Ren Amamiya, a new transfer student at Shujin Academy, is sent to Tokyo to live with his family friend Sojiro Sakura after wrongly being put on probation for defending a woman from sexual assault. While on the way to attend his first day at his new school, Ren notices a strange app has appeared on his phone, transferring him to a world known as the Metaverse, which contains people's "shadows": distorted depictions of their true selves. In the Metaverse, he awakens his Persona, a power from deep within that gives him the strength to fight the shadows. With the help of similarly troubled students, he forms the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, attempting to save people from their sinful desires by "taking their heart," making evildoers regret their actions and turn over a new leaf. The group's reputation continues to grow explosively, bringing along fame both positive and negative.
However, during the peak of their popularity, Ren gets captured and taken into custody. Here, he wakes up to a harsh interrogation, but this is cut short by the arrival of Sae Niijima—a prosecutor seeking answers. Just how will she react to his story, and what will become of the Phantom Thieves?
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Karhu
Persona 5 is the newest addition to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise. Its source material had around 5 hours worth of actual content like is implied in its name, yet playing the whole thing takes around 140 hours because it's a classic J-RPG game that relies on repeating the same thing 18500 times. Unfortunate for the fans of the game, the anime end up being 26 episodes long when it should have been 500, and unfortunate for anime fans, the anime end up being 26 episodes long when it should have been 13. As far as fillers go, filler is canon content I mean, Persona 5is full of slice of life nonsense that has nothing to do with anything. People fighting over pieces of bread and talking about their dreams just to make sure the pacing will become harder to comprehend than the popularity of the franchise itself.
What is directorship? is what I found myself often asking when seeing how Persona 5 is build to be nothing but a collection of random scenes that were edited together without any consistency or flow that makes the next scene related to the former one. Screen transitions seem to be some sort of "worst animated cabbage" meme when the focus goes from pan fights in the middle of the day to a scene where we drink coffee in the evening to a bully scene and finally returns to a scene where the actual pan is being eaten in a time that seems to be the very next day. The shots mainly remind me of Resident Evil The Final Chapter (movie) where the camera angle could change 45 times a minute over the same scene except here it changes from scene to another in ludicrous tempo. Visual storytelling at its finest. Bravo.
Our main characters are incredibly random. They mainly remind me of Suicide Squad. By Suicide Squad, I mean every superhero movie ever because that thing was exactly as good as they all are. The real mc is some sort of mixture of Robin Hood and Jesus. The female lead appears very mysterious, but the real mystery is why would anyone care. She is pretty hot, tho. The blonde dude is like spiderman but sassy. All the other girls were just swag, but gladfully there was like 7 beach episodes so they really had time showing off their naked bodies as it's not like they had anything else to show. None of the side characters feel like genuine persons, they are more like NPC's who only exist for the main characters... oh wait.
What is this series all about even, you ask. And that's what I am still wondering. Teenagers with stand powers are participating inside some sort of fighting tournament shonen storyline that mainly reminds me of Katekyou Hitman Reborn (we even have the same mascot here) except the comedy was replaced with some type of combination of angst and edgy, the villains are evil adults, the actual events are Robin Hood with superpowers and most of it is slice of life. As epic as it might sound, what it really sounded like was a wet fart.
The only good thing about the game itself was the OST. Unfortunately, voice acting is always at louder volume than the OST, and SFX above all else. Boy don't we love it when explosions cover the music. It really fits the definition of a background music because instead of trying to make the series better by using the songs to their full potential, they are just there hanging in the background. It's pretty much a stupid decision.
Our art is at least pretty fun if not otherwise impressive. Villains wearing strings and cloaks made of fur offer the most original content in the entire series. Some of the leather suits were also pretty sexy. Especially the art room looked cool as fudge. Too bad its overall screen time totaled 3 seconds. Like literally. Not that even these things would be worth of praising in a series that had some other merits. Pretty much all side characters follow the "spot the main character" tier filler/design.
TakaCode
I'm not going to waste my time with the introduction piece of the review so I'm just going to start with the review. The story follows Ren Amamiya who is sent to Tokyo to stay with family associate Sojiro Sakura and attend Shujin Academy during his year-long probation. After his arrival, he is drawn into the Velvet Room, where Igor warns him that he must "rehabilitate" to avoid forthcoming ruin, and grants him access to a supernatural mobile app that leads the protagonist into the Metaverse and from there him along with his group of friends that he recruits must now steal corruption from the hearts of adultsin an attempt to reform the city under a group called the Phantom Thieves.
Persona 5 the Animation is a 26 episode anime and yep alarm bells should be ringing. We haven't got a great record of Video Game Adaptations especially as of late with the lacklustre Danganronpa animes. However, I went into Persona 5 The Animation with an open mind because I thought that maybe this video game adaptation would work. It had director Masashi Ishihama who previously directed the critically acclaimed Shinsekai Yori. Plus the daybreak's OVA for Persona 5 was pretty good. I was actually excited.
However, my excitement was immediately thrown out the window when I saw A1 Pictures. For those who haven't caught on, I hate A1 Pictures. I hate the studio with passion. I honestly believe that A1 Pictures is the most incompetent studio I have ever seen. Yes A1 did make some good shows that I really liked like The Idolm@sters, Magi, Shinekai Yori, Your Lie in April and Wotaku but the problem with A1 is that they made a truckload of mediocre, forgettable and terrible shows to a point where a lot of these bad shows seemed to represent A1 as a whole leaving a lot of good shows in the dust.
I also don't want to speak about video games adaptations done by A1 Pictures because I heard nothing but awful things about them.
I know that A1 Pictures did the Daybreak's ova back in 2016 and it was pretty solid but I never expected A1 Pictures to pass the TV series to Cloverworks aka A1's sub-studio until the studio split they own ways in October 2018.
However, this show was released before A1 and Cloverworks went they own meaning this series despite being done by Cloverworks it still had that nasty A1 stench that I hated.
Am not going to pull any punches with this one the story was awful and here's why.
To start off with the elephant of the room is the pacing. Good god the pacing. Not going to lie this has got to be some of the worst pacings I have ever seen in anime because not only the show is ridiculously inconstant with it's pacing as it either way too slow or way too fast but it also screws up the overall narrative as well the emotional story elements.
