Persona 4: The Animation - Episode 8

Having saved Kanji Tatsumi from himself (or at least his Shadow) in last week's hilarious episode, there's an opportunity for a bit of downtime for the gang as the school camping trip pops up on their agenda.

While there is a little time to ponder the culprit behind the murders at the centre of the series, and also an opportunity to make a new friend in the form of the initially hostile but eventually more personable Naoki Konishi (brother of the murdered Konishi, of course), the general aura of the episode is one of light-hearted fun and... well, filler really.

Thus, we get to see Chie and Yukiko's atrocious attempt at making curry, some rather troublesome arrangements when it comes to sharing tents for both the boys and girls, further proof that Hanamura is far too much of a lecherous fellow for his own good, and why taking a dip in the nearby river isn't always such a great idea.

Although nothing will match last week's episode in terms of laugh out loud entertainment value for me, this was still a pretty fun instalment that gauged its humour just about right, making the most of its characters as they bounce off one another while also continuing to really get to grips with using Narukami's deadpan delivery and attitude in the name of comedy.  After a potentially ropey start, Persona 4: The Animation seems to have grown quite admirably into the arguably daunting boots that it had to fill, and hopefully it'll only continue in the right direction as we move ever-closer towards its half-way point.