DEBUNKING 30 SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI FAN MYTHS, PART ONE: #1-15

2021 marks the 17th year of Shin Megami Tensei’s existence in the West and while that’s not exactly an auspicious number it’s certainly long enough to have developed its current thriving fan culture. But fans are overzealous things, literally fanatics. Arguments are raised, interpretations are julienned, and hills are died upon over what constitute acceptable concepts for a shared canon of ideas. Shin Megami Tensei is of course no different and over the years its fan wars of attrition have resulted in its own assumed fundamental truths.

However, over this same span of time “truths” of dubious origins have mixed in with the actual facts to an indistinguishable degree for many, negatively affecting how the series is perceived and discussed. So, drawing on my 15+ years of experience with the series, I’ve picked 30 of the most infamous Shin Megami Tensei “fan myths” to debunk one by one. We begin with the first 15, which include some of the series’ more well known misconceptions, including the mysteries of Kaneko’s Twitter account, Doi’s artistic output, and everything about the Great Will!

A Primer on Fusion Insanity: Making "Perfect" Demons in PS2 Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne

By 2021's standards, the original Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne's demon fusion mechanics are dated and frustrating. And while that mostly applies to the infamous ritual of re-rolling inherited skills, there's so much more under the hood that true mastery of Nocturne's fusion can be elusive. But early in 2012 I decided to challenge its inner workings and make (approximately) "perfect" demons, namely a void-all Arahabaki and healing/support tank Amaterasu. I knew the process would be painful and take many patient hours to succeed, but I got it done and recorded it step by step. This is that story. 

So, in a sense, this is also the story of what features might still remain with Nocturne HD's newly updated manual skill selection. Even without time-wasting RNG, the base game's hidden inheritance rules, demon types, skill restrictions, and so much more ensure that achieving specific, high-tier intentions will still take a bit more effort than, say, Shin Megami Tensei IV's practically limitless and also relatively mindless skill selection. But even if Nocturne HD's fusion is not completely unrestrained, it will still be a far cry from the following, highly technical saga of the hours upon hours using every trick in PS2 Nocturne's book to craft exactly two demons precisely the way I wanted them.

Demons by Design: An Introduction to Patterns of Form and Function in Shin Megami Tensei

This article was originally featured in Hardcore Gaming 101's The Unofficial Guide to Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, available now in print or digitally at Amazon, and digitally on itch.io and through HG101's Patreon!

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You’re walking down a dark, seemingly endless video game corridor when, suddenly, a silhouetted form approaches you from the shadows. Its appearance is obscured, its mutterings are unclear, and its motivations unknown--what could it be? This is a question answered by the very game you find yourself playing. If it’s Final Fantasy and the form calls itself Odin, you know it can’t be the real Odin because there is no Scandinavia in its fictitious world. If you’re playing Doom and the silhouette identifies as Satan, you should question the context because Christian Hell is (believe it or not) more complex than skeletons with rocket launchers. But if the game is Shin Megami Tensei and the figure names itself Cu Chulainn, you can be almost certain it is the actual hero from Irish myth because SMT’s “modern reality with a supernatural twist” setting does not exclude the existence of Ireland and its cultural heritage. And thus is SMT’s version of the RPG “monster”: its demons, which serve as the skeleton of its entire body, supporting all of the series’ gameplay mechanics and texturing its narrative conflicts. 

Henshin-A-No-No, Baby! Why "Ultra" Odin Paints a Grim Future for Shin Megami Tensei Demon Design

by Soren and Eirikr

The mercurial Norse deity Odin is a fascinating subject, one interpreted in countless ways around the world. He has been variously portrayed as a warrior king from outer space, a slicing-and-dicing quasi-samurai, and even most recently as a mushroom munching megalomaniac. Still another imagined him as just a naked purple guy, a concept so unremarkable we expect its creator to be long out of a job.

But enter Masayuki Doi and his ultra-modern Odin designed for Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. Cool, streamlined, and poised to kick major butt, this Odin is a perfect image of the contemporary pop culture zeitgeist--but a less than perfect image of Odin himself. Continuing from where we left off in our Kaneko’s Crib Notes examination of Doi’s career, we turn now to the burgeoning artist’s demons to examine their ups and many downs as refracted through Odin’s flawed prism.