For example, in the game, Shino attempts suicide being raped by Kamoshida. It was an emotional moment in the early game of Persona 5 that was meant to showcase how screwed up the adults in the universe of Persona 5. It also gave Ann, Ryuji and Akira the motivation to act against Kamoshida.
In the anime, it just happens in fin air. No tension, no proper build up whatsoever, nothing.
This doesn't end where the show also outright skip various story elements that were meant to develop the characters. Even if you haven't played the games you can easily tell that the show is skipping and rushing many story aspects and as a result of that many of the story elements just feel awkward disjointed and forced.
As a fan of the games, I felt insulted of how the show completely butchers and ruins everything that made the game so great in the first. Let's not talk about the social life aspects of the series because they do not exist. The biggest mistake of Persona 5 the Animation was how it adapted to a story that needed at least 51 episodes compared to 26 episodes that it actually got
The final nail of the coffin was the ending. That ending alone was a big middle finger to the viewer as the show just ends in a very crappy way that feels unsatisfying as hell. I am aware that the series is getting an ova sometime soon but this is no excuse especially when we watched 26 of this rushed, awkward and poorly animated shit show that barely respects its source material.
By the way, the Dark Sun OVA is not much better.
The characters in Persona 5 are just lifeless husks of the game counterparts. Not only the character development is rushed beyond belief but they somehow made theses once interesting, well written and likeable characters and turned them into bland stereotypes. To save myself the misery and pain I will be ending the character selection of the review because if the show can even respect its characters than why should I.
Now if thought the story and characters in Persona 5 The Animation were bad enough you ain't seen nothing yet because this is where the show officially hits rock bottom.
Where the hell does I begin with this dumpster fire.
First up the art style compared to the game looks like it was fished out of the toilet. Not only the show looks unappealing as well with its shitty background scenery, horrible lightning and uninspired character designs that look like the came out in early 2000 of anime but the art inconstantly is busted beyond belief where throughout the 26 episodes characters would constantly go off the model.
The animation is even worse. I have never seen animation this lazy and lifeless since Black Clover and The Kings Game.
Almost every single scene and fights in this show are all horrendously animated to the absolute core.
Also, we don't speak about the shows horrendous attempt of using CGI. Good God was it awful to look at.
The final nail of the coffin of this shit show was the all-out attacks which are frankly some of the worst pieces of animation I have ever seen in any anime. Every single all-out attack in this show feels like it was animated by college drop out who barely know anything about style when making this sequence in Adobe After Effects.
Not even the beautiful fan-service scenes can save this shitty production.
If there was anything good to come out of Persona 5 The Animation it would be the soundtrack. Despite the soundtrack being straight up taken from the game, it was still a great listen.
The first opening theme BREAK IN TO BREAK OUT" by Lyn is a fantastic opening theme for the show. While it was nowhere near as awesome as Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out its still a great song that perfectly captures the style of the series.
The second opening theme Dark Sun by Lyn is a pretty solid opening theme in its own right however until the final episode I didn't like the fact that they reused footage from previous episodes into the opening visuals. However, the opening visuals for the last episode were awesome as it really showed off what the show could have been production values-wise.
The ending themes were good but not that memorable.
The voice acting was pretty okay as well however I feel like the Seiyuus didn't put much effort compared to the game counterpart. There is no English Dub for this show from the time of this review so if you're a fan of the Persona 5 dub well you're out of luck.
Persona 5 The Animation is a total waste of time and effort. I honestly don't know what the hell was the director and Cloverworks were thinking during the production because they took everything that made Persona 5 so awesome and manages it screw it all up. The story is a rushed and poorly directed mess that is filled with horrific pacing that barely tells of what is going on. The characters are nothing but empty shells of the game counterparts and the visuals were horrendous beyond belief. The only good thing to come out from this scrapheap of a show was the music and the openings.
If you haven't played Persona 5 and have a PS3/PS4 do your self a favour. Go buy it right now. If you don't have a PS4 or PS3 you can either save up for one or watch other anime with the same episode length like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Nichijou Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and the list goes on.
Honestly out of all the game anime adaptations why is it Inazuma Eleven and Gungrave were the only one to get it right while others like Persona and Ace Attorney have to suffer. Such a shame.
Cloverworks you may now be separated by the EA of anime studios A1 Pictures but you better redeem yourselves in future anime projects because you now have a lot of potential to be a competent studio. Don't let me down Cloverworks.
Gianis
Persona 5 was one of the best RPGS I've ever played in my life, sensational gameplay the story is very good, have very few holes and plot twists sensational. The characters are great super well developed, as long as the player has an interest in socializing with a certain character. Already in the adaptation made by CloverWorks was different, first of all in the adaptation they decided to adapt 26 episodes until near the end of the game, which would be about 80 hours of history inside the game, of course it was very rushado, the problem is that Person 5 is a slow game that hasthe essence of making your own lifestyle within Tokyo with your own choices in the course of the game, taking that essence and accelerating the pace ends up leaving the feeling of everything being very superficial, whether in the relationship of the characters , at work, at school, in dungeons when he has fights, even in striking moments he can not deepen the scene in which the original had, was much worse. They did not know to take advantage of the characters of the game that can make you more curious about the history of each one and wanting to sympathize more and more, already in the adaptation they left very superficial the characters even more in their interaction with the protagonist, you simply do not care about they. The dramatic scenes and even the comedy scenes did not look good on the adaptation, without any impact, totally superficial, they just happen without a good break.
The production was a fiasco, mainly in the fights, they could not pass the style of the fights that have in the game, outside that they tried to recreate the style of "All out Attack" that is one of the most stylish things of the game and was ridiculous,
they failed to get a sense of epic battles against the bosses, they used almost no perk within the battles, and they changed certain
ost of certain battles that got horrible. In the quieter parts he had many times that unnecessarily bent the design of the characters, besides the color palettes that did not use well. The dubbing is the same as it is very good. The ost used the same of the game that is sensational, and some new ones that were very good, but they were not always able to combine certain osts with the storyboard, in general it was mediocre.
He had some cool things, like a better situation in the game that got a little superficial, usually in moments with minor characters in certain scenes, but in general it lacked a lot of character to stand out or receive a better polish inside the story, it was only played for say that there is that character inside that world that is something that the game does not do and has every reason for the character is present in that world.
