• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
• Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
  
• Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stere0 (48kHz/24-bit)
  
• Subtitles: English
  
• Subtitles Color: White/Yellow
  
• Region: A (Region-Locked)
  
• Rating: TV-14 (V)
  
• Discs: 2 (2 x Blu-ray)
• Digital Copies: N/A
  
• Run Time: 305 Mins.
  
• Studio: Sentai Filmworks
  
• Blu-ray Release Date: September 18, 2012
• List Price: $69.98

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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1.5/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Series

[Rating:3/5]

Persona 4 (ペルソナ4; Perusona Fō) is an anime series based on a role-playing game for the Playstation 2. Directed by Seiji Kishi, this anime series does its best to create a cohesive story based around the gameplay. The story takes place in a fictional Japanese town of Inabi where new high school kid Yu Narukami moves for a year just as mysterious murders begins happening. Odd local weather and a strange midnight television station that grants access to an alternate world allows Narukami and his new group of friends to investigate the killings while also confronting their own inner demons, fighting shadow versions of themselves with the power of “Persona.” Persona are what you could call avatars that possess special powers which allow the wielder to battle the forces they face in the alternate midnight channel world.

The flow of the series is often interrupted by the desire to work into it the feeling that we as the viewer have been dropped into an ongoing video game, rather than turning Persona 4 into a completely independent entity that we can just relax and be entertained by. For example, cut scenes include character status updates, and we are often told that we have “gained the ability” to use multiple persona, or some such obtrusive, unnecessary update. Apart from that, the series is beautifully animated and does have a way of drawing you into its mysteries and its characters are enjoyable.

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

Apart from slight color banding, the digital animation in Persona 4 looks crisp and vivid in this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement from Sentai Filmworks. There are no signs of aliasing and the image is absent of video noise.

Audio Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

Unfortunately, Sentai Filmworks has only provided the English dub for this release due to licensing requirements. The original Japanese language soundtrack is absent. The audio is supplied in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz/24-bit) that is rather good with clear dialogue, good dynamics, extended lows and a punchy midrange.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:1.5/5]

The supplements include only the director’s cut of the first episode and clean opening and closing animations plus the usual disc credits and Sentai Filmworks trailers.

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3.5/5]

This series was not one of my favorites, I have to say, but given that Sentai hasn’t released it with the Japanese audio, I can only judge it based on the English dub, which isn’t always the nest example of the quality of a series. Still, other things make Persona 4 uneven, like its interrupted flow and often difficult to follow storyline.

Additional Screen Captures

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Purchase Persona 4: The Animation — Collection One at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

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[amazon-product]B008DL4MSO[/amazon-product]

Purchase Persona 4: The Animation — Collection One at CD Universe

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:3/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1.5/5]

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