Persona 3 the Movie 1: Spring of Birth

At the stroke of midnight, the Dark Hour appears—a secret hour which most are unaware of. Those not trapped in coffins during this time, unfortunate enough to find themselves conscious, are met by dangerous creatures known as Shadows. A select few, however, possess the potential to wield Persona: a special power used to defeat these beings. This secret group is called SEES (Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad), and their mission is to uncover the reason behind the Dark Hour's appearance.

Only a short while after transfer student Makoto Yuuki begins his residency at Iwatodai Dorm, his Persona awakens after an attack by a strong Shadow. Now recruited into the ranks of SEES, he begins fighting alongside his comrades, as only they can protect humanity from Shadows and prevent the anomaly that is the Dark Hour.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yuuki, Makoto Main

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Kirijou, Mitsuru Main

Tanaka, Rie Japanese

Sanada, Akihiko Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Takeba, Yukari Main

Toyoguchi, Megumi Japanese

Iori, Junpei Main

Toriumi, Kousuke Japanese

Aegis Supporting

Aragaki, Shinjirou Supporting

Nakai, Kazuya Japanese

Yamagishi, Fuuka Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Elizabeth Supporting

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Koromaru Supporting

Takahashi, Shinya Japanese

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Adachi, Kazuki Producer

Sakurai, Takashi Producer, Editing

Hosokawa, Osamu Producer

Reviews

Aug 8, 2024

JayremyTM

Recommended

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, and ... there'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.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 2, 2024

XOArama

Mixed Feelings

Being the first quarter of the story, things were bound to move pretty slowly, but you can definitely tell they tried to rush through a lot of stuff. We speed through a lot of the monthly events with little regard for anything else. Makoto's character is interesting in this, a lot more emo than I thought they would do, but if done right I can see it developing well over the 4 movies. Despite its rushed pacing and lack of standout moments, "Spring of Birth" sets the stage for potential character development, particularly with Makoto's intriguing portrayal. While it may not be anything extraordinary on ... its own, it leaves room for optimism about the series' future installments. Really wasn't anything special, but I'm here to see if it gets better.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Feb 17, 2020

Nimurai

Not Recommended

This presents the world the story will be set in... and that's it. No character development, not even presentation. No plot. No nothing. It's just some scenes put one after the other. Not even good scenes either.

The world the story (which doesn't exist in this movie) will be set in, is one with a 'pocket' of time (reminiscent of tales from the fairy, I would guess), and with some gifted youths that are able to use the 'persona', which it's a reminiscent of avatars (like in some ancient indian or egyptian mythologies). That was the only interesting aspect of this waste of time.

P.S.: Be careful ... with the translation too: it can turn this bland piece of waste into one even duller.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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