Conclusion:
Sometimes it is very cool to follow without commitment and without worrying about the details, after all I like a lot when it involves anything of persona 5, but Persona 5 is much more than that.
If you are looking for a good experience with the story and the characters and especially the fights, play the game, that anime is just a small attempt to do marketing with the game that fails miserably.
LegendAqua
For a game that's about "stealing your heart", Persona 5: The Animation on the other hand was nowhere close to capture LA's heart... LA only recently gotten into Persona 4: The Animation LA was hyped about Persona 5 as LA didn't play the game, so the anime was a good look into Persona 5, however... Persona 5: The Animation on the basis tries to relive the events of the game, truncating any of the minor events, and with that LA will at least say that trying to cram in a 90 to 120 hour game into a 26 episode anime IS gonna have these kind of limitations,but for what it's worth, Persona 5 did ok if a bit rushed in some of it's arcs. Persona 5: The Animation is inflicted with the video game curse in some sense but not in the way you'd think.
Persona 5's plot revolves around the "Phantom Thieves" a group who is able to change the hearts of people and is led by Akira Kur- Ren Amamiya voiced by Jun Fukuyama, the "Joker", but as they continue to gather more members, a bigger plot is brewing that leads Ren to being captured by the police and where the narrative structure of Ren retelling his adventures of changing people's hearts comes into play. Now the narrative structure is fine in some ways, a sorta in media res of Ren retelling his events to Sae Nijima, the detective questioning Ren all throughout the anime and the framing of how Ren got to where he is now is intriguing as well how he built up the Phantom Thieves and the members as well.
Persona 5's characters are also immensely interesting to say the least, Ren has some personality to back him up though not the same as Yu from Persona 4 but nonetheless that and Persona 5 compared to Persona 4 have different levels of seriousness and playfulness in store. Due to Persona 5 going through many of the character arcs of the main cast (mainly the Phantom Thieves of course) we do get to see the Phantom Thieves develop through their issues or dilemma mostly through defeating the person or entity that troubles them in the "villains palaces" as a result. With that being said, LA was massively torn between two characters as LA's favorite character...either Makoto Nijima voiced by Rina Satou, the student council president and her views on "justice" tested during her arc (AND she's a badass) and Futaba Sakura voiced by Aoi Yuuki, a hikkimori who has a rather tragic backstory involving her mother and LA could relate to her in some sense due to this. LA's runner up was Ann Takamaki voiced by Nana Mizuki but nonetheless with the anime focusing alot on it's characters and their growth and arcs, made the main cast of the Phantom Thieves likable and memorable in a ways.
Persona 5: The Animation's plot as LA aforementioned is was rushed and this was from a person who didn't play the games, each of the character arcs and "palaces" did have some decent screentime, but not alot of downtime much like Persona 4 and how they dealt with their dungeons, we at best get montages of the Phantom thieves traversing through the palaces, but in terms of battles, it's mostly one mob or monster then goes straight into the boss in question one or two episodes later. All LA means by "no downtime", is that the Phantom thieves doesn't have some breathing room in between palaces, though in some defence to this, Yuusuke Kitagawa voiced by Tomokazu Sugita and Makoto Nijima got "some" breathing room in between but still, it was rushed to say the least and this was even with a 26 episode timeframe!
So if the characters were done well and the plot's structure had some rushed pacing, what really crippled it?, yeah...the animation is a bit subpar alot of the time. The animation studio CloverWorks round the halfway point, you could easily tell the derpy faces as well as cutting corners ALOT and it just gradually keeps showing up in the later episodes, sure the animation had some sense of detail in it's palaces and it's character designs being visually striking but for the animation to dip and not fully recover by the end of it was disappointing to say the least. The animation was subpar and was probably the biggest detriment to the anime overall.
With that Persona 5: The Animation had a major problems but it's small little details that ruined Persona 5: The Animation from being in the same league as something like Persona 4 and LA loved that adaptation. Look, to most of the detractors of Persona 5: The Animation, you just can't cram a 120 hour game into a 26 episode runtime, there is BOUND to be some truncations, BUT for first timers who haven't played the game, it's actually a decent look into the game, with the story being structurally sound besides some pacing issues, characters who are memorable and develop them as the anime goes along BUT where Persona 5: The Animation falls flat is it's animation and that is just something LA can't ignore.
Persona 5: The Animation you got some problems but your fine as an adaptation, being by the book in adapting the plot of the game well, but where the video game curse comes in is not having a convoluted stories and superfluous characters and the such but for what a simple thing as not having the drive in making the animation as great as could be as well as occasional rushed pacing, LA WANTED to love ya but by the end of watching it all, all LA felt was a dull thud in what could had been a great adaptation rivaling Persona 4: The Animation, yes LA was disappointed by this adaptation but not outright hate it as it had some strengths to it but nonetheless...
Persona 5: The Animation your not misguided just mismanaged...
GrimmusReaperino
Persona 5 was one of the best games that I have ever played, and was a hit both in Japan and in the West upon its release, and continues to gather attention with spin offs and possible sequels based upon the loveable characters the game presents you with, along with the fantastic music crafted by Shoji Meguro (which luckily makes its way into this animated adaption). It was a hard job to handle, cramming a 90-100 hour game into only 26 episodes, but as we have seen with Persona 4 the Animation (also handled by A1 Pictures), it can be done well. But wherever the previousanimated series succeeded, this series failed. Miserably.
The pacing of the entire anime is laughable, with exposition being either crammed into a few short sentences or not even brought up at all until it is only just relevant. The fight scenes are animated very poorly, with the pace of the fights all over the place and the art itself mediocre at best.
Due to the poor pacing, many story moments are rushed over, and some of the truly important moments for character development and plot are give to few time for us to sink in the information or even care about the story it is presenting.
This anime left a bad taste in my mouth, and when i reached the end of it's 26 episode run (along with two OVA episodes to complete the story in a rushed manner), i felt as though another trip through the PS4 title was needed to experience the story the way it was meant to be done.
