Persona 5: The Phantom Xoffers a look at a parallel universe of the originalPersona 5’s world, where a new cast of characters awaken to their Personas and form the Phantom Thieves. While manyPersona 5fans have come to recognize Joker as the face of the game,Persona 5: The Phantom Xthrusts a new protagonist into the spotlight. Codenamed Wonder, this protagonist shares several similarities with Joker, but takes an important step away from the previous protagonist, which ends up avoiding one potential controversy.
Protagonists in the modernPersonaseries have a history of being silent, avatar characters for players to shape through their RPG choices. MostPersonaprotagonists grow into individual characters through the bonds they build withConfidants or Social Links, but the names players choose for their avatar at the beginning of the game can also change how they perceive these characters. A protagonist’s canon name gives the fandom something to refer to them as when discussing them online, since not every player is going to choose the same name for their avatar, but the controversy surrounding Joker’s true name seems to have passed right by Wonder.
Persona 5: The Phantom X Gives its Protagonist a Canon Name From The Start
Persona 5’s Joker Has a Controversial Naming History
During the opening hours of the originalPersona 5, players are asked to print the protagonist’s name during the interrogation scene. Here, players can enter whatever name they desire, within the limits imposed by the game, and that name will stick with the protagonist throughout theruntime ofPersona 5. Without giving players a default name for the protagonist, there isn’t any indication as to what the canon name for them is supposed to be, leading most players to simply refer to the character as “Joker” since that becomes his Phantom Thieves codename.
The first hint at a potential name for Joker came from thePersona 5manga adaptation, which calls the protagonist Akira Kurusu. In the absence of a canon name, many fans adopted the manga’s name of Akira Kurusu for Joker, even after the official anime adaptation,Persona 5: The Animation, was released, giving Joker the name of Ren Amemiya. While Ren Amemiya is now considered the canon name for Joker, old habits are hard to break, and some fans still see the character as Akira Kurusu.
Persona 5 Royal’s PC port confirms Joker’s canon name as Ren Amemiya, since it will default to this name if the player’s language settings are changed after naming their protagonist.
Persona 5: The Phantom X Establishes Wonder as Nagisa Kamishiro
In contrast,Persona 5: The Phantom Xskips this potential naming controversy entirely by giving its protagonist the default name of Nagisa Kamishiro. Players can still enter their own name for the character if they wish, but having a default name helps ensure that there is no question about what the game considers the protagonist’s canon name to be. This decision is likely due toP5X’s global, multiplatform release, allowing the name to revert to a default if the language settings are ever changed, as was the case withPersona 5 Royalon PC.
Even with the default name of Nagisa Kamishiro, Wonder has a much better ring to it as the name forPersona 5: The Phantom X’s protagonist. The fandom may adopt this codename as the primary way they refer to the character, but it’s still nice to know Wonder’s canon name to nip any debate in the bud. ThePersonaseries' history of giving conflicting names to its protagonists is a trend that needs to end, andP5X’s handling of Wonder bodes well for future games likePersona 6.
Persona 3’s protagonist also faced a similar controversy, with the manga adaptation referring to him as Minato Arisato before subsequent games established the canon name of Makoto Yuki.
