Kotaku East East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am. Prev Next View All

You've see the trailer. Now, let's dive in and see if we can parse what it all means, whether that's going through the obvious hints or deciphering the vague clues.


We open up on a cityscape.


It could certainly be Tokyo Bay. Maybe it's somewhere outside the country.

We're taken into what looks like a huge casino. There are too many people standing around for this to be an illegal underground casino. Is this Japan? Or someone outside the country, like Macao?


Is this masked man some kind of international thief? Note that we don't see him take off his mask during the trailer.


"What awaits is... glory?!"


"Or...ruin?!"


The trailer cuts to what looks like any big Japanese city. This turns into a credit sequence for the game's director, character designer, and composer.


There's the composer. And what looks like a Japanese train!


And that's Igor, who pops up in the Persona games. Hi Igor.


This is the scramble crossing in Shibuya. Okay, we're in Tokyo. But maybe you knew that.


And after taking a crowded train, the protagonist walks through Shibuya Station. (You can see Shibuya or 渋谷 on a pillar. You can also see the Toyoko Line, which runs from Shibuya.)


Here the protagonist is at school, getting chalk thrown at his head.


This appears to be the student who was sitting on front of the protagonist at school. Shibuya is kind of dirty, but it's not this dirty.


And here are all four characters hanging out, eating snacks with a cat. This is probably the clubhouse location.


Is this a map? To a mansion? Maybe they're planning a heist. Or redecorating.


And, then we get a nifty animation of the cat.


After that, there is this menu screen. Here's where it gets interesting—not that this hasn't been interesting!


The next screen seems to reveal the characters' names. There's "Protagonist" (主人公), "Ryuji Sakamoto" (坂本竜司), "Morgana" (モルガナ), and "Ann Takamaki" (高巻杏). The menu also reveals that the school's name is "Shujin Gakuen High School" (秀尽学園高校).


After a cutscene, we're treated to some chandelier platforming. Looks fun.

Then up, there's this...


Which could be a cover system. Perhaps?


And the Velvet Room, it seems, has a prison.


Remember the character name screen? This screen shows that the Protagonist (主人公) is also apparently known as "Joker The Fool." I wonder if that's "Joker" or "The Fool" or both.


Looking at this battle screen and remembering what order the names were in, we have "Protagonist" followed by the second male character who seems to be Ryuji Sakamoto ("Ryuji" is an incredibly masculine name), the cat "Morgana" (it's the only character without a last name and is written in katakana script), and finally, Ann Takamaki (likewise, the kanji for Ann, which here is 杏, is very feminine and generally not used with males).


So, Fifty Shades of P5?


There's ice skating on the highway. It's kind of cute.

And then, there's this.


Um. Okay. Persona 5, everybody!

Toshi Nakamura contributed to this article.

To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft .

Advertisement