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When covering cleavage on North American box art is NOT censorship

P5 box compareTo your left is an image comparing the lower left portion of the Japanese and North American box arts for Atlus’s highly anticipated Persona 5.  You may notice that Morgana (the smiling cat) has been repositioned in a way that covers up the cleavage of another character.

CENSORSHIP!!!

Not so fast…

While it’s true that the North American box art features less cleavage and more… um, cat… before you put on your angry pants, you should probably listen to what Atlus USA PR manager John Hardin has been repeatedly explaining to people on Twitter all day.

“Was not expecting this, BUT. The changes to P5 boxart is because the ESRB and CERO placement/sizes are different. We didn’t want to hide Morgana’s face, so we adjusted the placement. Take the tinfoil hats off.”

A couple hours later, Hardin addressed the issue again.

“Pointing out YET AGAIN, this was *solely* because we didn’t want to cover Morgana’s face w/ the ESRB logo.”

Looking at the art, it seems far more likely that it was indeed altered for compositional purposes and not to cover up a minuscule amount of cleavage.

Sharp-eyed readers will also notice that the game’s title has also been slightly repositioned, likely to keep the corner of the “5” from poking another character in the eyeball.  While I agree with both alterations (although the artist should have planned for the logo placements when laying out the cover), I can’t say I’m crazy about the North American version’s overall reddish tint.  You loose the fine detail of the background and mess up the flesh tones of the characters.

You can compare the two boxes below.  Persona 5 hits Japan on September 16 and North America on February 17 next year.

P5 box compare big

6 Comments

  1. MechaTama31
    MechaTama31 June 8, 2016

    I’m wondering, now that the cat has been moved up, what exactly has been revealed below him. Is that supposed to be a hip?

    • Sora Hjort
      Sora Hjort June 8, 2016

      Looks to be the bottom of her coat or hoodie.

  2. Warren Lewis
    Warren Lewis June 11, 2016

    Off topic, My browser has alerted me that this site is unsafe, and has malware.

    -W

    • Zachary Knight
      Zachary Knight June 12, 2016

      I am aware of that and am in the process of figuring out what is triggering the issue. None of my usual tests are showing me any details as to what the actual problem is. So far only Google is having a problem with the site. I am hoping to get it fixed soon.

      • Sora Hjort
        Sora Hjort June 12, 2016

        It might have something to do with one of the ads, that tends to be what triggers it on most sites. I do know some ads that have shown up are fishy, like one for “free minecraft!”

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