CrunchyRoll finally proves useful! CJBlackwing reports that CrunchyRoll’s Persona -trinity soul- videos have been marked as licensed by Aniplex (who does only occasional licensing work in the US). Makes plenty of sense, seeing as it was done by A-1 Pictures, a division of Aniplex…and seeing as it’s a pretty popular franchise.

So what really remains to be seen is who Aniplex would pick for localization and distro. IF it’s really licensed.

Edit: Thought I’d add: as one user points out on CJB’s blog, Crunchy Roll’s licensing notes aren’t always accurate– it could simply be that Aniplex was the company that requested the removal.

• Title: Persona -Trinity Soul-
• Studio: A-1 Pictures
• Genre: Action

Ratings (out of 5):

• Story: ♥♥♥♥

• Animation: ♥♥♥♥
• Characters: ♥♥♥
• OP/ED Themes: ♥♥♥♥
• Overall: ♥♥♥♥ (Definitely keeping up on this one.)

Thoughts:
Ahh, the much-anticipated anime sequel to the game Persona 3. I should note that I’ve never played the game, so I can’t really talk too much about how it ties in there.

But that aside, this is a really well-crafted first episode, with enough exposition that the audience understands what’s going on without it feeling too heavy in dialogue. The art style is excellent and the animation quality is pretty good too.

So, the plot sum-up so far? Shin and his younger brother Jun– who also used to have a twin sister named Yuki –arrive in town where they’re supposed to meet their older brother Ryou, who is a chief of police. Unfortunately, Ryou is dealing with his current case: a series of murders in which the victims were turned inside out. Before too long it becomes clear that there’s some sort of supernatural force involved, though it isn’t made clear in this episode, natch.

I do have a few minor complaints, the primary being the music. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of the music itself; in fact, the BGM and OP/ED are really pretty excellent. But the amount of music sometimes felt like overkill– the first scene featured some opera and then background music that felt like it was from a Tim Burton flick. During the bit with the opera I felt like I wished there was eerie silence instead. During a later scene, there’s some badass action music while Ryou drives to a crime scene, which provided a sense of urgency nicely but was played up a bit much for the actual action that was happening (i.e. Ryou driving a car).

The other complaint actually wore off as I got used to it: the facial movements are very minimal, which is unusual in an anime.

I look forward to hearing more about this supernatural mystery– and getting to know the characters better.

Aniplex USA, the American arm of anime producer Aniplex Japan, is running a panel and just announced the anime of Persona, presumably the upcoming anime sequel to the Persona 3 PS2 game. Yup, just watched the trailer– it’s Persona -trinity soul-, airing in Japan starting this January.

Now they’re talking about the Kara no Kyoukai movies (Garden of Sinners, based on Tsukihime writer Kinoko Nasu’s novel). Each chapter of the book will get a movie, so there will be a whopping total of seven flicks.

After another trailer, they’ve moved on to another short trailer that was apparently made for Anime Expo. I didn’t catch the name of what it’s about, but it appears to be a ninja-type guy fighting soldiers. It looks like it’s going to be made into a series or movie but they’re not sure yet. And that’s pretty much it.

KuronoK just asked about fansubs, and the Aniplex woman (whose name I didn’t catch) says that as far as fansubs helping the sales, that’s great, but that they do cut into the sales when people use them instead of buying the DVDs. All of which we kinda knew. But she’s impressed by the Gurren Lagann cosplayers.

I asked a follow-up on whether the company has any plans to find a way to shorten the time between JP releases and US, and her response is that it depends on the licensing situation and also if Japan is still in the middle of the production, the master copies aren’t as readily available, which is an interesting point I hadn’t thought of before. Though it seems clear that people can work from copies of the TV broadcast. Anyway, she says it’s a possibility and she thinks it’s a real solution to the fansub issue– a fact everyone seems to have suddenly noticed since that Sevakis editorial…

Two people have asked about trying to get a live-action Fullmetal Alchemist film. It looks like half the room is for the idea, and half is against it. I’m not especially into the idea. Oh, and by the way, they DON’T have any plans for it.

That’s more or less it, and now I’m going to go die for the evening, I think.