Persona is one of my favorite game series out there. It's stylish, musically incredible, and most importantly, it has fantastic characters and stories to tell. I've recently been on another Persona kick since I've been playing through Persona 4 Golden on Steam, which prompted me to do the unthinkable: pick up Persona 5 the Animation from my paused list. While I can safely say that Persona 5 is the superior Persona in my mind, the animation just failed to actually capture why it was that much better: its style. Persona 5 is a game that sits you down and slaps you back and forth with stylish menu after stylish menu, but don't get me wrong, that's not all the game does well. It's well animated, the characters are good (even if they don't have the same kind of group closeness as in Persona 4), the day to day life is engaging, the combat is incredibly engaging, the villains are detestable, but not entirely cartoon villains, and the music absolutely slaps. Personally, I'd say Persona 5 the Animation captures maybe one and a half of these points which I'll explain as we go.

By far the biggest detractor from Persona 5 the Animation is the visuals. I mean just look at this travesty:

It's not like this kind of thing was rare, either. It would be terribly animated or drawn constantly. I mean, just compare it to the in-game cutscenes and you'll get an idea of just how much a step down this was from even that. (Game on the left and anime on the right) It's such an obvious step down that it's actually kind of embarrassing for A-1 to release something of this quality publicly. Even the easiest scene for them to recreate, the All-Out Attack, was butchered by their 'anime'd' version of the end card which looks cheap and uninspired compared to the brilliantly expressive All-Out Attack cards from the game. The animation did so little right in the style department that they would have been better off ditching the idea of trying to replicate the game's flamboyant style and going for something completely different and unique that would work for a medium that's far less interactive than a video game.

Sound design is fair in the animation. They reuse a lot of the same music and sound effects, so automatically that elevates the audio side of things, but otherwise there's nothing too remarkably new about Persona 5 the Animation's sound. The only good new song that came from this is Break in to Break Out, the first opening which is an a banger of the highest degree. Everything else, the endings and second opening, are kinda meh. P5A could have used a dub a lot earlier, in my opinion. I realize that one got announced for October of this year, but it would have done it a lot of good in the west if we could have heard these characters in the language that most of us played the game in, because, lets be honest, most people who are watching this came from the game.

Favorite Character: Ann Takamaki

I'm going to come clean first and admit that I haven't played Royal yet, I'm kinda waiting until after I beat Persona 3 and 4, but I have to say, Kasumi might take this spot. Having said that, I love each and every character in this game, but you know me, I have to pick a best girl and it's most of the time the blonde girl. I'd like to take the time to say that I absolutely hate the Persona 5 fandom when it comes to the dating scene in the game/anime. It gets so elitist and nasty that if you say that anyone but Makoto is the best romance option you get absolutely toasted. Kinda makes me dislike Makoto just because of those people, even if I do like her as a character. Having said all of that, both in the game and anime, the most magical scene in the show always has to be when you meet Ann for the first time in the rain. That scene is beautiful and captivating in such a enamoring way that I fall in love with Ann and her character arc immediately after watching it.

Something that I wish P5A had done was actually give Joker a personality. No one is controlling him, why not let him actually talk and seem like a real person? P4A already does this better and I'm only 5 episodes in. Narukami vs. Joker is like comparing a real person to a cardboard cutout if we're comparing their anime personalities. It annoyed me in the game too, because I thought that they could have had Joker talk a lot more and not have it break the 'insert character' mold, but still give him some life of his own. Also Akira Kurusu > Ren Amamiya.

I'm having a hard time saying that I'd recommend P5A at all, because if you're not looking for a nostalgia trip, it's not really worth watching. It doesn't provide anything extra to the game experience, which is entirely disappointing and there's not a lot here to attract any non-game viewers because all I'd say to those people is to just play the game for a much fuller and fulfilling experience. There's a lot of watering down sections and not a lot that they improved upon, except for maybe giving Haru some more spotlight. I do have to say that the way they ended the main series was a banger of an ending, but having to slog through two hour long OVA's afterward wasn't entirely a great time, though the Valentine's Day special was absolutely phenomenal and a really creative way to give the viewers the romance ending of their 'choice'. Though, all it made me want is a romance option with Sae, who is low key a contender for best girl.

Honestly, I had fun watching P5A, even if objectively, it wasn't that good. It was really enjoyable to relive the game in an abridged version and re-watch some of my favorite moments and, once again, revisit the Phantom Thieves who I hold so dear. I hope to do it again in Royal sometime soon, but until then, this will have to do.