SebastianM20
Writing a long review for this show is pointless, we all knew it was gonna be another excuse for milking the franchise until the eventual Persona 6. Plot - 3/10 Same plot as the game but more rushed, while the game it's fun by it's own the plot was always flawed, having posser characters and teenagers outmarsting light novel villains is not a good point. The traitor twist is even more evident because the show decided to put Akechi in almost every episode doing worthless things, Adachi never suffered from this (although he was a weak character too). Art 3/10 Many characters change sizes, do stupid faces inserious situations and the animation as whole is slow and boring.
Characters - 3/10
Same as the game again, your allies just exist to suck your dick after you solve their problems. In the game the only good one was an old politician that never requests your help, he was skipped here so whatever. The villains are evil rapists that torture innocent people just because, one dimensional trash, the last one that comes out of nowhere is more of a concept than a character, it's based on the world of the game and that world has no meaning so... you know.
Sound - 5/10
Re-uses many tracks from the game, it's lazy as hell but at least the original OST was good. The first OP and ED were decent too.
Enjoyment 6/10
This part of the review is also pointless but that's how MAL works. I watched this with friends and we laugh at how awful the show was. So yeah, I enjoyed it.
Overall, don't waste your time on this garbage and if you wanna know the plot just play the game, It has writing problems too but it's damn fun.
Sae_is_Bae
Persona 5 the Animation stole my heart! Adaptions of video games to other mediums always present problems, and Persona 5 the Animation is no different. Taking inspiration from such an expansive game and condensing it makes the pacing of the show a little wonky, but overall it does a good job covering what transpires over the game. The weakest point of this series is the art itself and frankly, it's just shite. Nothing looks good in motion, along with a lack of overall detail. The voice acting is the complete opposite, with the game VA's giving great performances that really add to the show. Overall this is arelatively solid adaptation of Persona 5, minus the terrible art and weird creepy fan service. Major bonus points for including the best waifu/most beautiful girl Sae <3 and thankfully, the worst girl Kasumi (yuck) is not in this rendition.
8/10
Cyxnnn
{Spoilers} I had higher hopes. I played the game so I know the storyline already, but when I watched the anime it was boring and messy. If you want a better story, you should just watch the gameplay. {Story 8/10} I gave story 8/10 not because of the anime but because of the idea. Sadly the anime didn't portray it well and had many scenes were I just got bored and stopped. {Art 4/10} Horrible art, messy and bad, and in each episode there are probably 20 pictures were the characters look stupid and deformed. I hoped they would use the anime scenes from the game and use themfor the same events in the anime but they decided to redraw them instead and make it look 20x worse. (I know there are probably copyright issues)
{Sound 8/10}
The voice actors are fine, they sound similar enough to the game, and had e same amazing music that I love in persona.
{Character 9/10}
I love the characters! Amazing Amazing Amazing characters, except for the art. I love futaba and Ann, and Main Protagonist, but It's not really related to the anime seeing that its just characters from the game.
{Enjoyment 5/10}
Like I said before, there are many times I got bored and watched a different anime. There are scenes that just go on and on and they go through palaces way to quickly.
{Overall 6/10}
The anime had cute scenes but overall it sucked. Watch/play the game, don't watch the anime unless you want to make an AMV. :3
swaqqyy
EDIT: My written review scores didn't match what I rated them with the website. Persona 5 The Animation, just like many other anime adaptations of popular video games, is incredibly mediocre. This anime is what turns from a 100+ Hour long JRPG into a low-effort, low budget 7-8 hours of a cartoon. As someone who has personally spent 400+ hours on Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal combined and about 100 hours on Persona 5 Strikers, the anime leaves a lot to be desired if you have not played the game. Let's just call it as it is; There's no way you are compressing a 100+ hour journeyinto the span of 7-8 hours without having to cut some major story elements out. The Social Links feel like NPC's rather than actual characters with relatable themes, Haru feels as bland as ever, and the downfall and mediocrity of this anime was pretty much inevitable.
Story 5/10: The story is pretty much the same as Persona 5's. Not much to say.
Art 1/10: I don't believe the art does this game justice. ESPECIALLY the boss battles and fight scenes. The fight scenes are absolutely abysmal. Take a look at HeartSwitch! (the SFW fight scenes, not the other thing...) A SINGLE PERSON has made much more action-packed and well-drawn fight scenes than a FULL studio. I swear I could watch those 2-3 minutes of fighting as much as I wanted. There was SO much potential with the fight scenes, but the studio decided to take the easy way out and make the Persona 5 Animation battles nothing more than glorified pokemon battles, where a ball of magic essence is released when for example Carmen uses "Agi". The battle scenes are SUPER short, unengaging, and I'd rather playthrough the entire game one more time than witness such horrible and lazy animation.
Sound 7/10: Well, they use the OST from Persona 5, but at the same time add some fucking BANGERS. Infinity is a VERY good ED, but it's a shame it's not the only ED and isn't played for the entire series. Lyn Inaizumi is a great vocalist, not much else to say. The soundtrack definitely carries this anime and it has some very underrated tracks that are swept under the rug because they are only heard on this shitty anime.
Character 3/10: In terms of character, Persona 5, the game itself, is probably the weakest here. The party members don't really develop over the course of the entire main story after the arc they are directly involved in (see Kamoshida vs. Ryuji/Ann) and as I said before the side Social Links feel like NPC's rather than actual characters that target themes and tropes that I can relate or see the perspective of.
Haru didn't get screentime in P5, she doesn't get it here. Go look at the Valentine's OVA if you wanted some Haru Screentime. (or play P5 Strikers!)
Enjoyment 5/10: It was pretty meh. I wasn't on my toes waiting for the next episode, but my love for Persona made me watch through the whole thing. Thankfully, not all in one sitting.
Overall 4/10: Like every other anime adaptation of a video game out there, the main purpose of this anime was to promote the original game. Did it succeed in doing that? No clue. All I can say is that you would be better off playing the game itself or watching a playthrough on YouTube instead of watching whatever the fuck this is.
(btw, steam/pc ports for P5R come out October 21, 2022! It's also available on gamepass on that day!)
