Demystifying Digital Devil Story

[@MarshSMT]

This started off as a quick filler video and evolved into a much larger project that I had a lot of fun with. It's my hope that this video inspires more people to read the Digital Devil Story novels and hopefully reaches the attention of someone skilled enough to fully translate them. I did my best to summarize each of them in a timely fashion with the information I had - the full experience will obviously not be found in just watching this video, and several details that I didn't deem overly important to the plots were omitted, not to mention the many things I undoubtedly missed due to my own reading ability.

[@lebonk8081]

I'm playing soul hackers right now!!

[@AnarchicArachnid]

where did you buy your copies?

[@lebonk8081]

@@AnarchicArachnid me? or the books he talked about? I'm talking about the 3ds game devil summoner soul hackers he covered a while back. just got it

[@lebonk8081]

@@AnarchicArachnid i jailbroke my 3ds and used hshop

[@AnarchicArachnid]

@@lebonk8081 books

[@godonomas]

Never ask a woman her age A man, his salary Marsh, his knowledge on digital devil saga

[@Sonicfan640]

Digital Devil Saga is the name of a PS2 game. This is Digital Devil Story which is not the same thing

[@godonomas]

@@Sonicfan640 I'm ruined :'(

[@ericmikesell5252]

Finally a gentleman with manners

[@NEETKitten]

At this point, Marsh is going to wake up one day and realize that he's *actually* in Micon City on the 8th floor of Daedalus Tower for real and his first task is to reach the bottom and kill the Minotaur. When's he gonna legally change his name to Marsh Nakajima?

[@DieJG]

Marsh will discover he is the reincarnation of an ancient god.

[@onemoregodrejected9369]

Marsh Nakajima I really like it! NGL i was thinking not long ago to seize Nakajima for myself hehehe

[@kulfoa_1328]

With his childhood friend Charlie and Female companion Rei, they must stop the forces of Law and Chaos!

[@MarvelousAdmirer445]

Don't forget he has to go through a stomach level also.

[@onemoregodrejected9369]

@@MarvelousAdmirer445 that was SO binding of isaac moment

[@mateusbazilio205]

I think that Nakajima being a huge fuck up is thematically relevant, considering he is the reincarnation of izanagi, whose tale is one of a giant fuck up.

[@TheSpeedPlays]

This whole project can just be summarized as a "Nakajima Moment"

[@nyctophilia188]

Nakajima, further dooming humanity into a demon apocalypse:

[@dudewheresmycar4203]

@@nyctophilia188 Nakajima was simply too karkalicous for this world

[@johnnywantyoudead5113]

@@dudewheresmycar4203 he deserves this

[@fuckingking6796]

@@dudewheresmycar4203 more like too dumb

[@theshellderinslowbrostail5422]

This comment is the true recap of the goddess

[@FrogmaskMusic]

“God throws a meteor specifically at florida” is a new SMT plot point but I’ll take it

[@frds_skce]

Shin Megami Tensei: Orlando's Apocalypse

[@rayvenkman2087]

Shin Megami Tensei: Belfast

[@firstnamelastname7244]

holy shit based YHVH

[@Draqer]

Shin Megami Tensei: Vengance of Florida-Man!

[@XianWangTheo]

it'll never happened, since SMT's YHVH will just blast the world but always keep japan to be the last human civilization

[@ricardo12382]

I think my favorite line from this whole video was: "Unfortunately, Lucifer and the Boys were playing 5D chess yet again, and had all this shit calculated"

[@yigitcelik9006]

56:28

[@yigitcelik9006]

You welcome

[@BriteRory]

Mine was "is he quirky? Kind of"

[@NickOleksiakMusic]

@@BriteRory Quirky, yes. But is he goated with the sauce?

[@Wol333]

Fun fact, I found the original OVA years ago and as soon as I saw someone programming in FORTRAN, I knew demons were involved.

[@stoic_rose]

TRUE YEAH

[@Varg69420]

well it is called digital devil story

[@SerabiiBot]

If you told most Persona (or even SMT fans) that the reason they have their series in the first place was because some stuck-up computer nerd bishonen got hit with a false rape allegation and got beat up by roided out meatsticks, they'd shit bricks.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Sounds like one of those Mondays again.

[@NEETKitten]

They'd finally have a protagonist they can relate to.

[@ryokiritani4187]

@@NEETKitten "false rape allegations" not quite false

[@theonlybilge]

If the allegations were true then ResetEra wouldn't hate the entire series.

[@BlackWolf207]

Why would they shit bricks? Doesn’t the newest persona game start by the MC beating up some random guy who beat his girlfriend who would then go on to run and win for prime minister? And then they have talking cats and use phone apps to dive into a mind world where they get to live out their fantasy of beating up evil adults because adults = bad and teenagers = good?

[@inlikeflynn7238]

There was a movie in the '80s called Evil Speak. It's about a lonely computer nerd who writes a program that automatically performs demon summoning rituals only requiring the main character to offer a blood sacrifice in exchange for his demands. Shin Megami Tensei started out as Japan's version of Evil Speak but instead of a B-movie, it became popular and influential.

[@BeruleAdierant]

YO, that is kinda true.

[@bubbletea_]

even after 6 additional books, basically nothing was resolved and the world is still fucked. lesson learned: don't enlist demonic forces to get back at your bullies. just hire a hit man on the deep web next time.

[@minignoux4566]

tbf, if Nakajima just stopped and destroyed the program after killing his bullies, nothing else would have happened, he fucked up by corrupting o'hara

[@eatmynutsarchmage4883]

⁠@@minignoux4566truly a nakajima moment

[@robertwyatt3912]

The real lesson is to always bug test your programs before summoning demons.

