History Persona5 / TropesAToF

[[VideoGame/Persona5 Main Page]] | '''A-F''' | [[Persona5/TropesGToR G-R]] | [[Persona5/TropesSToZ S-Z]]

----
!!!''VideoGame/Persona5'' provides examples of the following tropes:

[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:#-A]]
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: InUniverse:
** The Phantom Thieves' approval rating, as evaluated through polls on the Phan-Site, is shown during loading screens and increases with each palace cleared. Following the Medjed incident their popularity skyrockets to the mid 90s, but after [[spoiler:being framed for killing the principal and Okumura, their ratings spiral down to 3%. The Phan-Site is even littered with death threats during this period as well as Mishima deleting a ton of hateful comments.]]
** When the Phantom Thieves are [[spoiler:kicked out of Mementos by the Holy Grail, the merging of the Metaverse and reality causes humanity to believe the Phantom Thieves never existed. The Phan-Site rating crashes to literally 0%, and the Phantom Thieves are [[RetGone erased from the new reality]].]]
* HundredPercentHeroismRating: By contrast, getting the Phan-Site poll to this number unlocks [[spoiler:Satanael, the Protagonist's RageAgainstTheHeavens ultimate persona, with whom you [[BoomHeadshot very stylishly]] [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu dispatch the final boss]]. And this comes after months of being public enemy number one in the eyes of the public. EarnYourHappyEnding, indeed.]]
* EleventhHourSuperpower: Each of the Phantom Thieves have an ultimate Persona that is acquired at the end of their Confidant, but in ''Royal'', they all have an evolved Persona that can be unlocked during the new final arc of the game, and each of them also unlock a unique skill that is usually [[AwesomeButImpractical very powerful, but very heavy on SP cost]]. This goes doubly so for [[spoiler:Akechi and Sumire, as unlike the others, you cannot gain their third tier Personas until the day you give Maruki his calling card and shortly after securing an infiltration route respectively, meaning their abilities are only available for the final boss itself]].
** Joker's ultimate Persona, [[spoiler:Satanael]], serves as this during the FinalBoss fight of the vanilla game. With the help of Mishima and the entire populace of Tokyo choosing to defy authority and believe in the Phantom Thieves, this spurs Joker to break the chains holding down Arsène to reveal his true form. In the final battle he only has [[CoupDeGrace one move]] which [[BoomHeadshot headshots]] the final boss, but like previous games, he can be summoned and used like any other Persona using the maximum amount of fusions in a NewGamePlus file.
** In ''Royal'', Joker's evolved Persona is Raoul, whose unique skill Phantom Show, which has a high chance of inflicting Sleep on all foes. Unlike the other evolved Personas, Raoul is [[DownloadableContent a DLC]] Persona, and can be purchased and used at any point in the story.
** Morgana gains Diego and unlocks Miracle Rush, a multi-targetting version of Miracle Punch.
** Ryuji gains William and unlocks Fighting Spirit, which functions like a party-wide Charge.
** Ann gains Celestine and unlocks High Energy, which functions like a party-wide Concentrate.
** Yusuke gains Gorokichi and unlocks Hyakka Ryouran, which functions as a party-wide Heat Riser.
** Makoto gains Agnes and unlocks Checkmate, which functions as a multi-target Debilitate.
** Futaba gains Al Azif and unlocks Ultimate Support, which functions as a randomly applying Salvation spell, fully healing the party and curing all standard ailments.
** Haru gains Lucy and unlocks Life Wall, which functions as a party-wide Tetrakarn and Makarakarn.
** [[spoiler:Akechi]] gains Hereward and unlocks Rebellion Blade, a single target Almighty spell that causes colossal tier damage and is stronger against enemies that are already downed.
** [[spoiler:Sumire]] gains Ella and unlocks Masquerade, a physical attack that does Severe tier damage one to two times.
* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Despite the level cap of 99 and the ([[InfinityPlusOneSword completely overkill]]) few Personas that require Joker to be all the way to the 90s to fuse, all party members learn their final skills at only level 75 and the FinalBoss can be managed by that point, with grinding past that to the actual level cap requiring quite a bit of extra investment. Averted in ''Royal'' for the first time in the ''Persona'' series -- while the party still stops learning skills at 75 (except for Kasumi, who learns a single skill at 80), the extended final act will continue to push up the party's levels and the new final boss will likely be fought in the 90s, with reaching the level cap of 99 fairly easy to achieve in regular gameplay. The second round of the DLC challenge battles against the ''P3'' and ''P4'' heroes are also meant to be fought with a level 99 party.
* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Averted. The student council itself doesn't seem to have much power, yet Principal Kobayakawa expects its president Makoto to hunt down the ones who caused Kamoshida's confession, and later stop the ''mafia'' from preying on students (and even then still urging her to prioritise finding the Phantom Thieves over resolving the students' scam issues until it was too late). These expectations are presented in-story as completely unreasonable, and sure enough, Kobayakawa himself has ulterior motives for doing this.
* AcceptableBreaksFromReality:
** Money collected from [[MoneySpider killing enemies]] or via negotiation with Shadows is still accepted in the real world and never gets Joker arrested for using counterfeit money since, otherwise, money drops in the Metaverse would be useless and money would be much harder to come by.
** The game prompts the player to use the "Protein" consumables before a workout session at the gym for extra Max HP/SP gain. In real life, this is done ''after'' exercising to provide needed amino acids to muscles as they recover, but doing so in the game would confuse the players as the Protein consumables also serve as regular HP recovering items in the Metaverse.
** In Palaces, the enemies can't be alerted by any of the Phantom Thieves except Joker since he's the PlayerCharacter. This means the rest of the Thieves won't increase the security level if they're seen by a security camera, they can't trip laser alarms, Shadows don't react if they're in the Shadow's field of vision, etc. While the rest of the Phantom Thieves are pretty good at sneaking around and avoiding traps, you may catch a few times that the Shadows ought to notice them but don't. It's still acceptable, though; the alternative would be insufferable.
** You can sign up for multiple part-time jobs and work as little as you want with no penalty, or, in fact, never even show up at all. In real life, you would, of course, be fired.
** Riding the train in urban Japan can take ''hours''. In the game, though, it merely serves as a cutaway for fast-travel, since the game would be unplayable if traveling from one corner of the city to the next actually spent time.
** The FramingDevice for more than half of the game is Joker telling Sae Niijima HowWeGotHere over the course of a day (i.e. at most 24 hours), and Sae implied that she had much less time to interrogate Joker than that. However, you can (and probably will) TakeYourTime getting to that point in the story.
** The manga ''Mementos Mission'' brings up several scenarios that the Phantom Thieves never have to deal with, to keep the game less frustrating.
*** Homework does not exist in the game; while you can study, it's not mandatory. In ''MM'', Joker has to make room for homework in his busy schedule.
*** The whole team is always available for a Mementos dive, [[spoiler:except when Morgana leaves]]. During one target in ''MM'', half the team is too busy to go (and Yusuke's recovering from malnutrition).
*** Except for some obvious fakes (such as Mishima requesting a famous actor without even a rumor of wrongdoing), all targets posted on the Phansite are guilty. The handwave (in the cases where you don't investigate the request yourself) is that Mishima screens the requests. ''MM'' shows that at least some of these accusations are false; Dr. Takemi was accused of poisoning her patients, which Joker knows is slander. The case is closed without entering Mementos at all.
* AccidentalInnuendo: Invoked. One Mementos conversation has Yusuke doing this.
-->'''Yusuke:''' I'm in the zone now; give me more stimulation!\\
'''Ryuji:''' Dude! Phrasing! I-I know what you mean, but... phrasing!
* AcidRefluxNightmare: If you spend Christmas Eve at Leblanc, Futaba has an unusual dream about Sojiro turning into something after eating too much turkey.
* ActionBomb: Alice's unique "Die For Me!" SpecialAttack involves an army of giant {{Killer Teddy Bear}}s with bombs in their chests rushing the enemy before they explode.
* ActorAllusion:
** If you linger on Yusuke's turn in a battle, one of his idle lines in the English version is, "How do you want to do this?" This is a CatchPhrase of Matthew Mercer, Yusuke’s voice actor, from WebVideo/CriticalRole; whenever one of the players depletes the HP of a boss character, Mercer says this to let the player describe how they deal the coup de grâce.
** When selecting who to tackle the drug smuggling case in Shibuya, Morgana's option says, "Morgana, I choose you." This is in reference to how Morgana's Japanese actress, Creator/IkueOtani, is best known for voicing [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]].
* ActuallyFourMooks: A single Shadow on the field can transform into 2 to 6 enemies when you engage them in battle.
* AdaptationalBadass: Izanagi-no-Okami, full stop. When he was first introduced in VideoGame/Persona4, he had a terrible moveset and pitiful strength, with Yoshitsune leaving him in the dust. Now, in ''Royal'', with his new exclusive move Myriad Truths, the introduction of Almighty Boost/Amp, and his trait Country Maker (with the ability to passively '''''double''''' his attack power and defense when the Persona compendium reaches 100%), he trounces Yoshitsune in terms of damage output and versatility. A fitting rise for the creator god of Japan.
* AdultsAreUseless: One of the big themes of the game is that the Phantom Thieves formed due its members losing faith in adults, most of whom are at worst abusive, greedy and cruel, or at best, just plain apathetic. In the game's setting itself, however, it's downplayed; while there are undoubtedly numerous abusive or cruel adults in the game, there are just as many who are {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s that are willing to aid the protagonist and the Phantom Thieves. In fact, ''5'' has the largest number of Confidants/Social Links who are fully grown adults rather than fellow teenagers or children.
* AdventureFriendlyWorld: The MentalWorld of the Metaverse responds to the hidden desires of evil humans by creating massive dungeons, giving you an excuse for DungeonCrawling and {{Boss Battle}}s. Its ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve properties also makes it so even toy guns and fake melee weapons work like real ones, giving your party a way to obtain weapons to fight the monsters that inhabit the Metaverse, despite the heroes being teenagers in Japan, where real weapons (especially guns) are usually extremely hard to obtain. The monsters in it even drop real money, despite being essentially figments of the imagination.
* AdvertisedExtra: Kasumi[[spoiler:/Sumire]] Yoshizawa got an especially large amount of focus in advertising for ''Royal'' to the point of frequently appearing alongside [[PlayerCharacter Joker]] himself, implying she'll be an important member of the Phantom Thieves. While her storyline does get some focus and development during the ''Royal''-exclusive third semester, she spends most of the game as a plot-irrelevant NPC, and is only directly playable in a handful of battles throughout the story before finally joining the thieves in [[spoiler:[[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Maruki's Palace]] during the True Ending route.]] If you fail to max out [[spoiler:Maruki's]] confidant in time (locking you into the ending route from the vanilla game), it's possible to go through the entire story without unlocking Kasumi as a playable party member.
* AnAesop:
** Society can be oppressive and corrupt, but that doesn't mean you have to accept that it has to be this way. You may have to do things that you or other people may not think is completely morally right, but if you do nothing, then you're no better than the villains. Don't just accept injustice, ''do something about it''. After all, if you just hold on, life won't change.
** The last arc of the game makes the additional point that it doesn't matter if there are a few dedicated reformists taking down an equally few number of corrupt people, lasting change cannot happen as long as the population at large remain ApatheticCitizens too lazy or scared to push for and believe in it. The problem isn't with specific individuals but rather with the system that enables or even encourages said behavior.
** Building on that, apathy is, ''in and of itself'', very dangerous, and popularity means nothing: many of the villains get away with their crimes because they're popular or otherwise have a good public persona. And they maintain that persona because people are more than willing to accept things at face value. Even the Phantom Thieves suffer from this, when their popularity skyrockets and they start to believe they can do no wrong.
** And further building on that, the party members' confidants demonstrate that even if you are "free," and are willing to take your life into your own hands, that alone won't make your life better. That responsibility is hard, and people give it up for a reason, but it will still ultimately pay off if you stay strong and work through that adversity.
** Vigilante justice can be used solve problems when the justice system cannot, but it is still ultimately a problem that it is necessary, and it alone cannot reform society. You need to actually touch the hearts of the populace in some way in order to show them what problems must be corrected because no matter how many corrupt individuals are exposed there will always be more unless something fundamental changes.
** Seeking approval, validation or love from people who do not care about you is an emotional drain that can lead to ruin. Several Confidants, and the Phantom Thieves as a group, shed the need for such approval and experience great release when doing so.
** The game is very clear about its message of defying unjust authorities in favor of blindly supporting it for some greater sense of "order", as respect is a thing that needs to be earned instead of forcefully taken or "required" of people. The Thieves all have problems with how their social superiors have tried screwing them over in various ways, which is why all of them have needed to become criminals in order to rectify these wrongs and keeping them from hurting anyone else, with stand out examples being [[spoiler:Akechi, who ignores his sense of morality to follow his father simply to be acknowledged and suffers greatly for it, and Caroline and Justine, who need to "betray" Igor when they realize that he's been abusing his powers]].
** Relating to this theme is the emphasis on the importance of Japan's younger generation. Several scenes make it apparent that, rather than looking towards the future, most of Japanese high society is looking to comfort the old at the expense of the young. It's heavily visible through Madarame's plagiarism, Yoshida's goal of looking towards the younger generation, and the response that the team gets at the high-end diner where they spend their first victory party that the old guard is all too reluctant to pass the torch.
** Okumura's dungeon also has a statement against the traditional standard of Japanese work, I.E. being worked to a point of near death (in Japan, deaths caused by working too hard are so common there's even [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karoshi a word for it]]). The workers being run into the ground is a reflection of the culture of work in Japanese society and many of their own citizenry considering it very unhealthy to be worked as hard as they are without having any time for themselves or their families.
** The Palace following Okumura's, [[spoiler:Sae Niijima's]] Casino, pretty bluntly points out that Japan's [[spoiler:conviction rate]] is far too high: Despite supposedly being a fair and open exchange, the 'game' is clearly rigged in the house's favor and there's nothing the 'player' can really do to stop it.
** ''Royal's'' Third Term story adds a big one about accepting pain and moving forward. [[spoiler:The main antagonist of the campaign, Takuto Maruki, traps all of Tokyo in a LotusEaterMachine where everyone's desires and dreams come true, including having deceased relatives brought back to life and free of all corruption. The Phantom Thieves (with the exception of Joker, Akechi and Kasumi/Sumire) have their memories and cognitions altered to believe this new reality, but in the process, forget all their struggles and the true meaning behind their intimate friendships with one another and Joker, destroying their personal development and unknowingly betray their promises of moving forward with their lives. Living a life free of strife sounds ideal, but those struggles, losses and pains are essential to human growth and development, and through those struggles people mature and gain new connections that are irreplaceable. Running away from problems and future pain won't solve anything, as Maruki's reality stagnates growth to the point that no one can truly live for anything anymore, and removing that struggle removes the true love and intimacy shared between the bonds of friends. This {{Aesop}} is also evident with Sumire's cognitive overlay; it allowed her more time to get out of her suicidal depression, but she was still running from herself and still had to accept the situation and move forward once it broke away. It's okay to step away from a problem to feel better in the moment, but avoiding a problem won't truly make you happy; only by moving forward and making your own genuine happiness will you find peace.]]
** Compared to the ideal-but-false Stay Ending in ''Royal'', the new Return Ending drops the hard truth that sadly, life and society can ''never'' be perfect for anybody, and not everything can stay the same. [[spoiler:Even though Maruki's reality allowed everyone's wishes to come true, it was only an empty facade that can never be real otherwise, and Phantom Thieves snapping out of the illusion forces them to confront that there are some things they can never get back. The ordeal they faced also made them realize that they'll all have to go their separate ways eventually, since holding onto their subconscious wishes prevented them from fully accepting their new paths to the future]]. On the other hand, the Return Ending also emphasizes that while you shouldn't be tied down by past regrets or desires, you should still remember them as a form of motivation. Cherish those happier times and use them to fuel your growth and new dreams in a healthier way. Even if the Phantom Thieves are no longer together every day, they'll never forget their time with one another and will meet again someday, and they use that as their strength to push onward. [[spoiler:After being defeated, Maruki finally understands that he needs to let go of his regrets, and start his life anew for himself, the ones who saved him, and even for Rumi. Instead of trying to force change to validate himself, he'd use his newfound hope to make the most of his second chance.]]
* AffablyEvil:
** The bandit leader in Futaba's palace. A perfectly cordial monster who's disinclined to violence and offers to join forces with you to share the plunder; he's perplexed as to why else you'd be there, if not to raid the tomb.
** Averted with the villains in real world. They're either unrepentant douchebags, VillainsWithGoodPublicity, or only FauxAffablyEvil.
** Played straight with [[spoiler:Takuto Maruki]] in ''Royal''. Even after being revealed as the creator of the third term's altered reality, they're still a friendly and charming person who genuinely wants to [[WellIntentionedExtremist save all of humanity from all suffering]], and never once taunts or lashes out at the Phantom Thieves for rejecting their ideology.
* AfterCombatRecovery:
** The "Victory Breath" and "Victory Cry" auto skills restore part or all of a party member's HP and SP after battle.
** The ''Persona 4 Arena'' "Evoker" DLC accessory will automatically restore one bullet to your gun's magazine after battle if equipped, although in ''Royal'' your entire ammo supply is replenished completely after each battle, with the Evoker now increasing Gun Accuracy.
* AIBreaker:
** As with previous titles in ''Shin Megami Tensei'', using Makarakarn (or an item that does the same) against the Reaper will have him repeatedly use Concentrate and Megidolaon over and over, since Almighty spells can't be blocked by Makarakarn. This would be ArtificialBrilliance if not for the fact that by the time you're strong enough to take on the Reaper, this doesn't do nearly as much damage to your party as it should, doing only about 150 damage on each character per turn (assuming they don't just dodge it). Thus, what should be a death sentence becomes a viable strategy to quickly farm The Reaper's massive EXP, over and over.
** The S-ranked Mementos mission where you fight Mara has it repeatedly cast Tarukaja to buff its attack power. However, it's also programmed to not act without its attack power being buffed, so repeatedly lowering its attack power back down to normal or lower will make it so Mara never attacks.
* {{AKA47}}: None of the guns go by their real names, despite clearly being based on specific models. The fake names include riffs on real names (Franchi SPAS-12 to "Bianchi SBAS", [=M1911A1=] Colt Government to "Governance"), well-known nicknames (Colt SAA as "Peacemaker"), and even generic descriptive terms (Ithaca 37 to "Heavy Shotgun"). These are in-universe examples--the party's guns are all airsoft replicas (the enemy only needs to ''[[YourMindMakesItReal believe]]'' it's being shot at with real ammo).
* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Goro earns some sympathy from the party during his final battle, and they're even willing to bury the hatchet and join forces with him against his ArchNemesisDad]]. [[spoiler:Okumura's]] brutal death also inspires some pity from the thieves, especially since he was [[spoiler:their newest member's]] father. And while they don't have any noteworthy redeeming traits to speak of, it's not hard to feel bad for Principal Kobayakawa and the SIU Director after the BigBad discards them like garbage the second they're more useful to him dead than alive.
* AlertnessBlink: Blocky white lines will pop from various characters when they first notice you.
* AliceAllusion: Alice returns yet again, this time as the ultimate Persona of the Death Arcana.
* AllForNothing:
** Haru joins the Phantom Thieves because she wants to atone for her father's actions and redeem him. This ends up for naught as her father is murdered by TheConspiracy and Haru spends the rest of the game having to cope with the guilt. Doing her Confidant also reveals that Haru's fiance is still trying to go through with the ArrangedMarriage, but Haru gets out of that with the help of the company's management.
** Despite everything the Phantom Thieves are unable to move [[spoiler:the public through their heists alone, with Shido's change of heart and confessions failing to stop the corrupt system or wake people up. Ultimately, they're forced to steal the Treasure of the entire population at the core of Mementos to have any effect]]. Justified, since [[spoiler:the Treasure is an evil god blatantly rigging the masses to make it not work.]]
* AllInARow: Party members not only follow around your player character, but will also TakeCover behind him and help out when you open treasure chests. Walking or running in a straight line long enough will cause party members to move with you in formation.
* AllMythsAreTrue: Downplayed. Shadows and Persona take the form of mythical figures from every religion and culture on the planet, due to being {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of the collective human psyche.
* AllOfTheOtherReindeer: What drives the Phantom Thieves together is that they were all treated as outcasts by people. In particular, Joker's arrival in Tokyo started with pretty much everyone wanting nothing to do with him due to his "record". In fact, Ryuji only becomes his first friend after they're both nearly killed in the Metaverse.
* AlmightyJanitor: The ultimate Superboss and toughest enemy in the game, the Twins and/or [[spoiler:Lavenza]] in ''Royal'', are prison guards in a run down gulag inside your head. One of whom is an admin with nothing but a clipboard on her. Since they're directly related to [[VideoGame/Persona3 Elizabeth, Theodore]], and [[VideoGame/Persona4 Margaret]], this is to be expected, as each of them were the most powerful bosses in their respective games as well. Their comments, should you win, include a hint at this.
* AlreadyDoneForYou: When the Phantom Thieves begin the investigation period of their fourth target, Futaba by trying to get her out of her room, having looked up them earlier for the [=MetaNav=] keywords, she removes the guesswork and they enter the Palace soon after.
* AlternateRealityGame: As part of the Tokyo Game Show 2015 marketing, the Japanese fanbase was tasked with tracking down and scanning QR codes at various places throughout the country, presented as finding information for the police force against the thief team. Scanning these unlocked the party's character bios on the official website for everyone to view.
* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Discussed InUniverse by Sadayo, who believes Princess Kaguya from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter was a FemmeFatale who asked for fancy, impossible gifts and led men to their doom ForTheEvulz before running away to the moon. (Of course, her version completely ignores the fact that the reason Kaguya set impossible tasks before her suitors was so she wouldn't form any more attachments, knowing she would have to leave Earth behind.)
* AlwaysABiggerFish: Basically describes the character/fraction relations in the entire game. [[spoiler:Shido]] attempts to control the masses to build [[spoiler:something close to Imperial Japan]] but [[spoiler:Akechi, his disloyal assassin]] only murders as many people as possible for him to catch him off guard only to have [[spoiler:Shido]] himself bearing the intent to assassinate him as well and both of them were to be stopped by the Phantom Thieves before their plans can succeed. Aside that [[spoiler:the Thieves, Akechi and the conspiracy are all themselves hapless prey for Yaldabaoth's cognition-altering and wiping powers; Without Lavenza interfering, the Thieves wouldn't even be able to make out to resist Yaldabaoth.]]
* AlwaysInClassOne: Averted. Joker's homeroom is 2-D, where Kawakami teaches. The only other students of relevance in the same class are Ann and Mishima. All other teammates and student characters belong to other classes, if not outright other schools.
* AmalgamatedIndividual: Inverted. The Phantom Thieves, a group comprised of eight individuals, are believed to be the perpetrators behind a series of murders caused by mental shutdowns and psychotic breakdowns. The true culprit is actually one person, [[spoiler:Akechi]].
* AmenBreak: Used in "Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There"
* AnAssKickingChristmas: The climax of the original game takes place on Christmas Eve. Still applies in ''Royal'' where it then becomes the penultimate dungeon you have to clear to get the full story and a new "true" ending.
* AnachronismStew: Futaba's Palace [[HailFirePeaks mixes]] an [[ShiftingSandLand ancient Egyptian]] [[TempleOfDoom pyramid]] with [[{{Cyberspace}} various computer-themed gimmicks and motifs]].
* AndYourRewardIsClothes:
** PlayedForLaughs, as you'll discover ''dirty laundry'' in some of the game's InexplicableTreasureChests, leading your party members to question who would bother putting dirty clothes under lock and key.
** Played straight in ''Royal'', where NewGamePlus allows you to change [[spoiler:Akechi's outfit between his Black Mask outfit and his Crow outfit during the Niijima's Palace heist and Maruki's Palace.]]
* AngerBornOfWorry: Ryuji gives the Phantom Thieves ''quite'' a scare [[spoiler:after his apparent death in Shido's Palace.]]
* AnimeCatholicism: The Christian, likely Catholic, church in the game isn't a bad portrayal but isn't great either. On the surface it looks right but one will notice in place of a crucifix behind the altar there are six vaguely Christian paintings, yet in one scene Yusuke and the player discuss and pose in the crucifixion like there's one present in the building. Also the confessional is arguably placed too openly for its purpose.
* TheAnimeOfTheGame: ''Anime/Persona5TheDayBreakers'', a 30 minute animated special released shortly before the game that shows the Phantom Thieves of Hearts performing a caper in Mementos. A full anime, ''Anime/Persona5TheAnimation'', was released in 2018.
* {{Animorphism}}: In the Cruise Ship dungeon, the party occasionally get turned into mice while you're exploring. Yes, even [[{{Irony}} the cat]]. Before that, the {{Miniboss}} Mot/Coffin-Borne God can cast the spell "Cornered Rat" to inflict the transformation on one party member, disabling them for three turns.
* {{Antepiece}}: In Madarame's Palace, there are two sections where you must traverse through paintings to advance. The first one is very straightforward, with just two paintings connected in a linear fashion, which prepares you for the second one which is a more complex navigational puzzle.
* AntiEscapismAesop:
** Keeping with its theme about action against injustice instead of complacency, there are multiple times where the game makes explicit its problem with the notion of living in escapism, as in all three instances, choosing the escapist option, that is turning a blind eye to the problems of society in order to maintain a momentary feeling of joy, leads to a bad ending.
** At the end of the Mementos Depths, [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth in the form of Igor offers Joker a chance for him to go on forever being the Phantom Thieves as long as he stops interferring with his plans to enslave mankind.]]
** In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' during the third semester, [[spoiler:Maruki]] offers Joker and the Phantom Thieves a chance at [[spoiler:living in the dream world of cognition]]. Doing so effectively creates a paradise, where everyone gets their deepest desires, but on the other hand [[spoiler:the Phantom Thieves lose their powers forever since they have no desire to rebel, Mementos returns with no one to control it, Igor and the Velvet Room are trapped in Limbo from humanity, and Sumire's personality remains repressed.]]
* AntiFrustrationFeatures:
** Once you reach TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of the vanilla game, [[PointOfNoReturn you can't go back to the real world]]. Since the player would have no other way to refill their SP once they run out of items, one of the Velvet Room attendants waiting at the entrance of the dungeon will fully restore the party's HP, SP and ammo (or Joker's Down Shot charges in ''Royal''). Also, [[PointOfNoReturn before you enter the shrine at the core of the Prison]], you're able to freely go back to the entrance of Mementos in order to run to the clinic or airsoft shop to buy items or weapons.
** If you're having trouble clearing the minigames that allow you to progress on video games, you can read a book that will allow you to input what is essentially a cheat code to make them easier, usually by extending your time limit. Morgana lampshades it by saying that he can understand how you might be frustrated by being unable to beat the game.
** After winning a random encounter, any other Shadows who were in the immediate area disappear so you don't get spotted through no fault of your own, only reappearing once you've moved quite a ways away from where you fought the battle. This is especially useful in Palaces, where getting caught too many times could result in a GameOver since you're kicked out of the Palace if the security meter reaches 100%.
** Some Confidants have a time limit that you need to complete them by in order to see certain vents or max them out. These Confidants not only warn you that the time limit is coming in some way, they're usually fairly easy to get through.
*** Haru's Confidant starts really late, only after completing the spaceport Palace. To make up for this, her Confidant is fairly easy to rank up, as a lot of the answers the player chooses will give the most amount of notes. Access to the school is also blocked since Joker needs to remain hidden from the general public, but the one exception is that you can sneak up to the rooftop whenever you want so you can work on her link: There's almost no way you could have managed to complete her confidant by the end of the Casino.
*** Yoshida's Confidant is easy to level up, since every meeting with him is a guaranteed rank-up. That's because he has rather strict availability (usually only Sundays) and a deadline of November 17th in order to focus on his election campaign; he'll send you a text over a week ahead of time to warn you just in case.
*** Maruki's Confidant in ''Royal'' must be completed by late November, as that's when his tenure at Shujin ends, and dialogue around school and from Morgana will repeatedly warn as such. His Confidant is also fairly easy to rank up.
** There's a series of very long cutscenes after the Casino Palace, so it's broken up by two save points, one after the story catches up to the prologue so that you don't have to fight the boss again [[spoiler:if you trigger the bad ending]]. And another one right before the date changes which allows you to save and take a break so you don't have to go through another lengthy InfoDump.
** If you've unlocked a subway destination, Morgana will note this if you try to read a book that would have unlocked it, and time won't pass. This also counts as having read the book so that a player isn't locked out of the "read every book" trophy.
** While it's possible to EarnYourBadEnding by [[spoiler:selling out your teammates to Sae when she finishes her interrogation]] or making a deal with the BigBad, the game will give you an ominous "are you sure?" warning before going through it.
** After the Casino Palace, since Joker is [[spoiler:faking his death to fool the Conspiracy against the Phantom Thieves]], you can't go to school for about a month. However, you can still meet up with any of your Confidants at the Academy, and can still access the rooftop to manage Haru's vegetable harvests.
** On your second finals, you have three questions that you weren't able to go over [[spoiler:because Joker faked his death briefly]]. The day before during the group study session, you're allowed to ask a question that gives you one of the three answers.
** If you die during a boss fight, not only do you have the option to restart the fight right away, but you can also reset the time to an in-game week prior just in case you are underleveled or need to get some supplies. In ''4'', you only had the option to reset to whatever floor you died on, and could only go back an in-game week if you missed the deadline to complete a dungeon, while in ''3'', you only had the option to reset to a prior save.
** There's a luck-based ability that every playable Confidant can get to automatically heal negative status ailments on their turn. If this ability is about to trigger but it's not that character's turn yet, the game will stop you from using an item or Persona ability to cure the target, preventing you from wasting resources on something that's about to be fixed for free.
** Locked chests that require a lockpick to open are marked on the map when you find them. Since there are generally more locked chests in a Palace than you will have lockpicks for (''especially'' for the first palace), this makes finding the chests before finishing the palace much easier.
** In Palaces, the enemies can't be alerted by any of the Phantom Thieves except Joker since he's the PlayerCharacter. This means the rest of the Thieves won't increase the security level if they're seen by a security camera, they can't trip laser alarms, Shadows don't react if they're in the Shadow's field of vision, etc. While the rest of the Phantom Thieves are pretty good at sneaking around and avoiding traps, you may catch a few times that the Shadows ought to notice them but don't. It's still acceptable, though; the alternative would be insufferable.
** It's common in Palaces to run up against some obstacle that needs something to be done in the real world, with a safe room right nearby to let you quickly leave after finding it. You won't be allowed to go to the safe room until after you investigate the obstacle, so you can't go back and end up having to waste a day returning to the Palace just to trigger an event flag.
** During challenge battles in ''Royal'', all enemy affinities will be listed when analyzing them, even if the foes in question haven't ever been encountered or fused before this. As the challenge battles are specifically about defeating enemies in certain ways to maximize points earned rather than simply killing them as quickly or efficiently as possible, this is a blessing.
** Progress in ''Royal'''s Thieves Den is autosaved and shared across all save files on a system level, instead of being tied to a specific save file. This means that the player can [[SaveScumming save scum]] to unlock all of the rewards. This is especially handy as there are mutually exclusive rewards depending on which ending is taken and depending on whether dateable Confidants were romanced or remained platonic -- without save scumming, 100%'ing the Thieves Den takes a minimum of three playthroughs of a game that can easily take over 100 hours to complete.
** In ''Royal'', during the third semester, [[spoiler:upon entering the mysterious palace, you immediately will find a chest to your left with multiple healing items and a charm that lets whoever wears it cast Diarahan. This can be rather useful as Joker will be the only one naturally capable of healing in any capacity, Yoshizawa and Akechi both are raw damage dealers. With the charm, either of them can help pick up the slack.]]
** ''Royal'' tweaks several elements of the original game to make them more user-friendly:
*** One of the restrictions on doing things at night is changed from the first game. Originally it used to be that if you went into a Palace or Mementos during the day, you weren't allowed to do anything in the night time slot after that until you max out a certain Confidant. ''Royal'' relaxed that to "leaving Leblanc", so you can't go out but you can still do whatever you could normally do there at night. Play video games, watch movies, make burglary tools, cook, study... so you're still accomplishing ''something'' instead of just wasting time.
*** Ranking up Confidants has been made slightly easier to compensate for the three additional manual Confidants[[note]]two entirely new plus one that was changed from automatic to manual ranking up[[/note]] and other time-consuming content added in ''Royal'' -- most Confidant scenes now have an extra dialogue choice that adds a chance to gain more rank-up points, Joker can now give gifts to his male friends instead of just the ladies, and playing darts or billiards will give points to all of the Phantom Thieves who show up. Chihaya's Affinity Reading bonus to deepen Joker's bond with any one Confidant is now unlocked at only rank 5 instead of 7, and her new rank 10 bonus will show which responses grant the most rank-up points.
*** Hovering over a unit when in a battle now shows if they have any active buffs or debuffs.
*** Accessories were overhauled to directly grant new skills, and the new skills now show up on the Persona stats menu in a specific accessories slot. Similarly, if a Persona has its resistances changed via skills, those new resistances now appear in the affinity menu at the top of the screen, making it much more cohesive and easier to remember what Persona resists what.
*** Although still difficult, Power Intuition has been made easier if you use the book's cheat option: instead of adding just several seconds to do the difficult inputs, using the cheat puts the timer ''much'' higher, clocking in at ''ninety-nine seconds'' instead of roughly twelve.
*** The [[SeinfeldianConversation random Mementos conversations]] are no longer interrupted by opening a door.
*** In the original game, when a Treasure Demon appeared from a breakable object, you had to catch it before it disappeared shortly afterward. Here, whenever one is discovered from such, Joker automatically triggers a battle with it without the player having to react at all. Also, Treasure Demons have a chance to appear during regular battles, giving more chances at successfully finding/gaining one.
*** You can now perform advanced fusions straight from the fusion menu, as long as you've fused each Persona before and have an empty space in your stock for the finished product. You no longer need to have all the required Personas in your current stock; Igor will just charge you the price for summoning the needed Personas instead.
*** Ryuji's insta-kill ability has to now be manually activated by sprinting into foes rather than triggering when ambushing. Whereas in the vanilla game the insta-kill deprived all rewards rather than a free Persona, in ''Royal'' it additionally gives some (reduced) money, experience, and items.
*** If you managed to grab all the Will Seeds from the new final palace, then during New Game+ you can create the Ring of Sorrow once you get access to Jose. It grants an attack, usable if you ambush the foe, that does extremely weak Almighty damage to every enemy but also knocks them down, giving you an easy way to trigger Hold Ups and negotiations against foes who are too weak to survive the attacks your endgame Personas are most likely packing. It also comes with Life Aid to refund some of the cost of using it after battle. The Will Seeds themselves (three per palace) are this as well, since they provide SP refills, reducing the likelihood of running out and needing to leave the palace for the day.
*** Additionally, if you were unable to collect all of the Will Seeds in a palace before you defeated its boss, it will appear in Jose's shop, albeit at a very high price.
*** The trophy list have been modified in ''Royal''. Trophies that requires a strict schedule such as maxing all confident in a single playthrough or only obtanaible on a new game plus such as beating the bonus bosses or completing the compedium have been ditched from the list. Instead, partaking in various activities grants you a a trophy, making getting all achievements (or the Platinum trophy for [=PlayStation=] players) not only easier, but also doable on your very first playthrough. ''Royal'' still have a in game achievements system through the Thieves Den, but as mentionned earlier, it is not tied to a single save file, and most objectives can be cleared with save scumming.
* AntiGrinding: Joker's Personas gain experience slower than he does, making it easier to fuse new Personas to get new abilities than fighting random Shadows.
* ApatheticCitizens:
** Discussed. Many of the villains bring up the fact they can do the horrible things they've done because the general public are more interested in being told what to do than doing what's right on their own. The Phantom Thieves also decide to continue their activities after the first dungeon to shake others out of apathy.
** Made a plot point and zigzagged by the [[spoiler:final dungeon. Even after getting Shido to confess everything he's done, the public doesn't listen. The Phantom Thieves ultimately have to steal the Treasure of all of Tokyo to get the people to snap out of it.]] Even after defeating [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth in an epic battle in the Qliphoth World with all of Tokyo cheering them on, the Phantom Thieves return to the real world to find that they can't immediately tell if they succeeded, because people don't really seem to be all that different from before, only for the public now openly speak of Shido's crimes.]]
* ApologeticAttacker: In ''Persona 5 Royal'', you are given the option to attack a cognitive version of Shiho during Kamoshida's boss fight. Even though they know full well it's not the real Shiho, Ann will wince while Ryuji will apologize when attacking her.
