Just like with P4’s Yu Narukami, the shift from silent protagonist to actual character has gone swimmingly. The movie’s version of the protagonist, Makoto Yuki, manages to show great amounts of depth with very few lines. With the fluff scenes cut, the main story sequences are relied upon to give the characters depth, which works wonderfully. The social links are relegated to background props and one-scene extras, but I never liked P3's social links, so I've no problem with that. What we have in its place is a more tightly paced, suspenseful story, which is more in line with what I expected Persona 3, the game, to be before I played it. The fluff scenes were important world and character-building in Persona 4, but entirely superfluous and sometimes even badly written in Persona 3, so it’s more like they just trimmed the unneeded fat. There was a lot of daytime fluff scenes cut, much like in Persona 4, but here it didn’t really end up making the story or characters suffer at all, nor did it make the movie feel rushed. The 90-minute movie covers the game up to and including the Fuuka Yamagishi arc, which is well over 10 hours of game time. (Several scenes opened with the iconic chant of BABYBABYBABYBABYBABYBABYBABY.) It works, even though they liked using the main battle theme just a bit too much. Most of the OST is lifted from the game, and occasionally slightly remixed, with some original compositions in here and there.
It works very well in making it look all otherwordly and creepy.Īs for soundtrack, here’s where this follows the P4 anime’s footsteps. The Dark Hour in particular looks great, with a muddy painting-esque look differentiating itįrom the daytime sequences. The backgrounds looks great and the characters are sharp and on-model at all times. Anyone let down by the Persona 4 anime’s low quality should breathe easy, for the P3 movie looks stunning. This means the release schedule will be hell to endure, but the payoff is definitely worth it so far.įirst things first, the animation is beautiful.
The latest effort in animating this esteemed JRPG series is finally here, aaaaand it's a movie series. I originally wrote this review for my own website, but several users have messaged me asking me to review it on here as well. I would’ve liked to have seen more of the side characters and school life, but overall it did a really good job of bringing the characters to the big screen. These familiar pieces alongside the impressive animation makes the film that much stronger.Īs a fan of the game, I found Spring of Birth very enjoyable, Makoto Yuki’s character development, the battles and the fantastic animation made it well worth the wait.
Shouji Meguro’s music is always fantastic and this film’s soundtrack is no exception, the memorable themes of Tartarus, The Velvet Room and Gekkoukan High School all return. I couldn’t help but smile when the opening credits started accompanied by Burn My Dread: Spring of Birth Version and that smile stayed on my face for almost the entirety of the film. Akihiko and Mitsuru haven’t had their time to shine yet, but there is plenty of time for that in the next movie.Īfter the credits we see a certain character opening their eyes and are told that the second movie is coming Summer 2014. Junpei ends his battle with his famous line about levelling up, before becoming jealous of Yuki’s abilities. Yuki, Yukari and Junpei’s first battle within the Shadow-infested tower, Tartarus, is very fun and beautifully animated.
It jumps from one Full Moon battle to the next, with moments in-between where the group gets to know each other better. It focuses more on jealousy, bullying and friendship. If you’ve never played the game but have seen or played Persona 4, the first Persona 3 movie is darker and doesn’t have as much comedy. Seeing Yuki piece together his emotions and learn what it means to have friends and comrades is a nice touch to the movie. Makoto Yuki was a blank canvas in the game and at the beginning of theįilm he still feels like one he is quiet, doesn’t say much and doesn’t really care about his own life or have much of an interest in those around him. Instead, it focuses on the members of SEES and how their bond grows stronger. They have cut out much of the school life aspect, and there is no mention of the characters joining clubs or taking exams. The first big-screen outing of Persona 3 is roughly 90 minutes long and it covers April to June.
He’s also been an episode director for series such as Code Geass, Honey and Clover II and Nodame Cantabile. Persona 3 The Movie: Spring of Birth is directed by Noriaki Akitaya, director of the Bakuman series.