Persona 4 The Animation

Persona 4 The Animation is a television anime adaptation of Persona 4 that was created by AIC ASTA and overseen by Aniplex, using the same characters, setting and narrative of the source material. Shigenori Soejima and Shoji Meguro, the original's art director and music composer, respectively, return in their former roles.
==Air and Release Dates==
*MBS: October 6, 2011 - March 29, 2012
*TBS: October 7, 2011 - March 30, 2012
*CBC: October 12, 2011 - April 4, 2012
*Persona 4 The Animation - The Factor of Hope: June 9, 2012
*U.S. Retail Episodes 1-12 - September 18, 2012
*U.S. Retail Episodes 13-26 - January 15, 2013
*U.K Retail - January 27, 2014
===Re-Releases===
Sentai Filmworks released Persona 4 The Animation Complete Collector’s Edition in the U.S. on September 29, 2015.https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Persona-4-The-Animation-Complete-Series-Blu-ray/132508. This collection included all 26 episodes, including extra footage, such as a Director's Cut of Episode 1.Persona 4 The Animation Complete Collector’s Edition Announced for September Persona Central (Reggy, May 21, 2015) This release included the original game's cast for both the Japanese and English dub of the anime.
Aniplex released Persona 4 the Animation Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc BOX in Japan on April 11, 2018.https://www.p4a.jp/box/box.htmlThis re-release included all 26 episodes of the anime as well as all 12 episodes of Persona 4 The Golden Animation and extra footage for both series.Persona 4 the Animation Soundtrack and Complete Blu-ray Release Announced for April 2018 Persona Central (Reggy, December 23, 2017)
For the first announcement of the Persona 25th Anniversary on September 20th 2021, it was announced that the series would be releasing on various Japanese streaming services over the next few months, during the course of the anniversary celebrations.
==General Information==
The series was broadcast in conjunction with special live midnight broadcasts on the Japanese Nico Video streaming service. These broadcasts were hosted by the characters' voice actors.
On May 27, 2012, plans for a film adaption were announced. Persona 4 The Animation -The Factor of Hope- compiled the anime into a 90-minute film and introduced the non-broadcasted final episode. This was later added as part of the Japanese Blu-Ray release on April 11, 2018.
On May 2, 2014, a second "version" of the anime, Persona 4 The Golden Animation, was announced for a July broadcast on MBS and TBS, featuring an updated retelling of the story utilizing the updated story elements from Persona 4 Golden.
== List of Episodes==
== Episode-related Trivia ==
===Episode 1 - You're myself, I'm Yourself.===
*The TV in the background at Junes was showing the opening scene from Spring of the Dead from the Highschool of the Dead anime series. Both Highschool of the Dead and Persona 4 The Animation were produced by Sentai Filmworks.
*When Dojima pulls into Moel gas station and the attendant asks if he's going on a trip, Dojima responds with, "No, I just got back from picking my nephew up from the airport." This is wrong considering Yu came in on the train.
===Episode 5 - Would You Love Me?===
* When Ai Ebihara calls Yu Narukami, the ringtone of his cellphone is the piece "Zigeunerweisen" by Pablo de Sarasate, which is played in the game Catherine when the player dies.
===Episode 7 - Suspicious Tropical Paradise===
*Right at the start, Margaret mistakenly refers to Yukiko's Arcana as the Empress in the dubbed English version, including some subtitled ones.
===Episode 8 - We've Lost Something Important Again===
*The transition right after the commercial break shows Yosuke's notebook, and the various things he wrote down. One of these things is "What does 'Ressentiment' mean?", likely a reference to his role in Persona 4 Arena, where his title was "Captain Ressentiment." The "note" could also be a reference to the game, Persona 4, where on June 27 King Moron asks the main character "What does 'Ressentiment' mean?"
===Episode 9 - No One Sees The Real Me===
*The opening is changed and featured a special opening (with the song "True Story") for the first appearance of Rise Kujikawa.
*At 14:09–14:12, the viewer can see a book poster reading "1Q46." This is likely a reference to Haruki Murakami's series.
*When walking up to the tofu shop, Mitsuo Kubo can be seen, hinting his role later as a "Red Herring."
