I welcome Rise Kujikawa to the series. Another victim appears and is taken into the TV which will require another rescue. I suspect from that short image of her shadow that this time the guys will be a bit more motivated to rush to the rescue. Seems like Yukiko and Chie will have troubles of another kind since I expect a ton of puns on this subject. Anyways we got to know Rise a bit and gives some room to speculate about what her shadow will be like. Maybe the most important thing though is that they seemed to confirm that people on TV are being targetted though they aren’t close to a theory as to why. The mystery of the midnight channel also remains since they can’t really decide if its the killer warning ‘someone’ or simply a reflection of their desire to capture and kill.

Wow Yukiko was pretty confident that she’s never upset anyone. Of course she’s dead wrong, but would be kind of uncomfortable to point that out. No chance she hasn’t pissed off a few guys with constantly shutting them down. Sure not her fault, but doesn’t mean someone wouldn’t hold an unfair grudge.

Maybe one thing I was worried about was including quite a bit of Rise’s arcana route here. Won’t say what was or was not part of it, but just surprised that they put some in there. It was somewhat the same for Kanji, but just felt like there was more here. Maybe they want to make the main more motivated for this rescue or to make us see Rise as more than just some idol that came back to town. Suppose it could be those things and just wanting to take care of some of Rise’s moments while they have a good chance to.

There was some nice moments in the episode though. I liked Narukami helping Rise dodge the reporters at school and the slightly funny moments with the paper cranes. Those really are his trademark at this point in the series. Can certainly be blunt at times like with Rise’s poor first attempt at a paper crane. Still she did well on the second one and that paper airplane was top notch.

I really liked the ending of the episode this time around. Deserved or not the emotional reaction from Rise at Narukami really seemed to affect him. Plus his expression at the end when she appeared on the midnight channel seemed more than a set-up for his one-liners. As far as he knows he was the last person to see Rise before she was taken. Whether that simply means surprise for him or some guilt I’m not sure. Really it’s not his fault when you think about it, yet they were trying to protect her and right after leaving him she was gone. Maybe hoping for too much, but this could be a key moment for Narukami’s character. A deeper reason to go into this rescue and try to save her. It could be nothing, but I would like to see him at this point be a bit more emotionally invested in saving these people. It’d be easy enough to follow-up with something comical like “well I recorded it this time”, but hoping for more.

Can somewhat understand where Rise is coming from in the episode. A feeling that all anyone sees is the idol image that has been put out there. You see her all the time in commercials, that picture book, etc, but how many of them showed who Rise is at her core? At the start had her manager Inoue talking about the schedule and about her, but not to her. If that’s his idea of support I wonder about the future of this next girl. Talks about how he can’t accept her leaving, but he’s already picked someone new up to work with…But anyways, can see how she might just get tired, though I’m sure we’ll get a much deeper look at her worries next episode.

Too bad about that fan that got beaten and arrested. Well maybe this will be an important lesson about stalking while dressing suspiciously. It may not be right to jump to conclusions, but not fun either way to be a victim of that misunderstanding. Besides not like he wasn’t stalking so getting taken in wasn’t that bad. Certainly Rise didn’t come back to get followed around by that guy. Sure the group was stalking, but they were trying to prevent an abduction. Well I’m sure Adachi will be very well rewarded for taking a stalker in on murder charges. Clearly though Dojima has suspicions and wants to keep an eye on Narukami. With Adachi as an example easy to see why they can’t trust the police, but Dojima has good instincts so you’d think he’d be a guy to rely on if anyone.

Regardless of false accusations that was a nice combo attack by Kanji, Yosuke, and Chie. Chie was on a roll really with this guy and then that hit on Yosuke after he was talking about her thighs. Really that guy just sets himself up for death. If he’s going to say things about someone at least following Narukami’s example and making them compliments are a good idea. Though it is Yosuke so it’d probably never work either way XD.

Well time for another rescue. Hopefully they go all out with this one since the animation quality has been a bit spotty lately. I like Rise’s character so hopefully they do a good job.
Score: A

• Gekokujou

  LOL, I loved how Yuu silently chased Risette just to give her cellphone back. Looks like he need to do some work on Expression if he doesn’t want to be mistaken for a stalker.

  Once again, Teddie/Kuma was nowhere to be seen. Disappointing.

• FlareKnight

  Yeah, he could try next time speaking up. Silently following someone so you can return a phone….Yeah, there’s Narukami for you.

  Feel for Teddie, but can’t be helped. Nothing for him to be a part of. No one was in the TV until Rise got tossed in there. Maybe could have had them visit to give Kanji some glasses, but that can be attached to the next rescue. At least he’ll have his chance to get back into things soon.

• NeroFrost

  There’s one thing I took away from this episode, and that was how awesome Yu actually is. Despite the fact that the guy can’t emote like the others, you still managed to see quite some expression from him as well as a bit of humor.

