Atlus Ad Features Therapist Inspired By Persona 5 Royal Counselor
Atlus has turned a player's real career decision, one he credited publicly to a character in the game, into marketing material for the same title.
Reporting from 1 source: Denfaminicogamer.
An Atlus commercial published on its overseas YouTube channel features Dylan Lackaye, who became a therapist after the Persona 5 Royal counselor Takuto Maruki pushed him toward the profession. He appears at roughly the 1 minute 15 second mark in the Persona 5 Royal segment with the line "your life will change." The video also covers sale information for Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: ReFantazio.
The commercial is titled "Your Next Game" and runs on Atlus's official overseas YouTube channel. Most of it is ordinary sale information for the publisher's catalog, including Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: ReFantazio. The Persona 5 Royal stretch is where Lackaye appears, near the 1 minute 15 second mark, speaking the line "your life will change." His own account of the decision runs from 2020, when he has said he was dealing with severe anxiety and anger, to April 15, 2026, when he announced on X that he had obtained the clinical psychotherapy qualification. In the post announcing it, and again in the commercial footage, he shows the qualification alongside an illustration of Maruki signed by his English voice actor, Billy Kametz, who died in 2022.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.