Figure Review: Persona 4 the Golden Animation Chie and Yukiko Sega PM Figures (Gekkoukan High/Persona 3 Uniform Edition!)

After weeks of Amazon Japan telling me I'd probably like these, I caved to low prices and proved that email advertising can work by buying these Yukiko and Chie Persona 4 the Golden Animation figures. As a fan of Persona 4 Golden, it's animated series (which I should probably finish reviewing someday) and Persona 3 (which I'm currently playing), these figures were an absolute must at the low cost of under $15 each. They're completely unique thanks to the Gekkoukan High Uniform from Persona 3 that they're sporting and don't feel low quality at all, despite the price.

Yukiko Amagi

Yukiko's shy and feminine pose is appropriate for the lovely Yukiko. I love how her red headband matches the red on the Gekkoukan High Uniform and the black thigh-high socks add a nice, feminine touch. She looks beautiful and even fashionable an in the Gekkoukan High Uniform, possibly more so than her usual Yasogami High one.

Chie Satonaka

In contrast to Yukiko, Chie sports a strong pose and regular white socks, which are much more practical for her Kung-fu moves. I can totally see her busting out Kung-fu moves in this uniform, although the more sophisticated uniform does add a bit of femininity to Chie. She looks strong, but cute, which is perfect for Chie's energetic but caring personality.

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Chie and Yukiko's personalities clearly seem to been kept in mind for these figures and you can really see the difference in their looks and poses when they're placed beside each other. Since the two best friends are in the same uniform and have the same shiny black base (which, for the record, really likes to pick up fingerprints!), the figures look best when displayed together.

These two Persona 4 the Golden Animation figures are Prize Figures, which are usually made cheaper than other figures, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality, as I was with my Marie prize figure (also from Sega). Colours look accurate to the Gekkoukan High uniform from Persona 3 and the face details and uniform details are accurate, particularly the girl's eyes. Chie's hair even features a nice ombré-esque colour graduation, which is a good looking detail that looks like the way the sun would hit her hair. I bought both these figures brand new, but I did notice a scratch in paint on one of the black skirt parts on Chie's uniform. It's only small, but the figure was well packed in the box, so I'm guessing this happened before shipping. I stress though, it's very small and can only be seen close up so I have no issue with it. My Yukiko figure sports a perfect paint job with no imperfections.

I was a little surprised and worried when I received my figures to see that the two figures featured slightly different boxes and packaging methods. While both boxes are extremely similar in box design, Chie's box is slightly different to Yukiko's in colour and also it lacks a Sega logo at the front. Inside the boxes, Chie was packed in a plastic packing shell, while Yukiko was wrapped in cardboard and bubble wrap. The reason the difference worried me was that missing logos and colour differences are usually a pretty good sign of something being a fake and I ain't interested in no fake figures! I seem to have nothing to worry about though, as looking on myfigurecollection.net and around Google Images, this seems to be the case for everyone else as well. So if anyone has the same worry, fear not, I think we're okay!

Being cheaper prize figures, Yukiko and Chie feel above their price range and my quality expectations, with only one very minor imperfection found between the two figures. The outfits and poses look well thought out for both characters, with their personalities present in their poses and both are easy to display. If you're a fan of Persona 4, these Gekkoukan High Uniform figures are one of the few outfit alternatives available for Chie and Yukiko, so are a great addition to any Persona 4 figure collection. For fans of both Persona 3 and 4 or Chie and Yukiko, these are a must for the price.

Score: 8/10

Unique and well-priced, these cute Yukiko and Chie figures are a good edition to any Persona 4 figure collection!

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Which figure do you like best - Chie or Yukiko? Also, if you have this figure or own other Persona figures, I'd love to see them so show me a photo of your figure collection!

Leave a comment below or send me a tweet at @JRPGJungle and let's talk!

