History Anime / Persona3TheMovie

* PragmaticAdaptation: Naturally. It's trying to compress a 60 hour+ JRPG with [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=2mNlIEEUnUw around 11 hours of main story cutscenes]] and another [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fzxC7HdYzA 9.5 hours for Social Links]] (at default text progression). The Social Links only get brief cameos and the story focuses entirely on the main plot; as a result, Makoto's Wild Card ability manifests after each Full Moon operation, getting a new Persona of a different arcana each time. Contrast with ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'', which had time to explore more side-stories away from the main plot. Essentially, the movies are the main plot mixed with heavily altered version of Aigis' social link as well as a heavily altered version of Ryoji's link from the female MC in Portable.

* BookEnds: Overlaps with ThemeNaming -- the first movie is called '''''Spring''''' ''of Birth'' while the finale is '''''Winter''''' ''of Rebirth.''
** The third is a straighter example. It begins and ends on the Moonlight Bridge and features a battle against Strega.

* CharacterDevelopment: By the second movie, Makoto is much more open and happy with his new friends and far less [[TheStoic stoic]] than in the last movie. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, having something to lose presents problems of it's own.]] In the third movie, [[spoiler:he spends most of it trying to cast aside whatever friendships he has built, and is mostly successful until he meets Ryoji.]] Come the finale, [[spoiler:when he spends time with Elizabeth, Makoto realizes how much he has enjoyed life in the past year he spent with his newfound friends. This inspires him to reject Ryoji's offer to wipe away their memories so he can continue enjoying life.]]

* DownerEnding: The second movie ends [[spoiler:after October 4th and Shinjiro's death.]]

* MoodWhiplash: The second movie starts out with the Love Hotel mission and its shenanigans, and features more light-hearted comedic scenes compared to the first movie. It ends with [[spoiler:the events of October 4th and Shinjiro's funeral]].

* NotAfraidToDie: During the Magician Shadow attack on the dorm, when Yukari asks him "Do you want to die?!" when trying to lead Makoto to safety, he word-for-word says he doesn't care. He even asks her why dying is so scary.
** Played with in that while he may not care about dying, he certainly cares if someone else does.

* SceneryPorn: Both movies contain beautiful scenery such as the cherry blossoms at the beginning of Spring of Birth.

** [[spoiler:The "Kill Ryoji" ending is depicted as an ImagineSpot of Makoto's, with him and his friends seeing off Mitsuru and Akihiko's graduation, and taking a photo to commemorate the event before the Fall descends. By contrast, the game's ending accurately showed everyone losing their memories of the Dark Hour, causing the second years to grow distant from their seniors.]]

* AdaptationalContextChange: The train delay at the beginning of the story. In the games, it's due to a mundane issue with switching the railway tracks, while in the movie it's because a person implied to be inflicted with Apathy syndrome commits suicide by throwing themselves in front of an earlier train.

* ImpliedLoveInterest: Aigis has the strongest bond with Makoto in the movies. In fact, a lot of the early subtext with Yukari that was present in the game [[TheNotLoveInterest ended up getting downplayed or outright removed in the movie]]. Aigis even becomes Makoto's date at the Summer Festival, which wasn't an option in any of the games.

%%* ArcherArchetype: Naturally, Yukari.

* TheCameo: Makoto's Social Links from the game are relegated to these, since the films are entirely focused on SEES itself and the main storyline. The first film's cameos include:

* ChasingAButterfly: At Yakushima, while Junpei is commenting about the girls' swimsuit, Makoto is following a crab, going further and further away after each shot.
* CharacterDevelopment: By the second movie, Makoto is much more open and happy with his new friends and far less [[TheStoic stoic]] than in the last movie. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, having something to lose presents problems of it's own.]] In the third movie, [[spoiler:he spends most of it trying to cast aside whatever friendships he has built, and is mostly successful until he meets Ryoji.]] Come the finale, [[spoiler:when he spends time with Elizabeth, Makoto realizes how much he has enjoyed life in the past year he spent with his newfound friends. This inspires him to reject Ryoji's offer to wipe away their memories so he can continue enjoying life.]]
** While we see some development in the rest of the cast, it's at a far more accelerated pace, sometimes detrimentally so. [[spoiler:For example, Akihiko's sister Miki, a major source of his motivation to fight and his BloodKnight tendencies in the original game, isn't mentioned ''at all'' until the third movie when he grieves for Shinjiro; unless the viewer played the game, it looks as if his motivation was tacked on. Junpei's romance with Chidori is also compressed within the entire third film as well.]]
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror: Makoto has been experiencing the Dark Hour for such a long time that he doesn't have any reaction to it anymore. The same can be said with Strega, especially Takaya who sees no issue with murdering people during the Dark Hour.

* FanService: The second movie has fanservice in the form of Yukari's gratuitous ShowerScene at its start and the entire trip to Yakushima shortly thereafter. The third movie includes the hot springs incident in Kyoto, which offers a surprising amount of near-nudity for the guys.

** Aigis becomes much more mentally unstable during the final months of the story. [[spoiler:Instead of accepting Makoto's decision and parting with Ryoji as friends, she has a FreakOut during which she nearly kills herself. It is justified as the events surrounding it are changed a bit, as the others did not talk to Aigis beforehand about choosing to live like in the game, where the conversation about finding a purpose to live didn't happen until afterwards]]. Thus, why Aigis reacts much worse, as she has no chance to actually process things like she did in the game.

** Aigis becomes much more mentally unstable during the final months of the story. [[spoiler:Instead of accepting Makoto's decision and parting with Ryoji as friends, she has a FreakOut during which she nearly kills herself]].

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Aigis. In a massive change from the game, Aigis does not accept Makoto letting Ryoji live. This results in a massive mental breakdown that nearly ends with her blowing her own head off if Makoto hadn't reached her and comforted her in time]].

* AdaptedOut: As Makoto only receives new Personas that share the same Arcana with the Full Moon Shadows, he does not use any Arcanas past Death (except for Judgement and Universe).

** Makoto saves the rest of SEES from the Empress and Emperor Shadows near the end of the first movie (he does not go with the rest of the team to the school to rescue Fuuka in this adaptation).

* ImpliedLoveInterest: Aigis has the strongest bond with Makoto in the movies. In fact, a lot of the early subtext with Yukari that was present in the game [[TheNotLoveInterest ended up getting downplayed or outright removed in the movie.]] Aigis even becomes Makoto's date at the Summer Festival, which wasn't an option in any of the games.

* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish: While it has few weak moments, "Fate is In Our Hands" -- the first song in ''A Midsummer Knight's Dream'' -- is a rather impressive, coherent and understandable rap completely in English.

* InterestingSituationDuel: The fight against the Hierophant and Lovers Full Moon Shadows in the second movie takes place in a {{Love Hotel|s}}. Highlights include Junpei diving into a large bathtub to avoid the enemy's CombatTentacles, Akihiko stumbling on a discarded FrenchMaidOutfit, leading to Mitsuru [[ImprovisedWeapon to grab a]] [[WhipItGood whip laying around]] in order to get him some breathing room to recover, Makoto [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan slapping Junpei]] out of [[StatusEffects Charm]] and Yukari fighting down the indignation of getting herself ReadyForLovemaking under the [[LoveIsInTheAir influence of the Arcana Lovers]].

The first film was animated by Creator/{{AIC}} ASTA, who animated the [[Anime/Persona4TheAnimation TV adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/Persona4'', while the remaining three were all animated by Creator/A1Pictures, who co-animated the original ''Persona 4'' anime cutscenes and animated ''Anime/Persona4GoldenTheAnimation''. The films are:

* ArmorPiercingSlap: Similar to the game, Yukari does this to Makoto once she snaps out of her Shadow-induced stupor. This also snaps him out of his own stupor.
** And then taking note from that, Makoto slaps a Charmed Junpei hard enough to knock him out.

* TheStinger: ''Spring of Birth'' concludes with [[spoiler:Aigis being activated in her lab.]]