The following folders contain spoilers for base Persona 5 and Royal, You Have Been Warned.
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Pre-Release Speculation
Pre-Reveal predictions
Persona 5 S is a spin-off game
The "We will show you a new Phantom Thieves that will turn the world's cognition on its head." line in the site's source code is a reference to this, and not to it being a game containing new members of the Phantom Thieves.- Confirmed! It's a Musou-style action game for PS4 and Switch called Persona 5 Scramble.
S stands for "Spin-off"
Following from the WMG above.- Jossed. It stands for "Scramble".
- Or "Strikers" outside of Japan.
Persona 5 S is a shooting game
The 2019 Atlus Consumer Survey that was released earlier this year removed the "Persona shooting game" option from the "Would you play this game?" section, it's likely it could have been removed due to being popular enough to become an actual game.- Jossed. It will be a Musou-style action game.
If Persona 5 S isn't a spin-off, it will be a port of base Persona 5 for Nintendo Switch
With the Best Buy leak, this is another possibility, and a port of a Persona game that's not a spin-off onto a non-Sony console would definitely "turn the world's cognition on its head" in regards to the mainline games being Sony exclusives. The Royal used to be exclusive to PS4 however, but ports for the Switch, Xbox, PC, and PS5 were released on October 2022.- Half-confirmed. Royal used to be a PlayStation 4 exclusive, but Persona 5 S is a Musou-style spinoff game will be released for PS4 and Switch. Royal was eventually released to other consoles(including Switch) and PC on October 2022.
Persona 5 S is a continuation of Persona 5's bad ending.
In which Joker and the other thieves are the villains. That would definitely turn things on their heads.- Jossed. It takes place after the True Ending of Persona 5 Royal.
S stands for Social and it'll be a mobile game
Need I say more?
If this is confirmed, then the game will be a dungeon crawler and feature a gacha for summoning new Personas.- Jossed. It will be for Playstation 4 and Switch.
Character predictions
Sophie is Sophia, or a fragment/corrupted form of her.
Pretty self-explanatory. The name already is a dead giveaway, and from the preview alone is easy to tell that something is not normal about her. It's so obvious that it would be a real twist if she was completely a Red Herring and ended up being a character completely unrelated to her.
Yaldabaoth could have sealed her away inside that cube Joker finds her at in the trailer to keep her from potentially ruining his plans, and said sealed/depowered state is the reason behind her current "Cute young girl with heart-shaped hair" appearance as opposed to her real adult self as seen in other SMT installments. Whether Sophie herself is aware of this or not is yet to be seen.
She could also had been sealed herself inside the cube in order to avoid Maruki's Palace from collapsing, and Maruki's Palace was not Maruki's but actually hers? Adding to the fact is that Sophia created Yaldabaoth, she probably did it out of mistake and thus making her the very Unwitting Instigator of Doom of the P5 events?
- Her real name is Sophia and she's an Artificial Intelligence, whether she is actually the Gnostic Sophia or not is up in the air.
- The "sealed inside a cube" thing itself is jossed, because Sophia is not sealed inside the cube; she is the cube.
- Semi-jossed. She's a prototype AI for the EMMA app who was considered defective and was discarded, and has some connection to the Demiurge, however neither Sophia or the Demiurge herself have any sort of connection with Yaldabaoth or Maruki.
Sophia will obtain Pandora as a persona at some point
Her persona is Pithos, which is a type of container from ancient Greece and not any sort of mythological, historical or fictional figure like the rest of the cast's persona. Since Sophie herself was awakened from a box, even if she doesn't obtain Pandora at any point, it's likely the latter will be referenced or appear elsewhere in the game.- Was the game really that predictable? Confirmed.
Sophia will obtain Azathoth or Adam Kadmon as an evolution of Pithos
Probably Pithos is actually sealing parts of Azathoth, which has been recovering from the Maruki's Palace incident?- Jossed. Sophia's ultimate Persona is Pandora.
Sophia loaned Adam Kadmon to Takuto out of kindness
Probably Azathoth/Adam Kadmon was actually one of her associates and she loans it to Takuto as a gift out of mercy upon losing Rumi? And then it went berserk because of Yaldabaoth and thus Sophia was an Unwitting Instigator of Doom?- Based on the point above, could she had been recycled Adam Kadmon away after the Phantom Thieves destroyed it?
- Jossed.
