I give it an 8/10. This anime is based on the PlayStation 2 game of the same name by Atlus. It follows Narukami Yu, a high schooler who has temporarily moved from the big city to his uncle's place in the sticks. He attends the local high school as a transfer student and suddenly gets involved in a series of murder cases taking place in the small town of Inaba.
Aniplex really did a great job of getting the Persona game series' feel translated into an anime. In the game, you must establish social links with those around you, usually involving hanging out in town with your friends, helping a stranger, or something similar. Each social link is associated with a persona archetype, which are akin to tarot cards (ie The Fool, The Hanged Man, The Emperor, Death, etc). By strengthening these bonds, you'll increase the power of your personas, which are used in battle to defeat shadows (enemies). The core of the game is to make your personas as strong as possible to defeat the boss monsters at the end of every phase. Each social link has its own storyline, so the game is pretty in depth.
Being that I haven't played Persona 4 (I've only played 3), I can't vouch for the story consistency, but I think Aniplex did well presenting an interesting plotline. Each episode begins in the Velvet Room (veterans of the games will appreciate this), and then continues into the current arc. The show consists of 25 episodes and is very well paced and I was alwlays interested to see what happened next.
The characters are excellent. Yu is a great lead character and has some of the best one-liners I've ever heard in anime. The supporting characters cover a wide range of personalities and backgrounds (from pop idol to child detective), and they all have their own shadows to defeat. Being able to see the supporting character's shadow sides during their individual arcs was very interesting and sometimes pretty humorous (Kanji, lol).
The music is straight out of the games, so I really appreciated that. Both OPs and EDs are chock full of Engrish, which was common in Persona 3 also. But somehow it fits here, and I'll bet you'll find yourself humming along at least once.
The animation is very good, with the exception of a few wide angle shots. Close-ups are done very well and the action sequences are well animated. The character designs are.. trendy.. is the only word that comes to mind. Fans of the games will see their favorite personas animated, and they all look pretty bizarre.
I would recommend Persona 4: The Animation to anyone who enjoys the Persona game series or likes anime in general. I feel this anime could be enjoyed by anyone. If you liked this anime I'd recommend C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control for a similar battle style and an unconventional storyline.
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