So about the new episode, the 4th one...

@Javadoz: he is indeed developing some more personality of his own XD.



I'm interested in the next episode... I think it's quite possitive that Narukami will join Basketball and that the next episode will be about Ai Ebihabara of the Moon S. Link.

What do you guys think?

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I'm hoping he joins the football team.

*Morooka voice*
AND PUNCHES AI IN HER STUPID WHORE/INFIDEL FACE!

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TAKE A CHASTITY BELT AND SIDDOWN 8V

Speaking of club choices, were the drama/band characters shown in any of the trailers? I don't think they'll be very important, so I wonder if it'll be included.

...I'm hoping one of the later scenes will show Yuu building a robot toy, because I had a lot of fun doing that and displaying it on my shelf. BD

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And I hope he goes about doing random requests for a fox before getting stoned out his mind at the shrine.

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He'll join the band, fo' sho'. 4 realz... lame...

Nah, but he'll go and help her with her self esteem problems XD. IDK about robot toys... could you do that in the game? How?! I want a friggin' toy robot on my friggin' shelve!!!!!

And nope, not Yumi nor Ayane were shown on the trailers, only Daisuke, Kou and Ai from the strenght and moon S. Links.

And she's not so much of a whore! She was...



So your arguments are invalid.

Oh and as the great Aristoteles once said: "You're women! You can't cook! You won't get naked! What are you even good for!?"

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it may very likely be that we see multiple social links per episode likely ones that start by doing another like devil and death...they though they may also add a social link to some events...

of course this is assuming there gonna try to show all the social links...SOCIAL LINK GO! (high fives the social link in progress)

Now that the first dungeon is complete and there's a good few weeks in the game before the second one, I imagine the next couple of episodes will be more of a slice of life style, focusing on both the social links and the chemistry between friends and how they bond outside of the main plot.

To focus the entire episode on building one social link in my opinion might take away from the general feel, so I think goofing off scenes with Protag and the Investigation team might be thrown in as well. Perhaps even loosely related to the S-Link so that he can bring his own experience in to help the S-Link person through theirs.

Kind of makes me wonder how they'll incorporate the Velvet Room into a slice of life style episode. Since Protag isn't going to summon a Persona at school, we won't get to see the new Arcana he obtains in action until the next TV world episode.

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Haha Hiimdaisy references.

I wonder if the game will comment on how Kou LUUUUVS DEM BAAALLLLS.

Though yes I'm imagining it'll be relatively easy going and social linky for a while plus they are going to have to zoooom through days since dungeons are like a month apart.

I think it was just fast at the start because the game gives you a starting team early on. My friend thinks it's fair to gauge a series at 5 episodes so seems fine.

Also maybe it's nothing but I think I only counted 19 cards falling in the outtro to episode 2.


Finally: Ara Mitama for Chariot? DISAPPOINTED. There's much better ones.

Guess we know who is fusion fodder next.

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I really hope they put Kow saying the whole LOVE THEM BAALLS thing XD.

It sounds plausible that after this "rushing" to get the 4 member team assembled they start taking their time to get to each dungeon. The only ones we still have to see are Kanji, Rise, Mitsuo, Naoto, and Nanako's dungeon. That's 5 dungeons we still have to see. So they'll have to take their time for it. I'm thinking they could jump through several days in one episode dedicated to one social link.

5 episodes?... sounds fair and as of how the anime has been through the last 4 it would seem like it's gonna be great... I hope.

19? I watched again and I counted 22 including the one of the chapter (though we all know the S. link for yukiko is done during the kanji arc) So I still asume there are 21 arcanas for the anime.

And yep... I would've hoped for a Zouchuten or Ares... how dissapointing, at least Rakshasa or something. Or Rakshasa is from the Strength arcana?

what's fodder?

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soo...episode 5...anyone else lol like i did when the love is over theme from catherine played on yu's ringtone? xD

Rakshasa is strength but I think Ares is fair game or Nata Taishi.

