Akihiko Ultimate Persona Awakening - Persona 3 Reload

[@NocturnalNovelist]

Alejandro Saab absolutely killed this. It didn’t feel like a performance at all, it felt genuine and it made me cry.

[@Ardith50]

Alejandro said he recorded this shortly after Billy Kametz’s passing so I feel that he channelled that here.

[@dnz_nl]

​@@Ardith50wait really? Where did he say it?

[@Ardith50]

@@dnz_nl In a livestream when he got to that part. You can watch the vod on KZbin

[@ilovemeltedsand]

totally unrelated but oh my god siffrin pfp

[@AcidicJesse]

hi fellow siffrin in the wild

[@TheSiscoKid2112]

I love Liam O'Brien with all my heart, and I used to think I could never accept this new guy playing Aki, but then I hit this scene and goddamn. Dude knocked it out of the park, into a different city. I feel confident in saying this is 100% better than the orignal. New cast is gonna keep on unfairly receiving bullshit online from people, but overall, they did a pretty damn fine job.

[@thefinalfighter2578]

I will NOT hear anyone saying Akihiko was miscast or it’s bad. literally the best performance in the main cast along with Allegra Clark. This made me more emotional than the OG.

[@luigi7781]

This scene made me love this dudes preformence. He managed to capture the emotions from the original. Truly a beautiful scene. I forgive them for fucking up makotos awakening.

[@multiforme_ingegno]

New Akihiko's voice is awesome. Took me just a couple of hours to get used to it.

[@Silver-pn9pn]

Fantastic voice actor but I feel like the voice direction is a little odd, just a bit too low pitched for a high schooler thats still growing. Great scene, regardless.

[@thefinalfighter2578]

@@Silver-pn9pn I mean your voice doesn’t change that much after you’re 17-18. And his voice isn’t that deep especially during normal scenes, it’s mostly in battle that his voice gets really deep.

[@Silver-pn9pn]

his voice is deep the entire time, really, just think it should be a little higher

[@Lenkii]

This scene made me love Akihiko's VA. The emotions felt so real

[@theimpersonator7086]

This scene manages to almost get to me every time. One of my favorite scenes in Modern Persona and Gaming itself. Probably a top 2 non protag awakening in my view, and helped cement non protein meme Akihiko as one of my favorite characters. Saab also did a good job here. I really like the elements of Greek Tragedy in this. Akihiko originally started out wanting to protect the people he cared about after the death of Miki. But he lost sight that of that and just became obsessed with power, ignoring other parts of life like being a good friend. He paid the price for it on 10/4 as he forgot about the anniversary of the death of Amada's mother. However, it didnt even matter what he did, Shinji was going to die anyway, whether it be through the suppressants or Takaya. Instead, Akihiko had to learn to move forward and not be trapped by the past, while also paying attention to the present. He now restored his original motivation of wanting to protect others, while also taking Ken under his wing to honor Shinji's wishes. Brilliant character when the writers are not turning him into a meme.

[@madg1nnan176]

To me, Alejandro Saab aka Kaggy Films did a very bittersweet performance cuz I feel like he was channeling his feelings of losing Billy Kametz, who was one of his closest friends, into Akihiro during this scene… Or I might just be reading too much into this.

[@CYYUVODS]

You... 100% got it

[@disneymagicaluniverse4795]

What the fuck

[@loganthevillager9176]

To make matters even more sad about Billy, he was the voice of Dr. Maruking in Persona 5 Royal.

[@NicoTheCinderace]

@@loganthevillager9176 Dr. Maruki, yeah.

[@tomdaturtle5792]

@@NicoTheCinderace I think he was making a pun, calling Maruki a King

[@daveking6754]

I love how, for lack of a better word, "wet" 1:18 forward is. I really love it when the VAs totally get into it. It's not a perfect line reading in terms of diction etc, but it's so real.

[@masterseal0418]

The emotion from Kaggy as Akihiko after he mourned Shinji's loss, too beautiful and shocking.