SenhorJooJ
(First of all, I'm brazillian then sorry about any grammar mistakes)Persona 5 the animation is a anime series based on a game with the same name, first released in 2018 and finishing airing in 2019. I've got to say with all my sincerity that Persona 5 is one of the worst and most disappointing anime shows that I ever witnessed with my bare eyes. I had some friends who enjoyed this... thing and I couldn't understand why. On this review I'll be mostly talking about why this series is so disappointing in my eyes. Story(7/10):The story is the major quality of the animation. Not gonna lie,the whole concept of breaking into pallaces and steal souls is very unique and interesting, but this is not a compliment. Try to compact about 100+ hours of gameplay in 26 episodes is a very bad idea, because there was a lot of misused concepts(especially Personas) and lots of very rushed scenes. Now you may be thinking:"they needed to adapt a story in just 26 episodes, of course it would be dificult and have some mistakes", well if that's the case SHOULDN'T YOU JUST LIKE NOT MAKE AN ANIME ADAPTATION? Persona 5 story is interesting, but if you want to enjoy the best of it, please buy the game. it's more worth of your time.
Art(2/10) and sound(7/10):Where should I start? If you just saw the art style or some promotional art, you probably thought:"wow the art is just like the game! This can't be bad right?", and I'm really sorry for you. The art style is very good actually and pretty faithful to the game, but on the other hand the animation... For starters, Persona 5 has the POOREST animation that I've ever seen, the characters moved like some kind of cheap animatronics, and the animators didn't even care to at least make facial expressions that actually expressed something. Someone is angry? Is he sad? We can only know with the voice acting, otherwise they would be just a group of Bellas from "Twilight". One of the coolest things in the game were the fights, that are garbage in the anime. being basically pokemon fights, where they just keep shooting each other until someone dies.There was also the "in-all attacks", that looked like complete trash. I'm also not in the mood to talk about their horrible CGI. Now about the sound, it would be total shame if it wasn't their voice actors. Besides the cast's robotic movements and blank faces, what gave them life was the voice, the dubbing was just too good and they matched perfectly with each character. The musics used on the anime were made by the game's lead composer:Shoji Meguro, and they were pretty damn good, but sometimes they didn't fit on the action scenes. On the other hand the sound effects were disgusting. They didn't match on what actions were happening, or they were just very poor. Some examples are the gunfire noises, they were ridiculous, mostly because they didn't resemble the sound of gunpowder exploding, somehow they resembled an airsoft gun shooting.
Characters(1/10):The Persona characters were very cool, they were empathetic and interesting... sorry I'm talking about the game. While our protagonist Amamiya Ren is stoic, he is not like Giorno from Jojo for example, he doesn't seem to have a deeper personality, he is just expressionless and nothing more. I dare to say that Ryuji is the only one that overall has a personality. The rest of the cast is just like Sword Art Online's cast, they are just there to keep the story going. I'm giving a few positive points because they managed to make their designs faithful to the games(and overall because their designs are very good), but the main reason to my deception is how the anime cast are basically cardboard figures compared to their games counterpart. While Ryuji in the games is a stupid, but very kind,funny and sometimes a little perverted school delinquent, in the series he's just the dumb protagonist best friend. While Ann in the game showed how she felt guilt for not helping her best friend Shiho, eventually evolving and defeating her insecurity, in the anime she felt sad for her friend... yeah nothing more happens. While Yusuke in the game is a very passionate person for art,always wanting to illustrate what he sees, and a very dense person, being unable to read the mood, which creates very funny scenes, in the anime he simply doesn't have a personality.
-PERSONAS-
Now let's talk about the main mechanic in the games:Personas. Even if in the game the Personas were only used in attacking purposes, like in the anime, was it really clever to make things like this way? When someone summons their Persona, they just shoot a beam of light and disappear, eventually there were some different and more interesting powers, but they were always used in the same way (except in one scene where Yusuke's Persona uses a ice beam to freeze an enemy to the ground). What I wanted to see then? Let's use as an example another anime with a similar mechanic:Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and their Stands. Each stand is used in a smart and surpring way, just like Giorno's Gold Experience and it's ability of life-giver. If Gold Experience was used in Persona, his user would probably just create some animals, like wolves, and send them to attack the enemy. In Jojo, Giorno uses his Stand to overload an enemy with life energy, making his senses go berserk, transform an object(like a shoe or a teeth) into a fly to track its owner,heal injuries, create trees to reach higher levels, etc. See the difference? Jojo's Stands are used in creative ways, they aren't just weapons, while the Personas are used in a plain way, wasting their potential. Also, one thing that the anime do not explain, is why Ren always show up with different Personas. And I don't know why. Now if you don't know, the reason why is a basic mechanic in the game:executing Personas to create a new one, and the capturing shadows to get a new Persona, but if someone don't know about that, it gets pretty confusing.
Enjoyment(1/10) and overall(2/10):I needed to watch this anime after making a tract with a friend... I kind of regret that decision. The series have an interesting plot, but it is really wasted in the anime. The poor animation mixed with bad sound effects, a story that doesn't flow naturally and misused characters just make the experience of watching more and more painful. If you want a anime with a good plot, great characters, good looking visuals and animation,great sound in general and has "Personas" in it, just watch Jojo's Bizarre Adventure:Diamond is Unbreakable, this is worth of your time. But if you do really want to know how Persona 5 is, play the game. Seriously, I've started playing the game recently, but it is very obvious the difference beteween anime and game. Why would anyone watch 26 episodes of a poor version from a let's play, if playing the game itself you get to know the story better, the characters are really good, the gameplay is very fun and the animation is limited to cutscenes.
Even without playing the game, i got really disappointed with the show, and after watching a few let's plays, I just couldn't believe that this game gave birth to the monstruocity that is this anime. I know that I said that a lot of times, but don't waste your time with this, it's not worth your time. People cried watching Anohana? Clannad after story? Your Lie In April? I cried watching this piece of ****.
Its-Maki-kun
I love Persona franchise so much as I have both of my main waifu and my main husbando in this franchise. And now I really don't know where should I point my disappointment to. Yes. In short, I am very much disappointed by how Persona 5 : The Animation turns out. Rushy execution, very bad animation, destroyed a story that is already awesome, and made itself a huge disappointment for the fan that is already there. The only thing that holding this anime is the great soundtrack. That's it! That's the only thing that made me stay and giving this anime a chance. Maybe the worstdisgrace is how they giving us a very beautiful promotional art in the very beginning only to continue with horrible and downright bad animation. The animation feels empty and lazy with so many in between frames are missing from its place. In the very end of this anime, I feel betrayed by the promises they gave us before they released the anime. Well, I know A-1 Pictures have a history of bad action sequences and very minimal animation which usually they will fix them in their Blu-Ray or DVD releases but I think that is not an excuse to make a good potential wasted.
