Review of Persona 3 the Movie: #1 Spring of Birth

For someone who has played the game and then watches this anime, it becomes clear that they are cutting out a lot of the parts where you typically spend time with friends, other people, and doing various activities in the game. This is because the movie primarily focuses on what truly matters to the plot and storyline. What I'm trying to say is that, as an anime for fans, they are doing good fan service but for someone who has zero knowledge of Persona 3 and is coming to watch this movie, it might seem average or even bad. The story moves very fast, andthere's not much character development for those who have never seen or played Persona 3 before, making it hard to understand what the characters are doing beyond the Dark Hour and their tasks inside Tartarus. The only significant character development in this movie happens between Fuuka and Makoto, while other main characters, like the members of SEES, feel more like they just pop in and out with very little interaction or development being shown to the audience. The movie also fails to clearly portray Junpei, often presenting him as a reckless guy for most of the time, except at the beginning. In the game, however, we see multiple sides of Junpei, which make him appear less serious and better balanced in terms of his characteristics and mannerisms. The action scenes are good—not great, but still really good. I don’t know exactly what the budget for this movie was, but the action could have been better. However, the lighting and textures used in the animation are still pretty solid. The music is undoubtedly the best part of the movie, no question about it. As for the cast, as I mentioned before, I would have liked to see more character development, especially for casual viewers who have never experienced Persona 3 before. It’s not quite up to par, but overall, it’s alright. The thing is, because this is Persona, the media and story are inherently great, and that's what saves this movie despite the poor pacing and other issues it has. I believe this should have been a series instead, as they could have spent much more time on character development rather than quickly skimming through it in just over an hour.

You can still watch it if you want to see through the world of P3. It's a good movie overall. I'm just being picky.