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Early designs for characters, Phantom Thief designs, and locations found in the artwork of Persona 5.
Protagonist#
The game originally featured a male and female protagonist, their initial Persona would have been Mephistopheles, a demonic creature featured in German folklore. This was the very first draft designed for the protagonist was designed, where Soejima went for a "punk look" rather than "formal" because they wouldn't really fit as rebellious phantom thieves if they went with the latter. The school uniform was designed for the protagonist first before it was changed for other characters in the game.
First Protagonist design#
Soejima thought of different ways to make the character "become the thief" without the player getting a sense of disagreement from it, where he originally tried to draw the design in a sense of a character from a shonen manga. The protagonist also originally wore their school uniform in an apparent stylistic fashion rather than the thief attire in the Metaverse.
Second Protagonist Design#
Another design of the protagonist. Interestingly, a model of the Phantom Thief design here can be found in the December 2015 build as a texture and image.
Third Protagonist Design#
A slightly later design with the scrapped female protagonist by him. 
Fourth Protagonist Design#
A later design of the protaginist, looking more dorky. However, Soejima thought that "he went overboard" with the design because he felt like it wouldn't go well with a "realistic group of youths", so he simplified the design a bit before eventually leading to the final. The protagonist was also eventually altered to not make him like too "manga-like" so the player can relate with the character easier.1 At that point, Soejima thought of the protagonist having different looks based on if he wore glasses or not; he would look like a regular person with glasses while he would look completely different without them
Fifth Protagonist Design#
Another concept art for the protagonist, the left concept of him is looking more
casual, and a phantom thief attire, looking much closer to the final look.
Sixth and Near Final Design#
An almost near final design of the protagonist, with a different uniform and Phantom Thieves look. 
Arsène#
Arsène having a more edgy design and wielding a gun and a whip with a spade at the end of it, like a classic cartoon devil's tail.
Ryuji Sakamoto#
According to several files in the final game, he was originally named Reiji Deidou.
Concept art#
What appears to be an early design for Ryuji, looking more like a punk. 
Morgana#
Morgana was originally drawn as feminine before their gender was decided. Morgana was also supposed to transform into multiple things rather than a van, which looks mostly like the final besides the red eyes.
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The first Morgana design draft, with some ideas of what they could transform into. |
Exploration sketches. |
Zoro#
Ann Takamaki#
According to an texture name in an unused model in the Dec 4th, 2015 build, her original name was An Odoroki.
Concept art#
The design with her hair down was requested by scenario writer Yuichiro Tanaka. After Soejima finished the design, it was scrapped because it didn't match what Tanaka envisioned. 
Phantom Thieves Designs#
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Carmen#
Having long hair and a different design for the dress, with the men tangled in the thorns having nothing on but a speedo.
Yusuke Kitagawa#
According to several files in the final, Yusuke was originally named Yugo Sakura.
Originally, Yusuke was going to attend a school from one previous Persona games according to Soejima. And says that his shoes are a remnant of that idea.
Concept art#
Originally being a female with long hair.
Makoto Nijima#
She appears to have been conceptualized early, as told from the style. She originally used a sword and a gun, before using knuckles in the final.
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The first sketch of Makoto Nijima. |
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Futaba Sakura#
Haru Okumura#
Haru seems to be the last of the female Persona characters to be designed. It seemed she may have been a supporting character, judging from the first image.
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The three sketched girls are likely Ann, Makoto and Futaba. |
Goro Akechi#
His first name found in the filename for his All-Out Attack file, was going to be Aketi.
Akechi according to Soejima, said he wanted Akechi's design to, "be the white to the protagonist black". So, he designed him to looked "polished" and to be the "pleasant youth" in contrast to the protagonist.
Concept Art#
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An early design, looking more generic. Also has his Phantom Thieves design, looking more like a cowboy. |
A later design, closest to the final. |
Sae Nijima#
Early design of Sae Nijima, and appears to resemble that of Katherine Brooks from Catherine.
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Hifumi Togo#
Hifumi Togo was originally planned to be a member of the Phantom Thieves as a "strategist" when Makoto Niijima was decided as the "brains" of the team and had her design based off that character. When deciding on Confidants, the developmental team thought that Hifumi would work better as that and the fact that the story would have been too long. Thus, they redesigned her to evoke a more Japanese look.23
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First draft concept art. Notably, some design elements would be |
Phantom Thief Concept art#
At first, the Phantoms Thieves outfits would just have them wearing normal clothes. But it made them look more like normal criminals, rather than thieves.
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Conecpt art of what appears to be the protagonist and a female character. |
Later on, they were designed to have just their normal school uniforms on, with a mask. However, it wouldn't make sense, since they would have been easily recognized. 
And finally, Soejima decided to design the Phantom Thief outfits with a "classic look" in mind, rather than using their school uniform so it could be easier to convey the idea rather than with modernized looks.
Concept art for Joker's mask and summoning poses.
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Later designs for Joker's mask. |
Rough sketch of what a Persona summon would look like. |
Early Locations#
Rooftop#
This concept art shows that the school was originally going to be near Minato rather than in Aoyama-Itchome, judging from the presence of the Tokyo Tower. A silhouette resembling that of Morgana's earlier character model can be seen near the bottom.
Nijima Residence#
Seems Makoto was gonna be a care taker of the house at some point.
Velvet Room#
Earlier concept of the Velvet Room, which has the jail motif, but appears to look fancier, even having in aquarium at the back.
A slightly later concept, showing the finalized medieval jail cell theme. Interestingly, an early scrapped Velvet Room assistant is present in the concept art, which has text leftovers for it in the final. Also, the Protagonist is wearing his school uniform with the finalized design, in comparison to a striped jail outfit.
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Protagonist's House#
Concept art for the protagonist's house that is never seen in any form of Persona 5 media. It is unknown if it was meant to be shown at any point during development, or during the flashback scene with Shido.
Shujin Academy#
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Seen in some early models in the final, (and some textures) the school was going to be named "Suminomiya High School".
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Base design for Shujin Academy. |
Second base design, showing the earlier name. |
Yongen-Jaya#
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Café Leblanc#
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Has a butler statue, and an earlier layout and design. |
A much more finalized design. |
Hikkioumori Concept Art#
There are two pieces of concept art that are labelled as hikkioumori (引きこうもり), Japanese slang for "shut-ins". The first is labelled as world and the second is labelled as whereabouts. The most logical guess for them is to do with Futaba Sakura, who is a shut-in.
This rather ominous piece of concept art appears to show some sort of ritual in a modernized setting with anime figurines and merchandise scattered all over. The most logcial guess for this is that it's likely Futaba's Room, due to her interest in anime stuff and computers.
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What seems to be some sort of ritual with anime figurines, looking |
Palaces#
Kamoshida's Palace#
An early exterior of Kamoshida's Palace, being in an open area compared to being surrounded by buildings in the final. The sky is purple instead of being red like in the final, with a large yellow colored moon. The castle part is also depicted on top of an early design for Shijin.
Shido's Palace#
A rather overexaggerated concept of what Shido's Palace would be. Though the cruise ship motif made it to the final, it doesn't amount for the fact there are tons of skyscrapers, a rollercoaster, a Ferris wheel, blimps, and a space station. Which all of that would be cut out leaving behind an city hall. Another thing to notice is a van, along with an early Protagonist design. Possibly designed around the time the "traveling the world" concept was still in use.
Miscellaneous Concepts#
An unknown character. Katakana translates to "machine gun?".
A female design, may be a precursor of some sort? 
Another female design, with multiple Phantom Thieves concepts next to her. 
Resources#
- Persona 5 Official Design Works