About the story, I felt sad since the game of Persona 5 itself already has a very great story but at the end of the day they executed the story with an unsteady yet rushed pace. It really broke the story as whole because many key points and character relationship were threw away. And worse, they decided to cut-off the anime like it was nothing and just told us that there would be a continuation. WHAT? I know that the studio really wants to milk this franchise but I think it was not the wisest decision as it left the audience screaming that this anime is unfinished and downright bad.
The only thing that makes this anime outstanding is of course, their soundtrack. Still retaining the beautifully composed music from the game, they kept the soundtrack and added with other equally beautiful soundtracks. I always love the work of Shoji Meguro and that endings are worth to note.
Overall, I was almost this close to drop this anime but my generosity keeps me from dropping this one. Episode after episode, I was putting hope that they will fix this hell of a mess. But no. To the very end they did not fix it. So, I think it is better for you to watch the playthrough of the game instead of watching this anime if you are curious about Persona 5.
SSXXIII
Persona 5 is probably my favourite game of all time. Over 100 hours it tells a story about rebellion, corruption, suicide and a talking cat magically turning into a bus. It truly is a one of a kind experience. And that’s the entire problem with this anime. It truly has no purpose for existence. Besides people who are too lazy to spend 100 hours on a game. The story follows main character Ren Amamiya, a teenager forced to move to Tokyo after he was wrongfully convicted of assault. Who discovers the cognitive world, where distorted desires materialise. And must team up with fellow outcasts tobecome the Phantom Thieves. A group dedicated to stealing those desires, causing a change of heart in even the most callous of criminals.
The original managed to steal my heart within the first few hours, before we even started with the first palace. After the first three hours of this anime, we were already past the second palace. And that is the main problem here. The game took its time with the story. Taking the time to properly explore who these people are. The anime though has a lighting fast pace to it. Often skipping past entire palaces to get to the boss fight. Causing each palace to feel small compared to their in game counterpart.
Characters pale compared to the game’s version. Great characters like Takemi, Kawakami and Chiya have their roles greatly reduced. All with the exception of Goro Akechi who is surprisingly, actually portrayed better here than in the game.
The animation is terrible. When people prefer the cutscenes from a game that was released on the ps3. You know you have a problem.
Overall Persona 5 The Animation is not only bad. It is shows that even the best stories can be told poorly.
ShadowStealer7
TL;DR: Works better as a companion to the game, anime original scenes or changes from the game are generally pretty good but the rest can be seen as average in terms of writing. Art is mediocre overall but gets better too late. Enjoyable if a Persona fan, just don't expect P4A 2.0 Persona 5 the Animation has been the subject of ridicule with the quality of the art and animation along with the rushing of a 100+ hour game into 26 episodes plus an unspecified amount of OVAs later on, and from this you would think that CloverWorks has somehow managed to make the worst animeof the year. As someone who loved the game and somewhat enjoyed the anime, I disagree.
Let me explain.
Story
The same as the game that's being adapted, a few changes to some major events that, in my mind, fix some areas of the game that I found a bit off (such as the existence of the betrayal being revealed in the first 15 minutes of the game and the Okumura arc). The rest of it is around or below average, especially near the beginning with the Kamoshida arc being horribly rushed, with a silver lining in that the writing seemed to improve as the series continued.
Art
Below average for the most part, with some standouts in the final few episodes. Poor animation (particularly All-Out Attacks and the use of CG outside of bosses) and art are everywhere in this adaptation, so the less said the better. The second set of visuals for both OPs and the final few episodes stand out as good art from this adaptation.
Sound
The game's soundtrack with sometimes weird timings and mixing along with a few anime original tracks, both instrumentals and ones with Lyn again providing vocals.
Character
Here's where things get interesting. On one hand, Ren Amamiya is quite a boring character compared to the Joker of the game, particularly if you liked to pick the joke options, and is a huge let down to me after the P4 and P3 animes' portrayals of their protagonists (he has a few moments but despite them there's no redeeming his writing). The other characters, however, get expanded upon and have anime original moments that are actually good. Goro Akechi's friendship/rivalry with Ren sees heavy expansion to the point that they can be considered as having a connection instead of one line and a confidant rank up like in the game. The entire party seems to interact with each other more too, like the anime's addition of Ann and Makoto's friendship after the Kaneshiro arc.
Overall
It's good I guess. I feel as if you'd have a much better time in watching this after completing the game as while the general quality of the series ranges from average to poor the new content, whether its original scenes or changes to the game's script, were generally the highlights of what could have been a massive dump on a great game
izumiyamura23
P5A has two versions. Since the dub has several improvements over the original, I'm sticking with the higher score of the two. But, I'll be rating both sub and dub. Original/sub: 4/10 overall Story: 9/10 Condenses the game's 100+ hours very well for a 26 episode series. Art: 3/10 The art is pretty bad. But it's comically bad - which isn't necessarily a detriment to the anime. The problem, though, is that the animation doesn't carry the same feeling of maturity as the game does. Sound: 9/10 No complaints here. It's of high quality like the game. Character: 5/10 Ren does not get enough lines. Ryuji carries the series becausehe's voiced by Mamoru Miyano, so any words or sounds he makes is pleasing to hear. Especially "Renren". And him calling out Akechi's name in a questionably sexual tone lmao.
Enjoyment: 8/10 The sub almost completely fails to deliver the weight of the game, but it makes up for that with fanservice and moments of hilariously bad animation, firmly establishing itself as a fun, campy anime. It's like Ex-Arm in that it's popularity as a bad anime actually makes it good.
Dub: 7/10 overall
Story: 9/10
Art: 5/10 A fair amount of scenes have been improved, and it feels more consistent and smooth. Some of the bad animation is still there.
Sound: 9/10
Character: 9/10 Ren has a lot more lines and expression. And the dub for the game was wonderful, so as expected the cast sounds great here.
Enjoyment: 8/10 Essentially, it's the Persona 5 experience with Medium graphics. It's carried over 4 out of 5 good qualities associated with the game. Art is still lacking but you won't be finishing the series thinking "hey, this was trash" like the sub.
