Persona 4 the Golden Animation

Episode 9

While last episode was a mostly stand-alone Christmas tale, “A Missing Piece” moves the overarching plot forward a great deal, and seems to be setting the stage for the series' endgame. This is not to say that the episode is totally story focused, as a great deal of humor is present as well. Most of the jokes revolve around the character Teddie, who like most characters in Persona 4 the Golden Animation, generates equal parts laughs and confusion.

Teddie, the silly blond boy in a bear suit, has been a major character in almost every episode, generating many of the series' best laughs along the way. Episode 9 is no exception, with Teddie's competitive nature and love of practical jokes bringing levity to the proceedings. While his jokes are the highlight of the episode, they also draw attention to how little the series has told us about him. The most we know about his origins is that he appeared in the Midnight Channel realm in episode 1, and apparently got transformed into a human by episode 3. His true nature, and the cause of his transformation, still remains a mystery to the audience, although possibly not to the other characters. One of the many niggling questions I have every time Teddie appears is why he still chooses to wear his bear costume (or whatever it is). This episode provides the best explanation for it (they're in the snow and its fur keeps him warm). Despite these distracting mysteries, I always enjoy Teddie's appearances, as he truly does come off as someone made of “gentleness and fur.”

Apart from the misadventures of Teddie and others (such as Naoto and Kanji's adorably awkward skiing lesson), episode 9 focuses on Yu's realization that everybody has forgotten Marie's existence. His investigation and search for the truth is nothing original, but does yield one of the best scenes of the series, where he searches through a mystical snowstorm, chasing after a figure that resembles Marie while his memories of her come flooding back. Unfortunately, the rest of the episode does not have the same artistry. Combining poor cinematography, off model characters, and bad CGI integration, it looks plain ugly. Still, it's a testament to the characters and vocal performances that I didn't notice the animation being below the shows own sub-par standards. Said characters have all regained their memories by the end of the episode and Yu looks determined to finally uncover the answers about their mysterious friend. Marie has always been the member of the main cast with the most consistent focus throughout the series, and while I do want to see her plot resolved, I hope that the rest of the characters achieve some closure as well. I hope to see all of them find their “missing piece.”

Rating: C+

Persona 4 the Golden Animation is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Miles Nelson has been watching anime since 1997, and writing about it since 2013. You can read some of his articles at My Geek Review.