[@boltthunder2061]

i might get a little flak but i think he gave off more emotion than Akihiko's original VA did it's like Kaggy actually burst-out in tears while reading his lines

[@KaylinMajeure]

Apparently he was going through some stuff at the time of recording and tried to channel it into this recording

[@uningenious]

​@boltthunder2061 I will agree whole-heartedly. Compared to the original P3 voice actor, it's so much more emotionally charged.

[@TheJerbro69]

Everyone is talking about Akihiko's new voice but no one is talking about Shinjiro having a photo of him before Ken's mom's Incident instead of a picture random of him with his red coat. Not only been remembered when he was "more happy" but also making sense when we remember that the funeral is being made by the school,so it makes more sense that they would have a photo of Shinjiro when he was last seen on the school.

[@zayamoone]

This scene solidified Akihiko as my favorite character and Alejandro Saab as my favorite voice actor. He knocked it completely out of the park

[@cikatheresia]

this was acted beautifully regardless of the criticism of the significantly deeper tone of voice in akihiko's voice acting, i think Saab did this scene justice. i have no complaints.

[@crimsonslayer6641]

Alejandro Saab made this scene more impactful than the original game’s release. He did such a good job, his casting is easily my new favourite casting in this with junpei’s and mitsuru’s VAs right behind

[@meloncat5900]

Damn Cy-yu did really good here I’m gonna cry now 😢

[@JamieEhh]

I liked these Persona evolutions more than 4 and 5's. I hope, but doubt they'll return in 6

[@theimpersonator7086]

Same. Besides being actually tied into the plot, they also tend to do a really good job of fleshing out certain character dynamics, like here with Aki and Shinji. Second Awakening via Social Links tend to make the Protag the center of a characters universe, which is pretty lame.

[@theadmiral4157]

Same. I hope persona 6 will be some kind of sequel to persona 3

[@SilencedBTM]

It's a fine line. You want to hang out with the party with S Links, but it not make the PC a bit too involved in everyone's personal growth.

[@JeyVGaming]

Honestly, as a guy who started from P4 then P5, I thought maxing out the party's social link will bring out their ultimate persona's but seeing this for the first time was definitely surprising for me. Never knew the evolution was tied to the plot. I guess their social links aren't really much of a priority or should be rushed. Maybe that's why they got rid of it in other Persona games.

[@slimballs9650]

@@theimpersonator7086 I think a combination of both approaches would be better. The characters get two moments to attain a second and/or third awakening: one unlocked through the story (à la P3), and another unlocked through maxing out the Social Link (à la P4 and P5). Whichever comes first is the second awakening, and the other becomes the third.

[@NikPaul19]

shinjiros death had me cry but this is the scene that broke me. it was so heartbreaking to see sanada breakdown like this. absolutely amazingly acted by alejandro saab

[@VerkatosEnsei]

This scene actually broke me, and I think Alejandro Saab did such a fucking phenomenal job here Already a pretty sad scene, but you hear how he delivers "But I was wrong... And now you're gone, too... God, it's like the world is laughing at me..." You can tell he's choking up and fighting back tears even as he's saying this, alongside "It doesn't matter how strong I was! Look what happened!" And seeing Shinji's death, then seeing this scene... I was actually sobbing too, despite knowing exactly what happens (given that this is an old game and all) No discredit to Liam, he was also excellent as Akihiko, but Alejandro just knocked it out of the park Same with the rest of the cast, they're giving it their all and helped breathe a lot of new life into this game and its story

[@SteezyMPeezy]

even that first line " i was wondering what ramen tastes like when you skip class"

[@CyanMedic]

I'm a huge Liam O'Brian fan, and I wasn't the biggest fan of the general SOUND of Saab's voice in general- a bit too deep for my taste to fit Aki, in my opinion. However, his PERFORMANCE? Stellar, even a step beyond O'Brian. Plus the script is a bit tighter as well. Comparing the two scenes directly, the only line difference I prefer in the original is "I'm such an idiot" versus "it's like the world is laughing at me." Most everything else is an improvement. P3R did a great job justifying its existence.