* ArbitraryHeadcountLimit: Only four party members can be used in battle at a time, per series standard since ''VideoGame/Persona3''. For the first time in the series, you can switch out your party members in battle, but you need to begin the Star Confidant in order to do so.
* ArcSymbol: Several:
** ''Masks'': Personas are referred to ask masks to be worn, providing comfort and/or empowerment when interacting with the world. In Persona 5, Personas are summoned by tearing off one's mask. The Protagonist also collects Personas in the form of masks.
** ''Chains,'' and the breaking of them, are a recurring symbol signifying rebellion against corruption. The Protagonist is always chained in prisoner garb in the Velvet Room, and leveling up Confidants depicts the breaking of chains.
* ArcVillain: The first few months of the game has you finding a series of new corrupt target for the heroes' HeelFaceBrainwashing. And while you begin to learn TheConspiracy has been messing with the MentalWorld of the Metaverse as well, your targets aren't actual members of the group, and are by design acting on their own personal twisted desires.
* ArcWords:
** Heinous acts being "unforgivable" comes up a ''lot''. Even a good number of Joker's dialogue options let him say it.
** "Deal" and "contract" are brought up a lot, the latter during Persona awakenings and the former during Confidant links and important plot points.
** "Stolen future", and variations of, are frequently mentioned when villains are doing things to screw over the younger generation.
** The villains who make a public confession after having their heart stolen usually start their announcement with "I have committed acts unbecoming of a [profession]."
** "[[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Game]]" comes up a ton. It's usually used by Igor to refer to events going on in the story - even some song lyrics get it on it - and things that are working against the heroes are called a "rigged" or "unjust" game. [[spoiler:It's almost always used in villainous contexts, and its true meaning is revealed in the ending: Yaldabaoth's wager against Igor, because the struggle of our heroes and humanity was all just a game to him.]]
** Igor and his assistants always find a way to mention "ruin" and "rehabilitation". When [[spoiler:Shido]] mentions "ruin" in a cutscene, you know things are getting serious.
** The word "justice" gets brought up a ton throughout the game. A central theme of the game is exactly what justice means to different people and whether or not the Phantom Thieves' vigilantism falls under that category.
** The phrase "I'm counting on you" (or variations thereof, like "counting on someone") is uttered at least once by every member in the team, and a few other major characters.
** The series-wide "I am thou, thou art I" gets a lot more mileage in this game. Not just the protagonist, but each party member gets their own Persona awakening cutscene, and it's mentioned by narration whenever the protagonist begins and finishes a Confidant. Even Shadows get in on it when you recruit them, as they remember their true selves in the process. [[spoiler:This is also repeated by Maruki's Persona, just before they go on to become the ArcVillain.]]
** "Reality" for [[UpdatedRerelease Royal]], and specifically [[spoiler:the Third Semester Arc, in which the central theme is whether Maruki's LotusEaterMachine where everyone has a HappyEnding at the cost at ModernStasis, or living in harshness of the real world, are considered "the true reality." Also deals with Sumire, who wishes not to deal with the reality of seeing herself as Kasumi's killer and wish to escape it by becoming her thanks to Maruki's actualization.]]
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: At the cleanup event in ''Royal'', Kasumi notes that Kamoshida's rumor mill has accused Joker of (among other things) burglary, murder, and elephant tusk trafficking. Joker can play along by adding that he drives without a license.
* ArtCourse: Madarame's Palace, as befitting of the MentalWorld of a famous artist. There's even sections where you have to traverse through various paintings in order to advance.
* ArtEvolution:
** Compared to the previous games, the art direction uses comic book-esque thick lines, bright colors, complex shading, SpeechBubbles and SpeedStripes to accentuate the PhantomThief motif.
** The ''Royal'' rerelease touches up the character artwork a little bit. [[https://youtu.be/fh6rjo81MHY?t=109 It's most noticeable with Makoto's portrait, as she now has more angular eyes]]. Several characters also get [[https://p5r.jp/resources/img/top/ss/royal3_sec1_ss2_f18a0da1ce45545d855212de9a5ecfba.jpg entirely new]] [[https://p5r.jp/resources/img/top/ss/carousel_ss2_349a50e1f2c4bfda41fe20b74d4a72a8.jpg facial expressions]]; previously, only [[spoiler:Akechi]] had such a difference, with all other such differences being restricted to villains and their Shadows.
** ''Royal'' also touches up some of the textures and models compared to the original game, which was constrained by the Platform/PlayStation3 hardware.
** The Phantom Thieves's calling card gets this treatment InUniverse. The first one, which was created by Ryuji, is a crude drawing of a top hat with cartoon angry eyes and a comical SlasherSmile with the text directed at Kamoshida in a CutAndPasteNote format on the back. The subsequent ones sent out by Yusuke become more elaborate which uses the iconic top hat with a flaming DominoMask on the front and retains the text format on the back.
* TheArtifact: A few changes from the vanilla game create this effect in ''Royal'':
** "Life Will Change," the TriumphantReprise of the vanilla game's opening theme "Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There," loses a bit of impact, because ''Royal'' replaced "Wake Up" entirely with a new opening in "Colors Flying High." In ''Royal'', the original opening can only be found in the [[MuseumGame Thieves Den]].
** The piano remix of the vanilla game's credits theme, "Hoshi To Bokura To," still plays in the anime cutscene near the end of the game where [[spoiler:Morgana seemingly vanishes]]. It's entirely possible the player won't ever actually hear the full version of "Hoshi To Bokura To," because ''Royal'' has an entirely new credits theme for the new ending.
** The explanation of how the roulette wheel works in [[spoiler:Sae's bossfight]] in ''Royal'' is essentially this as you only actually bet two times, and both times have a guaranteed result (failure the first time, success the second time). In ''Royal'',[[spoiler:once Sae switches to her true boss form after losing the second roulette, the roulette wheel changes to a new form that has zero input from the player.]]
** [[spoiler:Satanael]], still PurposefullyOverpowered as ever, is still restricted to being fused in NewGamePlus, despite ''Royal'' adding an entirely new arc that takes place after the original ending wherein [[spoiler:Satanael was summoned]]. No explanation is ever given for why Joker can't use [[spoiler:Satanael]] during this period of the game, though it can be inferred that it was just a one time surge of power created by the [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve public's belief]].
** ''Royal'''s new ending still eventually leads to [[spoiler:Joker being locked away in juvie, and his Confidants bounding together to save him]], just as in the vanilla game. In both endings, [[spoiler:Joker is freed]] in mid-February. While in the original game it, rather realistically, takes months of campaigning to free him, because ''Royal'' extends the game's playable calendar to early February, it takes barely over a ''week''.
** If you visit the DVD rental shop and have a DVD you still haven't finished, Morgana will warn you and you'll be asked if you want to return it anyway. If you choose not to, then the clerk will tell you to make sure to return it by the due date, even though the due date system was eliminated and you can keep [=DVDs=] as long as you want.
* ArtifactTitle: The mini-boss theme's name, "Keeper of Lust", makes sense at first since the first Palace is based on {{Lust}}. Not so much later on, as the later Palaces focus on the other Deadly Sins.
* ArtificialStupidity: Sometimes a palace shadow will look around confused but not see you, when you're walking right next to them but not directly in the path of their linear line of sight
* ArtisticLicenseGeography:
** Apparently in the ''Persona'' universe, a terrible storm in Los Angeles will redirect a plane back to Hawaii. Hawaii is a five-hour flight from Los Angeles, and a plane flying from Japan to Los Angeles would not have an additional five hours worth of fuel aboard. Meanwhile there are a significant number of airports in California that not only have runways long enough for a typical wide-body jet used for a [=NRT=]-[=LAX=] route, they're also well within the extra 2 hours flight time for which aircrafts for international flights carry reserve fuel.
** The modern Egyptian town in Futaba's Palace has signs that are clearly written using the Devanagari alphabet, which is used for ''Indian'' languages, not Arabic. Somewhat justified in that it's just a MentalWorld, limited to what Futaba knows.
** The beach trip at the end of summer break ends in Futaba and the rest of the group watching the sunset from Miura Beach, which faces east into the ''rising'' sun.
** InUniverse, Ryuji believes that Los Angeles is "the capital of America" and is thus located in the middle of the country. Los Angeles isn't the capital of the U.S. and is located on the west coast.
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: At the end of the interrogation, Sae warns the protagonist that he's facing the death penalty. The protagonist is 17 years old during the events of the game, and Japan is a party to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child Convention on the Rights of the Child]] which forbids capital punishment for offenders under the age of 18. Justified to emphasize the sheer wrongness of the law enforcement and people in-general who will follow any order from a superior no matter how illogical it is.
* ArtisticLicenseReligion: Despite employing demonic avatars of the SevenDeadlySins as a central motif, the story only uses a few of the standard demons associated with a given sin as popularized by Peter Binsfeld: Asmodeus (Lust), Leviathan (Envy) and Mammon (Greed). Meanwhile, Beelzebub (Gluttony) uses the name of the Semitic god he was a demonized form of, Bael. Belphegor (Sloth), Satan (Wrath) and Lucifer (Pride) are completely replaced by Mementos, the Sphinx and Samael. This is likely because Beelzebub, Belphegor, Satan, and Lucifer are all available as Personas.
* ArtisticLicenseSports: During the first hang out with Akechi in ''Royal'', the two of you go play pool. After the game cuts ahead to the end of their match, Akechi is seen putting the last ball on the table into a pocket, claiming victory afterwards. This is despite the fact that since it was the last ball on the table (and not the 8 ball, which was apparently already put in a pocket), Joker should have already won since all his balls (and the 8 ball) were gone. During a later game with Akechi, he states that Joker wins after he puts the last striped ball into a pocket. However, the 8 ball is clearly still on the table.
* ArtShift:
** In-game, after winning a battle with an All-Out Attack, the party member who knocked down the last enemy gets a special VictoryPose which ends with their 3D model suddenly turning into a stylized 2D image, giving it more oomph.
** The massive InfoDump later on in the story [[spoiler:of how Joker faked suicide and escaped prison]] uses cute, stylized versions of several characters to provide visual reference to go along with the explanations.
* AscendedFridgeHorror:
** In ''Persona 4'', the party members' [[ShadowArchetype Shadows]] came from repressed teenage anxieties and were ObliviouslyEvil over a desire to be accepted. This game, however, shows what the Shadow of a truly evil person looks like... and it ''isn't pretty''. The {{Starter Villain}}'s Shadow alone is a sadistic, hedonistic tyrant who takes great pleasure in torturing and killing anyone who wanders into his mental world.
** In the original game, Akechi mentioned that he was born from wedlock and his mother committed suicide after being shamed, but doesn't elaborate any further. Considering that Akechi's father is [[spoiler:Shido, the same man who ruined Joker's life for stopping him from sexually harassing a woman,]] it makes you ''really wonder'' what did he do to father Akechi that [[spoiler:he was willing to terrorize Tokyo with Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns for the sake of bringing him down.]] Come ''Royal'', and he confides to Joker in a bathouse that [[spoiler:his mom would go to the red light district everyday and send him to the bathouse, implying that Shido fathered Akechi through a one-night stand with a ''call-girl''.]] It actually makes [[spoiler:Akechi sound a lot more sympathetic and solidifies Shido as being entirely monstrous.]]
** Before sending the calling card to Okumura, Haru asks Morgana why she hasn't saw her cognition in her father's palace yet, and Morgana told her that he could imagine a few reasons why there's none, but they are unpleasant. Cue ''Royal'', and Okumura's [[spoiler:cognitive Haru is an android robotic assistant that he is willing to use as a suicide bomber as a last ditch attempt to defeat the Thieves, symbolizing that his ambitions had gone so far that he is willing to pawn off his daughter if it benefits him.]]
* AscendedMeme:
** At some point in the game, it's possible to catch "I've been waiting for this!" among the Phan-site comments, referencing [[VideoGame/Persona3 Akihiko's]] infamous All-Out Attack line.
** [[StarvingArtist Yusuke Kitagawa]] says this when Morgana turns into the Morgana car in the desert surrounding Futaba's palace.
** In ''Royal'', Akechi can sometimes be found near cafes serving pancakes, referencing the infamous meme where he overhearing Morgana talking about pancakes [[spoiler:exposed him as Black Mask]]. He'll also mention pancakes during one of his Mementos skits [[spoiler:after he rejoins in his Black Mask outfit, still holding a grudge that his mentioning of pancakes foiled him.]] In his Dynamic [=PS4=] theme, he can be seen sitting on a table while eating pancakes.
** In the Italian localisation of ''Royal'', one of the Phan-Site user comments that may pop up during loading screens is "ai uant ciu nò", the Italian phonetical spelling of "I want to know". It's a reference to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dw6yNHZ_eM this parody video]] spoofing the infamous series ''WesternAnimation/{{Adrian}}'', where the protagonist, Adrian aka "La Volpe" ("The Fox"), is recast as a Phantom Thief. "I Want to Know" is the title of a song Adrian sings in the series, as well as his BondOneLiner in the video's version of the All-Out Attack.
* AssholeVictim:
** The Phantom thieves specifically target adults who have abused their position and taken advantage of others, as well as teenagers and non-famous adults who have let their desires become twisted. Examples include an S&M relationship gone wrong, a college student animal abuser, and... [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a serial video game cheater]].
** TheConspiracy has its own members killed when they're no longer useful to them, such as Principal Kobayakawa and the SIU director, but considering the victims were responsible for petty acts that ruin lives for the sake of themselves, it's difficult to feel sorry for these plebs.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: The title of the boss theme "Rivers in the Desert" is a reference to Isaiah 43:19, tying into the Abrahamic SevenDeadlySins theme present throughout the game.
* {{Astroturfing}}: An InUniverse example. The Phantom Thieves are partially (with the other part being a case of ItsPersonal after befriending Haru) inspired to steal Okumura's heart by a flood of comments on the Phan-site demanding they do so, along with the fact that Okumura has a Palace in the first place. Of course, this is a setup, as TheConspiracy kills Okumura shortly after the Thieves change his heart in order to frame them for murder. The group then begins to express their doubts about the sincerity of the comments against Okurmura, and Futaba suggests that the Phan-site was hacked to make them appear in such great numbers.
* AsYouKnow: Thanks to the fact that the bad guys' actions occur out of sight of the Thieves, there's a lot of exposition to get through. This results in two characters, [[spoiler:Goro and Shido]], telling each other about their schemes, objectives and methods, going so far as to tell each other ''their own shared history'', despite the fact that both of them should clearly know this already. [[spoiler:However, they aren't telling each other ''everything''...]]
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever:
** Asmodeus isn't quite on the scale of some of the others, but he still towers over the Thieves.
** Bael's second boss form is a giant vault shaped like a PiggyBank.
** Sphinx is about the size of the Pyramid itself.
** Samael's first boss form is a giant golden lion made up of human bodies.
** The final form of the [[spoiler:GreaterScopeVillain is a 20 story tall giant robotic god covered in gold and crystal armor.]]
** The protagonist's Ultimate Persona, [[spoiler:Satanael, who appears to finish the final boss, is even taller than him.]]
** The final boss of the Third Semester is [[spoiler:a giant, golden-armored humanoid]] roughly the same height as the previous final boss.
* AtTheCrossroads:
** Metaphorically; the bar in Shinjuku is named Crossroads in the English translation, and it's where you make a deal with Ichiko Ohya, the ''Devil'' Confidant.
** Also played straight with the actual crossroads in Shinjuku, where the ''Fortune'' confidant Chihaya Mifune hangs out.
* AuraVision: The "Third Eye" ability lets you see the danger level of enemies, which receptacles are hiding treasure, and the identities of potential Confidants by displaying various color-coded auras around the person or item in question.
* AuthorAppeal: The game's opening, which was directed and storyboarded by Creator/SayoYamamoto, has several moments where the characters do spins and glide around as though they're figure skating; Yamamoto is a huge fan of the sport, as evidenced by [[Anime/YuriOnIce one of her best known directorial roles]].
* AutobotsRockOut: Most of the BossBattle themes are techno rock tunes with plenty of electric guitar.
* AwesomeButImpractical:
** Severe-strength elemental skills are present in the game... and they cost 48 SP -- ''4 times'' the SP needed to cast a -dyne equivalent. They have mass-hitting versions that are slightly better, only costing 54 SP -- a little over double their Ma-dyne equivalent. If not supported by Spell Master which halves their costs, or backed up by Amp and Boost skills to make the most of them, these skills are incredibly draining and not good for protracted fights. ''Royal'' makes things a bit easier by adding Traits to your Personas that automatically reduce the SP cost of certain spells- Black Frost, for example, has Frozen Bloodline, which reduces the cost of all Ice spells by half, while most Ultimate level Personas have traits that reduce the SP cost of their dominant element (or in the case of Lucifer below, all magic skills) by a whopping 75%!
** Lucifer, the ultimate Persona of the Star Confidant, first requires you to max Hifumi's Confidant to unlock. Then, you see that his base level is a whopping 93, requiring extensive grinding or a load of cash (with the Velvet Twins' Confidant maxed) to fuse him. He also requires six Personas to fuse, ''three'' of which also have fixed fusion recipes that each involve at least three component Personas, increasing the amount of effort (and money) to make him.[[note]]And one of those ingredients, Metatron, requires two other Confidants maxed out -- one for the fusion and another for an ingredient -- and also has an ingredient that requires a fusion of three high-level Personas.[[/note]] Your end result is a Persona which can learn really powerful skills, not already counting what's already been inherited from its components... but also one without any innate resistances and a single weakness. The only justification for making Lucifer is either for Compendium completion, or to use him as a fusion ingredient for Satanael. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted in]] ''Royal'', which buffs him considerably by giving him actual resistances: namely, immunities to Physical and Gun attacks, resistances to Fire, Ice, Electric and Wind, and the ability to absorb Curse attacks, and he naturally picks up Repel Bless to cover his Bless weakness.
** In general many of the very late game Personas can fall here. They usually have great skills, good starting stats, and can also be very sturdy. However, their base stats are often a bit too well-rounded for a player's liking, as stat points allocated to unused stats are wasted points, leaving less room for MinMaxing. By contrast, weaker Personas can be made much better stat wise by using the sacrifice feature to bump up the Persona's stats to your liking, making more specialized Personas. [[SubvertedTrope This is no longer an issue in]] ''Royal'' thanks to the new Fusion Alarm mechanic. First, any Persona created during a Fusion Alarm gets an extra boost to some of its stats. Second, during a Fusion Alarm you can reliably trigger a Gallows Error that gives a boost to stats instead of XP to the target Persona [[note]]Either by using the Gallows twice during a Fusion Alarm, or by using a Persona that was created during that Fusion Alarm as either the target or the sacrifice[[/note]]. By repeatedly doing this, you can reliably pump any Persona's stats as high as you want them.
** Reading the book ''Speed Reading'' makes it so you read two chapters instead of one in one sitting. Sounds like a great time-saving tool, until you realize that to unlock ''Speed Reading'', you have to read three 3-chapter books before it (totaling 5 full days of reading), which are only available in a shop that gets unlocked either by advancing a Charm-blocked Confidant far enough along, or waiting for another book to become available for purchase half-way through the story. By the time you can reasonably make use of this passive, there won't be many books left to benefit from it. ''Royal'' makes it a lot more useful by making it easier to obtain: it's now found in the school library and gets automatically unlocked earlier in the game.
** The Eternal Lockpick/Perma-pick. The ingredients needed to craft it ensures that you won't be able to get it until quite late in the game unless you really grind, at which point you should be able to craft plenty of normal lockpicks. This gets even worse in ''Royal'', which adds a book and a set of tools that Joker can buy, each one of which giving a substantial boost to the number of infiltration tools he can craft at one time, though ''Royal'' also makes the Perma-pick easier to get by increasing the amount of crafting item drops in Mementos, and lets it carry over to a New Game Plus.
** The skills that your teammates learn [[spoiler:upon their second persona awakening in the third semester]] in ''Royal''. They are largely very powerful abilities, but they also have a very steep cost to them, making them much less useful than they could be.
*** Yusuke's skill "Hyakka Ryouran" is a party-wide Heat Riser (aka, it raises everybody's strength, defense, and accuracy/dodge). However, it costs 90 SP to use (when Yusuke will likely have roughly 260, meaning it costs over 1/3rd of his SP). And to make matters worse, Joker can get an equivalent skill, Thermopylae, that costs only 30 SP. And while normally Thermopylae would fall under AwesomeButImpractical due to it normally being only usable when ambushed, Attis both learns the skill and has a trait that allows it to be used whenever, and the trait can be passed to anything it fuses into. It's even worse if you take Female Orpheus into consideration, as her unique skill Neo Cadenza gives the party-wide Heat Riser effect, heals everyone for half of their health, doesn't require Attis' trait to be useful, and only costs 24 SP. Its only downside is that in the original [=PS4=] release, it's paid DLC.
*** Makoto's Checkmate skill is a full enemy party Debilitate. Debilitate is an ''amazing'' debuff ability that drops the target's attack, defense and agility, but it's meant to be used on bosses, which almost always appear solo. So Checkmate is using three times as much SP as Debilitate but has almost no more functional value except that it frees up Joker's turn.
** The Izanagi-no-Okami DLC. While it is undeniably a juggernaut of a Persona that can pretty much reduce anything in the first couple Palaces into smoldering piles of nothing thanks to the (un)holy combination of Myriad Truths and Victory Cry, and is on par with Satanael in terms of level and stats, there is no Confidant for its Arcana, The World. This means that it's essentially taking up a spot for a more helpful Persona in that regard, nor can it be fused with anything else. Although it can be itemized, hanged, and put into solitary like every other Persona.
** InUniverse regarding the experimental vegetables being developed by Okumura Foods. Sojiro deems them very unsuitable for commercial use like being sold at a market due to their flavour and unappealing appearance, but comments that they seem somewhat refreshing after eating one, being a facet of their healing abilities.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:B]]
* BackgroundMusicOverride:
** "Tokyo Daylight" or "Tokyo Emergency" normally plays during the overworld during the day, both upbeat tunes, with the former playing during more relaxed times and the latter playing while there's still a major target to take down. Late in the game, the background music changes to the foreboding "Restlessness", matching the tone at that point in the game. In ''Royal'', the background music changes to the serene "So Happy World" in January. On the last playable day of the game, when Joker is saying his goodbyes to everyone, the music changes to the solemn, bittersweet blues tune of "Sunset Bridge".
** "Beneath the Mask" normally plays during the overworld at night, and if it's raining, a more relaxed version that lacks percussion will play instead. If it's torrential rain however, no background music will play, with the sounds of heavy pouring rain being played instead.
** "Life Will Change" plays on any day you go to challenge the boss of a dungeon, overriding the regular dungeon, safe room, and battle themes. In fact, it only turns off when you challenge bosses or mini-bosses. For the last few dungeons, it upgrades from instrumentals to the vocal version. In ''Royal'', "I Believe" plays during the last day of the new final dungeon.
* BadBoss: Several targets are important business owners or politicians who are abusing their power. Perhaps the most notable example is [[spoiler:Shido, who is so meticulous in tying up his loose ends that he plots the murder of every single person with any insight into his bloody rise to power, even if they happily helped him get there. His [[TheDragon personal assassin]], his ''own son'', is the final name on his list]]. Ironically, he won a competition for who people would [[VillainWithGoodPublicity most like to have as a boss]].
* BaitAndSwitch:
** Kaneshiro’s palace has an initial time limit set by Makoto, even appearing on the U.I. The player will never meet the consequences of this date due to Makoto joining and Kaneshiro giving a new time limit with arguably worse consequences.
** Another Palace with an initial time limit is the final Palace of ''Royal'', set by [[spoiler:its owner, Maruki. Just like the example above, the deadline appears on the U.I. as 7 days, but the player will never meet the consequences of this deadline since there is no way to spend time other than bringing your party members back to their senses, which spends exactly that amount of days available.]] Furthermore, you were given a new time limit [[spoiler:by Maruki again]] to [[spoiler:change his heart]] due to worse consequences ahead.
** Futaba having a Palace heavily implies that your party has to face her Shadow like the others. However, due to Futaba actually desiring a change of heart (the obstacles presented by the Palace are noted to be manifestations of Futaba's guardedness), her Shadow is not evil--the boss ends up being Futaba's mistaken, demonic cognition of ''her dead mother'' instead. Futaba's Shadow, meanwhile, forces Futaba to face her past and distorted memories and becomes her Persona, much like how Personas are acquired in the [[VideoGame/Persona4 previous game]].
** The new character Kasumi Yoshizawa in ''Royal'' is not, in fact, [[spoiler:Kasumi at all, but instead ''Sumire'' Yoshizawa, Kasumi's depressed and SurvivorGuilt-ridden sister. In fact, Sumire is only going around calling herself Kasumi because she told Maruki to turn her into Kasumi and it pushed his button of using his cognition-warping powers, so that she wouldn't have to face the fact the real Kasumi died saving Sumire from a jealousy-induced fit that almost got her run over by traffic.]]
* BalanceBuff
** In Royal, guns were rebalanced. Though they have lower max ammo and are generally weaker than they were in the original release, to compensate, ammo is now a per battle resource rather than a per dungeon resource, encouraging the player to use them much more often than they might have before, particularly on enemies weak to bullets.
** There are a few skills that only work or work much better if the player is ambushed. However, being ambushed sucks and is pretty much never worth it, so skills like Thermopylae were pretty unpopular in the base game. However, Royal added the trait Vitality of the Tree that makes said skills function even if you aren't actually surrounded, meaning said skills actually do have a use in the late game when Personas with said trait unlock. Most notably, Thermopylae functions as a full party Heat Riser for a slightly steep but definitely worth it 30 SP.
** On the topic of ambushes, being ambushed now starts everyone Guarded, which severely reduces damage and limits the amount of weakness chaining an enemy can do before you get a chance to strike back.
* BatmanGambit: The period from Okumura's defeat up until the end of the Casino is one big gambit by the Thieves to [[spoiler:reveal the true traitor, Akechi, and foil his plot.]] The plan ''only'' works based on their prediction of what the traitor and the Palace Ruler will do in said situation. The latter is, ironically, a particularly big gamble because there is absolutely no guarantee they will cooperate: [[spoiler:The Phantom Thieves have only tried once tried to change a person through pure conversation rather than stealing a Treasure, and that's only if you've gotten far enough in the Moon confidant. Even assuming it works, it requires them to accurately predict that Sae will steal critical evidence and put it in the hands of someone she suspects to be a Phantom Thief without the slightest idea as to why she's being asked to do so.]]
* BattleCouple: If you romance Ann, Makoto, Haru, or Kasumi[[note]]''Royal'' only[[/note]], Joker and his lover can participate in battles together, and gain all the LevelUpAtIntimacy5 bonuses pursuing a romance nets you. In a bit of GameplayAndStoryIntegration, the four of them learn [[TakingTheBullet "Protect"]] at the same time their Confidant turns romantic, which is a passive skill where they shield Joker and withstand an otherwise fatal attack in his place. Notably, Kasumi has one of the only Showtime abilities that Joker can participate in.
* BattleThemeMusic:
** "Last Surprise" for regular battles, which has the thieves giving {{Badass Boast}}s about how their enemies [[YouAreAlreadyDead are already finished]].
---->''Better think about your game''\\
''Are you sure the next move's the right one for you?''\\
''Are you sure you won't get out-maneuvered again and again, my friend?''
** ''Royal'' adds "Take Over", which replaces "Last Surprise" if the Phantom Thieves get a jump on any Shadows.
** "Blooming Villain" for most Palace bosses. While it doesn't have lyrics, it start off dark and pounding, gradually mellowing out into bass before swelling to a triumphant guitar solo, representing the growing confidence of the Phantom Thieves to take down their target.
** "Life Will Change" for the lead up to the first seven palace boss battles. Instrumental at first, lyrical later, and always badass. The lyrics describe how the villain is powerless to stop the thieves from bringing change to their comfortable microcosms.
** "Rivers in the Desert" for some of the endgame {{Boss Battle}}s, which has dueling verses by the heroes and villains about their WellIntentionedExtremist desires to change the world.
** Certain costumes will change the music that plays during normal battles. For example, the St. Hermelin High costume will play "A Lone Prayer", the regular battle theme from the PSP version of ''VideoGame/Persona1''.
** The battles against the P3 and P4 protagonists in the Velvet Room always play "Mass Destruction" and "Reach Out to the Truth". Other battles inside the Velvet Room play "Prison Labor", a song that only plays there.
* BeachEpisode: Your party goes to the beach with Futaba at the end of August, which involves the members of your party hanging out on the beach in swimsuits, Yusuke buying a pair of lobsters to paint, and other hijinks, including the return of Operation Babe Hunt. Your ClassTrip also has you traveling to Hawaii, with a couple days involving the members of your party hanging out on the beach in swimsuits, and an evening spent with an available Confidant of your choosing.[[note]]By default, you're stuck hanging out with Ryuji, Mishima and Yusuke. However, opting to pursue a romantic relationship with Ann or Kawakami opens them up for a date instead. Additionally, if the player has progressed to Rank 5 with Makoto and Hifumi's Confidants, they can be chosen as well, although their dates are more platonic in nature.[[/note]]
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Lampshaded in a {{Yonkoma}} from the Dengeki Manga Anthology. Shortly after Shadow Kaneshiro is defeated, he laments that it's difficult for someone like him, labeled as poor, ugly, and stupid, to live an honest life, whereupon Skull remarks that the Phantom Thieves are fighting labels themselves. From Shadow Kaneshiro's point of view, they're better-looking than he could ever hope to be, causing him to take this remark as a mortal offense.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
** One lesson in school covers who has the right to print money in Japan and Morgana ends up commenting that he would like to visit a palace that lets you get as much money as you like whenever you want to. The next palace is Kaneshiro's, a mob boss who exploits young teens to make money for himself while putting them in a position to be unable to fight back, letting him get as much money as he wants at any time to the detriment of those living in Shibuya. Additionally, the money in his Palace are all fake money with his bust printed on them.
** The Phantom Thieves spend much of the game wanting to become well known from their exploits. When it happens after the Medjed incident, they begin becoming rather concerned at HOW popular they've become. [[spoiler:Their nervousness ends up being justified as their popularity, and the popularity of their next target on the Phan-Site's polls are due to manipulations by the conspiracy. When said target is murdered after they steal his heart, they are blamed by the public at large and their popularity comes crashing down.]]
** Played straight in ''Royal'', where the Phantom Thieves' greatest desires are granted by [[spoiler:Takuto Maruki]], a WellIntentionedExtremist who was the byproduct of [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth's Plan]] who uses [[spoiler:Mementos to control the public's cognition so he can grant them their deepest wishes]]. It seems happy, but remember that [[spoiler:if you let him do it, not only will the end result be nearly the same as Nyx bringing forth The Fall or Yaldabaoth stagnating humanity in his oppression, Mementos will be revived and become impossible to remove.]]
* BeneathTheMask: Shadows and Persona reflect the true feelings of their other selves. For the villains, they generally show the characters' true {{sociopath}}ic, twisted desires. For the heroes meanwhile, they generally expose their RevengeBeforeReason, WellIntentionedExtremist desires to change the society and adults that've wronged them. [[spoiler:And, taking the trope to its logical conclusion, Futaba's Shadow is the ''positive'' side of her personality that's been repressed beneath the crushing weight of her guilt and depression.]]
* BeyondRedemption: "I'm not going to forgive you!" and variants thereof are said quite a bit throughout the game.
** The first target, Suguru Kamoshida, had a variation of this. Kamoshida is meant to be [[HateSink as unlikable as possible]], with several characters openly hating his guts. However, when they learn that stealing Kamoshida's heart may kill him if done incorrectly, Ryuji and Ann are hesitant. After Kamoshida makes Ann's best friend Shiho [[DrivenToSuicide attempt suicide by jump off of the schools roof]] to escape his abuse, Ryuji and Ann decide they don't care if Kamoshida dies anymore; they just want him ''gone''.
** Yusuke was long in denial about Madarame exploiting him and his fellow students by [[PlagiarismInFiction stealing the credit for their work]], despite having seen some evidence of it. After facing Madarame's Shadow and seeing Madarame's true character, Yusuke summons his Persona for the first time and resolves to change his former mentor by force. Then, after learning that Madarame let Yusuke's mother die when she had a stroke by [[MurderByInaction not calling for help]], Yusuke declares that he has no more reason to forgive Madarame.
* TheBigBadShuffle: Each ArcVillain (barring Kamoshida) was being pressured into TheConspiracy by someone in a "Black Mask". Black Mask was in turn working for [[spoiler:politician Masayoshi Shido]]. Then later we learn that the villains [[spoiler:''and'' the heroes were being manipulated by the ManBehindTheMan, Yaldabaoth, God of Order.]] Then, in ''Royal'', defeating that villain leads to [[spoiler:Takuto Maruki]] filling in the power vacuum left in its wake and becoming the FinalBoss.
* BigDamnHeroes:
** To an extent, Joker and co. can be this to any of his Confidants that require changing a target's heart in Mementos. Kawakami's and Futaba's requests qualify somewhat.
** In the revised prologue in ''Royal'', just when Joker thinks he's surrounded, along comes a mysterious and classy young girl to lend him a helping hand - who is later revealed to be Violet, or rather newcomer Kasumi Yoshizawa.
** When Joker and [[spoiler:Black Mask]] are fighting against a [[spoiler:berserk Cendrillon, it seems like a HopelessBossBattle and that our heroes are about to meet their end. And then out comes Ryuji tanking a '''Vorpal Blade''' for the two as the other Phantom Thieves come in full force, ready to back up their leader after having lived out their ideal dreams courtesy of Maruki.]]
* BishieSparkle: When you gain charm points, three small diamond sparkles form next to Joker's eyes.
* BittersweetEnding:
** Played straight with the outcome of the second Palace. Madarame's Treasure has been stolen and Yusuke joins the Thieves, but he feels outright dejected after learning from Shadow Madarame that he was responsible for the death of his mother just to get his hands on her last painting which he painted over and ruined for the sake of money. The Treasure itself, a duplicate of the original finished painting, isn't sold and is instead hung up at Café Leblanc.
** PlayedForLaughs with the outcome of the third Palace. Kaneshiro's Treasure has been stolen and the mission was a success. When the Phantom Thieves open the golden briefcase, they discover that it's stuffed with ''30 million yen''[[note]]Roughly $300,000.[[/note]]. Everyone is elated at the prospect of owning 5 million yen[[note]]$50,000.[[/note]] apiece... until Yusuke points out that all the money is actually '''fake'''. Ryuji is understandably upset with this, but they can still sell the gold-plated briefcase.
** The Good Ending. [[spoiler:[[TheConspiracy Masayoshi Shido and his allies]] have been thwarted, Yaldabaoth has been vanquished, and the Protagonist finally gets to clear his name]]. However, he still has to head back home at the end of the year, leaving behind all the friends he made in Tokyo, and with the [[spoiler:Metaverse gone, no longer will the Phantom Thieves be able to change hearts to stop corruption since a Palace can still be erected]]. Morgana manages to survive the [[spoiler:collapse of Mementos, but as a cat, not a human]]. The situation in government is left unaddressed - it's unclear what exactly is going on with Japan's current prime minister. Finally, it's ultimately left ambiguous just how much the [[spoiler:destruction of Mementos affected the public consciousness - while the ordinary citizens' apologism for Shido seems to have gone away,]] they still express frustration and apathy at the state of society, and the [[spoiler:authorities appear just as corrupt as ever and are eager to send Joker to jail [[TreacheryCoverup to save their own reputations]]]]. To drive the point home, the last poll on the Phansite, still asking if the Phantom Thieves really exist, comes back at an even 50%.
** The GoldenEnding in ''Royal'' is also bittersweet. [[spoiler:After Maruki's battle, in March, all of the Phantom Thieves decide to think more about their future and go their separate ways -- the most shocking are Ryuji, who decides to move to a different town to receive treatment for his knee; and Ann, who decides to study abroad.]] The final part [[spoiler:plays out the same as the Good Ending in the original game, only with some minor changes -- except this time Maruki, who is now reformed, drives Joker to the train station while the other Phantom Thieves distract the police, leaving their goodbyes a bit brief.]]
* BlackAndGrayMorality: {{Discussed}}. The protagonists' HeelFaceBrainwashing methods would come off as crossing a line if it weren't for the fact their targets are various kinds of serial abusers of power who would otherwise never pay for their crimes. The lone exception is Futaba, who actually ''wants'' the Phantom Thieves to do it to her. The Phantom Thieves are in fact completely aware of the implications of their methods, and refuse to use it at all during their first mission until a student tried to commit suicide because of being abused by their first target. Even later, the Thieves openly discuss if what they're doing is the right thing.
* BlackComedyAnimalCruelty: In one scene on 5/16, the Phantom Thieves claim that Morgana is a toy animal that meows when you press on its head. To demonstrate, two of your options are “I should press gently” and "I'll press forcefully". The third? “Time to button mash”.
* BlackHelicopter: In the prologue, you can see some Black Hawks fly near the casino.
* BlackoutBasement: In ''Royal'', some areas of Mementos can randomly be pitch-black. The maze walls in these are invisible on the mini-map and R1 map.
* BlamingTheVictim:
** Futaba's mother was [[spoiler:killed by Akechi via mental shutdown]] and Futaba was blamed for her death after [[spoiler:Shido forged]] a suicide note. This resulted in Futaba being treated terribly by her guardians and developing intense agoraphobia along with auditory hallucinations. Things get better after she joins the Phantom Thieves, however.
** Kamoshida humiliates Ryuji by telling everyone about his home life in a bid to make his volleyball team the only frontline sports team in the school. This causes Ryuji to attack him, and Kamoshida [[DisproportionateRetribution retaliates by breaking Ryuji's leg]] in 'self defense', then disbands the track team, causing his teammates to view him as a traitor.
** Akechi is [[spoiler:the bastard son of Shido]] and a prostitute. Eventually, his mother couldn't bear the shame of having a child out of wedlock anymore and killed herself, leaving Akechi in foster care where he was alienated for his heritage. He refers to himself as a cursed child and cites himself as the reason his mother died, though he also [[spoiler:has a massive grudge against Shido]].
* BlandNameProduct:
** The party can be seen eating a bag of Calbee Potato Chips and drinking bottles of Coca-Cola and Sprite at some points, only with the nondescript labels "Potato", "Nice Cola" and "Lemon" printed on them. Similarly, an ad can be seen for a tablet computer called the "Next P.A.D." that bears a striking resemblance to the Apple iPad. Coca-Cola, Boss, and Kirin vending machines become Cracker Energy, Oyabun (Japanese for "boss"), and Kitten. The retro game console that can be purchased is called the "Famidrive", a mash of the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]] and [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Mega Drive]]. The only legitimate ProductPlacement in the game is for Calbee's Jagariko snacks.
** The buffet where the Phantom Thieves celebrate their first victory over Kamoshida is at the Wilton Hotel, as opposed to the real-life Hilton Hotel.
** This also extends to stores themselves, with popular Japanese convenience store chain "Don Quixote" being renamed "Rocinante" after Quixote's horse, or The Body Shop being renamed "The Body Chop." And the convenience store chain 7-11 has been rebranded to Triple-Seven (spelled 777).
** Most of the neighborhoods, all being real places spread throughout the Greater Tokyo Area, share their name with their real-life counterparts. The sole exception is the very neighborhood that Joker lives in, Yongen-jaya; its real-life counterpart is named Sangen-jaya (the latter in Japanese uses the kanji for the number three (三) in its name; the game's version of the neighborhood uses four (四) instead). There's also Destinyland in place of Disneyland, although the park has popped up in other ''Shin Megami Tensei'' installments and is located in its proper neighborhood, Maihama.
** Played with regarding the Sky Tree Tower; while it's meant to be a stand-in for Tokyo Tower, there ''is'' a real building in Tokyo's Sumida ward called the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Skytree Tokyo Skytree]], whose construction was completed in 2011. The creators of the game also obtained Tokyo Tower's permission to use its name in the game, but they ultimately didn't. However, they were able to use the proper "Skytree" name for [[Anime/Persona5TheAnimation the anime adaptation]] in [[http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/pdf/pressreleases/5b9fbb3d82e4e40b5bbd52d9c6ad541003270020181807.pdf Episode 17]].
** Many of the series staple vending machine drinks return, with names like "Mad Bull," "Nastea," "Dr. Salt," "Starvicks," and "Manta" (standing in for Red Bull, Nestea, Dr. Pepper, Starbucks, and Fanta).
** The movies and [=DVDs=] you can watch to increase social stats are Bland Name versions of actual movies and TV shows, such as "[[Series/MacGyver1985 Guy Mcver]]" or "[[Film/LoveActually Love, Possibly]]". There is however, ''one'' exception, and that is "[[Film/{{Yakuza}} Like A Dragon]]".
** Averted in ''Royal'', where the darts game in Kikochi is clearly branded "Dartslive" (which is also owned by Sega) and in the anime with the thieves' phones, which are all labeled "Sony".
* BlankWhiteEyes:
** Humans whose Shadows are destroyed end up with pupil-less white eyes and dark blood bleeding out of their mouths. This includes the subway conductor who crashes a train near the beginning of the game, [[YouHaveFailedMe Principal Kobayakawa]] around the time of the Hawaii trip, and [[HeKnowsTooMuch Haru's dad]] after the Phantom Thieves steal his Treasure.
** PlayedForLaughs with Morgana sometimes when something suitably unbelievable and comedic happens.
* BlessedWithSuck: The player themselves on [[HarderThanHard Merciless difficulty]]. 2.5 times damage when you strike weaknesses and get critical hits sounds good, right? Have fun downing Shadows so you can negotiate with them instead of accidentally killing them outright. You do eventually find a workaround through the Tower Confidant, but that doesn't come until September at the earliest, about halfway through the game.
* BloodierAndGorier: Unquestionably the most violent game in the series. Coincidentally or not, the primary color motif is a vivid blood red.
** Joker is beaten by police at the beginning of the story and spends the rest of the interrogation sequences with numerous bruises, including his wrists being rubbed raw from handcuffs.
** Characters bleed from their faces when summoning Personas, showcased at its best during their first awakening. Special mention goes to the horrific ''flood'' of red that erupts from Joker's face when first calling Arsène, and Yusuke, who grips the floor so hard his fingers bleed.
** While censored via silhouette, the All-Out Attacks are brutal, concluding with the victim [[HighPressureBlood erupting into a shower of blood]].
** [[spoiler:The Cognitive Joker]] is killed via gunshot to the head, causing blood to pour out of the wound before their head collapses with a sickening thud, spraying ''more'' blood.
** In ''Royal'', the cutscene depicting [[spoiler:Kasumi's]] death has her laying on the ground with blood over the floor on a rainy road [[spoiler:after she rescued Sumire from almost being run over by a car.]]
* BodyHorror:
** Human-shaped Shadows bloodily erupt into demons when you start a battle with them. In a number of Palaces, human-shaped Shadows will also transform into {{Humanoid Abomination}}s.
** A person's first transformation into a Phantom Thief involves manifesting the mask they show to the world, and then ripping it off, taking all the attached skin with it. Fortunately, the resulting wound appears to heal instantly.
* BodyMotifs: ''The Heart.'' For all intents and purposes, the Phantom Thieves and Mementos make MindControl possible, but it is always referred to as "stealing hearts." As the heroes venture deeper into Mementos, [[spoiler:its imagery steadily transitions from subway tunnels to pulsating blood vessels. Finally, the TrueFinalBoss is the Holy Grail, symbolized in playing cards as a Heart, as pointed out by Kawakami.]]
* BonusFeatureFailure: Certain DLC give the player new Personas to summon. However, their existence is taken into account during Fusion, making certain other Personas harder to acquire; for example, if you have Messiah Picaro, Satan can be fused only by using it (or Maria in ''Royal''). However, this involves fusing Messiah Picaro with Treasure Demons, which are particularly finicky about the Persona levels, meaning getting Satan (and by consequence, Lucifer) is made incredibly annoying just because the player owns DLC.
* BookEnds:
** "Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There" plays at both the intro and post-credits sequences of ''Persona 5''.
*** Likewise in ''Royal'', "Colors Flying High" plays at both the intro and post-credits sequences.
** Early on in the game, Sojiro drives the main character home from meeting with the school, complaining about having to be saddled with the burden of looking after him. Near the end of the game, Sojiro picks up the protagonist [[spoiler:after his release from juvenile hall]] and goes home with him on friendlier terms. He even lampshades how this moment reminds him of the first time they met.
** The first and last forum question on the Phan-Site is "Do you believe in the Phantom Thieves?" The context has changed though, with the first question meaning "Do you think they exist?" and the last being "Do you support them in what they do?"
** On both Joker's first few and last few days in town, the rumor dialogue that can be overheard consists of citizens expressing frustration, annoyance, and apathy towards the state of modern society.
** The first and last bosses both have a [[spoiler:chalice of sorts that is a part of how they regain health, and their connection between them and the people they hope to abuse as an energy source]] that needs to be severed in order to beat them. Kamoshida's is the cup based trophy he eats his female victims out of when using "Libido Boost", while [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth's "Holy Grail" form is where he can get healed by the parts of humanity who want the "order" he'd give them by making them his slaves]]. This is fitting, as in Tarot, [[spoiler:the Suit of Cups is not only based on the Holy Grail but over time it became the hearts suit of modern playing card decks; on top of both cups acting as a "heart," you need to take from them in the fight to finish it]], so the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" begin and end doing just that on more than just one level. While the final boss of ''Royal'' [[spoiler:doesn't use a Chalice to heal himself, much like Kamoshida or the Holy Grail, he does have another way to do it consistently unlike Kamoshida or the Grail.]]
** A blue butterfly is seen near the beginning and ending of the Protagonist's journey.
** The first and last major story targets have their names marked with a '?' at certain points. Specifically, Kamoshida's when you first meet his Shadow, [[spoiler:the false Igor's after Lavenza has exposed him as such in Vanilla, and Maruki in ''Royal'', whose involvement is veiled in mystery until Joker, Kasumi, and Akechi personally meet him face-to-face.]]
** The first and last targets in Vanilla are revealed when they [[spoiler:threaten to execute Joker]].
** The first and last bosses in ''Royal'' are[[spoiler:, or at least used to be, faculty of Shujin. Similarly, Joker is offered a lift by the first and last bosses, though Joker only accepted the lift from Maruki.]]
** The first calling card sent out by the Phantom Thieves causes a stir throughout the whole of Shujin Academy because Ryuji pasted several copies of it all over the school's bulletin boards just to make sure Kamoshida knew about it. [[spoiler:The final calling card in Vanilla causes a stir throughout the whole of ''Japan'' because Futaba pasted it all over the country's airwaves just to make sure Shido knows they're coming for him and to tell him that his assassination attempt on Joker failed.]]
** In ''Royal'', the first and last Targets [[DrivenToSuicide attempt suicide]] after they're defeated.
* BoomHeadshot: In the Bad Ending, [[spoiler:Joker gets shot in the head]]. In the Good Ending, [[spoiler:Joker shoots [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu the false god behind this whole mess]] in the head.]]
** The TrueFinalBoss of ''Royal'' is dispatched in the same way. [[spoiler:Joker zips up to Adam Kadmon's head and shoots him point-blank in the face, narrowly avoiding Maruki's own head but destroying his mask.]]
* BoringButPractical:
** Some of the bosses encountered will willingly waste turns reacting to stat buffs and debuffs. This means that having someone constantly ready to reapply buffs or vice versa may allow the player to bring on the damage with (near) impunity.
** Life Stones restore 30% of the target's max HP, which means its healing strength will always be relevant regardless of level. If the player's been asking for items from Shadows on a regular basis, there's a good chance that they've got plenty of them in stock by the middle of the game, so Life Stones become great for topping off stray chunks of lost HP in between fights without expending SP.
** An easy way to restore SP without leaving the Palace is to purchase an "SP Adhesive" accessory from Dr. Takemi. Then you just find a weak enemy and block every turn until you have all of your SP back, and then use a small amount of the SP to heal whatever HP the weak enemy took from you. However this could take awhile.
** The best way to get money is to find a boss that's not immune to the "Confusion" ailment, make a Persona with a high Luck stat, and spam the ability "Pulinpa". Every turn the enemy is confused they have a chance to drop money. You can do this to get to ‎¥9,999,999 but it will take a very long time. You'll also need Invigorate 3 or SP Adhesive 3 so you regenerate enough SP to keep spamming Pulinpa.
** Mishima's Confidant abilities. Gaining bonus XP is not nearly as exciting a power as many of the other Confidant's bonuses, but once you max it out your backup characters will be earning just as much XP as the ones you're using in the party, and not needing to swap people out in order to prevent them from falling behind in levels is huge when it comes to customizing your playstyle.
** Hifumi's Confidant abilities provide numerous minor but very helpful abilities for battle. These abilities include conveniences such as the ability to swap out party members mid-battle, being able to escape from ambushes (and later all battles) instantly, or earning more money from winning ambushes in your first turn.
** By hunting down the rare Crystal Skull treasure demon in Mementos near the end of the game, the player can capture them and itemize them into an accessory. Said accessory's effects? Increased evasion against magic and +5 to all stats, not a game-changer but effectively makes whoever uses slightly better at everything they do.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: Ryuji calls Yusuke Inari in the prologue, which is Futaba's line.
* BossAlteringConsequence:
** You can give orders to party members to perform special actions unique to each boss battle. During Kamoshida's battle, you can send someone to steal his crown, significantly weakening him. During Kaneshiro's battle, you can order a party member to throw a rare item to distract him. Most of these are optional, but certain bosses require them to be beaten.
** In the ''Royal'' version of the battle, the cognitive version of Wakaba Ishiki will make disparaging remarks towards Futaba, giving the player two dialogue choices. If you agree with the fake Wakaba, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential and you would be a major jerk for doing so]], then Futaba will be too discouraged to act, delaying the speed at which she summons ballistas, and the fake Wakaba will unleash [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment a powerful attack on the party]], but if you're protective of Futaba, then she will repel the attack back at the fake Wakaba.
** If you visit Mementos during Flu Season, there's a chance that the Reaper, normally a powerful {{Superboss}}, will be inflicted with Despair, a status effect that will cause it to die in three turns if you encounter it. This only works in the vanilla version, though, as the Reaper will be immune to Despair in the ''Royal'' version.
* BossInMookClothing:
** Similar to ''VideoGame/Persona3'' in Tartarus, you can end up in a random encounter with the insanely powerful Reaper any time you sit around a floor in Mementos for more than 5 minutes.
** In ''Royal'', red Shadows are upgraded to this status, which your teammates will even warn you about in the field. Each palace has one, they pack significantly more health and higher stats than surrounding shadows (even those higher in level), and they refuse to be negotiated with unless their health is low. Special mention goes to the red shadows in [[spoiler:Maruki's Palace]], which burst out into Fafnir, an ''extremely'' powerful Shadow with very high stats, no weaknesses, repels physical and gun and extremely powerful attacks such as Gigantomachia or Atomic Flare. If you've been neglecting to improve your Technical damage ability by playing billiards, you're in trouble.
** In ''Royal'', after you finish the final section of Mementos in the third semester, special level 99 shadow encounters will start to spawn throughout Mementos, comprised of demons that you've already likely fought in specific combinations (Cerberus and Orthrus, the Jack brothers, etc.) As they are max level, they will never flee from you while roaming, they cannot be persuaded to join your party, and they don't have a red glow like normal "strong" shadows do, so if you are just mowing down weak shadows for money and experience, you gotta be careful around these ones as they'll initally seem just like the rest.
* BottomlessBladder: As in previous games, there are bathrooms in the game, ''but you never need to use them'' - in fact, there's even a toilet in Joker's cell in the Velvet Room, and he can sit on it, but it's used for pondering instead of its intended purpose...
* BottomlessMagazines:
** Averted in the original. All guns hold a finite amount of ammunition in their magazines, which in gameplay terms translates to the maximum amount of shots that can be fired by the wielder in a single turn, with reloads automatically happening when their turn comes up again. Each party member also carries a very limited amount of ammo on their person, no more than two to four mags' worth, and cannot be replenished during a Palace/Mementos run aside from using craft-able ammo boxes.
** Played straight with the Bullet Hail confidant ability, which gives a chance to trigger a gun based All-Out-Attack at the beginning of battles. It doesn't consume your ammo pool and is limited only by time.
** Played straight with any persona which wields a gun, who can shoot with impunity.
** Played straight again in ''Royal'', where ammunition is restored at the start of every encounter. Morgna explains this is part of the YourMindMakesItReal effect of the Metaverse. As the guns are all toy models made real due to enemy shadows assuming they're real, those same beliefs now fill it with ammo at the start of battle as they'll assume the gun is fully loaded. However, as a balancing measure, '''no spare ammunition is carried'''. However many rounds of ammunition that a character's firearm holds is the ammo they'll have for any given fight.
* {{Bowdlerize}}:
** Unlike previous ''Megami Tensei'' games, Yaksini no longer has any artwork depicting her as topless with a visible nipple, leaving only her GodivaHair-censoring 3D model.
** In the Chinese and Korean versions of the game, references to the original and controversial Rising Sun flag are removed. This includes removing it from Ryuji's shoes, and changing the icon for the Almighty element due to the original resembling the flag. The Raidou Kuzunoha costume DLC is also absent from these versions, similar to ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne HD Remaster''. These changes would later be present in all versions of the 2022 MultiPlatform release.
* BraggingRightsReward:
** As per series tradition, the Omnipotent Orb, an accessory which blocks ''all'' damage other than almighty.[[note]]In ''Royal'', it was nerfed to block only magical attacks and their associated status effects.[[/note]] However, you have to have already finished the story once and won the toughest fight in the game against [[{{Superboss}} Justine and Caroline]] to even get it.
** Also as per series tradition, the protagonist's ultimate Persona, [[spoiler:Satanael]], can actually be fused - if you've reached NewGamePlus and can manage a Level ''95'' fusion. If you're at that point, most of the game's difficulty is already moot unless you're fighting the aforementioned Superboss, which it ironically seems tailor-made for. [[spoiler:Think of it as fusing [[VideoGame/Persona3 Orpheus Telos to fight Elizabeth with]].]]
** The Eternal Lockpick/Perma-pick is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin; a lockpick that won't break after use. By the time you can craft it however, it's trivially easy to have at least a dozen spare lockpicks on hand. Making one isn't really necessary beyond getting the trophy for crafting all infiltration tools. This is alleviated in ''Royal'', as once you make it, it carries over to a NewGamePlus. However, ''Royal'' also lets Joker buy a book and a tool set that both give massive boosts to the number of infiltration tools he can make at once, so this still isn't a huge asset.
** Valentine's Day Chocolate restores all SP to 1 ally, but to get it you have to defeat the FinalBoss. Even on NewGamePlus there's never a real reason to use it, considering you most likely have better management of your time or SP restoring equipment from the last playthrough to use. At best, these items then are really only useful as a means to track the romantic relationships you've taken over the course of repeated playthroughs until you have one chocolate from every possible option, provided you didn't use them. And then Royal muddles this some, as every single girl who you've platonically finished the Confidant of will ALSO give you chocolate (though with a slightly different name), meaning your inventory will quickly be filled with various chocolates.
** The Business Card, given to you by [[spoiler:Sae, should you talk to her during the epilogue]] is this, given that the Confidant is mandatory and it provides no bonuses whatsoever on NG+ unlike all other Confidant items of its kind. Since the player is near-guaranteed to get it at the end of the game and it carries over to NG+, it at least can be used to mark how many playthroughs of the game the player has gone through.
** ''Royal'' introduces the Invisible Veil (which prevents shadows from detecting you) and Letter of Royalty (which allows you to summon any registered Persona for free). However, to get these items, you need to collect every single award in the Thieves Den (which includes registering every Persona in the compendium and defeating all the {{Superboss}}es), meaning there's essentially nothing to use them on by the time you finally collect them.
* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: The philosophy behind the Phantom Thieves' actions is that if a person is corrupt enough to be making the world around them significantly worse, then rewriting their morals through the "stealing" of their Hearts and forcing them to see their deeds the way others see them is a justified action.
* BreakingOldTrends:
** This is the first game in the series ever since the ''Persona 3'' soft reboot to have singular characters represent the Fool and Judgement Arcana instead of the player party in general.
** This is the first game in the series to have a playable character represent the Hermit Arcana.
** This is also the first ''Persona'' game not to be set in a fictional location, taking instead place in Tokyo like the main ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series.
** This is the first time in the series where somewhere outside of Japan is visited. Specifically, the Phantom Thieves briefly go to Honolulu, Hawaii for their school trip. Yusuke was also meant to visit Los Angeles, but ended up in Hawaii as well.
** It's also the first time in the series that the protagonist and their party ''don't'' fight in [[SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack school uniforms]]. Every ''Persona'' game up to that point had some degree of justification why the protagonists are fighting gods and demons in their school uniforms.
** In ''3'' and ''4'', the Dark Hour and the aptly-named Midnight Channel occur at midnight. In this game, nothing significant happens at midnight.
** In ''3'' and the English dub of ''4'', the actor who voices the protagonist also voices another major character [[spoiler:who initially seems to be a friend but is ultimately a major antagonist.]] Joker does not share his VA with anyone else in the game.
* BreakingTheFourthWall: Atlus published an ad in an actual Japanese newspaper, appearing as a CutAndPasteNote, that proclaimed "The Phantom" (Joker) would appear at the February 2015 event that revealed new ''Persona 5'' footage. Sure enough, he ended up appearing as his CallingCard announced, "shot out" the lights, and proceeded to reveal the very first gameplay trailer for ''Persona 5''.
** The game also does this fairly directly in its interface. The pause menu shows Joker shielding himself from your gaze, as if ''he'' is a real person and you are a fake staring at him.
** Loading screens also semi-frequently show the tagline "Take Your Time". This isn't "take your time" in the sense of "be thorough and cautious" - it's "Take Your Time" in the same way that the Phantom Thieves "Take Your Heart" i.e. the game is acknowledging that it's stealing your time by making you look at a loading screen.
* BreakUpDemand: While helping out Chihaya, the protagonist meets a man who's being pressured to break off his engagement to the woman he loves because his boss wants him to marry the boss's daughter. It's not clear whether an actual ultimatum was issued, but it's clear that his career is in danger if he marries the woman he loves although Joker inspires him to follow his heart anyway.
* BreatherEpisode:
** Downplayed with the Kaneshiro arc. While there are high stakes involved and critical story events do happen like the Thieves catching wind of the mental shutdowns being connected to the Metaverse, the fight against Kaneshiro's Shadow has him turning into a [[StealthPun fly]] [[BigCreepyCrawlies man]] (that's just him in his regular form with fly eyes and wings) throwing out slangs comically and piloting a cartoonishly designed HumongousMecha shaped like a piggy bank named Piggytron.
** The Hawaii school trip plays this straight, since any story-critical events related to it happen offscreen. You can even partake in [[CallBack another]] Operation: Babe-Hunt.
* BribingYourWayToVictory:
** The game's paid DownloadableContent include accessories that boost your EXP or cash after battles, and overpowered [[GuardianEntity Personas]] with end game stats and elemental protections that you can summon once for free, even in the very first dungeon. ''Royal'' makes this DLC available for free, but adds more paid DLC with more overpowered Personas.
** This is done in-universe in ''Royal'' with Kaneshiro's Palace. There's a few golden doors that Kaneshiro makes his men pay to open if they want to pass through, with the Phantom Thieves noting what a BadBoss this makes him. You can also have Joker play twenty thousand yen to open each of these doors to [[DungeonBypass skip an enemy gauntlet]] if you want to.
** Also in universe, once you unlock the Affinity Reading from the fortune teller you can simply pay her 5000 yen to boost your affinity with a confidant so that your next interaction with them will rank up their confidant rating instead of spending time hanging out with them.
* BrickJoke:
** In Madarame's Palace, once the group reaches the Treasure spot, Ryuji thinks the treasure is a self-portrait of Madarame. Later, when the group takes the treasure outside the palace, they find it really is a self-portrait, except it's not the treasure, because Madarame switched it with the real treasure.
** Morgana has the ability to shapeshift himself into a black Citroën H Van for the Phantom Thieves to travel around in the Metaverse. Come the [[spoiler:Good Ending when the Protagonist meets the other Phantom Thieves as he's about to leave Tokyo, not only have they somehow managed to find a Citroën H Van (a car that as of the game's release date had been out of production for over 30 years) for them to use to drive Joker back to his hometown, ''Morgana'' is the one who ended up fixing the van when it broke down. Morgana lampshades the situation.]]
--->'''Morgana:''' [[spoiler:(''while holding a sparkplug on his mouth, a wrench on his right hand, and a screwdriver wrapped on his tail'') Why the heck am I in charge of the car again?]]
** One that is completely optional. Talking to Ryuji about the library early in the game has him angry that the student council doesn't allow manga in the library. In Futaba's confidant with Makoto, the latter says the library now has manga thanks to some vocal students.
** At the end of the final (in Vanilla) Palace, Makoto and Ryuji fit in at a restaurant by Makoto ordering Sautéd Foie Gras and lamb. After beating the Palace ruler the Thieves ask where they want to eat. Futaba says she wants Sautéd Foie Gras.
** Ryuji complains about Morgana's inability to transform into a helicopter in Kaneshiro's Palace. [[spoiler:Near the end of ''Royal'', Morgana manages to transform into one to have the team escape Maruki's Palace.]]
* BrokenAesop: Discussed.
** Right up to the end, ''Persona 5''[='=]s message is quite clear, [[HardTruthAesop though it's not a happy message]]: "Everyday society largely doesn't give a flying curlywhirly about injustice; they keep their heads down, even if the world is falling apart around them because they don't want to make life harder for themselves. Consequently, they allow corrupt people to get away with anything. Kids can't trust adults, especially the ones they depend on; self-centered adults are just trying to exploit them or worse." The Phantom Thieves all experience something like this themselves to various degrees, and even note how people don't really seem to care about the good they're doing. In reality, what happens in this case is actually [[spoiler:society's corruption is deliberately rigged, set up and dismantled by the machinations of a false god to justify his absolute despotic rule over humanity]]. One of the Bad Endings takes this message to the logical conclusion, with [[spoiler:the protagonist letting his misanthropy and dissatisfaction with society get the better of him and thus he discards all of his comrades, gets his lot in with Yaldabaoth so that he can rule as a despot through the fear of forced heart-changing]].
** In order to get the Good Ending, you have to break this [[{{Deconstruction}} rapidly-decaying Aesop]] and pull a DeconReconSwitch. If this option is taken, the message changes to "You have to stand up to corrupt people in power, because everyday society has become apathetic, [[RousseauWasRight but since they're overall good people, they can be inspired to do the right thing]] if given the proper nudge. You can't just give up on the world and do whatever you please without regard for others, because then you're no better than the corrupt people you claim to be above. While many adults are corrupt, there are genuinely good ones, so don't write them off at large." It's pretty telling that this is the game's true intent since you can have just as many if not more adult Confidants (Ex.: Sojiro, Iwai, Kawakami) as you do teenage Confidants (Ex.: Haru, Ryuji, Hifumi).
* BuildLikeAnEgyptian: The fourth Palace has the Phantom Thieves trying to infiltrate a pyramid in the middle of a desert. The ruler of the Palace is also dressed like an ancient Egyptian ruler.
* TheBusCameBack:
** [[VideoGame/Persona3 Makoto Yuki]] and [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yu Narukami]] reappear in ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' as DLC bosses. Though the former [[spoiler:is dead due to being [[HeroicSacrifice The Great Seal]] in order to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt]], both protagonists' appearances are explained as being "cognitive echoes" of their original selves.
** Several demons return as Shadows for [[spoiler:Maruki's Palace]], such as Hastur and Byakhee who have only appeared in ''VideoGame/Persona2'' prior to their comeback. [[spoiler:Fitting as Maruki's Palace is themed after Lovecraftian mythos]].
* BusmansHoliday: While the Phantom Thieves don't go after any targets in Hawaii, their school trip there is pretty much a carbon copy of an average day in Japan except there's a beach. Poor planning meant there were no activities available for the students who can't even plan them for themselves due to lack of funding and there's even a Big Bang Burger. The group is also mostly together, as Yusuke ends up in Hawaii after a storm stopped his plane from landing in Los Angeles, while Futaba and Morgana are still in Japan, but take the form of spyware planted on Joker's phone. Even Kasumi gets added at the tail end of the trip in ''Royal'', as she's conveniently there for a training camp.
-->'''Makoto:''' ...Hey, we're on our phones and chatting. This is no different from when we're in Japan.
* ButNowIMustGo: At the end of the game, the protagonist completes his year-long probation, and leaves Tokyo to return to his hometown.
* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: A glowing blue butterfly appears each time the protagonist is about to die in the story, urging him to overcome his impending doom. This includes when he's about to be executed in Kamoshida's Palace and when he's brought into the interrogation room [[spoiler:where the conspiracy intends to assassinate him]]. Similarly, glowing butterflies surround a fallen character when you use revive items or magic on them.
* ButThouMust:
** If you refuse to accept the opening ThisIsAWorkOfFiction disclaimer, Igor proceeds to say "Well, then you can't play this game" and returns you to the StartScreen.
** Quite a few dialogue options, particularly to IM conversations, have two or three responses that are essentially the same thing. Also, even if Joker says things that seem counter-intuitive, like arguing against taking down a target, either he'll be countermanded by the other party members, or later plot revelations will establish the target as clearly and unambiguously evil and force the party to act against them anyway.
** This actually becomes a plot point during the Casino palace. [[spoiler:When Goro suggests that the party steal her heart on a specific date, you can't go against him, as the other party members will shout you down if you try. Of course, since the party ''knows'' that Goro plans to betray them on that date, they can't have you messing things up by taking care of business prematurely.]]
** Before TheReveal, Sae asks if [[spoiler:Goro Akechi is one of the Phantom Thieves]], and your options are "No", "[[spoiler:Not Akechi]]", and "That's impossible". [[spoiler:Guess who TheMole turns out to be?]]
** In ''Royal'', Morgana will not let you fight Madarame on May 30. This is because there's a plot-related event where Kasumi's Confidant is established.
** In ''Royal'', on October 3, the entire day is taken up by the mandatory [[spoiler:awakening of Yoshizawa's Persona, and the brief trip to the laboratory palace]]. However, this is during the period where Okumura's Palace is available, so if you end up sending the calling card on Oct 2nd and clear the palace on the 3rd, this event will take place on the 4th instead.
** At one point in ''Royal'', Kasumi offers to join the Phantom Thieves on their excursion through [[spoiler:Shido's Palace]]. Even if the player wants to recruit her, Morgana declines due to her being "inexperienced" and the player's dialogue options actively {{railroad|ing}} Joker into turning her down.
** In ''Royal'', Samael now has a phase where he fights Joker one on one, but should the player enter the fight with Joker on his own, [[DevelopersForesight Ryuji, Morgana, and Ann will automatically join]] at the start of the fight to heighten the impact of the one on one scene. Similarly, during the new final boss of the game, the player can fight solo with just Joker for the first phase, but Ryuji, Morgana, and Ann automatically join at the start of the second phase.
** If you try to express dissatisfaction to Igor about waking up inside a prison cell when visiting the Velvet Room early in the game, you'll be told you lack the Courage to do so and be forced to go along with him. This serves to introduce you to social stat checks in dialogue by giving you one that is impossible to pass on a first game. It's only on a NG+ that you can actually take this dialogue option [[spoiler:which also means you know the twist about Igor at this point.]]
** During Ryuji and Morgana's fight, the latter runs away into Mementos at one point and refuses to talk to you. He tells you to leave, but you're forced to chase him down so he can try to run you over first. And then you have to leave without him anyway.
* BystanderSyndrome: A major theme of the game is examining this trope. The people of Tokyo would rather let horrible people get away with doing horrible things than stopping them because that's easier than being good. Not to mention, the idea of "ItCantBeHelped" is a huge cornerstone of Japanese society, and as such, the only way for the Phantom Thieves to gain any ground is to break the law and take matters into their own hands. [[spoiler:That notwithstanding, however, the game also says that people as a whole are basically good, and that they can be inspired to stand up and act if given the chance.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C]]
* CallAndResponseSong:
** "Blooming Villain", the boss theme when the Thieves fight the ruler of a Palace, is an instrumental version. The song starts with a threatening and percussive guitar opening with strong bass notes, representing the villain, and segues into a more traditional guitar solo, representing the Phantom Thieves. This song incorporates the villainous {{Leitmotif}} "Blood of the Villain" for the villain section, and the heroic guitar solo is incorporated into the next track "Regret" that plays when the villain is defeated.
** [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth's]] boss theme follows a similar setup - the song begins with a wicked, frantic, industrial rock section that leads into an equally-frantic guitar solo, representing the boss, before segueing into a smoother, more heroic guitar solo, representing the Phantom Thieves. [[spoiler:The heroic solo is given a TriumphantReprise as the background music when Satanael performs his finisher on Yaldabaoth.]]
* CallBack:
** When the Shadow Self of an individual is killed, black fluid oozes from their mouth similar to victims of Shadow attacks and Apathy Syndrome in ''VideoGame/Persona3''.
** Just like [[VideoGame/Persona4 the previous game]] the first dungeon is a castle.
** After being thrown in Kamoshida's Palace dungeon with Joker, Ryuji wonders if they're on a TV set, hearkening back to the [[VideoGame/Persona4 Midnight Channel dungeons]], which were technically TV sets.
** Similarly, this is not the first time we see the effect of an individual if their Shadow Selves are killed instead of being accepted or rejected. In ''[[VideoGame/Persona2 Persona 2: Innocent Sin]]'', after her Shadow Self commits suicide, Yukino becomes an EmptyShell similar to [[spoiler:Akechi's victims.]]
** The Pyramid, Futaba's Palace, is a ''massive'' one and subversion to ''VideoGame/Persona4'' as well as to ''VideoGame/Persona3 FES''. Unlike the other Palaces up to that point, the Phantom Thieves are seeking to help someone by healing their mind using the Palaces, just like the characters in ''4''. At the end, Futaba accepts her Shadow which becomes her Persona. However, the fact that Futaba's Shadow is her repressed ''positive'' feelings is a CallBack to ''The Answer'' scenario in ''3'''s UpdatedRerelease where Metis, Aigis' Shadow Self formed from her repressed humanity, is undoubtedly a positive influence on her. It also works a a call back to the Shadow Rise and Shadow Teddie fights in ''4''. Just like in that game, you unlock a new navigator through a BaitAndSwitchBoss.
*** When Morgana transforms into his bus form in the desert crossing cutscene, Yusuke says [[AscendedMeme "I've been waiting for this!"]], Akihiko's signature battle quote.
*** Also, upon completing her palace, Futaba holes up in her room to rest until the plot kicks in, not unlike the victims who were rescued from the TV world.
** In the same vein, Mementos seems to hearken back to [[VideoGame/Persona3 Tartarus]], being one giant dungeon that you explore over the course of the entire game. In fact, Mementos almost seems to be an inversion of Tartarus in structure and design, with it being a decent into what could be considered Hell and its overall red color scheme, as opposed to having to climb up Tartarus, which has an overall blue color scheme.
** Also in the same vein, an early conversation during the events of ''The Answer,'' Mitsuru mentions how S.E.E.S. is powerless to change society. Fast forward six-seven years InUniverse, and we got ourselves the Phantom Thieves of Hearts trying to do exactly that.
** Ryuji is a track team member who suffered a crippling leg injury, just like [[VideoGame/Persona3 Kazushi]]. For bonus points, they both represent the Chariot arcana. He also has a distinct penchant for meat, which means he'd probably get along well with [[VideoGame/Persona4 his immediate predecessor, Chie]] (or fight with her over the last bit of steak). Another old character he has even greater similarities with is [[VideoGame/Persona2 Anna Yoshizaka]]; not only are they both ex-athletes with [[CareerEndingInjury career ending injuries]], they are both seen as delinquents, are powerful Persona users and work for a semi-legal secret group led by someone called "Joker". Bonus points for Ryuji's Ultimate Persona, which originally belonged in the Tower Arcana, same as Anna's.
** Two of the paintings in Madarame's Palace bear more than a passing resemblance to the protagonists of the [[VideoGame/Persona3 third]] and [[VideoGame/Persona4 fourth]] ''Persona'' games.
** A lot of the endgame is reminiscent of ''VideoGame/Persona2 Eternal Punishment''. [[spoiler:Shido and Goro are basically what would happen if the Sudous were working together and Tatsuya Sudou survived longer. The Conspiracy is extremely similar to the New World Order, with both extending far in places of power. Both Tatsuzou and Shido are confronted on a cruise ship, and shortly after they are defeated, a supernatural villain playing a game with the Big Good after having weakened him is revealed.]]
** When using any of the DLC legacy Personas, Joker's call-outs are references to their canonical users. For example, he has an education-related line when using Ariadne, adopts a more cruel tone with Magatsu Izanagi and Asterius, and makes a "Sho"-themed pun with Tsukiyomi.
** Towards the end of the game [[spoiler:the real world begins to merge with the Metaverse (specifically Yaldabaoth's palace) much like it did with the Midnight Channel/fog in ''VideoGame/Persona4'']]
** Though they were introduced in this game, the concepts of Palace and Cognitive Existence are hinted in the previous games:
*** The first game, ''VideoGame/Persona1'': The alternate Mikage-cho was actually a reflection of Maki's ideal world created when she was plugged into a machine known as the DEVA System, which makes the city Maki's Palace. The residents of the alternate world differed than that of the original in order to satisfy Maki (such as the cruel vice-principal becoming a nice man), which resembles a Cognition.
*** ''VideoGame/Persona2'': Beings born from rumors coming true such as the Last Battalion, the party's Shadow Selves, and the ghost of the still alive Maya. In fact, the way rumor functions in that game makes it a precursor of Cognition.
*** ''VideoGame/Persona3'': In ''The Answer'', a being known as ??? who resembled the late Protagonist is encountered by S.E.E.S. One character later explained that it was created when S.E.E.S. unconsciously wished to see the Protagonist again.
*** ''VideoGame/Persona4'': Before being thrown into the TV World, a blurry image of the victims can be seen on the Midnight Channel which eventually spawned into a Shadow Self after the victims were thrown into the TV. These Shadow Selves had the exaggerated appearance and personality of the original, which is how people watching the TV interpret them. Notably, the Shadow Self of the second suspect that the Investigation Team sees on the TV was how the Team interpreted him regarding his actions and their hatred for him. The dungeons of the games are formed from the kidnapped victims' subconscious which function similarly to a Palace.
*** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'': Similar to the first game, the entire alternate Yasogami High and the Labyrinths are formed by Chronos using Rei's memories. The students in the school are seemingly phantoms that perform the same action over and over again, representing the faceless masses instead of actual phantoms.
*** ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'': The illusion that makes Labrys and her Shadow hide their true self as well as making fighters act differently toward one and another function similarly to Cognition.
** Curiously, the protagonist shares the codename Joker with not one, but two of Nyarlathotep's significant minions in the ''Persona 2'' duology. Like the two of them, he provides a certain service to society that is fueled by rumor.
** [[spoiler:Lavenza's]] final gift to you the player is the Velvet Key, an item that was needed by the protagonists of Personas 3 and 4 to even enter the Velvet Room. She even says that it was supposed to be given to you at the start, but now it's yours as a keepsake.
** Much like the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/Persona4'', [[spoiler:you fight them in a HighAltitudeBattle with takes place in the clouds above the game's main location. Ameno-Sagiri is fought above Inaba which is visible below through the clouds, while Yaldabaoth is fought high above Tokyo, which becomes visible after Joker has Satanael [[BoomHeadshot blow a hole in his head]].]]
** Futaba's ultimate Persona, Prometheus, is the same as that of another hacker, Baofu from ''VideoGame/Persona2''
** Many elements in the third semester in ''Royal'' are similar to the SEBEC plot of the [[VideoGame/Persona1 first game]]:
*** The antagonist has the power to alter reality as well as using a Persona from the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
*** The new reality created by [[spoiler:Maruki]] is similar to Maki Sonamura's Ideal World, where characters's greatest desires and wishes come true. In addition, characters in the alternate world are potrayed differently from how they are in the real world.
*** Taken from the manga adaption of the first game, [[spoiler:someone took over the identity of their sibling, who died in a car accident]].
** Yoshizawa briefly sees Cendrillion as [[spoiler:her deceased sister, indicating the latter has been reincarnated as her Persona, similar to Kei Nanjo's butler.]]
* CallForward:
** During one of the mental health check questions in [[spoiler:Maruki's Palace]], the last question is: [[spoiler:"You've gained power to steal people's hearts! Thoughts, emotions, information...you can steal all of it from anyone in the world! Not only that, you can use this power without fear of getting caught! In this scenario, which sounds closest to what you would do?" The answers are: "A: Steal something valuable B. Never steal anything C. Steal my own heart to heal. D. Steal evil hearts to fix society and E. Steal the one I love's heart"]]. The correct answer is [[spoiler:"D. Steal evil hearts to fix society"]] because this is [[spoiler:Maruki's view of happiness]]. In [[spoiler:''Persona 5 Strikers'', the sequel of this game, this is how Konoe, Ichinose or the [=EMMA=] application itself views as the ultimate happiness of humanity: changing the hearts of the public by removing their desires so they can no longer suffer from the actions of themselves and others]]. As for the other options: [[spoiler:option A is for Natsume who stole his publisher's hearts with [=EMMA=] so he can make money for his plagiarized novel, B is for Hyodo who was a noble politican that let herself taken advantage by a corrupt legislator for a political scandal that she can't be taken full blame off to force her step down that forced her to steal the hearts of all corrupt politicans with [=EMMA=], C. is for Ichinose to "correct her own flaws" with Sophia only to fail because Sophia triggered her insecurities and E is for Alice who deliberately breaks down marriages by stealing hearts so men go after her instead]]. Needless to say, [[spoiler:Hyodo, Natsume and Alice end up badly in the hands of the Phantom Thieves and D. is exactly what led to Ichinose unleashing a nationwide-Metaverse catastrophe.]]
** In the ''Royal'' version, you can take Caroline and Justine to the movie theaters, where they remark that humans must immerse themselves in movies as a form of escapism. This a major plot point in ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'' [[spoiler:where [[BigBad Nagi/Enlil]] deduces that humans desire escapism from the pains of reality through movies, and trapped the suicidal Hikari in a nightmarish theater broadcasting pure negativity]]. In the Persona 5 timeline, ''Q2'' takes place during the Casino heist in November.
** During the events of ''Strikers'', the Police is still [[spoiler:finding an oppurtunity to capture the Phantom Thieves to save their public image, even if Shido and his conspiracy are removed and its remnants rendered incompetent. This is what TheMenInBlack during the credits of the game are actually foreshadowing.]]
** At the beginning of the new Third Term Events in ''Royal'', Makoto makes a comment about how Ryuji will need to keep up with his summer homework when she's not there. In ''Persona 5 Strikers'', Makoto lectures Ryuji about the assignments he's put off, while he tries to forget about over the road trip.
** In ''Royal'', there's a Mementos Target called Anji Fuwa whose family conditions are so bad that he escaped into the Idol world and got obsessed with an Idol called Lily-Nyan, to the point that he's buying merchandise until he's close to bankrupt and even Lily Nyan herself was actually worried about his well-being. In ''Strikers'', the StarterVillain Alice Hiiragi happens to be an idol and a fashion designer who uses [=EMMA=] to mesmerize the public so they buy her merchandise until they actually go bankrupt.
** Another Mementos target in ''Royal'' manipulates women into fighting for him, even going as far as bullying a few out from their schools. The aforementioned Alice Hiiragi also mesmerizes men in Shibuya to fight over her like this target, but for [[spoiler:a more sympathizable reason other than to feed on their suffering]].
** One of the targets in ''Royal'', Ryoko Aino, is the first unique target that doesn't need to be defeated in a fight to finish the job. In a hold-up the Phantom Thieves learn that her actions of stealing cats in Yongen isn't from malicious intent, but she is hurting in her grief of tragically losing her own cat, Snowball, and was warped by her desire to save all of them from being killed, even though she knows it's making the cats miserable. The Phantom Thieves talk her down to make her realize her misguided intentions and genuinely make amends without forcefully changing her heart. In ''Strikers'' this is how the Phantom Thieves [[spoiler:defeat the Jail Monarchs. The Monarchs of the Jails know what they are doing isn't right, but feel so lost from being humiliated and used that they believe revenge is the only way to validate themselves. While the Thieves still have to fight them as bosses, they get the Monarchs to peacefully surrender once they're defeated by empathizing and convincing them that their actions are wrong, and the Jail Kings willingly surrender the desires they stole and to make amends in real world without turning into weeping husks in the Metaverse.]]
** During a lesson by Mr. Ushimaru (who has been affected by [[spoiler:Maruki's ideal reality]]) on January 21, he starts a lecture about Justice using Featherman as an example and concludes it telling the class that everyone has their own sense of Justice. In ''Strikers'', [[spoiler:Akira Konoe, the final Jail Monarch is an avid fan of Zephyrman, a CaptainErsatz version of Featherman and he's an avid follower of his ''own'' version of Justice, which is to brainwash everyone in Japan with Jail Kings.]]
* CallingCard: [[PlayingWithAtrope Played with]]. You send out a calling card to the target, but it's required in order to materialize the palace's treasure[[note]]The idea being that, in order for the treasure (aka the target's twisted desire) to become a physical object that you can steal, the target must be aware that you're trying to steal it, so that it transforms from a vague desire to a concrete representation of their desire: until it's threatened, their twisted desires are too broad and undefined to steal.[[/note]], and unlike most instances of the trope you only send it out after you've already made your way through the palace to find where the treasure is.
* CallingYourAttacks:
** Characters shout "Persona!" or the actual name of their GuardianEntity when summoning them, and sometimes the party CombinationAttack.
** Asmodeus will tell you he's about to use his "Super Death Spike" exploding volleyball attack the turn before he actually hits you with it.
* CallingYourNausea: A notice of nausea happens after being told IAteWhat During one of Haru Okumura's Confidant rank ups, she invites the player to try out an expensive blend of coffee at a buffet. After the player takes a sip, she reveals that the coffee beans are fed to elephants, collected from their poop, and processed into coffee. A possible response is "Excuse me while I vomit."
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: The Metaverse Navigation app keeps reappearing on the Protagonist's phone no matter how many times he deletes it, and forcibly sends him to the Metaverse ''twice''.[[note]]Though in both cases, it follows the same rules that are later established: the first time, it begins navigating as soon as Kamoshida's keywords are (inadvertently) entered, just as it does with all subsequent Palaces. The second time, Ryuji uses the app to navigate back to Kamoshida's Palace by going to a previously entered destination, which happens every time you go to the Palaces later.[[/note]]
* TheCameo:
** [[VideoGame/Persona4 Rise]] and [[VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight Kanami]] appear in individual advertisements at subway stations. Ann even gives you the poster of Rise if you hang out with her at Harajuku, which can be put up as decoration in your room.
** Haru gives you a kumade of [[VideoGame/Persona4 Teddie]] if you hang out with her at Asakusa.
** You're able to buy goods from [[VideoGame/Persona3 Tanaka]] if you buy a busted laptop from the second-hand goods shop and fix it up.
** You can catch a glimpse of a ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' figure in Futaba's bedroom, which she purchased when she went shopping all by herself as the final part of her Social Link.
** Akechi gets compared to [[VideoGame/Persona4 Naoto]] in one television program.
** Takemi calls [[VideoGame/Persona4 Uehara]] to compare notes with her colleagues about an illness during her Social Link.
* CameraAbuse:
** The screen will momentarily "crack" whenever you perform an All-Out Attack.
** One of Morgana's victory animations has him bump into the screen.
** Sometimes when selecting "Return to Title" under Systems in the main menu, Joker will swing and crash into the screen, cracking it.
* CannotKeepASecret: Shadows, generally speaking, are very simple creatures. They're the part of someone's personality that they deny or don't make publicly known. They feel no shame or need to keep secrets while in turn being much more volatile than a real person. As a mere fragment of someone's full personality they lack any sense of shame or caution, so they might very well start bragging about all the secrets their true self is so desperate to hide. However, what they say is actually not ''completely'' reliable given that they have a tendency to exaggerate.
* CanonIdentifier: The series gives each player character a CanonName in expanded material and adaptations, but also distinguishes them by a title from the third game onwards ("The Protagonist" for ''Persona 3'', "Main Character" for ''Persona 4'' and "Joker" for ''Persona 5''). In ''Royal'''s DLC challenge battles, the ''P3'' and ''P4'' protagonists are identifed only as "S.E.E.S. Boy" and "Investigation Team Boy", respectively.
* CanonImmigrant: Each party member's bedroom, where they obtain their third-tier Persona in ''Royal'', first appeared in the ''Dancing in Starlight'' spinoff game.
* CantDropTheHero: The protagonist/Joker always has to be in your active party. While every other party member is required to be in at least one battle (where their Persona awakens), they can otherwise be removed at any time. It's possible to go into battle with just Joker, but he can never be removed.
* CaperRationalization: The Phantom Thieves conduct heists in order to literally steal pieces of people's psyche and induce a HeelFaceBrainwashing. The people who are targeted are also very corrupt and largely unsympathetic, to the point that their abuse of power directly endangers the lives of the main cast and their loved ones unless they are dealt with.
* CaptainObvious: The tour guide during the school trip to a TV station, who points out commonly known things about how television shows are produced, like that TV stations are funded by advertisements, and that TV programs are edited down to fill the desired length.
* CapturedOnPurpose: It is revealed that [[spoiler:Joker allowed himself to get arrested in the game's prologue as part of the Phantom Thieves plan to lure the traitor (Goro Akechi) and foil his plan to kill Joker during the interrogation.]]
* CassandraTruth:
** As part of his interrogation, the Protagonist tells Sae all about the Metaverse and working with a talking cat ''right from the start'', while leaving out details that would incriminate his allies. She has a hard time believing him at first, but is willing to hear him out.
** Joker can be upfront about the Velvet Room to his fellow Phantom Thieves from the start, but they don't believe his stories about a long-nosed man in a secret room. ''Dancing In Starlight'' later makes it clear that they eventually come to believe him, as they are not surprised by the appearance of Caroline and Justine, and indeed the Velvet Room itself.
* CastFromHitPoints: Physical and Gun skills require a percentage of the caster's HP to use. Stronger attacks require more HP.
* CatchingSomeZs: When people are shown sleeping, [=Zs=] come out from their head. This even includes in-battle targets.
* {{Catchphrase}}: Used by the hacker organization Medjed. "We are Medjed. We are unseen. We will eliminate evil."
* CelebrityLie: One day on his way to school, the protagonist eavesdrops on two girls talking about a guy who told one of them he was a Phantom Thief in order to impress her, that same guy being an NPC Joker himself can talk to. Unfortunately, the lie may have backfired badly on the guy, as the girl is considering sending his picture to the cops when the real Phantom Thieves get framed for murder.
** During one of the loading screens showing Central Street at night, some random schmuck attempts to get himself a date with someone by telling a similar lie, presumably getting shot down and met with similar results once the real Phantom Thieves get a thirty million Yen price on their heads.
* CelebrityParadox: Futaba's ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' reference in [[spoiler:Sae Niijima's Palace]] retroactively becomes this in ''Royal'', since by that point Joker had become a playable fighter in ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate Ultimate]]''. One wonders who Fighter #71 was in the ''Persona''-verse.
* CentralTheme: Thieves, Rebellion and Justice.
** Each protagonists' starting persona is inspired by a historical or literary thief, and the party themselves become thieves to reform corrupt or broken members of society.
** The party's ultimate Personas are based on mythological figures that rebelled against their respective gods and were cast out of the heavens for it.
** A person's reputation might not reflect their true character and you should make an effort to get to know people, rather than judging them based on rumours.
** Being wronged yourself doesn't excuse wronging others.
** Just because someone lets you get away with something doesn't make it okay to do it - taking advantage of someone's kindness, passive nature or inability to confront you without consequences is deplorable.
** The times when it is a relative or family member show that it can be much harder to stand up against someone you care about or to accept that you feel angry at them. Yusuke in his confidant still felt some affection for his mentor and initially completely refused help from the Phantom Thieves due to denial caused by this affection and Haru still clearly loved her father later in the storyline.
** Every individual is worth helping - taking down the main bad guys helps a lot of innocent people, but mostly as the player you are invested in your party members and helping them first and foremost.
** In ''Royal'', unattainable dreams and the merits of moving forward with experiences and choices that have left lasting emotional pain. Is it better to live with that pain or to forget it?
* CharacterCustomization: You get to pick the protagonist's name and personality through {{Dialogue Tree}}s. Further, the skill card and expanded fusion systems let you customize the skills and stats of his Personas.
* CharacterSelectForcing:
** Fittingly, Haru is practically ''required'' to both get through Okumura's Palace and actually beat Shadow Okumura himself: the Corporobos resist all but a select few elements, but Haru both excels in Psychic damage (which the most powerful green variants are weak to) and learns a move with a chance of confusing the entire enemy team (Corporobos are vulnerable to most status effects), meaning she can still do heavy Technical damage even if they resist her attacks. She's also the only team member besides Joker himself to learn additional Gun skills at that point in the game, which none of Okumura's Corporobos resist.
** ''Royal'' goes out of its way to ensure you use Kasumi during the Third Semester. A lot of enemies in [[spoiler:Maruki's]] Palace are weak to her signature element, Bless, which none of the other party members (aside from Joker) have access to. Kasumi's third-tier Ultimate Persona is both immune to Bless and resists Psychic, which the FinalBoss loves to throw around with impunity. The Superboss on NewGamePlus, [[spoiler:Lavenza]], has a phase that requires the party land a critical hit every turn, making Kasumi -- a CriticalHitClass who can boost the party's critical hit rate with Brave Step -- a must-have against them.
* CheckpointStarvation: Initially, this isn't much of an issue for the first third of the game, as Kamoshida and Madarame's Palaces have Safe Rooms be relatively close together. However, starting with Kaneshiro's Palace, Safe Rooms start to become incredibly spaced apart, meaning if the player is killed by a Shadow before making it to the next Safe Room, they'll be sent to the last one visited and end up losing all their progress. It's possible to circumvent this by returning to the previous Safe Room after making progress ahead and saving, but this not only requires a sizable amount of {{Backtracking}}, but also comes with the risk of Shadows {{respawning|enemies}}.
* ChekhovsClassroom:
** Class lectures cover topics like the Cognitive Representation concept that serves as the basis for the cognitive projections you encounter throughout the Palaces, Plato's tripartite theory of soul that explains how you're able to [[HeelFaceBrainwashing heel-face brainwash]] the villains, and so on. They are also very conveniently timed. For example, a few days after you recruit Makoto, you'll get a question in class about Pope Joan, her Persona and the figure thought to be depicted on the La Papesse tarot card, her Arcana. Morgana takes notice of this.
--->'''Morgana:''' Subconscious personalities... It's a fascinating topic, and it has a lot to do with us. That teacher's surprisingly smart, huh?
** In a rather realistic and justified example, any random question you hear in class may be asked on the next exam, so pay attention. And just because you were asked a question doesn't mean that that's the question that will be on the exam. Did the teacher follow up with an additional comment after your answer? THAT could be the question!
* ChekhovsGun:
** As early as the first dungeon, it's explained that the people in control can create "cognitive existences" of other people: they are basically copies of a person that's shown as the master of the palace sees them (such as the scantily clad copy of Ann that Kamoshida makes), or wants them to be, and this comes up from time to time. [[spoiler:This is later used to save the Protagonist from Akechi, because the police station is part of the landscape surrounding Sae's Palace, and she is the master of the latter, so the team relies on her having a cognitive copy of the protagonist in that room, so that Akechi "kills" him, then thinks he's dead.]] After that, [[spoiler:in Shido's Palace, a cognitive version of Akechi as Shido sees him (an expendable, bloodthirsty, and completely obedient underling) appears, and because Shido was planning to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill him in the end]], he ends up killing the real one.]]
** During the field trip to the TV studio [[spoiler:Akechi overhears the gang's conversation about pancakes. This is what tips Joker and Morgana off that there was more to him than it seemed, since he understood Morgana it meant he must have been to the Metaverse before and was in close proximity to them to be able to hear Morgana.]]
** During the second Palace's arc, Morgana mentions that it's possible to slip into the Metaverse without realizing it if it's an area with minimal cognitive distortion (i.e. looks like reality). [[spoiler:Tricking Akechi into doing this later forms a key part of the Thieves' plan to fake the protagonist's death.]]
** Related to the above, it's pointed out in the very first dungeon that it's possible to return to the real world simply by going back to the point you entered from. [[spoiler:This is used to sneak Akechi and Sae back to the real world after they've both been tricked into entering the latter's palace.]]
** When Joker takes a group selfie before boarding the plane to Hawaii, Futaba messages them to tell them that Ryuji still has rheum in his eyes. Just as they're wondering how she knew that, Futaba explains that she sneaked an app on the protagonist's phone that lets her access the camera remotely. [[spoiler:This is the same trick that the Phantom Thieves will use to monitor Akechi's phone calls later on.]]
** In the Casino, Futaba makes two identification cards. The alias for the first, "Taro Tanaka," is considered too generic to use (since it's more or less equivalent to "John Doe"), so she gives it to Akechi for him to throw out. Akechi secretly keeps the card, and uses it to win 900,000 coins on his own thanks to perusing the games rigged by Futaba and generous usage of LoopholeAbuse concerning the coin-borrowing service, enabling the group to meet even the revised total of 1 million needed for the final passage.
** Conveniently, the [=MetaNav=] has a bookmark tab in case you have to leave a Palace early so you can easily come back to it later without having to recite the keywords. [[spoiler:Futaba exploits this by hacking Joker's phone to pretend that he's tapping on the bookmark for Sae's Palace in order to trick Akechi.]]
** In ''Royal'', pay attention to the train cabinet where you first meet Kasumi. There's a blue poster of what appears to be a black silhouette of Okumura alongside the words "Live like an elite," presumably being a poster of his book "The Okumura Way."
** In ''Royal'', as soon as the traffic jam based on the mental shutdown-related train crash happened in the first few days of the game, Sojiro will talk about a 15-year old girl who died of a car crash a month ago before you arrived to Leblanc. It turns out that [[spoiler:the victim is Kasumi Yoshizawa, who died trying to save her sister Sumire from being run over by a car, and the "Kasumi" you meet is actually a product of cognitive manipulation overwriting onto Sumire.]]
** Related to the point above nearly every hangout with Kasumi displays oddities or inconsistencies about her. [[spoiler:And it's for a good reason, as you find out when she reveals that she's actually Sumire. The oddities were the result of Sumire's body reacting to a mind that believed herself to be Kasumi.]]
** In ''Royal'', early in the game, the Phantom Thieves meet Jose, a mysterious boy who's studying humans while he's in Mementos. He gives the team a star, which the Thieves try to wish upon at first, but to seemingly no avail. Later in the game, the star does react to and grant wishes that allow for the flashy Showtime attacks between certain pairs in the group. [[spoiler:In the end, Morgana is able to drain all the star's power to turn himself into a helicopter and escape Maruki's collapsing Palace.]]
* ChekhovsGunman:
** You can find Makoto hanging around the library at school and studying long before she has any involvement in the plot.
** You can find some of Junya Kaneshiro's henchmen in Shibuya, asking if you're interested in one of the "part-time jobs" that it later turns out they're using to {{Blackmail}} students, months before it actually becomes a plot point.
** TV shows will mention Hifumi Togo, one of your later confidants, as early as June.
** Throughout most of the game you can find a "Showbiz Manager" in Shinjuku trying to recruit a young teenage girl. His jobs for her get increasingly uncomfortable as the game goes on. It's all but stated that he's the final Mementos target, a manager who molests young idols.
** Similarly to the Showbiz Manager, there's a homeless man in the Underground Walkway in Shibuya that you can talk to throughout the game and seems to know more than he lets on. As it happens, he's a target in Mementos as well, being an ex-mercenary that's now a hitman.
** You first see Haru very briefly during the fireworks festival cutscene, and you meet her again during the ClassTrip to Hawaii. While you can speak to her, she isn't named by the narrative until later.
** The head of TheConspiracy [[spoiler:is Masayoshi Shido, who turns out to be the guy responsible for the Protagonist's probation. Justified by the fact that Shido]] was inadvertently getting in [[spoiler:the BigBad's]] way, and thus [[spoiler:they gave the person Shido had most recently wronged the power to eliminate him.]]
** The woman that was molested at the beginning of the game is brought up again near the end of the game, [[spoiler:where she testifies against Shido to ensure his imprisonment.]]
** Akechi is mentioned on television as early as April and will be seen in an animated cutscene within the first three days of the game.
** And that Igor that you see during the end of the first day in-game? [[spoiler:He's actually Yaldabaoth, the GreaterScopeVillain.]]
** In ''Royal'', during the new Palace glimpse event in October 3rd, you will see Kasumi encountering a cognitive copy of her sister in a violet-blue leotard outfit before it gets crushed by a Shadow, and the sister has her hair down and wears a pair of glasses. [[spoiler:That's actually the "Kasumi" you are hanging with all along, a.k.a. Sumire.]]
** After escaping Kamoshida's Palace with Ann awakened, if you pay attention, you will see a man in a brown coat coming out from the school briefly. That is actually [[spoiler:Takuto Maruki on his way home after enrolling to Shujin to become counselor for the sake of completing a cognitive psience essay. Just in time to see Ryuji, Ann and Joker materialising out of nowhere in the alleyway and learning that they were Phantom Thieves before they'd even given themselves the moniker.]]
* ChestBurster: Shadows in dungeons change from human forms to demonic ones by having their demonic selves burst from the chests or out the backs of their human bodies, reducing it to a puddle of back and red.
* ChuckingChalk: One of the protagonist's teachers hits him in the head with a piece of chalk from straight across the room in two scenes in the vanilla version of the game, and on a regular basis in ''Royal''. It's possible to get a stat gain to Charm by dodging it, if you have enough Proficiency.
* CityOfAdventure: Unlike the fictional settings of previous installments, ''P5'' takes place in the very real city of UsefulNotes/{{Tokyo}}, though the real district of Sangen-jaya, home to the cafe where the protagonist lives, is replaced with a fictionalized version named [[BlandNameProduct Yongen-jaya]].
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The guiding principle of the Metaverse: if the thought-based residents of the Palaces believe something to be real, then it's real. For example, the Phantom Thieves' guns are at best airsoft replicas that still pack the punch of real firearms because the Shadows can't tell the difference. This also causes a big problem when [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth overlays Mementos onto the real world at a time when no one believes the Phantom Thieves are real... causing them to fade from existence. (Thankfully, they end up in the Velvet Room instead of disappearing completely).]]
* ClassTrip: Partway through the year, the party members who go to Shujin High School get to go on a trip to Hawaii. Futaba and Morgana stay at home. Yusuke, who goes to a different school, ends up joining them in Hawaii due to plane issues on his school's trip. While the third-years aren't supposed to attend (due to exams), Makoto and [[ChekhovsGunman Haru]] end up coming to serve as chaperones, since the senior faculty are tied up with the Phantom Thieves investigation.
* {{Cloudcuckooland}}: A downplayed example. The few mentions that Yusuke makes of Kosei Public High School (the school he and Star Confidant Hifumi Togo attend; you never see it or visit it in-game) implies that it's at least a bit more...''colorful'' compared to the average school, especially the very utilitarian Shujin Academy. For one thing, their school pet is a ''peacock'' (Shujin's is a more mundane turtle), a regular item for sale at their school store is a book of eccentric poetry by their principal, and Yusuke receives a gold star for drawing a picture on the back of a test.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience:
** In series tradition, regular, "heroic" Personas have a blue sheen with white highlights, and they are summoned in bright blue flames, while the aura of Shadows and evil Personas is RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver.
** If you use Third Eye while walking around in the real world, confidants will turn blue with their card/arcana hovering over their head.
** Using Third Eye in the Metaverse will cause Shadows to glow with different colors. Green Shadows are at a much lower level than Joker (and can be insta-killed by Ryuji's Rank 7 skill), Blue Shadows are at a lower level, yellow Shadows are at the same level, and red Shadows are at a higher level. Also, treasure you can take turns gold.
* ColorMotifs: Red, in opposition to the somber ''VideoGame/Persona3''[='=]s blue and the upbeat ''VideoGame/Persona4''[='=]s yellow, to underscore ''P5'''s themes of danger and rebellion. It also heavily uses black and white for a pizazz-filled "black with white highlights" look.
** In ''Royal'', when Joker [[spoiler:is inhabiting Maruki's alternate reality, the normally white-on-black date display in the upper left of the screen is inverted - black numbers, white background - just to further hammer home that, as happy as people are, the world Joker's in is ''wrong''.]]
* ColorWash: In ''Royal'''s third semester, there is a noticeable gray filter over the outside areas of Tokyo, representing the chill of winter. During actively-snowy days, the filter is present in interiors too.
* CombinationAttack:
** The "All-Out Attack", where all standing party members attack every downed enemy.
** "Bullet Hail", where the entire party showers random enemies in bullets.
** "Baton Pass", where one character gives their turn to another to gain bonuses like enhanced stats.
** ''Royal'' introduces "Show Time" which are more cinematic versions of the combination attacks introduced in ''Persona 4 Golden'', as well as more versatile as they are more combinations than the latter as well as party members joining up in multiple attacks rather than having a set pair.
* CombinedEnergyAttack: The Protagonist defeats the BigBad by [[spoiler:combining the seven deadly sins into a bullet, which the ultimate Persona, Satanael, then shoots through its head.]]
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Shadows fought as normal enemies ''usually'' have the same elemental weaknesses/resistances as their Persona counterparts, but not always. For example, Mara as a Persona is weak to Ice, but the Maras that appear as enemies late into [[spoiler:the Mementos Depths]] are not, and in fact have no weaknesses entirely.
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror:
** The Shujin High School boys' volleyball team (and honestly, the entire school) is so used to Kamoshida owning the place that they're in complete denial about his physical abuse of the students. They call it "training".
** On a slightly more amusing note, if you take your time completing Kaneshiro's Palace and draw close to the deadline, Makoto will remind you to get it done ASAP, because she has been getting her own friendly "reminders" daily via text. When asked if she's okay, she will reply that she's gotten used to it.
** Discussed during Okumura's palace, when the group wonders why the robots that serve as the cognitive versions of his employees don't try to resist. Yusuke says that the more present oppression is, the harder it is to live without it, and he learned that while living with Madarame- even after Madarame's exposure and fall from grace, Yusuke can't help but sometimes remember his teacher fondly.
** This is the problem driving [[spoiler:the final dungeon, the Prison of Regression in Mementos Depths. It houses the Shadows of all the masses in society who recognize the corruption and injustice in their society but are too afraid to do something about it, and thus perversely long for the status quo to remain.]]
* ConsoleCameo: When Joker rides on the subway, you can occasionally see another passenger playing a UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita.
* TheConspiracy: The Phantom Thieves' activities eventually attract the attention of a secret, wealthy organization that seeks to eliminate them for their knowledge of the world inside the collective unconscious.
* ContinueYourMissionDammit: Once you get free rein over what to do after a Palace becomes available, you'll periodically receive reminders from the rest of your party to work on the Palace. Even if you drop by to advance their Confidants, they initially anticipate that you've approached them to start a meeting. However, if you're within 7 days or less from a deadline without the Palace completed, your entire party will stop being available to hang out in order to pressure the player to advance the plot.
* ContinuityNod:
** Goro Akechi is known as "the second advent of Detective Prince". The original Detective Prince was [[VideoGame/Persona4 Naoto]].
** Posters of [[VideoGame/Persona4 Rise Kujikawa]] and [[Videogame/Persona4DancingAllNight Kanami Mashita]] can be found in the Shibuya subway station. You can even get a Rise poster to decorate your room with.
** Black Mask's outfit is a corrupted version of the costumes from ''Phoenix Ranger Featherman R'', the ''Persona'' series's Franchise/SuperSentai TV ShowWithinAShow that first appeared in ''VideoGame/Persona2''.
** Futaba has a set of ''Phoenix Ranger Featherman R'' figures in her room.
** Similar to ''VideoGame/Persona3'', you can occasionally catch shows on TV that are talking about or outright interviewing characters from previous games.
*** ''VideoGame/Persona2'': A detective who wears distinctive red glasses (Katsuya Suou).
*** ''VideoGame/Persona3'': A legendary gumshoe who claims to have [[VideoGame/Persona4Arena punched a bear]] (Akihiko Sanada). Also, Yukari Takeba is still in college and [[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax still acting on the Ranger Featherman show]].
*** ''VideoGame/Persona4'': A female police cadet who apparently can use kung-fu[[note]]Chie Satonaka not only uses kung fu, but if you max out her social link, in the ending, she reveals that she's planning on joining the police[[/note]]. A convicted killer who claims he did it just because "the world is a shitty place" ([[spoiler:Tohru Adachi]]). The beautiful, young proprietress of the Amagi Inn (Yukiko Amagi). Rise Kujikawa still working as an idol at 20 years old, with a sultry and sexy persona nowadays. Although she herself doesn't make a cameo, Naoto Shirogane is mentioned during a segment about Akechi. [[spoiler:Taro Namatame has returned to politics.]]
** You can get DLC packs that let you wear the uniforms of students from [[VideoGame/{{Persona1}} St. Hermelin]], [[VideoGame/Persona2 Seven Sisters]], [[VideoGame/Persona3 Gekkoukan]], and [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yasogami]].
** In Takemi's Confidant, she makes a phone call and speaks to someone she calls "Uehara-san." Considering that Takemi's calling a hospital, it's entirely likely that she's calling Sayoko Uehara, a nurse who is the Devil Social Link from the previous game.
** One of the news bulletins on the train mentions an incident at [[VideoGame/Persona3 Wild Duck Burger]].
** The theme park [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Destiny Land]] comes from ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' (and was also [[AllThereInTheManual occasionally mentioned in other games]]).
** The drugstore in Shibuya is Aohige Pharmacy, the same as the one in Paulownia Mall in ''Persona 3''.
** Similarly, the flower shop in the Underground Mall is Rafflesia, the same as the one in Port Island Station in ''Persona 3''.
** Several of the vending machine drinks from ''Persona 3'' and ''4'' return.
** [[spoiler:Lavenza]]'s All-Out Attack involves her [[spoiler:splitting herself back into Caroline & Justine]], an ability that was established in ''VideoGame/Persona5DancingInStarlight''.
** A sign with the logo of Chagall Cafe from both ''Persona 3'' and ''4'' stands near Yusuke in the Underground Walkway.
** The penultimate dungeon has one to [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei its parent series]], [[spoiler:interpreting Tokyo as a half-sunken city]].
* ContractualBossImmunity: Most major bosses are immune to status effects or critical hits, preventing you from scoring a Technical hit or an All-Out Attack.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: In general, [[VideoGame/{{Persona 4}} the previous game's]] antagonists tend to be either dangerously misguided or can be redeemed, and most bosses are mostly trying to repair one's self doubts and be a better, accepting person (Indeed, most of the bosses you fight were the personifications of your party members' self doubts). [[spoiler:The final boss herself was a genuine WellIntentionedExtremist.]] In contrast, this game's antagonists are chock full of despicable assholes that are hugely selfish, sometimes just pure evil and [[HateSink there's a lot of intentional hate designed from them]], making the 'Black' part of morality a lot clearer. [[spoiler:And the final boss is also a selfish NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist.]]
** ''Royal'' is this to the base game, as [[spoiler: Maruki is [[WellIntentionedExtremist dangerously misguided]] and AffablyEvil at his worst, but genuinely sympathetic and a TragicVillain at his best.]]
* ContrivedCoincidence:
** School lessons have a weird habit of relating to whatever's going on in the story, don't they?
** The characters themselves note the astronomical odds of the fact that the man responsible for the false charge against Joker, TheManBehindTheMan to Yusuke and Makoto's abusers, and the man who murdered Futaba's mother and Haru's father are all [[spoiler:''the same'' man - Masayoshi Shido.]]
** The Metaverse app listening and reacting to Ryuji's ''sotto voce'' rant about Kamoshida; thus, Ryuji bears responsibility for ''entirely on accident'' taking them to Kamoshida's castle-palace the first time. Also, that Morgana [[spoiler:(aka the being created by the real Igor that was supposed to help the Phantom Thieves along their journey)]] was right in that castle instead of some other palace.
** Madarame just happens to have a door in his house that sticks out like a sore thumb against the décor inside. How else are the Phantom Thieves supposed to know where to look for evidence of his treachery?
* CoolCar: If you didn't already think the Citroën H Van was cool then you certainly will by the end of this game. [[spoiler:Makoto drives one at the end of the game to take Joker home and to replicate their Mementos adventures.]]
* CoolMask: All the characters' Persona turn into nifty thief masks when not in use.
* CopyAndPasteEnvironments: Most of the Mementos dungeon is a set of blocks of warped subway tunnels stuck together by random generation, much like the dungeons in previous ''Persona'' games. The rest of the game however, [[spoiler:and the bottom of Mementos]], is custom made.
* TheCoronerDothProtestTooMuch: The reason [[spoiler:faking Joker's death]] works so well is because not only is the coroner on the payroll, he didn't even bother to ''look at the body'' and see that [[spoiler:it didn't, you know, exist.]] This buys a lot of precious time until the ruse is uncovered and Shido has revealed his weakness. Nope, the death was simply ruled a suicide because the traitor said so.
* CosmeticAward: By taking certain confidants on a date to the right place, the player may receive a gift from the confidant. Some of these confidant/location combinations can be difficult to figure out, only occurring between certain confidant levels, on certain days of the week, or after the player has already taken that confidant on a certain number of dates before. However, these gifts can only be used to decorate Joker's room -- there isn't even an achievement associated with them. And to make it even worse, the shelf where most of the decorations are kept is on the wall to the camera's right in Joker's room, making them hard to see if you're not in the decorating menu.
* TheCracker: Medjed, a global organization of "hacktivists" who claim to be just by targeting corrupt businesses by stealing and destroying data. The original Medjed, Futaba, was accurately this, but her "successors" are just a motley group of individuals doing her own thing. Some are even impostors using the name and reputation for personal gain and commit crimes of their own; Futaba isn't thrilled about this, and it's one reason she opts to help the Phantom Thieves take them down.
* CrackIsCheaper: In-universe example. [[spoiler:Okumura's]] Treasure turns out to be an old plastic model set of a flying saucer that was popular when he was young. When the Phantom Thieves look up its value in the present day, they get sticker shock.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: This is how the third term arc's distortions turn out to be, starkly contrasted to the CrapsackWorld with [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth in-charge]]. Everyone is [[spoiler:happy and content, with all human tragedies and suffering being erased out of the fabric of history, Joker being a free man with Akechi loyal on his side, Morgana becoming a human, Shiho was never abused by Kamoshida and was happily hanging out with Ann, Ryuji reconcling with the track team, Madarame atones for his sins and lets Yusuke exhibit "Sayuri" in an art museum using his mother's name and Makoto's father, Wakaba and Okumura revived, with Okumura being a ReasonableAuthorityFigure and a BenevolentBoss.]] True enough, all of these seems to be too good to be true, and it obviously is. It turns out that [[spoiler:because you taught Maruki how to use Mementos in his psientific essay and he ''already'' has a persona who can warp cognition way before this, Yaldabaoth was somehow able to drive him insane and materialize his persona in a distorted form, so he occupies Mementos to run his "salvation plan" of giving all human desires with no strings attached. And it's outright said that the Phantom Thieves ''desire'' him to change the current reality by the subconscious level. While Maruki is genuinely motivated by altruism instead of malice or BlueAndOrangeMorality unlike most major enemies in the past, it doesn't make the situation any less terrifying since the whole world might be dragged into the voids of existential nihilism if he gets his way.]]
** This trope extends visually to [[spoiler:Maruki's]] Palace. On the surface, it looks like a clean, bright, functional mental health clinic, but a dark Lovecraftian tentacley motif runs throughout it: from the overworld appearance of the Shadows patrolling the place, to their demon forms (including the horrifying cutscene preceding the Hastur miniboss), culminating in the boss battle against [[spoiler:Azathoth]]. Lovecraftian Gods aside, the other Shadows in the Palace are pretty much figures associated with heresy or death such as Macabre, Nebiros, Belial or Baal. The last area of the Palace is the golden and lush [[spoiler:Garden of Eden]], yet the boss arena is dark and depressing, symbolising the madness at the core of the utopia.
* CrapsackWorld: There's a reason the Thieves are willing to risk everything to reform the world -- they really do have no other choice if they want to live a halfway normal life. Physically and sexually abusive predators are employed as teachers -- something both staff and ''parents'' are fully aware of and choose to do nothing about. Random accidents caused by "psychotic breaks" could end your life in an instant. The police are in the pocket of corrupt monsters, which sees innocent people arrested and real criminals allowed to go free thanks to their connections. When tragedy or injustice strikes, authority figures can't or won't protect you, bystanders are too apathetic or scared to get involved, and by the end of it you'll be so ConditionedToAcceptHorror that ''you'll'' probably be one of the faceless masses who just keep their head down in the hope that nobody dangerous notices them. Or worse, you'll snap and figure that if the world's full of rotten people that get away with everything and nobody cares, you might as well be rotten yourself. Oh, and not even [[spoiler:the Velvet Room that guided you in the past games will be spared from this, since the real head of the conspiracy has hijacked it as his headquarters. And the rampant corruption and distortions in the outside world? That's ''his'' doing, all for the sake of proving that only ''he'' is capable of ruling over the ignorant masses.]]
* CrazyPrepared: [[spoiler:Joker's fake death plan is ripe with this]]. To wit:
** Makoto found out that inside [[spoiler:the Metaverse's interrogation room that not only did their clothes not change inside unlike in pretty much everywhere else in the Metaverse, but the surroundings of the interrogation room were the exact same as the real world. Once Makoto told the rest of the crew about it, they immediately went to check it while keeping Akechi in the dark about it.]]
** Futaba found a way to [[spoiler:activate the Metaverse Navigation App remotely from her laptop by tricking the phone into thinking the user was tapping the screen -- after all, the app still follows the phone's "rules" despite being an explicitly supernatural element. Then, she used this trick to send Sae and Akechi to the Metaverse and timed it to the moment Joker's and Akechi's phones were in close proximity from their GPS data.]]
** During the Casino heist, the crew prepared themselves [[spoiler:an empty briefcase beforehand and merely acted like they were taking the Treasure inside Sae's Palace -- being Akechi's first heist, he didn't realize this wasn't their standard procedure. They also made sure before the heist began that the police would be waiting to ambush them and arrest Joker once they completed the heist.]]
** If you ask Futaba after you returned back to the cafe [[spoiler:post-interrogation, Futaba reveals that Makoto woke up one night realizing the possibilities of a Cognitive Akechi inside Sae's Palace, which the real Akechi could accidentally run into and realize he wasn't in the real world. So the team headed to the Metaverse and Makoto singlehandedly knocked out Cognitive Akechi, and tied him up somewhere inside Sae's Palace far from the interrogation room to prevent that from happening.]]
* CringeComedy: A new event in ''Royal'' at a summer festival, Ryuji makes rather cringey comments to a news team on-camera in the hopes that they won't use the footage. Yusuke's response is that his behavior was "truly cringeworthy". A later text from Mishima shows that [[EpicFail the plan failed]].
* CriticalHit:
** Physical attacks have a chance to deal extra damage, which is accompanied by an extended attack animation where the party member uses both their melee weapon and gun, or pops a creepy SlasherSmile if they used a Persona's physical skill instead.
** At certain confidant levels, teammates can offer to assist in downing or eliminating an enemy, provided Joker's attack didn't do this initially. This can range from a melee attack utilizing their weapon to its full extent, i.e. Ann using a NoblewomansLaugh and beating the crap out of her target, Ryuji winding up for a grand slam, Yusuke showing his skill as an IaijutsuPractitioner, etc.; or a ranged attack where both Joker and the teammate line up shots on the target, accompanied by a convenient bullseye background.
* CruelMercy: Ann Takamaki's rationalization for sparing Kamoshida's shadow: "I think revenge is better served if I can make him repent. Realizing what he's done, he'll grovel for forgiveness for the rest of his life, you know? I just believe there are fates worse than death."
* CueTheSun: The first shot immediately after [[spoiler:defeating Yaldabaoth]] is a view of the sun [[spoiler:shining straight through the bullet hole you and Satanael just shot through his head.]]
* CurbStompBattle:
** When ordered to [[spoiler:kill Joker by Yaldabaoth]], Caroline and Justine render their target unable to move before repeatedly bombarding him with attacks. The only reason [[spoiler:Joker]] doesn't die then and there is his HeroicWillpower causing him to keep taking their attacks until the twins start doubting their purpose.
** Happens in [[spoiler:the final battle with Satanael vs. Yaldabaoth. The latter uses his ''strongest attack'' on the party, only for Satanael to completely NoSell it, and Satanael finishes the fight [[BoomHeadshot with a single Sinful Shell to Yaldabaoth's head]].]]
* CuteClumsyGirl: The staff at the Akihabara maid cafe seem to be [[InvokedTrope going for this deliberately]], contributing to the creepy artificiality of the place's attempts to be cute and charming.
* CutsceneIncompetence: [[spoiler:Akechi's (apparent) death]] could have easily been avoided if the party had just used a Goho-M to escape the shadows surrounding them, assuming they have one. Then again, considering the person in question [[DontYouDarePityMe wouldn't have been too keen on the idea anyway]], it might be handwaved as that.
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: When most characters awaken to their Persona in a cutscene, they tend to incapacitate or kill every nearby Shadow instantly, which they then can't reproduce in following battles.
** [[ATasteOfPower Prologue Arsène]] has access to Eigaon and Brave Blade, two moves that are ''well beyond'' what the Arsène you ultimately start with can ever naturally learn, with the latter being ''impossible'' for Arsène to know at that point on an initial run.[[labelnote:Explanation]]While it's possible for Arsène to know Eigaon at this point of the game by using the gallows and SaveScumming until he inherits it, the only way for him to learn Brave Blade is to use a skill card on him, as it's impossible for physical skills to carry over to curse-type Personas in a guilotine or gallows execution. However, the only way to obtain a Brave Blade skill card is to fuse Futsunushi, which unlocks after completing Morgana's Social Link, and then execute him in the electric chair. The problem with this is that Morgana's Social Link maxes out ''very'' late in the game during one of the last few dungeons. So by the time you can fuse Futsunushi and execute him for his Brave Blade skill card, it will have already been well past the point of the game where Arsène is supposed to have this move. So basically, the only way for Arsène to know this move by the point of the prologue is to start a NewGamePlus. This is actually amended in ''Royal'', where the Brave Blade skill card is gained by itemizing Atavaka, who doesn't require anything special to fuse.[[/labelnote]]
** Ann uses a Shadow's {{BFS}} when she first awakens, but can only equip whips for the rest of the game.
** Goemon uses an area of effect freezing attack when Yusuke first awakens, only for Yusuke to lack Mabufu or any other multi-target ice magic in the mini-boss battle that happens seconds later.
** [[spoiler:Satanael]], despite being the single most powerful Persona you can fuse in the NewGamePlus, can't obtain its [[spoiler:Sinful Shell skill because that's what it uses to kill Yaldabaoth in a very memorable cutscene]]. To make it available elsewhere would render everything else completely moot. [[note]]Funnily enough, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J26ylExDKv4 hacking the game to add this attack to his skill set]] reveals that it does an [[SarcasmMode amazing]] ''one'' damage.[[/note]]
* CuttingTheKnot: All of the Palace boss battles bar the fifth and seventh ones utilize "special orders" that allow you to break through the boss' defenses and defeat them in a more efficient way. Some operations can be avoided, however, and a well-prepared party can just brute-force their way onto the boss with no issues.
** Shadow Madarame's special order involves having the player attack his four-portraits form with the same WeaksauceWeakness-inducing paint that he can inflict on you. However, the operation won't occur unless Shadow Madarame transforms back into his portrait form for a third time. There's no real need for the extra damage output since his portraits never revive on full health, and on lower difficulties, a sufficiently-leveled party can very likely defeat him before the operation even gets mentioned.
** Shadow Kaneshiro's order involves distracting him from using his [[RollingAttack March of the Piggy]] attack by throwing an item at him. While giving him an item renders him defenseless, you can also just attack Kaneshiro himself while he's on top of Piggytron to knock him over. And given that Kaneshiro only tends to get distracted by valuable items that your party really cannot do without (such as [[DeflectorShield physical/magic ointments]] and ''somas''), the order, despite Morgana's insistence otherwise, comes off as a rather bone-headed idea.
** In order to actually provoke [[spoiler:Shadow Niijima]] to a fight, you need to perform a special order that has you sending one of your allies to act as a sniper in order to expose the boss's cheating by breaking a pane of glass on the mechanism that makes up the field of battle, which takes up about five turns. You can actually avoid this by only having Joker in your party; [[MissionControl Futaba]] will call the Shadow out for cheating, ensuing the actual boss fight. Also doubles as DevelopersForesight. This gets averted in ''Royal'', where it can take two or three turns to spot the cheat and set up the sniper.
** The final boss of the fourth palace, The Sphinx, generally requires that you shoot it down with the ballista, which prevents it from attacking and greatly increases the damage you inflict with each attack...but if you're patient enough, you can just keep hitting it with long range magical skills. It will take a ''looooooooong'' time, though, as even the strongest skills will only inflict about 200 points of damage, and the boss has upwards of 8000 HP (the skills that you'll have normally at the time you fight the boss will inflict about 50-75 damage).
* {{Cyberspace}}: While the primary theme is TempleOfDoom, Futaba's Palace has several [[HailFirePeaks computer motifs]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* DamnYouMuscleMemory:
** Due to the interface overhaul in ''Persona 5'', players who later return to previous Persona games after playing it find themselves accidentally wasting turns due to being overly familiar with the newer combat controls. Most notably, in ''5'' Personas are summoned with the triangle button, and in ''Persona 3/FES/P 4/G'' that same button rushes the enemy. Using skills and attacks is based on a simpler list-scrolling based UI which makes it counter-intuitive for players familiar with ''5''.
** In the original release, the square button could be used during dialogue scenes to view the log of previously spoken lines, while in ''Royal'' it toggles the auto advance on and off. Veteran players might find themselves getting stuck on a single line of dialogue when they meant to go back and reread a previous line.
* DancingTheme: The main characters can be seen dancing around the city in the opening animation that plays before the title screen. The poses and spins make it look like they're figure skating on concrete.
* DareToBeBadass: How the Persona awakenings go. The Persona reaches out to the character, urging them to be honest with what they want, form a contract, and cut loose on those holding them down.
* DarkerAndEdgier:
** Compared to ''VideoGame/Persona4'', with characters receiving visible, bloody injuries, regular use of BodyHorror, the heroes being AntiHero thieves, much more dangerous antagonists and some fairly dark plot twists. As just ''one'' example, Ann's early game plot really kicks off when her friend Shiho, who is being terribly abused by Kamoshida to start with (to the point of having [[DullEyesOfUnhappiness dead-looking eyes]]), ''leaps off the top of a school building, in full view of all her classmates, including Ann''. That pretty much sets the tone for the ''entire'' game.
** It should also be noted that unlike ''VideoGame/Persona3'', most of its dark elements are drawn out from [[ConspiracyThriller political thriller/horror]], such as perverted teachers, political assassinations and ignorance of the masses.
** It's still LighterAndSofter than ''VideoGame/Persona3'' tone wise. The topics of the game are as dark or darker than ''P3'''s, but the game manages to be generally more upbeat than the rather melancholy ''P3'', [[spoiler:ending with an unambiguously happy ending compared to P3's BittersweetEnding.]]
** The DLC Personas come with not only their original variations, but also new "Picaro" forms, which are shades of black and red, and in a Shujin outfit, the idea being that Joker's mask changed their form.
** The ''Social Link'' system, which is presented as a friendship of sorts, was changed to the more morally ambiguous ''Confidant'' system. While some relationships are the typical friendships (for example, the party members), others are more like deals or agreements (Ms. Kawakami agreeing to let you slack off in class to prevent her maid service side job from becoming known).
** The tarot cards all deviated from the designs used in previous games, with most depicting some type of crime/sin/cruelty (For example, the scale in Judgment is unbalanced, favoring money over the heart).
** The Velvet Room's SummoningRitual changes from a Tarot Ritual to a guillotine execution, the itemization ritual becomes an electric chair, and a way to use Personas to give EXP to others is a hanging. The Twin Wardens are also both more aggressive towards you than earlier attendants, with Joker being trapped in a cell [[spoiler:until he has the spirit of rebellion to break free from this, when he himself was sentenced to execution.]]
* DarkestHour: The game enters this by the time the game catches up to the present day. [[spoiler:The Phantom Thieves' reputation is at an all-time low and the BigBad has used the public's opinion of him to propel his campaign for Prime Minister, putting him in a very good position to get elected. Not to mention that Joker has to fake his own death and the other Thieves are also scheduled for [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident "accidents"]] later. And somehow the situation [[FromBadToWorse still gets worse]] even after they steal Shido's heart. His evil conspiracy is still going strong without him, their manipulation of the media and law enforcement has all but ensured that Shido will go unpunished despite his confession and change of heart, and [[GreaterScopeVillain Yaldabaoth]] uses this all as an excuse to put in to motion his plan to RetGone humanity, starting with the Phantom Thieves.]]
* DarkReprise:
** Mementos' theme, "Mementos", was already pretty eerie, but it becomes more ominous and oppressive with the addition of a guitar, strings, and heavier percussion as "Freedom and Security" (renamed on the soundtrack to "Freedom and Peace"), the theme for [[spoiler:the final Palace, the Prison of Regression, located at the bottom of Mementos. It's also used in the credits for the bad endings.]]
** Sections of "Tokyo Daylight", an upbeat world theme, make a subtle, minor-keyed reappearance in two late game themes. One is Ark, for [[spoiler:Shido's]] Palace, in the violin melody. The other is the previously mentioned "Freedom and Security", in the electric guitar melody. [[spoiler:Both represent the willingness of Tokyo's public to submit to greater powers for order and, well, security.]]
** Played with during the battle with Black Mask. During the second phase of the battle, the song "Will Power" plays. Previously this has been a heroic, determined theme played when each of the characters awakens to their Persona. This time, it represents [[spoiler:Akechi revealing both his true Persona, [[TheTrickster Loki]], and his identity as the masked villain who's been causing the psychotic breakdowns. It also echoes his own desperation to defeat the Phantom Thieves]]. The song is used to clearly juxtapose against its previous heroic intentions.
** In ''Royal'', should Joker agree to stay in [[spoiler:Maruki's reality]] during the third term, a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06dl1NPsMAE more somber version]] of [[spoiler:"Ideal and the Real"]] plays during the end credits.
* DarkWorld: The Metaverse is a warped version of the real world that grows and transforms based on human desires.
* DeadlyRinger: The Bell of Declaration is one of the four weapons that the FinalBoss wields. The sound waves can [[GaleForceSound cause damage]], increase the user's defense, decrease the opponents' defense, or inflict Vanity (weakness to all attacks) or Jealousy (brainwashing) upon an opponent.
* DealWithTheDevil: InvertedTrope; each character's Shadow, the other self, first manifests as their voice with a magnificent bastard air either confronting them about not standing up for others or themselves, or commenting that they had been waiting for them, and offering them a "contract", which results in the Shadow becoming a Persona in exchange for unleashing their rage and hatred on the world that wronged them. However, since Shadows are part of them and Persona are Shadows given form by the strength of heart, it basically means it is a contract with themselves to no longer compromise who they are, which is what gaining a Persona essentially is.
** Case in point: Makoto gains her Persona after being pushed around one too many times by one of the villains. She is far happier and more well adjusted after this and decides to make her own path instead of just doing what is expected of her.
--->'''Johanna:''' You have finally found your own justice... Please... Never lose sight of it again...
** Near the end of the game, [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth offers one towards the protagonist; should he decide to leave Yaldabaoth alone, he would remove Mementos from reality and allow the protagonist to use the Metaverse as long as he desires, playing it completely straight.]]
* DeathByDespair: Present as a ''game mechanic'' -- the despair ailment causes the afflicted to not take any actions, lose SP with each turn, and eventually kill themselves. For players, this can be both useful ''and'' terrifying; in the case of the latter, should Joker get hit with this and not cured in time - it's an immediate game over. In the case of the former, during Flu Season days, enemies encountered in Mementos have a random chance of being hit with despair as soon as a fight is initiated...this extends to ''ALL'' enemies excluding bosses. Which means that yes, the ''REAPER'' can have a case of despair and kill itself in an encounter. Using this to the player's advantage is accepted as the best way to rapidly gain levels. This rather amusing oversight in regards to bosses was fixed in ''Royal''.
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth is killed by Joker,]] who is completely empowered by the prayers originally directed at the former, and [[spoiler:he's [[BoomHeadshot shot in the head]] by Satanael, when he originally set up Akechi to do this to Joker.]]
* DeathGlare: The Persona critical/weakness-hitting eye cut-in is now closer to this, showing the characters' pissed off expressions from a more dynamic angle. Special contenders include [[WideEyesAndShrunkenIrises Yusuke]] and [[RedEyesTakeWarning Makoto]].
* DeathOfAChild: Or more accurately, teenager.
** [[NonStandardGameOver Failing a heist deadline]] or [[spoiler:making a deal with Sae]] results in the 16-year old protagonist being shot dead.
** [[spoiler:Kasumi was just 15 years old]] when she [[spoiler:saved Sumire from a potentially lethal traffic accident, causing the latter to fall into deep SurvivorGuilt.]]
* DefeatEqualsExplosion: In ''Royal'', defeating a Disaster Shadow will cause it to explode and inflict Almighty-type damage on other Shadows, if there are any.
* DegradedBoss: Several mini-bosses show up later as regular enemies. [[ZigZaggedTrope Done weirdly]] however, [[ImprobablePowerDiscrepancy these bosses are often overpowered versions of the normal enemy]] as noticed when weaker versions of the enemy show up immediately after the boss fight.
* DeliberatelyNonLethalAttack: The Phantom Thieves only attack a Shadow until it's defeated, preferring to steal the Heart of their target to reform them, as killing a Shadow would murder the person in the real world. [[spoiler:Akechi]], on the other hand, has been killing Shadows for years and it's implied he can't hold back at all in a serious fight, given he leaves the entire battle with [[spoiler:Sumire]] to Joker, whom he knows could win without resorting to murder.
* {{Denouement}}: After defeating the final boss, Joker [[spoiler:pulls a non-lethal HeroicSacrifice to put an end to the conspiracy once and for all by turning himself into the police. After a few months, his fellow Phantom Thieves and confidants rally to get him released from jail]]. After that, the player can wander across the streets of Tokyo before calling it quits and seeing the game's ending.
* DenserAndWackier: The Metaverse is this compared to [[VideoGame/Persona4 the Midnight Channel]] and [[VideoGame/Persona3 the Dark Hour]]. The battle visuals and sound design is more cartoonish than the previous games. The Thieves also fight in comical battle outfits whereas SEES and The Investigation Team fight in their school uniforms. This gets increased further in ''Royal'', by introducing Showtimes, which are all very cinematic and comedic in nature. This does not apply to the game's story or to the visuals in Tokyo which [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration highlights how different the Metaverse is from the real world the Phantom Thieves inhabit]].
* DeusExMachina: ''Royal'' has a minor but crucial one close to the end where [[spoiler:Morgana turns into a helicopter to help the Thieves escape from Maruki's collapsing Palace just by wanting it really hard. While it's shown that this was possible due to the wishing star Jose gave them, there was no previous indication that the star was capable of such a thing, considering it had only been used to give the Thieves access to Showtimes beforehand]].
* DevelopersDesiredDate: ''[[UpdatedReRelease Royal]]'' introduces Kasumi Yoshizawa, [[spoiler:actually her sister Sumire]], who zigzags this trope. On the one hand, she's the only romance option to get a [[CombinationAttack Showtime]] with Joker, she actually confesses her feelings to him ''before'' the player can choose to make things romantic[[note]]Although Ann technically confesses when her romantic route is picked[[/note]], and numerous aspects of their designs mirror each other. On the other hand, it takes so long for her social link to open up (and can be missed altogether if Rank 8 of Maruki’s Confidant isn’t reached) that Joker can only become a couple with her during the [[LastMinuteHookup final month of the game]], and several romantic events like Christmas or Hawaii are completely inaccessible with her.
* DevelopersForesight: There's so many examples, they have their own [[DevelopersForesight/Persona5 page]].
* DialogueDuringGameplay:
** Compared to previous ''Persona'' games and the ''Megami Tensei'' franchise as a whole, there's far more idle chatter in the middle of gameplay without taking control away from the player:
** In Tokyo, there's a ton of idle rumor dialogue Joker can eavesdrop on, changing as the game progresses and the Phantom Thieves increase their notoriety.
** While dungeon crawling, characters will occasionally speak up in the middle of exploration - sometimes for generic lines offering assistance for when spotting a treasure chest or when Joker can ambush an enemy, while other times, it's more plot-specific. While exploring Mementos, the party has ''numerous'' {{Seinfeldian Conversation}}s that can randomly occur at any time.
** Cognitive entities in the Bank, Casino, Cruiser and Research Laboratory Palaces will have chatter as you travel through them.
** A relatively small one, but Ohya's Rank 9 Confidant event elicits different reactions from Joker depending on how far in the story you are. If the event is initiated prior to the Cruise Ship Palace, Joker will be confused when Ohya mentions [[spoiler:Shido]]'s name since by that point he will not know who they are. If done after completing the Casino Palace, Joker reacts in shock when Ohya mentions them.
* DialogueTree: Talking with party members, answering questions in class, doing part-time jobs, and negotiating with demons all involve picking multiple options from a list of potential responses.
* DiegeticSoundtrackUsage:
** In the end when the now-disbanded thieves drive off celebrating their [[spoiler:newfound freedom, Makoto turns on the radio and]] "Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There" first plays from the radio, before [[DiegeticSwitch carrying over into the background music at full volume]].
** In the true ending of ''Royal'', "Colors Flying High" can be heard as Joker [[spoiler:leaves Tokyo by train]].
* DifficultyLevels: You can play the game on [[EasierThanEasy Safety]], Easy, Normal, Hard and [[HarderThanHard Challenge/Merciless]]. Progressively harder difficulties give enemies higher stats, and makes damage from elemental weaknesses more punishing, making battles tougher. However, the story is unaffected regardless of the player's difficulty choice.
* DirtyCop: The cops who apprehend the protagonist drug and beat him to try and get information on his accomplices. The head of the department is also a member of TheConspiracy, and plans to kill the protagonist and their friends to protect his illicit activities. It's also mentioned that the police and prosecutors are likely to plant evidence and frame the thieves in order to pin the various deaths on them.
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: Assuming you avoided selling your teammates out near the end of the interrogation and thus getting a Bad Ending, you proceed onto [[spoiler:Shido's Palace]], the BigBad's palace. It features the climactic battles against TheDragon and the BigBad. However, [[spoiler:afterwards is is Mementos Depths, which is TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. It's the very bottom of Mementos and what Morgana's character arc has been building up to. It houses the GreaterScopeVillain, although it is a HopelessBossFight. After avoiding another possible Bad Ending, all that's left is the Qliphoth World section, which has the TrueFinalBoss.]]
* DiscOneNuke:
** Swift Strike is available as early as level 19 for Joker, but causing a guaranteed 3-4 light hits to all foes is a lot more powerful that it sounds. Don't be surprised if you find yourself keeping this skill on most new Persona you upgrade from.
** Shiki-Ouji is a level 21 Persona that Nulls Phys/Gun/Curse skills, an absurd level of resistance for that early in the game. Given the amount of Phys skills alone you come across, Shiki-Ouji more than makes up for his level in sheer usefulness right out the gate. ''Royal'' makes him even better by reducing his level to 18 and giving him Null Bless in addition to the resistances he already had. Moreover, his only weakness is the relatively uncommon Nuclear element, while gathering all the Will Seeds in the 2nd Palace gives you an accessory that ''removes all weaknesses from your personas''.
** Itemizing Ame-no-Uzume (which the player would no doubt end up fusing if they're working on the Strength Confidant) will create Senryou Yakusha, a katana for Yusuke that gives an impressive +5 Strength bonus. Even if its power or accuracy will get overshadowed later on, this stat boost continues to be useful into the late- or endgame, where the player would be using his physical skills more than his basic attack.
** The DownloadableContent allows you to pretty much coast through the early game. Even better, it's all included in the 2023 rerelease for no additional cost.
*** The Legacy Personas (Orpheus, Izanagi, Thanatos, Kaguya, Magatsu Izanagi, Messiah, Ariadne, Tsukiyomi, and Asterius), as well as the DLC Personas added to ''Royal'' (Izanagi-no-Okami, Athena, and Orpheus F) are overpowered for how early you get them in the game -- you absolutely destroy the level <10 enemies with the level 20-'''90''' Personas, even on Hard or [[HarderThanHard Merciless]] difficulty. What really drives them into this territory however isn't just their strength, it's that the ''first'' summoning of any of them (even the level 90 Personas) is entirely ''FREE'' of charge. Any summons after this should you use them in a fusion must be paid for of course, but still a free courtesy summon is too insane to ignore. Once item fusions are unlocked, each of them can also be fused into exceedingly powerful weapons, armor, or accessories, too.
*** By merely checking your cardboard storage box after Ryuji awakens Captain Kidd, you can get an absolute treasure trove of healing and weapon fusion items, plus ¥100,000 (enough to buy an SP Adhesive 3 from Tae or get through Chihaya's CashGate) before you've even [[OpeningTheSandbox Opened the Sandbox]].
** During New Game Plus, you carry over all of your money and registered Personas. This means you can summon your late game Personas from the registry as soon as you get access to it. If you hoarded money before beating the game, you can have a team full of level 70+ Persona as soon as the first Palace.
** [[MetalSlime Treasure Demons]] come jam-packed with useful skills that make them great fusion fodder, and will be recruited without demands if you knock them down. The first one, Regent, is a fixed encounter in the second Palace designed to serve as a tutorial for how they work, and cannot be missed. Said Treasure Demon comes with first-tier area-hitting spells for all eight magic elements, which is great if you're missing elemental coverage. Once the Gallows are unlocked, the Treasure Demons become invaluable for imparting bountiful amounts of experience to power-level your Personas in exchange for some money, on top of imparting a random skill they possess.
** In ''Royal'', the Councillor Confidant gives you Detox X at its second rank. This gives Joker a (reasonably high) chance to instantly heal himself of any of the normal status effects as soon as they're inflicted on him. As this Confidant is started fairly early in the game, before items and spells that can be used to heal status effects are easily available, this is a huge bonus. The third rank of the Confidant gives Flow, which gives Joker the chance to start a battle with Concentration (the next magic attack will inflict 2.4 times the normal damage) ''and'' Charge (the next physical attack will inflict 2.4 times the normal damage). These are both abilities that you won't normally have access to until late in the game and while it's random whether Flow will activate or not, when it does it can potentially end the battle right there.
* DisproportionateRetribution:
** ''Most'' targets of the Phantom Thieves, while not all on the scale of the main bosses, generally ''are'' pretty horrible people with crimes ranging from physical abuse to power harassment. Meanwhile, the Mementos mission required to unlock the Tower Confidant involves... a guy who cheats at video games. This is strange considering the villain of Makoto's confidant, an actual human trafficker, doesn't experience a change of heart in Vanilla/Royal (though he does in ''The Animation''), while this guy does.
** Some citizens try to invoke this by asking the Phantom Thieves to change the hearts of people they have personal grudges against, like their exes. All this does is annoy the protagonists, who lament that the site is being used by others to whine about people they don't like.
* TheDissenterIsAlwaysRight: [[spoiler:Maruki]] grants everyone's wishes so they can live in an idealistic utopia where all their past suffering is erased. While the Phantom Thieves easily fall under the spell, Akechi, being too cynical and broken to believe it, pushes Joker to reject [[spoiler:Maruki]]'s world. In the BadEnding, despite Akechi's protests, Joker accepts it and Mementos fuses with reality, causing [[spoiler:a DeathOfPersonality for Sumire and Akechi, the former forever believing she's Kasumi and the latter left a pleasant and friendly husk]], with mankind ceasing to progress as their wishes all come true.
* DistractedByTheSexy: If you level up Ann's Confidant, she can occasionally distract Shadows and cost them their turn by doing a sexy pose.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** A Mara boss in Kamoshida’s Palace is strong against literally everything except for physical attacks. In other words, you have to beat the meat to defeat it.
** When Shadow Kamoshida goes berserk and begins turning into Asmodeus, a clear viscous substance starts dripping onto the floor when the camera is pointed towards the Phantom Thieves. It turns out to be drool.
** When Futaba first awakens Necronomicon, it produces tentacles that abduct her and bring her inside, simultaneously changing her into her Phantom Thief outfit.
** In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'' [[spoiler:After the world falls into Maruki's reality, Akechi is one of the first people to realize it's fake due to him being unable to believe that anything good could ever happen to him, and vigorously pushes Joker to reject the dream world despite knowing he would likely disappear. Even if the player chooses the dialogue option accusing Akechi of oversimplifying, he will dismiss the issue and continue to advocate for the dream world's destruction. Altogether, this heavily resembles suicidal ideation.]]
* TheDogWasTheMastermind: The true villain turns out to be none other than [[spoiler:'''''Igor''''', the guy who's been your main support for creating new Personas throughout the entire game. What makes this an even bigger twist is that it's not even the real Igor.]]
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Because of the recent hit to their reputation, the Thieves can't send the usual CallingCard to [[spoiler:Masayoshi Shido. Futaba's solution is to hack into ''all of Japan's airwaves'' to broadcast their denouncement and challenge of Shido.]]
* DoNotSpoilThisEnding:
** For the first few weeks of the game's release, Atlus posted gameplay video and live streaming guidelines asking fans not to spoil the plot beyond the Futaba's Palace arc via photos and/or videos so that more players can enjoy the game.
** In ''Persona 5 Royal'', all footage from March to December are permitted. There's still a footage ban placed on the third semester however.
* DoorToBefore: Every Palace features ways to backtrack without needing to retread your steps through a difficult area. Generally speaking, after getting through an area laden with traps or enemy encounters, there will be a way to open a door or bypass the area without needing to go through it again.
* DoubleEdgedBuff:
** The Sleep status prevents the target from acting, but also slowly regenerates their HP and SP.
** The Rage status increases a target's attack power in exchange for making them uncontrollable and lowering their defense.
* DoubleMeaningTitle: In ''Royal'', the final area of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon plays a track titled "Out of Kindness". This refers to both [[spoiler:Maruki doing everything ''out of the kindness of his heart'', but also ''running out of kindness'' to spare to the Phantom Thieves, who he does not want to fight, but will if it means preserving his idealized reality.]]
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale:
** After narrowly escaping from [[spoiler:Shido's Palace, Ryuji sacrifices himself to save the team. While the Phantom Thieves are mourning the loss, he walks up like nothing happened. He teases Ann for crying, and she slaps him. Then ''all'' the girls back him against a light post while he begs for them to stop or explain. The screen then fades to black for a few seconds, then shows an unconscious Ryuji propped up against a light pole, implying [[WithFriendsLikeThese the girls had mercilessly beaten him up]]. Everyone but him just walks off, talking about what to eat for dinner. Even if one thinks he shouldn't've teased Ann, ''assault'' [[DisproportionateRetribution was a complete overreaction]], and the game takes it seriously when Ryuji's ''male'' coach breaks the kid's leg because Ryuji stood up to his abuse. The anime downgrades it to Ann, Futaba and Haru yelling at Ryuji, while in ''The Royal'', one Thieves' Den conversation has them belatedly admit that they were too hard on him]]
** Don't date more than one girl. [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Don't. Do. It.]] When they catch you on Valentine's Day, Sojiro and Morgana abandon you to your fate, and the game cuts to your broken and beaten ass lying on the floor of Leblanc.
** This is notably averted more often than not however compared to previous games, especially with the many minor female targets in Mementos, which consist of a lot of abusive mothers/girlfriends who need to be changed for their actions.
* DoWellButNotPerfect: When playing the darts minigame in ''Royal'', it's beneficial to leave some points left over on your third round and then allow your partner to finish (so long as you say the right thing that allows them to do so), since this will increase their Baton Pass rank by 2 instead of 1.
** Failing to max out the Councilor confidant before the deadline locks you out of the third term and shunts you into the vanilla game's ending. However, if you want OneHundredPercentCompletion in the Thieve's Den, you must do this in order to unlock the cutscenes exclusive to that ending.
* DownerBeginning: Both the InMediasRes prologue and the actual beginning of the game.
** The prologue shows the Thieves completing a caper at the casino... only for Joker to be arrested due to a member of the team selling them out, and suffering violent PoliceBrutality once caught.
** The game proper opens with the protagonist being framed for assault by a man who he stopped from sexually assaulting a woman. When he arrives in Tokyo, he's basically forced to live in a dirty storage room in a back-end shop that he has to spend several hours cleaning up to make habitable. Everybody speaks down to him condescendingly and makes it clear they don't have much faith in him based off his record, and he's perpetually one step away from being expelled and getting sent to Juvie. After spending only a few days at Shujin Academy, he finds out the gym teacher [[StarterVillain Kamoshida]] basically owns the place: he physically abuses males who stand up to him and sexually abuses female students, and everyone is too scared to stand up to him, or willing to turn a blind eye due to the good publicity he brings to the school. The protagonist and Ryuji accidentally stumble into his mental world, where his Shadow immediately decides to have them both killed, and the two barely escape with their lives. Shortly afterwards, Ann's friend attempts suicide due to Kamoshida's advances, and the three decide to become vigilantes to take him down. Emphasising how bad their situation is, the thieves are aware that stealing Kamoshida's desires could cause him to have a Mental Shutdown, but ''they simply [[GodzillaThreshold don't have any other option]] to stop him''.
* DownerEnding: The game has a few bad endings, as well as some NonStandardGameOver endings.
** Compared to previous game, where the downer only came through Fridge Horror, the first bad ending is far more overtly brutal as [[spoiler:[[TheHeroDies Joker is sadistically murdered]] by Akechi]]. This occurs either through the NonStandardGameOver endings, which occur when you fail to clear a Palace in time, or it can occur if you decide to [[spoiler:sell out your teammates to Sae]]. The credits will roll after the latter, with "Freedom and Security" in the background.
** The second bad ending can happen if you choose to [[spoiler:[[DealWithTheDevil accept Yaldabaoth's bargain]] at the end of the game. If you accept, then the Metaverse remains, and Joker basically controls Tokyo for [[BigBad Yaldabaoth]]. It's also implied that he eventually abuses his powers, making him not so different from his past targets]]. This will also roll the credits, with "Freedom and Security" in the background.
** ''Royal'' adds another in the form of the ''stay'' ending, and there's even two opportunities where it can come up. [[spoiler:During the third term, in Maruki's [[LotusEaterMachine distorted reality]], he offers Joker a chance to abandon his old reality and stay in Maruki's, where everyone can live happily, without any strife or suffering. He extends this offer at the start of the term, and right at the end, but they both lead to the same ending. If you accept, the Phantom Thieves enjoy life forever, but Mementos returns and is impossible to remove, and everyone, including the Phantom Thieves, are robbed of their futures and their potential for growth, with Sumire being metaphorically murdered and Lavenza and Igor left isolated from humanity]]. The worst part is, Joker is actually aware of this, and there are dialogue options that indicate that he truly regrets it. This will also roll the credits, but instead of "Freedom and Security", a rearranged version of [[spoiler:"Ideal and the Real"]] plays instead.
** ''Royal'' also adds another NonStandardGameOver ending if you fail to complete the new palace of the third term in time. [[spoiler:The Phantom Thieves aren't sure if they are making the right choice and believe their indecision was subconsciously preventing them from securing a route to the Treasure. Maruki visits Joker in his dreams and states that he wanted to let him accept his reality out of his own free will, but because Joker cannot decide, he feels responsible for burdening him. As a result, Maruki makes Joker sleep forever, where he won't have to think about anything for the rest of his life. The camera pans out from Joker, revealing that he's been in Maruki's reality for an indeterminable amount of time. Lavenza, represented through the butterfly, desperately tries to reach Joker but falls to the ground and fades away]].
* DownloadableContent: Both the vanilla ''Persona 5'' and ''Royal'' have lots of digital content that can be bought from the PSN store; all of the DLC for the original release was included for free with ''Royal'', and all of the DLC for ''Royal'' was included for free in the 2022 ports. Additionally, owners of the original [=PS4=] version of ''Royal'' have been able to purchase the additional content for free as of the release of the 2022 ports.
** Costumes and music from other ''Persona'' games from the original to ''4'' (including its spin-offs ''Dancing All Night'' and ''Arena Ultimax''), as well as other ''Shin Megami Tensei'' titles like ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV'', ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVSTheSoullessArmy'' and even ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIf''; ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'' gets a set as well.
** Downloadable Personas include [[VideoGame/Persona3 Orpheus, Thanatos, Messiah]], [[VideoGame/Persona4 Izanagi, Kaguya, Magatsu-Izanagi]], [[VideoGame/Persona4Arena Asterius, Ariadne, and Tsukuyomi]], each with their own darker-colored and marginally more powerful "Picaro/Zokujin" versions.
** The English language version includes the Japanese language track as DLC.
** Other pieces of DLC include a small selection of high end recover items, like soma, and the option to play on the HarderThanHard "Challenge" difficulty from the start.
** ''Royal'' adds some new DLC, including some new Personas (like [[VideoGame/Persona3 Orpheus F, Athena]], [[VideoGame/Persona4 Izanagi-no-Okami]], and Joker's evolved ultimate Persona Raoul), new cosmetics (including a set of Velvet Room outfits, Featherman outfits, and outfits from ''VideoGame/Persona5DancingInStarlight'', ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'', and ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney''), and a set of Challenge Mode battles, which feature the protagonists of the past [[VideoGame/Persona3 two]] [[VideoGame/Persona4 games]] as bosses to fight.
* DramaticRedSamuraiBackground: Any [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown All-Out Attack]] that either finishes off a single enemy, or kills all of them in the field at once will result in a special animation unique for the party member who initiated it, ending in a splash screen of said party member striking a stylish pose while black silhouettes of enemies in the background spray HighPressureBlood. Joker's splash screen in particular features a striking red background.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Happens in-universe later in the story. [[spoiler:When the Phantom Thieves are framed for Okumura's murder, Ann notes that the public are starting to treat their past targets like victims, even Kamoshida.]]
* DramaticThunder: It's only a crack of thunder with no music that accompanies the arrival of [[spoiler:Satanael, Joker's ultimate Persona.]]
* DubInducedPlotHole: There are some oddities and mistranslations here and there in the English translation of the game. All of these were fixed in ''Royal'':
** In Sae's first appearance, a police officer is telling Sae in the original Japanese that they got a call from her boss, telling them to allow Sae to interrogate their prisoner. In the English version, it's translated as if the officer's telling her she's about to get a call from her boss, despite how odd it sounds for him to ask the police officer to tell Sae he'll be calling her on her personal phone, rather than asking the officer to hand Sae their own phone, or something similar.
** Ryuji will mention his "Folks" at some points in the English translation, despite it being a plot point that his dad left years ago and he lives alone with his single mother, who explicitly feels ashamed for having to raise him as such, even now.
** Futaba explicitly refers to Morgana as Mona in one scene shown after her slumber when her heart is stolen. Yet, when it comes time for her to choose a code name, the rest of the team has to explain to her what a "code name" is.
* DubText: While it was present in the Japanese version, the English dub of the game made [[HomoeroticSubtext Akechi's feelings towards Joker]] more apparent, which includes changing a line that the protagonist can respond to Akechi with from a simple "I'm home." to "Honey, I'm home", with Akechi chastising him for coming home late if it's picked.
