Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Ao no Kakusei-

Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Ao no Kakusei- (ペルソナ3 the Weird Masquerade 〜青の覚醒〜, lit. Blue Awakening) is a stage play based on Persona 3.

Release

 * Japan: January 8-12, 2014 (Performance)
 * Japan: May 14, 2014 (DVD Release)

Profile
The Weird Masquerade is a stageplay that saw a limited release from January 8-12, 2014 in the Theater G Rosso and was first announced during the August 2013 Persona Music FES. Music was composed by Shoji Meguro. Casting was performed by. The script was written by Jun Kumagai, who was responsible for scripts for Persona 4 The Animation and Persona 3 The Movie.

It was based on the original game and double-casts the male and female versions of the protagonist. They do not appear in the play together, but instead the performances are divided in between male and female performances. Both male and female performances were released in a live broadcast on NicoNico. In the DVD release, the male and female performances each received a separate disc in the two DVD set.

Male Route
In the past, where the news report a mysterious catastrophe during the Moonlight Bridge, where they spotted a sole survivor, a child.

Ten years later, a young man named Sakuya Shiomi arrives at Tatsumi Island as transfer student. Meanwhile Yukari, Akihiko, and Mitsuru fight Shadows during the Dark Hour. During the fight, Yukari attempts to summon her Persona, but she hesitated as the Shadow taunted her, but Mitsuru managed to defeat it. After Yukari returns to the dorm, Akihiko, Mitsuru, and Ikutsuki unexpected meet Junpei, who was panicking and didn't know what was going on, so Akihiko punched him back to his senses. Although he settled down, Junpei still acts hyper which causes Akihiko to knock him unconscious in annoyance.

As Sakuya arrives at the dorm, he encounters a mysterious boy, who asks him to sign a contract, which he does. Before the mysterious boy disappears, he gives him some advice.

Back to the present, he meets Yukari and suddenly an unknown Shadow is attacking the dorm. Yukari leads Sakuya on top of the dorm, but the Arcana Magician appears. As she attempts to summon her Persona again, she is knocked out by the Shadow and drops her Evoker. Sakuya grabs the Evoker and then hesitates, but he hears a mysterious boy's voice, telling him to go on. Sakuya summons his Persona, Orpheus, for the first time, but something went wrong as he clutched his head and he screamed in pain as his Persona changed to Thanatos and defeats the Arcana Magician. After that, his Persona reverts back to Orpheus, and Sakuya loses consciousness.

The following day, he regains consciousness, encounters the mysterious boy, who explains to him that he awakened his Persona and that he will be facing an ordeal in the near future. Later, Sakuya joins SEES, and starts to attend Gekkoukan High School. Before starting class, Sakuya meets Junpei, who reveals that he can summon his Persona and is a new member of SEES, much toYukari's displeasure. He meets another student named Fuuka Yamagishi, and befriends her quite nicely. Junpei decided to give everyone movie tickets so that they would get to know each other better. Although Sakuya doesn't want it, but Junpei gave to him anyway. After Fuuka left, Junpei tried to befriend Sakuya even invading his personal space, but he didn't enjoy it.

In the evening when the Dark Hour struck, everyone except Mitsuru and Akihiko were shocked to see their school transformed into Tartarus. They explain to them about Tartarus, and their reason for being here so that will it help them to get stronger. As the days went by and after defeating Arcana Priestess, Junpei quickly left due to his jealousy toward Sakuya.

When Akihiko and Mitsuru manage to catch up with him, Junpei tells a scary story ("Junpei's believe or don't") about a ghost. After he finishes, Junpei decides to give his remaining extra movie tickets to them. Everyone gathered at the Screen Shot theater except Fuuka. Although they wondered where was Fuuka since Junpei invited her. Luckily, Ikutsuki makes a surprise appearance at the theater, and informs them that Fuuka went missing and hasn't been in school for days.

