it's pretty good so far.

KiNA

2008-01-24, 01:24

@ Guido .. a carrier probably a downgrade title ^.^ .. She once have a working persona, but now she dont .. sort of a widow title @.@

IMHO probably.

This series kinda intrigues me.. so extending my stay even tho I have no idea of what happening around :heh:

The Bloodlust Kid

2008-01-24, 02:07

That`s my only gripe with the series so far. The designs for the personas are too mecha-like.

It's a tradition I suppose. The Personas are suppose to be a given a humanoid/mecha design to them.

U<3Anime

2008-01-24, 03:46

They look more like similar to the armoured ones so far, but I blame the mecha-like thing on the fact that you can barely even see the damn things in the night fights. It doesn't help that they are translucent too. I wish the fights had more Bufu.

Ahhh yes...after watching Episode 3, (yea I actually didn`t watch ep 3 yet before making my last post) I would also put that as another problem. The personas are way too translucent and since the a majority of the battles takes place at night just makes it even worse. Especially, the Chief`s persona, due to fact that its dark blue, it just seems to blend into the sky like a chameleon.

It's a tradition I suppose. The Personas are suppose to be a given a humanoid/mecha design to them.

Besides humanoid types personas, there are many beasts and creature like ones too. The problem is that it seems like everyone have the same type of personas. Mecha-humanoid-like with fluorescent tapes all over them. To me, they are lacking variety or just not as well thought as the personas from the games.

taelrak

2008-01-24, 10:03

How much continuity is there between Persona 3 and the anime? I'm debating whether to go play the game first before watching the anime or if there's any sense waiting.

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-24, 10:46

At this point, almost none. The only "continuity" we've seen so far are 1) soundtrack, 2) one supporting character from the game, 3) one "possible" character from the game (we've only heard his voice so far).

Play the game. It only sucked away 170hrs of my life. And I didn't even have Satan+Lucifer.

hachihachi

2008-01-24, 11:39

i'm waiting for jun to "get in touch" with his persona. and i want to know what happened to his twin sister.

nubby

2008-01-24, 11:55

By the way, anyone have any suggestions for which group to grab from? Oi was late this week so I grabbed the EIGS release and it's pretty good so far.

I would stay away from Oi subs unless you want to pause the video every few seconds or so to read the subtitle. Their subtitles come up and disappear way too quick.

hachihachi

2008-01-24, 12:04

i'm fine with AINEX fansubs

The Bloodlust Kid

2008-01-24, 15:49

Haruyasha

2008-01-24, 18:11

i'm fine with AINEX fansubs

How's the translation on that?

I'm looking at Shinsen's version, and I don't really see why it's that popular. Subtitles on it are way too large. Not to mention how they also fail to release h264 versions.

foux

2008-01-24, 19:24

How's the translation on that?

I'm looking at Shinsen's version, and I don't really see why it's that popular. Subtitles on it are way too large. Not to mention how they also fail to release h264 versions.
About translations, someone posted these in another forum. I dont know either wich one is the most correct one, hehe.

http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z57/twohandsrevy/personasubs.png
http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/2065/comp1dk6.th.png (http://img142.imageshack.us/my.php?image=comp1dk6.png) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1525/comp2qk8.th.png (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=comp2qk8.png) http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/2971/comp3as3.th.png (http://img220.imageshack.us/my.php?image=comp3as3.png)

Larsith

2008-01-24, 19:30

How's the translation on that?

I'm looking at Shinsen's version, and I don't really see why it's that popular. Subtitles on it are way too large. Not to mention how they also fail to release h264 versions.

The translation on the ainex subs is Japanese->Chinese->English, or so it seems. There's some really weird phrasing of some lines and sometimes they're just wrong, but they are generally pretty fast to release.

I've been watching the EIGS releases and they've been good, as long as you don't mind not having any karaoke at all.

foux

2008-01-24, 19:44

according to the credits they have in op, the TL is done by nin7... who i know does jap-eng tls in another group. Dont know about the tlc guy "fireboy" there tho. So it can't be jap-chi-eng.

The show itself is getting interesting in some parts but defeating enemy is really easy...

Haruyasha

2008-01-26, 16:44

The translation on the ainex subs is Japanese->Chinese->English, or so it seems. There's some really weird phrasing of some lines and sometimes they're just wrong, but they are generally pretty fast to release.

I've been watching the EIGS releases and they've been good, as long as you don't mind not having any karaoke at all.

I noticed that about Aniex after I watched it, some of the subs don't stay true to what the characters actually said.. Quality is pretty good though. Perhaps I'll give EIGS a try.

