In the summer of 2006, I discovered Persona 3 and was immediately captivated by, well, everything. That love for Persona increased significantly when, two years later, Persona 4 introduced me to the Midnight Channel. At the time, I wasn’t someone who replayed JRPGs after I beat them, but I was so engrossed in Inaba’s mysteries and the characters trying to uncover them that I went right back in to complete every aspect of the game. After Persona 3 Reload took the world by storm in 2024, I quietly waited for Persona 4 to get the same treatment. Enter Persona 4 Revival , but I’m not the only one excited about its release. During our interview at Anime Expo 2026, both Kazuhisa Wada (General Producer for the Persona Team) and Shigenori Soejima (Character Designer/Illustrator at ATLUS) reflected on how much of a gem the original Persona 4 was, what it feels like to see MAPPA doing the animation for the Persona 4 Revival cutscenes and how one of the main goals of ATLUS is to create games that we can be inspired by. You can check out the full interview below! NOTE: This interview was interpreted by Gavin Greene and has been edited for clarity. During the Persona 4 Revival panel at Anime Expo, we were reintroduced to the small countryside of Inaba and the importance of keeping that vibe in Revival.