Supporting this is the past trend with previous Warriors games being a Massive Multiplayer Crossover for their respective franchises. Both Hyrule Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors notably had a main focus on crossing over three major installments from each of their series (Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword for the former, Shadow Dragon, Awakening and Fates for the latter) in addition to several original characters.
Combined with the below examples that posit that Akechi and Kasumi could join the roster, an initial launch count of nearly 30 characters could be expected.
- Jossed. Base roster includes only the OG Persona 5 cast minus Akechi and two Original Generation characters.
Aigis, Yosuke and Akechi will be playable
Tying into the above WMG, since a lot of merchandise tends to pair these three with their game's respective main character and that all three are popular, to the point where they consistently top character popularity polls for their respective games. Note- Jossed. Only characters hailing from OG Persona 5 and two New Recruits will be playable.
All the Phantom Thieves will be playable
It is Persona 5 Scramble after all. Kasumi will likely end up as a DLC character.- Jossed. Futaba isn't playable and Akechi and Kasumi aren't in at all.
Both Akechi and Kasumi will be Eleventh Hour Rangers and show up late into the game's story
As an alternate to them being added as DLC or in the most unlikely case, not showing up at all. Their absence essentially invalidates Scramble being canon.- Jossed. Akechi is a no-show and neither is Kasumi. Both never being mentioned also don't ever intrude on what is and isn't canon.
If Futaba is playable, she'll be the game's equivalent of Young Link and Tiki
In that her attacks will be weak and have poor range since she's a Mission Control in her home game and not a fighter, but fully charging her meter will have her boarding Necronomicon and as a result be much deadlier and have greater range to her attacks.- Jossed. Futaba isn't playable.
If Akechi is playable, he'll have a Super Mode
To a lesser extent of the above. It will involve him transforming into Black Mask and utilizing Loki for his attacks.- Alternately, Black Mask will be a separate character.
- Jossed. No Akechi and no planned DLC.
Adachi will be part of the base roster
Especially if Yu gets involved.- Jossed.
Breakdown of a possible roster
First of all, this should bear repeating that it is entirely possible that the playable roster could consist solely of the Phantom Thieves and nobody else. There have been instances of the casts for collaboration Warriors games only barely breaking the 10-man mark. Hyrule Warriors only had 13 characters, barring some that were available through free updates and DLC, while Fire Emblem Warriors broke 21 without DLC, despite characters often sharing movelists with each other.
However, as these games often serve as inter-series crossovers, not to mention that most of the Persona spin-offs like Arena and Q feature parties from different titles interacting with each other, it would stand to reason that some crossover elements will be featured here. Without further ado, here's the blow list mainly comprised of fighters spanning all the major Persona spin-offs from the past decade:
- Phantom Thieves of Hearts: Arguably confirmed unofficially already due to this being a Persona 5 spin-off.
- Joker
- Morgana
- Ryuji Sakamoto
- Ann Takamaki
- Yusuke Kitagawa
- Makoto Niijima
- Futaba Sakura: There exists the possibility of her becoming an active combatant; she now participates in All-Out Attacks with the Royal update, and previous support Persona user Rise was a playable character in Persona 4: Arena Ultimax.
- Haru Okumura
- Goro Akechi: While he was presumed dead by the end of vanilla P5 - key word being "presumed", The Royal has hinted at him surviving and becoming a full-on member of the Phantom Thieves to complete his Heel–Face Turn. Whatever the case may be, the possible avoidance of his canon demise could be reason enough to have him join the roster in whatever shape or form.
- Kasumi Yoshizawa: Her inclusion here could be similar to how Marie - another character who appeared in an Updated Re-release of a mainline Persona game - showed up in spin-offs relatively quickly after her debut. Kasumi's case even moreso should be noted since she is set to be a main party member within The Royal
- Investigation Team: Assuming that this is set to be a canonical follow-up to Persona 5, this could be the chance to show off older redesigns of the Persona 4 party similar to how Mitsuru and Akihiko were depicted as Older and Wiser in Persona 4: Arena.note
- Yu Narukami
- Yosuke Hanamura
- Chie Satonaka
- Yukiko Amagi
- Kanji Tatsumi
- Rise Kujikawa
- Teddie
- Naoto Shirogane: And she may have a major role in this game's story, investigating both the irregularity of Akechi's "detective work" as well as the mental shutdowns with Mitsuru and the Shadow Operatives.
