Over the years, Persona has dominated the RPG scene and so have the male protagonists within the winding narratives. During the CEDEC+KYUSHU (Computer Entertainment Developers Conference 2024) back in November, Persona producer Kazuhisa Wada, was asked about the absence of women as protagonists, the responses to which have been provided by Famitsu.
Persona has almost always had a male characters taking centre stage within the game. The only exceptions being Persona 2: Eternal Punishment, Persona 3 Portable, and Persona 3‘s epilogue. Even in Persona 3 Portable, however, the female protagonist is considered as not being a series cannon.
Room for improvement
In one segment of the Q&A session, Wada was asked how much freedom he has in planning for the main protagonist in each Persona game and the reason for deciding to make a cast of mainly students and a male character for the protagonist. Here is his full response:
“Persona is a story about growing up. Such a setting can be most effectively used with students on the verge of becoming adults. Another big factor is that student life is something that most people have experienced, so it’s easy to empathise with. As for gender, this has to do with mental age. It seems that when it comes to the same high school students, women tend to have a higher mental age than men. For that reason, I made a male student the main character, on the grounds that a man would be best if I was to depict growth. However, I don’t necessarily think that adults or women are unacceptable.”
The comment regarding women having a “higher mental age” falls flat on its face. It suggests that young women perhaps don’t have to go through a sufficient amount of growth or face challenges in the same way that men do. In fact, Persona having a female protagonist would open new and important doors to explore the challenges women face and provide a fresh perspective to the audience.
It’s unknown if an eventual Persona 6 will break the mould and branch out into new territory. Wada also mentions adults in his response, not ruling out the possibility for an older Persona cast. Since fans have grown up with the Persona franchise, based on Wada’s response, this would continue to keep the series relatable.
While you’re here, consider checking out our Persona 3 Reload review:
