Unmasking More of Persona 5’s Phantom Thieves

It’s been a week since Atlus dropped the newest Japanese trailer for Persona 5, which unsurprisingly did its intended job in reinvigorating the fanbase that’s been waiting for a new mainline installment for years. It contained an extended preview of its story through in-game and anime cutscene forms, along with gameplay footage that showcased exploration and battling. While most of those scenes were devoid of context, especially if you don’t understand the language, anyone familiar with marketing cycles for games like these knew Atlus would provide more info soon. That came within the pages of this week’s Famitsu and Dengeki PlayStation magazines.

Information in both issues clarified the identities of previously unnamed characters some were dying to know more about, especially since, you know, they’re all female. But Atlus made sure to abstain from providing info regarding how the characters obtain their Personas, or their reasons for joining the other playable characters in the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Both could be the result of traumatic events most of the audience wouldn’t want to know before playing the game.

The girl with the short brown hair and a fiery spirit is Makoto Niijima, a third-year honor student and student council president at Syujin High School, the same school the protagonist, Anne, and Ryuji attend. Her initial Persona is Johanna, a motorcycle-resembling iteration which takes its name from Pope Joan — and not Joan of Arc, as some thought. She’ll be the game’s requisite fisticuffs character, as she uses brass knuckles for her normal physical attacks, though also relies on revolvers for long-ranged attacks. Interestingly, she’ll also be capable of using the Nuclear skill in battle, which hasn’t been seen in the entire Megaten franchise since Persona 2: Eternal Punishment. As it turns out, fighting demons in battle isn’t the only element returning from the pre-Persona 3 titles, and that’s great for old school fans.

Also introduced was Futaba Sakura, a bespectacled girl with long orange hair and big headphones whose name was actually discovered in the aforementioned trailer. (Her resemblance to Splatoon’s main promotional Inkling is pure coincidence, I’m sure.) She’s a first-year student who became a shut-in (or “hikikomori,” as it’s more commonly called in Japan) after an unspecified incident, and hasn’t attended classes since middle school as a result. In other words, everyone who guessed her character archetype after seeing snippets of her in the trailer was right on the money, though she’s awfully well dressed and groomed for someone isolated from society. She also just happens to share a name with Futaba Channel, a popular image board for otaku in Japan, meaning she’s the ultimate pandering character.

But don’t panic too much just yet, there appears to be more to her than that. Her personality starts changing after she meets the protagonist, though she nonetheless acts awkward around others. She’s also a skilled programmer and hacker, and will put her skills to use throughout the story and while the others fight in battle, since she’s following in the footsteps of Fuuka and Rise from Persona 3 and 4, respectively, in serving as the game’s navigator. Her initial Persona is Necronomicon, which, like Rise’s in Persona 4 Golden, is capable of providing buffs for characters in battle.

The final character introduced is Haru Okumura, a third-year student and the daughter of a wealthy food manufacturer. She’s a classy girl with good communication skills, but naive to the ways of life thanks to the privilege she was given, and tends to avoid contact with others for this reason. Her starting Persona is Milady, whose design and name fit well with her fedora-wearing burglar costume. Haru, admittedly, takes the classy approach. In battle, she uses halberds for close-ranged attacks, and grenade launchers to attack from a distance.

Both magazines also provided details regarding how the story begins, since there’s assuredly a good reason why the playable characters are thieves and outlaws, and this will start with the protagonist. If you’ve watched the trailers, you’ve seen snippets of scenes where he’s being interrogated by the police. He landed in this unfortunate predicament after he stopped a man from harassing a woman by beating the stuffing out of him. While that was valiant, the police who arrived on the scene concluded that he must have roughed him up for malignant reasons, and arrested him. Instead of waiting for probation, he decides to escape by becoming a Phantom Thief.

It’s worth noting that the suited woman interrogating him is named “Tae Niijima,” who very well could be related to Makoto. I’d be surprised if she wasn’t.

Like previous Persona titles, Persona 5 will tackle the trials and travails of students who have to live normal lives by day while dungeon crawling and thieving by night. But director Katsura Hashino also mentioned how the characters’ split of activities will have bigger ramifications on their lives and the world around them this time around. That won’t be helped with how the police and government operatives will be on their toes throughout the game, along with more common enemies. Given the amount of praise that was given to the stories and character development in previous installments, they have their work cut out for them in topping themselves. But it’s already an encouraging sign that they’re traveling in a new direction with the story and characters, instead of rehashing the past.

I feel like we already know enough about Persona 5’s cast and story, but they’ll have more info to give and previews to provide soon enough, especially considering there’s one more playable character to introduce. That will happen with the next big showing, which will be at E3 2016 in mid-June. That should also be the place where we learn an American release date, not only for those of us who are seriously looking forward to it (like me — there’s a good reason why I made two posts about it within a week), but fans who’d seriously lose it if we had to wait too long after the Japanese release. Let’s see if Atlus USA can stick to that 2016 timeframe.

P.S. After making last week’s post, I realized I forgot to mention the anime: Persona 5 The Animation: The Day Breakers. It’s a special program that will premier shortly before the game’s release. Given their classification, though, I wouldn’t expect anything lengthy; it sounds like a short addendum or prologue to the main game. Don’t be surprised a longer anime adaptation comes down the line, as either a movie or TV series.