Persona 5 the Animation Episode 9 [Review]

By: ThunderheavyarmWell, never let it be said that I don’t get what I ask for. Persona 5 delivers on some much needed character development after clearing through two palaces and resolving the mini arcs in them.Ryuji contacts a maid service that he received a flyer for in the mail. Wanting to receive the “special” services that they offer. Maki joins as well, claiming that it’s for “research” into the “special” services. Using a nearby apartment, Maki and Ryuji chicken out at the last minute but it is revealed that the maid sent to them is Ren’s home room teacher, Kawakami. At first brushing him off, and instructing him never to call her again, he bails her out of a fight with another teacher pressing her for her after school activities. In exchange, she offers him not only her maid services but the special massage service.Of course, all of that is just to get to Ryuji. As I’ve been asking, I’ve wanted to see a little bit more of the characters explain their backstory. Along with the added emotional expressions that come with it, that weren’t available to me in the game, (I like to see emotions, not just hear them). Resolving his past with his old track friends, Ryuji now feels ready to move on with little regrets. Of course, the problem that I'm taking away from all this is how quickly it was resolved. While I'm not surprised given the break neck speed that the series is taking, filler episodes have always felt like speed bumps for the story to stop and take a breath. Not hit the gas and go soaring into the air. There's not much chance of that changing in the future season, we're just gonna go ahead an assume the next palace is cleared by the end of the season run. But, there's always room for people to learn after a series has done it's run for them to look back and decide if they can make any changes.I thought this was a great break from the series. It didn’t slow the pacing down overly and the focus was able to switch from Ren to Ryuji with little notice. This will hopefully become a regular thing, not just for Ryuji since he still has more to reveal in the series, but the other members of the phantom thieves. Not much to go over, it’s clearly a filler episode but unlike others of its type, one that was welcomed and still managed to stay fun. Until next time…GG everyone!