Persona 5 introduces three new party members [Update]

Meet the characters from last week's trailer.

The latest issue of Weekly Famitsu has character introductions for the three new Persona 5 party members first shown in last week’s trailer, as well as bits of other information and an interview with director Katsura Hashino.

Get the information below.

■ Characters
Makoto Niijima (voiced by Rina Sato)
A third-year high school student who attends the same Syujin High School as the protagonist. She is a student council president with a sharp mind and irreproachable conduct. She has a strong sense of responsibility and ability to take action, but is an overly serious and straight-laced honors student who refuses to compromise.

Her exclusive, starting Persona is “Joanna,” a motorbike.
According to director Kastura Hashino, Makoto comes into play following the first incident at Syujin High School, after which she keeps a close watch on the protagonist and friends. Her Persona Joanna is themed after Pope Joan, a woman said to have reigned as pope for a few years during Middle Age Europe.
Futaba Sakura (voiced by Aoi Yuki)
A girl with superhuman computational abilities and ingenious programming capabilities. She is a first-year student in high school, but on top of lacking skill at communicating with her peers, she became a shut-in after a certain incident. After her middle school graduation, she no longer attends school. When she’s alone with the protaognist, she behaves normally, but when she’s around others, she seems to cover her head with something strange.
Her exclusive, starting Persona is Necronomicon.
According to director Katsura Hashino, while he can’t divulge details, Futaba changes a bit when she meets the protagonist, and the circumstances surrounding it are special. She becomes a key character in the game’s grand story. Her Persona Necromicon symbolizes her mysterious power.
Haru Okumura (voiced by Haruka Tomatsu)
A third-year high school student who attends the same Syujin High School as the protagonist, and the daughter of the president of a major restaurant company. She is elegant and naive, but because she often watches people, she has good communication skills. She doesn’t find value in human relations, and there is a side to her that even avoids relationships with others.
Her exclusive, starting Persona is Milady.
According to director Katsura Hashino, because Haru is a company president’s daughter, you may get the feeling that the world she lives in is different from others’, but as your relationship with her deepens, she becomes more relocatable. The adults around Haru have warped her mind on a grand scale, and she is a key person who kicks the story into high gear. Her Persona Milady is themed after the Three Musketeers.
Velvet Room Characters
Igor (voiced by Masane Tsukayama)
Justine (voiced by Aki Toyosaki)
Caroline (voiced by Aki Toyosaki)
■ Prologue (Maybe?)
The protagonist gets caught by the police as a result of the injuries he inflicted on a man making advances on women, and is put on probation. After that, in order to oppose the ruin that awaits him, he becomes a phantom thief.
A suit-wearing woman named Sae Niijima is also shown, but her relation to Makoto (older sister? mother?) is unknown.
The government and police are monitoring the phantom thieves activity, as mysterious incidents where people go mad are frequently occurring in the streets.
■ System
Different World
The protagonist and his friends will infiltrate a world known as “Palace,” which represents the warped minds of adults, using a mysterious app on their phones called “Isekai Navi.” There, they’ll snatch away the adult’s hidden desire, called a “Treasure,” and reform their target.
Game Progression
Just like Persona 3 and Persona 4, Persona 5 seems to take place over the course of a year. There are part-time jobs to take on and trips to go on. Events include swimming, cultural festivals, social studies trips, field trips, and so on.
■ Director Katsura Hashino Interview Tidbits
The people who’ve played it have been pleased with it, but we won’t settle down until we complete the game.
The game is packed with picaresque Roman elements that the player experiences themselves.
Your connection as an ordinary high school student and an extraordinary Persona user will be closer than ever before.
Personas as outlaws reflect the characteristics of the Palace, but they also may evolve into completely different entities.
The Velvet Room, which has become like a prison, is one of the story’s great mysteries.
Caroline and Justine are childlike twins and jailers of the Velvet Room who impose correction on the protagonist in order for him to gain his freedom. They have an innocent and sharp attitude. There is also a reason that they’re twins.
The story will craftily develop in multiple structures, and the game world is being finished to fully immerse players.