What is Persona?

The Persona series was originally started as a spin-off series to the SMT games.

There are currently 6 Persona games, excluding spin-off games made for 3, 4, and 5.

The 6 main games inlude:

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Person 3: FES or Persona 3: Portable

Persona 4: Golden

Persona 5: Royal

There are also multiple side games created for the series, which include:

Megami Ibunroku Persona Digital Collection

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight

Persona 4: Dancing All-Night

Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight

Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth

There are multiple mobile spin-offs, although multiple are no longer available to download.

There are multiple anime and/or made for each series, which include:

Persona -Trinity Soul-

Persona 3 The Movie #1: Spring of Birth

Persona 3 The Movie #2: Midsummer Knight's

Persona 3 The Movie #3: Falling Down

Persona 3 The Movie #4: Winter of Rebirth

Persona 4: The Animation

Persona 4: The Golden Animation

Persona 5: The Animation

Persona 5 The Animation: The Day Breakers

All Persona titles also have manga of their own.

All games take place in the same universe, and share certain qualities with eachother.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona

First published in 1996, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona is a JRPG created by Atlus. It's the first game in the Persona series, and was created when Persona was still associated with the title of being an SMT spin-off.

The game takes place in 1996, and follows the protagonist and his classmates at St. Hermelin Highschool. One of his classmates, Hidehiko Uesugi, talks about playing a game called "Persona," which is a ritual similar to Bloody Mary. While playing the game, the students lose consciousness and meet Philemon. They give the students the ability to summon reflections of their personalities, called Personas.

The protagonist and his friends later visit Maki sonomura, who is currently bedridden. They discover that the town is slowly starting to change, and demons are beginning to run the streets. They're all told by Maki's mother that the culprit is the president of company SEBEC.

The protagonist's actions will then decide the course of the story.

Persona 2: Innocent Sin

Persona 2: Innocent Sin is the second game in the Persona series, the prequel to Eternal Punishment.

The second game takes place in 1999, and is set in Sumaru City. This city becomes cursed after events that took place in the beginning of the game. The protagonist was dragged into the plot by Lisa Silverman, a student at his school who idolizes him, when conflict between Seven Sisters Highschool and Kasugayama Highschool begins. They then see the self-proclaimed boss of Kasugayama, and get into a fight.

After the fight, the protagonist and the two others both play a summoning game, in which they try to summon the Joker, who is a rumored antagonist to appear whenever they're called for. Anybody who refuses to tell the Joker their wishes gets their "ideal energy" stolen. This reduces them to shells of who they once were. One they summon Joker successfully, they state that the three students had wronged them in the past, and gets furious when they don't recognize who they are. They then state that they're going to get revenge on the team, and depart wielding a Crystal Skull.

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment is the third game in the Persona series, as well as being the sequel to Innocent Sin.

The story focuses on Maya Amano, and the story takes place on the other side from Innocent Sin. Rumors begin to spread that if you call your cell-phone, Joker will come to you and kill whoever you ask. The protagonist is asked to write about the Joker phenomenon, when she meets him in person. She, Ulala, and Tatsuya find the principal of Seven Sisters Highschool dead. This causes Joker to attack them, which causes them to summon their personas given to them by Philemon. Joker knocks them all out, which causes Philemon to contact them and warn them about what's been going on in the city.

While pursuing Joker, they attempt to make a student remember the events of Innocent Sin. Katsuya is eventually removed from the case by his superior, which causes him to work with Ulala and the protagonist to find Joker. They ally with Baofu, and continue the search.

Persona 3: FES/Portable

Persona 3 is the fourth game in the Persona series, as well as being the first game to introduce a balance between the use of personas and a school life. It's also known for being the darkest game in the series of modern persona games (3, 4, & 5.)

Persona 3 takes place in 2009, and follows the protagonist Yuuki Makoto and his friends, who are all searching for their purpose for living in a world constantly plagued by death. He is quickly brought into SEES, which is a special club at Gekkoukan Highschool made for those who have abnormal abilities during the Dark Hour.