[@P1NKPVNK_]

Marsh will never be able to escape Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei He's trapped forever in Daedalus Tower

[@vonithipathachai8449]

You're on the eighth floor of the Tower of Daedalus, and your task is to kill the Minotaur

[@P1NKPVNK_]

@@vonithipathachai8449 *NO... NOT AGAIN!*

[@logicaloverdrive8197]

@@P1NKPVNK_ *You're on the eighth floor of the Tower of Daedalus and your task is to kill the Minotaur.*

[@P1NKPVNK_]

@@logicaloverdrive8197 IT NEVER ENDS

[@logicaloverdrive8197]

@@P1NKPVNK_ *The end will never come, now pick up your sword and march on, puppet.*

[@PanicChain767]

As silly as it is, the fact that Nakajima is the reincarnation of izanagi goes a long way to letting me give his actions a pass. lts like if a dumbass protag was revealed to be reincarnated from zeus. Like u know what yeah that checks out

[@jotaroisbestboy7593]

Yu : wait he is my persona?

[@timothymclean]

I'm not sure that comparison really works; Izanagi isn't Zeus. From what little I know, he's basically one of those aloof deities whose main purpose is explaining where other gods came from, aside from that one really well-known story where he's basically Orpheus.

[@jotaroisbestboy7593]

@@timothymclean yeah

[@PanicChain767]

@@timothymclean thats fair, my only real reference point is the smt compendium/wiki so i cant speak for true historical accuracy. The comparison moreso comes from him declaring he’ll just make more when corpse izanami says she’ll kill a thousand humans a day. From my amatuer second-hand persepctive it was hard not see parallels to him, zeus and nakajima in their problem-solving skills although apprently he did behead infant kagustuchi for “being at fault” for izanami dying during the childbirth and that is some chronos shit if not actually zeus

[@rageagainstthewashingmachi2877]

Zeus wasn't a dumbass tho. He was a chad with incel energy.

[@endlessrepeat]

"Bertolli" is probably Elizabeth Báthory (バートリ), a Hungarian countess who was accused of torturing and killing women. Vampiric legends sprang up later, claiming that she had bathed in the blood of her victims to maintain her youth.

[@MarshSMT]

That makes a lot of sense, I appreciate it

[@frds_skce]

FGO players rise up!

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

Oh my god, the devil lady that can't sing is a brand of tomato sauce-

[@edsainmuramasa4751]

@@UltimaKeyMaster brand new sentence

[@NEETKitten]

@@frds_skce Finally, the SMT x FGO crossover we all wanted.

[@thefoolkitty]

Marsh: "this is the day I'll finally be done with Nakajima!" *Proceeds to give 4 hours worth of video content on the man* Don't ever change, my dude lmao

[@ab-lymphocite5464]

Wait for a couple years when marsh finds the new new megaten

[@Sigismund697]

Heh

[@airtempest8945]

And then... Last Bible New Testament Trilogy: "Hold my beer"

[@k1l7r0]

I rather like the demons coming out of the computer take. Usually in movies it’s a ritual that summons demons, but a ritual can be broken down and codes into a computer. The steps are the same just under different circumstances.

[@dustgraystone9448]

Me too, it also sort of makes sense with how mystifying computers were back then that almost anything is possible. In which today, computers can do almost anything given enough time.

[@Brian-tn4cd]

From my understanding that's the implications of what Nakajima did in the books, where he noticed you could break down summoning rituals into code and made the demon summoning program out of that

[@Louis_Cyphriel]

When you said it I amazingly understood one stupid thing... Devil Survivor 1 is actually harshly copied Devil Story with all the reincarnation, writing summoning program by modern comp genius involved in occultism, etc.

[@shupasopni]

@@Louis_Cyphriel Yeah it's funny hearing this said as a Desu fan.

[@shelbybayer200]

Hmmm, that last bit sounds familiar I think a Hacker boy said that before

[@halifaxsteppenwulf7980]

“God decided to improve the planet by wiping Florida off the map,” most realistic part of the series yet.

[@rayvenkman2087]

“Dumb Floridian Moron.” - Tommy Vercetti, GTA City.

[@Shin_Lona]

Sounds like something a pedo would say...

[@Mister_Clean]

I was more excited when Washington DC got nuked

[@ProducerX21]

Watch your mouth

[@martinr3648]

As a Floridian, I respect the grind

[@arciks11]

Marsh once again returns to Mikon City on the 8th floor of the Daedalus Tower. His mission? To defeat the Minotaur.

[@nathanzavala2861]

This reads so well when you have Travis' intro speech of No More Heroes 1 in mind

[@Old_Harry7]

Taken to account the language barrier, the nonsensical writing of the 80s and the misconceptions a Japanese author could have had on western mythology, these books actually tell a fascinating story. A young talented student gets bullied and develops a distorted idea of justice, he ends up creating a demon summoning program thanks to which demons arrive to earth. Society slowly crumbles as devilish creatures, similarly to the events of Go Nagai Devilman's, begin to infiltrate the media and the government, this whole situation is kept secret untill hell breaks loose and anarchy spreads. The scenario changes from a distopian 1984ish setting to a post apocalyptic madmaxian one as local gangs and criminal organizations begin to take portions of territories while demons are raging through the streets, meanwhile armed resistance begins to form all around the earth, some of them inspired by more "benevolent" dieties. There's infighting between demons, factions, betrayals, blood, distruction and big twist: God by the hands of Gabriel is behind the US government whose main goal is to overthrow Lucifer's reign in Japan. Things get heated up, nukes are launched and cities are destroyed, the fights continue while humanity is taken to extinction. 40 years later after the events of the original book we get to know that humanity somehow survived eventhough in small and destroyed cities, the infighting between demons probably still persists as anarchy rules the streets but in all this mess there's perhaps still some hope left: the boy from the first book is finally reunited with the love of his life, is this the start of a new course for humanity? Honestly Megaten fans could probably take upon themselves to write a sequel or maybe rewrite the original events in order to correct those 80s extravaganza writings, either way brilliant work Marsh you alone are one of the brightests souls of the Megaten community.

