Both FuRyu and MegaHouse are back again this year with new sets of Shin Megami Tensei and Persona merchandise!

FuRyu has its next figure candidates for set 2 of it’s “Real Figure” [リアルフィギュア] series: Lucifer [ルシファー] and Kerberos/Cerberus [ケルベロス]. Lucifer is about 20cm [8"] tall, and Kerberos is 19cm [7.5"] long. Release date for these are July 25, 2011. They retail for 1,200 Yen each or 2,400 Yen for the full set.

Otacute is taking pre-orders for both: Lucifer | Kerberos

Hobby Link Japan has listings up but not taking pre-orders yet: Lucifer | Kerberos

amiami has their full set bundle pre-order sold out, but Kerberos alone is still available [no listing for Lucifer alone]
Full Set [sold out] | Kerberos

There are no official English news articles on this release, but more images and information in Japanese are here:
Gigazine.net | AtlusCh Blog

Game Characters Collection Mini Part II continues the figure series by MegaHouse, featuring these Persona 3 & Persona 4 characters: P3P female protagonist, Aegis (kimono), Mitsuru Kirijo, Akihiko Sanada, Yosuke Hanamura, Kuma/Teddy, Chie Satonaka, Nanako Doujima and one secret character. In the same style as the first series, these are small figures measuring 3cm [1.25"] tall. Release date is late May 2011. Retail price is 4,560 Yen for a random box of 12 figures.

Boxes are available for pre-order from:
Hobby Search | amiami

For those of you who are still trying to justify buying yet another version of Persona 3, this time for the PSP, head on over to giantbomb.com where they are currently showcasing a 30 minute, in depth video of the game.

For those of you not in the know, P3P is a port/update of the highly acclaimed rpg Persona 3 which was originally released on the PS2. This updated version includes a new choice of protaganist, updated social links, new musical score, new endings and the ability to control all four party members in combat.

The one omission is The Answer, an epilogue game that was included on Persona 3: FES, released in 2007, also for the PS2.

If you are curious about this new reincarnation of Persona 3, then you can see the video here: link

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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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.

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.

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.