With the culprit of the Inaba murders well within their sight, Yu and the rest experience a series of interweaving flashbacks, flash-forwards, and side flashes that come together with a horrible conclusion. Is the killer really who they think it is?
This episode contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: We get to see what really happens when Shadow Mitsuo manages to inflict a party member with the fear ailment, courtesy of his Evil Touch attack, something he also likes to toss around in the game. In the game you just spend a few turns incapacitated, while in the anime you get thrown in an elaborate Lotus-Eater Machine.
- Funny Background Event: Teddie summons Kintoki-Douji, and promptly gets his ass kicked by some Shadows.
- Laughing Mad: Mitsuo, when he realizes that everyone thinks he murdered all three victims.
- Lethal Chef: All of the girls.
- Lotus-Eater Machine: Yu gets trapped in one by Shadow Mitsuo, where he sees the bonds he'd made over the past few months shatter.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Yu, after being freed from Shadow Mitsuo's Lotus-Eater Machine, proceeds to summon every single Persona he's accumulated by this point as he breaks through Shadow Mitsuo's defences.Yosuke: Woah, how many Personas has that guy been piling up?!
- Rule of Symbolism: The Personas Yu summons to defeat Shadow Mitsuo are of Arcana that correspond to his school friends. To wit, they are Makami of the Hanged Man (Naoki), King Frost of the Emperor (Kanji), High Pixie of the High Priestess (Yukiko), Pyro Jack of the Magician (Yosuke), Yamata-no-Orochi of the Moon (Ai Ebihara), Leanan Sidhe of the Lovers (Rise), Rakshasa of the Strength (Kou and Daisuke), Ara Mitama of the Chariot (Chie), and Izanagi of the Fool (himself).
- You Are Not Alone: Yu realizes this after being pulled from Shadow Mitsuo's Lotus-Eater Machine, which had tried to convince him that he & Mitsuo aren't so different in their lack of meaningful relationships. Even after the battle, he's still shaken by the experience & suggests the Investigation Team continue to hang out anyway; only for everyone else to point out they're friends, of course they'll keep hanging out.