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Figure Review: Marie from Persona 4 Golden Sega PM Figure

I have an addiction - Persona 4 character figures. They're so colourful and loveable in the games that whenever I see them (especially at a good price), I can't stop myself from buying them. During a recent visit to a pre-owned figure store, I was about to leave the store empty handed when I saw this figure of the adorable tsundere Marie for $20, boxed and all (which can be rare when shopping at pre-owned stores).

The Marie figure I purchased happens to be a 'prize' figure. Upon doing some research on the 'myfigurecollection.net' forums, I found that prize figures are different to scale figures. To put it simply, they're a style of figure made more cheaply than scale figures and are sometimes known to be of a lower quality. While I can maybe notice my Marie figure is shinier than my other very 'matte finished' figures and some of her accessories feel a little cheap, I'm happy to say that I love looking at my Marie figure just as much as my other figures and that's really what matters.

Chillin'

Marie is featured wearing her signature outfit from Persona 4 Golden, complete with her bag and her hat as removable accessories. Each piece is shaped to sit on it's intended area - the hat can be sat on Marie's head and the bottom of her bag is perfectly flattened in order to sit on top of the mini TVs included for her to be perched upon. A small complaint I have is that Marie's hat is a little difficult to put on and is guaranteed to come off when I move it - there's no proper way to secure it onto her head and balancing it can sometimes be difficult. Apart from that, I love how accurate her outfit is and am very impressed with small details (such as her belt buckle) that I had long forgotten about until inspecting this figure.

Complimenting her look and personality is her pose. On the box, she is sitting in a relaxed fashion on top of one of the two included TVs. Her body parts are not movable, but you can pose her with or without the TVs. The bigger TV is actually slightly molded and indented to perfectly fit her backside so she can sit easily, and the smaller TV sits just under one of her feet. Thanks to this pose and the smaller TV, she is well supported and easy to pose and turn after moving her. The additional display without the TVs is possible thanks to her flattened behind area to help her sit comfortably on the TVs and lean her on bench tops or against other items to have a perched cutely on a shelf or leaning back slightly on a bench.

Quality-wise, Marie is at an average level. The figure itself is visually very good, especially an average distance. Close-up though, there are a few paint smudges here and there and a tiny chip on the bottom of the back of her vest. As I mentioned, the figure was bought pre-owned so I'm not sure if these slight differences were there before her first owner had her, but I've never really noticed these kinds of things on any of my other figures. Also, the TVs Marie sits on feel like cheap plastic and are noticeably shiny. Even if this is intentional, the TVs feel incredibly light, almost hollow in fact. This does have it's benefits though, as as a lighter figure does equal lower shipping costs, but I was a little surprised. However when you factor in the price of Marie, this is probably the type of quality I would expect for price and for the low price, these things are definitely forgivable as she looks nice enough.

She may not be the most perfect or most expensive figure, but considering the cost she's pretty great. Despite some very minor chips and paint smudges, I totally appreciate the attention to detail in Marie's features and the cute customization options, thanks to the included accessories and posing options. From far away, Marie stands out against other figures thanks to her clothes and her pose that completely reflects her attitude and all the flaws I mentioned definitely aren't noticeable unless you have a very good eye. If you're a fan of the Persona 4 characters and Marie, until there's a higher grade option, this PM Figure is a fine addition to anyone's P4G character collection.

Score: 7.3/10

Not perfect, but still very cute, and totally worth the cost.

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Do you dig this figure or will you buy another Persona 4 character instead? Comment below and let us know!

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Persona 4 the Golden Animation Episode 3 "I Have Amnesia, Is It So Bad?" Review

Best. Screenshot. Ever.

Now that the "New Game Plus" context has been confirmed, this episode's preview including beach scenes made me worry that Episode 3 was going to be a 'filler' episode full of fan service and not much plot. These expectations quickly vanished during the full episode, where we see the beginning of Marie's desire to grow as a person despite her memory loss. Partnered with the ever wonderful cast of Persona 4 and "I Have Amnesia, Is It So Bad?" ends feeling like the most significant episode we've seen so far, full of many great moments that are both touching and humourous that Persona 4 fans won't want to miss.

