‘Spider-Man’ VA Yuri Lowenthal, ‘Danganronpa’ VA Erin Fitzgerald Reveal ‘Persona 4 Remake’ – By Announcing Atlus Dropped Them As Yosuke And Chie
In perhaps the most double-edged remake news in recent memory, while it appears that storied Japanese developer Atlus is actively working on a remake of their classic RPG Persona 4, they will apparently be doing so without the help of Yosuke and Chie’s respective voice actors – the current video game voice of Spider-Man himself, Yuri Lowenthal, and one-half of the Danganronpa series’ twisted Junko Enoshima, Erin Fitzgerald.
Lowenthal, who is perhaps best known by readers for voicing Marvel’s iconic web-slinger in every one of his interactive digital appearances beginning with Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2018 (the one exception, oddly enough, was the hero’s PlayStation-exclusive role in Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers, where he was instead played by The Legend of Zelda series variety voice actor Sean Chiplock), seemed to blow the lid off of Atlus’ current development plans on May 28th.
Taking to his personal BlueSky account that afternoon, Lowenthal surprised his fans by announcing – completely unrelated from any then-ongoing conversation – “And for those who keep asking, no, I will not be returning as Yosuke [Hanamura] for the Persona 4 remake.”
“I asked,” he added in his now-deleted post. “Maybe I even begged, but they don’t want me to come back.”
Sadly, rather than being the only Persona 4 English dub VA to share such an update, Lowenthal’s reveal was backed up later that same day by Fitzgerald, the original English voice of Chie Satanoka.
Sharing a GIF of the heroine walking forward to save fellow Investigation Team member Yukikoi Amagi from her Shadow Self, as clipped from Persona 4: The Animation Episode 4, ‘Somewhere not here’, Fitzgerald likewise revealed via her personal BlueSky account, “For those asking, I have not been asked to reprise my role as Chie Satonaka in the Persona 4 remake.”
“RIP,” she added, her sentiment puncutated by a string of ‘sobbing’ emojis. “I am blessed to have recorded as many Persona 4 games as I did playing her.”
Reading both Lowenthal and Fitzgerald’s posts, there are two specific points that should stand out to Persona 4 fans.
The first is that, while many fans presumed such a remake of Persona 4 would eventually follow their previous Persona 3 Reload, Lowenthal’s breaking of his unfortunate news marks the first time from anyone directly related to either the game or Atlus has positively affirmed that a remake of the fan-favorite PS2 title is actually in the works.
Second, with both Lowenthal and Fitzgerald being cut from their roles, it seems like Atlus will be taking a page out of their Persona 3 Reload playbook and recasting Persona 4‘s entire English voice cast.
And while they and their fellow ‘original English VAs’ will likely receive cameos in the remake, as the original cast of Persona 3 save Junpei Iori actor Vic Mignogna, did in Reload.
(Interestingly, should this occur, it would mark Lowenthal’s second time receiving said treatment, as he originally voiced Persona 3‘s protagonist, Makoto Yuki, when the game was first localized in 2007).
At current, neither Atlus nor SEGA have yet to offer any official comment on either Lowenthal or Fitzgerald’s post, much less the potential existence of a Persona 4 Remake.
Further, while it does appear Atlus is recasting its English dub actors, it is currently unknown who, if anyone, is currently the frontrunner for any roles.
All in all, while a Persona 4 Remake is certainly cause for celebration, this news unfortunately comes with a dark stain in the form of Atlus once again gutting a fan-favorite voice cast – not to mention the fact that, if the game ever releases, the internet will have to deal with a brand new but still wholly annoying wave of Naoto Shirogane and Goro Akechi-related discourse.
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