We first reported on the new Persona anime, -trinity soul- a few days back. Emilo points out that it now has its own dedicated website.

The site features a brief description of the show. As mentioned before, the series takes place ten years after what happens in Persona 3 on the PS2. The anime appears to focus on a new set of characters: Shin Kanzato (a 17 year old student), his younger brother Jun (a 14 year old student) and their eldest brother Police Chief Ryou (28 years old).

The site also reveals some more of the staff involved. Makoto Matsumoto is directing the series, Taku Iwasaki is responsible for the music, Yuriko Ishii is working on character designs based on Shigenori Soejima’s original designs and the animation itself is being handled by A-1 Productions.

We’ll be sure to let you know if there are any new developments.

A couple of weeks back, Famitsu unveiled the first information on a Persona 3 prequel for mobile phones. Entitled Aegis: The First Mission, the game stars Aigis and appears to deal with the specific events that led to the Shadow’s domination of the area years prior. The game is an action RPG; screen shot captions state that the game still utilizes SP and Personae summoning for attacks. It features characters both new and familiar to those who have played through both Persona 3 releases. The title was released for download on November 14th, 2007.

While it appears the game is available for all mobile phones (including Softbank 3G terminals), the title seems to be focused on Yahoo!’s mobile network. For those interested (and obviously living in Japan), Famitsu gives the following directions: enter the phone menu, pick RPG, then Megami Tensei and then “Aegis THE FIRST MISSION”. The game costs 525 yen (about $4.75 USD) , plus tax.

The following screens are from the Famitsu entry:

Thanks to QBasic for pointing out the original Siliconera entry about the game. You can view his original thread on the subject here, which includes some additional images thanks to Emilio.

Although we’re a bit late in pointing it out, Enid has posted some interesting information on the forum. It turns out that Persona 3 is getting its own oddly titled anime series: PERSONA -trinity soul-.

Enid also points out that RPGamer reports that the series takes place ten years after the events in the game.  It will follow three brothers who live in a city where the dead have risen (with their skin turned inside-out, no less). More from their site:

“Jun Matsumoto, whose previous works include Digimon and Blood+, is said to be directing. Shigenori Soejima, the artist behind Persona 3’s stylized character models, will be designing the characters for the upcoming anime. The anime’s story will be headed by Yasuyuki Muto, whose works include Le Chevalier D’Eon. The music is being composed by Taku Iwasaki, known for the anime Read or Die.”

The series is set to appear during January 2008 on Japanese television as a weekly series. As expected, no information about releases in other parts of the world has been revealed, although it’s probably safe to expect this one to be fansubbed pretty quickly.

It won’t take much to improve upon previous Megaten-related anime releases, but this one seems to be on the right track either way. More information will be posted as it appears.

Hey everyone. Just writing to inform you that our interview with Atlus for Persona 3 is posted on the site. There’s some discussion of FES, older SMT releases, the Japanese rating versus the US’s M rating and so forth.

Some of the questions were crafted before anyone at this site got to actually play the game (not to mention those who submitted questions in our forum). In those cases, anyone who has played the title will know how those components work. They’re being left in the interview for completion’s sake, but also because there is some interesting insight at times.

Super big thanks to both Aram and Yu at Atlus for taking the time to help us out, despite the headaches of the delay, E3 and other releases in the pipeline.

As you all should know Persona 3’s “release date” is officially tomorrow, August 14th. It’s likely your local retailer won’t see it for another day or so afterward, so just give them a call if you’ve pre-ordered locally. Unlike Devil Summoner and Digital Devil Saga, it appears even retailers like Best Buy will be carrying this game. . . at least on their web sites. If you’ve not pre-ordered already, I would suggest you do so tonight.

If you’re still not sure, I suggest you check out Metacritic. The overall score from all submitted professional reviews puts the game at 88 out of 100 currently, which is quite good.

As for our review, I’ve unfortunately not finished the game yet. I am, however, a good 45 or so hours into it and thus feel safe posting my overall thoughts on it so far. I have no intention of attaching a score, but it might be a good read if you want some more input on the game. To keep it short: I really like it.

You can check that out here, if you so desire. Expect the Persona 3 section to expand more in the coming weeks as I (and others) progress through the game. The character and Persona sections will be revamped (hopefully to provide indepth info to those who want it, without spoiling every one else), just to give an example.

Thanks!

Gamespot’s product listing for Persona 3 now includes a very small image of the final package you will receive when you pick up the game. Looks pretty nice when it’s all together.

Thanks to NotMSRP for posting this image on NeoGAF.