After Marie's poetry scene (which I'm assuming there will be a new one each episode) and the opening, the Persona 4 gang suggests going to the beach and bringing Marie along for the trip. Like when Marie appeared inside the TV in the first episode of the animation, Marie has been inserted into the beach scenario from Persona 4 Golden the game for the purpose of developing her character and showing Persona 4 Golden's special events simultaneously. Some fans may not enjoy the inconsistency between these scenes in the game and in the anime, but considering this is an anime and requires a lot more screen time than your average social link in Persona 4 Golden, it's understandable Marie has to be put into scenarios she wasn't in before as she requires more character development than the rest of the characters. I also can't help but think the beach scenario was probably considered as a prime opportunity to get some Marie fan service in, but hey, I don't see anyone complaining.

The beach offers opportunities more than just fan service by including some comical scenes and some actual plot development. My personal favourite scene from the beach scenario this time was the hilarious scenario involving Kanji and "the birth of Venus". I love that during these scenarios the Persona 4 group always stick together to try and help each other out, even if there's no getting out of the problem. Marie's presence adds the opportunity for some character development, with the other character's natural curiosity to her becoming daunting due to her memory loss. This causes Marie to question her normality and while Marie's reactions in this scenario probably weren't the most mature, they needed to be done to kick off her personal growth.

But the highlight of this episode is really Marie posing the question to each of the main characters of Persona 4 what it's like to have faced themselves. Facing yourself is at the heart of Persona 4 and the scenes involving Marie asking the cast questions on this provide some humourous moments that are very typical to each character. More importantly, we see some heartfelt lines that really portray the different kinds of strength in each character perfectly. This scene is a great reminder for fans about why the Persona 4 series is special and will also be good for fans of the anime as it shows how the last series' events have helped them grow into the happy and strong characters we see this time around. Partnered with fire crackers, smiles and laughter, it truly is this season's most heartwarming moments so far and is probably my favourite scene from both of the Persona 4 Animation series.

Notably, I found the animation in this episode to be much more consistent in quality than the last few episodes, which was much appreciated. I was very happy to be focused more on the actual story this time around than distracted by the shows production!

With Marie's growth evident in the last few moments of the show, the promise of finding her memories feels as though it is the true start to the series. After a touching episode. Persona 4 the Golden Animation ends with Episode 3 feeling like it's finished it's preparations and is ready to hit us with Golden's true plot properly in the next few episodes. I'm excited for the next one!

Score: 8.5/10
This series has managed to improve episode by episode so far, with this one providing a wonderful balance of humourous and heartwarming scenes.

Episode 3 of Persona 4 The Golden Animation is available now to members of Crunchyroll's Anime Streaming Service. If you're not a member, you can either wait less than 12 hours to watch the "The Perfect Plan" or purchase an ad-free monthly membership.

Persona 4 The Golden Animation is also available to stream via Aniplex, Hulu and Daisuki.

Read more about Persona 4 on JRPG Jungle!

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Want to share your opinion? Comment below! Or you can tweet @JRPGJungle or email jrpgjungle@gmail.com with your thoughts or constructive criticism.

Persona 4 the Golden Animation Episode 2 "The Perfect Plan" Review

"I JUST HAVE TOO MANY SOCIAL LINKS!"

If you ever thought this while playing Persona 4 Golden, Yu Narukami proves that he feels it too. A light-hearted chaotic afternoon in the latest episode of Persona 4 the Golden Animation allows us to comically see just how Yu deals with managing his time with friends and will be completely charming for those who ever intensely planned their Persona 4 social links. Through this scenario we are also treated to a much appreciated softer side to new character Marie, making "The Perfect Plan" a satisfying feel good episode.

I believe this is what anime fans call 'tsundere'.

