Atlus continued its series of Persona 5 reveals today with the premiere of the upcoming game's first 18 minutes. During a livestream that aired this morning, the developer debuted the in-game footage, as well as Persona 5's animated opening cinematic.
Famed animation house Production I.G. crafted the movie below, which stars the main cast and features an untitled theme song. The theme made its debut last fall during a Tokyo Game Show event; it's by Shoji Meguro, longtime composer for the Persona series.
Many of the characters seen in the opening are absent from the game's beginning, however. In the footage seen up top, the protagonist gets in a sticky situation with the cops, and things only get weirder from there.
There's a stronger focus on cutscenes than combat, which is to be expected from a role-playing game's opening moments. Yesterday, we took a quick look at some of Persona 5's battle flourishes, as well as slower-paced scenes. We also previewed the game's action and social features during E3 2016.
Another thing for fans to look forward to is a Persona 5 animation special. According to Gematsu, Atlus announced that the hourlong feature would air in Japan Sept. 3. Footage from the anime can be seen in an interview with the production staff, seen below. Atlus aired this footage during its morning livestream as well, and it also includes a look at concept art from the game.
There's no word on an American release date for the anime, while Persona 5 launches stateside for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 on Feb. 14, 2017.