*You can see the tail light, the side, and the rear portion of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII (CT9A).
*Instead of disappearing immediately after the Investigation Team catch Rise's stalker, she disappears the day after.
=== Episode 10 - Real Me Doesn't Exist ===
* When Kanji loses his goofy glasses given to him by Teddie and has a hard time finding them, it is a reference to a cliche stereotype depicted in older anime (such as Doraemon) of glasses characters having extremely bad vision, and often shown struggling to find their dropped glasses on the ground, often with eye expressions with the number 3 to represent bad vision.
===Episode 12 - It's Not Empty At All===
*The Reincarnation version of "I'll Face Myself -Battle-" is used for Yu's battle with Shadow Mitsuo.
===Episode 13 - A Stormy Summer Vacation 1/2===
*At 03:36, Nanako is seen sitting barefoot watching television when she gets up to greet Yu returning home. She is off-screen for less than a second as she is heard greeting him and running over to him. Yet after Yu asks her if she's heard of Neo Featherman, at 03:55 she is shown from head to toe ... and she is wearing a pair of white socks.
*When Nanako calls Aika to help Kou and Daisuke, the Reincarnation version of "Specialist" is used.
*Kanji is now voiced by Matthew Mercer.
===Episode 14 - A Stormy Summer Vacation 2/2===
*When Yu runs to return the fireworks, the Reincarnation Version of "Reverie" is used.
*When Yu's fishing rod is delivered, Taro Namatame is the one who delivers it to him, hinting at his later involvement in the story.
===Episode 15 - The Long-Awaited School Trip===
*The background music tracks on this episode are entirely from the Persona 3 OST and Persona 3 FES OST.
**Additionally, the opening sequence of this episode uses the "Burn My Dread" theme.
*One of the scenes in the episode is a reference to both Chie Satonaka and Yukari Takeba's Social Links, as Chie is protecting a kid from a bunch of bullies, like in Rank 9 of her Social Link, but the area she is in is the same location Yukari was attacked by bullies, like in Rank 5 of her Social Link.
*During the scene where Yu and the rest are being lectured, their seating seems to resemble that of Junpei Iori, Yukari Takeba, Aigis and the Persona 3 protagonist. In fact, the room they are in is the same homeroom, but that can only be seen by the room arrangement and the teacher who is present during the scene.
===Episode 17 - I Want to Know the Truth===
*After Naoto's Shadow ages Yu, Yosuke, and Teddie, the Kyoto theme from Persona 3 plays during their elderly interactions.
*Yu and Yosuke's elderly form faces are never seen. Teddie's is however.
*In the English dub, when Rise is scanning that Beelzebub is activating Megidolaon against Naoto's Shadow, the attack is mistranslated as "Megidoloaon."
*In the English dub, when Aika brings the Mega Beef Bowl over to Naoto and Yu, she says "one order," except, in the next scene, she clearly brought two.
===Episode 19 - It's School Festival Day! Time to Have Fun!===
*When Ayane plays the trombone, she is playing the chorus of the ending credits of Persona 4, "Never More."
*The reveal of Teddie as the "new comer" during the cross-dressing pageant is directly referencing the Super Smash Bros. newcomer screen, as it uses a similar design with silhouettes.
*When Yu role-plays a girl in the Group Date, Yosuke calls him Yuko. In the English dub, he calls him "Bro-milda," a portmanteau of "bro" and the name "Brumilda."
*Despite Yu never becoming romantically involved with any female characters, both Ebihara and Margaret accuse him of being a "man-whore."
*The non-swimsuit portion of the girls' beauty pageant is skipped.
*Yumi makes a brief cameo appearance standing behind Yu and Daisuke watching the school play.
===True End Episode - No One is Alone===
*During Yu's battle with Izanami-no-Okami, when Lucifer is dismissed, his tarot card is briefly seen as the instead of .
*Kou is implied to have won a basketball game, which suggests he later confesses his feelings to Chie.
*The battle between Yu and Margaret is not related to the battle with Izanami in the game.
*Unlike the game, Rise is shown being killed by Izanami's Thousand Curses attack.
