**Pros:**
The second Persona 3 movie, **Midsummer Knight's Dream** makes a lot of changes to the base story of Persona 3, but most of them improve the story and its pacing, instead of harming it. The biggest change is that [spoiler]Ken and Shinjiro join SEES much earlier than in the game. You would think that this would make Ken kill Shijni earlier than in the original but this is accounted for by making him at first believe that his mother was killed by shadows. This allows them to bond more with the rest of the cast and the viewer to get more attached to them. During the Hermit boss fight we see Shinjiro lose control of his Persona, a great example of show don't tell. This moment is also what makes Ken realize that Shinjiro was actually the one that killed his mother and we see him more conflicted over this than he was in the game because by spending more time on the team, he built a stronger bond with them.[/spoiler]

Strega is introduced in this movie and they are slightly more threatening than in the game. Before [spoiler]the Chariot and Justice fight, instead of just closing the doors on the SEES crew, which always felt a bit lame, they activated the emergency alarm system. This started a flow of poisonous gas which affected the party members and also brought forth the shadow, ultimately a much more effective way to try to get rid of SEES than in the game.[/spoiler]

The last positive change I want to touch on is [spoiler]Aigis's introduction. Instead of meeting with her on the dock and following her into the forest, she just runs away from the dock without anything else happening. Another change is that the scene with Yukari on the beach takes place during the dark hour. These changes seem meaningless on their own but come together when Yukari and Makoto are ambushed on the beach by shadows without their evokers. Then Aigis comes to rescue them. Yet another great example of show don't tell. We could've been told that Aigis is an anti-shadow weapon and then seen her in combat, but instead, we first see her in combat and only after that we do get an explanation as to what she is.[/spoiler] This creates a more memorable impression and is more shocking.

**Neutral:**
A change that doesn't work, is [spoiler]combining the scenes where Strega gives Shinjiro his meds and them killing targets for money.[/spoiler] I get that this was made to save on time and all in all it doesn't make a big difference, but it's still important to note. The [spoiler]killing in question happens before the deal with Shinjiro, but he shows up immediately afterwards. It makes Shinjiro seem like a heartless person, he doesn't even try to stop the murder that happened right in front of him. This also conflicts with later in the movie, where he decides to save Ken when he shows up in the dark hour.[/spoiler]

**Cons:**
A change I dislike, however, is giving Junpei's character arc to Makoto. In the movie, [spoiler]it's Makoto who is wondering whether dismantling the dark hour is the right choice because he likes the power it gives him. This storyline works for Junpei because he felt powerless without the power of his Persona and he was always sidelined for Makoto who was the battle leader. In the previous movie Makoto was apathetic and didn't care about the dark hour, so much that he almost skipped out on the second mission. But now he is suddenly so invested in his newfound powers that he doesn't want to lose them?[/spoiler] This character arc does give Makoto more personality but that shouldn't come at the expense of the arcs of the other characters.