Persona 3 the Movie 4: Winter of Rebirth

I don't get how this movie (and the persona animations in general) get 9s and 10s. They have always had rushed episodes, subpar art and animation, and in the case of the P3 films, go through progresively worse directors and scriptwriters as the films go on. I went into this particular film exprcting a swift end to the shitstorm of a series this was. To my surprise, however, we got 40 striaght minutes of fantastic character development and internal conflicts being expanded on in the wake of what is thought to be the last days of humanity, catalyzed by their own actions. We seethe city fill with apathy syndrome sufferers, and eventually just empty out altogether, leaving a feeling of isolation and dread. I was caught off gaurd with how well the movie captured this environment and these feelings so well, and I was excited for the conclusion of this movie, where every member of SEES overcomes their trials alone and evenyually comes back stronger than ever with a goal to defeat and seal Nyx. Then the sun came out. The emotially manipulative music blasted over our cast magically getting over their problems through one random deus ex machina event one after another, just in time for the big generic bad guy fight (But not without showing off all the Personas we are contractually obligated to shoehorn in!). In only 5 minutes, the movie managed to shit the bed so hard with the hollow resolutions to each character arc that had been elaborated on in the movie. For example, Mitsuru knocks a photo over because the sun is in her eyes for the first time in weeks, and finds a key in the frame. She goes to her mansion, and a maid directs her to a locked room where her (dead) father kept wine that was bought on the year of her birth, and he meant to share it with her on her 18th birthday. He died earlier in the series, and for the last couple of movies she has done her best to get over her depression over it. The scene then ends, cutting to another bullshit asspull. Keep in mind this whole scene was 30 seconds, and wasn't even the most insulting (Fuuka's character resolution was literally sending her "friend" Natsuki a text, and eventally feeling happy that it didn't go through.) In conclusion, unless you like anything Persona or SMT related, don't watch this. I could gp on about how the animation can be stilted and lazy at times, or how the character are mere husks of their in-game counterparts, or how the music and game are placed oddly and awkardly, but this is becoming a wall of text already. I'll end with this. This movie is a more of a promotional movie for Persona 3 than an actual "Film". Don't watch this if you want a deep drama. Watch this for the desu anime friendship squad.

