When Persona 5: The Animation released in first aired in 2018, many Persona fans were disappointed that there was no way to experience the adaptation with an English dub. Developer Atlus's games have been universally praised for their memorable English voice casts that, until Persona 5's western released in April 2017, could not be switched out for the Japanese voice over unless the game lacked an English dub altogether. Thankfully at this year's Anime Expo Lite anime distributor Aniplex announced that it would be releasing a dub for Persona 5: The Animation which, starting today, can finally be streamed on Funimation's streaming service.
When the Persona 5: The Animation dub was announced, it was revealed that the only way to experience the 26-episode anime dubbed was through the 6-disc, $300 box set, which is now sold out. That is, until yesterday Funimation started teasing a Persona 5: The Animation related announcement, which has now been revealed to be that the company's streaming service will host all 26 episodes and the 2 OVAs in both English dubbed and Japanese subtitled formats.
The announcement was made on Funimation's blog, which states that the anime will only be available to view in the United States and Canada and will stream exclusively on Funimation. The blog post did not specify what time the anime will go live on the streaming service.
Persona 5: The Animation is an adaptation of the highly successful Atlus JRPG from CloverWorks, the anime studio behind anime such as Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Darling in the Franxx, and The Promised Neverland. The anime is based on the original release of the game instead of the recently released Persona 5 Royal, and is composed of 26 episodes and 2 OVA specials which were released with the blu-ray releases. The anime's dub features the entire main voice cast from the game, including Xander Mobus as Ren Amamiya (Joker), Max Mittelman as Ryuji Sakamoto, Erika Harlacher as Ann Takamaki, Cassandra Lee Morris as Morgana, and Matt Mercer as Yusuke Kitagawa.
While Persona 5: The Animation has received mostly mixed reception from Persona 5 fans, it is pleasant to finally see it receiving an English dub as many other anime based off the Persona series, such as the Persona 3 film series and Persona 4: The Golden Animation, have never received English dubs. While renewed interest in the anime adaptations may influence Aniplex to release more English dubs, given the years since they have released, it is unlikely the distributor will go back and reunite the PS2 games' voice casts.
Persona 5: The Animation's English dub streams later today, exclusively on Funimation. The blu-ray collection will release on September 29th 2020.
Source: Funimation