Anime Club: Persona 3 the Movie #02 Midsummer Knight’s Dream
PERSONA 3 THE MOVIE #02. MIDSUMMER KNIGHT’S DREAM
DIRECTED BY: Tomohisa Taguchi
STARRING: Akira Ishida, Megumi Toyoguchi, Kōsuke Toriumi, Rie Tanaka, Hikaru Midorikawa, Mamiko Noto, Maaya Sakamoto, Megumi Ogata, Kazuya Nakai, Isamu Tanonaka, Miyuki Sawashiro
GENRE: Science Fiction
YEAR: 2014
COUNTRY: Japan
he movie starts with SEES’ battle in a full moon phase on July. Junpei Iori, Akihiko Sanada, and Mitsuru Kirijo are fighting the Shadow Arcana Hierophant with Fuka Yamagishi providing tactical support for them. Meanwhile Makoto Yuki and Yukari Takeba are captured by the Shadow Arcana Lovers and under its spell but eventually free themselves from it. Defeating the Hierophant, Junpei, Akihiko, and Mitsuru regroup with Makoto and Yukari, and they defeat the Arcana Lovers. Unbeknownst to them, they are observed by three mysterious people. Makoto and the others goes to Yakushima for a break and they spend most of the day playing at the beach. While trying to flirt with women under Junpei’s insistence, Makoto encounters a mysterious blonde haired girl. At night, Mitsuru’s father, Takeharu Kirijo, gathers everyone and reveals that the Dark Hour and the Shadows were created by an accident caused by Mitsuru’s grandfather Kouetsu Kirijo and Yukari’s father Eiichiro Takeba in an attempt to create a device that could manipulate time. He shows a video left by Yukari’s father, who reveals that SEES can end the Dark Hour by destroying the twelve Arcana Shadows. This revelation shocks Yukari who feels responsible for her father’s sin, but Makoto comforts her. Entering the Dark Hour, Makoto and Yukari are attacked by Shadows and are almost killed until the blonde haired girl from earlier, revealed to be a Persona user, saved them. Shuji Ikutsuki introduces the girl as Aigis, a 7th Generation Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon developed by the Kirijo Group, and she joins SEES.
Alright, so I want to make it known that I watched Midsummer Knight’s Dream with fresh eyes. I know next to nothing about the Persona series, so bare with me if I miss a few points. As for the most part I liked Midsummer Knight’s Dream quite a bit, as it seemed like it fit well within a ridiculous and peculiar series. What the film does best is that it introduces new characters to join our seasoned cast and focuses heavily on their part in the story. One of these characters, Aegis, is an android designed to kill Shadows and her relationship with the other characters drive the film.
Now, because of the heavy-handed focus on new characters, we need to shine a light on the big problem of Midsummer Knight’s Dream. Due to the influx of new characters, most of the seasoned characters that we know are reduced to a supporting cast of fodder. It’s incredibly disappointing. Also, I would like to mention that if you don’t know anything about Persona (like myself) then you can be lost easily. Like, why is everyone shooting themselves in the head to summon “Personas”? Oh and I can’t forget the fan service, it bothers me just less than the annoying as hell calendar transitions.
PROS:
- New characters to the series.
- Aegis and her Shadow-killing bad-assness
CONS:
- Seasoned characters reduced to supporting cast.
- Doesn’t explain key points about Persona.
- Unnecessary fan service.
- Annoying AF calendar transitions.
SCORE: 6.0 / 10
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