50 Fun Facts About Persona 5 Royal

Which Tokyo district joins Akihabara, Shinjuku and Shibuya as a new hangout area in Persona 5 Royal?

Kichijōji is a real neighbourhood in the city of Musashino, western Tokyo; in Royal it brings a jazz bar, billiards and darts that can even sharpen the party's combat.

Which sport does Shujin transfer student Kasumi Yoshizawa, Persona 5 Royal's new Phantom Thief, compete in?

Rhythmic gymnastics has been her sport since middle school, and a third-place finish on October 3 puts her honour-student status at risk.

What job has a reformed Takuto Maruki taken when he helps Joker escape tailing agents in Royal's true ending?

Taxi driver is the new life of the man who tried to rewrite reality; he tells Joker he will move forward with his life, just as the Thieves will.

Joker's school, Shujin Academy, was named as a homonym of which Japanese word?

Prisoner is what shūjin (囚人) means, a nod to the probation that sends Joker there and to a Velvet Room that takes the form of a prison.

Velvet Room wardens Caroline and Justine, like earlier attendants, take their names from which novel?

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley supplies the names, continuing a series habit; the twins guard a Velvet Room that this time takes the form of a prison.

In Persona 5's Velvet Room, which execution method is the name for fusing two Personas into one?

Guillotine fusion fits a Velvet Room styled as a prison: hanging sacrifices a Persona for experience, and the electric chair turns one into an item.

Following Persona 3's blue and Persona 4's yellow, which colour gives Persona 5's UI its deliberately harsh feeling?

Red, with monochrome text, is almost the only colour in the menus, whose early animations were so aggressive they obscured the game and had to be toned down.

On Persona 5's reveal, Japanese fans nicknamed the bespectacled Joker after which fictional character?

Harry Potter's lookalike was simply called 'Potter' on the reveal; his designer likened him instead to a panther, against Persona 4's loyal-dog hero.

Royal, the expanded Phantom Thieves edition, follows the model of which earlier enhanced Atlus re-release?

Persona 4 Golden is the template Royal follows, adding in the same way a new party member, a new Palace, new music and a playable third semester.

Which politician both framed Joker for assault before Persona 5 begins and turns out to be Goro Akechi's father?

Masayoshi Shido, running for prime minister, is the drunk Joker stopped from harassing a woman; his illegitimate son Akechi plans revenge once he wins.

Takuto Maruki represents which new Royal Arcana, one that grants Joker passive buffs and recovery skills?

Councillor is one of two extra Arcana Royal adds beyond the tarot's twenty-two, the other being Kasumi's; Maruki arrives at Shujin only after Kamoshida's exposure.

What codename does Kasumi Yoshizawa take when she finally joins the Phantom Thieves in Royal's third semester?

Violet is the codename she takes once she is finally a Thief; during the Shido arc she had offered to join but was turned away as too vulnerable.

What is the real given name of the twin who impersonates her late sister Kasumi Yoshizawa in Persona 5 Royal?

Sumire is the younger twin; the real Kasumi died pushing her out of the way of traffic, and Maruki's power let the survivor believe she was her sister.

In which Tokyo waterfront district do Joker and Kasumi stumble into the new Palace that Persona 5 Royal adds?

Odaiba is where Maruki's lab was to be built before his funding was cut, so his Palace rises there as a research facility that numbs people into bliss.

What happens to Morgana while the Phantom Thieves live inside Maruki's rewritten reality in Royal's third semester?

He gains a human body, the wish Morgana carried all game, and loses it again once Joker convinces him the perfect world is a lie.

Which ultimate Persona, named for an Anglo-Saxon rebel against the Normans, does Goro Akechi gain in Royal?

Hereward the Wake led resistance to the Norman Conquest from the Isle of Ely; the Persona caps a Wild Card stalled at Robin Hood and Loki by Akechi's lack of real bonds.

Which ultimate Persona, a Gnostic devil wielding the seven deadly sins, does Joker awaken against the false Igor?