Fodder is stuff you use to just fuse a new persona even if you don't necessarily need it.
You go through a dungeon for some training and you are comfortable with your persona setup yet the Chance at the end still offers you personas. So you grab one anyway, maybe you can fuse it into something useful even if you don't need it. It is fodder for the fusion machine.

Also how did you watch Episode 5 already?

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? simple...someone uploaded it to the site i usually use and well...i watched it >_>;;;

Ok didn't think it aired until fridays.

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The RAWS com out on wednesdays, the subbed in some sites on thurdsdays and it's everwhere on friday's.

Chapter 5 was awesome, though I was kinda surprised they did both strength and moon on the same chapter... I know I know... they jumped quite a bit of days so it's kinda reasonable to say all that happened in that period... but still, I still hoped for one arcana per chapter (not every single chapter but still).

The whole situaion with Ai was hilarious, I loved the whole deal with Ai like "Go out with me or I'll kill my self!! Okay? ;D"
The photo booth, the calling and all... I didn't know the theme was "love's over" from Catherine... sadly I haven't played Catherine yet.

The confusion of yosuke on who chie likes was awesome too... (Feed the love story for yosuke and chie muahahahah).
One of my favorite parts was the catfight between Ai and Chie... pure awesomeness.

I was dissapointed that mos of kou's link was omitted...

I'll say more later.

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Man episode 5 sucked.

It didn't have nearly enough PUNCHING AI IN HER STUPID TRUANT WHORE FACE. Needed like 200% more AND then (though it'd be different from the game) then Yu could have chucked her in the TV when no one was looking!

Also was severely lacking in Daisuke and not a single comment about Kou's love of balls.

Though in all seriousness (well the Ai stuff is serious) I'm worried at the speed, sure covering two S links in one bound doesn't bother me, probably necessary and I imagine it'll allow them to do things like Nurse and Lady Death social link simultaneously. What bothers me is that episode 6 is starting on the Kanji arc....they really zoomed that one.

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I had just watched all of the Catherine walkthrough a few days before watching this, so I had to pause it a bit to stop laughing. I figured it also implied that Yuu was being the indecisive, bumbling one caught up with Catherine-- erm, Ai.
I really felt bad for Yuu because now we can actually freakin' see his expressions and how he looks like "OH GOD WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME D8" constantly.

I liked that they included Yosuke and Chie on this; the show really portrays them all as closer friends who actually notice what Yuu's going through (something that the game would have a hard time doing because you can work on social links at your own pace).

Kou was holding a basketball, so of course I just kept shouting YOU GONNA POLISH THEM BALLZ? So I liked the change of pace this episode, and it looks like the next one puts us back on track with the main story.
Hint: GET BENT GET BENT GET BENT

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yep, the only thing that chapter accomplished besides making me laugh at the cat fight and Yu's suffering was that it made me realize how fast this is going... as far as I'm concerned they could easily have the fight with the shadow on episode 7 and then IDK Ayane's S. Link on the 8th chapter (Mark my words, if it happens I myself will buy a ticket to japan and punch the director of this anime and I'll stream it!)

But srsly, sorzlor... I do now the episodes will be 26 but... god that's fast. And yeah I felt there was too little Daisuke, the idea of the Strenght S. link was to bond with both Daisuke and Kou as the trio of great friends. And the idea of Ai's link was to bang her at the schools rooftop. (I'M DEAD SERIOUS! the "long time" that you spend with the romantic S. links are all sex!!! and her's is on the rooftop!)

now... that wasnt sorzlor...

What do you guys/guy-ettes think they'll split Kanji's arc? 2 or 3 episodes? Or if you have an even more interesting doubt then say it...

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I think they'll cover it in three.
One where they investigate him, suspect him of liking dudes (but he. LOVES. WOOMEEEN) then he'll disappear at the end. Yukiko's S.Link will be started here.

2nd one they'll dive into the TV, I imagine they'll skip the whole "Go back for more info" section, possibly have a mid-dungeon boss fight with the finale being Shadow Kanji's confrontation.

3rd one they'll finish Shadow Kanji off they'll leave.
Kanji will S.Link and happiness reigns.