  It’s time for that idol girl in the poster from episode 1 to come to Inaba. Kujikawa Rise is an idol who feels she isn’t being true to herself by being popular and loved by droves of fans. Seeing how the media has been pestering her, it’s understandable. For that reason, she decides to “take a break” and come to work at her grandmother’s tofu shop. I guess there was some good highlighting of Rise’s personal issues here, since she clearly showed how she isn’t the happy-bubbly-idol-girl everyone believes her to be and just wants to be normal, but then gets disappointed when she’s been told her part in a movie went to someone else. This sort of shows a conflict of interest, if only so slightly. I also like how she maintains a connection with Yu, almost as if she’s taken a great liking to him instantly. And why wouldn’t she… our boy doesn’t really care if she’s an idol anyway.

  As usual, the rest of the team provided a little comic relief in places as well. Particularly funny was Yosuke’s “eagerness” to get to see Rise and Kanji chasing down a stalker after finishing a bowl of (what else) Aiya’s famous noodles! Even Yukiko managed to give a bit of laughs with her blatant statements… although I do have to admit, her bit on Chie’s Persona was pretty lame! Speaking of which, I really like how sensitive and spunky Chie can be sometimes. She gets shy when Yu points out her thighs but kicks Yosuke’s ass when he makes an off-hand comment about them, much like last episode with the swimsuits ^_____________^ I also particularly liked the All-Out Attack in the episode, since it gave us a sense of coherence with regards to the game’s mechanics.

  I did feel though that maybe the animators were cutting corners in this one. Despite the flashy opening for this episode (which had me going NOOOOOOOOO…), the scene where they’re all at the Junes food court did look like it was pretty much static art, in that there wasn’t really a visible change of expression on most of the characters’ faces. Plus, the color in some places looks fine, but makes me wish they took the proper time to cel-shade it and show a contrast.

  So ultimately, Rise gets kidnapped and we’ll see our heroes venture into the TV world once again to try and rescue her. Wow, let’s hope there’s no surprises this time concerning Rise’s Persona or with Kuma/Teddie

• FlareKnight

  Narukami really can go between strange and awesome sometimes. This episode it was kind of the same where he showed both sides. I mean stalking a girl through a mall without saying a single thing just to return a cellphone. He’d be a great actor for a horror film XD. But he also showed just how good he is with ladies with his badass origami skills XD.

  I’m glad the series showed more about what is haunting Rise. It was easy to see how the personality manufacturing was bothering her and the pressure her true self was under. Yet she was still bothered by that other girl getting the role. Agree it shows some internal conflict and maybe she isn’t too sure what she really wants. Could be a side of her who did love being an idol despite the trouble that came with it. Can definitely see her liking Narukami pretty early. Someone a bit odd, but someone who helped her out at the school and cheered her up. Not exactly the type of person that would chase her down because she was an idol.

  Some good laughs for sure. Fun to see Chie being sensitive like that at times and yet still able to kick Yosuke’s rear end. In that case I can’t claim unfair treatment since at least Narukami was complimenting compared to Yosuke.

  This definitely felt like an episode where they cut corners and I hope that’s just because they are putting more effort into the next one. I mean it was funny to see Chie respond to Kanji and yet not turn her head to look at him or change her facial expression. It was kind of weird. They could have only cut it further by not having her mouth move.

  Well can say I’m looking forward to next week. Should be fun to see how they handle Rise’s Shadow.

• setsuken

  Wow, cannot believe I haven’t commented on this yet. I drew a pretty sharp opinion on this episode, and I thought I had commented on it already XD

  So… this episode had the usual awesomeness. Some really funny Yuu moments, and the other characters being in synch as well. The story is progressing nicely, and I’m kind of digging the whole “what’s the culprit’s pattern?” thing that’s the guys are throwing to sort towards.

  For all the positives though, I really really really really did NOT like Rise’s voice. This coming from someone who has NOT played Persona 4 the game, I just… dunno. The voice just doesn’t seem to suit the character.

  I generally don’t have a problem with Kugimiya Rei voicing characters, I’ve rather enjoyed her work on Shana, Zero No Tsukaima and most recently, Aria no Scarlet.

  Most of the time, people cast her in roles that FIT her style. IMO Rise didn’t fit her style of voice acting at all, and that really kinda broke the character for me. I felt like a more calm, sweeter voice would’ve been suited for Rise, especially given how she’s supposed to be not very nice as far as the real her goes.

  I might be jumping the gun, but we’ll just have to wait and see if it sticks XD

• FlareKnight

  Well hearing Kugimiya Rei voice Rise is a first for me too since there wasn’t a Japanese voice option on Persona 4. It’s a different feel, though can’t say it’s wrong either. Rise was an idol so you figure that kind of voice may end up fitting that aspect of her. Can assume the game creators picked her voice in the Japanese version for a reason. Obviously can’t jump into her character any more deeply than what we’ve gotten. Strangely I wasn’t bothered by the voice though might say the English voice did fit Rise a bit better.

  Still interesting enough to get opinions on it from those who didn’t play the game.

  It’s good that the story is progressing and the characters are actively trying to figure out things like motives and how people are targeted. It’s not like they are sitting around waiting for someone to get tossed into the TV.

  Glad to have your comments on this one XD.