*Yu has a Shadow that is convinced he will not make friends back in Tokyo, which largely echoes Adachi's loneliness.
**Speaking of Yu having a Shadow, this likely isn't in the game because Izanami unlocked Yu's Persona, Izanagi, without him facing his Shadow. Because of this, it's interesting that Yu still has to face a Shadow despite already having his Shadow-turned-Persona.
*The whole aspect of the episode, Narukami reliving March 20th over and over again until he finds "The Truth," may be a reference to Persona 3 FES The Answer, in which the main characters have to relive March 31st until they find "The Answer."
==Differences==
There are notable differences between the original Persona 4 game and anime, including but not limited to:
*A few new characters have been added, such as Aika Nakamura, the daughter of the man who owns Aiya's.
*Many characters possess smartphones, which became prominent after Persona 4 was originally released.
*Ai and Chie do not seem to possess romantic feelings for Yu.
*As to be expected, the dialogue is relatively the same, albeit slightly reduced from the game.
*No main weapons or items are used in combat to battle Shadows, unlike in the game.
*The characters don't pass out when their shadows go berserk.
*Since Johnny Yong Bosch voices both Yu and Adachi, he adjusted the voice for Adachi to sound more raspy and insecure.
*In the English dub, all honorifics have been removed.
*Rise is initially much colder to Yu and his friends. Kanji even states that she "has an attitude."
*Yu can fuse Personas without visiting the Velvet Room, and can do so on-the-fly. Besides Izanagi, he acquires all of his Personas off-screen.
*Social Links, which could take many days to cultivate, are usually maxed within one episode.
*Some characters' appearances have been modified slightly, such as having darker hair or differently colored eyes.
*The Investigation Team's confrontations with their Shadows are further expanded on; the issues that were talked about are given the proper time to be showcased. Chie and Yukiko's childhood is explicitly shown, as is Rise's life prior to her hiatus.
*The language for the animation is considerably more vulgar than the game's. At one point, Kanji says "fuck," which is never said in the game.
*Yu has a Shadow he must face, as opposed to the game, where it is non-existent.
*Though most of the main cast members from the game reprise their roles, there are some characters who have different voice actors. Chie and Teddie are portrayed by the same voice actors from Golden.
*The Investigation Team first realize locals who appear on TV programs are targeted during the school campout, not during a discussion with newly-recruited Kanji.
==Music==
The Animation's soundtrack is composed by Shoji Meguro. It was included as nine bonus CDs, featured alongside the first nine Blu-ray and DVD volumes of Persona 4 the Animation released.
These were re-released as the Persona 4 The Animation Series Original Soundtrack, which included all tracks from the bonus CDs plus the opening and closing themes of Persona 4 The Golden Animation.https://vgmdb.net/album/73743
;Opening themes
*"Pursuing My True Self" by Shihoko Hirata: Episode 1
*"Sky's The Limit" by Shihoko Hirata: Episodes 1-8, 10-12
*"True Story" by Rise Kujikawa (VA: Rie Kugimiya): Episode 9
*"Key Plus Words" by Shihoko Hirata feat. Yumi Kawamura: Episodes 13-14, 16-22
*"Burn My Dread" by Yumi Kawamura: Episode 15
*"Ain't Nobody Can Hold Me Down" by Shihoko Hirata feat. Lotus Juice: Episode 14. This theme plays when Yu Narukami tries to help Eri Minami who was knocked unconscious.
