The new Persona 4 Official Design Works art book was released last week. Featuring the character designs of new series artist Shigenori Soejima, the book contains main character artwork of course, as well as Persona, Shadow, Commu, sensei, and an abundance of original character avatars. Because of the huge amount of content, this is a must-have item for Soejima fans.

Size: B5
Release: 2008/10/08
Price: 1700¥

Persona 4 has been released in Japan. The new addition to the series takes place in the rural town of Inaba where unsolved murders have been taking place on the foggy days after heavy rains. Rumors circulate the community about a mysterious television station that airs only at midnight called “Mayonaka TV,” where one is supposedly able to see a broadcast of their shadow-self.

Persona 4 brings back many elements of the previous incarnation of the series, blending glossy anime sequences with slick, cartoonish graphics. There are some minor tweaks to the gameplay as well as other presentational changes. For instance, the suicidal Evokers from Persona 3 & FES have been replaced by the use Tarot cards and the Velvet Room is now located inside a limousine. Gameplay-wise there are 5 stats instead of the previous 3 and now other party members can take direct orders as well. By and large Persona 4 retains many of the features from 3 and FES, such as the Commu (Social) Links, “One More,” and “All-out Attack,” while offering plenty of new content for those still itching for more after Persona 3.

Atlus USA has announced that a North American release is planned for December 9th, 2008 and is slated to be packaged complete with a soundtrack CD and “Visual Data” art book companion.

Price: 7300¥

Retro-posted October 17th, 2008

Mienai wrote to inform me that his translation group, Gekkoukan High Scans, has two new releases today: Piece 02 and Volume 01 Complete (”Chapitre Un”).

You might remember a few days ago we wrote about GHS’s release of a translation of Sogabe Shuuji’s Persona 3 manga. Piece 00 (Prologue) and Piece 03 of the series were also discussed at that point, both of which were a joint release with Starry Heaven (headed by Cheebs). The groups have since split off, each handling the remaining chapters (and revisions of previous releases) on their own . . . .

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The Persona -trinity soul- web site continues to receive a slew of updates. New sections have been added, featuring character art and further details. The most significant addition is arguably the first trailer for the series. It is available under the “Special” section of the site, but it seems quite a few people are having issues streaming it properly (plus the page itself uses an ActiveX control that seems to put some browsers into an infinite loading loop) . . . .

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A few days ago we featured some basic news on Persona -trinity soul-, clumsily translated from the official site. We detailed some basic information on the Kanzato (also apparently translated as Shingou) brothers that star in the series, but thanks to some wonderful help from Cheebs, we also have a better translation of the remaining plot information.

It apparently opens up with a bizarre scandal that strikes Ayanagi City. The crew of a submarine suddenly disappears and for the first time in 10 years people found themselves again concerned over the Apathy Syndrome. Around this same time, dead students with their corpses cruelly turned inside-out began to appear. Ryou’s police force is secretly following these events. His two younger brothers also get involved, resulting in Shin’s summoning of a Persona. The description ends with the ever-mysterious “The gears controlling the fate of these brothers have now begun to turn…” . . . .

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A group by the name of Gekkoukan High Scans has taken on scanning and translating Shuji Sogabe’s Persona 3 manga series. It closely follows the events of the game, although it seems certain liberties are taken (earlier appearances of Aigis, for example) to help enhance the storytelling. Currently three pieces are available, all of which are up for download through their site. They’ve done a really nice job with them.

GHS has a surprisingly large staff; we wish them all luck with this project and any others they might take on. Thanks a lot to the founder of the project, Mienai Kitsune, for pointing out their work so far. Be sure to check it out.