PERSONA5 the Animation

Ren Amamiya starts his second year at Shujin Academy after transferring into Tokyo city life, but an odd event awakens his Persona and changes everything. He and a tight group of classmates adopt secret identities as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, slipping into a surreal otherworld to take the source of corrupt adults' warped desires. By day they attend school and handle ordinary adolescent problems, by night they use masks, clever planning, and Persona powers to expose truth and push for change. Strange, unexplained crimes begin to surface around the city as their double lives collide, setting up tense confrontations without spoiling how it all unfolds.

Released in 2018, the anime was created by Shin'ichi Inotsume and features top voice talent including Jun Fukuyama as Ren Amamiya / Joker, Ikue Otani as Morgana, Mamoru Miyano, Nana Mizuki, and Tomokazu Sugita.

Viewer scores skew positive, with a 7.681/10 average from 94 votes, reflecting solid fan approval. The series keeps the game's mix of action, humor, and drama, and it leans into themes of identity, rebellion against corrupt authority, and the ethics of vigilantism. Friendship and loyalty are central, and the show balances high-stakes supernatural set pieces with everyday schoolroom moments. Some viewers note the difficulty of adapting a long game into a compact series, which leads to brisk pacing at times, but the character work and tone appeal to fans of the original.

As an extension of a popular game, the anime amplifies Persona 5's striking visual language and the Phantom Thieves motif, bringing the red-and-black aesthetic, masks, and music motifs to animation. It helped introduce the cast and concepts to audiences who hadn't played the game, and it reinforced fan activity around cosplay, fan art, and soundtrack appreciation, cementing the franchise's standing in contemporary pop culture.