I’ve always been a fan of the Persona series. Whether it be the main series games or the spinoff Anime series, the story has always been very intriguing, and there’s always a very nice level of polish to the franchise, no matter what medium you decide to take it in. With the relatively recently release Persona 5 game garnering smash reviews, although I haven’t had the chance to play it yet, i’ve been looking forward to seeing a Persona 5 Animation coming out soon… and Spring 2018 came through.

Immediately, the first episode throws us into the thick of things, with an amazing and beautiful chase sequence happening right off the bat. After some government cruelty to our captured protagonist, we’re then taken back a ways, to where all this chaos first started,to the origin of the Phantom Thieves.

Admittedly, the Animation takes a bit of a ham-fisted approach in introducing the story, and the elements that cement it as an addition to the Persona franchise. Personally, I would have preferred it if they’d taken things a bit more slowly, let us get to know the characters and the setting a bit more before throwing us right into the metaverse. As it stands, the characters feel kind of shallow, and the setting is basically unknown. Though, with a lot of details surrounding our main character still shrouded in mystery, I guess a lot of that will come around eventually.

Let’s move on to what makes the show stand out, though: the visuals. Persona has always relied heavily on its unique visual flair, and Persona 5 takes this to the next level, swapping out the mostly yellow-and-green color palette from Persona 4 with a more striking black and red color scheme. Combining this color change with the high-quality visuals, while not being quite as good looking as some shows from last season, like Violet Evergarden or Yorimoi, Persona 5 looks pretty dang good, nonetheless.

Overall I think the show has quite a bit of potential, especially if it manages to flesh out the characters like the previous installments were able to. I’ve always been a fan of character-focused stories, and with the unique visuals and style of the Persona franchise, this may end up being one of the best shows of the season.