One of the most anticipated games of 2027 surely must be Persona 4 Revival. Revival marks the second remake of the beloved Playstation 2 game Persona 4 after the Playstation Vita game Persona 4 Golden. With it being the 30th anniversary of the Persona series this year, game producer Atlus celebrated at Anime Expo 2026 yesterday during their “Atlus Presents: Persona 4 Revival Panel”.
Attending the panel were three key members of the Persona 4 Revival team; general producer Kazuhisa Wada, business manger Yohsuke Oda, and longtime character designer for the series Shigenori Soejima. In a special appearance, Paul Castro Jr., English voice actor for the Persona 4 character Yosuke Honomura, moderated the panel. The panel focused entirely on the upcoming game, releasing on February 18th next year, and little was said on the equally awaited next series installment, Persona 6.
Castro opened the panel asking Wada how it felt to see the Persona series turn thirty. Wada, who has been with the series since the beginning, said it felt surreal. He couldn’t have imagined 30 years ago that he would one day fly across the Pacific to talk about the series at Anime Expo. Castro mentioned that a replica of the Junes cafe from the game was at the Atlus booth. He then asked the audience to sing the theme to game’s in universe department store Junes which the audience had no trouble performing.
Wada then went into the concept for Persona 4 Revival. Essentially Revival will be a remake of Persona 4 Golden. It will of course feature updated graphics, quality of life changes, and user interface for modern gaming systems. The panel then displayed a demonstration of gameplay and graphics alongside Persona 4 Golden. The new footage unsurprisingly looked great.
Business producer Uda was asked why this entry in the series was so beloved. He answered saying that unlike other entries in the series, Persona 4 had a different flavor. Compared to the city setting of earlier games and follow up Persona 5, the country environment and a brighter color palette offered something new for players.
The panel then went into how they were able to update the character models. As another side by side comparison between Revival and Golden showed, a lot of effort was put into character models. The more modern systems allowed for greater character expression and there could be great differences in the figures shapes of characters. Yet a lot of emphasis was placed on how much Atlus work to retain the atmosphere and feel of the original as they updated it.
At this point, a character trailer was revealed for the support character Rise Kujikawa. Again gameplay footage and cutscenes revealed Rise’s role in the game to the excitement of the audience.
Halfway through the presentation moderator Castro announced a special guest was coming out. On to the stage came Manabu Otsuka, president of the animation studio MAPPA. Otuska immediately revealed that MAPPA, the studio behind Attack on Titan, Chainsaw Man, and Ranma 1/2, would animate the games numerous cutscenes. Unsurprisingly, the crowd erupted into cheers.
Otsuka, a fan of the series, assured the audience that they would do their best with the animation for the game. As storyboards were displayed, he explained that the animation director for the game had played Persona 1 through 4 to get the vibe for the game right. The panel then premiered one of the cutscenes. The footage came from early in the game when the nameless protagonist and Yosuke encounter a massive Shadow, and the protagonist first awakens his Persona. Appropriately the footage was creepy and it was easy to see the love and care that MAPPA had put into their work.
A video from Rise’s English voice actress, Abby Trott, then played. Trott discussed her involvement in the game and how excited she was to play Rise. Like everyone else discussing the game that day, she emphasized how much she wanted to honor the original while moving the game forward.
The mike then went back to Wada who said that the original cutscenes were good but that MAPPA had truly delivered for this game. Castro asked Soejima what it was like to his characters brought to life again after so long. He replied that it was truly an honor to see his characters animated by MAPPA. Otsuka then assured the audience that they would finish the cutscenes with passion.
The panel ended with Wada revealing that the Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden anime were now streaming on Aniplex USA Youtube channel for free. Both anime would stream for a limited time.
The general attitude of the panel was one with a lot of affection for the original game. Emphasis was placed on honoring the unique gameplay and story of Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden while also making it feel fresh with modern updates. For everyone in the audience, February 18th can’t come soon enough.
