Persona 5 Royal, the expanded and definitive edition of the successful PS4-exclusive RPG, is nearing its October launch in Japan. While western audiences won't see Persona 5 Royal until 2020 at the earliest, they can at least enjoy the new trailers and marketing Atlus is releasing pending the game's upcoming release date. The most recent Persona 5 Royal trailer showcases one of the game's new playable characters changing into their Awakened form, clearly made by fans of Sailor Moon.
Each character in Persona 5 has their own new form after they join the Phantom Thieves and their Persona awakens. These forms reflect something deep within the character, a visual symbol of the Awakening of their own heart. While Persona 5 fans may not yet be familiar with the new character Kasumi Yoshizawa, seeing their Persona transformation and Phantom Thieves costume is in its own way a very intimate introduction.
Kasumi's transformation is very clearly influenced by the Sailor Moon anime, from the glowing nude illusion to the exciting music and sparkling sounds. While Kasumi doesn't outright say "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!" she might as well. Perhaps Kasumi is a big fan of Sailor Moon and its creator, Naoko Takeuchi, perhaps she identifies with the empowering feeling of the transformation, or perhaps Atlus simply put the transformation in as an Easter egg.
The new Persona 5 Royal trailer, which is so far only available in Japanese, focuses heavily on Kasumi. But there's much more than her transformation to be seen. The trailer also showcases a new Palace for players to venture into, as well as new Personas to be found including the more challenging Kyouma Shadows. Fans of Persona 5 should be able to notice a dozen different changes and new additions that will be introduced in Persona 5 Royal.
There's often some frustration and controversy surrounding Atlus' decision to expand so significantly on each Persona game. Fans who have paid for what they believe to be a game's full and complete experience are then shown that this isn't the case. They're asked to pay the price of a full new game to get the complete story. That said, it's clear that Atlus cares deeply about the content that it's adding to Persona 5 Royal, just as it was shown in Persona 4 Golden. It's expensive to be a Persona fan, but at least Atlus tries to make it worth it.
Persona 5 Royal releases in 2020 exclusively on PS4.