Persona 4
Persona 4 is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus for Sony's PlayStation 2, and chronologically the fifth installment in the "Persona" series, itself a part of the larger "Megami Tensei" franchise. The game was released in Japan in July 2008, North America in December 2008, and Europe in March 2009. "Persona 4" takes place in a fictional Japanese countryside and is indirectly related to earlier "Persona" games. The player-named protagonist is a high-school student who moved into the countryside from the city for a year. During his year-long stay, he becomes involved in investigating mysterious murders while harnessing the power of summoning Persona. The game features a weather forecast system with events happening on foggy days to replace the moon phase system implemented in the previous games.
Persona (series)
As well as gaining critical acclaim, the series has been the subject of controversy over its content. This controversy began with the localized banner title of the original "Persona", which raised concerns due to its religious implications. Kurt Katala, writing for 1UP.com in 2006 about the controversial content of the "Megami Tensei" franchise as a whole, mentioned "Innocent Sin"s references to homosexuality, schoolyard violence, and Nazism, considering them possible reasons why the game was not originally released outside of Japan. In 1UP.com's 2007 game awards, which ran in the March 2008 issue of "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "Persona 3" was given the "Most controversial game that created no controversy" award: the writers said "Rockstar's Hot Coffee sex scandal and "Bully"s boy-on-boy kissing's got nothing on this PS2 role-player's suicide-initiated battles or subplot involving student-teacher dating". "Persona 4" has in turn been examined by multiple sites over its portrayal of character sexuality and gender identity.
The first anime adaptation of the "Persona" series, a television series titled "", aired in 2008. It was animated by A-1 Pictures, directed by Jun Matsumoto, written by a team that included Yasuyuki Muto, Shogo Yasukawa, and Shinsuke Onishi, and composed for by Taku Iwasaki. Its characters were designed by Soejima and Yuriko Ishii, while Persona designs were done by Nobuhiko Genma. It was distributed internationally by NIS America. "Trinity Soul" takes place in an alternate setting ten years after "Persona 3", making it a non-canon entry in the franchise. An anime adaptation of the original "Persona 4", "", was aired in 2011. The 25-episode series was produced by AIC ASTA and directed by Seiji Kishi. In 2014, a series based on "Persona 4 Golden", titled "Persona 4: The Golden Animation", was produced by A-1 Pictures. This series, which retains the cast of the original adaptation, dramatizes the new material included in "Persona 4 Golden", focusing on the protagonist's encounters with new character Marie. A standalone prequel anime created by A-1 Pictures, "Persona 5 The Animation: The Day Breakers", was released in September 2016 prior to the Japanese release of the game. A full anime series based on "Persona 5", "", was broadcast in 2018.