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They're rushing through it quite fast, so I'd think it'd take place over two episodes.

My guess is that during the first one we get introduced to Kanji, he gets kidnapped, they investigate and enter the TV to see his shadow. Then for the second episode, they rush through the dungeon and spend the whole episode fighting Shadow Kanji, quite like the pacing of episode 4.
Notice how episode 4 didn't have a sub-boss knight for them to fight. Considering how fast they're rushing through the story, I wouldn't expect them to include moments like sub-bosses that they can get away without showing.

As for this episode, it was good at first. I wasn't expecting them to focus on two social links at once, but I did anticipate being introduced to all three Strength/Moon characters. And Kou's was half-finished, so I suspect that'll be continued in a later episode. Ai's social link in the game didn't really interest me, but Yu's reactions made it all the better to watch here. And Ai's yandere comes through a lot clearer here than it did in the game.
Once Yosuke got involved, this episode went from good to hilarious.

By the way, did anyone recognize who the blue haired girl was at Aiya's? The one that Yosuke seemed to recognize. I don't remember her in the game.

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Oh yeah! I've noticed her before and I didn't know either!! And no she's not present in the game.
At first I thought she could be yumi from the Sun S. Link in drama but the I was reminded Yumi isn't in the MC's class.

On the duration of Kanji's arc I think 3 episodes are more likely to me. But seeing how fast they are going 2 are not that far from truth.
yep, Ai's link seemed so much clearer in the anime than in the game. And also, Yosuke ensures hilarity... and porn under the futon! XD

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I'm going to assume she's an unimportant NPC only in it to make the sense of community more apparent
After all this is a small country town probably just showing how it goes.

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As a diehard Chie / MC shipper, I'm deeply concerned that the Anime will attempt to come to an official stance on who the MC "should" end up with in an "ideal" playthrough in a way that destroys far too many ships. I love all the P4 ships (even the ones I don't support!) because I love all the characters; I don't want Atlus to effectively screw over half its fanbase in validating the other half.

Other than that concern, though, the first five episodes have by and large been great -- the first two episodes were somewhat mediocre but it's really picked up and skyrocketed from there. I love how the Chie / Yukiko shadow sequences have deviated somewhat from the game, and how their episodes spent some time getting to know Chie and Yukiko in a more 'intimate' way than we did in the game environment.

And while I do hate the idea of squashing ships, I'm glad my least favorite ship (MC and Ai) was the first one squashed. It appears that the Main Character canonically mucks up that Social Link by agreeing to date her too soon...I'm glad that's the case because the alternative social link felt somewhat unrealistic in its best-case scenario resolution.

Unfortunately he didn't muck up Ai's social link by letting her hurl herself from the roof.

Though personally regarding the emotional game of battleship Atlus is playing with this series I don't think any ship will be sunk, the protagonist is still pretty much a blank slate so far. He's just made regular comments been put in awkward situations and said normal things. Though I think he is coming out of his shell a bit more and developing a bit more of a personality I wouldn't be surprised if he stayed romantically 'detached' from everyone else.

Remember romance was largely optional in P4 and many out of S.Link conversations could let you just seem not interested in girls.

I'm more interested to see how Teddie succeeds with the ladies.

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For the most part I generally agree, insofar as I personally believe that Atlus probably will not commit the MC to any explicit monogamous relationship with any female member of his Investigation Team. Pairing the MC off with Chie, Yukiko, Rise or Naoto to the expense of the others would be a grave mistake and crush many ships.

But when it comes to the other girls who the MC can hang out with, they just don't have as crazy fanbases for their ships, so I definitely think the writers of the anime could totally get away with having Ai and the MC explicitly just remain platonic friends in the aftermath of the MC going the inferior 'let's date immediately even though you're emotionally unprepared to handle it' route with Ai.

I'd like the MC "botching" that social link to remain canon, as it jives well with the MC's stats being subpar so far.

As for the Investigation Team, the best way for the anime to handle it is for the MC to have ambiguous 'special scenes' with every character -- even Yosuke and Kanji -- so every Investigation Team shipper can walk away happy with their own interpretations as to what's really going on.