Now regarding episode 4:

I lolled, it's wrong in my mind a bit since Jun is just too feminine:
http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/8958/89289375ll1.jpg
Seriously.. he looks like a groper:
http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/6961/37318191hb9.jpg
Yeeep:
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8598/junng3.jpg

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-26, 23:29

I'm pleasantly surprised! I think the series is finally starting to come into its own. Granted, I don't understand most of Episode 4 yet, but from what little I could understand, I like it very much.

I think this is the first episode where I've actually noticed the BGM accentuating the show. I liked the melody in background when Shin and Jun were reminiscing about their parents, for example. And this is also the first time I noticed a fuller version of the red-haired girl's theme -- it sounds like a melancholic opera tune.

That's great, because for once, I'm not trying to listen out for Persona 3 soundtracks. That, to me, is a good sign that Trinity Soul is starting to move into completely original ground, rather than trying to be a sequel to the game. That makes things a lot more interesting, for me, at least.

I also liked how this episode explored the brothers' relationship. At times tender, at other times slightly sad, tinged with a sense of loss. (Ha, I was right, Shin did have a crush on Eiko.) Ryo had once been a warm-hearted big brother, but something changed him into the stone-faced police chief he is today. I liked how he tried to cover the scar on Jun's left temple.

And so, it's no longer a mystery. Jun's missing twin is his "persona". And quite possibly, Jun shares her persona as well. However, it seems that this was the result of some experiement or medical procedure which Ryo is aware of, as revealed by his flashback.

Finally, I liked how Shin decided not to rat on his brother in the end.

All-in-all, a great episode. Much as I would like to know what happened to the original cast, I would very much prefer to watch an original story set in the same continuity instead. Hope it continues that way. :)

And yes, Jun looks a lot prettier as a girl. :p

sb075

2008-01-27, 05:06

It seems that Jun calls his brothers "niichan", while his female personality calls them "oniichan"

Xcomp

2008-01-27, 08:39

Full summary (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2008/01/27/persona-trinity-soul-04-memories-of-the-kanzato-family/) for episode 4.

I think this is the first episode where I've actually noticed the BGM accentuating the show. I liked the melody in background when Shin and Jun were reminiscing about their parents, for example. And this is also the first time I noticed a fuller version of the red-haired girl's theme -- it sounds like a melancholic opera tune.

That's great, because for once, I'm not trying to listen out for Persona 3 soundtracks. That, to me, is a good sign that Trinity Soul is starting to move into completely original ground, rather than trying to be a sequel to the game. That makes things a lot more interesting, for me, at least.

I also liked how this episode explored the brothers' relationship. At times tender, at other times slightly sad, tinged with a sense of loss. (Ha, I was right, Shin did have a crush on Eiko.) Ryo had once been a warm-hearted big brother, but something changed him into the stone-faced police chief he is today. I liked how he tried to cover the scar on Jun's left temple.

And so, it's no longer a mystery. Jun's missing twin is his "persona". And quite possibly, Jun shares her persona as well. However, it seems that this was the result of some experiement or medical procedure which Ryo is aware of, as revealed by his flashback.

Yeah, I was getting bored of P3 tunes being reused too since this was a new show. It was good at first though and they certainly couldn't have used a different tune for Igore :D

I'm not quite sure what happened at the end but, I think that Persona belongs to his sister because it was projected after Jun "changed" to her. Either that, or they share the same Persona as twins. The surgery flashback was probably part of some transplant operation after their accident.

I also think we can be pretty sure the mystery girl isn't their sister. I think she has something to do with that "Feathers of a Whale" book the brothers find. The girl always has feathers floating around her and someone whenever there's disappearances at sea, she seems to be involved too. "Kujira" has two meanings, whale or the constellation Cetus that represents a monster. Since all the disappearances occur when people are diving, I think the title of the book can be referring to both meanings.
It seems that Jun calls his brothers "niichan", while his female personality calls them "oniichan"

Well noticed. Yes, it seems so. This episode started off with Jun calling his brother "Nii-chan" then when he spilled the food and tells them to stop fighting, he says "Onii-chan". When he "changes" into his sister, he also refers to them as "Onii-chan".

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-27, 10:29

^ Actually, this was the first image that came to my mind when I saw the title, "Feathers of a Whale":

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/islien/whaleFlight.jpg

It's the cover of Flight Volume Four: 4 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flight-Four-4-Kazu-Kibuishi/dp/0345490401/ref=pd_sim_b_img_1/026-2581657-0708461)

But that's neither here nor there, nor is it related to Persona in any way. The "whale" in Trinity Soul may well be what you've suggested. :)

sapphire-pyro

2008-01-27, 10:46

That flight cover looks beautiful *_*

I haven't seen the 4th episode yet but I saw the screenshots and . . .