Satanael is summoned only when Joker's Confidants rally the public to reject the God of Control, making the climactic battle a vote for free will.

Which demon was Joker's initial Persona before it was swapped for Arsène to better suit the game's themes?

Mephistopheles lost out to a gentleman thief: Arsène and the cast's other starting Personas were themed after outlaws and picaresque heroes.

Along with Arsène Lupin and the Fiend with Twenty Faces, which Japanese outlaw hero inspired Joker's thief persona?

Ishikawa Goemon, the legendary thief boiled alive in an iron cauldron, also lends his name to Yusuke Kitagawa's first Persona.

When Caroline and Justine regain their memories and merge, what is the name of their true, single form?

Lavenza calls Joker 'Trickster' instead of 'inmate'; she had been split in two by the impostor who jailed the real Igor, so that she could not act.

Gym teacher Suguru Kamoshida's Treasure, an ornate crown inside his castle Palace, manifests in reality as what?

His Olympic medal is the physical root of his tyranny: a former Olympic volleyball champion, he runs Shujin's team as its self-appointed king.

Which form does the Palace of Okumura Foods CEO Kunikazu Okumura take, with his employees as disposable robots?

A space station suits a man building a rocket into politics: broken-down robot workers are incinerated as fuel, and Haru appears as his feelingless secretary.

Prosecutor Sae Niijima's Palace, a rigged casino where she always wins, embodies which deadly sin?

Envy is the sin of a prosecutor who has come to see trials as games to win; her heart changes without her Treasure ever being stolen.

Futaba Sakura's pyramid Palace seems to stand for sloth, but which sin does its Sphinx really embody?

Wrath is the true sin: the Sphinx is a warped version of her mother Wakaba, embodying Futaba's false belief that her mother hated her.

Which painting, Madarame's Treasure, turns out to be a self-portrait of Yusuke Kitagawa's mother holding him as a baby?

Sayuri had the infant Yusuke painted out of it by Madarame to add mystery; Yusuke later gives the original to Sojiro to hang in Café Leblanc.

Which Confidant was originally written as a Phantom Thief, a radical strategist, before being cut to a side role?

Hifumi Togo, the shogi champion, lost her seat to a story already too large; her radical streak was folded into Makoto Niijima's strategist role.

Which grim nickname does Yongen-Jaya clinic doctor Tae Takemi carry after a patient she could not save?

The Black Death was fired from a university over a disastrous trial she opposed; Joker's sessions as her clinical guinea pig help her clear her name.

Homeroom teacher Sadayo Kawakami secretly works which exhausting second job to pay a dead student's guardians?

Maid work lets Takase's guardians extort her after the boy died in a car accident; once their hearts change she quits and resolves to be a better teacher.

Former yakuza Munehisa Iwai, the Hanged Man Confidant, runs a Shibuya airsoft shop with which name?

Untouchable supplies the Thieves' guns because in the Metaverse fakes work as well as real ones; Iwai's adopted son Kaoru thinks he is just a family friend.

Fortune-teller Chihaya Mifune scams Joker out of ¥100,000 for a 'Holy Stone' that is actually what?

Rock salt is all the Assembly of Divine Power sells, yet Chihaya's clairvoyance is genuine; her Fortune Arcana later boosts Joker's other Confidants.

Makoto Niijima's Persona Johanna, which she rides like a motorcycle, is based on which legendary figure?

Pope Joan, the woman said to have reigned as pope in the Middle Ages, fits a student-council president hiding rage under rules; her later Persona Anat is a Semitic goddess.

Ryuji Sakamoto, the Phantom Thief codenamed Skull, summons a first Persona named after which pirate?

Captain Kidd, the privateer turned pirate, suits a delinquent with a moral code; once his Confidant is complete the Persona becomes Seiten Taisei.

Morgana's minivan form, the Phantom Thieves' Metaverse ride, is modelled on which real French van?