Or they can make it brutally obvious and crush most pairings by not putting in ambiguous scenes.

It's those kind of 'supposedly ambiguous' scenes that create the ridiculously uncanon yaoi we see in the AA fanbases.

No offence anyone.
I just don't think Atlus needs to cater in such scenes for every little shipper. Especially since there wasn't any especially homosexual or bisexual dialogue options for Protag in the game putting in ambiguous scenes in the anime would seem out of place.

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Just a tad homophobic there, eh?
I don't see any harm whatsoever in members of the GLBT community and their allies finding inspiration, acceptance and happiness through imagining their favorite male [or female] characters in gay [or lesbian] relationships.
...I mean, there's really no difference whatsoever in terms of why heterosexual individuals ship heterosexual couples -- we experience moments of joy imagining our favorite pairings in the kinds of couplings we'd most want to find ourselves in real life. Depriving gays, lesbians, queers, etc. from doing the same for their favorite couples -- despite the fact that the "evidence" supports some yaoi and yuri couples even more than certain heterosexual couples -- seems ludicrous. Does it just make you feel 'uncomfortable?' Then, no one's obligating you to read the corresponding threads or view the fanart or read the fanfiction!

Personally, my favorite ships are Chie x Protag (for Persona) and and (for Ace Attorney) so it's not like I have much in the way of personal stakes in this. I just dislike intolerance aimed explicitly against minorities who have to deal with more than enough intolerance in their day-to-day routines. (One of the reasons why so many yaoi and yuri fans have to 'convert canonically heterosexual' characters in the first place is because the gaming and anime industries are horribly biased against even including the slightest hint of halfway decent, inoffensive portrayals of canon gay and lesbians, less the conservative traditionalists become offended. How would you feel if it was a societal taboo for any halfway decent protagonist to portray your sexual identity? I can't even imagine.)

Just a tad 'jumping to conclusionsy'?
I'm not homophobic, I just don't think the anime needs to go out of it's way to make sure it seems accessible to every shipper in the kingdom. You are experiencing the fundamental attribution error, where situational factors are overlooked in favour of personal factors. I think it would seem out of place to add in a bunch of new ambiguous possibly homosexual elements into the main character just to please a minority of the fanbase, you then attributed that to me being homophobic....

Anyway despite what you said about the difficulties of games portraying characters like that....Persona 4 isn't one of those games, au contraire it was applauded for the portrayal of Kanji and his battle with his sexually (which is still ambiguous and open for interpretation). It even had Kanji and Teddy kiss at one point (admittedly offscreen but then again as far as I recall all romantic encounters were).

If they were to make an ambiguous scene where Kanji dropped a slight hint of romantic interest into protag (personally I prefer him an Naoto) then that would be fine...it would make sense. What you suggested was we change the fundamentally blank slate into something with substantial character and sexual preferences that were not portrayed in the game so that Protag could create the ambiguous situations with other males like Yosuke just to please a minority fanbase.

So please don't get me wrong I'm not homophobic I just dislike fancanon.
And I don't go into Yaoi threads or look at Yaoi fanfiction but if Atlus was to put what is essentially slash fanfiction into a series I was interested in watching, dramatically changing the characters to do so then I would have a problem.

Calling people flat out homophobes (or implying so) is kinda offensive man, I have a number of gay friends so don't hurt feelings like that, lets not turn this into a debate.

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Nope!
You just misinterpreted something I wrote.

I said:


When I'm referring to "special scenes" with each character, I'm not talking about each character having their own Christmas Date with the Protag or anything. I'm talking about very minor moments and subtle gestures in conversations that hint at the possibility of a deeper attraction lingering underneath the surface.

...Which is, basically, exactly what Persona 4 already did! And what Ace Attorney has frequently done, as well. It's those lines of dialogues and Level 10 Social Link moments that convince Yosuke and MC shippers, for example, that maybe those two characters are attracted to each other. If you only buy into an assumption that they're best friends platonically, you probably wouldn't even notice all the breadcrumbs and snippets of dialogue Atlus intentionally left behind to encourage nearly every remotely feasible ship that's ever been imagined.

