To start off, Do not watch Persona 4 The Golden Animation unless you have watched the original Persona 4 The Animation or if you've played the original Persona 4 Game as this anime is basically a sequel or side story to the Persona 4 anime series. Now, I've done both played and watched the original anime series. So when this new series first came out, I was skeptical, mainly because it just had 12 episodes. But, then I realized what this anime was doing, and I think that I ended up at-least satisfied!
Story
So for the story, this anime mainly focused on the interactions between the characters i.e. the slice of life part of Persona 4, thus, they barely spent any time on the original plot, whatsoever. So, It didn't show them saving people, going through dungeons, or trying to find the killer. So as you can see, the main story of Persona 4 was almost completely left out of Persona 4 The Golden Animation. The only thing in this anime which can be considered as story is Marie, and her various conflicts! That being her loss of memory and her questionable existence like Why is she here? Where is she from? What is her purpose? And so on and so forth.
Characters
Now this is the only part where this anime really shined more for me than the original one. As one of my favorite parts of this show were the new bonds between the characters and the massive amount of good character development! Our MC, Yuu Narukami clearly had a different personality in this anime than the original one, he became a more courageous and charismatic person. Even Yukiko whom I never really cared about actually started to become funny and after they showed more and more about her I began to like her. Also, this anime series of Persona gave us a more in-depth backstory of the main villain and although I already loved the villain for who he/she was, this show actually made me feel bad for him/her and I actually understood why he/she ended up the way he/she did! and why he/she chose to act that way. But, of course, it wasn't only the villain who was given more depth, all the other characters were also explained in depth.
Animation and Sound
The animation and artwork were better then the original one, and if you have seen the original one you gotta admit that this one's animation and artwork were MUCH MORE appealing. Though, they still weren't at par with the other 2014 simulcasts. Also, the colors in the original one were fairly odd in shading. But, thankfully this series changed that and made the art used in this anime a bit brighter and simpler than the original one. Overall, it really got me that the animation was top-notch and was like from those cut scenes of the game itself!
For the sound, They re-used some soundtracks from the original anime and game, but honestly, I don't mind! And Shoji Meguro's music was still superb. His funky-fresh style really lent to a unique flavor to the Persona 4 Series among the other RPGs, and I honestly don't think the series would be so fun without him. The voice cast also did a fine job. But, Kuma's screeching was still a little unbearable for me.
Enjoyment
Well, though I enjoyed it a little, I gotta say that this series was only meant for the people who have watched the original Persona 4 series!, in some way or the other. But, It was funny, and added more depth to the characters and I'm glad I decided to catch up to it. So, I want to say that watch it for what it is, and not for what you wanted it to be. It's a side story, meant to only develop the characters and their bonds, as well as introduce Marie and her story. It's not a REMAKE!
Overall, To end this great and helpful review I'll say that the story was disjointed and at best left untold, the animation was mediocre and the sound was good but nothing new! So, with all that in mind, it's hard to justify an overall score anywhere above the median and I would recommend this to someone who has already seen or played the original story and wants the canon equivalent of a fan-fiction added on. Persona 4 The Golden Animation did have a happy & satisfying alternate ending, though!
3 STAR ANIME.
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