The truth lies on the other side of the screen!
PERSONA 4 the Animation
When Yu Narukami moves to the rural country town of Inaba to live with his uncle while his parents are away on business, he's expecting a lot more peace and quiet than he's been used to in the big city. Instead, the peace has been shattered as a rash of mysterious murders and kidnappings sweep the countryside. With the police stymied, Yu finds himself joining with a group of seven other teenagers in a desperate bid to solve the mystery. A mystery that is somehow connected to both the local weather patterns and a strange TV world which Yu, his friends and the enigmatic killer can all enter.
Episodes
Yu Narukami’s first day in a new school is overshadowed by the murder of a TV hostess on campus. Even stranger is the portal he discovers in TV screens, which throws him and his new friends into a nightmare world infested by fog and monsters.
The strange deaths continue, with the most recent victim discovered hanging from a telephone pole. Yu, Chie, and Yosuke begin piecing things together and determine that these grisly murders are connected to that other world inside the TV. Yu and Yosuke decide to go back in, much to Chie's disapporval. Once more will the two boys venture into the unknown, with rope at waist, and fear in Yosuke's heart.
When Yukiko appears on the Midnight Channel, her best friend Chie leads the charge to rescue her. However, the police are out in force and arresting any suspicious characters - including Yu and Yosuke. When Chie goes to the station after them, she reports Yukiko as missing. But the police seem to suspect her involvement in the death of the TV hostess.
Chie, Yu, and Yosuke are hot on the trail of Yukiko, when suddenly her shadow reveals herself instead. This Yukiko is on a mission of her own, trying to find a prince who will whisk her away from a future she has no hope of escaping.
This battle is not like the ones before.
There's a new tough guy in town, and he means business. What will become of this new player, now that he's appeared in the Midnight Channel? Yu and his friends aim to put their clues together and unravel the mystery before this fearsome delinquent becomes the next victim.
Kanji's gone missing, or is in hiding, according to Naoto. Yu and the others suspect that he is somewhere in TV World, but Teddie needs something with his scent to find him first. After investigating, they discover a softer side to Tatsumi, and something else that sounds a little off...
Time for some R&R. While out on a school field trip, Yu and Yosuke learn the true meaning of fear: Yukiko and Chie's cooking! Later, Kanji must prove to the boys that he's a ladies man...by any means necessary.
While trying to escape the limelight, pop icon "Risette", aka Rise, steals away to the small town of Inaba. With the investigation team now bringing all their clues together, it looks as if Rise might become a new piece of the puzzle.
Rise has disappeared into TV World, leaving behind only her shadow to guide Yu and the rest. As they head in to rescue her, the group finds more than they bargained for, discovering that Rise's other self is just the beginning of their problems...
A new murder victim is discovered in Inaba, without appearing on TV, which sends Yu and the others back to square one. Naoto Shirogane, boy detective, is brought in to help with the case. Meanwhile, the group gets a surprise visit from a Mr...
With the culprit of the Inaba murders well within their sights, Yu and the rest experience a series of interweaving flashbacks, flash-forwards, and side flashes that come together with a horrible conclusion.
Loveline is on the scene! Yu has been coming home late at night, tired and sluggish.
This week we'll take a look at the elusive Yu Narukami. Join us as we look into a previously hidden world that only helpful Yus can possibly fall into, rife with prescient foxes, reincarnated professors, explosive fishing and lovestruck nurses.
What's the best part of taking a school trip with friends? FREE TIME! Everyone's together and ready to party! With the "juice" flowing in the VIP and excitement in the air, a King's Game is in order, and whatever the King (or Queen) says...
Naoto, still unconvinced that the murder case is closed, agrees to appear on TV. He is kidnapped soon after, and with no real information to go by, finding him in TV World is proving difficult. Meanwhile, Naoto's shadow has finally appeared.