[@MarshSMT]

Great summary of the series, I like your hopeful perspective on the last one, that seems like what Nishitani may have intended

[@Jotari]

@@MarshSMT King of undermined by the fact that they never really had a great love story to begin with. The first novel begins with him ignoring her until he gets fucking killed. Then in the second novel she kills his mother, just as he's beginning to realize how important she was to him. She spends the rest of the book being turned into goo and he saves her over the entire world, which is sweet and all but now she has that on her conscious. Then he fucking dies. Is there any point in all that ass crazy action where they actually have a chance to fall in love with each other or is it all sold purely on reincarnation of Japanese mythology?

[@MarshSMT]

@@Jotari The New DDS books really lean heavy into the fact that they somehow learned to love each other despite Nakajima being outright uninterested at the start. Yumiko does kill his mother, though to be fair, she had a knife twisted into his back and was possessed. Nakajima does ruin humanity's chances at escaping the demon apocalypse relatively unscathed, but they're shown embracing each other at the end despite it all. I imagine him saving her life multiple times has something to do with it, and it's probably meant to reflect the fact that Izanagi and Izanami, "historically" responsible for a big portion of creating Japan, had a rocky relationship near the end but were still partners. I suppose its a poor love story all things considered, but I think it's alright considering how young and stupid they are and the world's downward spiral going on at the same time

[@dustgraystone9448]

@@Jotari and as the old adage goes: still a better love story than Twilight~ Somehow.

[@theshellderinslowbrostail5422]

@@dustgraystone9448 tbh, its not better, just more interesting to read/watch

[@houndrysmagolyteofhope4661]

Marsh the ultimate Demon. Race: Masochist Level: 96 Reflects: Insanity Weak to: Nakajima, Demon Gut Dungeons

[@horesfan400]

Buildings with 8 or more floors are also a weakness.

[@sleepygrouch8361]

@@horesfan400that's an ailment

[@someone-nu1kf]

Missed his weakness to 10+ hours of grinding because you can’t progress

[@noahfloofster4271]

Weekness of invy

[@KazShiro]

Has special negotiation dialogue with Minotaur

[@nintenx1235]

Nakajima in book 1: makes triple A games by himself, can code so well it summons literal demons, and looks damn good in a sailer outfit Nakajima in book 9: Hello this is Microsoft tech support. My name is Angel how may I help you?

[@sponge1234ify]

Ah yes, the IT Industry Pipeline

[@Dong_Harvey]

@@sponge1234ify hell, probably got paid less than whatever Macca he gathered in Tartarus

[@ANJROTmania]

Hello sir, please do not reincarnate now sir. SIR DO NOT REINCARNATE SIR. DONT SIR!

[@chandrikayadav7153]

Hello, @nintenx123 we apologise for snatching ur call centre job!

[@Sigismund697]

@@ANJROTmania are you a ho?

[@Nintendrone42]

1:02:38 As a Floridian, I can confirm God's decree that Florida the bizarre dimension is a stain on the world, so wiping it out with a meteor was a reasonable decision.

[@Shin_Lona]

Okay, Disney...

[@bobtorsen9830]

It was the right decision

[@BruceWayne-fj9bm]

Move away ho.

[@edsainmuramasa4751]

Have you thought of the parallels between the first novel and if? A bullied prodigy summons demons to correct the school's systems. Except in if he actually went on with it.

[@MarshSMT]

I think if is kind of like a retelling of Digital Devil Story in some ways, not sure if that was intended though

[@edsainmuramasa4751]

@@MarshSMT I thought of it a while ago, and figured "if" was "what if when the events of smt1 are prevented, a dds type story happens" but with smt lore instead of dds lore. Kind of them paying homage to the source, but at the same time distancing themselves and making it their own.

[@ProfessionalNamielleLewder69]

@@MarshSMT If that's the case, where's that one character who is constantly grabbing his own balls?

[@-AAA-147]

@@ProfessionalNamielleLewder69 That's Loki.

[@ProfessionalNamielleLewder69]

@@-AAA-147 Oh. Fair enough.

[@ApplaudedZero70]

It's interesting to see that Nakajima haunts the story as much as He haunts Marsh

[@JesusMorales-cx8vv]

The first trilogy sounds incredibly insane, the Chaotic Nakajima grindset founds every time new ways to be absolute trash and condemn humanity even further.

[@Dong_Harvey]

Man, Nakajima did all that shit in Fortran77? If he'd lived, he could have had a life-sentence career in the CIA basement under the Imperial Palace

[@NEETKitten]

So he'd be working for JP's?

[@aleph4425]

It’s interesting to see God as a character who prevents nukes from being dropped on Japan and instead destroys most of the American population. This is basically the inverse of how God is typically used as a metaphor for American/western imperialism in Japanese fantasy series and even in the SMT games.

