Persona ~trinity soul~ – 01

After a long 4 months, I have just finished the Persona 3 game. Just in time for the start of the Persona anime.

With high expectation to this relatively dark series. I couldn’t help myself by making this post.

Continue on for the back story of the game. So many spoilers…

In the game, you play as this quiet high school student who moved back into the city when a devastating accident has happened to his parents. Moving into a dorm and getting attacked by these “shadows” a few days later. During that attack, the dorm he has moved into turns out to be the headquarters of at special extermination unit called SEES. They monitor him and later finds out that he has a special ability they all share. The ability to summon Persona at their own will with the assistance of a gun like tool called Evokers. Normally, a person can only summon one but this character can switch between several at whenever he feels it is necessary.

Normally these shadows would only appear in a structure called Tartarus that only reveals itself during a time after midnight called The Dark Hour. The Dark Hour is a time where every normal person would turn into a casket like object and is usually safe from shadows. Those that find themselves in their human forms are at risk of having themselves eaten by the shadows. These shadows feed on their victim’s mind and they become a vegetable like state in which they call Apathy Syndrome. During a full moon, a ‘larger’ shadow appears outside of Tartarus and reeks havoc around the city. These larger shadows is an entity of a certain arcana card and has a unique characteristic with respect to that arcana. After each night and weeks before a full moon, you are visited by a boy named Pharos who appears during his sleep and is only seen by him. He gives you hints and tells you to prepare for the upcoming battle.

About ten years before this, an incident took place that ultimately caused for creation of the Dark Hour and Tartarus. The Avatar of Death was loose in the city and Aigis, a robotic anti shadow machine, was fighting it. This Avatar was relentless and was killing everything around. Knowing that she cannot win against him. She sealed it inside a boy that was around the area. And that boy happens to be the main character of the game.

Before the last few of these larger shadows were defeated. A mysterious figure named Ryoji transfers into the school. When all twelve was defeated. That was when shit really hits the fan. By doing so, they inadvertently began the summoning of Nyx, which is death incantation. With the Death arcana card. Pharos bids farewell since his assistance is no longer needed and we learn more about Ryoji. It was later found out that Ryoji is the older Pharos. And an addition to that Ryoji is the Avatar of Death. Due to living inside of the character for the last ten years. The Avatar had grown to have more human emotions. He tells SEES his role in welcoming Nyx and how it cannot be adverted.

Since it’s a video game. You can easily guess that this disaster did not take place and the end of the world did not happen.

More time passes and here we are at the anime.

The start of the anime shows a red headed female, probably a younger Mitsuru, underwater.  I think I understand why she’s there but the purpose of this doesn’t seem to serve any significant info to the plot to the series… yet.

For a portion of this episode, we see problems the city is facing. Mysterious deaths of certain individuals and the outbreak of Apathy Syndrome victims. The other chunk of this episode, follows a normal high school student, Shin Kanzato, has he returns to his hometown ten years later… sound sort of familiar. But we can easily guess that he isn’t going to be a normal student just because he wouldn’t be the lead role if is was.

As Shin roams around town with his younger brother, Jun, after being locked out by his older brother, Ryo, who happens to be a police officer busy with these cases. We see that “ya, he is a normal kid after all.” During the evening, he notices a fortune telling like stand at a street corner. This mysterious figure gives him cynical advice and when he reveals his face. We can recognize him almost immediately as Igor, the keeper of the Velvet Room. His role in the video game was to help guide and assist the main character through Persona fusion and to insure that he follows through with the contract he signed in the beginning of the game.

A noticeable difference in this is the removal of evokers. It makes sense because of the controversy behind it with people shooting themselves. Now it appears that it can be summoned without one. Some at will, some unwillingly, and others when facing danger. When a high school girl got attacked, we see that her Persona was forced out of her and her head looked like it was going to explode. Saved by Ryo, who happens to also be a Persona user saves her by simply bring out his to fight with a simple point of a finger.

When Ryo finally returns home and lets Shin and Jun inside. You see Shin unpacking his thing and has a collection of clay figures. But an unusual one stands out that resembles Igor.

He then go out in search for him where he last saw him and then finds himself attacked by the same person who attacked the girl. His Persona comes out to protect him and destroys the other guy’s Persona. But it seems as if he is then awaken and less aggressive…

Now this is what I think. I actually really enjoyed this episode. Although to understand the back story is quite important to actually figure out what’s going on is important. It is most likely they will explain it in the next two or three episodes. I’m curious as to see where this anime is going. There is still a lot of mystery behind the Kanzato family. And I’m eager to find out who the main villain is. I hope they don’t recycle the same ‘boss’ as the video game. That would just be such a disappointment.