;Ending themes
*"Beauty of Destiny" by Shihoko Hirata feat. Lotus Juice: Episodes 1-12
*"Koisuru Meitantei" by Loveline (VA: Yui Horie): Episode 13
*"The Way of Memories" by Shihoko Hirata: Episodes 14-17, 19-21, 23
*"True Feelings" by Shihoko Hirata: Episode 18
*"Never More" by Shihoko Hirata: Episode 25
==Gallery==
;Volume DVD illustrations
P4A Izanagi Volume 1 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 1 Illustration, Izanagi
P4A Yu Narukami Volume 1 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 1 Illustration, Yu Narukami
P4A Jiraya Volume 2 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 2 Illustration, Jiraiya
P4A Yosuke Hanamura Volume 2 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 2 Illustration, Yosuke Hanamura
P4A Tomoe Gozen Volume 3 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 3 Illustration, Tomoe Gozen
P4A Chie Satonaka Volume 3 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 3 Illustration, Chie Satonaka
P4A Konohana Sakuya Volume 4 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 4 Illustration, Konohana Sakuya
P4A Yukiko Amagi Volume 4 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 4 Illustration, Yukiko Amagi
P4A Take Mikazuchi Volume 5 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 5 Illustration, Take-Mikazuchi
P4A Kanji Tatsumi Volume 5 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 5 Illustration, Kanji Tatsumi
P4A Himiko Volume 6 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 6 Illustration, Himiko
P4A Rise Kujikawa Volume 6 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 6 Illustration, Rise Kujikawa
P4A Kintoki-Douji Volume 7 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 7 Illustration, Kintoki-Douji
P4A Teddie Volume 7 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 7 Illustration, Teddie
P4A Sukuna-Hikona Volume 8 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 8 Illustration, Sukuna-Hikona
P4A Naoto Shirogane Volume 8 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 8 Illustration, Naoto Shirogane
P4A Magatsu-Izanagi Volume 9 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 9 Illustration, Magatsu-Izanagi
P4A Volume 9 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 9 Illustration, Adachi, Dojima, and Teddie
P4A Izanagi-no-Okami Volume 10 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 10 Illustration, Izanagi-no-Okami
P4A Yu Narukami Volume 10 Illustration cover.jpg|DVD Cover Volume 10 Illustration, Yu Narukami
;Volume DVD covers
Persona 4 volume 1.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 1
Persona 4 volume 2.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 2
Persona 4 volume 3.png|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 3
Persona 4 Volume 4.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 4
Persona 4 volume 5.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 5
Persona 4 Volume 6.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 6
Persona 4 Volume 7.png|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 7
Persona 4 Volume 8.jpeg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 8
Persona 4 Volume 9.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 9
Persona 4 Volume 10.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD Cover Volume 10
P4TheAnimationDVDUS-1.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation DVD (U.S. Version)
P4TheAnimationDVDUS-2.jpg|Persona 4 the Animation Volume 2 (U.S. Version)
;Series Complete Blu-Ray and Original Soundtrack countdown illustrations/Cover
P4A Series Complete Blu-Ray Box and Original Soundtrack Cover.jpg|Persona 4 The Animation Series Complete Blu-Ray Box and Original Soundtrack Cover
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Orginal Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 13).jpg|Illustration countdown of Yu Narukami
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Orginal Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 12).jpg|Illustration countdown of Yosuke Hanamura
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Original Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 11).jpg|Illustration countdown of Chie Satonaka
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Original Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 10).jpg|Illustration countdown of Yukiko Amagi
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Original Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 09).jpg|Illustration countdown of Kanji Tatsumi
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Original Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 08).jpg|Illustration countdown of Rise Kujikawa
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Original Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 07).jpg|Illustration countdown of Teddie
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Original Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 06).jpg|Illustration countdown of Naoto Shirogane
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Original Soundtrack countdown, Illustration 05).jpg|Illustration countdown of Dojima and Nanako
P4A (Series Complete Blu-Ray Disc Box and Original Soundtrack countdown, Illustration Released).jpg|
==Trivia==
*A variety of Persona 4 The Animation-styled foods and drinks were served through a collaboration with Pasela Resorts for a limited time.
*The anime was announced on April 11, 2011, which is also the date the in-game story starts.
*The show's trailers were released on a special website resembling an old-fashioned TV and would air at midnight, similarly to the Midnight Channel. Additionally, the videos were broadcasted on dates that hold certain importance in the game, like the date of the disappearance of a person.
* As Yu obtained more social links throughout the series, their respective arcanas are added to the closing credits.
* Halfway through the English dub of the anime (starting with Episode 13), Kanji's voice actor changes from Troy Baker to Matthew Mercer. Mercer now voices the character permanently after Baker had to leave the role.
== External Links ==
*Official Website (Japanese)
*Trailer
*True Ending Episode Trailer
==References==
Category:Animation
-
-
!
Category:Persona 4 Golden