The show begins in the Velvet Room, with a scene that is another tribute to the events of Persona 4 Golden, specifically Marie's unique poems. This scene shows a bashful side to Marie, which serves as a good introduction to the way she acts in the episode. In fact, 'innocent' is the word I'm left with to describe Marie by the end of the episode. The things she says are usually miscalculated, but she always justifies them with kind intent and a beautiful curiousity to the world in a way that never feels cheesy. Her misguided observations of the world made me smile and I would argue she comes across much more kind-hearted in the anime than she did in Persona 4 Golden.

This episode also features what we can probably expect to be the permanent opening for this series. This new opening is very similar to the opening of Persona 4 Golden; fans of the show will recognise the kaleidoscope and silhouette themes immediately, as well as the overall style theme and it's choice of colours. This opening also shows something very important and frankly needed to establish context for the show; Yu Narukami's 'stats' (watchers of the first anime and players of the game will recognise this) are maxed. Considering the pace of the last episode's story along with this one (the show skipped an entire month and Kanji's dungeon!), this pretty much confirmed to me that the show is a 'New Game Plus' run through of the original anime/game. This means for new fans of the show you may end up lost if you haven't watched the original series or played either version of Persona 4. I mentioned this in my last review as well - I recommend going back to either of those (or both if you're keen - I'd recommend the game more though!) before watching this in order to get the maximum enjoyment out of the show.

"The Perfect Plan" has a brilliant scenario including Narukami's double booked plans going haywire. This reminded me of one of my favourite things about both Persona 4 anime, which is watching the characters deal with Yu grinding his social links. In the Persona 4 Animation, we saw Nanako go on her own investigation to reveal why her Big Bro was out of the house constantly. This time we see Yu Narukami unable to turn his friends and Nanako down and his efforts to try to please everyone, along with Marie charming people with the seemly strange things she says. Partnered with the still lovable characters from Persona 4, I was laughing out loud at all of the comical moments in the show. Some of the moments in the Up Close and Personal plan were seriously priceless.

I applaud the use of music in this episode and the way it fit with scenes, but I can't say I feel as positively about the animation at times. The animation quality seemed to drop occasionally to Persona 4 the Animation's less detailed style. With all of the high grade animation we see in usually scenes with Marie, it would be nice if the other characters received the same treatment and consistency.

Also, I had nowhere to write about this awesome outro. This was great.

Now that the show has confirmed itself as 'New Game Plus', I feel safe saying that viewers who are experienced with the Persona 4 series will enjoy this humorous take on the game's characters and social scenarios. Even with it's sometimes inconsistent animation, the episode shows multiple sides to new characters and uses what's great about the characters we know and love to make a strong second episode to Persona 4 the Golden Animation.

Score: 8/10

I laughed out loud many times while watching this. Fans of the game probably will too.

Episode 2 of Persona 4 The Golden Animation is available now to members of Crunchyroll's Anime Streaming Service. If you're not a member, you can either wait less than 12 hours to watch the "The Perfect Plan" or purchase an ad-free monthly membership.

Persona 4 The Golden Animation is also available to stream via Aniplex, Hulu and Daisuki.

Read more about Persona 4 on JRPG Jungle!

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Want to share you opinion on the episode? Comment below! Or you can tweet @JRPGJungle or email jrpgjungle@gmail.com with your thoughts or constructive criticism.

Persona 4 The Golden Animation Episode 1 "The Golden Days" Review

Three years ago, an anime called Persona 4 the Animation was created based off the popular Playstation 2 JRPG and Dungeon Crawler game Persona 4. It was well received and the wild popularity of the game's award winning and critically acclaimed PS Vita remake Persona 4 Golden left fans wanting more. Persona 4 The Golden Animation revisits the series and it's story again, this time with a special focus on the new characters and content from Persona 4 Golden. In it's attempt to get to Golden's content on screen as much as possible, to a viewer of the old Persona 4 the first episode felt action packed but I was left wondering how a new viewer would react to the show's pace.

