It has been a while since we have heard anything about Persona 5 the Animation, an anime adaptation of ATLUS’ highly-acclaimed RPG, which first began airing in Japan in the first half of 2020. Given a somewhat mixed reception to the series as a whole, it was a little up in the air about whether licensor Aniplex of America would opt to keep it a digital-only series or decide to offer a dual-audio release should they choose to go digital. Answers to all those questions were confirmed today.
Persona 5 the Animation will be offered in North America as part of a single Blu-ray collection on 29 September 2020. The box set will consist of six Blu-ray discs, containing all 26-episodes and two OVA episodes ‘Dark Sun’ and ‘Stars and Ours’. The episodes cover the full original game’s narrative, although lacks the new content introduced in this year’s Persona 5 Royal remake.
Dual-audio options will be offered in this collection – with every episode available to watch with the original Japanese audio or a newly created English dub. The good news is, you won’t have to get familiar with a whole new voice cast, with the game’s original voice cast reprising their respective roles. This includes Xander Mobus as protagonist Ren Amamiya, Max Mittelman as Ryuji Sakamoto, Erika Harlacher as Ann Takamaki, Cassandra Lee Morris as Morganna, Matt Mercer as Yusuke Kitagawa, Cherami Leigh as Makoto Nijima, Xanthe Huynh as Haru Okumura and Robbie Daymond as Goro Akechi. The secondary English voice cast has yet to be confirmed, but I envision most if not all the English voice cast members not listed above will retain their roles.
Unfortunately, for many fans, this will not be a cheap collection to purchase. The Persona 5 the Animation Complete Blu-ray Set has an SRP at a whopping $398.98 USD. Here’s hoping Aniplex of America offers much more affordable standard edition collections at a later date – as this comes in many times more expensive than Persona 5 Royal on the PlayStation 4. Those who make the purchase will acquire a few assorted goodies including a small collection of on-disc extras (Textless OP/ED sequences, trailers, commercials) and a selection of Illustration Cards.
You can watch Persona 5 the Animation legally with the original Japanese audio via CrunchyRoll and Hulu in North America, and on AnimeLab in Australia. There is no news around a PAL-region release in Europe, Australia or New Zealand.
