Persona 5's anime tried to be too faithful to the game and it adapted things which don't work due to the medium change, and it had a really bad pacing, trying to condense 100 hours in 26 half-an-hour episodes. Not to mention, Joker was still kept silent (he talks a little bit more, but he didn't receive enough characterization and was still a self-insert).
An anime adaptation of a Persona game can only work if the protagonist of the game (a stand-in for the player, thus an unnecessary character that can and needs to be removed) is not the same as the protagonist in the anime, and is either demoted to extra or written off.
I have two possible approaches for an adaptation: the Pragmatic and the POV-Switch. The Pragmatic consists of various cuts and fixes to have the story work in anime form, even if it's unfaithful to the game. There are two possible "pragmatic approach" adaptations, one with a substitute for Joker and another by totally writing him off.
Note: a good adaptation needs to be an original story with the general traits reminiscent of the source material, not necessarily completely faithful to it. See for instance LOTR and how it took off the Scouring of the Shire.
Pragmatic Approach (with substitute for Joker):
1) The protagonist and Haru do not exist in the anime, but Kasumi Yoshizawa does and takes element of both. For one, you can't have a silent protagonist in an anime, and second, the Okumura arc is completely cut off to focus on Futaba, Sae, Shido and Goro. Ryuji replaces the protagonist, and he goes to the metaverse alone, then Ann is the leader of the PT until Makoto is recruited. Kasumi is a secondary protagonist (replacing Joker) but she doesn't actually fight until the end.
2) Since the protagonist is adapted out, the Velvet Room, Persona fusions, and the Wild Card stuff are omitted completely (or everyone goes to the Velvet Room instead of just Joker). Persona fusion and recruiting made sense as game mechanics, but they're hard to show in a non-video-game adaptation.
3) Social Links aren't mentioned and they're replaced by "bonding events" between two party members, where each one reveals to the other elements of his/her Social Link.
4) Madarame and Kaneshiro are killed by Goro instead of Okumura, who does not exist at all.
5) Kasumi takes on elements of Joker (like the fact that she defended a woman from being assaulted by Shido and the fact that Sojiro is taking care of her while on probation). While Joker was the protagonist in the whole game, Kasumi becomes a PT only right before Shido's palace. Making Joker and Kasumi one single character is a good way to make Joker not silent, as she now has Kasumi's name, design, backstory, personality and Persona. Kasumi's Arcana is explicitly noted by Igor to be a nonexistent Arcana (Faith/Reich) instead of Fool/World.
6) Weapons aren't real. They are summoned in the Metaverse. No items are used, but Healing and support spells are. Persona fights are animated like Pokemon fights, where the user summons his/her Persona and has it fight in his/her place, but weapons are sometimes used: when using weapons, the Persona is "still" and can be hurt, and damage inflicted to the Persona is transmitted to the user.
7) Kasumi gets expanded characterization in Shido, Yaldabaoth and Maruki's arcs.
8) No Mementos until the Yaldabaoth arc.
9) Okumura Arc, as I said before, is cut off completely. Haru is only mentioned offhand and appears as a cameo character.
10) Palace exploration is given more time. There are episodes where the PTs are entirely focused on Palaces and fighting against bosses, and exploration is broken up by some Kasumi scenes outside palaces.
11) Sojiro has actually taken in Kasumi, so his Social Link is only made of interactions with Kasumi. The PT meet up at Café Leblanc because Ryuji and Ann are regular there, not because Joker/Kasumi lives there. Only after hearing them, Kasumi decides to join the PT (but she doesn't actually develop a Persona until Shido Palace).
12) The rivalry between Goro and Kasumi is built up like the one between Goro and Joker, but since Kasumi is not a PT, it starts out disconnected from the PT stuff (though the PT often meet Goro and Kasumi in Leblanc). Either that or the Goro-Joker rivalry is turned into a Goro-Makoto rivalry.
13) Kasumi doesn't evolve Cendrillon into Vanadis, but into Satanael. She finishes off Yaldabaoth with Sinful Shell. Instead of the Fool Arcana who later becomes the World Arcana, Kasumi is Faith at first, then she gets the Reich Arcana. Satanael is Reich instead of Fool.
14) Since there's no Velvet Room, Igor-Yaldabaoth talks to the cast in dreams. All the PTs dream of Igor at the same time, and the protagonist being dressed as a prisoner in the Velvet Room is absent, as the VR is always seen in first person. Caroline and Justine talk of "Inmates", in plural form, rather than "Inmate".
15) The Velvet Room houses a secret jail containing Kasumi. Instead of "becoming trickster", the characters have to "free the trickster", as in "make Kasumi a PT".
Pragmatic Approach (with character composition):
1) Joker does not exist. Haru does. Joker's traits are split between Yusuke (he got transferred from Kosei to Shujin, he assaulted Shido and attempted to murder him, he's taken by Sojiro, he enters Kamoshida's Palace alongside Ryuji, he takes Morgana at Leblanc) and Makoto (she's the leader of the Phantom Thieves, she knows Goro was behind everything). Joker's design is taken by a nameless and non-speaking recurring cameo character at Shujin whom the PTs never actually interact with.
2) Kaneshiro's arc happens before Madarame: Makoto is met earlier to "officially found" the phantom thieves. Yusuke is already following Ryuji and Morgana in Kamoshida's Palace but is a noncombatant navigator/strategist until Madarame's arc.
