Velvet Room shenanigans!
Creative Staff:
Original Story: Atlus
Story and Art: So Tobita
Translation: Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley
Lettering: James Dashiell
Editing: Ajani Oloye
What They Say
A WONDROUS MAZE
After the sudden cancellation of their school’s cultural festival, Gekkoukan High School’s own S.E.E.S. look to relieve some stress by beating some shadows in Tartarus. But a visit to the Velvet Room beforehand takes an unexpected turn, and they find themselves stuck in a high school that they’ve never seen before. To return home, they’ll have to make their way through the treacherous, shadow-filled corridors of a most curious maze. Luckily, they’ll have some help from two mysterious students and a few other Persona users…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I never had the patience for dungeon crawler games, so I passed on Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth when it came out for the 3DS back in late 2014. But I always liked the characters from the series and would have liked to at least know what kind of silly crossover shenanigans the characters from the Persona 3 and Persona 4 series had with each other. That said, the manga adaptation of the game fits this purpose perfectly.
Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Side: P3 adapts the game’s story, covering things from the perspective of the Persona 3 cast. Assuming you at least have a rudimentary knowledge of the series, the manga does a quick refresher of the characters and their world, spending little to no time before delving into the story, involving the gang being transported to Yasogami High School’s school festival. And as if that wasn’t already strange enough, the gang finds that they aren’t able to interact with any of the students at the school… except for the mysterious characters Zen and Rei, who have seemingly lost their memories. With these two new allies by their side, the large group ventures into one of the school’s funhouses which—SURPRISE!—ends up being a real-life labyrinth full of Shadow creatures the gang has never encountered before.
If the chibi-drawing-style of the manga isn’t enough of an indicator, the story itself is told in a rather lighthearted tone, with characters feeling significantly more exaggerated from their usual selves—in particular Shinji and Akihiko, who continually argue over the tiniest of misunderstandings. Velvet Room attendants Elizabeth and Theodore are also surprisingly goofy this time around, having been unleashed into the real world (or a close approximation of it) and finding joy in things the rest of the cast take for granted. It’s all very silly, but allows for a certain level of belief-suspension that benefits the story as it balances cutesy visuals with the occasional Persona and Shadow fight.
If anything, newcomers Zen and Rei feel like the outlier of the cast. Even though their mysterious past is the major point that drives along the story, you can’t help but feel like their characters take a major hit because of that. Not knowing a thing about either gives you little reason to care for them, and even with their slight quirks like Zen’s overprotectiveness and Rei’s inexplicably large appetite, it just feels a bit too shallow for any real connection to be made.
Regardless, it all makes for a fun, ridiculous romp, with the volume ending with the introduction of the Persona 4 cast to the rest of the heroes.
In Summary:
Videogame adaptations tend to lean towards the shallow end story-wise, but that doesn’t mean Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth Side: P3 is a bore by any means. If you’re familiar with the characters and are willing to accept its chibi-style artwork, it’s a fun story that gives an excuse for the cast members of the two separate Persona series to meet up and go on an adventure doing what they do best—slaying monsters while traversing through maze-like rooms.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: February 23, 2016
MSRP: $10.99
