Why is the gold standard for video game adaptations Persona 4: The Animation?
Legendary Atlus JRPG franchise Persona is fourth entry, Persona 4, a murder mystery set in a small Japanese town called Inaba. Although every game in the Persona series merits accolades, Persona 4 offers a particularly charming backdrop. Rising Kujowicz, Kanji Tatsumi, and Naoto Shirogane give Inaba a special vitality that distinguishes it from other entries in the series.
And that's not all either. Furthermore among the best Anime Adaptations of a video game ever is Persona 4. As the Persona series itself knows well, adapting video games is difficult; the blockbuster Persona 5 has a rather disappointing adaptation.
Rather than an episodic anime series, Persona 3 chose a run of well-received films. Persona 4's anime stands out even if Persona 5's was not bad and Persona 3's movies are highly praised.
Why Is Changing Games Difficult?
Adaptation is challenging just as the same thing that distinguishes video games. While adaptations of video games are flourishing right now, video games provide a unique kind of interaction whereby the player is personally engaged with the characters and the on-screen action. On the other hand, even if every observer will see and understand a movie or TV show differently, their presentation is more defined and strict.
This can lead problems specifically for role-playing games. It's practically difficult to faithfully replicate that experience in another format since the framework of the game centers on the player's relationship to the player character. The experience revolves mostly on the player's projection and interaction, thus it is quite difficult to replicate. But for a game as great as Persona 4, catching that core is quite crucial.
Why Does Persona 4: The Animation Feel Different?
By not striving to exactly replicate the "game experience," Persona 4: The Animation finds the ideal mix. The anime deftly divides the tale's "player-dependent" from "player-independent" elements. It then weaves the general player-independent elements with its own original viewpoint on the player-dependent parts. Making a great anime takes front stage, not merely recounting the tale of a great game.
Yu Narukami, the main character of the anime, differs rather from the protagonist of the video game. Neither can he be the same. The protagonist of the game is an extension of the player; nobody "plays" an anime. Rather, Yu Narukami is written to be a fascinating protagonist to follow in changing the narrative of the game. Yu's conversation hardly corresponds with the game's options. He uses lines, jokes, and more interjections than his game equivalent. But personalizing writing gives his character life.
One could even contend that viewers feel a similar humanizing projection as if they were playing the game when a protagonist is different in many respects. The game lets the player project themselves onto the character between dialogue choices and tactical decisions, so generating a story and personality in their head. Inspired and punctuated by in-game decisions, the anime protagonist looks and behaves like the version of the character a Persona 4 player might picture.
What lessons about game adaptation might Persona 4: The Animation impart?
Persona 4: The Animation is able to make narrative decisions that make the game more intriguing generally by adopting this opinionated stance. Choosing who to spend time with and when in Persona 4 is one of the most interesting features of game. Still, players basically experience these relationships one at a time. Persona 4: The Animation can combine the several storylines of the game by not emphasizing a "canonical" version of the game and its plot, so delivering a thrilling narrative right up to its amazing last episode.
Take Ai Ebihara, whose storyline in the game is entirely optional but gets major screen time in the anime. Ai's storyline's writing style deviates somewhat from perfect consistency. But given the narrative structure of anime, her story links with other storylines (such as the basketball player Kou Ichijo, another optional relationship from the game) in a way the game cannot mechanically reproduce. The game's universe is what the anime presents; it is not the game itself.
Notwithstanding these developments, or rather, because of them, finishing Persona 4: The Animation feels like finishing the game itself. This method helps the anime to be a great adaptation since it achieves an amazing deception—a necessary quality. After completing an entry in the Persona series, one experiences great loss as they bid in-world friends and memories farewell. Persona 4: The Animation gets that exactly.
One especially interactive medium are video games. They provide an experience not easily replicable. For a game as popular as Persona 4, that is quite dangerous. The adaptation of Persona 4 aims not to replicate the finest aspects of this experience on film. Rather, it blends its source material with the advantages of its own media to establish a relationship whereby it supports the source rather than a flimsy copy. Persona 4: The Animation shows that, as a decent adaptation should, Persona 4's world is alive regardless of the media it is shown on.