[@LoserOfTheCity666]

reload did such a good job capturing emotions, it left a hole in my heart bro its actually so sad

[@johndavidtibbetts7320]

God Alejandro Saab just takes it to the fucking mat in this game

[@Goobergurl]

I heard that some people were hating on his new voice actor, but why?! He's literally one of the best new voice actors in the game! Him and Junpei killed it! This scene was amazing to experience all over again. This scene alone is why Akihiko is my favorite Persona character. Not just Persona 3, but out of *all* the games Akihiko will forever be my GOAT

[@AyylienInvader]

Weird opinion here, but I feel like Auto in this game is a bit *too* fast. It kind of hurts some of the emotion from the dialogue by there being next to no pauses, unless they were kept in the dialogue recording itself

[@erkbestmage9740]

Same when I saw this scene I was thinking slow down and turned auto off

[@kevinkendall923]

agreed, this scene feels too quick with auto. turned it off as soon as i got here

[@HoodieDOTpdf]

Yeah I’ve never been a fan of the auto setting in Persona games. I never have it on because of the wildly inconsistent dead space at the beginning of, and end of dialogue.

[@My2Cents.iF7934]

The auto timing in these games is particularly built for the Japanese VAs and not the English ones, which is _really_ unfortunate for especially emotional scenes/dialogues like this. You should be hanging on every word in a game like this, not letting a game speedrun it for you. I really wish Atlus had taken the time to properly space out the the autodialogue.

[@Iamverykarpy]

ive never used auto, i like it being more interactive even if its small

[@Danewd98sChannelgaming]

I was waiting for this moment to happen before I had any final thoughts on Kaggy. Kaggy, I'm sorry, I was wrong. This is an amazing performance.

[@detonatuto4530]

This scene in specific was one of my biggest worries when I found out P3 was getting a remaster, but damn... there was no reason to worry after all. The VA did a magnificent job here.

[@ringdedede4197]

Out of all of Persona 3, 4, and 5, this scene actually made me cry. Being dead for real.

[@Clyyve]

This scene broke me once again, such a good VA

[@thedocenglish4176]

This was such an emotional scene great Voice acting

[@froakie1404]

ye this cutscene made me warm up to akihikos new voice fuckin killed it here

[@Motoguau]

i wasn't conviced of the VA performance... until now... his voice slowly cracking and then his devastated crying really broke my heart :(

[@aldrednieto8448]

Akihiko and Shinji are like Rivals/Friends. It's like I remember he dies in the OG Persona III, Same here. In the Woman Route Shinji is out of action he's in the hospital

[@Blu_Moon_VA]

Kaggy killed it! It's a shame the music doesn't hit as hard anymore.

[@gabrieldevoogel6225]

Hey, ultimate personas being story progress like it was always intended

[@djailsonfelipe84]

Amazing performance, when he breaks down... it's a pained scream that is genuinely hard to hear. It feels so real.

[@crucible1084]

man persona 3 still a masterpiece of a game and still as fking sad as ever. literally enough to make a grown man cry

[@cryguy0000]

Something that kinda bugs me is that compared to the original, Aki doesn't move as much. In FES, he turns around, turns back, puts his hands on the table and punches it repeatedly. I miss that, I also don't like the screen fading to black to show the awakening and the new theurgy, it just takes you out of the scene

[@jeebleswatch3785]

They should have done it so the theurgy screen didn't appear until after the scene ended, like in P5 when your party member's persona gained a new skill.

[@ANashProductions]

This scene actually made me cry

[@rahmansepti540]

Did you see that, Shinji

[@aliceimanimeland8264]

The raspyness of his voice makes it 100x sadder this is such a great delivery

[@Drakerfilhodalua]

Me looking at my friend after he said "turn on play" in the middle of the shooting

[@thegamingknight642]

The evolution to Ceaser was a massive missed opportunity to me, even in the originals. For those who aren’t thematically minded, Polyduces and Castor are a Greek myth about twin half-brothers, the former a demigod of Zeus, the latter completely mortal because different fathers (yeah, that can actually happen). When Castor was Castrated (yeah, he originated the term) Polyduces begged Zeus to share his immortality, which led to Zeus making them into the constellation Gemini. Why did Aki’s persona not evolve into Gemini!?

