In a recent interview with Persona Magazine (via Games Talk) Persona series director Katsura Hashino shared some new information regarding Persona 5, specifically regarding the main cast and setting.

Here is what he had to share:

Regarding the Game’s Setting:

• The level design of the dungeons will be incredibly different from previous titles, with all of them incorporating different stories.
• By choosing the theme of “phantom thieves”, Atlus hope to take the user base by surprise and to put more ideas into their heads. They want to combine contemporary dram with Persona to create “something that expresses the fun of entertainment”
• The reason they chose Tokyo as their primary setting is because Atlus wants to play out an unimaginable phantom thief drama in a world where most people are familiar with.

More Information for the Characters:

• Many of the characters are either labeled or have a very bias point of view. They go through their daily lives unhappy, feeling that they can’t change them and that they don’t fit in. The introduction will develop once the characters break the status quo.
• Ryuji Sakamoto is a character with a “let’s change the world” kind of attitude.  The protagonist begins his phantom thieving after getting caught up with Ryuji. His Persona, Captain Kidd, matches Ryuji’s “setting and episode”
• Ann Takamaki is a quarter-American who’s returned to Japan and is generally well liked but doesn’t have any friends. Though she stands out, she is cut off and isolated from her surroundings. Once she becomes friends with the protagonist, her bright personality makes her the lively mood maker of the group. Her Persona Carmen is described as having a femme fatal side to her. In an incident that happens to Ann, Ryuji and the protagonist get involved and take the fight to the other world, thus Ann is described as having an influence on the fate of the main cast.
• Morgana, much like Teddie in Persona 4, will act as the groups guide in the other world. As the only party member to have a done some phantom thief business (for unexplained reasons), she also acts as the groups mentor in the phantom thieving business. Morgana takes on the form of a cat whenever shes in the real world. Hashino wants the user to look forward to the reason why that is. Morgana’s Persona Zorro is her idealized form, seeing as she’s very small and often called a cat, her Persona takes on a macho form.
• Yusuke Kitagawa is an eccentric character who has a talent as a painter and is also an art scholarship student. Hashino describes that his art “might give off a different appeal”.
• Persona 5 will have a system similar to “Social Links” which were in the previous two titles. Hashino ponders “Is communication the driving force for those who are trying to make change?” With this in mind, he hopes to take the human relations a step above those of Persona 3 and Persona 4.

Hashino ends the interview saying that the 20th anniversary of the Persona series is this year, and that Atlus are thinking about making an announcement that will please fans still waiting for Persona 5‘s release.

Persona 5 is set to release in Japan sometime this summer for PS3 and PS4.