Persona 3 The Movie: Winter of Rebirth

Persona 3 The Movie: #4 Winter of Rebirth (劇場版「ペルソナ3」第4章, Gekijōban Perusona 3 Dai Yon Shō) is a 2016 Japanese animated film and the fourth installment in a film series based on the Persona 3 video game by Atlus. It is based on the original story by Atlus and distributed by Aniplex. The film is directed by Tomohisa Taguchi and written by Jun Kumagai. It stars voice actors Akira Ishida, Megumi Toyoguchi, Kōsuke Toriumi, Rie Tanaka, Hikaru Midorikawa, Mamiko Noto, Maaya Sakamoto, Megumi Ogata, and Kazuya Nakai who reprise their roles from the game.

Prologue
One decade ago, 6-year-old Makoto Yūki survived a car crash that killed his parents. In the aftermath, he watched the battle between Aigis and Ryoji, who back then was a Shadow known as Death. Unable to defeat Death, Aigis sealed Death within Makoto, who then lost the memories of the incident. In the present day, Makoto remembers the incident as the rest of S.E.E.S. members arrive. Upon finding out Ryoji's true identity, they attack him but are easily defeated. Before leaving, Ryoji reveals that an entity known as Nyx will come and bring the end of the human race. Ryoji gives them one month to decide whether to kill him, which will erase their memories and allow them to live the remainder of their lives in blissful ignorance, or spare him and attempt a fruitless battle against Nyx.

The result had driven everyone into depression. The S.E.E.S. members discuss Ikutsuki's files on Nyx and the choice that Ryoji has given to them, but the team's fears quickly drive them apart. On December 20, Aigis regains consciousness after her battle against Ryoji and apologizes to Makoto for what happened ten years ago. Not wanting to see her friends suffer, Aigis begs Makoto to kill Ryoji. Mitsuru and Akihiko visit a church and find Takaya and Jin spreading the knowledge of Nyx's arrival. On December 22, Yukari's neglect for eating causes her to hallucinate her Persona Io attacking her, and she is hospitalized.

The Choice
Makoto is approached by Elizabeth, who asks him to give her a tour around the town. At their last destination, Elizabeth questions Makoto's experience in the town over the past year. As Makoto reminisces about his good times, he realizes that the time he spent with his friends has made him feel truly alive for the first time after the incident ten years ago, and he regains his resolve to live. At the same time, the other S.E.E.S. members also regain their respective resolve to keep living not only for themselves but also for their loved ones. On the promised day, Ryoji comes to hear their answer, and Makoto refuses to kill him. Respecting his decision, Ryoji tells S.E.E.S that Nyx will appear at the top of Tartarus on January 31. Horrified by her friends' choice, Aigis runs away to Gekkoukan High. Makoto follows her and encourages her, giving her the resolve to fight Nyx. Realizing that they may lose their memories of their battles, Makoto and his friends make a promise to gather on the school rooftop on graduation day as a sign that they remember what they have gone through.

The Final Battle
On the day of Nyx's arrival, S.E.E.S. fights their way to the peak of Tartarus, also encountering Takaya and Jin on the way. While SEES holds the line against their enemies, Makoto goes on ahead to confront Nyx alone. After a long battle, S.E.E.S. is able to defeat their enemies with their newly awakened Personas and reach Makoto. However, Makoto is unable to defeat Nyx, and the prophesied Fall begins. S.E.E.S. is rendered immobile by Nyx's massive gravitational wave, and are cornered by a massive group of Shadows. Determined to go through with his decision, Makoto fuses both Orpheus and Thanatos into Messiah and flies into the moon where Nyx's core is located. With powers and encouragement from his friends, Makoto seals Nyx away and erased both Tartarus and the Dark Hour (but with the cost of his life).