The anime starts in faithful, Persona fashion by beginning the protagonist's story at the Velvet Room. After this, the opening movie brightens up the show with colour and players of the game will instantly recognise the opening song and visuals from the opening screen of Persona 4 Golden. As I am a fan of the game, I was delightfed to see how the opening movie showed off all of the social links from the game and this partnered with the familiar visuals gave an authentic feel that I'm sure other fans would also smile about.

Golden's exclusive character, Marie

After the opening scenes, we are introduced to the town of Inaba, which barely gets a mention of being a small town. Then the unofficial star of this anime series is introduced. This introduction is clearly a big deal - there are flowers floating in the air, hair and paper running through the wind and Yu stopping in his tracks. It's Marie time, albeit introduced in a kind of cliche way. Thankfully Marie breaks this cliche by giving Narukami some attitude and the slightly romantic feel disappears. Even with it's weird romantic feel, this scene was beautifully done with gorgeous art and complimenting sentimental music. Definitely a nice way to welcome this new character to the anime.

Then the episode goes from slow and sentimental to absolute full speed ahead. In a span of 8 minutes, we meet Marie, Yu meets Dojima and Nanako, goes to school and makes friends, watches the Midnight Channel, puts his hand in the TV and then enters the TV world from Junes with Chie and Yosuke. The cool thing about this extremely fast pacing is that if you've seen the original Persona 4 the Animation, the first episode of this new Persona 4 Golden anime sets it up to feel like a 'New Game Plus' run through of the show. It skims over the things we've already seen and places it's focus on the new stuff. New fans will still enjoy the show, but should be prepared to miss out on some of the story's details. This is a little bit of a shame, as Persona 4's story has many details. For example, in this episode we don't get to meet the girl Yosuke has a crush on or the creepy guy who talks to Yukiko outside of Yasogami High. These might details may sound minor, but the story's plot becomes deeper when you know about these things. For anyone without that knowledge, I can't help but feel that new fans will be left feeling perplexed from this pacing and may possibly benefit from either playing the game or watching the original anime first.

Despite my criticism of the pace, I keep reminding myself that Persona 4 Golden is an extremely large game to fit into any kind of shorter medium and the show is certainly still enjoyable despite this. What I did enjoy in contrast is how Persona 4 the Golden Animation does manage to spend time it's time with Golden-specific content smartly. By intertwining Marie's story with Persona 4's original story, we get to know her story while still getting an introduction to the original story. Despite Marie being inside the TV being a small scene, I enjoyed how the anime managed to explore her journey to the Velvet Room a little deeper than the game did.

The visuals of the show are noticeably improved when viewed against the old anime. I always felt that some of the old anime's visuals looked lacking in detail and I'm glad to see Persona 4 The Golden Animation has definitely improved upon this. Using the photos below as an example, little details such as thinner lines, Dojima and Nanako's more precise facial expressions and things such as the pockets on Dojima's pants or the loops in his belt buckle might sound unimportant, but their inclusion make the show's animation look much more polished. An epic action scene with the shadows and Izanagi really shows off what the improved visuals with lots of lights, bright colours and even Shadow monsters that look 3D at times.

From Persona 4 the Animation

From Persona 4 the Golden Animation

Persona 4 The Golden Animation's visual update and new elements to Marie's story served it well, even if they missed out on a few details. "The Golden Days" was a fast paced episode that sets up Marie's character very carefully, although sacrifices some of Persona 4's original story to do so. For an anime based off a video game, it's first episode has done a good and entertaining job fitting a large story into 24 minutes. Fans of the series will no doubt enjoy seeing their favourite Persona 4 characters again with added story content.

Score: 7.8/10

Episode 1 of Persona 4 The Golden Animation is available now to members of Crunchyroll's Anime Streaming Service. If you're not a member, you can either wait till next week to watch it for free or purchase an ad-free monthly membership.

Persona 4 The Golden Animation is also stream-able via Aniplex, Hulu and Daisuki.

Read more about Persona 4 on JRPG Jungle!

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