A majority of those who played Persona 3 for Playstation 2 have known, in the bottom of their hearts, that this would make a wonderful anime. For the game plays much like an anime itself, perfectly switching between an active school life with clubs, girlfriends, and stylized uniforms, to summons, dungeons, and medieval weaponry. Then to no surprise we get an announcement stating that there will be an anime based off of Persona 3, but there is a catch.

Persona –Trinity Soul- does not take place during the events of Persona 3, but in fact ten years after it. Does Persona –Trinity Soul- live up to its Playstation 2 counterpart? I’m not sure if I can answer that after viewing its first episode, but I can tell you now that they feel different. Check out my first impression of it after the jump.

Persona –Trinity Soul-
Developed by: A-1 Pictures
First aired January 5, 2008 on Animax

The story of Persona –Trinity Soul- revolves around three brothers this time around. The eldest one, Ryo, is the chief of the Ayanagi City Police, and is a busy man because of the amount of people who have been diagnosed with “Apathy Syndrome” as of lately. So busy that he forgets to pick up his two younger brothers from the air port, Shin, and Jun who will now be living with Ryo. These three will somehow be thrown into the conspiracy surrounding the Apathy Syndrome, and will come to terms with their own power known as persona.

The art and animation is great so far, combining the old-school 2D, with the new and not always welcomed CG inserted objects and scenes. This isn’t the next Ghost in the Shell or Ergo Proxy, but good enough to get the job done.

Music, on the other hand, is fantastic. It was one of the first things I picked up on as I started to watch this. At first it seems to be a little bit more dramatic than Persona 3’s Jpop-inspired soundtrack, but becomes more like its forerunner later on in the episode. Taku Iwasaki did the music for this anime, and I was surprised to find out that the last anime he worked on was Gurren Lagann; so its safe to assume that it will continue its awesomeness regardless of the other parts of this show.    

So far, this anime seems to be a lot more serious than Persona 3. Not only is the story darker, but the overall look of the anime is dark as well. At this point it reminds me more of Darker Than Black, than an anime that would better suit Persona 3, like Fate/Stay Night; which combines both action, comedy, and romance together in a semi-perfect matter. But that does not mean it’s bad. Persona –Trinity Soul- is its own entity with its own attitude, while Persona 3 is different and unique on its own as well.

So far I can’t say if this will be a show worth watching this winter season. Like most anime, the first episode hardly fed us enough to please our appetite.  But if its anything like Persona 3 then we shouldn’t be worried; which just might happen in the next episode when Shin and Jun go to school for the first time. If you ever played one of the games, or like anime with spiritual summons like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, or Shaman King, or a darker show like Darker than Black, than I believe this might be the show for you.