[@RiderWithTheScarf]

Perfect, exactly wht I was looking for to cap off my weekend : with Nakajima's sigma male grindset bringing an economic and nuclear demon apocalypse just so he can get those elusive Jack Frost NFTs. Awesome stuff. The New DDS have always been elusive but I remember some paragraphs of the first one at least floating on some forums, all in japanese with very shoddy translations and at the very best, the translated synopsis of the books, all taken from Amazon Japan or some other site that sold them back in the day that had a synopsis of the story. Wild stuff. Thanks for giving the books some attention and taking the first step with them, hopefully more skilled people in the community will continue the good work. I love how 80s Nakajima starts though, as your typical male protagonist in horror shounen, combining both some of those androgynous goth looks, yet at the same time he's so masculine he listens to Whitesnake and is expected to rock out with them, with the musical part sadly being ommited from the OVA and the games since it would have been a great source of hilarity, watching the "standard 80s male character modeled after every Takeshi Kusao-voiced character ever" zoning out at the tunes of "Here I go Again", "Saints and Sinners" and the hit album of the year the story takes place, "Whitesnake" itself. It's a shame that Masuko Tsukasa never tried to mimmick the musical style of Whitesnake when composing the soundtrack for the Atlus games back then, since whenever other composer tried to do that it ended up being more fun that way, see the PS3 version of JoJo : All Star Battle having the various characters' leitmotifs being explicitely based on the band or song they're named after. As for the way DDS was written and probably how the next few novels were written as products of the 80s and 90s, given how japanese novelists who crossed over to anime and videogames, like Nishitani to a lesser extend and to a bigger extend Hideaki Senna of Parasite Eve fame or Hideyuki Kikuchi, you kinda see the similar motifs and landscapes that are explored majestically in the works of those contemporary authors as well as their contemporary ssci-fi and horror ovas as well as manga of those times as well. Works like Midnight City, Megazone 23, the Dai-Majuu Hagane Gekitou, the Demon City / Makai Toshi series with Demon City Shinjuku Shinjuku especially, the Wicked City series and so on all toy with these ideas so it must have been a popular topic amongst japanese artists in those decades and how they toyed with them. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Nishitani actively watched and read some of these as well and the same went for the other authors as well. I also wouldn't be surprsed if Nishitani was a fan of Maeda Toshio of the Urotsukidouji / Legend of the Overfiend fame and pioneer of monster and tentacle stuff in those eras with OVAs for a certain age group only, that seemed popular among otaku and horror authors it seems, given how schlocky the early novels of Megami Tensei were. As a side note, I believe that the Makai Toshi series in particular had a profound impact in the later era of Megami Tensei game, as much as the other stuff the early Atlus staff lauded, and it's the fusion of that style with Nishitani's early ideas that Atlus adapted that eventually created the Shin Megami Tensei that we know to this day. Ideas from Makai Toushi can be found as early as Shin Megami Tensei 1 when it comes to locations and wardrobes at the very least and it's nice to see that some of Nishitani's ideas are used in later games or at least partly referenced since the second book's plot about mass brainwashing and crucifiction are seen in SMT NINE as well, except done much better within that story. Pretty rad stuff. The art is also really nice, the covers and the spreads are amazing. Hiroyuki Kitazume, most famous for his contributions to Gundam Zeta and its sequels, are downright amazing, he is one of the quintessential artists of the 80s and 90s visual culture landscape of Japan's..."visual arts" as otaku of the period used to call them. The art evolution is really magnificent as well when the New Digital Devil Story volumes, he broke off from his Gundam mold and it shows, to the point where the cover of the second book with Hel in dragoon gear could easily be mistaken for a Lodoss novel, a Slayers novel or something similar, you would never guess that the artist was mainly a mecha series animator of all things. As a final thing about the books, it's fascinating to me how the designs, the tone and the ending of the books are all so very similar to a short story by Chimi Morio / Tamakya Yoshiki of Guyver fame, called Zeorymer that also had an OVA that adapted the first part of the story and then did its own thing with a similar shitty guy as the protagonist yet unlike Nishitani, Takaya didn't return to the story unti two decades later to give an ending and make a whole new sequel series to it, with a new guy as the lead. Zeorymer and Digital Devil Story might have released back to back, and might have gotten their time in the limelight around the same time, they ended up still being similar nearly two decades later. Funny how that works. PS : It seems a bit random but if you haven't checked out Ghostwire Tokyo, I urge you to do it. Not buy it, just check it out or at least the japanese language cutscenes. The story's premise is basically a (somewhat) lighthearted First Persone Nocturne, except instead of Demi-Fiend you're some smuck stuck with an asshole ghost detective in your head that gives you his powers until he can get his body back, kinda like Kyoji Kuzunoha. Heck, he's even named K.K. in the game. Also, replace the myths with all the urban legends and internet stories instead, because the yokai help you this time.

[@MarshSMT]

Thanks for this comment, I really enjoyed reading this. I'll have to check out Ghostwire Tokyo, I saw the trailer and it looked pretty neat

[@Zakkious]

Such an insightful comment, it makes me want to learn japanese just to learn more about these things

[@galupoanthony2996]

Wait nakajima sells nfts

[@BlackRaven6695]

Fam I love your passion

[@hamishmacdonald8593]

mucho texto

[@rashestpuppy7391]

It’s funny to imagine Nakajima summoning demons in his room while listening to Here I Go Again

[@RTDelete]

I really hope this gets enough attention to get the books translated, this is the beginning of Megami Tensei and I'm thoroughly intrigued by it

[@calebgoodman2076]

The first two books are fan translated but only them sadly. They’re the only ones canon to the games anyway.

[@LakituAl]

And then the reader was Nakajima. And the author was Nakajima. We are Nakajima.

[@rayvenkman2087]

Marsh: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

[@Comkill117]

Maybe even Nakajima was Nakajima.