- Shadow Operatives & SEES: See the entry above for the Investigation Team.note
- Aigis
- Mitsuru Kirijo: She could be the one leading her private investigation on the Phantom Thieves after she witnesses Okumura's death on television. Given that the Shadow Operatives should have their pulse on any suspicious activities related to Shadows or Personas, it's likely that she could have kept tabs on them for a while now.
- Akihiko Sanada
- Yukari Takeba
- Junpei Iori
- Fuuka Yamagishi: See Futaba's entry. This would actually mark Fuuka's first appearance as a combatant if ever, since she has not been depicted as providing active combat assistance in the same manner Rise and Futaba have.
- Ken Amada / Koromaru (either together as in Arena or separately)
- Velvet Room attendants:
- Caroline and Justine (either separate, together like in their boss fight or as their fused form Lavenza)
- Elizabeth
- Theodore
- Margaret
- Marie
- From the Arena spin-offs: Possibilities for these characters exist due to showing up again as DLC for the Dancing games, in addition to Labrys' inclusion in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle.
- Labrys
- Sho Minazuki: Notably, his story in Ultimax was left as a Sequel Hook implying that he would return as a guest of the Velvet Room.
- Others:
- Tohru Adachi
- Zen/Rei and Hikari: Unlikely due to the Q games not receiving any main crossover showings outside of their sub-series, in addition to their current designs clashing with how Scramble is set to more closely resemble the mainline Persona art style. Also, Zen and Rei were long vanished before the events of the game even began and Hikari cannot fight at all.
- Either of the Persona 3 protagonists: Would entail that they somehow are brought Back from the Dead in some fashion.
- Shinjiro Aragaki: See above.
- Metis: Has notably not appeared in any spin-offs, likely due to having completed her Fusion Dance with Aigis.
- Non-Persona users (Nanako Dojima, Kanami Mashita, other Social Links/Confidants, etc.): Unlikely, unless they somehow obtain Personas in the interim.
- Original Generation characters: A possibility, although how many remains unknown. Both of the Nintendo-based Warriors games and most Persona spin-offs (Sho and Labrys in Arena, Zen and Rei in Q, Kanami in Dancing All Night) feature several of them within the roster. The red-head girl seen in the teaser could be one of them, and the website's secret message has hinted at "new" Phantom Thieves being present.
- Sophie, the girl shown in the teaser is confirmed as playable.
- Hasegawa is confirmed as a playable character.
- Villains: A mixed bag. While Warriors games often allow antagonists within their rosters, there have been instances of collaboration games (One Piece: Pirate Warriors, Warriors All-Stars, Fire Emblem Warriors, Attack on Titan (2016), Berserk and the Band of the Hawk) where the playable villain presence is near non-existent. In addition, should the game be heavy on Persona usage - necessitating that Persona-users are the only playable characters, the amount of villainous Persona users is limited.
- Characters from Persona and the Persona 2 duology: Heavily unlikely. For all intents and purposes, Atlus rarely acknowledges the first two Persona games, let alone include them in any modern content barring the odd reference now and then.
- However, if they do include characters from Personas 1 and 2, Tatsuya and Maya (Persona 2's dual protagonists) seem the most likely. Not only do they have canon names unlike the protagonist from Persona 1, they also represent the games and characters in the franchise with the closest connection to franchise Big Good Philemon and are possibly the most recognizable characters from the pre-3 Persona games.
Needless to say, the roster potentially has the chance of being the biggest of any Persona spin-off to date
- Akechi, Kasumi and no-one outside of the Phantom Thieves appears as a playable character.
Story predictions
The game will have the same story as the original
Except made into an action RPG, technically making a "remake".- The appearance of an original character at the end of the teaser trailer suggests that it may not be the exact same story...
- Jossed, it takes place after the story of Persona 5.
The game will be set after Persona 5 and will feature older versions of previous Persona protagonists
Yaldabaoth managing to merge both the real world and the Metaverse in the climax to P5 would undoubtedly have attracted the attention of both the Shadow Operatives and the Investigation Team, especially given that - unlike Nyx, Erebus, Izanami or Hi-no-Kagutsuchi - the Yaldabaoth incident which would have ended the world as they knew it was witnessed by many members of the public. If the Metaverse were to resurface along with these new incidents throughout Japan (Inaba being out in the countryside and Port Island being in Kobe if based off the actual locale) being blamed on the Phantom Thieves, they would surely have an incentive to look into these events themselves.- Semi-jossed. It takes place half a year after the end of Persona 5.
