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Persona 2's opening movie (available below) is a tribute to the series' eerie, bone chilling atmosphere. Mirroring the feel of the its predecessor's intro, the first half of the cinema is scored with ambient piano notes that serve to emphasize the emptiness -- the unsettling feeling that something is very wrong -- that the gorgeous rendered graphics present to the viewer. The intro begins with a black backdrop featuring Japanese text (no doubt as cryptic as the rest of the movie); similar messages are interspersed throughout the first half of the movie, as the visual scenes slowly fade to blacknes of the text screens, which in turn gradually melt away into the next graphical presentation. The scenarios are barren and unsettling: a park shadowed by urban highrises where a set of empty swings sway back and forth; a desolate school courtyard and a forebodingly lifeless hallway therein, lit only by the dusty light of a setting sun; the outskirts of the city, where a hollow wind kicks up sheets of dust. During these scenes, characters who come into play during the course of the game make brief appearances, always motionless and silent as if to reflect their somber environment. The first half ends when a male character -- presumably the main character or hero -- places a pair of pink flowers on one of the swings in the abandoned park. They eventually lose their placement and fall slowly to the earth, losing all their petals in the process with a faint shattering noise as the background fades to black. At this point, the score -- and the rest of the movie with it -- makes a transition from low key to energetic and intense. The hero rides a high speed motorcycle down a city highway, cutting through traffic as he zooms along. Soon thereafter, arcane imagery interjects. The scene switches to an ancient temple, interrupted briefly by our cycling hero and a flash of an illuminated skull. When the camera returns to the temple, it is ablaze and before it stands a dimly lit evil figure who holds a large yellow flower and wears an oversized clown getup on his head which manages to look more threatening than ridiculous. Now chaos ensues as a horde of robotic foes marches in line down a city street, the sky fills with slowly parachuting forms in slow descent, a seemingly sturdy building abruptly explodes in a violent cloud of smoke, and a hallway is engulfed in a stream of energy in a mere split second. Cut back to the motorcyclist, who dramatically skids to a stop and dismounts. Standing confidently, his clothes begin to whip about as if under the influence of a strong wind and a blue pillar of energy engulfs him -- his wicked looking persona emerges from his body and charges up as the music hits a fever pitch before it unleashes its attack and the screen explodes into a sheet of white. Certainly impressive stuff. The GIA reserves hope that this promising title sees the light of day on American shores. A massive thank-you goes to Mark Johnson for the opening movie. Note: With the recent influx of Tokyo Game Show media, the GIA server may be limited in bandwidth at times. Please feel free to use a non-GIA mirror listed below. Webmasters, if you can offer a high-speed mirror of the intro, please drop us a line!
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