[@Corvusripper343]

No. We are Alpharius.

[@micahlindley7515]

The real Nakajima is the friends we made along the way.

[@caledfwltch]

convinced that at this point one day we'll get a video of marsh finding an old 80's desktop terminal and walking us through how to boot up our own demon summoning program followed by a vlog in izanamis tomb

[@jacksonbrickmedia939]

This is bound to be a masterpiece. You really should go over the raidou games or smt 4 at some point. Great work as always!

[@junpei6180]

Smt 4 still the best in the series imo

[@maxrewind99]

"you're in Mikado city on the top floor of naraka, and your first goal is to get to the bottom and kill minotaur"

[@Louis_Cyphriel]

@@maxrewind99 this must become as epic of a meme as "epic rpj ehere you collect 4 elemental crystals" of ProJared!

[@Cheesepuff44]

We need another 6 more books to wrap up that "ending".

[@halowaffle25]

44:18 fun fact: this isn't just a twist that was made up for the DDS books. There was/continues to be a cult based around the wandering jew that believes St Germain, an especially long-lived noble, philosopher, and alchemist from the 1700s, was actually either a guise or reincarnation of Judas Escariot. Learning obscure trivia is honestly one of my favorite parts of Megaten!

[@elfiebranford9330]

I really do think that Marsh is possessed by Akemi Nakajima, and he's doing all that he can to appease him until he jumps to a new host.

[@ElectricVikingTube]

My understanding was that the first few books started as BBS posts in Japan that morphed into published books. In that spirit, my experience reading the fan translations was done by reading them in lynx, a text based web browser running on a Linux box. Just green text on a black background. Really captured the whole vintage computing spirit of the original work. I'd highly recommend it. Excellent research here!

[@ItsYaBoiV]

It's crazy to think this is what eventually spiralled into Shin Megami Tensei and Persona

[@robber233]

Atlus: ...cocaine's helluva drug.

[@SwanCC]

I'm genuinely shocked that you can put out a "filler" video and still have it turn out at this level of quality. Amazing story, and another incredible video.

[@Cr3zant]

Coming back to this video a year and a half later, it's interesting to think about Nakajima's character with info gained from Nishitani tweeting earlier this year. In those tweets he explained that as a child he had a desire to help Izanami after seeing what a selfish husband Izanagi was failing to revive her, hence the goddess reincarnation. He also said that Izanagi reincarnating as Nakajima was for Izanagi to become a better person but is killed by Izanami after a series of horrible actions done by him. Then by the end of the 2nd set of books he's reborn again as a "perfect" being and gets reunited with Izanami again. I highly recommend anyone interested to look up "The History of Megami Tensei as Told by Creator Aya Nishitani" which archived his tweets regarding the megaten series.

[@Taur-gk5dv]

Sounds interesting

[@Austin_Soares]

When you explained demon transfer theory, I literally had an image in my head where Loki and a horde of other demons from SMT were fighting Tron and other programs from that movie and it was awesome.

[@NimhLabs]

I come from the net, though systems and computers to this place... Shinjunku My format? Demon--To be summoned by a machine To be summoned by--demon trainers

[@couchpotato3197]

I'm pretty sure that's just Digimon. Or Kingdom Hearts 2 since Heartless (demons) are in literal actual Tron

[@dragoneye6229]

But was Tron man there to save the day with his love of Tron? Also presumably his mad Tron skills?

[@Xenosaga]

most dedicated digital devil story fan

[@NEETKitten]

The only remaining Digital Devil Story fan.

[@Taur-gk5dv]

Never thought I would see a xenogears fan here

[@chrishunter9185]

"I vow in the name of Nut to form a contract with you" I'm fucking dead. It truly doesn't get any better than this.

[@rayvenkman2087]

SMT: Deez Nuts II

[@tivvy2vs21]

WET NUT

[@draconicfeline6177]

Well, Nut did give birth to her children, EAT THEM, impregnate herself with them, and then birth them again every day apparently, in some egyptian mythology. So yeah. Nut right in her mouth :D

[@adanganronpafan6073]

Sixty nine likes noice

[@Eyetrauma]

Every time you comment about how stupid/nonsensical these books are some part of me realizes that if I'd either grown up in Japan or if these were translated young-me would have been *super obnoxious* about how cool they were 🙂 52:17 Bold and brave, he's finding us a family and teaching us his faith.

[@MarshSMT]

Honestly it's the good kind of nonsensical, very entertaining if a little confusing at times

[@ekd1852]

This might sound crazy everyone but hear me out. I wouldn't mind Nakajima and Yumiko make a return in future SMT games, even Nakajima as a secret boss or something. I know its insane.

[@calebgoodman2076]

Nakajima actually is the final boss of Last Bible New Testament if that helps. Also while it’s only their names, Nakajima and Yumiko are mentioned in the Devil Survivor games and the Japanese version of Persona 3. Pascal from SMT1 is mentioned to be a gift from Nakajima as well.

[@couchpotato3197]

@@calebgoodman2076 thanks I love trivia like this.

[@Just.Kidding]

@@calebgoodman2076 Nakajima (indirectly) factors into the plot pretty heavily in the second and third Shinyaku Last Bible also, iirc.

[@VGRantArtist]

"Nakajima's dad is back from buying cigarettes" LMFAO

[@nexenoplays6583]

I remember getting into Persona back in early 2020 and then falling so far down the rabit hole that I beat multiple smt games by summer and then started reading the first two Digital Devil Story books on my summer trip and now here I am. Time flies.

