Video Game / Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth

Your life plot written by someone but you!

Beacons of hope,
Had you chosen to halt your steps,
And entrust yourselves to the tranquil dark?
Only you possess the light to awaken those who drift in the abyss.
Now...once more...
Draw from memories passed
And begin your path anew...

— Philemon

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is the Dungeon Crawler sequel to Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in Japan on November 29th, 2018, as well as in North America and Europe on June 4, 2019. Unlike the previous games of the series, however, there is no English dub for this game.

Q2 primarily follows the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, a band of Persona users who traverse the world of the collective unconscious called the Metaverse to steal the hearts of the corrupt. During a routine trip to Mementos, the Morgana Car suddenly goes berserk and drives into a strange screen deep within, sending the Phantom Thieves into a mysterious "world of movies". Within the world of movies are labyrinths that take the form of various films, and in this world the Phantom Thieves find themselves united with Persona users from the past, S.E.E.S. and the Investigation Team. Together they must uncover the secrets of the world of movies and its residents, Nagi and Hikari.

Like in the first game, design and gameplay are taken directly from the Etrian Odyssey series. Q2 compounds on the original game with new mechanics based on Persona 5's battle system, including the Nuke and Psychokinesis elements as well as the Baton Pass ability. In addition, there is no character selection in this game, and the Phantom Thieves are the main focal point.

Previews: Teaser, PV 01 PV 02.

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This game provides examples of:

• Actor Allusion: Hearing Mitsuru saying "Noir[e]" will make you think of the Neptunia franchise.
• Adaptational Badass: While Slipping Hableries are just typical mooks that you will fight at the start of the game in the past, in this game they appear as level 50 midbosses in groups of three alongside a level 53 Regal Mother as a midboss in the fourth labyrinth.
• Adaptational Wimp: For some reason, the Ultimate Personas of most characters who aren't from Persona 5 end up with weaker innate resistances than they had in previous games.
  • Izanagi-no-Okami and Orpheus Telos lose their resistances to physical attacks, in addition to being neutral to the nuclear and psychic elements introduced in Persona 5. This also applies to Messiah, who actually did resist those elements as a DLC Persona in 5.
  • Akihiko, Kanji, Ken, and Naoto are the only non-5 characters to null their main elements when their Personas evolve. Everyone else continues to merely resist them.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, it was explained that the reason Koromaru and Shinjiro's Personas don't change upon awakening to their ultimate power is because they want to never forget their greatest failures. No such explanation is forthcoming in this game, and it comes off as them plus Akechi not changing simply because they didn't get Ultimate Personas in their games of origin.
• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The "main protagonist" of A.I.G.I.S. is an overlord AI overseeing a city where all robots are the same.
• All There in the Manual: The artbook reveals that Akechi was the one who did the graffiti artwork of the Phantom Thieves.
• Alternate Self: The P3P Heroine comes from an alternate world where she is the protagonist of P3 instead of her male counterpart. When she meets SEES, none of them recognize her even though she clearly knows them. Similarly, while this wasn't brought up at any point, the Elizabeth who appears in this game seems to be originated from the prime timeline as she recognizes her guest but not Theo's and vice versa.
• Another Side, Another Story: Averted, unlike the first game; there's only one campaign, centering around the Phantom Thieves and Persona 3 Portable's female protagonist, rather than one for each group.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: When watching the trailer for the third film, the Female Protagonist reveals that the robot in question is in fact reminiscent of her friend and fellow member of S.E.E.S., Aigis. Both Morgana and Teddie find it hard to believe that she could be friends with a robot of all things, noting that things are getting strange. Yosuke then asks if the two of them, a talking cat and cartoon mascot bear respectively, realize what they just said.
• Arc Words: "Why do you have to be like that?" This question was asked to Hikari every time she was judged and mistreated by others for not fitting in, becoming a full-on Trauma Button. When her beloved father asked her the same question out of genuine concern, not realizing just how horrible those words were for her, it broke her completely.
• Art Shift:
  • The shading for the character artwork of this game is noticeably heavier compared to the original Q.
  • Inverted for the Persona artwork; unlike the first game, which used clay-like 3D models for all the Personae, this game recycles both Kazuma Kaneko's demon artwork along with Shigenori Soejima's official art for the Personas.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Unlike the other of the P3 Hero's Personas, Orpheus Telos is often left out, not even appearing in the movie adaptions and 5 and only available as a DLC in the previous game. Here, it is now the P3 Hero's Ultimate Persona.
  • Akechi, from a gameplay standpoint. He was only a part-time party member is his core game, before betraying the Phantom Thieves and not rejoining until well after his initial tenure in the Updated Re-release, but in this game is playable the entire time. Same with Shinjiro, but arguably less so due to being fully playable in the first Q as well.
• Ascended Meme: Junpei's "Oteakezamurai" Catchphrase (which was Lost in Translation and Woolseyed into the "Junpei, Ace Detective" gag in the English version) was a popular meme in Japan and was eventually released as part of the official LINE sticker set. The same is done for Morgana's Catchphrase, "Let's not do that today", and Yosukesaurus.
• Badass in Distress:
  • During the prologue, where the Phantom Thieves first explore Kamoshidaman, Haru and Makoto are captured.
  • When the Phantom Thieves first meet the P4 cast in Junessic Land, Rise is poisoned while Yosuke is missing.
  • In A.I.G.I.S., the P3 male protagonist dropped his evoker at the start of the labyrinth and was captured by the Overseer alongside Aigis. They tried to make an escape only to be cornered by a massive group of KNS-1000 security drone F.O.E.s.
• Bag of Spilling: The party members are reduced to having base stats, equipment, and Personas. Again.
• Bait-and-Switch: The Junessic Land labyrinth likes to play this; It's the entire premise of its plot. The movie trailer makes you think that the Carnivores are the Big Bad of the movie; In reality, that's the Herbivores who suffocate and mindbreak any of their pack members whose opinions don't match theirs.
• Balloonacy: When Theodore comes out in his popcorn costume for the first time, he nearly flies away a couple of times from the balloons he is holding.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • The second time the Phantom Thieves and the P3 female protagonist attempt to rescue Haru and Makoto from Kamoshidaman is very theatrical. The lights turn off, Joker appears in the spotlight, and Kamoshidaman finds his statue floating away on balloons. When he tries to fly, the P3 female protagonist and Morgana come out of nowhere and stomp him. The smirk on Joker's face is really all that needs to be said about how awesome the scene is.
  • In Junessic Land, Joker and the P4 protagonist awaken their unison by sacrificing their lives to save Yosuke.
• Big Eater: One ticket event involves Chie and Yusuke being excited to take down Chicken Kid, an F.O.E. from Kamoshidaman, because they want to eat his club, a giant fried drumstick.
• Big Sister Instinct: Futaba tries her best to check up on Hikari from time to time, as her timid personality reminds her of how she used to be.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • The P3 female protagonist immediately gets Futaba to open up to her by talking about headphones. Futaba also finds herself trying to help Hikari because they're similarly shy around strangers.
  • Characters tend to get along with their expy from other teams (such as the three Navigators, Naoto and Akechi, Kanji and Ryuji) and it is through an event that allows them to perform a Unison with each other.
  • Surprisingly, this is also true for Yusuke and Yukiko, bonding over their mutual love of art and Cloudcuckoolander tendencies.
