The Persona series has a rich tradition of suddenly replacing its English voice actors. Kanji Tatsumi got a new voice in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, Tae Takemi got one in Persona 5 Royal, and we were forever deprived of this absolutely divine reading of "Aha! Is this our chance?" when Chie's voice actor changed in Persona 4 Golden.
Now, Persona 3 Reload—the upcoming full-blown remake of Persona 3—is replacing its entire dang English voice cast, and we got our first listen to the new line-up in the game's new English Gameplay Reveal trailer. Bad news, everyone: Fuuka no longer sounds old enough to draw a pension.
Although several cast members—notably Ken and Aigis—don't feature in the trailer, we still got ears on Yukari, Akihiko, Mitsuru, Junpei, and Fuuka, a major chunk of the game's main squad. I have to say I like what I'm hearing, at least for the most part. I probably wouldn't even notice that Yukari and Mitsuru have changed unless you pointed it out to me, and Fuuka's new voice actor—Suzie Yeung—actually sounds like a young girl now, rather than the pack-a-day smoker voice she had in the original (although that performance had its charm).
The only one I'm unsure of is Akihiko. Everyone's favourite, protein-loving boy had an incredibly distinct performance in the original game, an almost comically badass voice that fits his character perfectly. We only hear a snippet of his new performance—from Alejandro Saab—in this trailer, making it much too early to judge, but it seems less characterful to my ear, even if the quality of the acting is high. Perhaps I just need to adjust to the change.
Either way, I'm excited to get my hands on this one when it finally arrives next year. Although Persona 3 finally came to PC in the form of Persona 3 Portable—a port of the game's PSP version—in January this year, I ended up putting it down after 15 or so hours. The visual novel style just didn't work for me in a Persona game. I'll be glad to finally get a chance to experience (some version of) the classic when the remake hits.
Sure, Atlus says it won't have the female protagonist or expansion content, but I imagine it'll only be a matter of time until we get Persona 3 Reload Rearmed: A great opportunity to buy the remake a second time with all that missing stuff put in.
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