[@hankhill7827]

It's really interesting to view these stories in the context of Japan and their recent history. While you might be inclined to view it as merely a sci-fi horror the main thrust of the "New" stories are more about weighing up Japan's political relation with the United States through the concept of chaos and law. Being aligned to the US is portrayed like God watching over Japan, a benevolent protector but willing to smiting anyone who is not aligned with him.

[@egghamilton7205]

I love how they followed up on this theme in SMT I and SMT V by weighing the consequences of a foreign power conquer native land in the name of order and law. It's a very interesting theme and I wish it was something that the writers pursued further because exploring that idea would have fleshed out the Chaos alignments in both of those games. The closest we get is in Strange Journey with the Chaos endings but instead with the unthinking, natural Schwarzwelt serves to reclaim the planet in a similar way but in the interests of that game's Chaos. It's less morally intriguing but this idea being tied to the way demons align themselves in SMT is just so cool. It really shows that demons are ultimately human creatures at the end of the day.

[@metallarozozzo]

This channel is becoming the best english source of informations for the most obscure and old smt related stuff and I love it. Without these videos many people wouldn't have known of things like these novel and smt nine. Absolute fever dreams.

[@AX-ROSE]

18:34 it is absolutely pronounced "Nut," it's supposed to be the egyptian sky goddess, and also the mother of Set and Osiris

[@SonofSethoitae]

Technically the proper pronunciation is unknown, since Ancient Egyptian is written without vowels, but the most commonly accepted English pronunciation is "Noot"

[@Yurikon3]

@@SonofSethoitae That starts to put Pingu in totally new context.

[@Just.Kidding]

@@SonofSethoitae it's most likely "noot" since english is more or less the only language to pronounce a "u" like that. If languages even have that vowel, it's usually expressed with an "e" or "a", or the equivalent.

[@callmezeldaonemoartime]

Damn you’re literally the Cybershell of Megaten, and that’s an amazing thing

[@yaldabaoth2]

9:00 That's not just a zombie woman. That's Izanami (you probably know this). Izanagi went into the underworld to meet Izanami after she died giving birth to their child Kagutsuchi. They met but Izanami didn't want to return to the world of the living. Not understanding why, Izanagi lit a light and it revealed Izanami's decayed form. In shock, Izanagi recoiled and that slighted Izanami who chased Izanagi out of the underworld. Izanagi then closed off the entrance with a giant boulder. This is similar to the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydike. The common theme is that the living (and even the divine in this case) have to accept death as something irrevocable.

[@elementos93]

And so continues Marsh's journey with Akemi Nakajima.

[@NEETKitten]

Marsh has BECOME Akemi Nakajima by this point.

[@MrSTVR]

I feel I need to pour a glass of brandy as I listen to you discuss literature for an hour

[@Kingshadowac]

I like how God drops a rock on Florida, definitely my favorite part.

[@Shin_Lona]

Okay, Disney...

[@elneco4654]

You mention Nakajima being guilty of all the demon apocalypse, but the real culprit got away lightly: Kyoko. She doesn't even get to see the consequences of her actions.

[@Jotari]

Doesn't Nakajima kill her early in the first novel?

[@elneco4654]

@@Jotari Yes, that's why I say she got away lightly. Look at all the shit everybody else goes through in return.

[@Jotari]

@@elneco4654 Wasn't her idea to summon demons.

[@elneco4654]

@@Jotari But it was her idea to coerce a guy (which is also a victim of hers, by the way) into beating the piss out of Nakajima for rejecting her.

[@Jotari]

@@elneco4654 Yes...and you think being ripped limb from limb isn't sufficient punishment? If anything that's over kill.

[@zak22wolftheultramanzenith35]

I feel like the ending of the third one is a let down because of how little seems to happen in it. It’s literally just “Nakajima gets put on trial by Lucifer, and dies”. At least the others seemed like stories. The third one just seems like the author got bored in the middle of it, and decided just to stop. Also, does anyone even realize that Lucifer is hanging around? If not, then that helps explain a lot.

[@postgotham]

This shit is so detailed and astronomically intense with its depiction of mythology and humanity's connection to it, along with how other worlds like hades could possibly exist in such a universe, makes this whole thing actually feel genuinely creepy. If that's what the author wanted his audience to feel, he certainly succeeded imo.

[@camerons241]

I've recently played through Nishitani's most recent work Monark, and a lot of what you're saying about him using every idea he had, no matter the consequence really tracks with how much of that game is. I'm not certain how much influence he truly had on the final project, but you can definitely taste that classic Nishitani flavor. Also, so glad to finally know who Charles Feed is since he gets referenced in some other Megaten games.

[@MarshSMT]

Do you recall the other games where he's referenced? I believe Isma Feed is actually a ghost enemy in the Famicom Digital Devil Story, but if there are more I'd love to hear about them

[@camerons241]

@@MarshSMT I'm pretty sure he's one of the bidders in the Devil Survivor games, along with Nakajima and much of the Devil Summoner casts. He may get namedropped elsewhere, but I don't remember at the moment. Not a very large reference, but nice for people who are at least aware of the franchise's history.

[@Brian-tn4cd]

Wait Monark was written by Nishitani? I knew it was made by old Atlus people but i didn't know it had the og megaten author

[@camerons241]

@@Brian-tn4cd Yep, they had Suzuki, Masuko, Nishitani, and at least one other person I'm forgetting at the moment. FuRyu loves to snatch up old Atlus staff to use in their games, like how they plucked Tadashi Satomi for Caligula Effect. I'm honestly halfway expecting them to poach Kaneko one of these days.