The team decides to enter the school before the Dark Hour. However, when the Dark Hour strikes, they get separated from each other. Sakuya wakes up and encounters the mysterious boy, who informs him that this ordeal will be stronger than the last one, and he will need to find the person he's looking for since she will be important to help him with the ordeal. After he disappears, Sakuya finds Fuuka, and suddenly she senses a stronger Shadow presense than the Shadows she avoided. Meanwhile, Yukari and Mitsuru encounter the Arcana Emperor and Arcana Empress, who have hard time fighting it and are unable to find its weakness. Yukari attempts to summoned her Persona, and succeeds, but that isn't enough to damage it. With Junpei and Akihiko helped them. Sakuya managed to find them, only to find they were heavily wounded and exhausted by the Shadows attack. After he realized everyone's determination, Sakuya decides to fight with Shadows alone and tried to protect his friends even if it costs him his life. Everyone including Junpei and Yukari, begged him not to fight alone or force himself for their sake. Suddenly Fuuka appears, and Akihiko asked Mitsuru to give her Evoker to her since she can possibly summon a Persona, she agrees and give it to her. Fuuka successfully summons her Persona, Lucia, and was able to analyze the Shadows' weakness and everyone summons their Persona at the same time and defeats it together. After that, Fuuka realizes she has friends who support and help each other and that she not alone.

After Fuuka joins SEES, Sakuya encounters the mysterious boy again, as he was able regain some of his memories. The boy asks if he can be his friend, putting out his hand, and Sakuya decides to shake it. The mysterious boy introduces himself as Pharos.

Female Route
In the past, where the news report a mysterious catastrophe during the Moonlight Bridge, where they spotted a sole survivor, in which it was a child.

Ten years later, a young woman named Kotone Shiomi arrives at Tatsumi Island as transfer student. Meanwhile Yukari, Akihiko, and Mitsuru fighting Shadows during the Dark Hour. During the fight, Yukari attempt to summon her Persona, but she hesitated as the Shadow taunted her, but Mitsuru managed to defeat it. After Yukari return to dorm, Akihiko, Mitsuru, and Ikutsuki unexpected meet Junpei, who was panicking and don't know what was going on, so Akihiko punched him to his sense. Although he was settle down, Junpei still hyper slightly in which Akihiko was annoyed, he knocked him unconscious.

As Kotone arrive at the dorm, she encounter a mysterious boy, who asked her to signed a contract, in which she did. Before the mysterious boy disappear, he give her advice. Back to reality, she meets Yukari and suddenly unknown Shadow attacking the dorm. As Yukari lead Kotone on top of the dorm, the Arcana Magician appear. As she tried attempt to summon her Persona again, she was knocked out by the Shadow and accidently dropped her Evoker, she grab a Evoker and begun to hesitated, but she heard a mysterious boy's voice, telling her to go on, Kotone summoned her Persona, Orpheus for the first time, but something went wrong as she clutched her head and she screamed in pain as her Persona changed to Thanatos and defeats the Arcana Magician. After that Persona revert back to Orpheus, Kotone lose conscious.

The following day, she regain conscious, she encounter the mysterious boy, and he explains to her that she awakened her Persona and the ordeal she will be facing in the near future. Later, with Kotone joins SEES, she started to attend Gekkoukan High School. Before starting class, Kotone meets Junpei, who in which revealed he can summon his Persona and being a new member of SEES, much to Yukari's dismay. She meets another student named Fuuka Yamagishi, and befriend her quite nicely. Junpei decided to give everyone movie tickets so that they would get to know each other better.

In the evening when the Dark Hour struck, everyone except Mitsuru and Akihiko were shocked to see their school transformed into Tartarus. They explain to them about Tartarus and their reason for being here so that it will help them to get stronger. As the days went by and after defeating Arcana Priestess, Junpei quickly left due to his jealousy toward Kotone.

With Akihiko and Mitsuru managed to catch up with him, Junpei decide tells scary stories of Junpei's believe or don't about the rumor about a ghost. After he finished, Junpei decide give his remaining extra movie tickets to them. With everyone gather at the Screen Shot theater except Fuuka and Kotone, who revealing that she was volunteering at the theater. Although they wondered where was Fuuka since Junpei invited her. Luckily, they were surprised to see Ikutsuki at theater, he informs them that Fuuka went missing and haven't been in school for days. They realized maybe that Fuuka somehow got trapped at Tartarus, and need to save her.