• Black Bug Room: The entire cinema is Hikari's, a corrupted Lotus-Eater Machine that now exists to force her to dwell eternally on her traumas. Actually invoked by Doe for the final film, a consensual attempt to forcefully jog her out of her amnesia by going into her personal hell for a bit to actually understand why she's so depressed.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation:
  • A couple of rare Shadows in Junessic Land are named a type of Lexy^note Teddy Bear Shadows when their models are Hableries.^note Round striped spherical Shadows with long tongues
  • When you reach the depths of the Theater District for the first time, Enlil summons a duo of Shadows to attack you, which are Rain Leg Musha and Wicked Turret. In reality, the "Rain Leg Musha" is Hakurou Musha and uses Hakurou Musha's model. ^note Rain Leg Musha are blue and wear a straw hat, while Hakurou Musha are white and wear a samurai helmet.
• Book Ends:
  • The first major enemy that the party encounters is an F.O.E. called Chicken Kid, resembling a large man in a chicken outfit. The final boss is Enlil, a giant, white, muscular eagle god; you start the game being chased by a chicken and end it by fighting an eagle.
  • The confrontation against Kamoshidaman and Enlil also have a similar execution. They all start with Joker sending the calling card to them, then they get angered and fight the party in human form. Once the fight ends, someone persuades them to give up their Control Freak plans which seemingly gets through and receives the approval of the masses, cognition or otherwise. However, during this time the boss freaks out and is surrounded by a red aura—in which they enter a Villainous Breakdown and assume their One-Winged Angel form to mercilessly attack the party.
  • The P3 female protagonist is the first person to join your default party, while, along with Aigis, the P3 male protagonist is the last.
  • Morgana is seen in cat form at the start of the game and its post-credits scene. Leblanc is also only seen in the same sections of the game as well.
  • Philemon's butterfly forms appear during the first scene of the game and right after the Phantom Thieves leave the theater, displaying a quote in the former and sending a message to the P5 hero in the latter.
  • A rendition of "Memories of You" is played during the first meeting between both P3 protagonists and during their farewell.
• Boss Rush:
  • A variation, as you face the four end bosses of each dungeon in the form of The Negatives, bosses that lack the gimmicks of the actual bosses.
  • The postgame Superboss challenge involves fighting through the Velvet Attendants. You start off against Caroline and Justine, then Margaret joins the fight as a third combatant while the twins get back up. The third combatant you face will be replaced with Theodore and finally Elizabeth as you complete each phase.
• Bragging Rights Reward:
  • The Omnipotent Orb is, again, your reward for completing the battle against all the Velvet Room attendants. At this point, there's nothing left in the game that can challenge you anymore. Lampshaded by Caroline after the fight, where she says outright "Nothing else here could ever be a threat to you now".
  • Any high-end Sub-Persona verges on this, as you would expect to complete the game by the time your characters are around level 70 to 75, and the only remaining content that may warrant their use is the postgame Superboss fight. Huang Di is a very big example, since he carries three unique Purposely Overpowered skills but is only accessible from level 89.
• Brutal Honesty: The P3P Heroine describes Fuuka's horrible cooking to something that can start a murder investigation right in front of Fuuka.
• The Bus Came Back: Persona 3 Portable's female protagonist finally returns after not making a single appearance in any Persona subsidiary material since her debut.
• But Thou Must!: After completing Special Screening #45 and defeating the optional boss in the fourth labyrinth, you will have the opportunity to challenge one of the Velvet Room attendants to purify the film, and Elizabeth invites you to guess your opponent's identity. Since you've already faced Theodore, Margaret and the twins, leaving Elizabeth as the only candidate by process of elimination, your options are "Elizabeth?" "Elizabeth!" and "Elizabeth?!"
• Call-Back:
  • The P3P Heroine's left eye turns red when she summons Orpheus in an animated cutscene, similar to her male counterpart, whose eyes turn blue (both in the FES cutscene and left only in the movie) when he first summons his Orpheus.
  • Chie and Akihiko continue their master/student relationship from the previous game. Doubles also as a Call-Forward for Persona 4: Arena.
  • Like in the previous game, Rise's position as an idol becomes a clue that the assembled casts are from different time periods which leads to Naoto asking what year is it.
  • When Joker first introduces himself to the P4 protagonist, one of the options is, "Nice to meet you, ho." If you choose that one, he will respond with "ME EAT YOU WHOLE", which is the same exact thing he said when greeting the P3 protagonist. Even better, the P3 female protagonist joins in on the odd "Wild Card" language.
• Call-Forward: While discussing the possibly of Ribbon having her own Orgia Mode, one option is to suggest that her body will start to glow. In Persona 3's expansion pack, The Answer, when Aigis receives the Wild Card, her body did glow.
• The Cameo: Like before, Nanako makes a short appearance at the end of the game. During the credits, there is also a surprise appearance of a Hanakosaurus.
• Can't Drop the Hero: In Risky mode, Joker must be on the team and the game is over if he is killed. Averted in other difficulties, as this is the first Persona game where a protagonist character is not required to be in your party, allowing for more experimentation.
• Changing Chorus: The game's opening theme, "Road Less Taken." While retaining the same metaphors and general theme of individuality, the first and second choruses have some slightly different lyrics. The third time the chorus is sung, it's based on the second one, but has a new perspective and changes "you" to "we" (i.e. "the road less taken / could be where you're meant to be" becomes "the road less taken / could be where we're meant to be").
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • In A.I.G.I.S., the Persona users are given designation numbers like the robots of that world. While it doesn't mean much at first, it turns out that both P3 protagonists share the same number (IW-00) since they are practically the same person, different only in gender. Normally, no two units share the same number and such occurrence is considered an error. The two will use this to freeze the security gates to the Mother Computer room, allowing Aigis to disable it.
  • The cognitive movie characters in the game's labyrinths use the exact same phrases as their source from Hikari's cognition in their dialogue.
• Code Name: When the P4 cast find out you have code names, they want them too. Unfortunately, Naoto suggests they don't use them. When you meet the P3 cast, they want code names too, and it serves as an opportunity for the P3 female protagonist to connect with the other S.E.E.S.
  • P4 protagonist: you can pick between "Gang Leader" (bancho) in Japanese, which becomes "Kingpin" in the English translation, "Sensei", or "Yasogami Wolf." Kanji suggests "Nanako's Bro" and he likes that code name.
  • Chie: Haru suggests "Sirloin."
  • Yukiko: you can pick between "Snow/Scarlet Princess", "Black Fire", or "Hostess/Proprietress" (okami).
  • Kanji: Ann suggests "Skull, Part 2." Yukiko laughs along and suggests "Dammit Skull", because he's basically Ryuji except he says, "Dammit!" more.
  • Rise: Ryuji suggests "Idol."
  • Teddie: Teddie is unanimously just "Ted", despite him wanting names like "Pretty Boy" or "Beloved Lad."
  • Naoto: Yusuke suggests "Platinum Lady", while Ann thinks "Platinum Girl" sounds better. Also, this is the point where Ryuji finds out he's the only one (other than Joker, if you choose a certain dialogue option) who didn't know Naoto was a girl.
  • Akihiko: Ann suggests "Boxer", while Yukari thinks "Protein" is more fitting, which the P3 female protagonist agrees with.
  • Yukari: P3 female protagonist suggests "Miss Pink", since Yukari's clothing and accessories are pink.
  • Ken: Haru suggests "Lancer." P3 female protagonist suggest "Mister Black", because Black is the most mature Featherman and also because Ken is still trying to drink black coffee.
  • Koromaru: Yusuke suggests the elaborate "Hellbeast Summoned from the Infernal Depths." Koromaru doesn't like it.
  • Shinjiro: P3 female protagonist suggests "Brood", not because he's broody, but because he's like the team's brood mother.
  • Fuuka: P3 female protagonist suggests "Hacker" for her computing skills and "Killer Chef" for her terrible cooking skills.
  • Mitsuru: P3 female protagonist suggests her Catchphrase, "Brilliant" ("C'est magnifique" in the English version), or "Execution Queen."
