The Phantom Thieves have defeated a myriad of villains, but starting December they'll have a new enemy to conquer - stage fright! That's right - Persona 5 is getting its own stage play, and photos have just been released featuring an exclusive first look at the cast in costume.
Persona 5 the Stage - the official name of the play adaptation of Atlus' popular RPG - will open in Japan this winter. It will run December 13-15 in Osaka Mielparque Hall and December 19-29 in Tennoz Galaxy Theater. Hideyuki Nishimori, whose credits include the stage adaptations of beloved animes Danganronpa and My Hero Academia, is directing the play and writing the script. A photo of Hiroki Iki in costume was released in July when the stage play announcement was initially made. He'll be playing Joker.
Though Joker's photo was the only one released back in July, the show's official Twitter account, @p5_the_stage, tweeted brand new photos of the rest of the cast in costume this past Sunday - and they look pretty awesome.
First up, we have Kouhei Shiota as Ryūji Sakamoto and Yuki Odera as Ann Takamaki.
Next, we have Yoshihide Sasaki as Gorō Akechi, Kōji Kominami as Yūsuke Kitagawa, Kaoru Marimura as Sae Niijima.
Finally, here's Taishū Nukanobu as Yūki Mishima, Yū Saotome as Shiho Suzui, Takuo Yamagishi as Principal Kobayakawa, and Shun Takagi as Suguru Kamoshida.
The site also released a behind the scenes video of the cast while shooting these new photos.
This is not the first time a Persona game has received a stage adaptation. Previous Persona games have had their stories retold on stage in the form of Persona 3: The Weird Masquerade, Persona 4: The Visualive, Persona 4 Arena, and Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax.
Fans have noticed that the names on the cast list only extend as far out as the end of Kamoshida's storyline, which has led some to speculate that there's a chance Atlus will continue with stage sequels to cover the rest of the plot. This was done with past Persona stage adaptations, all of which were incredibly well-received in Japan.
For more information on the play, visit Persona 5 the Stage's official site.
Source: Anime News Network