3) Yusuke has a new character arc, having both Madarame and Shido as nemeses. Since he was raised by Madarame, he started developing a psychological complex that made him fanatically obsessed with beauty, art, nature and purity (and also being a Shinto fundamentalist), to the point of being a sociopath with "those that do not appreciate true beauty". After seeing Shido rape the woman, he willingly attempts to kill him, calling him "an impure petty tyrant drunk with power, which only death can redeem". He's taken by Sojiro not because he's innocent, but because Sojiro knows Yusuke has a mental disorder, and he wants to take in mentally disturbed people because he feels he has failed Futaba. His two palaces have him deal with both Madarame's abuse (Madarame) and Yusuke's own sociopathy (Shido).
4) The Velvet Room appears in dreams to Yusuke and Ryuji (and later to anyone who joins the PT). No mention is made of the Wild Card, as now Yusuke is Emperor and Goro is Justice (no one is Fool). Persona Fusion and Demon Negotiation simply do not exist at all, as they would be a blatant deus-ex-machina and a one-off mechanic that is never used after the first time: every character has a Persona tied to his/her personality, including Yusuke and Makoto. Instead, Ultimate Personas appear in the plot, and Yusuke and Makoto get theirs at the same time when fighting Shido. Satanael is a third-level Persona of Makoto created when Yusuke's Kamu Susanoo is fused with Anat. The Velvet Room is seen first-person, so Yusuke never talks to the twins.
5) Social Links are replaced by various bonding scenes where parts of the Social Links of two or more characters from the game are composed into one, and more character development is given to the characters. There are episodes completely focused on those scenes. Ultimate Personas are not always granted through Social Links (see Yusuke and Makoto) but Haru and Ann get theirs in a bonding scene with each other, and Futaba in one with Yusuke.
6) Ryuji dies for real after Shido's Palace collapses. Seiten Taisei is a boss in Maruki's arc, as the true form of a Shadow guardian in Maruki's Palace that looks identical to Ryuji (as the PTs' grief for Ryuji's death is used by Maruki as a "wish he wants to grant to them").
7) Makoto and Morgana travel to the TV station alone, rather than with Ann's class (but Ryuji and Ann follow them, while Yusuke stays home). There, Makoto and Goro start suspecting each other.
8) Maruki's arc is focused on Makoto, Goro and Kasumi. Yusuke loses focus until the Palace exploration, as he willingly goes to a psychiatric clinic for rehab (instead of a juvenile hall), then follows his game counterpart.
9) Persona fights are animated this way: the Persona stays out and damage to a persona is transmitted to the user (like Stands in JoJo). The protagonists have no weapon or gun in the real world but their Persona can transform into a weapon (a shotgun for Ryuji, a submachine gun for Ann, a katana for Yusuke, a slingshot for Morgana, a gun for Makoto, a sniper rifle for Futaba, an axe for Haru, a laser gun for Goro). Futaba's ultimate Persona Prometheus can fight, even though Necronomicon can't.
10) The title is not "Persona 5 the Animation", but "An Emperor Among Phantom Thieves", without the Persona name in it (because Persona game mechanics are taken off, and it doesn't follow the game series's traditions).
11) Some characters are fully written off the plot, like Iwai (since there are no weapons), Ohya (already of minimal importance in the game), Chihaya (voice actor died and already of minimal importance in the game) and non-Yaldabaoth Igor (the voice actor died. Yaldabaoth has killed and replaced Igor, and he's replaced by Lavenza at the end, with Lavenza's fusion being actually caused by Igor). Other non-party SL are done by various party members, such as Ryuji that does Kawakami, Yusuke does Hifumi, etc. Some characters, like Caroline and Justine, exist but have their SL taken off (in the twins' case, it focuses on Fusion, which is a mechanic that cannot be adapted in Anime form).
12) Yusuke and Makoto do not receive the World Arcana. The World is Maruki's Arcana instead of the non-existing Councillor, while Kasumi is the Fool.
POV-Switch Approach:
The anime is shown not from the PT's POV, but from Goro's POV trying to investigate on the PTs and in the meantime killing shadows and causing psychotic breakdowns. This anime is more focused on Goro's story, contains internal narration by him explaining his connection to Shido and his inner feelings, and the PTs are little more than cameos (until the fight in Shido Palace). Joker doesn't speak at all (until the Maruki arc) and he's never mentioned by name, as he's not the protagonist but a recurring cameo character (that Goro meets in Café Leblanc). After the fight, we should show a new epilogue that explains that Goro has survived, and that he has left Japan during the Yaldabaoth arc because he was thought to be dead. Royal's Maruki Arc is added, shown from Goro's POV and with Joker still nameless (because Goro knows he's Joker and always calls him that). Joker could become a fully-speaking character in that arc, where he's more relevant to the plot, but Goro is still the POV (explaining Joker's voiceless cameo status as him being suspicious of Akechi from the start and having refused to talk to him beforehand, thus his "silence-breaking" is justified as Joker trusts Goro more in the Maruki arc). Goro uses both Robin Hood and Loki, while Joker is only shown using Arsene,
Which approach is better?
Tokoyami no Nietzsche (talk) 10:45, July 29, 2020 (UTC)