  • Junpei: You can suggest either "Goatee", "Geezer", or "Oteakezamurai" ("Ace Defective" in the English version) for him.
  • P3 female protagonist: You can suggest either "Headphones", "Spunky", or "Dazzling Demon."
• Combination Attack: Aside from All-Out Attack, pairing certain party members will have them performing a move known as Unison which resembles the follow-up attack from Persona 4 Golden.
• Continuity Nod:
  • When the group runs into Yosukesaurus for the first time, the P4 protagonist suggests that if he likes eating raw grass so much, he should get cabbage next time. This references the Running Gag in Persona 4 about cabbages, which was subject to Memetic Mutation.
  • During one of the conversations in the main hub during Junessic Land, Haru mentions she likes Zaw, which is the movie you watch with her in Persona 5.
  • In the fourth movie, Hikari asks for Joker's favorite movie. You have a choice between The Cake Knight Rises, Love Definitely, and Mes Miserable, all of which are movies that you can watch in his home game.
  • In one of the dead ends in A.I.G.I.S., Yosuke and Ryuji are discussing what would be the perfect date. Ryuji suggests bringing a girl to a ramen shop, which is one of his favorite hangout spots in Persona 5. In the same event, Teddie also teases Yukiko for picking up a "hot stud", and she threatens to set him on fire.
  • Haru feels uncomfortable in the sci-fi setting of A.I.G.I.S. because it reminds her of her father's Palace.
  • In a side quest involving fishing, Joker can mention his skills are not on the same level as his teacher Kawakami. Likewise, the P4 protagonist states the things he's managed to fish up range from a bus stop sign and the Sea Guardian (one of the items needed to complete the Hermit Social Link in Persona 4).
  • While she doesn't indulge into it, to prevent revealing unnecessary future events, Ann recognizes Yukari as Feather Pink whom Yukari played as by the time of Persona 4: Arena Ultimax, with Futaba even mentioning her character name.
  • Junpei once again brings up the "Have Pity Ordinance".
  • S.E.E.S. are at the Tziah Block of Tartarus when they were pulled into the movie world, which coincides with the period of time in which Shinjiro is playable in P3.
• Contractual Boss Immunity: In addition to the usual raised resistance to ailments that would otherwise make a strong enemy a cakewalk, most bosses and FOEs can't be knocked down easily for an All-Out Attack. This feature, however, lets these enemies have weaknesses for magic users to exploit for boost without giving the player too much of an advantage through repeated All-Out Attacks.
• Crapsaccharine World: The fourth film is an overly cheerful animated musical that begins with a trailer of dancing characters... all set to a song about Loss of Identity as Hikari stands forlornly in the middle, sinking back into depression. Even from the trailer, everyone playable is creeped out and it only gets worse from there. When entered, it turns out to be a biopic of Hikari herself crossed with her Palace, and all the cheerful characters are embodiments of trauma people forcing her to be normal she's suffered. In the final floor, this Crapsaccharine World drops off its guise and reveals a disturbing monochrome flowerbed where the flowers have hollow, large and black eyes and were dripping blood from them. This, along with the nature of the FOEs in the labyrinth, represents her view of society being ultimately two-faced: putting up a false face of niceness only to drop it once something doesn't fit in. And to make things even worse, judging from the labyrinth's nature, this is Hikari's ACTUAL MINDSET. The false belief that her father was rejecting her combined with all of the traumas throughout her childhood has convinced her that her life is so awful that she has no reason to live already.
• Crossover: The casts of the third, fourth and fifth games team trying to navigate a strange new cinema based labyrinth, resulting in a combined 28-man roster.^note 11 from S.E.E.S. (both protagonists, Junpei, Yukari, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Fuuka, Aigis, Ken, Shinjiro and Koromaru), 8 from the Investigation Team (P4 Hero, Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Teddie, Rise, Naoto) and 9 from the Phantom Thieves (Joker, Ryuji, Morgana, Ann, Yusuke, Makoto, Futaba, Haru and Akechi).
• Crucified Hero Shot: At one point during the intro, the three protagonists are in this pose. Bonus points for the P3 Hero being a Messianic Archetype.
• Custom Uniform: Just about everyone has their respective school's required uniforms on, including the Phantom Thieves outside dungeon exploration, but everyone has also customized their looks with various accessories like headphones or hats, or extra pieces of clothing like different shirts, tights, shoes and so on.
• Cute Machines: The robots in A.I.G.I.S. are all absolutely adorable.
• Cuteness Proximity: When the Phantom Thieves meet the P4 cast for the first time, Morgana begins comparing Ryuji to Kanji because they're both blond. Unfortunately, Kanji is distracted by Morgana. In one of the central hub scenes, Kanji can be seen grabbing Morgana and nuzzling him while the latter is screaming at him.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: The first animated cutscene features Joker executing a solo All-Out Attack on a single target. In Persona 5, All-Out Attacks can't be performed in actual gameplay if there is only one able party member.
• Cutting Off the Branches:
  • In Persona 3 Portable, the female protagonist could choose between Elizabeth or Theodore as the Velvet Room attendant. This game makes it clear that Theodore is the canonical attendant for the Female Protagonist's universe, as he's the one familiar with her.
  • The first Persona Q had two separate routes for both the P3 and P4 casts that had minor variations in plot, but had unique interactions within. This game basically ignoring the first game's story effectively makes it so that the writers don't have to choose which route was the canon one, along with allowing newcomers to more easily get up to speed in this one.
• Darker and Edgier: While the game is still Lighter and Softer than Persona 5, it is still darker than the previous game. Whereas the first game sugarcoats its darker elements by giving the first two labyrinths the rather lighthearted elements of a Wonderland and wedding themes, this game straight off the bat give labyrinths where the "protagonists" of the movies are just as bad as the antagonists of Persona 5. In fact, the very first antagonist the Phantom Thieves encounter is a figure resembling Kamoshida, who is both a bully and rapist in the real world. To make things worse, the major original character of the game, Hikari, was being given a disturbing background story. And unlike Rei, you can tell something is wrong with her right at the beginning.
• Demoted to Extra: The P4 and male P3 protagonists do not play a major role in this game like they did in the previous. Instead, Joker is the sole protagonist of the game with the P3P Heroine taking a major role as well.
• Deus Exit Machina:
  • As with the previous game, Igor's whereabouts is unknown only this time with good reason. The Igor from the period of time the Phantom Thieves are from was captured and replaced by an imposter, whose personality wouldn't fool the other three protagonists one bit. Needless to say the imposter also needs to keep tabs on his territory in Tokyo-Mementos.
  • Subverted for Philemon unlike in the previous Q, as he appears in his butterfly form during the first scene of the game, both game over screens, in save points and the epilogue.
• Designated Hero: The In-Universe movies the heroes travel through attempt to set up rather questionable individuals as their "heroes".
  • Kamoshidaman focuses on the titular superhero, a beacon of absolute justice who nobody is allowed to question on pain of death.
  • Junessic Land focuses on a pack of herbivores trying to exile one of their own for voicing their own opinion.
  • A.I.G.I.S. focuses on an AI overlord trying to brainwash a robot back into the fold after it develops individuality.
• Designated Villain: To complement the Designated Heroes, the In-Universe movies make some rather bizarre choices as to who are the villains of their stories.
  • Kamoshidaman casts you, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts as the villains destroying Kamoshidaman's utopia, ignoring the fact that you didn't do anything other than land in his city.
  • "Junessic Land'' builds up the mighty carnivorous dinosaurs as dangerous threats, but it ultimately casts a "different" dinosaur as the villain for voicing his own opinion.
