You'll play as a nameless, nearly mute main character as he tries to live an honest high schooler's life after being placed on probation for a falsely reported crime. At his new high school, rumors about the transfer student with a criminal record abound. A few spins on the wheel of fate plus some awakenings of the soul and, what do you know, our protagonist finds himself with the power to wield Personas, familiars conjured from the psyche, and the ability to dive into the Metaverse. In short, the Metaverse is the cognitive world, one that is formed by people's distorted perceptions of reality. By traveling through the minds of people and stealing the source of their distorted thoughts and desires, the protagonist and his recruited band of misfit friends seek to reform society through their newfound powers. There's a bit of a Psychonauts flavor to it all.
click to enlarge pictures
Persona 5 is a quintessential Japanese game not in the sense that it uses anime stylization or carries forward some JRPG tropes, but because it reflects on Japanese culture and society. Simply put, it is a game from Japan about Japan. That isn't to say the issues the game identifies are limited to Japan. Katsura Hashino, the director for the Persona series since Persona 3, views each Persona game as a way to "'address a problem... in society at that time, especially in Japan.'" Freedom and inner identity are some of the keywords I would place next to Persona 5. The game's themes juxtaposes the real world and the Metaverse, in which the real world is a place where societal and cultural norms rule and the Metaverse is a place for rebellion and inner expression to physically manifest in the form of the various Personas and enemies encountered within the cognitive world. What results is a supernatural fantasy story that is anchored in the real world—not just the real world in-game, but in our world as well.
welcome to the shadow realm, jimbo
The first societal issue Persona 5 brings up is also how the game is framed: Japan's criminal justice system. The game begins in media res with the protagonist, codenamed Joker while operating in the Metaverse, fleeing from a heist after being separated from his group of accomplices, the Phantom Thieves. You see, as the Phantom Thieves go around changing people's hearts through the Metaverse, the results are felt in the real world and have lead the Japanese government and public to think of the Phantom Thieves as threats. Think, "Who watches the Watchmen?" and you're about there. Anyways, Joker is captured as he makes his exit and is placed into police custody in the real world. The game then begins as a series of flashbacks that has the protagonist recollecting the events leading up to the formation of the Phantom Thieves and his eventual arrest.
When the player is prompted to name their character, it is done through signing a confession in the interrogation room after being psychologically and physically tortured. The scene may look like something out of a police drama, but it is very much a reflection of how criminal cases are sometimes handled in Japan.
Japan has an unbelievable conviction rate, greater than 99%. Compare that to Britain's Crown Court in 2009 with 80%, America's 93% in 2012, and the Chinese Communist Party court's modest 98% [EDIT: That Chinese conviction rate figure was from 2013. China is now harmoniously up to par!] How is >99% conviction rate possible? After all, prosecutors are human and thus prone to error sometimes, right? J. Mark Ramseyer of Harvard Law School and Eric B. Rasumesen of IU Kelly School of Business authored a well-cited paper in 2000 examining this very question in depth. Confessions are a big part of handling a criminal case. Plea-bargaining isn't allowed in Japan, but confessions are pretty analogous to that. Japanese defendants are far less likely to contest prosecution and rather just confess. However, when you see how the protagonist is beaten and threatened behind closed doors with no record of the events inside the room, its hard not to wonder about the coercive tactics prosecutors may use to extract a confession regardless of the detainees innocence. It makes you wonder just how many innocent people have been arrested and made to confess, all for the sake of prosecuting in order to save face rather than for a sense of justice.
Women face tremendous social barriers in Japan. Of course, women have all the legal rights as men as per the Japanese constitution, but women in Japan will find a much harder time finding good economic opportunities in the workforce. According to Seeker Daily, Japanese women hold less than 10% of leadership positions in businesses. Only 66% of women are employed and and almost 60% of those working women aren't even in full-time positions. Women aren't afforded the same level of opportunities as men are because of the conservative, traditionalist values that have confined women in the domestic sphere.
The last thing I want to mention regards what the game has the player doing in between fighting monsters from within the minds of twisted people: going to high school. I think Japanese high schools have really become a cultural set piece of their own. You've got the uniforms, the school culture festivals, the variety of clubs, the senpais and kouhais, all wrapped and exported to the rest of the world in the form of anime, manga, and light novels. There's a focus on high school in the daily life simulator portion of the game because, as Hashino states, "'For good and bad reasons... the school-life experience deeply affects many Japanese people.'"
School is stressful anywhere, but Japan has really captured the attention of the mass media when it comes to just how tragically the stress can build up in students. The situation in Japan is so bad, 500 students under the age of twenty turn to suicide every year. In fact, the World Health Organization reported in 2014 that Japan's suicide rates are 60% higher than the global average. There is such a pressure not only to perform well academically, but to conform to social norms that students feel there is no escape, no out to their situation. Physical bullying, vicious rumors, and the terror of confronting such daunting aspects of school life absolutely cripples people, making them believe they somehow do not have any value or anything to offer society.
Going through the daily life portions of the game, both in and out of school, you'll meet some pretty ordinary people that each have remarkable stories. Much like real life, you can never guess what kinds of backstories characters have gone through just by looking at them. You begin with a small and unlikely grouping of friends which quickly branches out to people like Takemi and Niijima mentioned earlier. It's such a simple message, yet so solidly conveyed: everyone has their own story, everyone is unique. The hardships the characters go through are all different, but the way the characters end up as social outcasts is cast as a binding quality. Persona 5 features some of the most well-rounded characters that make it way too easy to cheer them on. Through their stories, the characters each uniquely show how individuality doesn't mean exile, that conformity to expectations is not the only measure of a person. In a twist of irony, the game shows how everyone is, in one way or another, a social outcast and that society is nothing more than a bunch of social outcasts that have come together.
Persona 5 gives us a taste of what it feels like to have the power to change the hearts and minds of people for good (plus the ability to romance any, ANY, girl with a few silent nods, soft grunts, and generic hand gestures).
It seems like an overly idealistic, opportunistic message, but maybe that's the kind of story we need most about these tumultuous and troubling times. Persona 5 may be set in modern Japan, but its themes championing determination against great odds are timeless. Symbolism and imagery within the Metaverse show how people think of the real world as a kind of prison, a seemingly safe place where all of your needs can be met so long as you never act up to attract trouble from the authorities despite adverse conditions. It's easy to think that so long as we do what we're told and don't try to change anything, life will get better. The Phantom Thieves, however, are the embodiment of a will to seek change in the world the best they can. The Personas each member of the Phantom Thieves wield are born from an inner sense of rebellion. Persona 5 reminds us that we are, every one of us, a part of the world ourselves. By realizing that we're not as helpless as we think, by realizing that we have the power to enact change in our own ways, we can begin to do great things.
Persona 5 is riveting, heartwarming, surprising, funny, and all-around just charged with a great sense of life. The gameplay elements and narrative mesh seamlessly into a fluid experience. Starting with a high school scandal, the stakes will keep climbing to exciting, ludicrous levels as the player makes progress, all the while polishing the game's core focus without losing sight of the central themes at play. Persona 5 was an absolutely delightful experience, one that emulates the voice of a generation.
Further reading/viewing:
