Persona 4: The Animation - Episode 10

Despite identifying Rise as the next likely victim of Inaba's killer, it seems that the Persona-wielding gang can do little to prevent her from being dumped into the world within the television, as before they know it Risette's turns on the Midnight Channel take on an even more risque form.  Shame that record button didn't work huh, Narukami?

Anyway, with Rise kidnapped, there's only one thing for it, so it's time for our now five-strong team to find Teddie and chase down Rise and her Shadow.  Thankfully, tracking her down is little problem, and we soon find ourselves outside a decidedly shady club where a whole phalanx of Risettes are strutting their stuff, complete with bodyguard Shadows to protect the main focus of our concerns.

While Kanji's sheer strength is enough to see off the bodyguards, Rise's Shadow itself is a different kettle of fish - a being with the ability to analyse the powers of the Persona it fights against, making defending herself easy while her offensive abilities leave the gang with no room to retaliate.  Just as it seems to be all over, help appears from an unusual quarter - Teddie himself, who shows what he can do by single-handedly defeating Rise's Shadow before she finally finds room in her heart to accept her exhibitionist tendencies and desperation to be accepted and loved by others.  It seems that Rise isn't the only one with such problems however, as any celebrations are cut short by the appearance of Teddie's own shadow, representing his frustrations and uncertainties surrounding his lack of past memories.  It takes a finally push from Narukami and Rise in particular to help Teddie overcome his Shadow, meaning that we now have two more additions to the Persona ranks.

While the climatic battle with Rise's Shadow felt a little rushed and short-lived, and as a result quite anti-climatic, the reason for this soon became clear, with the revelations surrounding Teddie offering a surprising twist to the story while adding another aspect to proceedings into the bargain.  What this means for the show going forward is unclear, but as episodes go this offered us a fun ride that proved that it still has the power to turn the tables to avoid the risk of becoming overly formulaic, and that can only be good news.