Winter of (Re)birth, the season of decay and death in sight. Persona 3 the Movie 4: Winter of Rebirth is the conclusion to this tetralogy of movies. As Makoto finally finds out the revelations concerning himself, Ryoji and Aegis, the looming date of death while the rest of SEES goes through the depressing and rather scared thought of them dying once Nyx and the Fall...lands. The biggest victims towards the prospects of the Fall landing of the SEES becoming Yukari, Junpei and Makoto. Yukari not able to take it all it in to the point of her being hospitalized, while Junpei WANTING to get himself killed byother people so he can get it over with. The rest of SEES feels the effects of this as well, Mitsuru with her late father's death still in her mind, Amada with Shinji whilst Akihiko is trying to suppress that thought, Fuuka with Natsuki and losing her friend if the Fall lands and finally Makoto towards the rest of the SEES, not helping matters that HE'S the one that brought this upon the entire town though he didn't know it until it was too late let alone everything that happened in the previous 3 movies. With that Makoto with the help of Elizabeth's social link events quickly applied, shows that there is a light at the end of this depressing dread of death as not only Makoto but the rest SEES resolve their dilemma's of dying or of their dead ones and help Makoto face off with the remaining Strega and the final boss Nyx themselves. Persona 3 the Movie 4: Winter of Rebirth's themes backed by the previous 3 movies helps with making the the thematic cohesion at least in this case of "death itself" and how each of SEES tackles it considering each of the character faced death one way or another with Makoto at the end of this movie making the ultimate sacrifice to stop Nyx. Winter of Rebirth is the longest movie out of this tetralogy and they spend majority of the time equally on each of the SEES, heck Aegis gets some character development along the way but this final movie was all for Makoto, from his backstory, how he was linked to it all as well as his interactions with Ryoji, Aegis and the rest of his friends, this was a given to be honest, not only because he's the main protagonist but also because the final decision belonging to Makoto, he was carrying the movie and not only thematically but in the plot was executed rather well. In terms of animation done once again by A1-Pictures, well like the previous 2 movies, the animation was fine and was consistent with the rest of the 2 movies previously done by A1-Pictures and with this being the final climax of Persona 3, it was much grander in terms of the battles, especially with Nyx and Makoto. With the setting being Winter, it was alot bleaker using more depressing tones and as such but nonetheless evoking the atmosphere of dread and death rather well. A1-Picutres did rather well in terms of animation in LA's eyes even as a last hooray for Persona 3. Voice acting has the cast back and LA might have to give MVP's to Akira Ishida as Makoto as this was his movie especially near the finale, but also to Maaya Sakamoto as Aegis, but to be honest the rest of the cast from Megumi Toyoguchi as Yukari, Mamiko Noto as Fuuka, Kousuke Torimi as Junpei, Rie Tanaka as Mitsuru and Hikaru Morikawa as Akihiko were great...LA missed someone, *ahem* yeah...Megumi Ogata was oddly a bit annoying in this movie as Amada, maybe a bit too loud and high pitched at times, even when she was trying to emote but that was just LA. Nonetheless Akira Ishida and Maaya Sakamoto as well as the rest of the voice cast were great as expected. Was there any flaws LA would bring up in Persona 3 the Movie 4: Winter of Rebirth, well some, well for one being Elizabeth's social inks were rushed and LA was wondering when Elizabeth were have her limelight and they rushed her!, but at least her social link lead up to something great, the other being the CGI on Nyx was a tad blatant and obvious though Nyx wasn't entirely CGI at times and they blended it with traditional animation during the final fight but this is more of a nitpick to be honest and finally well the movie took it's sweet time in many moments mainly the final fight felt way to elongated, LA knows it's the final fight but taking up the latter half of the movie taking up almost 20 minutes worth of fighting was tiring to say the least. Persona 3 the Movie 4: Winter of Rebirth was a great albeit slightly rushed BUT elongated conclusion to Persona 3 and it did it's best to conclude itself in a rather nice ending, as the movie was nothing but bleak and depressing at first (which was intentional considering the setting and what happened), LA needed that happy ending. So what did LA think of the tetralogy as a whole, well it was a decent experience for those wanting to see what Persona 3 is all about if you haven't played the game and maybe for fans, they can relive moments once again even if it's a truncated, yes the movies tends to rush things to get to the major events but even then the movies does take it's time with the major events that occurred and develops the vast amount of characters that it had to develop over the span of what is in total, 6 and half hour runtime. The tetralogy has it's flaws, it's a given but what the movies gave us was what it set out to do and it executed itself fairly to greatly well. The final question of whether LA would go back to the games, well absolutely, the movies showed the potential of what Persona 3 had and LA knows, LA KNOWS the games will go into much more detail what the movies cut. Winter's dread melts itself into a new beginning for Makoto...

Persona 3 the Movie 4: Winter of Rebirth is based on the Atlus game Persona 3, more specifically it is focused on the late game. The story of Persona 3 revolves around an young man who returns to his hometown after several years, discovers that there are unusual events and through a series of events gains access to people's power. Story: 8 out of 10 The story from the movie is a little different from the the game, this is good cause in the game you need to go to Tartarus to level up and reach the highest floor, you also need to set the social linksat max, because that isn't important in the movie they create new events that aren't that bad. Some details like when their persona evolution happen much earlier in the game. Art: 10 out of 10 The art is the same as in the game, it is a beautiful kind of art that fits the game very well. Sound: 10 out of 10 It is so good they i have nothing to say about it, the bgm fits every scene, the voices and the other sounds are also very well done. Characters: 8 out of 10 I really liked that they explored the feelings of all the main characters better that how they did in the game and all of the SEES club members. Unfortunately support characters didn't had any screen time, in the game the MC wins power through the bounds that he creates with all the other characters. Enjoyment: 9 out of 10 They made up many of the story in this movie, i really had a good time enjoying this new side of persona. Overall: 9 out of 10 If you're thinking about watching the movie to know if you should play the game, DON'T DO IT! First play the game than watch the movie.

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