The Phantom Thieves are framed for the new incidents, and have to prove their innocence
The opening narration from the debut trailer notes that "they" are being blamed for whatever is going on in the real world, and while their names haven't been dropped, the return of the Metaverse should give them the means to clear their names and figure out who is responsible. This could also form the basis of how they could come into conflict with others outside their group, especially if the previous games' teams are in the roster; the Shadow Operatives and Investigation Team may not be aware of all the facts behind what the Thieves have done, and any possible investigations on their part could lead to them trading blows against one another.- Confirmed - they are informed early on that the Thieves are the prime suspects, and at one point, the police try and arrest them for a crime which one of the villains claimed they did.
The story will feature alternate versions of characters from previous Persona games as villains
Similar to how Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth uses variations of Kamoshida, Shadow Yosuke and Ikutsuki as antagonists.- Jossed. The antagonists are Original Generation.
The game is a sequel to the Persona 4: Arena storyline and will close the story of Sho Minazuki and possibly Elizabeth's quest to revive the P3 protagonist.
The games left a great many story threads untied, and this game, if it's canon, will be a perfect opportunity to finish them. Besides, if you think about it, isn't a Musou game the next logical step up from a fighting game?- Jossed, the story is a story centered on the Phantom Thieves after the OG Persona 5 with no connections to the Arena games.
Sophia is related to the Yaldabaoth and Adam Kadmon incidents
Sophia is the creator of Yaldabaoth and can also command Adam Kadmon, which is the anthromorphic form of the light and wisdom of humanity. It's very likely they have a relation with each other.- Furthermore Takuto's incident appears to be too odd, and his Persona Adam Kadmon doesn't behave like one to begin with. It's probably sent by Sophia to help Takuto out of good will.
- Jossed. She's a prototype for the EMMA app and has a connection to the Demiurge, but neither of them have any sort of association with Yaldabaoth or Adam Kadmon.
Zenkichi was framing the Thieves for the Yaldabaoth and Adam Kadmon incidents
In the November 26 trailer, Zenkichi framed the Thieves for the new case happening all over Japan. Could he be suspecting that it is related to Yaldabaoth or Adam Kadmon (And thus would be the Phantom Thieves' doing?)- Jossed.
There are two Sophias
And one of them was the mastermind who sent Zenkichi to frame the Thieves for killing off Adam Kadmon for Yaldabaoth and created the jails so she could recreate Adam Kadmon from human desires, while the other is the Sophia we knew so far who was trying to stop her twin or sister from going too far. Probably Adam Kadmon was Sophia's brother and she is doing this out of grief?- Jossed.
The Kings are all Demons/Shadows serving under Sophia for the sake of recreating Adam Kadmon, and they all impersonate as celebrities
We are shown two potential enemy characters; Alice Hiiragi and Ango Natsume, both being influential people on the entertainment industry and respectively an idol and a writer. And there is no way better to leave people vulnerable to exposing their desires by making up demons/shadows in the form of celebrities and pile them all up. The darker side of Sophia probably realized this to better gather what people wanted.- Jossed. The Kings are the Shadows of regular people who suffered abuse or other trauma and use EMMA to gain self-confidence and act out against those who wrong them.
Shadow Joker?
I think that it's probably the battle form of a target that is a horror movie director. A new jail appears to be taking the form of Shujin, with zombified Shujin students acting as Shadows. It's possible that the "Shadow Joker" manifested from that Jail, because the target was a horror movie director that made a movie about "Your biggest fear".- Jossed. He's one of the Cognitive Phantom Thieves created by Akane's Shadow.
Hasegawa will be a Friendly Enemy late in the game.
As apposed to stopping them despite what the people said, Hasegawa will actually see the Phantom Thieves as innocent and will act as a supporting ally in the events, but still act antagonistic due to being on opposite ends of the law.
- Basically, he'll be more of the straightforward Zenigata to Joker's Lupin III.
- Seemingly confirmed. PV#02 and the opening animation confirms he awakens a Persona.
- He ends up as a member of the Thieves, and from the Kyoto Jail onwards he directly helps them out, even going so far as to writing a calling card for one of the Monarchs. Plus the Thieves get him to help with delivering some of the earlier cards. So kinda Confirmed and kinda Jossed at the same time.