So when I refer to "special scenes," I'm not talking about Yosuke and the Main Character sharing a forlorn glance or nearly locking lips. I'm talking about incorporating ambiguous dialogue that enables those who do ship those two characters an excuse to continue merrily shipping their preferred couples. Which, again, is something both Persona 4 and Ace Attorney did with some frequency. The writers know what they're doing in writing tense, ambiguous scenes where Miles expresses nebulous "feelings" for Phoenix or where Yukiko's shadow ambiguously refers to Chie as her "Prince." The lack of specification as to whether the terms have platonic or romantic feeling is intended to ensure maximum appeal for all audiences by enabling each and every audience to interpret the scene in accordance to their preferences.

You, for example, are very clearly a heterosexual guy, and there's no problem with that whatsoever, but your conceptual biases in looking for romance in opposite-character interactions probably leads you to miss all the clues buried in there of possible yaoi and yuri couples. So when a yaoi or yuri fan with a different sexual orientation says "Oh man, there's actually all these snippets that indicate Miles is totally crushin' on Phoenix!", you balk. After all, because homosexuality is frowned upon by many conservatives in society, the writers can't explicitly indulge in the same degree of romantic interplay among same-sex characters, leading your biases to be even further reinforced as most yaoi and yuri hints have to be buried in even more ambiguity than heterosexual equivalents to escape scrutiny. (Hell, even Kanji's breakthrough struggles with his sexuality were effectively neutered so as to ensure the game wouldn't offend too many bigots; hell, a cadre of Kanji fans are convinced he's truly heterosexual after all and he ends up like any other heterosexual guy, dating a girl in Naoto!)

But yeah, I do think anime needs to 'go out of its way' to become more accessible to the GLBT community in general, though that's a criticism I'd make at a lot more than just anime. Let me just be clear, though: I was never arguing for the introduction of brand new homosexual elements in the Protag, I wasn't pushing for the Protag to have the anime equivalents of romantic link opportunities with Kanji and Yosuke. I merely wanted to see the same kinds of ambiguous scenes, open to interpretation, that are already in Persona 4, and have naturally led to the propagation of plenty of ships. I wanted to see that in contrast to establishing canon relationships for the characters, because I like leaving some elements of the characters open to interpretation -- Ace Attorney is such a great series precisely because there's niches carved out for the GLBT community with ships like / and / . I want the tolerant, fun-loving and exciting communities that support those ships -- and ships like MC and Yosuke, and ships like Chie and Yukiko -- to continue to thrive!



I love the defensive assertion inevitably made whenever someone's called out like this. The homophobic statements expressing intolerance for and an inferiority of same-sex pairings? That's totally cool. But if you try to call it out for what it is? You're the bad guy!

I believe that saying something that is homophobic is unequivocally worse than the 'insult' of calling someone homophobic for having done so.
And, for the record:
...Yeah, that's kind of homophobic bro, and simply saying "No offense" beforehand doesn't ease the insult. I couldn't be like "man, I really hate the ridiculous interracial romance stories this fanbase writes...no offense, though!" without implying a certain hostile attitude towards interracial couples. In your case, you singled out yaoi for your criticism (when there's plenty of equally ridiculous heterosexual pairings in fanfiction out there; how is matching Trucy with Apollo or Manfred with Maya less strange than matching, say Edgeworth with Phoenix?) Only the "uncanon yaoi" appears to upset you.

If you wanted to come off as a bit more tolerant, try making the exact same argument but not limiting it only to male-male pairings. "I dislike annoyingly fruitless speculation regarding non-canon couples in general, of all sexualities," would be much more palatable.

How...can you make that judgement? Uncanon yaoi was mentioned because it was on topic, I'm not particularly caring for many shippings outside of canon what would make you think otherwise? Yaoi uncanon was mentioned in the context of Protag and boys, I just as easily would think Nanako and Protag or Gas station attendant and protag is silly as well. It's the uncanon factor that bothers me more than the yaoi factor. Don't make such accusations.