Jun looks so damn pretty as Yuki *_* So sad that Yuki only lives through him. But I like it that there's still the twin connection *_*

Shin is adorable . . .'nuff said :D hehe . . .and oh yes to his awesome sketches *_*

Shin and Jun boding is just so cute :D

I knew Ryo can't be as heartless as he seems to be xD Yay!

I'm so crazy about the brothers *_*

Deathkillz

2008-01-27, 12:00

Ash Falls Town

2008-01-28, 01:49

If Jun is half a girl though can he still be called a trap though?
Ryo still is annoying but at least he's only acting. Shin seems to have figured this out so yay Shin.
Hopefully now the brothers will get along better now. I really liked the Shin-Jun bonding scene. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Hoping for a bitter sweet-ending. A perfectly happy ending is probably to much to hope for considering megaten.
All things considered I think when the series finishes I'll understand it.

Haruyasha

2008-01-28, 02:30

The trap needs to turn into a real girl pronto!

ep 4
The mystery girl is definitely not their dead sister imo. I think she still lives on inside Jun actually as his persona. Though I wish that they would switch the roles :rolleyes:

shin and his sketch made me lawl...childhood crush ya? XD

The scar probably has a lot to do with why Jun is acting like that. The dual beds.. perhaps his sister's persona (literally) was transfered into him?

molitar

2008-01-28, 11:35

Ugg.. so who has the best release? This one is such poor quality for Shinsen Subs I can't barely stand to watch it. The fonts are so horribly done and rendered that they take away from the episodes itself. Why they use such a horrible looking font I just don't know. So anyways I definitely can't watch SS release of this with it's quality of font. So who has been the best so far?

Right now I would rather watch Ainex even if it has some weird phrases and bad translations because the font does not DETRACT from the show at all and is much easier to read than SS release. I just have to wonder why SS would release without their usual Quality and TLC they usually put in their releases.

cmanimevids3000

2008-01-28, 15:03

Oi has a decent release and now Moetaku/Sekai and AnimeYoshi are releasing but behind. Orange-Side is my group and we are releasing but I won't promote ours because truthfully its all up to opinion which one people download. Ours should be out late tonight I am hoping. As well as episode 3, we kinda had some sign issues with that episode lol.

I just saw Anime Yoshi's release and they has the Main characters Family name translated as Kazato, but it is Kanzato so I would not reccomend that one... Um... Like I said above, Oi is good and Moetaku/Sekai are good. As well as our release ^_^ so try checking those out.

plzd0ntkeelme

2008-01-28, 16:14

Ep4 is decent. I'm kinda disappointed with the lack of action which should be obligatory to this kind of series. It also feels like a filler with how it's mostly about the brothers' relationship instead of about persona, which is the title of the show. I hope the focus switch back to its premise next ep.

Arm

2008-01-28, 19:38

I just saw Anime Yoshi's release and they has the Main characters Family name translated as Kazato, but it is Kanzato so I would not reccomend that one... Um... Like I said above, Oi is good and Moetaku/Sekai are good. As well as our release ^_^ so try checking those out.

It was actually translated correctly when the older brother introduced himself, but was typesetted wrong on the sign of the house.

That aside, AniYoshi easily has the best quality out of the groups, but they're a bit slow.

molitar

2008-01-28, 22:01

I just saw Anime Yoshi's release and they has the Main characters Family name translated as Kazato, but it is Kanzato so I would not reccomend that one... Um... Like I said above, Oi is good and Moetaku/Sekai are good. As well as our release ^_^ so try checking those out.

Well I will take a look at yours.. Even tho Ainex has issues it's still the one I ended up watching because the FONT type is so clean and easy on the eyes to read. The others are so bleh or ugly that it detracts from the episode.

LKK

2008-01-28, 22:08

I'd like to hear some opinions on what the animal heads during the ED might signify. I haven't got a clue as to what they might mean. :confused:

XiaNaphryz

2008-01-28, 22:15

All-in-all, a great episode. Much as I would like to know what happened to the original cast, I would very much prefer to watch an original story set in the same continuity instead. Hope it continues that way. :)

I have a strong feeling that we'll be seeing the original cast towards the latter half of the season, ala ROD TV. There has to be some sort of connection with the original game story and what's going on now, considering how the end of the game went and all.