As the girls avoid Shadow Naoto's aging beam, the boys try to think of a way to save Naoto, with Yosuke still under the effects of the beam, just as the girls use Teddie as a shield when Shadow Naoto attacks them, again, aging him as well. Shadow Naoto threatens to continue the experiment on Naoto when Kanji has Take-Mikazuchi attack to distract her, letting Yu use Izanagi to respond. Using Himiko, Rise directs Yu to change Personas, cycling through Arahabaki, Abaddon, and Mot, until Yu, too, is hit by the aging beam.
At the Dojima househould, Dojima has made coffee for the family, something he has done since before his wife passed away, when he suddenly gets a call from Adachi that there has been an accident. He leaves them, even though Nanako has just asked him to read her a bedtime story. In the patrol car, Adachi comments on how the accident was at the Samegawa flood plains, the and the case is similar to that of Dojima's wife's death. The next day, Yu accidentally cuts himself while preparing lunch, and while looking for a bandage he comes across a photo Dojima, Nanako, and her mother. Nanako says that Dojima hid all the photos of her mother after she passed away and wonders if she can keep the photo; Yu promises to ask Dojima if she can.
The school holds its cultural festival and Yu meets Ayane Matsunaga of the Yasogami High School brass band.
At the end of the cultural festival, everyone is cleaning up the classroom, planning something to do for the night, when Nanako and Dojima arrive, who reveals he is going out of town and needs Yu to look after Nanako. Nanako says she can take care of herself, but Yukiko feels bad for her and invites her and Yu to come to her family's inn. The rest of the group, however, takes it as an open invitation for all of them to spend the night at the inn, but Yukiko does not stop them. When they arrive later, Yukiko, and Aika who has taken up a part time job at the end, welcomes them and takes them to their rooms.
Naoto tells Yu that she cannot find out anything about the sender of the "Stop helping people" letter, but she knows that it was personally delivered so the sender knows who they are. Later, Naoto worries that she is more focused on solving the case than she is worried about Yu's safety like the rest of his friends. Yu arrives at home just as a delivery truck leaves, and as he and Nanako have dinner, a news piece about a local politician's visit to Nanako's school airs, with a mention of a student who impressed him. When Nanako feels sick, Yu puts her to bed, and promises her that they will build snowmen together before he goes back home. A week later, Yu sees an unknown figure on the Midnight Channel, and asks everyone to watch it the next night. Nanako seems to want to give something to Yu, but her illness interrupts her plans to give it to him.
The Investigation Team stages a rescue of Nanako from Taro Namatame in the TV world.
The team grieves after the apparent death of Nanako, while Dojima storms off to Namatame's room to confront him, but is stopped because of his injuries. After hearing a crash from Namatame's room, the group enters to find the man, seemingly attempting to escape through a window. Namatame's Shadow then appears on the Midnight Channel on the room's TV, boasting that it will never cease its desire to "save" people. Enraged, and faced with the possibility of Namatame being released through lack of solid evidence, the team considers what to do, with Naoto suggesting that he would likely meet his doom if thrown in the TV. Yosuke and Kanji agree with this, while Chie, Yukiko, and Rise attempt to change their minds. Yu begins to drag a helpless Namatame toward the TV and begins to push him in, but then changes his mind, much to Yosuke's chagrin. Yu proclaims he is not convinced that they have the full story, and he only wants to know the full truth.
Teddie is in the Velvet Room where he reveals that he has discovered he is only a Shadow, but one that has acquired human emotions. He asks Yu to say goodbye to Nanako for him when he goes to Heaven, but Yu speaks to him and tells him Nanako is alive and well. At the Aiya diner, Naoto realizes the culprit must be someone close to them and thinks to bring it up to the group, but Yu plans on going to the hospital. Yosuke accompanies him, but first tells Yu that he is upset that he is both jealous and proud of how Yu has made friends, despite being from the city like him and getting his Persona. He then says the only way he will feel better is if they become equals if they had a fight, to let out all of their pent up emotions. At the diner, Naoto has just revealed her suspect to the others, and Yukiko remembers seeing him at the inn while Mayumi Yamano was staying there, and Chie determines that he would have also spoken to Saki Konishi.
Yu and his friends confront the true culprit behind the Midnight Channel events and uncover the truth behind the mysteries surrounding Inaba.
