Did not plan to complete this on March 5th but I'll take it lol

No way is this remotely close to P5R or as good as P4G (there is literally nothing to do at night most of the time!!!) but nonetheless still a banger.

Even if a lot of the cognitive elements feel like a blueprint, the concept of the dark hour and its backstory are brilliant and I didn't even find Tartarus as tedious as I initially thought it would be - it has some really cool designs in its higher blocks (especially Harabah and Adamah). The overarching theme of death is beautifully explored too, especially in the more blissful moments of acceptance, and the animations of the cutscenes are so well directed it's a shame Portable doesn't include them.

A bit split on the party members: Ken, Fuuka, and Junpei are just really underwhelming despite the attempts to flesh them out (Chidori, Shinjiro, etc.); however, Mitsuru, Aigis (incredible VA), and Akihiko are all some of the best characters in the series, and I love Yukari a lot too.

So glad I've finally gotten to this one, intrigued to see how much Portable's FEMC route changes things too. Love this series to pieces :)))