Kazuma Kaneko is back again after his last project with a new IP for the company COLOPL and in the interview they stress how they're working with new technology and considering their track record (pic related) it's probably going to involve NFTs (or God forbid, AI).

They haven't talked about much explicitly, so to be fair, it could theoretically be anything, but considering his last time back was also NFTs, I feel like that's the obvious conclusion idk. I'm just left here wondering what happened to the guy who made Soul Hackers, man? At the very least, we finally have confirmation that he's stopped working for ATLUS ig. If you're interested in the interview, you can find it here: https://colopl.co.jp/recruit/work/17786/

Source: Digital Devil Story 10th Anniversary Book

Ittō rikusa is equivalent to a colonel in the American military

The new SMT5 Vengeance trailer showed this new form for Nahobino and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be some sort of fusion with Tsukiyomi.

His new weapon is an arm-scythe similar to Tsukiyomi's weapon and one of his new skills is called "Paraselene Blur", selene referring to the moon, which Tsukiyomi is the god of.

In base SMTV, Tsukiyomi also made this comment that Aogami was based on him, so I'm thinking that the explanation is going to be that the new form is utilizing his latent Knowledge from Aogami's data banks. Possibly some sort of fusion?

I'm also wondering if this is going to be related to how the MC Nahobino is more human than Susano'O. Maybe there's something like the Protofiend technology has been set up somehow that it can't fully utilize a god's power/Knowledge and that's why Susano'O's characteristics were more downplayed in the original. Also there's an NPC who mentions that Protofiends have existed in Japan for as long as anyone can remember, so I'm thinking it might be possible that they can theoretically utilize any god's Knowledge? If that's the case that also might tie into the new form. Let me know if you have any thoughts or something to add, I'd be interesting in hearing more opinions or if you'd like to see more of my theory ramblings.

Source: Digital Devil Story 10th Anniversary Book

Here's a special edition of Did You Know ATLUS for Easter. Hope you enjoy your day regardless of whether you celebrate the holiday 🫡.

Source: Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army Official Fan Book

This makes more sense if you know that Kuzunoha Clan are named after a kitsune said to be the mother of Abe no Seimei.

Today (3/18/24) is the 30th anniversary of the release of Shin Megami Tensei II! Highly recommend the game as it has an amazing story, visuals, and imo it's alignments are definitive for the series.

Source: Devil Summoner World Guidance

I don't actively use Tumblr, so I'm a bit late to say it here, but R.I.P. Akira Toriyama. His passing is nothing short of a catastrophic loss, imo he genuinely had a strong argument for being one of the most influential artists alive. It feels surreal to think that in just two years, two of my three favorite mangaka are gone (R.I.P. Kazuki Takahashi), I thought those guys were gods when I was a kid I never even considered something could happen to them. In his memory, here's some stuff about his influence on MegaTen. In Kazuma Kaneko Works I, Kaneko described Chaos Hero's design from the latter half of SMT1 as being reminiscent of Piccolo's outfit with the vibe of Goku. In specific, his hairstyle was said to have been explicitly based off of super saiyan.

As for Dragon Quest, in Digital Devil Apocalypse, when asked about how he felt about cute designs, the first thing that came to Kaneko's mind was Slime. Kaneko even made this little comic about how he was frustrated trying to design a mascot as perfect as the Dragon Quest Slime.

I wasn't a huge fan of Shin Megami Tensei V, but I'm pretty excited for Vengeance. It seems like they could be addressing some of my issues with the game, so hopefully it turns out great. Source: https://twitter.com/ScrambledFaz/status/1464307652360646658

The other demons include story-specific ones like Shesha from SMT4A. I didn't count the demons in 4A from 4 that Masayuki Doi simply redrew like Centaur or Napaea.

Source: Schwarzwelt Reminiscences

Map of Holytown (before and after the King Frost boss fight) from the GBA version of Shin Megami Tensei II

Map of the Tokyo Millennium central hub from the GBA version of Shin Megami Tensei II

Source: Soul Hackers no Subete and Strange Journey Reminiscences Fun fact, two of those characters, Devil Summoner's Shogo Isono (bottom- left) and Persona 1's Tsutomu Kurouri (top) are related in-universe (uncle/nephew).

Source: Weekly Game Table No.147 - The first installment of the Catherine Special! Hashino, Meguro, and Soejima appear from the Persona team!

Source: Shin Megami Tensei II Devil Encyclopedia

DONA stands for "Demonoid Original Nandi A-class" and refers to the quality of beef.