  • A.I.G.I.S. casts a robot as the villain after it develops individuality.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • Each party composition has unique dialog with each other during battle, more so than the first game. The characters from 3 and 4 also make sure to call the 5 cast by their code names during battle, something you would expect to be overlooked. Even your navigators have unique interactions with each other, such as after battle the one you have set to battle support commenting as they hand the exploration side to the other one.
  • If an All-Out Attack kills all enemies in battle, the animation of the characters walking away will always feature the party member who initiated the attack in front.
  • In the third labyrinth's Mother Computer boss fight, you cannot scan him with your Navigator if you enter his hacking phase just to make it even harder with the lack of dub. Thankfully, if you revert back to the first action in your turn you can view the hint again.
• Dialog During Gameplay: There's even more dialogue and battle banter between the characters than in Persona Q. This time, the characters even compliment each other on getting good strikes in, asks others to follow up, and responds to their battle end quotes.
• Divergent Character Evolution: There's overlap between the roles and elemental specializations between the casts of each game, so their skill sets are tweaked to differentiate them.
  • The P3 protagonists start out with their respective versions of Orpheus, but are given different Ultimate Personas. The male protagonist gets Orpheus Telos, while the female protagonist gets Messiah. While both characters have Fire as their elemental specialty, they learn entirely different skill sets—the female protagonist is focused around Combos through Link attacks, while the male protagonist is a well-rounded Jack of All Trades.
  • Morgana and Yukari are both Wind specialists and the primary healers in their home games. Morgana's skill set becomes more focused on healing, learning up to Mediarahan and Samarecarm, while Yukari has more support on her Wind skills as she learns Wind Boost and Wind Amp.
  • Yukiko and Ann are both Fire-based mages, so Ann gets a stronger Fire focus with Fire Boost and Fire Amp, while Yukiko has better healing moves and support skills.
  • Kanji and Ryuji are both Electricity users with a Magically Inept Fighter and Mighty Glacier approach and both of them can tank damage for the party. They even have similar characterization, which the cast also notices. Ryuji forsakes his electric attacks and puts more focus on his physical skills and even gets area attacks, while Kanji has stronger single-target focus.
  • Naoto and Akechi both specialize in Bless, Curse, and Almighty skills with a smattering of support skills. In this game, Akechi takes a Bless specialization to contrast Joker's Curse focus, while Naoto gets both Eigaon and Kougaon, but lacks their multi-target variants.
  • With Akechi now taking the Bless specialist niche, Ken's moveset now has a bit of everything, between physical skills, some Link synergy, and healing. Meanwhile, Koromaru leans harder into the Curse specialist moveset than Joker does, gaining Mudoon which Joker doesn't learn, while Joker uses gunplay in his physical skill set.
  • The three Navigators learn different sets of support skills, though you can also allocate a different Navigator for exploration versus combat.
• Do Not Spoil This Ending: Atlus has warned players during this game's Japanese release not to reveal any footage of the fourth labyrinth and beyond. A few videos of the endgame were uploaded to YouTube for the first two weeks but they were all quickly deleted.
• Drives Like Crazy: Koromaru, Teddie, and Morgana's Unison Attack involves Morgana transforming into the Morgana Car and Teddie getting into the driver's seat with Koromaru riding on the roof. Predictably, Teddie quickly loses control of the Morgana Car and rams it into the enemy party to inflict damage.
• Dubtitle: Despite lacking a dub, all dialogue in the English version is still written as if the game was dubbed to keep it consistent with previous games—this results in things like hearing characters obviously refer to Futaba's code name as "Navi" while the subtitles read "Oracle", Mitsuru's English interjections subtitled as her speaking French, and characters referring to each other with first names in subtitles while the audio clearly has them saying last names.
• Early Game Hell:
  • Q2 is one of the few SMT games where three-way fusion has to be unlocked via an optional sidequest, and this quest only opens mid-way into the 2nd labyrinth. Since some Arcanas are exclusive to triple fusion, this heavily limits your Persona options early in the game. (And if you don't pay attention to the sidequest rewards, you might not unlock the option at all.)
  • It's not too difficult to farm money in the first movie, but your equipment and item crafting options are very limited, restricting the ways you can improve your party if you hit a stumbling block.
• Ear Worm: Ryuji can't get the song from the fourth labyrinth trailer out of his head.
• Everybody Lives: Unlike most Persona games, every human character involved comes out alive and well... at least for the duration of this game.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: Played with. During a Special Screening, Koromaru quickly latches on to Goro Akechi, and afterwards Ken realizes it's because he sensed a similarity to Ken in him, which players of P3 and P5 will know is a desire for revenge. But Koromaru latches onto these people because he wants to help them conquer their hatred.
• Fate Worse than Death: Near the end of the game, Nagi, or more accurately, Enlil reveals that the Cinema acting as the hub is only Hikari's Cinema, and the setting of the game is actually a series of Lotus-Eater Machine Cinemas lining up in a twisted street. Not only that, each of these Cinemas have a depressed person inside, and all of them seemed lethargic/catatonic, are incredibly sullen and almost looked borderline suicidal. The movies in the Cinemas are actually pure negative emotions flowing from the floor of the street into the Cinemas taking the form of a documentary, with all traces of positivity cut off from them. Even though this is clearly a wonderful way to drive a depressed person to commit suicide, Enlil doesn't have an idea that it's inappropriate to consider that as helping people of any sort or form; she genuinely thinks that this actually helps. Apparently Hikari acts exactly like those people when being trapped inside the Cinema, at least before Doe made the movies came to life and made them capable of drawing in Persona users. Just imagine what happens to her (or them) if you came just one step late.
• Finishing Move: Like how the final bosses of Persona 3 to 5 are defeated when the Protagonists use a unique skill, Enlil is defeated when all four protagonists perform a unique Unison after draining its HP to zero.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Once you cleared all four movies, Nagi will try to persuade Hikari to stay in the Cinema in order to avoid all pain even though everyone should be freed at this point. Sure enough, it's pretty clear that she is the mastermind once you open its gates.
• Flavor Text: The items, accessories, weapons, and Special Screenings all have text that describes the said object and or what it does.
• Forgotten First Meeting:
  • The Investigation Team and S.E.E.S. do not remember each other or the events of Persona Q, preventing any Continuity Lockout for anyone who wasn't around for that game.
  • The Female P3 Protagonist doesn't seem to recognize Yukiko being the same girl she met during her visit to Inaba. Justified on both ends since the Female Protagonist only met her twice in passing over a month prior to the events of the game, while Yukiko on the other hand might not recognize her since the Female Protagonist came from a different universe.
• Foregone Conclusion: Like the first Q, the game is an Interquel, set within the events of Persona 3 through 5, meaning numerous events from later in those games are set in stone and are often played for dramatic irony.
  • Persona 3: Shinjiro and the protagonists will die on October 4th, 2009 and March 5th, 2010 respectively. The surviving members of S.E.E.S. eventually join the Shadow Operatives and meet with the Investigation Team during the events of the Persona 4: Arena series. In addition, they will never know of Shuji Ikutsuki's true personality until November 4th, 2009.
  • Persona 4: Marie will realize her true identity as Kusumi-no-Ookami and will fight the Investigation Team for the sake of denying the truth.
  • Persona 5: Goro Akechi will betray the Phantom Thieves after the completion of the Casino Palace heist, and then seemingly die to a Cognitive doppelgänger in the Luxury Liner Palace. He'll be revealed to have survived the following winter, but only because Takuto Maruki brought him back to life by granting everyone's desires, and he seemingly dies for good after reality is restored. Justine and Caroline will eventually realize they are two halves of the same being.
  • For obvious reasons, time-traveling shenanigans are why S.E.E.S. and the Phantom Thieves have their respective Guest Star Party Members as permanent fixtures here.
