Persona 5 (2016)
Persona 5 is a 2016 role-playing (rpg) video game made by Atlus and P Studio.
A transfer student arrives in Tokyo branded a criminal for something he never did. By day he keeps his head down at Shujin Academy; by night he and a growing crew of misfits slip into the Metaverse, a shadow world where corrupt adults hoard their worst desires inside literal palaces. The turn-based combat rewards planning, but the real pull is style: the acid-jazz score, the red-and-black menus, the slow build of friendships between heists. Rebellion here wears a mask and a sharp coat, and it commits to the idea that rotten grown-ups can be forced to change their hearts.
Quick answers
What is Persona 5 about?
A transfer student arrives in Tokyo branded a criminal for something he never did. By day he keeps his head down at Shujin Academy; by night he and a growing crew of misfits slip into the Metaverse, a shadow world where corrupt adults hoard their worst desires inside literal palaces. The turn-based combat rewards planning, but the real pull is style: the acid-jazz score, the red-and-black menus, the slow build of friendships between heists. Rebellion here wears a mask and a sharp coat, and it commits to the idea that rotten grown-ups can be forced to change their hearts.
When was Persona 5 released?
Persona 5 was released on 15 September 2016.
Who made Persona 5?
Persona 5 was made by Atlus, P Studio and Atlus USA.
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Persona 5 in our writing
- Companion guide: Atlus: Persona, Demons and the Coolest JRPGs on Earth
- Companion guide: Deals with the Devil
- Companion guide: Found Family
- Companion guide: JRPGs: The Complete Guide to the Japanese Role-Playing Game
A few thoughts on Persona 5
Fans of the Phantom Thieves stealing corrupt hearts should read Death Note, where a gifted student appoints himself judge of the wicked and the moral cost keeps climbing. The teen outcasts banding together against a cruel world also echoes The Outsiders. For the same jazzy, stylish cool, chase down the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack.
Teen crews standing up to a corrupt system
Persona 5 puts a falsely accused transfer student at the center of a crew willing to break rules that protect corrupt adults instead of kids. The Outsiders, Lord of the Flies, The Crucible, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Thirteen Reasons Why share that same nerve, young people forced to build their own moral code once the grown-ups running things prove untrustworthy.
Anime antiheroes who bend the rules for their own code
Persona 5's Phantom Thieves are a crew of masked outsiders who steal from the corrupt using nerve, gadgets and a code no court would recognize. Cowboy Bebop, The Castle of Cagliostro, City Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin, Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist each build heroes who answer to themselves first, dressed in the same sharp, stylish confidence.
Hip-hop with the same swagger as the Phantom Thieves
Persona 5 struts through Tokyo in a red coat and a fox mask, confident it is in the right even when the whole city calls it a criminal. Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Illmatic, All Eyez on Me, Get Rich or Die Tryin' and The Slim Shady LP carry that same unapologetic swagger, artists who turned being counted out into the whole persona.