Persona 5: Phantom Thieves

Persona 5: Phantom Thieves is an American animated television film directed by Rod Rodger, Amile John, Masashi Ishihama and Syo Tortellini. It is produced by Atlus, Sensation Animation, and CloverWorks, and premiered on November 15, 2021 on BBToons.

The film was announced through a teaser trailer released on BBToons' YouTube channel on July 3, 2021.

Plot
The Phantom Thieves of Hearts' goal is to confront "corrupt adults" by stealing their "corrupt hearts," and change the world in order to rebel and fight against the complex, sophisticated and well-ingrained system of slavery they are trapped in. They are willing to exploit the supernatural if it means bringing the masses freedom and liberation.

The group is formed by protagonist, Morgana, Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Takamaki when they discover that the volleyball teacher of Shujin Academy, Suguru Kamoshida, has abused his students and molested Ann's friend, Shiho Suzui, leading to her attempted suicide which put her in a coma. However, since no other student, parent or teacher is willing to speak against Kamoshida due to favoritism by the principal, the team decides to put matters in their own hands and get him to confess his crimes on his own by stealing the distortions in his heart stored within his Palace in the Metaverse.

To make reprimands with causing Ryuji, Ann and the protagonist so much trouble, one of Kamoshida's abuse victims, Yuuki Mishima also made the Phantom Aficionado Website to spread their word to the public.

They initially intend to end the Phantom Thieves once Kamoshida's case is over, but after encountering an arrogant politician, Masayoshi Shido, they decide to continue their behind-the-scenes exploits of the supernatural as an official group. Morgana guides them to Mementos so they may find viable targets. Their first find, Natsuhiko Nakanohara, leads them to an actual target, his former mentor Ichiryusai Madarame who has been exploiting his pupils (to the point of some of them committing suicide), with one of them being Yusuke Kitagawa, the last of his disciples whom Madarame had taken to his care. Yusuke speaks highly of Madarame, although it was only in fear of retaliation. Finally seeing the truth of his mentor's maliciousness and vanity, Yusuke awakens a Persona himself and joins the Thieves, designing the Phantom Thieves of Hearts' official logo and creating the Calling Cards from that point on. With Yusuke's help, the party manages to defeat and change Madarame's heart, but not before he warns them of a "Black Mask assassin" roaming around Palaces.

Principal Kobayakawa, knowing the possibility of the school sheltering the Phantom Thieves due to being pressured by his higher-ups, orders student council president Makoto Niijima to investigate them. Makoto knew who the Phantom Thieves were, but nonetheless blackmailed them to reform a dangerous mafia boss of unknown origin, whose scams are threatening the school's students. In an investigation, they discover that the identity of the mafia boss is Junya Kaneshiro, actually a highly insecure and petty man who, upon being confronted, blackmailed the Thieves for 3 million yen simply because they appeared in front of him. The Phantom Thieves change his heart as well, with Makoto now on their side. However, Kaneshiro, before his defeat, also warns them of a Black Mask killer in the Metaverse like Madarame who was manipulating the Palaces for his own needs.

The victims of the Phantom Thieves often experience drastic and sudden personality changes that cannot be explained via normal means, usually drowning themselves in excessive self-loathing and apathy. As a result, interrogating the victims for answers will usually have no effect. This makes the Phantom Thieves incredibly difficult to track down or investigate via normal means, which is further burdened by the fact that its members appear as normal and unassuming teenagers to outsiders, and the knowledge of their methods are only handled by a select few. Their activities reach the police's attention, particularly prosecutor Sae Niijima, leading the team assigned to the Phantom Thieves case to be formed.

Furthermore, their methods are seen as questionable and unorthodox, and the Phantom Thieves have also received opposition and criticism for their actions. A high school detective, Goro Akechi, makes an appearance on TV, where he is asked for his opinion on the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. His response is that they, whether or not they truly exist, are criminals who should be brought to justice; he goes on to denounce their actions, and believes that forcing people to change what's in their hearts is wrong.

