Now this was a great episode for Persona 4. I love how they are handling the fights and including Narukami’s ability to use multiple personas. This episode just brought a lot of good things together like Chie’s situation, the flashbacks, some laughs, and a flashy end to the battle. If Persona 4 can equal this kind of episode on a regular basis it should be in pretty good shape.

I enjoyed that flashback first meeting between Chie and Yukiko. It gives a good glimpse to the pure characters of the girls without complicated things that build up as they got older. In the end the episode showed that this is what they are. Chie cares a lot about Yukiko and they are friends. Showing the picture at the end with the larger dog ties everything together nicely. Some things change and yet that friendship still exists.

Wow that Yukiko show on the Midnight Channel was outstanding. Though maybe even better was Narukami’s response of “I wish I’d recorded it” was pure gold XD. That guy really needs to invest some time in upping his expression stat, though deadpan comedy has its appeal as well. Just pure shock I’m sure seeing the pretty quiet character going on about unleashing secret weapons and having her own personal host club. Guess people could ask if she lost her mind when toppling into that world.

In terms of Narukami’s stats he continues to improve. This time his understanding and knowledge improved. No shock that his expression is still at clumsy. I guess going to class helped boost his knowledge and making the paper cranes helped to boost up his understanding. It should be fun to see Narukami continue changing as he raises his stats in the various areas.

It was nice to see a bit more of Nanako. A tough spot having to watch the house on her own and likely often since her father is a detective during a time in which there is a murder investigation going on. Not that comfortable for Narukami to just leave her be, but they did have something important to do…..like getting arrested.

I thought for a moment they might be keeping the fighting with weapons in when they had Yosuke getting him and Narukami arrested. But that seems to be more about showing how the police viewed Yukiko’s disappearance and make it clear that they are aware that she is gone. Guess it makes sense since it makes the battles flow easier and they would have to animate characters sneaking around weapons in a department store which might be a stretch….It is fine like this since I think people would rather see personas flying around and doing crazy things.

Obviously the key events of this episode were around Chie. Got to hear how her friend was viewing herself and how she regarded Chie. While not her whole self can see that Yukiko has issues regarding self worth. Viewing her only value as being someone to inherit her families inn and seeing Chie as a precious person who protects her.

Now Chie on the other hand had some thoughts that she’d rather keep buried. Some jealousy regarding Yukiko’s beauty and grace compared to Chie who falls in more as a tomboy. I’m sure on some level it did bring her satisfaction having someone who she envied looking up to her. In a sense both girls were envious of the other’s positive traits. Of course the last thing Chie would want would be hearing ‘herself’ say those thoughts she’d rather keep buried. The idea that because someone like Yukiko looked up to her it made Chie superior isn’t something you want to hear. It’s not the entirety of her thoughts, but those less pleasant thoughts exist. This kind of thing definitely makes the characters more interesting since you get to see their good sides and those negatives. As we also saw with Yosuke it seems accepting those negatives while realizing they don’t make up the entirety of who they are is the key to surviving. It seems like rejecting the shadows is the trigger to a monster turning up ready to erase their original self. They get that power boost from the rejection while accepting seems to drain them.

The fight was definitely full of entertainment. It was fun seeing Yosuke’s first attacks have a few issues though he is getting used to it. While they had two personas it didn’t mean fighting Chie’s shadow would be easy. There was a lot of power there and if Narukami’s ability to use other personas hadn’t been there they would have lost. I was curious if and how they would implement Narukami’s multiple persona ability. It appears they plan on having him be able to use a persona from the arcana of a character(Yosuke’s magician and likely now Chie’s chariot) that he’s built a bond with. Whether he can use multiples from the same arcana or if it’s just one per is hard to say right now, but it should still be pretty fun. This really makes Narukami a useful guy to have around.

While they haven’t reached Yukiko they still made some good progress here. Chie gained her own persona which just increases their strength in a fight. Plus we’ve got some hints as to what we can expect when they do find Yukiko. Now just have to wait until the next episode.
Score: A