Persona 4 Golden The Animation – Episode 7 [To be Unwanted]

The episode begins with a page from Marie’s journey, entitled Requiem for a Fallen Angel. Once again she scolds Yu for reading it.

This time, however, we see Nanako lying in bed sick from her encounter. The team is discussing how the culprit only seemed to fess up to the acts after a few. Yu seems disturbed  . . .and it cuts to Marie and Margaret discussing how Yu is wavering, for some reason. And how it’s likely due to an arcana.

Adachi is eating with Dojima in the episode. Yu calls to check on Adachi, and runs to see Nanako when he hears she was with him. Nanako is fine despite a moment of worrisome behavior on Adachi’s behavior, and Yu chases after him in the other world. Adachi eggs him on and lets him know he knows what he’s been doing the whole time. Yu says he wanted to talk to him one more time.

Yu asks Adachi to turn himself in but it fails, and they summon identical personas, only reversed. We see a flashback to Adachi’s days in school and his isolation. He always seemed to be alone, even when he got into his profession. He was never awarded when he should have been and was notified he’d be moving to Inaba.

When Yu came, he was everything Adachi hated. He even took his place with Nanako and Dojima. He was like all the others who took his place. Yu sees all of that and they share the perspectives of the world with each other. Adachi tells Yu to leave but Yu falls to the ground instead. Margaret and Marie accept his ordeal is one he must go through.

This really shows in a lot of ways the true pain that Yu is experiencing by dealing with all these arcanas. They don’t always cooperate and he must always try to max them, if he’s going to save everyone. But what happens when people don’t take his help, when they hurt in return? He tries to talk to Marie about it but she tsunderes him and drags him along to talk about it.

Marie recalls all of her memories with the group and how Yu has helped her. She asks him if that really didn’t mean anything, and says it made her happy. Marie and Yu see the sun break through the clouds as she tells him not to say her feelings didn’t exist, her memories didn’t exist. She realizes she wants her memories and she wants her new ones too.

All their friends show up and tell him they’re not letting him go off on his own again. They all resolve to go into the TV. Yu confronts Adachi and rejects him. He summons a variety of personas based on his bonds only for Adachi to undermine the meaning of a ‘bond’ and call it shallow. Yu says a bond is merely believing in the people you hold close.

Adachi explains Yu’s idea is selfish, that he just sees what he wants to see and forces that ideal on people. He belittles the pain they’ve all been through and says they ignore their problems. Adachi explains they’re just licking each other’s wounds. Yu explains they accept the truth of who they are and try to work passed each other problems. Adachi can’t stand this ‘whitewashing’ of their simplicity.

“So what if it’s whitewashing?!” Yu and Adachi’s battle comes to an impasse as they literally fist fight. Yu ends up winning and Adachi contemplates how everything ended up so differently even though they have the same power. Adachi mocks him and says it’s because they have a bond, right? Yu says “You had one too, didn’t you?”

Adachi’s shadow form takes root and begins to decimate Yu, who uses his bond with Marie to destroy it. Adachi GETS CARRIED BRIDAL STYLE BY YU? THE FUCK? Okay boyfriends

Once he is defeated Marie begins to have hallucinations and recall she will ‘awaken’. Marie says she wanted to stay. . . but her memories are going with her, so it’s okay, right? Marie’s treasure disappears as she whispers goodbye.

This episode gave us AMAZING insight to Adachi like never before. Seriously, now we really get his anger and hesitations much better – it’s no wonder he never ‘changed’ through Yu’s social link in the game, in reality the social link just reminded him how alone he’d been all along. In the end though, did it make a difference for who he was after it all? Maybe his repentance is worth something.

But.  . .what will be Marie’s fate?

Oki