Directed by Takashi Komatsu and written by Hiroshi Hashimoto based on the book by Osamu Sôda, Persona starts when a student named Danda comes back to school after weeks away. Bullying has kept him from class but now his face hides behind a mask. Soon, many of his fellow oppressed students start to cover their faces, finding freedom in the new identity it gives them, like Tonomura, whose birthday party is a debaucherous orgy of masked teenagers.

Psychiatrist Yuichiro Jonouchi (Ren Osugi) believes that the masks are a change in the way Japanese students will now face the world, while other more cynical voices believe that it’s a way for fashion designer Ken Diamon (Akaji Maro) to sell something beyond clothing, a new look for the Japanese youth market as well as push his masked daughter Hiroko into idol status.

Yuki (Maya Kurosu) and her best friend Ashihara (Yuma Ishigaki) start to investigate this trend and start asking why people feel the need to cover their faces. They even meet the creator of these white face obscuring fashion items, Akira (Tatsuya Fujwara). Their work is noticed by a scandal writer named Yaba (Ikkei Watanabe) who wants to find out why masked teens are being murdered.

Fujiwara and Chiaki Kuriyama, who plays Yuki’s sister Reika, would both be in Battle Royale ain 2000, another film that tries to figure out the Japanese school system and why it’s so filled with bullying and suicide. As for Persona, it feels like part Lynch by way of Japanese by way of teen drama as well as fashion giallo. It’s really fascinating.

Persona is one of the films on Arrow’s new J-Horror Rising set. It has extras including an interview with director Takashi Komatsu and an image gallery.

You can buy it from MVD.