The new Persona 4 Official Design Works art book was released last week. Featuring the character designs of new series artist Shigenori Soejima, the book contains main character artwork of course, as well as Persona, Shadow, Commu, sensei, and an abundance of original character avatars. Because of the huge amount of content, this is a must-have item for Soejima fans.

Size: B5
Release: 2008/10/08
Price: 1700¥

Persona 4 has been released in Japan. The new addition to the series takes place in the rural town of Inaba where unsolved murders have been taking place on the foggy days after heavy rains. Rumors circulate the community about a mysterious television station that airs only at midnight called “Mayonaka TV,” where one is supposedly able to see a broadcast of their shadow-self.

Persona 4 brings back many elements of the previous incarnation of the series, blending glossy anime sequences with slick, cartoonish graphics. There are some minor tweaks to the gameplay as well as other presentational changes. For instance, the suicidal Evokers from Persona 3 & FES have been replaced by the use Tarot cards and the Velvet Room is now located inside a limousine. Gameplay-wise there are 5 stats instead of the previous 3 and now other party members can take direct orders as well. By and large Persona 4 retains many of the features from 3 and FES, such as the Commu (Social) Links, “One More,” and “All-out Attack,” while offering plenty of new content for those still itching for more after Persona 3.

Atlus USA has announced that a North American release is planned for December 9th, 2008 and is slated to be packaged complete with a soundtrack CD and “Visual Data” art book companion.

Price: 7300¥

Retro-posted October 17th, 2008

A couple of weeks back, Famitsu unveiled the first information on a Persona 3 prequel for mobile phones. Entitled Aegis: The First Mission, the game stars Aigis and appears to deal with the specific events that led to the Shadow’s domination of the area years prior. The game is an action RPG; screen shot captions state that the game still utilizes SP and Personae summoning for attacks. It features characters both new and familiar to those who have played through both Persona 3 releases. The title was released for download on November 14th, 2007.

While it appears the game is available for all mobile phones (including Softbank 3G terminals), the title seems to be focused on Yahoo!’s mobile network. For those interested (and obviously living in Japan), Famitsu gives the following directions: enter the phone menu, pick RPG, then Megami Tensei and then “Aegis THE FIRST MISSION”. The game costs 525 yen (about $4.75 USD) , plus tax.

The following screens are from the Famitsu entry:

Thanks to QBasic for pointing out the original Siliconera entry about the game. You can view his original thread on the subject here, which includes some additional images thanks to Emilio.

Gamespot’s product listing for Persona 3 now includes a very small image of the final package you will receive when you pick up the game. Looks pretty nice when it’s all together.

Thanks to NotMSRP for posting this image on NeoGAF.

James H. wrote in to let us know that not only is Kotobukiya making an Aigis figurine, they’re also making one of Mitsuru. It turns out that the Mitsuru figurine was actually the first of the two announced. It is planned for a July release in Japan and follows the same 1/7 scale specifications. She comes with both a sword and gun.

James was also kind enough to send over several related links. In addition to the original Kotobukiya page, AnimeNewsI also has a page on the figurine that is complete with photos (which can also be found on our Persona 3 Merchandise page). It also turns out that Big Bad Toystore still be stocking both of these figures in the Fall. You can pre-order them for around $35 USD each.

During that whole downtime period I managed to miss this bit of information from AnimeNewsI.

It turns out that Kotobukiya, probably best known for their one-coin figurine series, is making a 1/7 scale (clocking in her at about 210 mm high, or about 8.25 inches), pre-painted PVC figurine of Aigis. She is posable at the neck, arms and wrists, unlike many higher-end PVC figurines. Of special note is that images show her with both her normal and gun hands, implying that these can be interchanged as you please.

Kotobukiya plans to sell her for ¥6,090 in August, 2007. This equals out to about $51 USD. An image is included below, but you can see the rest on our Persona 3 merchandise page or by visiting the original source above.