What the anime adaptation does exceptionally well here is that it fleshes out Akechi's character, some of which would later be added in to Royal.
The Dark Sun OVAs are a step up in quality and tone, but it's set up to be considered more as a movie, and is not representative to the overall series.
xcomprr
For those who haven't played the PS3/4 game, the story is about the MC (Ren Amamiya) who was expelled for allegedly assaulting a man of high status and ends up having to move school as part of his one year probation period. One day, a strange app appears on his phone and he discovers he has the power to summon "Personas", spirits that dwell within people. He could enter the twisted hearts of others known as "Palaces" and steal the treasure from their Shadow that represent their inner dark desires that will give them a change of heart. As he does so, he soon meetsothers that possess the same power and forms the "Phantom Thieves", convinced they can make the corrupt world of adults a better place by hitting out at criminals that are out-of-reach from the law.
It's basically Atlus taking a stab at bringing about awareness of the problems in modern day society in Japan. The OVA "The Day Breakers" which acted as a prelude to the game didn't really impress me. Art was off compared to the game's cutscenes but fortunately the TV series gets off to a good start. Since the OVA, A-1 Pictures has branched out, rebranding one of their studios as CloverWorks in an effort to create a better brand and the art quality for this show is kind of better than the OVA efforts. Characters still look off sometimes like the quality suddenly drops and it's obvious the artists still aren't very good at using and blending 3D animation into their shows as you can see a lot of models walking around rigidly. As with the game Ann remains your main fan service character although they added some new scenes in while excluding some from the game so, you more or less have the same amount of fan service. Kawakami fans should be pleased. There's still your obligatory beach episode (or two) of course and the camera can be asset keen at times. Backgrounds on the other hand are a mixed bag because some such as Leblanc looks great but others such as the common shop you can see there was less effort.
The show stays faithful to the game with a few changes (particularly Futaba's story) and extra scenes added which I'm sure will make fans of the game grin - not just for Persona 5 fans but also for people who have played the other titles in the franchise. Some help clarify the story more too such as how the app records what they're saying before reaching the first Palace so it's good in this regard. There are brief side camera shots of the other characters so it feels less of the JRPG it was where you only focused on one character. That said, the show's not afraid to go back to its roots because there's so many scenes that will remind you of what made the game fun - negotiations with Shadows, transition scenes, mystery gear drops, confidants etc. They even put in the All Out Attack finishing screens but I don't quite get why they start out horrifically plain before they decided to use the game screens later on. Maybe Atlus stepped in. They also chose to skip most of the dungeon crawling but pick up the key parts that will probably make players who finished the game think, "Oh! I remember that part!" Boss battles are also play out the way they did in the game.
There are two OP theme songs like most series that end in the mid-20s but the first OP for the show actually has two animations, one for first two episodes and then one for episodes 4+ before it changes again at episode 14. The first OP animation actually uses an animated version of the artbook's cover too just like when they first teased the Anime. Third OP animation looks better quality than the others and the fourth one during the last episode is probably visually the best in terms of design. There's also a slightly different ED animation in episode 17. Episode previews are also stylish, done in a similar style to the game.
Most of the music is the same as the game too which is great because the game already had a really good OST. Hearing familiar tunes like "Beneath The Mask", "Layered Cake" or "Tokyo Daylight" playing is awesome. Voices are the same as the game. The show is so faithful to the game you have to wonder how many lines were from the game or if they actually re-recorded the show. As a bit of trivia, Ren's voice happens to be Jun Fukuyama who also plays Lelouch from Code Geass and Satsu-sensei from Assasination Classroom while Morgana is played by Ikue Ootani who also plays Chopper in One Piece. And of course, we have Mizuki Nana as Ann, best known as the first voice actress to top the weekly Japanese Oricon JPOP charts.
On it's own, I don't think Anime fans will enjoy it that much because it does show its roots from a video game where you're just jumping from boss to boss or, you might just enjoy it for the character driven stories as they overcome their troubles. For fans who enjoyed the game and want to re-live the experience through a different format it's worth a watch. Unfortunately, it does go the same route as the Persona 4 Anime where they don't air the true ending... Other than that, as a show for Persona 5 fans it's really well done despite the inconsistent art quality. It's fun watching the gang get together again and there's plenty of material in it that'll remind you of the game. Don't miss the extra scenes after the ending.
WeeabooHunter101
I decided to watch this series after seeing a letsplay by Lost Pause for Persona5 and was curious at how well it would do compared to Persona4: the Animation. I have not played any of the Persona games, full disclaimer, so I can not compare whether this was a good adaptation of the game. Overall, this is a decent anime. The story and characters have to be summarized for a project of this nature, so there is a sense that a lot of the minor characters are sort of shoved into the narrative. This is a bit sad considering that the Persona4: the Animation and Persona5(from what I've seen), plays heavily on the idea of forming relationships with characters.
The animation seems to get a little spotty at points, but that is more the exception to rule. The music is catchy and I can see why the original game got a lot of praise for the soundtrack. Overall, this show has a decent story with decent pacing, though I am not a fan of cliffhangers that force me to watch the specials to get a satisfactory ending. I'm looking at you too, DVD release of Persona4: the Animation...
I would recommend this series to either a fan or a novice who wants a summary of the game rather than playing. It also works as a very long advertisement for the game, and perhaps I will edit my review once I play the game.
Until then, I hope you enjoy.
P.S. I finished my first run through of the game and am half way through a second run through. Of course the source material is far more detailed and comprehensive than an anime forced to condense 140 hours of gameplay to a 12 hour show. I stand by my anime review, but the game I bump up +1 to everything (except Sound) for an overall of 8. If you can play the game.
Hope you enjoy both.
NFL1945
Just play the game. The reason: 1. Not using true ending (but the ending still different from game) I think they didn't choose true ending because of limitation of airing this anime. I mean, Persona 5 have a long story and a little bit complexity. It can't be made to anime with 26 episode? Still need more episode fore true ending. 2. Animation is suck (compared to the game) If you like action, well I can say they try. But animation compared to the game, I prefer from the game, you can say it. 3. You can get more feeling from game (trust me) But if you prefer watch the anime,it's fine. Still can follow the story till the end. But don't be upset with ending.