  • As before, the casts of P3 and P4 will not remember meeting each other until Persona 4: Arena.
• Foreshadowing:
  • A.I.G.I.S. greatly foreshadows the events that will eventually happen to the cast of Persona 3. Namely, the robot who gains individuality takes the form of Aigis, similar how the actual Aigis becomes more human near the end of the game. Similarly, the AI behind the robot society resembles S.E.E.S.' advisor, Shuji Ikutsuki, foreshadowing his true nature.
  • When you meet Caroline and Justine, they ask you to come with Morgana to what will eventually be the Velvet Room. You ask either of them if they know each other. All three of them will say they aren't sure, and Morgana says that for some reason he feels like he has to obey them. This foreshadows the fact that he was created by Igor and sent to help the protagonist.
  • The French quote at the start of the game is "We do not go astray because we do not know, but because we think we know" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This ultimately ties to the P3 female protagonist believing that the S.E.E.S. that she encounters are her comrades only to end up with a sense of confusion, isolation, and disappointment when she realizes those "comrades" don't actually recognize her, Hikari believing that her father hated her for the sole reason of a trigger phrase that he used to express genuine concern over her crippling depression, the people trapped by the Big Bad thinking that they cannot leave the Cinemas even though she lets them leave all the time, and her deluded salvation plan that she genuinely and obliviously believes is helping humanity by trapping them in twisted Lotus-Eater Machine cinemas but in fact isn't.
• The Friend Nobody Likes:
  • The Phantom Thieves' distrust in Akechi is apparent in this game, especially with Ryuji, who's the most vocal about it. In their battle banter, whenever Crow gets a good hit in, he replies in a condescending tone, and in the beginning of the game, when Crow suggests marking the stairs on the map, 2/3 of the choices involve being rude to him, where you can either ignore him or tell him to stop making suggestions. He gets along better with the Investigation Team and S.E.E.S. since they don't have any bad history with him, and is closest with Shinjiro, who's also somewhat distant from his fellow S.E.E.S. members.
  • Nobody seems to take Caroline and Justine seriously in this game, and their interactions with the P5 hero clearly just makes them the butt of jokes by other cinema residents.
  • Continuing from the previous game as well from the period of time in P4 when he is at his worst, Teddie continues to be an annoyance to everyone, due to his constant flirting with the girls, his treatment of both Koromaru and Morgana, and his stupidity and desire for attention, making him an overall pain in the ass.
• Fun with Acronyms: "FOE" stands for "Film Obscurité Etendue" in this game.
• Future Spandex: Implied with the Female Armor named "Futuristic Tights".
  Thin tights that provide warmth and protection.
• Gaiden Game: Like the first Persona Q, it takes place within Persona 5, and has no bearing on the plot of any games but itself.
• Gender Flip: Zigzagged. The female and male P3 protagonists have different designs and personalities, but their versions of Orpheus only differ in a ponytail and color scheme.
• Gratuitous English: There's plenty to be found across the whole game. Ann is one of the greatest sources of English exclamations.
• Gratuitous French: While Persona Q uses Greek, Persona Q2 uses French. The game opens with a quote from Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the FOEs in the game are called "Film Obscurité Etendue."
• Green-Eyed Monster: One of the central hub scenes has the girls petting Koromaru, while Teddie is hiding behind the ticket booth glaring at him.
• Grim Reaper: There are two in the final labyrinth. One of them is the titular Reaper seen in all modern Persona franchises, the other is "Namtaru," a Recursive Translation of the Mesopotamian God of plague and diseases Namtar, which is also considered its Grim Reaper.
• Hate Sink:
  • Hikari is this in-universe. The fourth movie portrays her as an abnormal horrible person who disobeys the social status quo, even though she never did anything wrong (making this a subversion).
  • Played straight with the people shown in the fourth movie (except Hikari’s Father) who all bullied her for being different and being the cause of her mental breakdown.
• Happy Ending Override: Like its prequel, while everyone has their share of laughs and Character Development, the casts are merely days away from tragedies when they return to their respective timelines:
  • Persona 3: Shinjiro is killed trying to protect Ken from Takaya.
  • Persona 4: Nanako will be kidnapped by Taro Namatame and is then brought into the TV world.
  • Persona 5: Akechi will betray the Phantom Thieves, leading to Joker being arrested by the authorities.
• Have We Met?:
  • Morgana unconsciously follows Caroline and Justine's orders despite not knowing who they are. He explains that for some reason the two of the seems familiar to him, foreshadowing that he too was created by Igor.
  • Because she came of a parallel universe, S.E.E.S. doesn't recognize the P3P Heroine but sense a familiarity with her. Even Fuuka's Lucia mistaken her for the male protagonist and Aigis is determine to protect her as well. When both protagonists meet, they do can't help feeling that they are know each other somehow.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Like in the previous game, the protagonist's names are based on player input and will not retain their names from other adaptions, although the P5 hero is still heavily referred to by his codename, Joker.
• Heroic BSoD: The P3P Heroine loses her usual genki-ness gradually as she is worried sick of the whereabouts of her companions and it reaches rock bottom when she is reunited with them only to find out they are from a parallel universe. At this point, she's no different from her male counterpart and spends most of the time moody while pretending that she is okay until S.E.E.S. cheer her up.
• Heroic Mime: Played straight and subverted for the main protagonists. As the overall primary player character in the story, Joker rarely speaks outside of the dialogue choices whereas the other protagonists all have fully-voiced dialogue.
• Hope Spot: In the beginning of A.I.G.I.S., the P3 female protagonist is finally relieved to have found her friends at last... except none of them know who she is.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: When you first try to rescue Makoto and Haru from Kamoshidaman, the statue in Kamo Memorial Square gives him the power to put Strength/Magic binds on your entire party and resist all your attacks. You are forced to retreat so you can find a way to destroy the statue.
• Human Resources: The humans in the movie world of A.I.G.I.S. are believed to be extinct from a resultant war, but Naoto and Akechi discuss the possibilities that any surviving humans are being kept as resources for the robot city.
• Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels:
  • Safety
  • Easy
  • Normal
  • Hard
  • Risky
• I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why: In the first full trailer, Hikari wonders why she's crying while questioning her identity. This is actually a combination of two endgame dialogues, the questioning of her identity during the fourth labyrinth and the crying part during the epilogue.
• Improbable Use of a Weapon: Because their airsoft guns no longer work, Joker uses his airsoft pistol to duel the P4 Hero, who is armed with a katana no less, to a standstill by using it to parry and deflect attacks.
• Individuality Is Illegal: Rather disturbingly, a common theme in all of the movies is the righteous destruction of individuals who challenge the societies of their worlds, with said individuals being portrayed as the 'villains' of the films for daring to be different.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Acquiring the Akashic Records in the penultimate floor of the final labyrinth opens up recipes for the strongest weapons and armors in the game for each character—each weapon reduces HP costs and give a large stat boost, while each armor either nullifies all ailments or all binds. These equipment recipes also require FOE drops to complete.
• Informed Equipment: Many story items and accessories are usually not seen in-game. The store does give a Flavor Text description though.
• In-Joke: While wandering around Hikari's Musical, the party comes across a large lever that's made to look like a Gag Nose. Upon hearing the word "nose", all four Wild Cards perk up and nonchalantly reply to each other "nose". Joker can even respond with "That long nose...", an obvious reference to Igor's long nose.
• Jurassic Farce: Junessic Land, the second movie, is a blatant Jurassic Park parody.
• Large Ham: Mamoru Miyano hams up a lot of Ryuji's lines and delivers them in an exaggerated manner, especially when Ryuji is reacting dramatically to something.