* DuelBoss: For an added challenge, clearing your Party before every boss fight (except for Kamoshida) can count as this, but the instances below are scripted.
** The Battle Arena in [[spoiler:Sae's]] Palace is a double subversion: initially, Joker is up against two Ganeshas, then three Rangdas, and finally finishing with a lone Thor.
** [[spoiler:Akechi and Sumire]] in ''Royal'' are fought 1v1 as part of [[spoiler:their Confidant]] and the third semester respectively.
** In ''Royal'', a new phase in [[spoiler:Shido's]] fight has him remove the other Phantom Thieves from the battle, leaving Joker to finish the battle himself.
** [[spoiler:The PostFinalBoss sequence with Maruki in ''Royal'', though brief, counts as this.]]
** Outside of the main story, there's also Sojiro's Mementos Request, which involves only Joker and Oracle, since the latter doesn't want the other Phantom Thieves involved in what she feels is personal business.
* DuelingPlayerCharacters:
** In the original game, [[spoiler:Akechi]] is fought just before the Phantom Thieves leave to access the Treasure Room in [[spoiler:Shido's Palace]]. In ''Royal'', he can be optionally fought as part of his Confidant.
** In ''Royal'', [[spoiler:Kasumi, or rather Sumire after TheReveal, is briefly fought against in Maruki's Palace before Maruki himself forces Cendrillon to go Berserk.]]
* DumbassHasAPoint:
** In one Mementos conversation, the group wonders about the true nature of Mementos, at which point Ryuji says that the easiest way to find out is to get to the bottom. Lampshaded when Morgana, who frequently mocks Ryuji's intelligence, says that "unfortunately, Ryuji is right."
** During an event near the beginning of the Third Semester in ''Royal'', the group brings up the ethical quandary of taking the heart of [[spoiler:Takuto Maruki.]] Ryuji then puts the argument to rest by explaining that, yes, while there are plenty of good reasons for their target to want what they want, and indeed there are probably multitudes of people who would be better off if the Phantom Thieves didn't intervene, that doesn't change the fact that their methods were totally in the wrong and the Phantom Thieves need to make a stand to make things right. After an awkward silence, Makoto states that she's amazed at how right he is.
** In ''Royal'', one of the exam rooms in [[spoiler:Maruki's]] Palace asks [[spoiler:what you'd steal if you had the ability to steal people's hearts]]. Ryuji immediately suggests they pick the option [[spoiler:D - "steal evil hearts to fix society", i.e. what the Phantom Thieves have been doing all game]], after listening to the questions. Morgana and [[spoiler:Akechi]] chide him for his impulsive decision because of the [[spoiler:unlikelihood of Maruki's [[BlueAndOrangeMorality skewed morals]] aligning with that of the Phantom Thieves']], but, as it turns out, Ryuji ends up being right.
** When the Phantom Thieves meet Jose at the true end of Mementos, he explains that his research into the humans has possibly backfired, as the more experience he has with them the less he actually understands them. Ryuji posits that it's just like love, before he's called out for an idiotic response by both Futaba and Yusuke. Jose then states that, no, Ryuji is actually correct, and his experience is comparable to falling in love. Even Ryuji is taken aback by him being correct.
* DungeonBypass: ''Royal'' introduces a [[spoiler:shortcut that allows you to head straight to Okumura's boss fight without dealing with the other Shadow mooks or waste your time to get to the lift. However, this requires you to back track to the previous area and find a vantage point where you can use the grappling hook on a floating UFO to get there.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: In ''Persona 5 Royal'', some of the Phantom Thieves and confidants appear in the background before they are properly introduced or become one of the Phantom Thieves.
** If you look closely as you walk into Yongen-Jaya for the first time (on April 9th), you can briefly see Takemi walk by.
** Ohya can be found interviewing a policeman about the Mental Shutdowns inside Shibuya's subway station on April 11, your first day of school.
** After Joker and Ryuji return home from the beef bowl shop on April 12, Akechi and Sae walk past them.
** Ann and Shiho are walking to school behind Joker on the morning of April 13.
** After Ann's awakening, when the party returns to reality from Kamoshida's Palace, Maruki can be briefly seen walking out of the school. [[spoiler:This one turns out to be plot-relevant, as Maruki is later revealed to have noticed them exiting the Palace, and deducted they were the Phantom Thieves from there.]]
** On Joker's first day of school, if you go to the third floor, you can listen in on an optional conversation between Haru and a teacher about maintaining the garden on the school's roof. She is also seen walking to school on April 20 and June 11, at the Inokashira event on May 30 and in Hawaii (both as a FreezeFrameBonus in the animated cutscene and in an interaction on 9/9).
** Besides seeing Makoto study in the library, she is also seen walking to school on April 15 and April 19. On April 21, she is seen at the train station with Sae. You can also find her on the first floor of Shujin on April 15th - in the immediate aftermath of Shiho's suicide attempt - talking about the situation with a teacher.
** Yumeko Mogami, a female classmate stalking Ikesugi (another classmate), can be found on the second floor of the school beginning April 18, and her side quest isn't available until much later in the game. You can also see her chasing Ikesugi in the scenes when you're walking to school (without Morgana talking to you), which occurs at random.
** Yusuke sees the Phantom Thieves leaving Mementos on May 7.
** Hifumi can be seen at the train station on June 17.
* EarlyGameHell: While the game is good in giving multiple options (including skills) to allow you to restore SP, the bulk of these happen later on in the game, making the first palace you tackle a situation where you will regularly run out and either be forced to use expensive items or leave entirely. Several other tactical options, like methods of increasing experience or money earned, are tied to Confidants that become available later in the game, which increases the tedium of progress in the game's first chapter.
* EarnYourHappyEnding:
** At first, it goes for a BittersweetEnding with the Protagonist [[spoiler:turning himself in as leader of the Phantom Thieves so that he can testify against Masayoshi Shido and ensure that he gets a guilty verdict. Because of his prior record, though, the Protagonist gets sent to juvenile hall; however, thanks to the efforts of the rest of the Thieves and the Confidants, they manage to clear him of his prior record, allowing him to go free early.]]
** ''Royal'' adds another, extremely ''twisted'' version if you max out [[spoiler:Maruki's]] confidant and accept his offer: after months of grueling battles and heartbreak, the Thieves can [[spoiler:live out the rest of their lives in a reality where everything went right for them: Ryuji is on the track team, Morgana is human, Ann's friend Shiho never suffered Kamoshida's abuse, [[HeelFaceTurn Madarame acted as a kind mentor to Yusuke]], Futaba's mother, Haru's father and Goro Akechi are all [[BackFromTheDead alive and well]] and Sumire permanently became her sister Kasumi in mind. However, this comes at the cost of their bonds (as the events that led to them forming the Phantom Thieves never happened), both Joker and Goro are noticeably unhappy about the situation, [[DeathOfPersonality Sumire herself is dead]], and Maruki himself is miserable due to not properly dealing with his own traumas. Whether the rest of the thieves' happiness was WorthIt is highly dependent on the viewer.]]
* EasierThanEasy: Safe Mode. In addition to making the enemies weaker and the players stronger, it's also impossible to lose. However, choosing Safe Mode locks you into that difficulty for the remainder of that playthrough.
* EasterEgg:
** In ''Royal'', rubbing the [=DualShock=] 4/[=DualSense=] touchpad or Switch touchscreen while in Mementos will result in Morgana purring like a cat as if he's being petted, while pressing the touchpad on the [=DualShock=] 4 or [=DualSense=], - Button on Switch, or Select button on Xbox/PC, will have him meow loudly.
** Also in ''Royal'', fast travelling and taking the subway on the night of Halloween replaces the normal subway crowd with revelers, including one man in a Jack Frost costume. Certain other locations have the normal crowd of [=NPCs=] replaced with costumed individuals as well.
** An additional one in ''Royal'', checking the Stats page after a fight that involved Ann and Morgana using their Showtime will see their usual portraits replaced with the Showtime's shoujo anime-eseque ones.
* EasyModeMockery: Zigzagged. Choosing Safety Mode prevents you from changing the difficulty for the rest of the game, and is the only difficulty that does this. However, the game lets you see all the content no matter which mode you're playing on; during the initial difficulty selection, the game even says "this choice will not affect the story."
* EccentricArtist: Yusuke is so immersed in art that he tends to view ''everything'' through an artistic lens, like being more interested in the plating aesthetic of food than in enjoying how it tastes.
* EldritchLocation:
** The Metaverse, a region inside the [[MentalWorld collective unconscious]] that warps into massive, unstable structures called palaces based on the warped desires of humans and is reached using a cell phone app. Mementos in particular, a manifestation of the Metaverse tied to the Shibuya subway station that's described as "everybody's palace." Its layout is constantly shifting and changing, strong winds are perpetually blowing through it (which the party members will occasionally describe as sounding like screaming), and it starts looking more and more warped and distorted the deeper into it you explore.
** The Velvet Room, an ever-changing location existing not in space or time but inside the collective unconscious of the human psyche, returns.
* EpiphanicPrison: A major theme of the game is finding how to free yourself of the metaphorical chains society puts on you.
-->'''Katsura Hashino:''' We may feel some sort of suffocation in this world today, but as long as the world is comprised of relationships among humans, it is a person's character, or a group's character, that will provide the "power" to destroy that "feeling of entrapment".
** [[spoiler:Mementos Depths]] is the embodiment of this. The entire place is styled as a giant prison, and all the cognitive representations within it express relief that they're stuck inside because it means that they'll be safe, [[spoiler:representing humanity's collective BystanderSyndrome.]]
** The Velvet Room, being shaped by the feelings of the guest, has Joker's room be a prison, complete with wardens, his clothes being prison attire plus a ball-and-chain while he's stuck in a cell, and executions for fusion. Near the end, when Joker is going to be [[spoiler:executed by Caroline and Justine for "failing", he instead rebels against this, gaining his Phantom Thief outfit, and the cell door being removed to represent him "breaking free" from his prison.]]
* EurekaMoment: A rare villainous example. Being interrupted by [[spoiler:an audience member's phone during a TV taping gives Akechi the spark to realize how Joker and Sae might have used their phone to fake his death.]]
* EverybodyDidIt: An odd example with the third term in ''Royal''. [[spoiler:All the driving forces unknowingly played a part in what led to Dr. Maruki becoming the PostFinalBoss. Shido had previously used his connections to seize his research, with Akechi probably still working under him at the time, while the Phantom Thieves approached him for his counseling sessions, giving him an idea of their desires, and Yaldabaoth merging Mementos with the real world caused his Persona to fully awaken in an incomplete state. This resulted in him becoming Mementos' new ruler through his Persona and what he had learned since then.]]
* EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench: The Rider-Waite tarot deck lacks a certain stylish ''je ne sais quoi''. And that's why ''Persona 5'' uses Le Marseille.
* EvilIsVisceral: Throughout Mementos, there are large bright red arteries running in and out of the walls. [[spoiler:In the final dungeon, Mementos Depths, it's revealed that these arteries carry the perverted desires of the masses for social order down to the Holy Grail, aka the BigBad Yaldabaoth. When Yaldabaoth overlays Mementos onto reality, blood starts raining from the sky and covering the ground, while huge structures made of bone appear.]]
* EvolutionPowerUp: Along with the standard stat and elemental resistance upgrades, your {{Guardian Entit|y}}ies' identities actually power up when your party members reach Rank 10 in their LevelUpAtIntimacy5 "Confidant" sub-plots; each Persona transforms from an AnthropomorphicPersonification of a {{Picaresque}} hero to a RageAgainstTheHeavens mythological figure.
* ExactWords: How Joker tells Sae [[spoiler:that Akechi is the traitor.]] Sae asks him if Goro Akechi is one of the Phantom Thieves which Joker flatly denies no matter what option you choose. Then Joker [[spoiler:insists that he wasn't betrayed by the ''Phantom Thieves''.]]
* ExpelledFromEveryOtherSchool: Joker gets expelled from his high school after getting convicted of assault, and no other school would take him aside from Shujin Academy, which is a stuffy elite preparatory school, all while on probation for the assault. Multiple characters note that, if Joker gets expelled from Shujin, he's going straight to jail.
* ExplosiveDecompression: Discussed in the Space Station palace. Futaba cheerfully informs the rest of the party that they won't explode when out in space, but they'll last 30 seconds, tops, if they cover their noses and mouths. Thankfully, since it's the Metaverse, the party can (and must) travel through space between airlocks without problems.
* ExtraTurn: Battles use the "One More!" system from ''Persona 3'' and ''4'' - getting a CriticalHit or exploiting an enemy's elemental weakness gives you an additional action. The new "Baton Pass" mechanic meanwhile allows you to pass this turn to any party member you've reached Confidant level 2 with.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The majority of the game technically takes place within a few hours, with Joker getting arrested and then relaying his testimony spanning over events across several months to Sae while she's put on a short and strict time limit. After [[spoiler:Joker fakes his death]], the game continues as normal.
* EyedScreen: Once again, a cut-in of just the character's eyes will appear when you perform powerful Persona attacks. [[VideoGame/Persona4 Yu Narukami]] also has his one in ''Royal'' under the same conditions in his DLC fight.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:F]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity: If you execute Arsène to fuse a new Persona, he confidently states that he'll meet you again at the end of your journey and ends his speech with an EvilLaugh. It probably helps that you can bring him back for a small amount of yen. Noticeably, he's also one of the very few - if not only - Personas who don't enter a despairing pose when facing the Fusion (guillotine), Strengthening (hangman's noose), or Itemization (electric chair) devices.
* FaceHeelDoubleTurn: ''Royal'' features a double switch between Goro Akechi and new character Takuto Maruki. During the events of the main story, Akechi is revealed to be [[spoiler:a murderous hitman who was ultimately behind the psychotic breakdowns throughout the game]], while Maruki is a [[NiceGuy kindly psychiatrist]] who genuinely wants everyone in the world to be happy. However, come the ''Royal''-exclusive third semester, Maruki [[spoiler:becomes a WellIntentionedExtremist who wants to create a [[LotusEaterMachine utopia where no one can ever be sad again]] at the cost of never experiencing personal growth]], while Akechi pulls a HeelFaceTurn and allies with the thieves to stop him.
* FacelessMasses:
** Non-important [=NPCs=] are generally far less detailed in model, most easily observed by comparing the protagonist to other generic student [=NPCs=] since he actually wears his uniform to code as they do. Look and it's easy to notice all kinds of details missing from their uniforms compared to the protagonist, theirs will come off as blurry.
** The portraits of Madarame's previous students he ruined are mostly done in a flat style with blank faces, with the exception of Natsuhiko Nakanohara and Yusuke's, whose portraits are more-detailed in comparison so the player can also recognise them.
* FacialHorror: When characters first awaken to their Personas, they have to rip off masks that are ''part of their faces'', causing blood to erupt as they for all intents and purposes ''rip their own skin off''. Thankfully, this stops happening afterwards.
* FailedASpotCheck
** This apparently occurred in one of the Palaces when the Shadows running the place [[spoiler:didn't find it suspicious that Akechi was using a coin card under the name of "Taro Tanaka" (the Japanese equivalent of "John Doe").]]
** After accessing Shido's Palace for the first time, it seemingly takes ''several minutes'' for anyone to realize that it is, in fact, quite literally a ship, in motion, and cruising around a flooded Tokyo where the buildings are all at least half submerged.
* FailureGambit:
** Joker getting arrested in the beginning? That was [[spoiler:deliberate. However, none of the Phantom Thieves predicted that he would get drugged and nearly lost most his memory because of that.]]
** In ''Royal'', Ryuji has a minor one: He plans to ham up his response to the reporter's questions when he, Yusuke, and Joker are caught by some reporters at the festival on July 17th, so that they can't use that footage. That evening, Joker can see that [[SpringtimeForHitler the footage was used after all.]] Mishima is none too pleased about not having been invited when he sees the footage himself.
* FakeDifficulty: More in the "time management" aspect of the game than the combat, but the game uses quite a few shortcuts to raise the player's blood pressure:
** You are regularly cheated out of free time to socialize and build stats, often without warning. Sure, you can't predict ''everything'' that will happen in the future (like Sojiro suddenly hijacking you to work in the cafe), but in a game about time management it is frustratingly common for Morgana to ''refuse'' to let you go out at night because "you must be tired". Finally, as with ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'', [[spoiler:the story ends after nine months instead of the promised year]]. As a result, similar to the rest of the series, it is ''very'' difficult to max all stats and clear all Confidants without either a guide or NewGamePlus, even if you're familiar with the series[[note]]However, unlike the previous two games, there's never a point where you lose ''significant'' time. In fact, you play through every single day from April 3rd through [[spoiler:December 25th]], unlike ''Persona 3'', which removes (via incapacitation) a full four weeks from the calendar, and ''Persona 4'', which removes several days[[/note]]. Unlike in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' and ''VideoGame/Persona4'', where social links were always available on the same days each week unless there was a plot- or weather- related reason for them to be absent, confidants in ''Persona 5'' don't have consistent, predictable schedules, with a couple of exceptions. While more realistic, it makes things significantly harder on players who are actively trying to plan ahead and budget their time accordingly.
** Persona negotiation options might be confusing to those who don't know which answers are fitting for which Shadow mood, which might cause them to be pummeled by the free turns the Shadows get if they decide to attack instead of flee. With a little investigation into the Personas' moods on the Enemy Analysis screen, you can at least get an idea of what statements to make to which creatures. If a Persona is Timid, be nice and understanding. If they're Irritable, show 'em who's boss and take no crap. For gloomy ones, resort to sarcasm. If they ask you about how you're going to eat them, or what you'll do with them after you kill them? Guess, and write down the results to make it easier in the future, or something.
** The Calling Card mechanic drains an additional two days out of your calendar, as you will be unable to do anything on the day you send it, then have to commit to fighting the next day (and therefore be unable to do anything in the evening[[note]]However, doing activities that favor palace infiltration such as making coffee, curry and tools can still be done[[/note]]).
** Bosses will frequently use moves that you need to guard against, but will take several turns to charge up. There's not any indication that they won't do the attack immediately, so most players would typically waste turns defending because they don't know when the attack is coming.
** In ''Royal'', the reimagined Okumura fight acts as this; none of the enemies are any stronger than their vanilla variants (and in fact have weaker affinities), but Okumura will fully restore his entire wave after two turns and he will cast Rakukaja on one robot and Hunger or Dekaja on you to make sure they become incredibly difficult to kill, so he can infinitely loop this animation and cause you to time out. What seems to be the defining factor however, is that ''one'' Rakukaja he sneaks on a robot, which doesn't seem much. In reality, if this defense buff is not lifted, it will almost always result in the buffed robot barely surviving after the 2-turn limit, resulting in the choke-locking scenario stated above.
* FakingTheDead: In order to avoid the Bad Ending where [[spoiler:he dies, the Protagonist exploits a phone modified by Futaba to activate the Meta-Nav app remotely, and a section of Sae's Palace that looks like the real world in order to make Akechi kill a mental projection instead.]]
* FanCommunityNicknames:[[invoked]] In-universe, as the popularity of the Phantom Thieves rises, the Phantom Aficionado Website becomes known as [[PunnyName the "Phan-site," with its users known as "Phanboys."]]
* FanDisservice:
** Kamoshida has a harem of topless female volleyball students in his Palace, all writhing and moaning in ecstasy over their "king". Even Ryuji is disturbed. He's also accompanied by a scantily-clad ValleyGirl clone of Ann. His boss form, Asmodeus, is a fat, misshapen demon in nothing but a crown, cape and pink speedo. In ''Royal'', he has a cognitive ''Shiho'' in erotic bunny outfit that you can kill in a few physical attacks just to stop his SignatureMove, tank the move and let her go, or attack Kamoshida himself and he automatically drives her away.
** The bunny suit overworld Shadows in the casino have grossly-exaggerated proportions and much, much too eager JigglePhysics.
** [[spoiler:Shido]]'s Boss form, Samael is a muscular shirtless man whose muscles keep growing more and more grotesquely huge as the battle continues.
* FantasyKitchenSink: All Shadows and Personas take on the form of mythical beings of human literature and mythology. Justine describes this as "related to them being the image of power that mankind shares."
* FastballSpecial: In ''Royal'', Ryuji and Makoto have a rare variant of their Showtime attack that features her leaping onto the handle of his weapon, which he uses to hurl her into the sky before she crashes down onto the target with a GroundPunch.
* FastForwardMechanic: You can press start to skip cutscenes and fast forward through dialog. The dialogue fast forward even imposes VHS fast forward effects on the screen.
* FateWorseThanDeath:
** After changing his heart, Ann muses that Kamoshida will spend the rest of his life begging for forgiveness. In her own words, she believes that this fate is worse than death.
** [[spoiler:If the deadline for Maruki's Palace is not met, Maruki will put Joker into an eternal slumber.]]
* FaustianRebellion: Invoked. Morgana, [[spoiler:Lavenza and Igor spend the entire game trying to help the Protagonist use his abilities to destroy the very BigBad that empowered and manipulated him.]]
* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: There are seven palaces beyond Mementos Depths, two of which are made by women: Futaba Sakura and Sae Niijima. The men who own Palaces and get reformed (Suguru Kamoshida, Ichiryusai Madarame, Junya Kaneshiro, Kunikazu Okumura, and [[spoiler:Masayoshi Shido]]) have long abused their positions of power and the people around them. Meanwhile...
** Sae's only real "crime" is her ardent SecondPlaceIsForLosers mentality that has stemmed from pressure at her job, and she's otherwise by-the-book when taking on the Phantom Thieves case. Unlike the other targets, whom the Thieves seek to punish for their crimes, the Thieves [[spoiler:target her at Akechi's suggestion, to prevent the investigation from closing in on them, and Makoto also does so in hopes of helping her sister be happier and rediscover her sense of justice, even if she finds it quite painful to face Leviathan. Not only is Sae the only target who ''doesn't'' get her treasure stolen (as she reforms on her own), but she allies herself with the thieves after Akechi is outed as Black Mask.]]
** As for Futaba, she ''deliberately'' targeted herself, as she wanted the Thieves to steal her heart so that she could be rid of her suicidal impulses and put an end to her shut-in lifestyle. In fact, the main problem was that Futaba was blaming herself for something that wasn't in any way her fault.
** Regarding the Shadows of women who appear in Mementos, however, this is still present, but downplayed. There's a much closer to even mix of men and women culprits in that dungeon, and the women are legitimately bad people who need to change - but there's a gap in how evil the men are versus how evil the women are. The women range from stalkers to abusive mothers and girlfriends, while the Shadows of men in Mementos include murderers and sexual abusers.
** In ''Royal'', this is inverted with the last Palace, [[spoiler:Takuto Maruki's]]. He is genuinely a WellIntentionedExtremist who cares about other people suffering, his NiceGuy behavior ''isn't'' an act, and at numerous points offers ways out of conflict with the Phantom Thieves because he doesn't wish to have to fight them. Even his measures to cling to his goal are done out of desperation and because he has no other choice, rather than anything truly despicable.
* TheFellowshipHasEnded: At the end of ''Royal'', [[spoiler:beyond the Phantom Thieves breaking up with the Metaverse gone, it turns out most of the cast are moving on in their personal lives too. Joker is going back to his hometown, Morgana is going with him, Ryuji is at least temporarily moving to a special facility to try to repair his messed up leg, Ann is going to study abroad, and Makoto and Haru are going to college. Only Yusuke and Futaba are remaining in Tokyo.]]
* FerrisWheelDateMoment:
** At rank 10 of Ann's confidant, but only if Joker romantically pursues her. She'll confess a few things to him while they're sitting in a stopped ferris wheel, then go in for a kiss.
** Chihaya's rank 10 confidant event also ends with a ferris wheel confession if she is romanced.
* FictionalCounterpart: Triple Seven, being a convenience store chain with a pronounced 7 in its logo, is a very blatant homage to [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven 7-Eleven]], which, while being founded in America, is owned by a Japanese parent company.
* FictionalPainting: The ''Sayuri'', a painting of a young woman looking down and smiling, which delighted the art world in its mystery -- who is that woman and why is she smiling? The painting is a self-portrait by Yusuke's mother, and the original version showed her holding the baby Yusuke in her arms. When Madarame took advantage of her death and took Yusuke on as a protege, he painted over her arms so that the baby was no longer visible on the correct prediction that the added ambiguity would make it more appealing (and profitable). Thankfully for Yusuke, Madarame's treasure in the Metaverse and reality is the original painting without any modifications, which is hung on a wall in the coffee shop for safekeeping.
* FinalDungeonPreview:
** The Thieves visit Mementos early on to complete requests, train up, and collect Personas. In the final stage of the game, it becomes [[spoiler:''everyone's'' Palace, forcing the Thieves to infiltrate and steal its treasure to free all of Tokyo from its own apathy.]]
** In ''Royal'', a palace resembling a large structure made of glass and gold will be briefly visited on October 3rd (or 4th if you chose to fight Okumura on the 3rd), and ends with Cendrillon's awakening where a Biyarky shadow is defeated. This is actually the final palace of ''Royal'', [[spoiler:Maruki's Palace.]]
* FirearmsAreCowardly: Played with. While most characters use model firearms that become functional in the Metaverse, only [[spoiler:Akechi]] has used a real gun. After betraying the Phantom Thieves and getting Joker arrested, he goes to the interrogation room with a silenced pistol which is used to assassinate the Thief. [[spoiler:However, the group actually knew of Akechi's two-faced nature and planned in advance so Joker survives.]]
* FiveSecondForeshadowing:
** During "Operation Maidwatch", Mishima and Ryuji are terrified by the appearance of "Becky the maid" and she somehow recognizes their voices. Then you get a better look at her face and realise why: She's ''Kawakami''!
** Assuming the player didn't pick up on all the {{Foreshadowing}}, [[spoiler:right before TheReveal of Akechi as Black Mask]], the game makes it blatantly obvious by offering the player a chance to sell out the rest of the Phantom Thieves. [[spoiler:Not only is Akechi singled out, the player ''[[ButThouMust cannot]]'' actually say he is a Phantom Thief at all.]]
** Right before meeting the Palace owner of the third-semester palace, you can see [[spoiler:the image of a girl that resembles Kasumi, but with brown hair, brown eyes, and a beauty mark below her left eye, who reaches out for her sister "Sumire" as she won a local gymnast competition]]. When Kasumi sees the image of this girl [[spoiler:she goes into distress]]. Of course, that's actually [[spoiler:the ''real'' Kasumi and she sacrificed herself to save Sumire from a lethal traffic accident]]....and [[spoiler:the "Kasumi" you are with? That's actually ''Sumire''.]]
* FlashStep: One of the Protagonist's field abilities allows him to quickly move from cover to cover in the blink of an eye.
* FlyingSaucer:
** Futaba's initial and third-tier Personae both take the form of a UFO, with ''Necronomicon'' being one of these, and ''Al Azif'' taking the appearance of a modern-looking Black Triangle.
** Kaneshiro's Palace is an enormous bank floating on a UFO-like platform over downtown Shibuya.
* FollowThatCar: When the Phantom Thieves realize that Makoto is recklessly trying to get an audience with the mob boss extorting people across Shibuya, they flag down a taxi in order to follow her (after Yusuke manages to sketch the plate number).
* FoodPorn: During the All You Can Eat Buffet Dinner after the Kamoshida mission, you have Ryuji rivaling [[VideoGame/Persona4 Chie Satonaka]] in fondness for meat dishes, Ann describing cake in great detail, and when you get up to get food, you have Morgana describing every type of food on the tables (except veggies).
* ForcedTransformation:
** Similar to the Fly and Bat statuses in the ''Shin Megami Tensei'' series, this game comes with the "Rattled" status, where a character is transformed into a rat, lowering their defense and making them unable to attack. This can be temporarily inflicted by Mot's "Trapped Rat" spell, and also during [[spoiler:Shido's Palace]] when the party is in the same room as an "activated" statue. In the latter case, it also acts as the level gimmick by allowing the party to travel into small air vents.
** Though he has no memories of his past, this is what Morgana believes himself to be for much of the story, with his goal being to discover the secrets of the Metaverse in the hopes of turning himself back into a human. [[spoiler:It turns out that this isn't the case, and that he was always a cartoon-esque cat creature created by the real Igor from humanity's hope for freedom before Yaldabaoth captured him, so that Joker would have someone to guide him on his quest.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[Foreshadowing/Persona5 Has its own page]].
* ForgedMessage: The conspiracy forged a suicide note to cover up the murder of Wakaba, claiming that she regretted giving birth to Futaba. They also forge a calling card for Principal Kobayakawa, framing the Phantom Thieves for his murder.
* ForWantOfANail: If the drunk man at the beginning of the game hadn't sued Joker, then he never would have fulfilled the conditions needed to enter the Velvet Room. If Joker had never entered the Velvet Room, then he never would have received the [=MetaNav=] from Igor. If he never got the [=MetaNav=], then he never would have met Morgana nor would he and the rest of the Phantom Thieves have become the Phantom Thieves in the first place. If the Phantom Thieves never came to be, [[spoiler:then Yaldabaoth would have won the game unopposed.]]
* TheFourGods: The four elemental animal guardians Seiryu, Suzaku, Byakko, and Genbu return as enemies and recruitable Persona. You can also use all four to fuse Kohryu in an Advanced Fusion after completing Sojiro's Social Link.
* FourthDateMarriage: {{Implied|Trope}}. During a break from their group study session at Leblanc by the end of the game, it's revealed that all four girls in the Phantom Thieves are ''very'' comfortable with the idea of marrying the protagonist someday, were any of them to be in a relationship with him. SaveScumming through Joker's [[DialogueTree three possible answers]] to Ryuji's question about his opinion on marriage gives the player a good idea of each girl's thoughts on the matter:
** Makoto seems to think Joker is a ConfirmedBachelor in the making because she will be pleasingly (if embarrassedly) surprised or look painfully unsurprised depending on whether he likes the idea of marriage or not. That, or letting out an annoyed "Oh, come on," if he dodges the question.
** Haru is struck speechless with emotion if Joker confesses that he's thought about getting married someday, but answering the opposite will prompt a downcast look out of her as she reasons, mostly with herself, that they're still in high school after all. She'll try to ask for elaboration in case of a NonAnswer, only for [[InnocentlyInsensitive Yusuke]] to change the subject.
** Similarly to Haru, if Joker shows no interest in marriage, Ann will awkwardly argue that's not something he could know for sure just yet. Or blush and giggle to herself if it's the other way around. A noncommittal answer will leave her at a loss, unsure of what he meant by that.
** Futaba apparently never considered the possibility before, and will let out a startled "M-M-M-Marriage...!?" if her boyfriend says he did. As it was the case with Joker's LoveConfession in her Confidant, this is just the surprise talking and she will become despondent if he either says he's never thought about getting married or doesn't give the team a straight answer.
** Should Haru be romanced, her Rank 10 Confidant Menu description mentions she dreams of a future where she is running a cafe with a new fiancé, which is all but stated to be referring to Joker.
* FragileFlyer: Winged Shadows such as Pixie are frequently weak to Gun attacks, making them weak to every party member so long as they happen to have ammo. In addition, [[spoiler:Cognitive Wakaba]] has a silent five times weakness to physical attacks. However, she's flying out of range and has to be shot down with a ballista, immobilizing her for several turns, for physical attacks to connect.
* FramingDevice: The protagonist's interrogation is an interesting variation of one. All but one of the in-game months that make up the protagonist's probation are recounted to Sae during his interrogation, which starts at the beginning of the game. Whenever you advance the story by taking out a big target, and every time you initiate a Confidant link except for two[[note]]Specifically, the Fool and Judgment[[/note]], the game skips forward to the interrogation, where Sae asks the protagonist to give her the details. While it's made clear that the protagonist mentions how the targets are taken out and all of the supernatural elements that entail, he leaves out names (both party members and Confidants) for everyone involved, even when Sae specifically figures out who the Phantom Thieves all are through logical deduction (like figuring out that her sister Makoto MUST be a Phantom Thief if Joker is telling the truth) - in fact, if you decide to sell out your friends and confidants at the very end of the interrogation, you get a [[MultipleEndings bad ending]]. Eventually you get to the point where you infiltrate the same casino Palace seen at the very beginning of the game and get captured, and it's revealed that the thieves deliberately let the protagonist get captured in order to get [[spoiler:Sae on their side and out detective Goro Akechi as a member of TheConspiracy. Should you successfully answer Sae's questions correctly, the protagonist (who had been addled with drugs up until this point) remembers his plan and initiates it, successfully escaping with Sae and going into hiding. Once the final arc begins, the framing device is no longer used[[note]]Which means that if you start a social link during or after the final arc, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration you will not see Sae's comments on it]]]][[/note]].
* FreezeFrameBonus:
** Pay close attention to the rapidly-shifting calendar in the [[FramingDevice interrogation]] flashforward cutscenes, and it's possible to notice that [[spoiler:the date of the interrogation is November 20th, long before this point in the game is reached.]]
** The elevators summoned by Okumura all have writings on them that relate to the enemies they release. For example, the General Manager elevator features a long-winded rant about corporate philosophy, and the final empty elevator features the words "Currently consulting occupational physician".
* FrenchMaidOutfit: The servers at the maid cafe all wear the standard frilly black and white maid outfits, as does Sadayo Kawakami in her second job.
* FreudianExcuse: The Treasure in every Palace represents one for the owner, being the physical embodiment of the desire twisting the owner's actions. By stealing it, the Phantom Thieves remove its influence, causing the owner to return to their senses:
** Kamoshida's is a crown which turns into his Olympic medal, representing the pressure he was under trying to live up to everyone's expectations as the hero who brought home the gold for Japan, which led to him becoming a BrokenAce as a result.
** Madarame's is a representation of the (real) Sayuri painting, showing the inadequacy he felt as a fading artist compared to his younger and more talented students, which turned him into TheSvengali.
** Kaneshiro's are stacks of gold bullion which turn into an actual gold briefcase full of fake bills, representing his insecurity from having been poor and helpless in the past, leading to him becoming a cruel mob boss.
** The fourth Palace's is actually the owner, Futaba, who is suffering from survivor's guilt and believes she is to blame for her mother's death, which resulted in her becoming a {{Hikikomori}}.
** Okumura's is a mysterious metallic orb, which turns into the model rocket he was denied as a child due to his family's unfortunate financial situation, which led him to grow up to be a CorruptCorporateExecutive who'll do anything to get what he wants.
** The sixth Palace's [[spoiler:is unrevealed, but is suggested to be the police journal of Sae's father, representing the combined weight of his death, the burden of taking care of her sister, and trying to succeed in her career, which led to her becoming a borderline AmoralAttorney and overbearing towards Makoto. In the ending, Sae asks what the form of her Treasure was, but all the possible responses indicate that you don't know,]]
** The seventh Palace's [[spoiler:is the steering wheel to the cruise ship the Palace is on, which turns into Shido's legislator's pin, representing Shido believing deep down that despite all his evil actions, he truly can lead Japan to a better future.]]
** The general populace's treasure at the [[spoiler:Depths of Mementos is the Holy Grail within Yaldabaoth, representing their subconscious desire to remain apathetic, and free from having to take responsibility for their actions.]]
** The treasure from the ''Royal'' palace - the one conceived by [[spoiler:new Shujin counsellor Takuto Maruki]] - is a [[spoiler:newspaper clipping detailing the murder of his girlfriend's family, which led to her catatonia and, by extension, him erasing her memory of him and their relationship in order to "actualise" her ideal existence.]]
** Most of the Treasure Buds of Mementos targets tend to be items(often weapons, skill cards or items to unlock Persona fusions) with less of a clear tie to the source of the Shadows' distorted desieres. In Shadow Makigami's case, the bud is a key to a drawer (which, in the OVA, contains a picture of himself with his brother), while Shadow Kishi's is a theme park magazine (suggesting that [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he cares about his family]]).
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: The Thieves give this answer to any target who tries to justify themselves with one, telling them that no matter what happened to them they are all responsible for their own actions. Kaneshiro gets this the hardest, with the Phantom Thieves being especially appalled at the idea that he thinks it justifies his behavior and especially due to the high probability that his motive is ''legit''.
* AFriendInNeed: When in the end the Protagonist [[spoiler:turns himself in as leader of the Phantom Thieves so he can testify against Shido, the other Phantom Thieves spend the next month and a half trying to find a way to save their leader. Any Confidants that have been maxed out will also be shown tapping their connection, rallying others and generally doing everything in their power to prove the Protagonist's innocence and earn him his freedom. It pays off in the end, and the Protagonist's record is wiped clean, allowing him to leave juvenile hall a free man.]]
* FriendshipHatingAntagonist: Despite his charming exterior and a well-crafted illusion he calls his social life, [[spoiler:Goro Akechi]] actually despises friendship and bonds, considering them shackles that prevent his heart from being free. Despite this, he envies Joker for being loved without having to put in tireless work in getting people to want and need them, because [[spoiler:Akechi was actually a bastard child of Shido and was only helping him so that he could betray Shido later on.]]
* FriendshipTrinket: In your last day in town[[note]]Unlike in the previous two games, in which Social Links gave you the gift during the final event of their Social Link[[/note]], any character whose [[LevelUpAtIntimacyFive Confidant]] you have maxed out will give you an item to remember them by. These items also automatically unlock late-game bonuses from their side-quest if you start a NewGamePlus.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: ''Royal'' added a few new scenes where you may see some [[NonPlayerCharacter Non-Player Characters]], confidants, or party members in the background when you walk to school:
** Kawakami is seen running to school on April 25.
** On some mornings (May 28, June 6, June 11), Ikesugi and his friend walk past you. You might not notice they're them at first due to them having nondistinguishable features, but just as they pass, sometimes you might see Ikesugi's stalker run past you to chase them. She will stop pursuing him if you complete her Mementos side quest.
* FunnyForeigner: A minor character in both the base game and ''Royal'' is the tall, black barker for a night-time bar in Shibuya. Talking to him reveals that he loves living in Japan, but has trouble at work and feels ostracized -- in the Japanese version, it's due to the language barrier (with him speaking in broken Japanese peppered with English phrases), while in the [[CulturalTranslation English localization]] it's because of cultural differences (with him being an energetic loudmouth whose extreme friendliness unnerves people).
* FusionDance: In ''[[UpdatedRerelease Royal]]'', during the cutscene where a party member unlocks their third-tier Persona, it shows their initial and ultimate Persona fusing together in a flash of blue light.
[[/folder]]
----