Everyone decide to go to the school before Dark Hour, however they got separated from each other. Kotone woke up and the mysterious boy, who inform her the this ordeal will be stronger than her last one, and she will need find the certain person she's looking for because she will be important to help her with the ordeal. After he disappeared, Kotone found Fuuka, but suddenly she senses stronger Shadow than the Shadow she avoided. Meanwhile, Yukari and Mitsuru encounter the Arcana Emperor and Arcana Empress, who have hard time defeated it and unable to find it weakness. Yukari attempted to summoned her Persona, in which she succeeded, but that wasn't enough to damaged it. With Junpei and Akihiko helped them. Kotone managed to find them, only to find they were heavily wounded and exhausted by the Shadows attack. After she realized everyone determination, Kotone decide to fight with Shadows alone and tried to protect her friends even it means the cost of her life. Everyone including Junpei and Yukari, begged her not fight alone or force herself for their sake. Suddenly Fuuka appear, and Akihiko asked Mitsuru to give her Evoker to her since she can possibly summon a Persona, she agrees and give it to her. With Fuuka successful her Persona, Lucia and was able to analyze the Shadows weakness and everyone summoned their Persona at the same time and defeat it together. After that, Fuuka realized she has friends who supported and helps each other that she not alone.

With Fuuka joins SEES, Kotone encounters the mysterious boy again, as he was able regain some of his memories, he asked if he can be her friend, letting out his hand, and she decides to shake it. The mysterious boy introduced himself as Pharos.

Music
Here are the list of songs/tracks that were used during the stage play:
 * 1) Soul Phase (-P3 the Weird Masquerade ver- (Male version)) sung by Shouta Aoi (Sakuya Shiomi)
 * 2) Wiping All Out (-P3 the WM ver.) sung by Asami Tano and Yuuki Fujiwara (Mitsuru Kirijo and Akihiko Sanada)
 * 3) I am no HERO sung by Genki Ookawa (Junpei Iori)
 * 4) Brand New Days (-P3 the WM ver-) sung by Maho Tomita and Shouta Aoi (Yukari Takeba and Sakuya Shiomi)
 * 5) Watashi no ibasho sung by Marina Tanoue (Fuuka Yamagishi)
 * 6) Kimi no Kioku (-P3 the WM ver-) by Shouta Aoi (Sakuya Shiomi) and the rest of the cast
 * 7) Soul Phase (-P3 the Weird Masquerade ver- (Female version)) sung by Kana Asumi
 * 8) Brand New Days (-P3 the WM ver-) (Female version) sung by Maho Tomita and Kana Asumi (Yukari Takeba and Kotone Shiomi)
 * 9) Kimi no Kioku (-P3 the WM ver-) (Female version) sung by Kana Asumi ( Kotone Shiomi) and the rest of the cast
 * 10) Interstice of Time (-P3 the WM ver-)

Cast

 * Male protagonist (汐見朔也, Shiomi Sakuya): Shouta Aoi
 * Female protagonist (汐見琴音, Shiomi Kotone):
 * Yukari Takeba:
 * Junpei Iori:
 * Mitsuru Kirijo:
 * Akihiko Sanada:
 * Fuuka Yamagishi:
 * Shuji Ikutsuki:
 * Pharos:

Adaption Differences
There are difference between the game and stage play:
 * The 2009 calendar was not featured, which makes it impossible to know what happens on what day.
 * In both version, Sakuya/Kotone arrive at the dorm during the Full moon operation on April 9 instead of April 6.
 * Around the same day, Junpei for the first time experiences the Dark Hour and meets Akihiko, Mitsuru, and Ikutsuki.
 * Fuuka befriends Sakuya/Kotone, Yukari, and Junpei before being trapped in Tartarus.
 * Akihiko does not get wounded by the Shadow during April's Full moon Operation.
 * Natsuki doesn't appear although it's possible she appears as one of the girls who were bullying Fuuka, but she does not go after her as she was feeling guilty about what she and her friends did to her.
 * Since Shinjiro was not present as in the game, Ikutsuki provides information to SEES about Fuuka.

Trivia

 * Shinjiro Aragaki does not appear in the stageplay even though he has important role like in the beginning of the game and Persona 3 The Movie first film. He only made his official appearance in the sequel of Persona 3: the Weird Masquerade -Gunjou no Meikyuu-. (It is possible they couldn't find a suitable actor to play him.)
 * It seems in the male route appear to be extended longer than female route stage play version.
 * It's presumably because a special guest, Kana Asami, who played Kotone Shiomi appear after the stageplay.