Citroën Type H vans were built for 34 years, from 1947 to 1981, and their corrugated panels suit a cat-bus; early Morgana designs could turn into anything, not just a bus.

Futaba Sakura's old hacktivist alias, later hijacked by a fake group threatening the Thieves, was what?

Medjed was Futaba's own handle before she became Alibaba; the impostor using it turns out to be a script kiddie loyal to the conspiracy.

Under which alias does Haru Okumura roam her father's Palace with Morgana before joining the Phantom Thieves?

Beauty Thief is the name she uses while Morgana sulks away from the team; her real codename becomes Noir, and she fights with axes and grenade launchers.

Goro Akechi's 'Crow' thief outfit includes a mask modelled on which creature of Japanese folklore?

Tengu, the long-nosed mountain goblin, was picked to give him a condescending look, while the formal outfit was kept to resemble an officer's uniform.

Which food became an internet meme tied to Goro Akechi, the detective who joins the Thieves as Crow?

Pancakes are the meme; Japanese fans also voted Akechi their favourite Confidant in the Persona 5 Maniacus guide, despite critics calling him passive-aggressive.

Akechi's name and celebrity-detective role reference Kogoro Akechi, a creation of which Japanese mystery writer?

Edogawa Ranpo, pen name of Tarō Hirai and a devotee of Conan Doyle, is considered the father of the Japanese detective story.

Akechi's media title 'Second Coming of the Detective Prince' nods to which Persona 4 character?

Naoto Shirogane was Persona 4's original Detective Prince; Akechi inverts that ally role, becoming the rival who hunts the Thieves while secretly working for the conspiracy.

Which ability of Joker's highlights interactable objects and enemy strength while sneaking through Palaces?

Third Eye also solves Palace puzzles; Royal adds a grappling hook on top, so Joker can reach new areas hiding three Will Seeds per dungeon.

Which company published Royal in Europe and Australia, taking over from the original's PAL publisher Deep Silver?

Sega, Atlus's parent company, also ported Royal to Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Windows in October 2022, with all of the previously paid DLC included.

Royal's new anime opening sequence, directed by Yuichiro Hayashi, was produced by which studio?

MAPPA replaced Production I.G for the new sequence, while Domerica again co-produced the anime cutscenes, as it had for the original.

Royal was the first Persona game with subtitles in French, German, Italian and which other language?

Spanish completes the set of four; for the original's English release, the Japanese dub was offered as free DLC instead.

Which platform's version supplied 79% of UK launch-week sales when Royal reached new consoles in 2022?

Nintendo Switch owners carried the re-release to number six in the UK chart; in Japan that version sold 45,998 physical copies in its first week.

Which 2020 game beat Royal to the RPG prizes at both The Game Awards and the D.I.C.E. Awards?

Final Fantasy VII Remake took both; Royal's own consolation was a Metacritic score that ran higher than the original's.

Singer Lyn called which part of the opening theme 'Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There' the hardest to perform?

A rap segment stumped a jazz and soul singer on her first video-game job; she sang seven of the game's tracks in English.

Which Atlus sound director, who went freelance in 2021 and later scored Metaphor: ReFantazio, composed Persona 5?

Shoji Meguro wrote about 80% of the tracks over three years with full creative freedom, leaning on acid jazz to match the visuals.

Sayo Yamamoto, who directed Persona 5's animated opening sequence, is also the director of which anime?

Yuri on Ice director Sayo Yamamoto used the skating as a symbol of breaking free from an oppressive force; the blue Persona flames were hand-drawn, not CGI.

Which director of Persona 3, 4 and 5 left to found the internal team Studio Zero after Persona 5 shipped?

Katsura Hashino treated 2011's Catherine as a dry run for Persona 5 and personally apologised for the repeated delays that followed.

Mafia boss Junya Kaneshiro blackmails the Phantom Thieves into paying him how much within three weeks?

¥3 million, backed by photos of the Thieves at a night club to show their schools, is the threat; after his change of heart he voids the debt and surrenders.