• Last Disc Magic: You can unlock evolutions to Ultimate Personas after you've finished all four Sooty Film fights. Even if you've been thorough with finding and completing sidequests, the earliest point you get to use them is after you've made a bit of headway into the final dungeon.
• Last-Name Basis: Somewhat more common in the Japanese audio than in the English text, as some characters use last names in the former when they use first names in the latter. For example, Aigis calls Futaba "Sakura-san" in her voiceovers, being one of the only ones who refers to Futaba by her last name.
• Lazy Backup: Any party member who's been found can speak up in a conversation or join in a Unison. But it's still a game over if the 5-person active party falls.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Joker and the P4 Hero meet each other by getting into a brief scuffle, caused by both parties mistaking each other for an enemy.
• Lethal Chef:
  • The girls (especially Chie, Yukiko, and Rise) are known to be terrible cooks, but this time, Yosuke manages to convince them to look for ingredients while the boys handle the cooking in order to lure a dinosaur FOE away. The ingredient search leads to terrible reactions: Haru finds a smelly herb, Chie finds a dinosaur egg, and Yukiko finds a carnivorous plant (which is introduced with a screaming sound effect). The only appealing ingredient was the mushroom that Ann and the P3P heroine found. The meat turns out well until Chie adds special sauce to it, and when the boys are asked to try it, Teddie feeds it to Yosuke. It ends up tasting good.
  • The P4 Hero instantly grimaces when the P3 Female Hero says that Yukiko must be a great cook as the heiress to a historic inn and asks that Yukiko's cooking never be brought up again. Futaba senses a great tragedy behind that statement.
  • Once you complete Yukiko and Yusuke's ticket event, Yukiko says that she wants to make a meal for Yusuke to thank him. The P4 boys immediately volunteer to help, not wanting Yusuke to suffer.
• Lighter and Softer: While the game is mostly Darker and Edgier than the first Persona Q, the endgame is the opposite. The fourth labyrinth concludes with Hikari finally coming to terms with her feelings about her father and becomes an 11th-Hour Ranger of sorts to the party, whereas in the first game, Rei was unable to accept her own Shadow, was horrified to realize that she was dead and was abducted by the Shadows. The ending has Hikari return to life and eventually make a movie, whereas Zen and Rei pass on. Notably, the mood of the party members in the endgame of the second game is lighter than the first, and the cinema's background music evokes hope and determination rather than the eerie theme used in the first game after the fourth labyrinth is completed.
• Loophole Abuse: In the Ultimate Boss fight against the Velvet Rangers, the Twins will instantly wipe out the party with a 9999 damage Megidolaon if anyone in it equips the Omnipotent Orb. That is, if your party has a member that exactly equips it. If your character somehow nulls/repels/absorbs all elements without equipping the orb, they will fight you normally.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: It's revealed that the entire setting of the game is Nagi/Enlil's attempt at one, a place where people could escape from their pain and trauma. Unfortunately, she does this by showing them horribly negative movies that only make things worse and more painful for them.
• Lost in Translation: An early conversation between the heroes and Nagi has her tell them they call the strange Shadowlike doll Doe. Ryuji mistakes the word doe for dough, as in, cookie dough. This joke is supposed to be about Gratuitous English and how there are many words in English that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. The joke falls flat in English because by translating it, it makes it obvious what the intent was, as Doe refers to John Doe, something Akechi points out since it's rare to hear in Japan except for police work. An alternate reason why the strange shadow-like creature is called Doe is that it comes from "Doushite Omae Ha Sounanda," which roughly translates to "Why are you like this." When people were about to flip out on Hikari, they always say this in a nearly-identical phrasing, making it her trigger word. Hikari's father said exactly that to her at the worst time possible because he was concerned about his daughter withdrawing herself, which obviously caused her to snap instead. This is translated universally as "Why do you have to be like that," but it might still not be obvious at first glance.
• Lyrical Dissonance: The trailer for the fourth movie dungeon includes a cheerful little ditty about giving up your individuality.
• Magical Girl Warrior: The female protagonist asks the Phantom Thieves how they transform and wonders if it's like being a magical girl. All the Phantom Thieves keep passing the question onto each other until Morgana gives a serious answer.
• Meaningful Look: One of the trailers shows the two protagonists of Persona 3 meeting. Sensing a familiarity between them, the two lock eyes at each other for a moment amidst the battle while a rendition of "Memories of You" is played in the background.
• Metaphorically True:
  • The movies are not wrong in their premise at all; they all follow the same tropes and scriptwriting as those movie genres represent. They just twist them into insane, perverse variations.
  • At the start of the game, when the party goes back to the Theater, Yusuke begins to talk to a spirit popping out from the seats. Nagi and Hikari then emerge among them. While the physical Hikari is definitely alive, the one you encounter for most of the game is really her spirit and not her physical person.
• Mistaken for Romance:
  • During Yukiko and Yusuke's ticket event, Yusuke becomes obsessed with finding an ammonite for Yukiko. This causes the P4 members to think he has a crush on her, when in reality he is fascinated with her art skills and wants her to draw one.
  • The P3 Protagonists' sense of familiarity with each other does not go unnoticed by Junpei and Teddie who believe that those two are soul mates.
• Monster Compendium: The game has the series staple Persona Compendium, and it carries forth the Enepedia from its prequel which stores enemy data.
• Motifs: Theaters are the overall theme of this game, with the labyrinths this time being based around movies.
  • The first dungeon is a Superhero-themed movie built around Kamoshida from P5. This is where the Phantom Thieves meet the P3 female protagonist, but somehow lose Makoto and Haru in the process.
  • The second dungeon is a Jurassic Park-esque monster film based on Junes. This is where the Investigation Team is introduced.
  • The third one is a science fiction send-up which has a smaller robot based on Aigis as a side character. S.E.E.S. joins, and the P3 male protagonist encounters his female self for the first time.
  • The fourth one is a musical fused with a biopic where Hikari learns to overcome her personal fears and depression.
• My Name Is ???: The fourth dungeon is referred to this way in menus while its title is obscured.
• My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Several bosses and FOEs now have an elemental weakness so that magic users can gain Boost using their better attacking options. To prevent the player from exploiting this for All-Out Attacks, these enemies can never be knocked down.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The music when the Philemon butterfly is showing Joker the quote comes from Persona, which is titularly named after the game.
  • The entire game draws some themes from Persona 2, as its ultimate moral sums up as "Let's Think Positive!," deals with childhood traumas that leave severe emotional scars on its victim and Daddy Issues. Additionally, both of Philemon's gold and blue butterfly forms appear in the game.
  • Elizabeth's new outfit resembles Motoko Mitsugi's from the PSP port of Persona 2: Innocent Sin with Sumaru Climax Theater replaced with Velvet Climax Theater.
  • Each labyrinth is inside a movie, referencing Persona 4's TV world.
  • The Persona 4 battle theme, "Remember We Got Your Back", incorporates the title of Persona 4's battle theme, "Reach Out to the Truth", as a lyric.
  • The P3P battle theme, "Pull the Trigger", also has lyrical references to "Burn My Dread" and "Mass Destruction".
  • While explaining to Joker that he has to pay them in order to resummon Personas from the Compendium, Caroline tells him that "Give and Take" is how the law, the same phrase Trish from the first two (three) Persona games used in order for her to provide her service.
  • At one point during the credits, the P4 Hero poses like his character artwork from Persona 4: Dancing All Night.
  • The player will regularly acquire one-of-a-kind accessories from various chests in the game. These are pins named after various classes in the Etrian Odyssey series and bestow a skill from their respective skill tree.
  • As the party prepares to replace each Negative Film in the Depths of the Theater District, the cutscene for each boss reuses a PQ2 rendition of the boss encounter theme from its representative game. Doe is the exception here.