Regarding the first paragraphs...that is what I thought you meant...and I still disagree with the Level 10 Social Links comment you made. I'm sorry I don't follow the crazy fan pattern of thinking that guys who have close friendships must have homosexual feelings for each other.

Look at it this way, Level 10 is more or less love as far as S-linking goes, you forge a bond that cannot be broken, that person will remember you the rest of their life, probably be given a role in their wedding or other events later in life. Now this game which is already showing tolerance for the gay community still doesn't give you options to romance the male characters when you are blatantly in love, because the love is simply platonic, Yosuke loves you like a brother, Kanji and Teddy worship you as a hero, Dojima thinks of you like a good friend almost a son.

In a game where homosexuality is not only tolerated but where romances are possible and yet there are no gay romances it indicates the love is simply platonic.

For the record Kanji is at least bi, he indicates attraction to women (that student council girl at Gekkoukan high). Though I always thought they'd left his character intentionally open to interpretation. After all he said "I don't like dudes" in front of his shadow and his shadow was still satisfied for some reason.

If the scenes that make you support such ships were already in the game then fine let them be because that means it's a matter of interpretation. I didn't particularly sense any homosexual tensions between folks (except maybe Teddy and Kanji) when I played through the game but if you did then it shouldn't make a difference though I somewhat doubt the S links will go as far as 10 considering the speed of the series but hopefully they'll at least develop them a little beyond the first encounter.



Yeah...you ARE the bad guy for spouting slander right about now. What's more you persist on insulting me after I say it's an issue.
I never said anything about disliking Yaoi pairings specifically. I believe I said:


Therefore I can't see any reason where I claimed "yaoi/yuri relationships are inferior and shouldn't be tolerated" seeing as I made it clear "uncanon relationships shouldn't be tolerated".

Long story short:
Don't put opinions in my mouth.

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Yu was doing a Vincent for a while there ROFL. I just about lost it when I heard the ringtone. xD Love the references they're using; they do know how to please their fans.

Also, LOL YOSUKE


Anyone else confused with the "Next Scent" during the preview sequences? Is that a typo or am I missing something? o__o;;

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Like a typo of 'Next Scene' you think? Well it's either that or a reference to how Teddie 'sniffs' out dungeons and things. Though yeah Yu was very Vincent-like XD.

Regarding episode 5, the strange blue haired ramen chick showed up again which is unusual since I had her put down as a random extra yet she's recurring now. We'll need to see maybe she's just there for y'know comedy or she's someone else.

Also considering this animation and P4: The Golden were announced close together (I think?) do you think that strange new Mary girl will make an appearance?

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Yeah, I was thinking it was a typo of "Scene", but the Teddie sniffing makes sense. Thanks!

I've been wondering about that ramen chick too. Aiya, I think was her name? It's either she's an anime-exclusive character they wanted to present or... you think she'll have something to do with P4: The Golden somehow? I do hope that Mary girl makes an appearance, even just for a few seconds for a cameo or something. Her hat and what said hat implies about her intrigues me~

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What are you getting at?
If it's a P3 spoiler I ain't beat the game yet

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It's got nothing to do with the P3 story. It's more... general. The button on her hat, look at it closely.

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Just finished watching episode 7. Has to be the funniest episode by far, imo. xD

The people in charge of the anime is doing a great job of it, and I gotta say I'm loving the portrayal of Souji. He's hilarious in a deadpan sort of way. "Want a copy?" ROFL.

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You mean Yu?
Also yeah I thought it was hilarious how they handled the boss fight, Kanji's Macho men hardly had to throw a punch. Plus y'know KANJI DEFEATED HIS OWN SHADOW!

Man can't wait for Kanji to join the team.

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Oh yeah, Yu, sorry. xD

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Yeah, Kanji's story was always one of my favourites the poor guy going through a bit of sexual confusion and tormented by the fact that people scorned his natural talents for crafting. Plus y'know he's a really nice guy who beats down biker gangs for his momma, awww .

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episode 8

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