The Phantom Thieves gain popularity and trust thanks to the reformation of multiple high profile criminals that the police failed to apprehend and track. Yet, this popularity earns interest from what seems to be a group of hackers, Medjed, who was declaring threats against them, threatening that they will target the Thieves' and their supporters for their false justice, and launch a Japan-wide hacking attack that will crash its economy, known as "the Cleanse." As Medjed seemingly declares an all-out war against them, an unknown hacker known as "Alibaba" sends threats against them as well, telling them to change the heart of "Futaba Sakura," or he will reveal their identities to the public. In reality, "Alibaba" and Futaba Sakura are one and the same, and wants them to help her after falling into suicidal depression after her mother "committed suicide" and "declared that she should never be born." The Thieves steal her suicidal depression away and she joins the Phantom Thieves, putting an end to Medjed. They then spend their summer vacation adjusting Futaba to the outside world.

Medjed's defeat has piqued intrique among the public, making them famous. The approval rate of the Phan-Site poll increases twofold within the matter of a day, then steadily increases to close to 80-90% at the end of the month. It has went to the point where businesses have started producing and selling Phantom Thief merchandise. Due to these circumstances, Mishima starts an additional poll on the Phantom Aficionado Website, allowing people to vote for their next target.

During the Shujin Academy's trip to Hawaii, the members learn the Phantom Thieves have become internationally known, being mentioned by several locals. However, upon their return to Japan, the Phantom Thieves are shocked to learn that the principal of Shujin Academy apparently committed suicide. The Thieves consider their next target according to the votes of the public: the president of a food manufacturing company who also runs Big Bang Burger, Kunikazu Okumura who was abusing his employees and enlisted the Black Mask to shut down his competition. However, unsettled by the abnormal enthusiasm of the general public, they begin to question whether it's right for them to act solely on their vote, and were initially indecisive about pulling a heist on Okumura. Because of the fame, or simply for listening to the popular vote and letting it decide their next step, the Thieves also lost sight of their goal to remove society's corruption.

As the Thieves were no longer functioning under their original purpose, this spurred a reaction in Morgana, who went through an identity crisis of his own, as well as losing grasp of who he is or what role he serves in the team, making him feel unwanted among his peers. As a result from this confusion, the rest of the group's inaction on their mission made him believe they've grown indolent from the fame, making him declare he will tackle Okumura and solve the mental shutdown case by himself. Due to these circumstances, he left the group.

However, the rest of the team was left worried, and tried to find him and repair their relationships, eventually healing the divide when Morgana witnesses them act on their old morals by directly rescuing and giving shelter to his recent ally and friend Haru Okumura from a man she is related to. They successfully restored the group back to normal, as well as having the Thieves return to acting on their own terms, with Morgana also having found purpose in carrying out the team's goals.

Although they did not yet act on the popular vote on the Phan-Site, a major incentive for the heist appeared when they found out Kunikazu Okumura was also planning to sell his daughter Haru to an arranged marriage with a sleazy playboy for no reason other than his political gain, officially rendering the heist against him justified. Haru also wanted to change her father's heart, yet did not manifest enough power to do so. Awakening Milady for real in her father's Palace once fully aware of how depraved he has become, she joins the party on official terms.

They managed to pull the heist off and find that Okumura wasn't supposed to be this corrupt and may actually atone, only for a mysterious masked Persona user to kill Okumura's Shadow after the Phantom Thieves all escape. On the day the Thieves were celebrating in Tokyo Destinyland, the real Okumura suffers a mental shutdown during a press conference, after confessing his crimes but before he can reveal the mastermind behind the conspiracy. On the next day, public opinion of the Phantom Thieves takes an abrupt turn for the worst, with the Phantom Thieves labeled as violent murderers instead of allies of justice even when they were celebrating Okumura's death on the previous day. It turns out that the events happening during the past two months are all plans to catch them off guard and frame them by surprise. Medjed was not actually involved with the Phantom Thieves, but the name was used by a third party to make blank hacking threats in order to inflate the popularity of the group. They also artificially inflated the view counters and the heist requests of Okumura on the PhanSite, leading to the opportunity where he can be killed to frame the Thieves and to ensure Shido inaugurates uncontested. Furthermore, the principal's murder has also been pinned on the Thieves, as before the killer disposed of him, he placed a fabricated calling card on his desk. The Phantom Thieves conclude that those moves were predicted to bait them into arrest.

While trying to find a way to prove their innocence, Akechi reveals that he knows the protagonist and his friends' identities as the Phantom Thieves and the existence of Metaverse, as well as having photo evidence of their entrance. Saying he believes they are not the ones who killed Okumura, he offers to help them clear their name. In order to do this, he suggests they steal Sae's heart to stop her from investigating the Thieves and to prevent the risk of a false accusation. In reality, Akechi was leading them to their arrest, where they would be most certainly be put on death row. It's also implied that he would induce a mental shutdown on Sae once the Thieves were done for. Furthermore, authorities encourage people to expose the Phantom Thieves' identities by placing a 30 million yen bounty on their heads.

After fulfilling their mission in Sae's Palace, information about their whereabouts has been leaked, so the protagonist uses himself as a bait, leading to his capture. While being interrogated by Sae, he tells her the group's history besides some key moments blocked out due to a drug. When Sae offers the protagonist to tell her about his accomplices, he refuses, and instead rats out Akechi as a traitor. He makes a deal with her to save himself and deceive Akechi, who comes to kill the protagonist. He presumably kills him, but in reality, the protagonist within were all cognitive beings, and the real person never died. Having successfully deceived him using the reality-altering ability of the Metaverse and with Sae's help, the protagonist safely escapes his confinement and goes into hiding after his apparent death is broadcasted, alerting the rest of the group that he successfully fooled the traitor and the conspiracy.

In reality, the Phantom Thieves knew that Goro Akechi was hiding something since he was lured by a comment made by Morgana during their visit in the TV station, and being able to understand him can only mean that he has been in the Metaverse before. (Implying that he has been spying the Phantom Thieves when they were confronting Madarame) Therefore, the group formulated a plan to work against him. The only thing that had a chance to prevent the protagonist from executing the plan was him being administered with drugs. Futaba's investigation into Sae Niijima also included her programming an app to tap into Goro Akechi's phone conversations, which confirmed the plot to kill the protagonist.

In advance, they checked to confirm if the police building's interrogation room was identical to the one in the real world, allowing a modified Metaverse app to seamlessly transport Goro Akechi into the Metaverse to kill Sae's cognitive copy of the protagonist, which was in the interrogation room due to being caught on purpose. To make sure it goes through, they did not actually steal the treasure or have Sae go through a change of heart, but pretended to do so in order to hide their plan. Since this was the first time where Akechi actually saw their methods up-close, he had no idea that her treasure wasn't stolen. The "treasure" was just an empty briefcase. However, he was presumed to be dead by the public and by the police force, due to Shido's conspiracy being so confident that they refused to even give him a death certificate. To avoid detection, the protagonist is no longer able to attend school.

From the recording of Akechi's phone conversation, they learn that the mastermind behind the conspiracy is Masayoshi Shido, who is running for prime minister, and was the one responsible for framing the protagonist and his subsequent probation. Shido also manipulates Akechi to do dirty deeds for him, and he used to be a minor politician that didn't have much power or history in the past. By this point, every member of the public disregards how Shido actually is as a person and votes for him unerringly and exclusively as he makes charismatic speeches about steering Japan to a golden age to make himself more relatable and convincing.

