Fluorescent orange always look good on a Persona.
After spanking Impzie for stealing my Persona episode 1 post, I’m again in charge of blogging Persona: Trinity Soul. I know the Persona series of games since the 1st installment onf the game on the Psx and I was always avid for a anime adaptation of the Persona universe. This anime sequel of the Ps2 game, Persona 3, hasn’t disappointed me yet.
But there is one thing that is really annoying me… Is Jun a Reverse trap or what?
Screenshot Summary
Starting with Persona, I’m thinking on using only screenshots to summarize the episodes. If you think it’s fine or if you want the old text-based summaries, please tell me on the comments.
Impressions
Let’s start first by analysing some aspects that Impz didn’t mentioned on the post of ep 1. One on fthe biggest issues and which the new Persona fans are debating more is the lack of Evokers. In Persona 3, they were the method used to summon the personas, but that was just a artificial way to make a summon on subjects with the potential. And what is a persona exactly? It is a Alter Ego, a physical manifestation of the summoner’s psyche and that’s one of the reasons they assume a form close to the arcana the summoners are more in synch with.
There are several key moments in Persona ep 1: Ryou’s talk in the phone with someone who’s supposely Akihito from Persona 3; the incident in the past wich cause the “dissapearance” or “death” of Jun’s twin sister,Yuki, and part of his current depression; Yuuji Kimoto (the villian on ep 1) and his hunt for A Latency personas and the Reverse effect on his victims; Ryo’s dream visions of other people’s personas including his older brother persona, and even dreaming about Igor, the presence of the former in the dreams of Ryou with the 3 masks (how the hell he kept his nose under the mask?); the mysterious second voice on Jun’s room when he’s seeing Yuki’s old dress, just to mention a few of those key moments.
Speaking now on the events of episode 2: let’s start with the focus of this episode, Shadow Extraction. What’s exactly the nature of this ritual? It seems to cause a feeling of euphoria and pleasure, and it’s related to the Persona inside of people. But why shin was able to fully extract Takurou’s persona? It was because Shin is a Special A or because Takurou is a Special A? (Special A seems to be a designation of individuals capable of evoking a Persona naturaly without the help of drugs or devices like Evokers.)
The Special A individuals are being targeted by 2 parties: one is the police forces lead by Ryou Kanzato and the mysterious 2nd party, which we saw 3 elements already; Yuuji Kimoto, Saki Tachibana (girl hunting Shin with a persona) and Touma Shikura (guy with bean hood). A fact to be pointed is they are seen taking medication like the Strega members in Persona 3; does this mean their personas are artificialy created? They also refered to Shin as a innate, possibly meaning he has a natural adquired persona.
Episode 2 presented us with the first school scenes, which are possible references (again) to the Persona 3 game. Megumi and Sakakiba seem to fulfill the roles of Yukari and Junpei, although Sakakiba is alot more cooler and looks like a mix of Nabeshin looks (Excel Saga) and Spike coolness and jazz style (Cowboy Bebop), but still keeps the womanizer skills of Junpei. It’s too early to say if Megumi will be the romantic interest of Shin, but she was present on both episodes and she is in the middle of the persona incidents. Considering the clues given, the guy she was trying to slap has probably raped her friend with the use of his persona powers and he’s trying to do the same now with her.
Other key scenes to be mentioned is Ryou sighting a red haired girl in the half-constructed bridge (not sure if it’s the same girl that appears underwater in episode 1 but the eyes color seems to be the same) and the floating of a white feather right after she dissapears. Too bad we have few data about the girl or Ryou’s past to speculate about them.
The soundtrack this time has more references to the Persona 3 game, including a remix of several tracks (Burn My Dread, Troubled and Mass Destruction) and some classical cameos from the other Persona games like Velvet Room. The anime original soundtrack keep the same style, but there is one interesting track introducing Sakakiba which is a fusion of Jazz and Shakuhachi (japanese flute).
The title of the 3rd episode is Marebito, which has a general meaning of rare person. Originally used to refer to a visitor, Marebito are spiritual beings who come to village communities to bring happiness and good fortune and are the basis of alot of the old japanese folklore.
My final comment: call me crazy or a wacko, but the more I see Jun, me more I’m convinced it’s a reverse trap. Everyone in the anime refers to him as a he, but his feminine look, way of moving and the dual voice incident in the room point to the reverse trap theory. Or maybe I’m just obsessed…
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12 Comments
There is one more thing I noticed in reference to the game, which I think might be important. The bad guys mentioned that Ryou should be somewhere around 27-28, which if the anime is set 10 years after the game would make him the same age as the protagonists of the game. I wonder if he might have known some of them at the time.
@Lana: It can be relevant if the current town is the same as the Persona 3 town, but that remains to be proven.
“the more I see Jun, me more I’m convinced it’s a reverse trap.”
Unless it’s his twin sister which, I think, we got to see in the flashbacks in ep.1 and he’s got some sort of mental problems because of something happening to her.
If not… well then I can’t see ‘him’ as being anything but a reverse trap!
Could also be so that she had a Persona that they somehow transferred to Jun… meh, there’s a million different possibilities -_-
@Trn: Another odd fact about Jun is having a female seiyuu…
@MetroLolicon Extrange: But female seiyuu’s do boy voices all the time!
(Anyways, Jun is hot. I stopped caring about anime character’s genders.)
…
Yep, a lot of times male characters (typically the younger teens to child characters) will have female seiyuu. I’m thinking that it’s because it’s hard to find male seiyuu that can sound like little boys.
One example of this is Negi from Negima! (who is voiced by Satou Rina, a female seiyuu).
Anyways that’s just my little comment on that topic. @_@
Wait, what? Jun is a he?
And here I was after 2 episodes still thinking that Jun is a she…
So far, these two Persona episodes have been highly entertaining for me. Even though I’ve never played the game, I’m enjoying the show very much.
If I were to comment about Jun being a reverse trap, my first impression when I heard him apologizing to Shin on behalf of his sister was that he might have a multiple personality disorder. Obviously, whatever happened in the past was extremely important to all of the brothers. And then, Jun and his sister were twins. Possibly, he might have developed a habit of talking to himself while mimicking his sister’s voice as a means of preserving her memory.
Oh, the endless possibilities..
It’s really misleading when Jun keeps keeping the dresses of the twin sister that Shin has. I do wonder whether Jun has a Persona itself, and it makes me wonder if there is any connection of the three brothers with the previous plots of PERSONA. I just feel that the surnames seem somewhat familiar, but maybe that is just me.
Btw, nice idea with the screenshot summary,but a short para or two about what happened might be better. Just my suggestion though ^^
After the accident of ten years ago, Jun’s brain was terrifully damaged and Yuki, his twin sister, was already dead when they were transfered to the hospital, so that’s why Ryou decided to give Jun a half of Yuki’s brain. Otherwise, he would lose the two of his twin brothers. That’s also why somtime, Jun give us an impression that Yuki is inside him.
the more i play persona 3, i dont seem to get the impression that this anime has anything to do with the game. but that still remains to be proven. akihiko’s appearence in this anime seems to be the most baffling so far, cuz he’s the only connection right? i wonder if the SEES gang will make a cameo apperence? seems i just have to finish persona3:fes to find out more about it