PS1 Persona 1 and IS openings are peak. The languid gazes of Lisa and Eikichi during the beginning of IS's are unforgettable. I know that's dramatic but they always stuck with me because of how much emotion there is, even if that's definitely helped by me having played the game lol. The PSP opening for EP is super cool too, but I wish they kept the shot of Ulala punching the mirror instead of the weird broken glass transition lmao. Good video!
The evil Tatsuya when he takes off the mask is not Jun's perception of him, it's Tatsuya's shadow. Shadow selves are represented with red eyes in P2, which Tatsuya has when he removes the mask, and in Jungian psychology, a persona is a mask while the shadow something buried deep, so it makes sense to find the shadow under the persona, i.e. the evil Tatsuya under the good Tatsuya mask.
So originally I did think it was just as you said(and you're probably right. Makes a lot more sense and is a lot simpler than my interpretation lol) I was hesitant on that because of Shadow Tatsuya and Joker not having bad interactions as far we know, and also because it's kind of close to the memory Jun has of kid Tatsuya burning the shrine with a sinister laugh while kid Jun stands in front of it in shock. So while Tatsuya/Shadow Tatsuya didn't do either of those, I think Joker would've believed Tatsuya to be the type to do that, if that makes any sense. Which is where I got the perception idea to begin with. Also to me it looked like the P2 Shadows had orange eyes(minus Shadow Lisa, but I attributed that to the drug experimentation part of her) so I kind of wrote off the Shadow Tatsuya idea early, but it's not like orange/red is that far off. But the shadow being buried behind the mask does track. My bad for the long comment, just wanted to explain my POV. Also thanks for the Xibalba Realm Of The Dead comment I'm honestly surprised I missed that myself!
15:44 I think it's supposed to be some Christ imagery. Hariti holding Narcisus looks like some representation of Mary holding Christ while Angel on the cross is pretty self explanatory. Both would symbolise the beginning and the end. Why the Christ imagery? Well apparently Maya fits the archetype (SnicketySlice elaborates on it in an P2IS analysis video). Although its not 100% sure that Maya was supposed to be of the Christ archetype, the Christ imagery in this shot is surely on purpose and might be a reference to that.
17:45 I never ever noticed this scene! But I believe it''s from Peace Diner location, where it's the only place in the game where you can buy burgers. Not sure who the woman is though
Eventually yea. Will probably do one for Persona 3 Reload first, cuz I still have to figure out how it'd work for P1/P2 since I find solo runs to kind of be my thing at this point and you can't get rid of your party in those games
