The Persona series has always been one of the underrated gems of the JRPG world. Atlus has always managed to create intriguing stories, characters, and gameplay that excel. However, the element that people always seem to remember about the games are the soundtracks. Every entry in the series has a great combination of emotional pieces, fast paced battle tunes, and annoyingly catchy J-Pop.
While I could go on for pages about the series’ music, today I’ll be looking at Persona 4. As much as I would love to, I won’t be able to look every song of this game’s massive soundtrack, so I’ll be looking at a few select tracks. So pull up a chair, hate some poltergeists and make sure the homo men don’t break away!
The game hits the ground running with an Engrish J-Pop opening called Pursuing My True Self. Featuring California potatoes and a maze of relationships, the song is the perfect introduction to the crazy zaniness that you will hear for the game’s duration.
Persona 4 doesn’t exclusively feature unintelligible J-Pop though as it also has some incredibly great emotional tunes. The main theme of Persona 4 is facing yourself and admitting that you have faults. Cue I’ll Face Myself, a song which is played after you rescue a character from the darkest part of their subconscious. During the game’s many heartbreaking events, Shoji Meguro gave us Traumerei.
One thing that has always impressed me about this series is Shoji Meguro’s ability to create emotional boss themes. The main boss music is a remix of I’ll Face Myself which is fitting as you fight the shadow versions of your friends. The game has a few unique boss themes in the form of Mist and A New World Fool. Much like Persona’s 3 final boss theme, Persona 4 is able to expertly blend tense buildup with emotional backdrops with The Almighty.
Now to the song that I’m sure everyone knows Persona 4. You know which one I’m talking about – after all it teaches us to stop guerilla warfare and to use our mighty AIs to do justice! If this confuses you, don’t worry! You’re in the bear-y same boat as everyone else when they first heard the game’s battle theme, Reach out to the Truth. Admittedly when I first heard this song I hated it, but it began to grow on me as I continued to play. I soon found myself randomly humming it throughout the day.
Where the game absolutely shines, in my opinion, is the secret final boss theme, Genesis. Spoiling the context of this fight would be one of the worst crimes I could commit in the industry. Needless to say, this song is the perfect fit for a game which has been spent building relationships and helping your friends get through their problems. The song is a continuous buildup of tension until the end breaks it with an epic orchestration of Reach out to the Truth.
After a long and arduous final boss, the game ends on a relaxing note with Never More. I couldn’t think of a more appropriate song to end this fantastic game. Despite a rocky translation, the song perfectly describes the plights of the game’s eccentric cast of characters.
To close, I would like to bring your attention to Persona 4 Reincarnation. P4R is a CD created by series composer, Shoji Meguro. It features arrangements of various songs from P4. I’m also pretty sure the remix of Reach out to the Truth is the only song in which you will hear the lines “I bleach out cock and bull.”
