News

2nd Persona 3 Film's 1st Trailer, Cast, & Staff Unveiled

The official website for the Persona 3 films updated at midnight on Saturday, and posted a new trailer for the upcoming Persona 3 the Movie #2 Midsummer Knight's Dream film.

The trailer begins by recapping the events of the first film, and shows Aegis awakening from her slumber. As her eyes open, she speaks the words, "I've finally found you." When the title is shown, she says, "My number one priority is to be by your side." The video features the film's main theme song, "Fate is In Our Hands" by rapper Lotus Juice (Soul Eater, Persona -trinity soul-).

In addition, the website is streaming a commercial for the release of the Blu-ray and DVD of the first film, Persona 3 The Movie #1 Spring of Birth.

The website also updated with an updated cast and staff list:

Akira Ishida (Slayers Next, Neon Genesis Evangelion) as Makoto Yūki, the protagonist. He has the wildcard Persona, meaning he can use various Personas and not just one.

Megumi Toyoguchi (The Sacred Blacksmith, Danganronpa The Animation) as Yukari Takeba, Makoto's female classmate who is on the archery team. Her persona is Io.

Kousuke Toriumi (Hakuouki, Pretear) as Junpei Iori, Makoto's classmate and close friend. He likes cracking jokes in almost any situation. His Persona is Hermes.

Rie Tanaka (Hyperdimension Neptunia The Animation, Chobits) as Mitsuru Kirijō, Makoto's upperclassman and the president of the student council. She is close friends with Akihiko, and they have known each other since middle school. Her Persona is Penthesilea.

Hikaru Midorikawa (Majestic Prince, Slayers Next) as Akihiko Sanada, the captain of the school boxing team. He is obsessed with training, and often gets scolded by Mitsuru for overdoing it. His Persona is Caesar.

Mamiko Noto (Hell Girl, Arcana Famiglia) as Fūka Yamagishi, a girl in a different class than Makoto and the others. Although very shy, she is extremely kind. Her Persona is Lucia.

Voice recordings from the late Isamu Tanonaka will voice Igor, the master of the Velvet Room. A very mysterious old man who has the ability to read destinies and fuse Personas.

Miyuki Sawashiro (Galaxy Angel, K) plays Elizabeth, a guide of the Velvet Room who is a bit eccentric and curious about the outside world.

Kazuya Nakai (One Piece, Gintama) will play Shinjirō Aragaki, an upperclassman and friend of Akihiko and Mitsuru's who left the school and Iwatodai dorm for reasons unknown.

The cast list remains unchanged from the previous film, except for two additions:

Maaya Sakamoto (Coppelion, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children) as Aegis, an anti-shadow robot. For some unknown reason, she considers it her mission to protect and serve Makoto. Her Persona is Palladion.

Megumi Ogata (Yu Yu Hakusho, Danganronpa The Animation) as Ken Amada, an elementary school boy who was found to have the potential to summon a Persona. Though young, he sports a very mature attitude. His Persona is Nemesis.

Unchanged from the game, Koromaru has no credited voice actor. His Persona is Cerberus.

Tomomi Ishikawa and Yae Ootsuka are replacing Akiko Asaki and Mizuka Takahashi as chief animation directors, while Tomohisa Taguchi is replacing Noriaki Akitaya as director.

The rest of the staff is as follows:

• Scripts: Jun Kumagai
• Supervisor: Seiji Kishi
• Character Design: Keisuke Watabe
• Animation Director: Keisuke Watabe
• Action Director: Ryo Tanaka
• Persona Design: Kyouma Aki
• Prop Design: Shibobu Tsuneki
• Color Coordinator: Saori Goda
• Art Designer: Kaoru Aoki
• Art Director: Toshihiro Kohama
• Composite Director: Hideki Imaizumi
• Editor: Takashi Sakurai
• Music: Shoji Meguro
• Sound Director: Tomohisa Taguchi

The film will open early this summer.

In the game's story, there is a hidden time known as the "Dark Hour" that exists between one day and the next when all movement in the town stops. During this time, terrible creatures called Shadows roam, and a group of high school students in the city of Iwatodai are drawn into the Dark Hour to fight these creatures and explore the mysterious tower of Tartarus. This group uses weapons called Evokers that are used to summon Personas.

Noriaki Akitaya (three Bakuman. series) directed the first film at AIC Asta with Seiji Kishi (Persona 4: The Animation, Devil Survivor 2 The Animation, Angel Beats!) supervising. Jun Kumagai (Aura: Maryūinkōga Saigo no Tatakai, episodes of Persona 4: The Animation) wrote the screenplay, and Keisuke Watabe (Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars) served as character designer and animation director. Shoji Meguro (Persona 4: The Animation) composed the music.

Source: Famitsu

Thanks to Maxim Firsov and Gematsu for the embedded videos