Hasewaga will be a Sixth Ranger Traitor late in the game.
- Jossed.
Hasegawa has a checkered past and is seeking redemption.
He is shown to have a young daughter who lives in Kyoto with a mother/wife that has yet to be seen so he is either a single father with an adopted daughter or a widower. Hasegawa had a checkered past prior to joining the police force and is seeking redemption from it. The relationship he shares with his daughter Akane and the struggles he goes through during the story will parallel the struggles his Persona Valjean and his adopted daughter Cosette experience in the original "Les Miserables". He is also being pursued by an antagonist who will work directly or indirectly with the big bad of the story to bring him to justice for his past. This antagonist will either have a Persona or will be modeled off of Inspector Javert from "Les Miserables."
- Semi-confirmed. Hasegawa is a widower who is seeking redemption in the eyes of his daughter, but he's not allied with the Big Bad at all. At least, not beyond being a part of a police operation that is under the control of the Big Bad behind the scenes. He's the one pursing the antagonists to bring them to justice for their crimes, his own "checkered past" is that he has failed to do so due to the extent of their corrupt power, and he only puts himself in their crosshairs by putting true justice before their authority.
DLC predictions
There will be Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army-themed DLC
It's unlikely but seeing as both Persona 5 Scramble and the Raidou series are both Action RPG Spin-Offs it would be nice call back. It'll either be alternate battle tracks or costume DLC.- Jossed. The game has no DLC beyond the bonus music.
There will be a Shin Megami Tensei-themed DLC
Since Persona is a Spin-Off of SMT, it'll be more than likely that it will Shout-Out to it's parent series. Like the above example, It'll be alternate battle tracks or costumes, or even alternate battle tracks based on the costumes much like Persona 5 before it.- Jossed. No DLC.
There will be a BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle-themed DLC.
Completely out of the blue and seemingly impossible, but who wouldn't want RWBY characters in a Warriors game and potentially lead up to a RWBY Warriors?- Jossed. No DLC.
There will be a Yakuza-themed DLC
Returning from Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight with the outfits of the characters who didn't appear.- Sophia: Masayoshi Tanimura
- Hasegawa: Makoto Date
- Jossed. No DLC.
Joker will get an outfit based on Itsuki Aoi.
It would be a good compliment to Itsuki getting a Joker outfit in Encore.- Jossed. No DLC.
Other
The game will use the Sub-Persona system from the Persona Q games.
This actually would tie into a possible weakness mechanic, similar to how Hyrule Warriors had elements that countered each other or how Fire Emblem Warriors implemented that series' Weapon Triangle. Having a Persona with the right elemental load-out and stats could affect how easily their users could fare against enemies, and being able to switch which Persona is active could allow the player to adapt to whatever situation is on hand. The trailer did hint at it with the "WEAK!" notification flashing on enemies that Joker attacked.- Semi-jossed. Joker can use Personas other than Arsene due to the power of the Wild Card, but everyone else can only use their main Persona.
Social Links/Confidants will be incorporated in some way
Obvious prediction, but seeing as most Persona spin-offs tend to incorporate these then it would be odd for them to be missing here. It could work similarly to the Support Ranks from Fire Emblem Warriors.- There's moments where you can bond with one of the Thieves, but there's no actual Social Link or Confidant system in the game.
The Demi-Fiend will be involved in some way.
The Demi-Fiend is one of the most recognisable and iconic characters in the entire MegaTen super-franchise, and since he was included as a DLC outfit in the P5 Dancing game, he could make an appearance here as either a skin, hidden character, bonus boss, or DLC character.- Jossed. No Hitoshura.
Post-Release Speculation
Plot WMGs
The events of Scramble are non-canon
Given that the game follows from the original Persona 5's story and there's a few moments in the story that contradict Royal and the fate of Musou-style crossover games (and non-mainline Persona sequels such as trinity soul and Detective Naoto) to not be considered canon.- There are no real contradictions, just vague details to make it seem like either of the prior endings might be the case.
- Persona and SMT as a whole are also established to be in a multiverse. SMT IV's ending and the opening title to the Persona 4 Golden anime also hint that certain timelines repeat with key differences, hence Strikers continues off from the OG Persona 5 release, but doesn't contradict Royal being in its own timeline.
Scramble is a sequel of Royal all along
When first stepping foot onto the Tree of Life and Wisdom (An area based on Eden), Morgana told the party that the Palace reminds him of a Palace half a year ago. The only Palace that occurred half a year ago and is based on Eden is Maruki's Palace; if he were truly meaning Mementos, then it would be last winter.- Jossed. The English release completely removes this reference.
- Now un-jossed by Tactica, which both directly references Royal and foreshadows Strikers.
Ichinose, Jose and Maruki
These three are probably related, based on the odd circumstances behind them.- Jose, like Sophia, calls Morgana a "Tanuki" on first impression and shares the same goals on researching humanity. He has poor memory and can't however, and he always points to a task handled out by "a person." This couldn't possibly be anyone but Ichinose. Could he be a prototype for Sophia (And by extension, EMMA) but was scrapped because he returned with nothing?
- Additionally, Ichinose does not have or understand any human emotions, and the first emotion she decides to fake is obviously from Maruki, with the verbal tics and conversation methods. While you might argue that she worked in the same university as his, could it be actually Maruki was her first benefactor by loaning Adam Kadmon to him instead (or at least was involved in a deal with Maruki), and that's how she defines human emotions as?
Ichinose is human
But a human with powers to enter and control the Metaverse as she sees fit. What I guess here is in the past, her parents both actually died and she actually did shut down her emotions, and the "Maruki's Palace" structure (Which looks like the surface area of Mementos than anything) used to be her research laboratory, which she did use to loan Adam Kadmon to Maruki, and that's how she got the potential to have a heart which she doesn't realize? And once Maruki got his fundraising cut down by Shido, she secretly let him access this portion of the collective unconscious in hopes he could end all of humanity's suffering by creating a "Jail"?Furthermore, pay attention to how BOTH of Ichinose and Rumi's died and both women did shut off their emotions because of this. It's just Ichinose's case happened to occur when she was young while Rumi's case was fairly recent. Did how similar both incidents motivated her to deploy Adam Kadmon to Maruki and led to the opening of her heart, and thus resulting in her emotional dilemma during the events of this game?
- Confirmed. Ichinose is human.
Ichinose is not human
She could very probably a Shadow or even an AI who controls the Maruki's Palace building itself only to be forcefully ejected once the Palace is destroyed and took a human form. Just because she said that both of her parents died and thus she shut down her emotions does not indicate that isn't just a cover story, and even if she used to be an emotionless AI, she could had been got a heart without realizing it (and is denying it) after hanging around Maruki for so long. Remember that a being from the collective unconscious can get a heart, even if they aren't supposed to have one, like Teddie or Marie.- Jossed. Ichinose is human.
Why did Ichinose ditched Sophia so quickly?
Ichinose ditched Sophia because she's asking her about what is the human heart while she expects the AI to find her own answer. Could this be because she made Jose for the same purpose, obviously Jose can't remember anything about it and she scrapped him, and Sophia ended up exactly like him so she knew something is wrong from the get go?Joker and Kasumi are dating by the time of Scramble
Either that, or Joker is into red-heads. Sophia shares many traits similar to Kasumi's, namely red hair, her Arcana, the Hope Arcana originating from the same deck as the Faith (Kasumi's Arcana), clothing and eye color being the reverse of Kasumi's (Sophia has white clothes and blue eyes, while Kasumi has black clotes and white eyes, as well as having a similar skill spread (Bless attacks, but with Physical attacks replaced fully with support and healing skills.) Furthermore, Sophia's appearance is highly determinant on her owner's own desires, and Joker was the one who activated her. This likely means that Joker had Kasumi on his mind when he touched Sophia's box, and in turn Sophia took on most of her appearance.Why didn't Naoto or Chie appear?
Naoto has been an active police officer for at least seven years by the time Scramble is setnote and it has been confirmed canon that Chie joined sometime after the events of Dancing All Night, which makes thier absence feel all the stranger considering the increased role of the police in the story. The only reason I can think of is that either Omega Force didn't feel like including the characters or Atlus vetoed it if it was brought up.The ending of the game teases a potential Persona 5 Arena.
Given that the Phantom Thieves are planning to meet again in the winter, I really think that this is a perfect opportunity for the long-awaited P5A—remember that Persona 4 teased Persona 4 Arena in its true ending!- Looks to be jossed: it sets up Persona 5 Tactica, which takes place during the winter.
