The entire middle part of the story until the 8th Investigation Team member joins (and even a bit past that) is frequently decried as filler.

...I mean, I like that these guys get to goof off, but like, would it have killed these guys to goof off for less than sixty hours?

Either way, it's still a Persona game. When P4 hits, it's above P3 and P5 in many ways. Like Kanji existing.