*** The trophy list have been modified in ''Royal''. Trophies that requires a strict schedule such as maxing all confident in a single playthrough or only obtanaible on a new game plus such as beating the bonus bosses or completing the compedium have been ditched from the list. Instead, partaking in various activities grants you a a trophy, making getting all achievements (or the Platinum trophy for PlayStation players) not only easier, but also doable on your very first playthrough. ''Royal'' still have a in game achievements system through the Thieves Den, but as mentionned earlier, it is not tied to a single save file, and most objectives can be cleared with save scumming.

** ''Royal'' also touches up some of the textures and models compared to the original game, which was constrained by the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 hardware.

* {{Bishonen}}:
** If you don't know the legend you could well be forgiven for not guessing that the Narcissus persona is actually male.
** And of course, among the main cast we have Yusuke Kitagawa, Goro Akechi, and Joker himself, all of whom wouldn't look out of place in a [[ShoujoDemographic shoujo]] media work.
*** ''Royal'' newcomer Takuto Maruki also counts somewhat due to his [[NiceGuy affably kind exterior]] and Adorkable tendencies.

* ActorAllusion: When selecting who to tackle the drug smuggling case in Shibuya, Morgana's option says, "Morgana, I choose you." This is in reference to how Morgana's Japanese actress, Creator/IkueOtani, is best known for voicing [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]].