Alice Hiiragi and Misuzu Hiiragi (from Persona 4) are related
In addition to having the exact same kanji in their last name (柊), they are both professional singers, which could have helped Alice break into the business. Furthermore, it would at least partly explain why Alice tends to change the hearts of men who are in stable relationships to make them only want her; her (step?)dad, Taro Namatame had an affair with Mayumi Yamano which resulted in a divorce. It could have affected Alice to the point where in later life, she became paranoid of any man being attracted to any woman that wasn't her. Possible in-universe explanations for Sumire's absence now that Tactica confirms Royal is canon and happens before.
1. She was attending internationals and thus outside the country. There's never been any real confirmation that the Jails and Monarchs (or even the Metaverse in general) are anywhere to be found globally since the events of the series have never been set outside of Japan with only a minuscule amount of exceptions. It's entirely possible that she wasn't aware of all the shit that was going on and Joker didn't call her for help because he didn't want to drag her into things, both due to how far away she was and knowing how important her goals were to her.
2. The Phantom Thieves never recruited her as a full-time member in the first place. No matter how much fans wonder how the story would've played out had she joined earlier, the truth is a reason to keep her distance was always given when she offered to join before the third semester, regardless of how justified said reasons might have been. Aside from Joker and very debatably Akechi (who's not only probably dead but also whose actions were most likely brought to light to her by her teammates), she wasn't close with them and didn't really become friends with the others at all until she joined, even though she interacted with them a few times beforehand. With her dreams being largely her priority, the others likely respected her decision to depart and she knew she could count on them to get the job done when the game's events went down.
3. The agents chasing the Phantom Thieves at the end of Royal, which is pretty clearly a Sequel Hook leading to the game, spotted her and she stayed out of the situation to protect herself. After everything Joker did for her over the course of the story, there is no logical or emotional reason why she would've given him such a quick and casual goodbye unless there was no other option. Sumire probably could tell he was being followed, but instead of baiting them like the others, she acted like she didn't know him well because she had somewhere to be.
Western Release Speculation
The game will still receive an M rating in the West despite its Lighter and Softer story.
Because Mara.- Confirmed.
The Switch version won't get localized.
It sold less than half the copies the PlayStation 4 version did in Japan, so it may be PlayStation exclusive everywhere else since it may not be profitable for Atlus.- It should be noted that other, newer Warrior style games by Koei Techmo tend to be released on both PlayStation 4 and Switch in the west, with the only exceptions being Dynasty Warriors 9 and the Nintendo exclusives.
- Jossed. It's coming to both consoles, and Steam.
The Western release will be more explicit about the references to Royal's extra-plot than the Japanese version.
After all, it's been over a year since P5R released, so the reveals there are more common knowledge now. Or alternatively.... The Western release will retcon the references to Royal
If they really wanted to, they could've changed the character sprites to the updated ones from Royal within the year-long release gap, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Granted, this doesn't prove anything, but it's still interesting to note, so we can't rule this possibility out.- Both this and the WMG above it are Jossed. The subtle hints remain, but nothing explicit is given that confirms that it takes place after Royal instead of the base game.
- Actually closer to confirmed, as the clearer references are completely removed.
WMG for the English Voice Cast:
- Faye Mata as Alice. She can nail the Cute But Psycho aspect easily.
- Jossed. She is voiced by Melaine Minichino
- Alejandro Saab as Ango Natsume.
- Jossed. He is voiced by Zach Aguilar
- Veronica Taylor as Mariko Hyodo.
- Jossed. she is voiced by Kim Rhodes.
- Joe Zieja as Akira Konoe. I can hear the Iron Man-esque snark, and he's becoming a more prominent VOA as of late.
- Alternatively, they could get Mick Wingert, the current voice of Iron Man to play Konoe. He already played Lala back in Persona 5, so he could probably be called over to play Konoe. Why not go for the current voice of Iron Man if he’s available after all?
- Jossed. He is voiced by George Ackles
- Ray Chase as Zenkichi Hasegawa.
- Then all three of the LAVA members will have voiced Persona users in the Persona 5 universe.
- Jossed. He will be voiced by Tom Taylorson, best known as the voice of Octodad and Gilgamesh in Final Fantasy XV.
- Christine Marie Cabanos as Sophia.
- Jossed. She will be voiced by Megan Taylor Harvey.
- Good guess though. It's easy to hear her cutesy voice fitting well with Sophia's character.