When exploring Shido's Palace, the Thieves receive major revelations about the events that occurred up to this point. Madarame and Kaneshiro are all tied to Shido by financing him and his campaign with forgery and drug money, Okumura and Kobayakawa were assassinated due to being a thorn for Shido's campaign and to frame the Thieves, the IT company president issued blank hacking threats using Futaba's Medjed Moniker, artificially inflated the Phan Site's view count and votes to frame them and encrypted Wakaba's research after her murder under behalf of his boss' orders, and the Yakuza sided with Shido only because he had the best pay.

After all invitations from the Shadow Selves of his five noblemen associates within his Palace have been taken, Akechi steps in to stop them per Shido's orders. Akechi reveals himself to be disloyal, merely taking advantage of him so he may expose his identity as his bastard father when the time comes. (Due to Shido heavily implied to have been birthed Akechi from a one-night stand with a call-girl, this will be absolutely detrimental to Shido's standing.) The Phantom Thieves try to bring him back to his senses, but he was too frenzied to the point that he's now officially trying to dispatch them for personal reasons instead of for Shido.

Despite displaying his ability to cause psychotic breakdowns on Shadows, fighting the group in his "Prince" Robin Hood outfit, and finally revealing his Black Mask form of Loki as well, he was defeated. Before he can actually atone, however, a cognitive Akechi appears and tries to kill the real one. The fake reveals that Shido already knew who he is and planned to betray his own son after his election as well, and Akechi begins to feel remorseful for betraying the Phantom Thieves. He seemingly sacrifices himself in an ambiguous fate to allow them to proceed stopping his father. Securing Shido's treasure, Futaba hijacks the nationwide broadcast system to expose Shido as the culprit behind the recent incidents in Tokyo and declare war against him. The Phantom Thieves enter a daunting final battle against Shido and emerge victorious, and he confesses his crimes on election day following his party's landslide victory.

The Phantom Thieves celebrate their success, assuming it's all over for good. The conspiracy is largely pulverized save for several scurrying remnants, and Sae begins to establish a case against Shido. Unfortunately, on the 23rd of December, things suddenly take a deep dive for the worst; not only does the public still wish for Shido to be Prime Minister despite his confession, but the Phantom Thieves are treated as if they never changed the hearts of their targets, almost as if they had never even existed. Despite the Thieves' expectations, Shido's inauguration as Prime Minister is merely postponed instead of cancelled. Shido's henchmen and personal doctor also use the excuse that he is currently in poor health and won't allow anyone to meet him, which means he cannot be tried despite having already confessed. They also fire Sae off the prosecution process, much to her shock and dismay. In order to bring people back to their senses, Morgana suggests they go to Mementos' core. Since Mementos is the Palace of the people, destroying it will cause the entire Metaverse to cease to exist, and doing so will probably make them unable to steal the hearts of criminals and expose their crimes, potentially forcing the Phantom Thieves to retire. To reform society for good, the group agrees to make this their one last heist on the next day.

As they enter the Depths of Mementos, the Phantom Thieves find that they never actually made their targets better people: in fact, they were merely made unambitious and returned to be a part of the Prison of Regression, and they praise it just like other of the inmates. This, alongside the heavy security present within the Depths of Mementos, alerts the Phantom Thieves that it might not be the public's Palace, but was most likely supervised by a higher being.

When they reach the core of Mementos, they confront its treasure, which turns out to be a godly being called the Holy Grail, the true master of Mementos and the Conductor of the Conspiracy, being formed by humanity's desire for perfect rule under one. The Grail drains from the "Will of the People" to render itself unbeatable, and chides the Phantom Thieves for being intoxicated by an unwanted form of justice. It expels them out of Mementos back into the real world, and proceeds to fuse it with the Metaverse to form the Qliphoth World. Nobody other than the group and their allies can notice the changes, and the Grail manipulates the public to believe that the Phantom Thieves do not exist shortly thereafter, causing them to disappear from existence.

