Persona 3 The Movie: #1 Spring of Birth Review (Anime)

I’ve been waiting for this! The UK release has been a long time coming but it’s here! It’s finally here! You can now buy Persona 3 The Movie: #1 Spring of Birth on Blu-Ray and DVD and it’s more than worth the wait. Spring of Birth is an outstanding adaptation of one of the world’s best JRPG’s. 

 

Makoto Yuki arrives in the city of Tatsumi Port Island late at night where suddenly people turn into coffins and the sky turns an unnatural green. If you’re thinking that this isn’t quite normal then you’re right, it isn’t normal in the world of Persona 3 either! Makoto arrives at the Iwatodai Dorm where he meets other students who he will be living with and they keep an eye on him, without him knowing, as they expect that he has the potential to become another Persona summoner who can fight the Shadows during the Dark Hour — the Dark Hour being a hidden hour in the day that most people sleep through (in coffin form) and aggressive monsters known as Shadows attack those who are still conscious.

 

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Spring of Birth is an outstanding adaptation of one of the world’s best JRPG’s.

The Persona series excels at story-telling and characterisation and the Persona 3 movies are no different — these are awe-inspiring movies which I simply cannot get enough of, and my excitement for these releases has been nearly impossible to contain. The main cast are all incredibly well fleshed-out but many members of the supporting cast are too, and this is the wonder of Persona. As far as game adaptations go, and Persona 3 is a lengthy game, Spring of Birth has done a great job in bringing it to the big screen without losing any of what makes the game so amazing. Makoto Yuki has more depth to him and it’s been handled in a way that any fan should be happy with, and he still feels like the same character you play as. Spring of Birth features a cast you won’t forget and you’ll be left eagerly anticipating the next movie — luckily, you only have to wait a month!

 

Persona 3 is 11 years old now meaning that these movies took quite some time to get greenlighted, but that just goes to show how popular the series is today, and Spring of Birth is the first in a delightful, memorable journey for a game that deserves all the celebration and praise that it gets. Spring of Birth looks gorgeous with AIC on production duty (A-1 Pictures animate the last two movies instead) and captures the aesthetic of Persona 3 perfectly — the ominous green skies, the characters and their awesome Persona, the movement of the Shadows, the daily school life and the grand-scale fights packed with action. AIC have clearly understood and respected the source material and have done their best in adapting what can easily be an 80 hour game into a movie that runs a little under two hours. They’ve done a brilliant job with it. Thankfully, the yellow subtitles are easy on the eyes — I know many prefer white subtitles but I didn’t have any problem with these.

 

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You’ll be left eagerly anticipating the next movie.

Another thing that Persona does well is music. The series is rarely spoken about without someone mentioning how mesmerising the music is, and you’ll notice a fair few familiar tracks featured alongside shiny new ones. The credits song, More Than One Heart, is composed by series regular Shoji Meguro and sung by Yumi Kawamura who has lent her voice to bother Persona 3 and Persona 4. The lovely orchestral tracks are joined by the game’s iconic groovy hip-hop, rock, rap and synthesisers — there’s plenty to jam out to and you’re likely going to find yourself scouring the internet for more Persona goodness once the film has ended. The soundtrack is captivating and for me, as a big fan of the game, it’s nostalgic, and I could happily listen to Shoji Meguro and the series’ vocalists all day. Surprisingly, the film was only ever recorded with its Japanese voice-over and not also its superb English dub, but its wonderful to see so many of the games voice talent reprise their roles here, and they’re nothing less than exceptional.

 

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Its wonderful to see so many of the games voice talent reprise their roles here, and they’re nothing less than exceptional.

It goes without saying that Persona 3 the Movie: #1 Spring of Birth is an excellent movie that does me proud as a Persona 3 fan, and I’m giddy at the thought that its sequel, A Midsummer Knight’s Dream, releases as soon as 13th March. It speaks volumes that despite knowing what happens in the story, I’m still incredibly excited in being able to own all four movies and finally watch them in glorious HD. The booklet filled with character information, interviews and artwork included in the collector’s edition is something I’ve poured over a few times now, too. The Persona 3 movies are among Anime Limited’s best licenses and I’m itching to binge watch all four of them!

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