[@lpstweetytv5242]

Yeah, I always wondered about that too, not to mention his design evokes Atlus (Holding up the world and all)

[@reichtanglevictor1694]

I love the original's acting as well, don't get me wrong. But this was 100% done better, from the scream being mixed with a lot more sadness and crying (tho the scream could be a tiny bit longer, but that's nitpicking), along with the lines before REALLY emphasizing how pissed off Akihiko was at himself and with what happened.

[@Bunke987]

voice director: that was good but can you make the scream a little longer alejandro: REEEEEEEEEE YOU'RE NITPICKING voice director: ok ok it was fine im sorry alejandro: now i need a timeout and a soy latte after you hurt my feelings like that why do soylent dub players/watchers call any criticism nitpicking? you know it's their job right?

[@reichtanglevictor1694]

@@Bunke987 I used "nitpicking" due to the details I pointed out being very minor and not something that ruins the scene. You sound like an edgy teeny boy who finally discovered the evils of the "woke" world and is now trying to incorporate the lingo in their vocabulary to be cool on the internet, get the fuck out of here.

[@wobblewokgaming655]

Now that I've played the game, I think it's safe to say that I prefer this way of the team awakening to their true Persona instead of simply going through a Confidant. Instead of simply waiting for dialogue prompts to pop up, you see the characters develop throughout the story, and thus you see their Persona change with them as the User gets a new resolve. For example, Akihiko's first Persona, Polydeuces, comes of as a powerful being, but it also seems kinda childish. It has a baby face, tiny hands, tiny feet and this goofy looking oversized drill thing, making it seem more friendly, but it also makes it look pretty weak. Kinda like how Akihiko, who is obviously damn strong, feels like he isn't at his peak yet. Multiple points through the game, we see him overencumbering himself with difficult workouts that push his body to the limit, but it never seems to be enough for him. Even his first Therugy shows this. Lightning Spike, while powerful, is kinda underwhelming. It's simply Akihiko spiking a ball of electricity into the crowd of enemies. Almost as if Akihiko is purposefully holding himself back for some reason But then, that Persona evolves into Caesar. All of the abnormal qualities of Polydeuces are gone, now replace with the intimidating stature of Caesar. The soft face is replaced with one that is hardened and ready to face his challenges, his oddly small hands and feet are now well proportioned his odd drill is now replaced with a mighty sword which he holds high in the air with his right hand and in his left, he casually holds the world, as if he can now carry his world sized burdens with ease. All of this shows us that Akihiko is no longer afraid. He no longer fears the concept of being weak, he no longer feels the need to hold back. And none of this is shown more than the new Therugy move he gets, Electric Onslaught. What was once a simple spike of electricity is now a full blown, no holds bars brawl against the enemy, showing us just how powerful his new resolve truly is.

[@Xem-bw8cx]

Not a reload hater but I liked this scene in the og more because there’s more pauses in this scene between dialogue, which really makes it feel akihiko is thinking and coming to terms with shinjis death, whereas in reload the auto makes the text go by way too fast to have nearly as much impact as the original

[@garryrptr]

DID YA SEE THAT SHINJI!?

[@SteezyMPeezy]

This scene struck me HARD

[@Tay-pe4ef]

Cesare looks so dope

[@jessepinkman8313]

Wow dude what a performance

[@nicklancial7103]

you know considering his persona was Castor and Shinji's was Pollux I thought they were gonna fuse like Hermes/Medea's did and form Discouri aka the Gemini Twins ....that would've been badass

[@curlydolltv]

redoing the same thing would have been pretty lame though

[@nicklancial7103]

@@curlydolltv it's already kinda lame that they didn't take this opportunity TO do that because Shinji's death had pretty much the impact on Akihiko and their persona's were literally the 2 gemini brothers and being the 2 oldest members of the original team would've made even more sense

[@yellowbirdie7182]

That was fucking painfully sad to witness.