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-29, 00:42

I'd like to hear some opinions on what the animal heads during the ED might signify. I haven't got a clue as to what they might mean. :confused:

The animal heads probably reflect the students' "true" personalities. The way they are presented on-screen suggests that they are running towards flight — the last student literally flies away. Couple that with the lyrics ED, "Suicides Love Story", perhaps it's a sublimal message about attaining freedom through suicide? That would echo the suicide motif from Persona 3.

molitar

2008-01-29, 01:36

Well I just grabbed the episode 3 from Orange to see how it is. The font type is nice and clean and quality is not bad for Xvid. Now to see how fast they keep up with the rest of the series once they get episode 4 out.

cmanimevids3000

2008-01-29, 02:12

We should have Episode 4 out tomorrow. Edit 2 going on now, Typesetting is done and then we just haveta QC for Final Encode and Release ^_^ Nice to hear you liked it!

kamikazex

2008-01-29, 05:41

wow she was a girl?!!!!

TinyRedLeaf

2008-01-29, 05:44

She comes with extra equipment too!

:rolleyes:

Sageblink

2008-01-29, 06:31

The animal heads probably reflect the students' "true" personalities.

A "persona", in psychology, is the way people see you, in a collective way.
Exemple : you might appear confident to all people but in fact, you're not.

So you're right, but in my opinion, it's more the mask they wear to "protect" themselves that their "true" personnality.

"Yes I'm a dog, so what ?!" :heh:

arkxkra

2008-01-29, 09:20

the youngest brother has a girl personality?(she was cute @.@"). Suddenly become a girl look i damn shock. How he get the scar, hopefully later will explain.

molitar

2008-01-29, 18:20

So my question who is Yuki? Was that a sister they had? It appeared that when he returned the feather that Yuki possessed him temporarily and said she could not hear Ryou-niichan's voice anymore. Sounds like they might of had a sister and when he made his wish that she temporarily possessed him.

LKK

2008-01-29, 18:26

Mgz

2008-01-30, 02:23

Yuki is Jun's twin sister. She died in an accident. The details of the accident haven't been given yet. Based on a few comments, I think the accident happened 10 years ago. The scar on Jun's forehead is most likely from the same accident.

Voldemort tried to kill Jun but Yuki die trying to protect her brother, hence the scar on Jun forehead :uhoh:

nvm lol *_*

I like the mysterious feeling that this series brings, I have no clue what is going on and they unfold bit by bit.. I wish Shin would tell the truth to Ryo about the monster thingy,etc...

LKK

2008-01-30, 11:04

I wish Shin would tell the truth to Ryo about the monster thingy,etc...
That would certainly help Shin get things straight in his head about the situation. But I don't blame him for not saying anything to Ryo. Ryo certainly hasn't been in "You can tell me anything" mode since Shin arrived. If someone told me to move out of town as soon as possible, I wouldn't be inclined to go to him with mysterious monster problems.

rpgkiller999

2008-02-03, 02:48

Lost translation in epi 5:

For those who wonder why Jun's persona didn't do anything after releasing,

Jun's persona: 'Screw this, I am getting out of here!'

Xcomp

2008-02-03, 07:49

Episode 5 summary (http://xcomp.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/persona-trinity-soul-05-the-gathering-of-personas/). Things are finally heating up.

We finally get a look at who the mastermind behind the Marebito is and I'm guessing they're collecting Special A Class Personas to increase the density (can't think of a better word) of a certain being. Marebito means beings from another world so possibly they're trying to use the gathered Personas to bring someone or something into the "real" world. Maybe it's the red haired girl? She might not be in the real world yet since she keeps disappearing and it's hinted from the last episode that she could be similar to Cetus.

Also good to see the main cast are starting to be able to summon their Personas at will now without the aid of Kagenuki. Perhaps soon we'll see a team being formed to face the Marebito but definitely not next episode since Ryo disappears somewhere apparently. Also, Kanaru and Megumi have yet to summon their Personas at will really and, that will be crucial if they are to be part of the team if there is one.
^ Actually, this was the first image that came to my mind when I saw the title, "Feathers of a Whale":

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/islien/whaleFlight.jpg

It's the cover of Flight Volume Four: 4 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flight-Four-4-Kazu-Kibuishi/dp/0345490401/ref=pd_sim_b_img_1/026-2581657-0708461)
Nice cover! Wouldn't mind having that up as a painting on my wall or just my desktop wallpaper :D

I'd like to hear some opinions on what the animal heads during the ED might signify. I haven't got a clue as to what they might mean. :confused:
Someone on 2ch was speculating each of them represents a number of Major Arcanas. For example, the first guy with the bucket for a head is The Fool (Yay, my new avatar!), the very first arcana numbered zero which is when someone is just born. The dog headed girl symbolises up to arcana number three, The Empress. He gave a whole list but the thread's been archived now and I think he's right. The last human girl who flies into the sky is the last arcana "The World", an ending to the cycle of life and flying to heaven.

I wish Shin would tell the truth to Ryo about the monster thingy,etc...

Well, Shin finally did even though Ryo tried to ignore him in this episode. He doesn't say much though but sounds very desperate to get them out of the city.