Do the problems lie only with the adoption of superficial pop culture? Is it a desperation to ride Persona’s gilded coattails? Or is it deficient leadership and research? Can a series purportedly about mythology and religion continue to make that claim if its forms don’t reflect cultural standards? In an exhaustive examination of Shin Megami Tensei demon design past and present, we answer all of these daunting questions and much, much more… and offer a little wisdom for a brighter future with the eternal symbols of myth and legend.

KANEKO'S CRIB NOTES LVI: THE CAREER OF MASAYUKI DOI

by Soren and Eirikr

Masayuki Doi has the unfortunate distinction of being the black sheep of Atlus' main art designers, no doubt due to the fact that some of his best work is hidden within a dead series and that his rise to prominence came at a tumultuous time in the company's history. However, we think his surprisingly expansive oeuvre is definitely worthy of a comprehensive reevaluation and deserving of wider recognition, even if some of it is tarnished by lamentable choices and circumstances. Join Kaneko's Crib Notes editors Soren and Eirikr once more as they break down Doi's entire career, from Trauma Center to Shin Megami Tensei and much more!

KANEKO'S CRIB NOTES LIII: SHIGERU MIZUKI, MASTER OF MYSTERIES

by Soren and Eirikr 

(This post contains "hacked-in" tables Blogger otherwise lacks that don't play nice on tablets or smartphones. If you're on a mobile device, FOLLOW THIS LINK for the mobile version / スマホ版 of this post!) 

We here at Kaneko’s Crib Notes have been researching the true identities and origins of certain demons for the better part of a decade, along with many other like-minded collaborators. The diversity of source and reference at play in the series compendium is a sight to behold, but that same variety includes origins of the utmost obscurity, particularly for an English-speaking audience; many of these figures and sources of inspiration have only the most paper-thin presence even in Japanese media. World Mythology is a field of nearly immeasurable depth, so adding clumsy renderings to and from katakana to the mix tends to complicate matters even further. But by turning our attention to the oeuvre of one of Kaneko’s known influences, celebrated artist and folklorist Shigeru Mizuki, we’ve stumbled upon a motherlode of cribs and sources the likes of which we aren’t likely to see again. And so we’ve decided to catalogue it all in one place: not just the mountain of Mizuki cribwork, but the results of many years of hunting for the identities and sources of the most mystifying figures to ever grace the compendium.

This Crib has been years in the making, and for once that actually means something. We’ve publicly discussed these endeavors before, at least in microcosm, but this is where the pieces really fall together. Read on and be acquainted with some of the most persistent secrets the series has to offer!

Japanese-Jewish Common Ancestry Theory & Shin Megami Tensei: Pseudohistorical Fantasies into Anti-Semitic Nightmares

"...We used the Japanese-Jewish Common Ancestor Theory as the base." -Yusuke Miyata, Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse scenario writer (source)

"If we were to follow the theory that the [Japanese] Imperial Family is part of the Hebrew lineage, then [Masakado] would also become the one who opposed the Jews. The imperfect hero, so to speak. It would be cool if that kind of man existed."  -Kazuma Kaneko, series artist and creative director (source)

Japanese-Jewish common ancestry theory is the most important idea in Shin Megami Tensei you've never heard of.  Its nature is self-evident, proposing that the Japanese are secretly descended from an ancient tribe of Israel. It sounds crazy, but it's no theory that its ideas have received some serious endorsements from Atlus staff, from a series scenario writer all the way up to top dog Kazuma Kaneko himself.

This article promises to be the most in-depth investigation possible of Shin Megami Tensei's usage of Japanese-Jewish common ancestry theory--including a dark side of anti-Semitism, as alleged by the title. But even as the series shoots itself in the foot with its handling of certain matters, SMT's application of Japanese-Jewish common ancestry theory is surprisingly broad and deserving of the diverse range of discussion topics contained within, including:

• The history of the theory and its main arguments, as pertaining to SMT
• Elucidating the series' portrayal of YHVH
• The supernatural force that actually powers demon summoning in the series
• The significance of Nocturne's Baal Avatar
• Why certain Japanese demons are Jewish
• Explanations of some of Kaneko's weirder comments
• Why Raidou Kuzunoha actually serves YHVH 
• And of course, a full analysis of the anti-Semitic themes that emerge from misuse of the theory

This is a huge subject, the revelations of which have huge ramifications for Shin Megami Tensei and Atlus. It is unlikely you will view SMT the same way again after discovering how the theory permeates myriad aspects of the series both anticipated and unanticipated. To know Japanese-Jewish common ancestry theory is to understand Shin Megami Tensei's inner workings!