The Dark Hour is a mysterious period of time where shadows roam the streets and take over. Regular people aren't aware of this, as they're stuck in coffins throughout the hour between night and day. The protagonist is one of the special few that stays a regular human during this hour, and he agrees to join SEES because he has nothing better to do.

Those affected by shadows during the dark hour conract Apathy Syndrome, which puts them into a trance-like state and causes them to lose their will to live. Although everybody in SEES can summon their personas, the protagonist can wield more than one. He has the power of the Wild Card, which allows for this. Their personas allow them to explore Tartaurus, a mysterious tower that Gekkoukan transforms into at night.

SEES continues to figure out why the dark hour is happening while defeating shadows in Tartaurus and living as students at Gekkoukan Academy.

Persona 4: Golden

Persona 4 is the fifth game in the Persona series, and integrates a balance between fighting and school life even more effectively than before. It's known for being one of the happiest Persona games, although it can get dark at times.

Persona 4 takes place in 2011, and follows a group of highschool students who are investigating a mysterious TV channel that dedicates itself to showing distored and exaggerated versions of people's identity. After the protagonist, Yu Narukami, moves to the small town of Inaba, he hears a rumor about the Midnight Channel from one of his new friends, Chie Satonaka. She says that it tells you who your soulmate is. Although he's not sure if he believes it at first, he tests it out.

To his surprise, it works, even a little better than he expected it to, as he finds that he's able to go inside of the TV. He decides not to, and to wait so he can show Chie and Yosuke, another friend of his. When he goes to Junes with the two of them after class, they don't believe him at first. He says that it's true, and starts too stick his hand inside the TV. Yosuke crashes into Chie and they all get stuck inside of the mysterious world that they call the TV World throughout the game.

Waiting for them in the TV world is Teddie, a bear with the ability to speak. He states that it's dangerous for them to be there, and that they need to leave. He creates exits for them and forces them out of the world. The next day, Saki Konishi, the girl that they saw on the Midnight Channel the night before was found dead.

The team eventually gains more members as they try to figure out who the person pushing others into the TV World is.

Persona 5: Royal

Persona 5 is the sixth and so far final game in the Persona series, and is no longer affiliated with Shin Megami Tensei. Balance between the metaverse and school-life was done well, and it's known for being the game that new fans always play first.

Persona 5 takes place in 2016, and follows the protagonist, Akira Kurusu, who is under probation for trying to stop a fight between a woman and a man who turned out to be politician Masayoshi Shido. Although he starts out lonely at Shujin Academy due to the rumors going around about him, he eventually gains the friendship of multiple people at school and outside of school. The first of these people happens to be Ryuji Sakamoto, who's known for being a troublemaker in the eyes of the school and other adults. He notices Ann Takamaki getting into a car with a male teacher, and starts talking about how horrible he is.

Directly after this, as they begin to walk to school, Ryuji accidentally activates a mysterious navigation app that's been on Akira's phone for weeks, unable to be deleted, which causes them to enter the palace of- the teacher mentioned earlier, Suguru Kamoshida. They initially think it's a prank, which causes them to get locked in the basement of the palace. When they wake up, they get scolded by the shadow of Kamoshida. Ryuji gets sentenced to death, but Akira awakens to his persona before that can happen. While they search around for a way out, and meet morgana.

Morgana is the initial navigator for the Phantom Thieves, before Futaba Sakura joins your team. Ann eventually joins your party, and he guides everybody through Kamoshida's palace. While celebrating their win against Kamoshida, they decide to call themselves the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. They go after adults that go against their morals. After the Kamoshida arc, a counselor is hired to help students, especially the ones who were affected by Kamoshida's actions.

Anna and Ryuji decide to stay and help Akira fight evil adults, and gain new members as well. How they handle the situations at hand will affect the ending of the story.