The protagonist awakens in the Velvet Room, where Igor goes completely out of character and orders Caroline and Justine to execute him. Once exposed thanks to the protagonist and the Twins' combined form, Lavenza, he reveals himself to be the Holy Grail impersonating Igor to sponsor the protagonist in his "rehabilitation" (an excuse to keep tabs on him). The protagonist is offered a deal by the Grail, where it will restore reality to normal and allow the Phantom Thieves to continue gaining fame, but at the cost of sacrificing humanity's free will and leaving them as nothing more than slaves to the Holy Grail. The protagonist rejects the Grail's offer, and it abandons the Velvet Room, allowing the real Igor to be released from his captivity.

Lavenza reveals that while Igor believed that a trickster will appear and lift the world's distortions, the Grail laughed at this aspect, defeated Lavenza and imprisoned Igor while taking his form. He then came into contact with the protagonist because he sensed a potential of him to be the "Trickster." Supposedly, his goal was to see if the protagonist's desire to rebel against distortion, or Akechi's desire to bring forth destruction and recreation of the world is stronger in a "game." In reality, this was a ruse, and he sought to use the "conspiracy" he set up as a mockery against humanity, believing that they do not deserve freedom for sponsoring Shido no matter how much misery he would inflict upon all of Japan if he were to be elected. At the end of the day, the Grail will not hold its end of the bargain, and he would turn the public against the trickster and cast him into despair in order to prove that humanity needs his perfect rule or they will drive themselves towards ruin with their indolence.

The Phantom Thieves scale the Qliphoth World manifested by the Grail and bring the public back to their senses by defeating shadows of Uriel, Raphael, Gabriel and Michael, causing them to panic as they finally notice the obvious abnormalities around them. They finally reach the Holy Grail and defeat it, and it reveals itself to be merely a part of a much larger entity: Yaldabaoth. As the administrator of the collective unconsciousness and the true master of Tokyo, he believes that humanity will guide themselves into ruin by abusing their freedom and only he can guide them into proper development by ruling over them with an iron fist. The Phantom Thieves deny him and commence their first true rebellion by declaring a final confrontation against him. Despite Yaldabaoth ultimately managing to overwhelm the Thieves, with the help of people who believe in them, the protagonist manages to awaken Satanael and defeat Yaldabaoth once and for all, resulting in the Metaverse to disappear for good, and public view of Shido being corrected to a negative light.

On Christmas Eve, Sae asks the protagonist to turn himself in so he can testify against Shido since there's a lack of witnesses or solid evidence. However, this means the protagonist may have to be imprisoned again, due to his history with Shido and because the police and prosecutors are desperate to restore their own reputation and prevent anyone from viewing the Phantom Thieves as heroes. To change the world and protect his friends, the protagonist agrees to Sae's request.

In response to his arrest, his friends try their best to prove his innocence and eventually succeed in doing so two months afterwards when they find the woman he saved, who retracts the testimony Shido forced her to make and resulting in the initial charges of assault being expunged, allowing the protagonist to be freed earlier. Since the protagonist's probation has been dropped, he has to go back to his hometown next month. When the protagonist leaves Tokyo during the 20th of March, he rides on Makoto's new Citroen H van and goes back home with his friends. However, men in black began to tail the van only for Morgana to have broke their spark plugs. Now a free man again, the protagonist and his allies drive back home.

Cast

 * Xander Mobus as Joker
 * Max Mittelman as Ryuji Sakamoto
 * Erika Harlacher as Ann Takamaki
 * Cassandra Lee Morris as Morgana
 * Matthew Mercer as Yusuke Kitagawa
 * Cherami Leigh as Makoto Niijima
 * Erica Lindbeck as Futaba Sakura
 * Xanthe Huynh as Haru Okumura
 * Robbie Daymond as Goro Akechi
 * Elizabeth Maxwell as Sae Niijima
 * Carrie Keranen as Caroline and Justine
 * Keith Silverstein as Masayoshi Shido
 * David Lodge as Warden

Production
Coming soon!

Release
The film premiered on BBToons on November 15, 2021. It was released to digital streaming services in November 2022 under license from FilmRise.

Reception
Coming soon!