• Nerf:
  • The formerly game-breaking Hama and Mudo One-Hit Kill skills are much harder to come by, especially when the game also has the Kou- and Ei- skills to inflict damage in their elements. They also no longer contribute to triggering an All-Out Attack, which is crucial to getting the most rewards out of a single battle.
  • Megido line of spells no longer have a chance of knocking enemies down.
  • Almighty skills which cost HP such as Shinkuuha no longer get empowered by Charged Attack skills Power Charge/Fury Order (which triples the power of attack skills which cost HP).
  • The skill Myriad Arrows (6 - 8 hits of light Phys damage with somewhat low accuracy) no longer hit all enemies, just 1 target.
• New Work, Recycled Graphics: All of the returning characters from Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth reuse their models and animations from the previous game.
• Never Be Hurt Again: This was the entire premise of the Theatergoers of the game and the reason why their will ended up in Enlil's Lotus-Eater Machine theaters; they simply wanted to avoid the pain and strife of living in a conformist and abusive society.
• The Nicknamer: Futaba calls the Velvet Room attendants "the Blue Brigade," Akihiko "Hikohiko," Elizabeth "Zabby," and Koromaru as just "the doggy."
• Nightmare Retardant: In-Universe: During Yukari, Yukiko, and Makoto's ticket event, Junpei tells a story about a Creepy Doll approaching a group of girls. Yukiko then hijacks the story and says that the doll taught the girls how to cook and they open a restaurant, giving the story a happy ending. When Yukiko tries to tell a ghost story at the end, Junpei joins in, but she ruins the build up by revealing she was describing Yusuke.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Unlike the P3 and P4 casts, who run around in their school uniforms in battle, the P5 cast wear their over the top thief costumes and masks in dungeons, only switching back to their school uniforms in the rest area.
• Not in Kansas Anymore: One of Joker's dialogue options during the prologue has him say something similar about leaving Mementos to Makoto.
• Oddly Common Rarity: The power of the Wild Card is rare but this game has more wielders together than any other games. While Persona 4: Arena Ultimax has a total four Wild Cards together, this game takes it up to eleven by having five of them (both P3 Protagonists, P4 Hero, Joker and Goro, unbeknownst to everyone else), and two who have yet to receive them (Aigis and Elizabeth).
• Orange/Blue Contrast:
  • The coloring theme for this game leans heavily on these two. This is present even on the two new characters. Both incorporate a black and white contrast in addition to one of the two colors, orange for Hikari and blue for Nagi.
  • This also works for the two protagonists of Persona 3 as the male tends to wear blue color outfits while the female usually wears orange.
• Original Generation: A young white-haired girl named Hikari and a taller black-haired woman named Nagi are completely new to Q2, with no appearances in P3, P4 or P5, much like Zen and Rei were in the previous game. There is also a new shadow-like creature, known as Doe.
• Our Souls Are Different: It was later heavily implied that all of the people trapped in Cinemas are not of their real person, but their will to live that has escaped from the pain of modern society.
• Permanently Missable Content: Several Special Screenings contain treasure chests and even shortcuts that are not available elsewhere. Completing the Screening without fully exploring the area can deprive the player of additional rewards.
• Pet the Dog: Akechi's portrayal is way more overtly sympathetically in this game, especially when characters like Shinjiro, Ken, and Koromaru help him confront his loneliness. He even gets an exclusive scene where Koromaru comforts him, playing this trope literally. He also gets along with Naoto and Teddie is more than happy to hang around him, with the latter saying he's a Nice Guy.
• Piñata Enemy: The penultimate floor of each dungeon will occasionally generate a large Shadow with a damage-resistant Affinity Barrier as a random encounter. While those Shadows can be potentially dangerous, striking them while their Barrier is up will cause them to scatter money with each hit. Keep them under control without breaking the Barrier, and you can turn them into money-spewing punching bags.
• Public Execution: Kamoshidaman was apparently planning on doing this to Makoto and Haru if the Phantom Thieves hadn't intervened.
• Pure Is Not Good: The Theater District displays pure negativity taking the form of movies as Enlil's deluded plan of bringing forth salvation.
• Rare Candy: In this game, Sacrificial Fusions can also be performed for Main Personas, which lets a player bring one of the game's many playable characters up to speed if they're behind in levels.
• Reckless Gun Usage: Played for Laughs. One of the central hub scenes during the fourth movie has Ryuji pointing an Evoker at Yosuke and Junpei, frightening the two, despite Evokers are not actual guns. The funny part is that Junpei, who had been using the device for several months at this point should had known that an Evoker isn't dangerous at all.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When the P3P Heroine summons Orpheus during her introduction scene, her left eye glows red.
• Running Gag: A red and white striped popcorn cup recurs several times as a gag, going hand in hand with the movie theme.
  • The Safety difficulty depicts Joker sitting on a stool while munching on popcorn.
  • Theodore wears a full body popcorn suit while he mans the shop.
  • The Fusion Accident animation involves Caroline accidentally throwing Justine into Margaret on the sidelines, who drops her popcorn on collision.
  • Marie's odd poems can be found and read once again in the Velvet Room.
  • Many dialogue options for Joker when asked to do something include the option for him to attempt asking Ryuji to do it instead.
• Saw It in a Movie Once:
  • The female protagonist volunteers to talk to a police officer in the manhole of Kamocity, and he asks her what the password is to verify her identity. When it turns out that there was no password, and the police officer was using it to bait her, she suddenly knocks him unconscious by chopping him in the neck. All the boys are appalled, while Ann is excited. The female protagonist then excitedly says she's always wanted to do that ever since she saw it in a movie.
  • In a darker version of this trope, Kamoshidaman and Junessic Land are actually perverse versions of movies that Hikari watched when she was young, with their morals twisted by her past traumas.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: The P3 female protagonist and Futaba describe dinosaur movies with sound effects. You can either question them or join in.
• Schrödinger's Player Character: Averted, both P3 Protagonists appear in the story at the same time.
  Female P3 Protagonist: I am him and... he is me?
• Shipper on Deck: Junpei is a bit too enthusiastic about pairing the P3 protagonists together, considering what that actually means in this situation.
• Spiritual Antithesis: The game appears to completely contrast the original Q in may form or ways while maintaining a similar premise.
  • Instead of throwing the player into a place that resembles the Yasogami High that everyone knew and loved, this game outright throws you into the first Labyrinth then puts you into a seemingly barren Cinema where the first person you meet is a strange, black thing.
  • The game does not sugar coat its dungeons with themes such as fairytales and dating cafes, but instead blatantly opens up with movies where authority rules over all.
  • Rei from the previous Q is a bit shy, but at least she tries to talk to you; Hikari in the other hand just refuses direct communication and makes Thousand-Yard Stares while being idle. Also, while Rei is dead but wants to live, Hikari is alive but in catatonic depression.
  • Nagi also contrasts Zen in many ways, most notably Zen is a genuine protector of Rei while Nagi is a Chekhov's Gunman type Big Bad.
  • The encountering of other Persona teams were also significantly more tense and conflicting than the simple encounter scene in Q.
  • While the bosses of Q resemble ungodly Eldritch Abominations and the labyrinth visuals are rather nightmarish, most of the bosses in Q2 resemble characters from the Persona series without any traces of horror at all, while the labyrinth visuals are usually what you expect in their respective movie types. ^note There are still visual horror elements in the fourth labyrinth, it is just heavily toned down compared to Q's visual horror and it's only limited to there.
  • After you clear the 4th stratum in Q, the lobby takes a 180 degree turn and the BGM and visuals become extremely creepy. In Q2, the game instead plays a catchy instrumental theme after you clear the 4th stratum.
  • While Persona Q used Greek elements, Q2 uses French elements.
