Atlus has released a new trailer for its upcoming expanded re-release of Persona 5, centered on the game’s brand new certified new salt bae, Takuto Maruki. If you’re wondering just what makes him salt bae, in a scene featured in the trailer, Maruki, well, does the salt bae thing. It’s as simple (and silly) as that. Comparison below:
Maruki is a new student counselor at Shujin Academy, as shown in a previous trailer released earlier this year that introduced the character. He will be a new confidant for the Protagonist, though footage of Maruki has been limited to story cutscenes, so just how his confidant story line will play out is as of yet unknown.
Aside from memeing in the kitchen, Maruki’s defining trait seems to be his ineptitude. In the first trailer featuring his character, as Maruki introduces himself to Shujin Academy at a school assembly, he stumbles over his words and bonks his head on the microphone. That’s pretty high up there as far as embarrassing things to do in front of a room full of high school age kids.
The newly-released trailer opens on a meeting in the halls of Shujin between Maruki and Ann, Ryuji and the Protagonist. He tries to bribe the reluctant Phantom Thieves into counseling with snacks, which they find to be a bit childish. Maruki seems to have a fondness for juice boxes himself, as shown in his anime-style character portrait at the beginning of the trailer, so rather than seeing high school students as children, he may just genuinely enjoy childish snacks himself.
In the second half of the trailer, Maruki joins Shujin Academy students, all bedecked in their gym clothes, for a park cleanup. Ryuji questions his choice of a doctor’s coat for a physical activity, at which point he reveals himself to be in charge of food for the event. Enter salt bae. Why he needs a doctor’s outfit to cook/become a living, breathing meme is unclear.
Persona 5 Royal will be released in Japan on Halloween of this year, and in the West in Spring of 2020, at which point we’ll know just how many memes made it into the final game.
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