[@Brian-tn4cd]

@@camerons241 well Kaneko seems to be doing less big work these days so maybe he'll retire soon or move on to another company like you say

[@donteo508]

Man...megami tensei has always been wild but, this feels like a lucid dream. I'd actually like for megami tensei to be re-approached no lie

[@andrewmanchiraju8005]

You have contradicted your first Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei video where you said that that video would probably be the only we time we would hear you talking about books on the channel, but here we are talking about 9 books!

[@Louis_Cyphriel]

How did I... Even ended up here? Why do I have Kyuuyaku opened in emulator making my way to minotaur? That was amazing, honestly. Maybe, at this point I should just write russian subs for this videos

[@rageagainstthewashingmachi2877]

I wish I could tell about the Indian scifi fantasy novel scene of my regional language. All of them read like a fever dream of a person on mushrooms. They make Japanese novels seem tame.

[@henotic.essence]

This is what makes me sad about not knowing every language and culture. So much media is lost to us that may be enjoyable to so many ppl around the world!

[@NekkoBlue]

Thanks to that original Megami Tensei video I went ahead and named my SMT5 protag after Nakajima since there’s no official name for him at the moment, which I thought of as a nice homage and especially appropriate considering they’re both seen as rather feminine looking dudes lol

[@calebgoodman2076]

I named him after the protagonist of the later six novels due to being the reincarnation of Susanoo.

[@krispy_kornflake]

I love how throughout the books shit gets progressively wilder

[@Taur-gk5dv]

Same

[@StanleyG23]

Based God, straight up throwing a meteor at Florida to "improve the planet."

[@Shin_Lona]

Based God would throw a meteor at California...

[@HR-qv5ds]

My man Marsh dropping videos on the most esoteric and inaccessible Megaten content, for the benefit of everyone else! Thank you for your service.

[@sleepyprinny]

1. Thank you. I'm eternally grateful for your bravery for plunging into that literary acid trip, cuz like... *WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!?* 2. Yah, all 9 books were depressing sad pirn acid trips. 3. The last book was published on New Year's Eve. That was kinda cool. 4. My brain kinda fried around book 4's summary, but I still chuckled lije an idiot trying to keep up. Awesome vid, as always!

[@pugbeast-jf2nl]

18:30 Here when Set refers to a being known as “Nut” he is referring to the Egyptian sky goddess Nut, which is also pronounced Nuit, Nwt, Newt, Nit, Nt, and etc. As well as this, Nuit is a prominent figure in the religion Thelema which was founded by the relatively well known Aleister Crowley and borrows some Egyptian Gods.

[@rogercheetoofficial]

Honestly the new dds books and the completely untranslated SMT tabletop games are among the series of books i want to see translated most, right up there with the Jiken novels that kaneko did art for

[@ironserperior312]

Felt like this entire thing was just aya's fever dream, and he thought "might as well write that down"

[@draconicfeline6177]

I mean why not right? Gotta take the muse wherever it comes.

[@GooTheMighty]

I like Hel’s 90s, Valis-like design from the books. I’d definitely play as her in a weird spin-off! She’s got a cool staff too!!

[@UltimaKeyMaster]

It sure throws me off when I'm used to Fire Emblem Norse stuff these days where Hel looks like a Mardi Gras partier.

[@Sigismund697]

@@UltimaKeyMaster actually Hel's design would fit right in with Langrisser which was FE's competition back during the Mega Drive era

[@mykeycuento5576]

You have no idea how your series of videos have pushed me to finally make the leap by getting Shin Megami Tensei V, which is basically a series of batshit wtf events happening one after the other. Thanks for all the effort you've put into these, and I am super excited to see what you discover next!

[@notyoursavior78]

I spoiled myself on SMTV because I just felt like I wasn't going to get a Switch anytime soon and I won't say much more than that I think I would enjoy running around a semi open world even if other parts of the game do seem to feel like they leave something to be desired. Anyway Marsh always come off as someone who is more like a relatable classmate/friend from school days sharing a story then say just a scripted critic/reviewer.

[@CamelotGaming]

Marsh, the Digital Devil Story grind never ends. You're stuck here forever.

[@LonelyDistance]

I'm so glad to see this in-depth coverage! To any out there with a serious interest in translating the remaining books (and can provide a CV with previously translated works), I own all of the Nishitani novels and would be more than happy to help get those to you.

[@EnvyMizuhashi]

I just love how, for lack of a better word, "personal" this feels for Marsh. There's something fascinating about digging deep into anything that's a relic from the past or something extremely obscured from public perception, language barrier or otherwise. The roots behind the MegaTen franchise truly run deep, but it's a shame that it just sorta ends there. But then again, a lot of projects can be "do or die trying" in earlier years. I enjoyed this whole video throughout, dood.

[@dontbothertoreply9755]

That's what archeologists and historians do.

[@meg2249]

Count saint Germaine is a man who was a philosopher that many claimed to be immortal as he never seemed to age. People would claim to have met the very same man decades apart under different names looking the same as when they first encountered him. Look him up, pretty interesting stuff.

[@jackiepreacher2495]

Your videos helped me to enter SMT universe and because of this I got hundreds of hours of enjoyment. Watching you is like sitting next to a friend who shows you a new game. I waited so long for your notification and as all of your videos this I’ll rewatch countless times. I really hope that someday I’ll see radou games analysis from you!

[@Comrade_Hee-Ho]

The New Digital Devil Story novels always intrigued me, so it's nice to have information about them in English with this video, let's hope someone can translate those in the future. Great video as always ofc, looking forward to Giten

[@jrickducking6685]

Marsh the unsung hero of our generation He spent his youth on uncovering and transcribing a foreign media that no man bother to translate From translating long forgotten text to surviving hellish outdated game mechanics/gameplays His work shall not be in vain

[@cathygrandstaff1957]

The plot point about demons being transferred through computers reminds me of Pokémon and it’s PC based Pokémon storage system. It’s one of those ideas that just seemed random to me until I read Digital Devil Saga.