Epilogue
A month after the battle against Nyx, Makoto and the others head to school to attend Mitsuru and Akihiko's graduation ceremony, having lost all memories of the Dark Hour after the battle. Makoto finds Aigis and regained his memories, stumbling to the roof, due to using too much power in the final battle, where Aigis is waiting to fulfill the group's promise; not long after, the rest of S.E.E.S. regain their memories and also head the roof. The movie ends with a smiling Makoto watching the rest of his friends arrive as he falls asleep in Aigis's lap and dies peacefully, having finally fulfilled their promise.

After the ending credits, Elizabeth is seen leaving the Velvet Room, where the elevator had stopped now that Makoto's contract has been fulfilled.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Once again, the film itself is very faithful to the game it's based on.
 * 2) The pacing this time is more balanced, not too fast, nor too slow.
 * 3) Everyone gets major development and more emotion than they did in the game.
 * 4) * Makoto, who was once severely traumatized by his parents' deaths, and lacks any emotion towards anything, had now remembered his mother's last words and Elizabeth's visit makes him realize how everything he experienced during his school year had made him feel truly alive again, his care for his friends had grown so deep that he was even willing to sacrifice himself to save them and the world, leading up to his resolution to sacrifice himself by becoming the Great Seal, thus completing his character arc in the process.
 * 5) * Aigis attempting to end herself while thinking that she failed to stop the Arcana of Death, ruined Makoto's life, until Makoto's smile gave back her purpose, then proceeds to help Makoto and S.E.E.S. one last time.
 * 6) * Both Akihiko and Ken had thoughts that if they left the world to end, then Shinjiro would have died for nothing.
 * 7) * Junpei becoming scared about the world ending and snaps at Makoto for being unaware that he had Ryoji, an entity of Death inside of him. Then later apologizes to Makoto and admits that he now understands his father, who turned to drinking so he wouldn't have to face reality.
 * 8) * Yukari being strangled by her own Persona, while feeling guilty of her father's death.
 * 9) Instead of starting abruptly like in the last two films, it picks up where the cliffhanger left off.
 * 10) The movie did not waste any time giving messages about making hard decisions or accepting death, meaning S.E.E.S. will have to make a wise decision whether to kill Ryoji and their memories of how they met and Tarturus disappears, or let Ryoji live but the end of the world will be coming to a close.
 * 11) It also features subplots that are not included in the Persona lore, with Fuuka and Yukari looking at how the world is going to be like before it ends, Akihiko and Mitsuru looking at a cult about the god of death, while meeting Takaya and Jim in the process, and Junpei feeling Chidori's soul.
 * 12) Voice acting is still amazing.
 * 13) Elizabeth, one of Igor's assistants finally had a role in the film, not only she went on a friendly date with Makoto, but saved him from the Reaper on his way to the top of Tartarus.
 * 14) The characters that are exclusive to Persona 3 Portable have made a cameo.
 * 15) The animation look beautiful and felt much better than its previous installments. Especially when Makoto uses his Personas and all his will to fight against Nyx.
 * 16) * A badass scene where Makoto created his new Persona Messiah by combining both Orpheus and Thanatos and annihilated the shadows.
 * 17) The soundtrack is just as impressive. Much more impressive than the game itself.
 * 18) * The final battle theme of Burn My Dread is a nice touch.
 * 19) * The remix of Memories of You is much sadder than the original.
 * 20) The final battle between the members of S.E.E.S., Strega, and Nyx is more intense.
 * 21) While it's only brief, there is an outcome if Makoto kills Ryoji, their memories of the Dark Hour will be erased and go thinking nothing really happened. As it gives homage to the game's bad ending.
 * 22) The ending is just as emotional, as Aigis comforts Makoto during his final moments before he is put to sleep for eternity.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The movie did not give enough room for Strega's motivations and origins.
 * 2) Once again, the calendar part is still distracting.
 * 3) It still has yet to have an English dub.
 * 4) There are no cut-ins like in both anime adaptations of Persona 4 and Persona 5.

Reception

 * It scored an 8.02 on MyAnimeList, and a 7.2 rating on IMDb.