[@yellowbirdie7182]

Kudos to the VA, he killed it

[@strabbitk1lls742]

The only part I don’t like is the music in the background, it kinda throws me off but that’s just a nitpick, this scene still has me bawling my eyes out every time.

[@random-one4413]

Does anybody know the name of the ost that plays at 1:54? I've been looking for it for ages and I couldn't find it.

[@sigmartmsr1141]

the path is open

[@random-one4413]

​@@sigmartmsr1141Thanks!

[@SparkBag]

The wide shot from the original had so much impact… I feel like they dropped the ball on the cinematography here. The cut to a completely different screen for the awakening is also super distracting and takes me right out of the scene, quite literally. It happening right there on stage was so powerful.

[@kevinkendall923]

dude i feel the exact same about the screen cuts for awakenings. something about their personas being above them during the awakening in the og made it hit harder for me. kind of a nitpick for me but it makes these scenes have a lot less impact imo

[@DamonStott]

@@kevinkendall923 It doesn't

[@theadmiral4157]

Still the most impactful persona awakening

[@GhostKing5257]

I thought they were gonna give a third persona like in p4 and p5

[@night104]

Nah. P3's awakenings are way different

[@roaringlions7252]

I prefer the P3 awakenings tbh.

[@spartan4613]

Im surprised but this is leagues better than FES/OG P3. I prefer OG akihikos voice but this guy killed this scene.

[@somthinwrong]

1:23 me when I didn't get my SSR waifu on limited banner

[@mayhare55555]

The auto feels a bit too fast, killing the atmosphere

[@viggaogotohku97]

Cyno cry

[@neptune8121]

Do you get the awakenings automatically or do you need to meet a prerequisite

[@Julian-lz5pd]

They're all story based in this game!

[@jojomicheldu59]

- auto scroll goes way too fast in this scene - the camera angle doesn't convey the same emotion - the persona appears in a separate black scene, making it feel detached - the awakening music stops immediately after the persona disappears - he doesn't punch the table :( Persona 3 reload, the "definitive" edition

[@curlydolltv]

some of these so nitpicky💀 js go play the original atp

[@MaxVRY]

Yes it is

[@rayjinflo]

I am moved by this VA's delivery

[@NiCeNuKNaN]

If there's any Persona 3 Reload Royal edition (what if route), I would like to see Shinji survive and fight alongside with SEES to the bitter end.

[@amri007able]

We have that in P3Portable Female MC route

[@SmugNoot]

I’ve never liked the thought of Shinjiro or Chidori surviving in Portable. It honestly goes against not only the games central themes but the development of the characters. In a game about death and loss and how to overcome it and live your life, it would be strange to have everyone survive with a happy ending.

[@dmcfail987]

Haven't played the original persona 3 this game definitely can't hold s candle to it

[@24Nyome]

who is bro talking to... had a whole conversation with himself lmao

[@sharkdrake3771]

Not gonna lie this made me laugh XD. I never knew over acting could be a thing, but here is a prime example of overdramatic.

[@CookieTwoStep]

Not really

[@mistersandmere335]

In the perspective of Akihiko, who wouldn’t be absolutely devastated and bottled up with emotions that ended up cracking. The whole game up to this point, akihiko was hung up on being stronger no matter what due to the loss of his younger sister and brother-in-arms. For once, he feels somewhat better before 10/4 since Shinji joined. Then, the world took his “brother.” Despite everything Akihiko has done to improve for the sake of protecting loved ones, Shinji’s died in his arms. I think the VA did a great job capturing Akihiko’s grieving process-raw anger and sadness that is having a hard time fully processing what just happened.

[@lpstweetytv5242]

It's the dialog changes, some of the lines feel unatural because of it.