Summary
- Persona franchise mainly features male protagonists for thematic reasons, focusing on growth during student life.
- Female protagonists wanted by fans in recent titles; potential for future inclusion not ruled out.
- It seems likely we’ll get another male protagonist in Persona 6, but female or adult protagonists not entirely off the table.
Throughout Persona’s nearly 30 years of history, the game has only had two female protagonists. Maya Amano featured as the star of Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, and Kotone Shiomi took the lead in Persona 3 Portable.
Despite a general feeling that the pair’s stories, especially Shiomi’s, are some of the best in the series, the more recent titles have stuck to a male protagonist.
Related
Persona 3 Reload Almost Got Portable’s Female Protagonist As DLC
After calls from fans, Persona 3 Portable’s female protag almost made it into Reload as DLC but was scrapped because it would take too much time.
Now, at the CEDEC + KYUSHU 2024 conference, Persona producer Kazuhisa Wada shared his reasoning for focusing mostly on male students and whether we could see another female protagonist in a future Persona game.
Male Students Have More Room For Growth, Says Wada
As reported by Siliconera (via Famitsu), during a Q&A on the past and present of the Persona franchise, Wada was asked about the decision-making process behind creating the game’s protagonists and, specifically, why they are predominantly male students. Wada shared that because the games in the Persona franchise are coming-of-age stories, it makes sense for students on the verge of adulthood to take the spotlight. He added that “student life is an almost universal common experience, and people can easily identify themselves with it.” This fits with rumors from earlier this year, which suggested the next game would, once again, be set in a high school.
Regarding the protagonist’s gender, Wada said, “For high school students of similar ages, it seems like female students tend to have a higher mental age than male students. To better depict the themes of growth, the developers decided that a male student as the protagonist would fit better.”
With Persona 6 long rumored now, and the gap between Persona 5 and 6 now the series longest, the Q&A turned to the future of the franchise. While Wada didn’t offer any specifics, Siliconera reports he “insisted that the team doesn’t think that adults or women as protagonists aren’t a possibility to consider.”
The team doesn’t think that adults or women as protagonists aren’t a possibility to consider.
While it’s a pretty non-committal answer, which certainly seems to point towards another male protagonist in Persona 6, it’s interesting that the producer refused to shut the idea down.
With the game rumored for a 2026 release, fans are hoping an announcement is imminent. However, aside from a few reports suggesting the theme is going to be green, Atlus has managed to keep the game under lock and key. Here’s hoping we find out more in 2025.