[@masterbubs8271]

Thanks for finally explaining the plot in novels 3 thru 9. I always wanted to see how this... -ahem-... Strange journey ends. Please pardon the pun lol.

[@tjofcarolina1776]

Damn the animation for the anime looks so fucking solid, I love 80s/90s anime look

[@demi-yeethus5440]

1:02:24 Maybe God was afraid of facing the greatest threat of all, Florida Man.

[@iron2000]

Wow, really a wild story. Nakajima the downfall of the DDS universe. His little program changed his universe forever. Was Hades always a planet? What about Heaven? As the world spirals to destruction and extinction, the story pulls back and ends the tale on Nakajima and Yumiko. Just their story in this big DDS world.

[@Hypermegaultrasuper]

Incredible video as usual. I knew about the third untranslated book, but had no idea that there were six more. In fact, I just ordered them, and am planning on scanning + translating them once they arrive.

[@raghbirkaur9378]

The world is forever infebeted to you.

[@ellidwe4225]

This channel is amazing, I love how in depth you go on what books/games you cover while still talking about your specific experiences with them and its really cool to know more about obscure untranslated stuff

[@Gridiron992]

Going above and beyond for the obscure parts of MT/SMT lore, Marsh. I do hope this gets the others translated, but even if not, this at least bring them to light again, which is admirable. Keep up with the good work, man!

[@100Servings]

As a native born Floridian, I support the actions taken against it. I supported it on Star Trek: Enterprise, and I support it now. Nothing decent comes from Florida, and nothing ever will.

[@futab05]

I also live in Florida and I don't blame God. If I HAD to nuke someplace of earth it would probably be Florida. This state sucks lmao

[@100Servings]

@@futab05 I only regret being able to give you a single upvote. Thank you for the laugh! 🤣 It's been a long day and I needed it.

[@NEETKitten]

God likely views Florida as his biggest mistake. Not Lucifer's rebellion, not the flood, not all the shit that happens in Genesis. No, the creation of Florida is worse than all of those combined.

[@100Servings]

@@NEETKitten There's no way he created it. It just appeared one day, like Lilith. It's also led to just as much discord and misery, and he's banished it from his sight since then.

[@NEETKitten]

@@100Servings The secret 73rd demon of Goetia: Florida

[@TheLugiaSong]

Well, it sounds like a ridiculous fever dream you wake up from and think "Huh. That was weird but kinda interesting." I love it.

[@fuckingking6796]

Yes

[@henotic.essence]

Imagine falling asleep to this video. My dreams were nuts 😂

[@Anyathenerd]

"Even though it amounts to a very long drawn out love story between two Japanese high school students" lololol that's too real. Though, I guess that's one of the many aspects that has continued throughout the SMT series. I have an insane theory that one of the main influences of all SMT stuff from the very beginning is "Paradise Lost" by John Milton. In that epic poem, Milton poses the question of why Adam and Eve were even created if God is all knowing, and during the story God basically says that Adam and Eve's transgression is necessary for humanity to exist, which is further supported by the poem acknowledging Lilith (who is supposed to be the one before Even who also transgressed but Adam didn't side with her like he did with Eve and humanity continued to not exist). Basically, I think every single SMT game has an Adam character and an Eve character. This isn't exactly determined by gender but rather by the character's role in the story (like a chess piece). The Adam character is the one who is being influenced by God or some other deity or demon to follow their orders (which would lead to humanities demise), while the Eve character is the one who represents the interest of humanity (Example: Nakajima = Adam, Yumeko = Eve). Just like in "Paradise Lost," the success of the story is usually determined by whether the Adam character chooses Eve or not. While I'm likely overthinking things, I do like to look at each SMT game and try to determine who is the Adam and who is the Eve lol

[@Sigismund697]

Well the protagonists of all SMTs are very specifically called messiahs Because from their actions the world is recreated in one way or another depending of how a mouthpiece for a particular ideology influences them So in that sense the messiah is the Adam while the alignment character is the Eve

[@Taur-gk5dv]

I really like that theory

[@FC8080]

Man, this Nakajima fellow really fucked the whole world up beyond repair. Humans now have to live with demons for the rest of eternity.

[@RandomSubs94]

Hell Marsh, just by recieving a notification from you after a long time, I knew that you'd put a lot of time and effort into this, then it turns out you've investigated the novels of all things. You're a complete Devil Summoner legend man, I love your channel.

[@isleptster]

This was such a fun video to watch, absolutely insane series of books that lead to one of my favourite series of games. That ending with the meteor in florida came out of absolutely no where and caught me so off guard. As always amazing video!

[@romajimamulo]

You know what? This is getting really close to SMT NINE in levels of crazy, if not possibly past it. Now I understand why it went like that

[@FlynnMegaTensei]

I respect the effort to record untranslated media that would otherwise be lost to time if not preserved.

[@individualywrappedcheeseslices]

I binged every video on this channel in a weekend. Insane quality man. Keep up the good work.

[@LesCritiquesduMaSQuE]

The level of detail you go into with these always amazes me. Thanks 🎃👍

[@orvillethesecond5397]

hey great work man, the books where very fascinating and as you said has resemblance to modern megaten which makes me appreciate the series more

[@Titanic_Tuna]

I love the fact that Nakajima's corpse is more sympathetic than he is.