** [[spoiler:Lavenza's]] All-Out Attack involves her [[spoiler:splitting herself back into Caroline & Justine]], an ability that was established in ''VideoGame/Persona5DancingInStarlight''.

** The penultimate dungeon has one to [[Franchise/MegamiTensei its parent series]], [[spoiler:interpreting Tokyo as a half-sunken city.]]

*** The trophy list have been modified in ''Royal''. Trophies that requires a strict schedule such as maxing all confident in a single playthrough or only obtanaible only on a new game + such as beating the bonus bosses or completing the compedium are ditched from the list. Instead, partaking in various activities grants you a a trophy,making getting all achievements (or the Platinum trophy for PlayStation players) not only easier, but also doable on your very first playthrough. ''Royal'' still have a in game achievements system through the Thieves Den, but as mentionned earlier, it is not tied to a single save file, and most objectives can b cleared with save scumming.

* FictionalPainting: The ''Sayuri'', a painting of a young woman looking down and smiling, which delighted the art world in its mystery - who is that woman and why is she smiling? The painting is a self-portrait by Yusuke's mother, and the original version showed her holding the baby Yusuke in her arms. When Madarame took advantage of her death and took Yusuke on as a protege, he painted over her arms so that the baby was no longer visible on the correct prediction that the added ambiguity would make it more appealing (and profitable). Thankfully for Yusuke, Madarame's treasure in the Metaverse and reality is the original painting without any modifications, which is hung on a wall in the coffee shop for safekeeping.

** ''Royal'' goes out of its way to ensure you use Kasumi during the Third Semester. A lot of enemies in [[spoiler:Maruki's]] Palace are weak to her signature element, Bless, which none of the other party members (aside from Joker) have access to. Kasumi's third-tier Ultimate Persona is both immune to Bless and resists Psychic, which the FinalBoss loves to throw around with impunity. The Superboss on NewGamePlus, [[spoiler:Lavenza]], has a phase that requires the party land a critical hit every turn, making Kasumi - a CriticalHitClass who can boost the party's critical hit rate with Brave Step - a must-have against them.

* FailureGambit: Joker getting arrested in the beginning? That was [[spoiler:deliberate. However, none of the Phantom Thieves predicted that he would get drugged and nearly lost most his memory because of that.]]

** In the original game, Akechi mentioned that he was born from wedlock and his mother committed suicide after being shamed, but doesn't elaborate any further. Considering that Akechi's father is [[spoiler:Shido, the same man who ruined Joker's life for stopping him from sexually harassing a woman,]] it makes you ''really wonder'' what did he do to birth Akechi that [[spoiler:he was willing to terrorize Tokyo with Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns for the sake of bringing him down.]] Come ''Royal'', and he confides to Joker in a bathouse that [[spoiler:his mom would go to the red light district everyday and send him to the bathouse, implying that Shido birthed Akechi through a one-night stand with a ''call-girl''.]] It actually makes [[spoiler:Akechi sound a lot more sympathetic and solidifies Shido as being entirely monstrous.]]

* DownloadableContent: Both the vanilla ''Persona 5'' and ''Royal'' have lots of digital content that can be bought from the PSN store; all of the DLC for the original release was included for free with ''Royal'', and all of the DLC for ''Royal'' was included for free in the 2022 ports. Additionally, owners of the original PS4 version of ''Royal'' have been able to purchase the additional content for free as of the release of the 2022 ports.

** In ''Royal'', Ryuji has a minor one: He plans to ham up his response to the reporter's questions when he, Yusuke, and Joker are caught by some reporters at the festival on July 17th, so that they can't use that footage. That evening, Joker can see that [[SpringtimeForHitler the footage was used after all.]] Mishima is none too pleased about it.