  • In Persona Q, Philemon's butterfly is seen trapped in a spiderweb until the epilogue. In Q2, it can be seen flying freely.
  • Persona Q's soundtrack has a song called "Tea Break", while Persona Q2 has a song called "Coffee Break".
• Spotlight-Stealing Crossover: Unlike the previous game, which gives focus on both casts regardless of the route chosen, the Phantom Thieves have the most focus in this game, with only the P3P Heroine having the same level as them since she joins them early. Aside from the Protagonists, the other members of SEES and the Investigation Team do not have much focus after the movie they joined. This may be because Persona 5 had not come out by the time the first Persona Q was released.
• Spy Catsuit: One of the armors you can buy in the Store is called "Primary Cat Suit."
  A catsuit with a black cat on the chest.
• Stealth Pun: Yosukesaurus is an herbivore, giving rise to him being called an "herbivore man" (a Japanese slang term basically describing him as a "beta", or taking a passive role in relationships).
• The Stinger: In universe. The final scene of the third dungeon in which Ribbon awakens and vows to create a better world happens after the credits for the third film have already rolled.
• Stylistic Suck: In a movie labyrinth, the background gains a grainy filter to invoke an old-school movie.
• Suddenly Speaking: The P3P Heroine is a Heroic Mime in her home game and hasn't appeared in any other games since then. She is now fully talkative alongside her male counterpart and the P4 Hero (both whom have lines in the previous game depending on the route taken).
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: This game portrays this with disturbing accuracy to a T. Basically everything you see in the game is a metaphor for this and some sort and the worse mental effects to its victims are also portrayed with scary accuracy even for Atlus standards.
• Tap on the Head: The female protagonist goes undercover to interrogate a police officer in Kamoshidaman. She fails when he figures out her identity, and she quickly knocks him unconscious by chopping him in the neck before he can say anything. The boys are appalled, Ann is excited, and the female protagonist says she's always wanted to do that after seeing a movie.
• A Taste of Power: The first battle of the game has Makoto in your party with the second-tier healing spell Diarama available. After that fight, she and Haru are captured by Kamoshidaman for the rest of the dungeon.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: After being a victim of Mystery Food X on multiple occasions, Yosuke finally manages to eat something that tastes good. It helps that the P4 Hero and Joker know how to cook and the P3P Heroine manages to find decent ingredients, which are able to counter the horrible sauce made by Chie and Yukiko.
• Time Travel: Implied to be the reason for the gathering of the casts from all three games, as S.E.E.S. (from 2009) and the Investigation Team (from 2011) are still in their school uniforms even though they should had graduated by the time of Persona 5 (from 20XX^note P5's in-game calendar as well as some referenced continuity (e.g. a news report mentioning that Rise, who was 15-16 years old in P4, is now 20) all but outright indicate that it's 2016). As with the original game, the teams are seemingly taken from different points in time from their respective games:
  • Persona 3: Taken away from between September 2 and October 4; indicators include the lack of their story-mandated Ultimate Personas and the resulting Character Development that should have come with it and Shinjiro being alive and active in the party.
  • Persona 4: Taken from between October 29 and November 6. A conversation in Junessic Land mentions the crossdressing pageant, and Nanako's presence in the ending means it takes place before her kidnapping.
  • Persona 5: Taken between October 29 and November 20, while the Casino Palace is active. This justifies the presence of Akechi, who is only an active party member within those listed dates. The prologue of the game explains that this is Akechi's first time in Mementos and that there's still a comfortable amount of time before the deadline, which would imply that it takes place earlier in November.
• Title Drop: In the epilogue, Hikari's movie presented in the film festival is called New Cinema Labyrinth, which is about her growth as a person.
• Too Awesome to Use: Wild Cards can be used in a Sacrifice Fusion to transfer a skill to a Main Persona, lending to even more customizability with your party members' mainstay movesets. If you want to accumulate them, though, you will have to do so by fighting FOEs, and Wild Cards have a low drop rate to boot. It's not unusual to see a player not use the Wild Cards much, if at all.
• Trapped in TV Land: Or in this case, case multiple Movie-worlds, which is the entire game plot. However, the last dungeon takes place in a Studiopolis level.
• Unflinching Walk: All-Out Attacks are played as a Big Ball of Violence like in the original Persona Q, but this time if your All-Out Attack manages to annihilate the enemy party, you are rewarded with a shot of the party dramatically walking away from the exploded enemies afterwards.
• Variable Mix: The game does various things as more of the cast becomes available.
  • There are four battle themes, one for each game's cast. Each cast becoming playable adds their respective theme to the possible tracks the game can play for random battles.
  • The menu theme also becomes more elaborate as more members are recruited.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential:
  • In Kamoshidaman, when the characters first spot the stairs, Akechi tells you to mark it on your map. You have the option to either thank him, ignore him, or tell him to stop helping you.
  • You have a fair share of chances to say cruel words towards Hikari. For example, at the start of the game when she hands you a cup of popcorn, you can tell her you prefer unsalted ones.
• Villain Protagonist: In-Universe by way of Designated Villain. The Persona users are treated as the villains of the movie labyrinths alongside with their allies from said movies.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Once you take down Kamoshidaman's statue, his attacks become laughably ineffective. However, when he reveals his true form, he doesn't play around—he can move twice per turn, and his carrot guns can easily wipe out a member of your party in just one turn. In addition to this, while his carrots both have weaknesses that are commonplace, his carrot Gatling gun attacks multiple targets, potentially eliminating any boosts which will further drain party resources. Since he resists your attacks, you have to destroy his guns first. Once you do, he sets up fire resistance to block his one weakness—showcasing why it can be a good idea to not spam All-Out Attacks—and he can still move twice per turn.
• You ALL Look Familiar: The blue colored, faceless models are used for Hikari's past tormentors in the fourth labyrinth and the people trapped in Enlil's theaters. If you pay attention to the trapped people, you can actually see that one or more of the older women use the same model as Hikari's aunt when confronting Enlil, while the model of her primary school teacher and secondary school friends are recycled in the Theater District destruction scene.
• You Are Number 6: In A.I.G.I.S., every character is assigned an identification number, with the letters at the front denoting point of origin. Ribbon goes by UIY-2249 before the cast names her; the playable cast also gets their own number as they enter the movie.^note Their letters also correspond to their homes — TK for Tokyo, YS for Yasogami, IW for Iwatodai. Both the male and female P3 protagonists share the same number, and this is used to bypass security at the final floor to access the boss room.
• You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: When Hikari calls Futaba by her name for the first time, Futaba is shocked and freaks out.
• Young Future Famous People: Both Rise and Yukari are this from the perspective of the Phantom Thieves, though the player and everyone else will be more familiar with their pre-stardom selves.
• Your Magic's No Good Here: The Phantom Thieves are armed with airsoft guns that become functional in the Metaverse as a side effect of Your Mind Makes It Real. When they enter the world of movies, one of the first things they realize is that their guns are no longer effective, as evidenced when Ryuji pulls out his shotgun and pulls the trigger to no effect. This tips them off that they have exited Mementos altogether, and the Metaverse by extension. This is likely a case of Gameplay and Story Segregation, as the P3 and P4 casts (sans Aigis and Naoto) do not use firearms. Morgana still uses slingshots instead of sabers, and this doesn't seem to stop Akechi's laser swords from working like the real thing either, even though they're still said in the item descriptions to be toys and props.
• Zero-Effort Boss:
  • Kamoshidaman's first form is virtually helpless against the protagonists after they steal his statue. His Super Kamoshidaman form, however, is another story.
  • After the Mother Computer is hacked in a story scene, the battle resumes with the Mother Computer having barely any HP left.

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