YMMV / Persona: One Last Promise

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• Anti-Climax Boss: Shadow Nanako. The chapter leading up to the fight clearly sets it up to be a tough battle for the SPT, especially with Kazuhiko no longer being by their side to guide them. Come the very next chapter and Kazuhiko is brought back without much issue, and upon his return, Shadow Nanako goes down very easily.
• Ass Pull: In chapter 48, Kazuhiko notes that the SPT has a storage room containing items they find in Niflheim. There was nothing in the previous chapters to suggest anything of the sort, and it seems to only be there to justify how he bugged Nanako.
• Designated Monkey: Johei is sometimes seen as one by the reviewers.
• Fight Scene Failure: The fight scenes are noted in the later chapters to be rather lackluster, most notably the fight against Shadow Nanako, which the readers were expecting to be a lot harder than it ended up being.
• Fridge Horror:
  • When Kazuhiko was absorbed by Shadow Nanako, its regenerative abilities healed him. If it hadn't, then he would have likely succumbed to the gunshot wound he received in chapter 50.
  • At first, Mitsuru receiving a Suicide Order could be seen as going against the lore regarding Personas and Shadows established in Ultimax. However, after Minako and Yu's conversation in chapter 51, there is a strong possibility that Mitsuru lost her Persona after years of pressure building up from leading the Shadow Operatives and bearing her family's sins. Nanako calling her out about hiding the truth of Chisato's death from her would have just been the final nail in the coffin. Later on chapter 52, the SPT seems to discover that the reason why Mitsuru lost her Persona is because of the despair of her finding out that she unknowingly funded the research of some rouge Kirijou Scientist under Ikutsuki’s cause to experiment children.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In Persona 4, Dojima's determination to hunt his wife's killer came at the cost of not spending much time with Nanako, leaving her alone at home for most of the day. Since in this fic's universe the killer died a little while after Chisato, Dojima ultimately neglected his daughter for nothing.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Lampshaded in the first omake of chapter 52, where Nanako says that she’s half the reason the fic got so popular in the first place.
• Tearjerker: Chapter 47. Dear God, Chapter 47.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: At the end of chapter 47, it seemed as though Nanako had succumbed to despair, setting herself up as the next target the SPT had to save. However, the next chapter shows that that isn't the case, and in fact, Mitsuru is shown to be the next victim. The reviews expressed disappointment in this turn of events. But as chapter 49 reveals, she DOES have a Reflection.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Sho Minazuki appears at the end of chapter 38. Now how many were expecting that?
  • Two chapters later, the woman in the second photo is revealed to be Minako Arisato.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Nanako Dojima in chapters 47-50. We’re meant to sympathize with her when she finds out how her mom really died. However, the fact that she decides to kill Mitsuru, just for the fact that she neglected to tell her, makes it hard to pity her. If anything, Nanako comes across as quite mentally unstable, which one could compare to Adachi of all people. This is ultimately acknowledged in chapter 51 when Nanako admits she wasn't thinking straight.