MI-NA-MI
P5A, is it worth the watch? Short answer: definitely. I will explain why in more details and give a bit of background as well for better justification and reasoning. First of all, I will only write about the 26 episodes knowing there's a sequel. Also, I did not play the game, hence I'm no fanboy nor hater. But I did my share of reading and played other Atlus related games. Game elements will be used for explanations, not for comparison. You're in for a long read so bear with me if you can. To begin with, I first had an interest in the Persona series from P3,but I didn't play the game, only watched the 4 movies. Then came P4A, which I skipped. In 2018, I watched P5A out of curiosity but honestly, I couldn't make much sense of everything, especially with the abrupt ending and even after watching the 2 specials for the ending. Then in 2020, I played P4 Golden. In 2021, I finished P5 Strikers. After that, I binge watched P5A 26+2 episodes to write this review. Everything makes sense now and is still fresh in my memory.
The story starts with a blast and a very stylish scene in a casino with a thief evading the police. Then he gets caught and there's a bad cop interrogation which will be the the main frame of the anime, where everything told by the arrested protagonist is actually the story. It's quite the neat setting but there's the issue of an "unreliable narrator" and it's difficult to judge from the start. Apart from that, the story is well played as you encounter more and more characters. This still requires some explanations even though the character Morgana explains everything well. In Persona 5, the heroes find the Palace of a Monarch by saying some keywords to a smartphone app at the correct location in the real world. The Monarch, is the "shadow" of an evildoer, usually a scumbag in society. In the Palace, you need to find the Treasure Room and then materialise the Treasure by sending a calling card to the scumbag in the real world. That person becomes particularly aware of their shadow with their wrongdoings listed on the calling card and the Treasure takes form. Then you go back into the Palace, find the Treasure Room with the Monarch defending his/her Treasure, battle, win and steal the Treasure. Rinse and repeat for all the scumbags encountered. This gives a whole meaning to "Phantom Thieves of the Heart", the group name for the heroes.
Chara development was on point in my opinion, the anime didn't spend too much time on the myriads of characters that are more or less important and this is good in my book knowing the 26+2 episodes format. In Persona, Tarot plays a huge part but it's quite oblivious in this anime and that's a drawback for me. Amamiya Ren (sweet name BTW), is the Fool Arcana as the protagonists in Persona 3 & 4. This Arcana is class 0 in Tarot card, the wild card, then you have "Chariot", "Lovers", "Emperor", "Magician"... If you watched Jojo Stardust Crusaders, you're familiar with them. In Persona, all the major Arcana are associated with a character which explains why you have so many minor characters like the classmate, the homeroom teacher, the fortune teller, the goth doctor and so on. Each time the protagonist interacts with them, he grows internally, which is part of his "rehabilitation" to live in society. Gotta say that I understood this only after playing the games though...
Some game elements that I didn't know at first as well, basically attack elements: Fire (Ann), Ice (Yusuke), Electricity (Ryuji), Wind (Morgana), Nuke (Makoto), Psi (Haru), Bless (???) and Curse (Ren with his first Persona). All-out attacks: when they all gang up on the enemies while the screen turns red and finish with a swag pose. This happened many times in the anime and I couldn't understand why until I played P4 but it's thanks to P5 Strikers that I know where all the stylish posing and catchphrases come from. Also the different Persona that Ren acquires, you know them if you play the game. As the Fool Arcana, Ren has more than one Persona and can fuse them to get more powerful ones.
Concerning the art, I am divided... On one hand the chara design is great, greater than the games. I find Haru more attractive in the anime than the game for example, and same goes for all characters. Stylish scenes and dialogue scenes are well drawn... But on the other hand, transition scenes, group scenes, battle scenes are not so great. It's either beautifully animated or sloppy, not much middle ground.
Sound: absolutely outstanding for many reasons. The voice acting is just great, all star cast and same as in-game I suppose. Music: I guess it's mostly from the game which received critical acclaim for that and I can totally understand why. Then you have 6 more songs by Meguro Shoji & Lyn: "Break in to break out", "Infinity", "Found a light", "Dark sun", "Autonomy" and lastly "It's too late". Music and insert songs for the battle scenes are just so well fitted, you feel so energised and ready for a fight.
So did I enjoy watching P5A? Not at first, truth be told. As someone who never played the game, many elements in the anime just slipped away from me. For example the many random characters interacting with Ren, I had no idea for what purpose and their respective Arcana was not even explicitly unveiled in the anime. I understood the battle mechanics but not the many gimmicks from the game like all-out attacks or even "baton pass". Attack elements were also absent which is not a problem but then you understand from the game why a fire Persona blasting a shadow is uneffective: because of element immunity... But there's no point to dwell on this and it wasn't that much of an obstacle for enjoyment. The ending was also abrupt and mindblowing for a first watch. The sequels did help though.
After listing most of the negative aspects I could think of, I still think P5A does a great job as an anime. Forget the game. Yes it's an adaptation, yes the content is not up to par with the game but that's beside the point. Persona games are rich with so much content, you can't cram a hundred plus hours of playing in an anime. So judging this as a standalone anime, I think P5A was well crafted and pacing was correct for the format, which means it was a bit fast. And it does a wonderful job to promote P5 the game or the Persona series. It's stylish, characters are great even though Ren is a bit faded (but I read that this was intentional) and the music is just too addictive. So yes, P5A is worth the watch. It's a success as promotional material for Atlus.
I hope this review helps you understand the anime or even get interested in the game. Personally I liked P5 Strikers and it made me want to rewatch this anime. And if it wasn't for P5A, I am not sure I would have played P4 Golden to get more involved in the Persona series to begin with.
LordRunt
I love Persona 5. This anime is great for me to relive the game I played 4 years ago and reignite those memories. If anything, the 2D art style of some of the 3D moments improve those moments so much. However, objectively, this anime just tries to fit so much into too little time and is subsequently so rushed. I don't know the time of the cutscenes of the game alone, but I'm willing to bet it is far more than the total time of the anime. Furthermore, the inclusion of the Confidant storylines can feel like weird diversions from the main story instead of themore organic way they developed in the game itself.
I cannot imagine that someone who is new to the franchise will fall in love with it and that a large portion of the Persona 5 fanbase will just be disappointed (even if somewhat understanding why it doesn't fit). But if you are looking to remember the fun you had playing the game, give it a chance.
