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eirikrjs · 2 years

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Correction about Raidou: The person Raidou saves from the curse is an admiral in the navy who got cursed since the navy was investigating the shady stuff the army was doing. This is a reference to the real-life conflicts between the Japanese army and Japanese navy which is considered one of the most notorious inter-service rivalries in history.

Okay, this one is complicated and I don't have a lot of time so I'm going to give the QUICK and probably useless version since it'll omit lots of details.

But basically, I won't deny what you say is correct but there are some odd things about the "important naval officer" scenario/scene, especially in the Japanese version. Much of my info on this is from a Japanese blog that goes into detail about nationalism in Raidou specifically. A healthy amount of it was summarized for me by @dijeh, who says much of it sounds a bit out there, lol. That said, there's still aspects about it that are conspicuous, but take with a grain of salt.

LP of the chapter (Episode 7: The Cursed Detective) here.

The Japanese version of this scene is available here.

If the cursed person were just an admiral, why the very coy, dramatic presentation at the Yatagarasu shrine? They could have easily created a fictional admiral character but instead chose to depict the cursed in silhouette and are talking around his identity despite his stated "crucial" role. This is just my observation.

The blogger emphasizes the following points (repeatedly, apparently, lol):

Atlus could not use Emperor Showa (Hirohito) because of his war crimes, thus they extended the Taisho era to a fictional year, 20; in reality, the Taisho emperor died of pneumonia and the era lasted only 15 years. Taisho was also a pre-war era and there is nostalgia for it.

The Yatagarasu organization is representative of the State Shinto of the period: the three-legged crow Yatagarasu was sent from the heavens to guide the first emperor, Jimmu, of Amaterasu's lineage, to military victory. State Shinto instituted the divine identity of the emperor, and the Yatagarasu organization is old and directly connected to the emperor. It specifically uses Japanese native religious imagery and names, not Buddhism.

The JP constitution says the emperor is the leader of the ground, sea, etc. forces, yet the game only names him the leader of the naval force because it's usually associated with heroic deeds, unlike the army which is associated with war crimes. (Personal anecdote: Japan still seems to be proud of its WWII naval forces and I visited a museum dedicated to the battleship Yamato near Hiroshima. I felt odd being there, since the Yamato was sunk by American bombers; I didn't feel the same way at Hiroshima, probably because its message is for global peace and total nuclear disarmament.)

The writer is also particularly bothered by the fact that you can't refuse to save this cursed person.

Last tidbit is that the god who curses the person is Hitokotonushi, who notably appears to Emperor Yuryaku in the Kojiki, where he says he can proclaim "good fortune in one word, bad fortune in one word," which the game seems to be quoting. This plays into the game's "Kunitsu seeking revenge on the Amatsu" plotline, so why would he curse someone who isn't also directly related to the Amatsu in some way?

#smt #raidou #raidou kuzunoha #soulless army #taisho #megaten #atlus

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jisuto · 3 months

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#shin megami tensei #devil summoner #raidou kuzunoha #raidou #raidou kuzunoha vs the soulless army #smt #dsrk #my edits #my gifs #smt edits

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ancestral-steppe · 3 months

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#this post is just dsrk propaganda the dialogue writing is top notch go check it out #devil summoner raidou kuzunoha vs the soulless army #devil summoner #megaten #atlus #playstation 2 #ps2 #2006 #2000s #shantien uploads

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figurecollection · 1 month

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Raidou Kuzunoha Garage Kit by Meikyuu no Koe, from Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army

#Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army #raidou kuzunoha #devil summoner #smt #shin megami tensei #garage kit #meikyuu no koe #2011 #anime figure #anime figures #anime #figure #figures #figurine #figurines

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randomkposts · 9 months

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With Persona 3 and Nocturne being remastered, It would be absolutely fantastic if Digital Devil Saga and Raidou Kuzunoha came out again too. I enjoyed watching the movies, and think I would really enjoy playing them, particularly the former. The Later, however, is part of a lore I am really enjoying learning about, and that is Devil Summoners.

The series as we know it started with the invention of the COMP, by Akemi Nakajima- a Bishōnen programer and amature magician- back in Digital Devil Megami Tensei story, a game based on novels by Aya Nishitani. Check out Marsh if you want to learn more about them.

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But back to devil summoners, the most known is Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th, of the Kuzunoha clan, and the protagonist of the Raidou Kuzunoha games. The Kuzunoha clan is a clan of devil summoners based on the legend of Kuzunoha in Japan.

"Kuzunoha is the name of a popular fox spirit of Japanese folklore, and is closely connected to the legends surrounding famed Onmyōdō Abe no Seimei. In the legend, the father of Seimei, Abe no Yasuno was visiting a shrine in Shinoda when he came across a hunter who had trapped a white fox in order to take its liver to sell as medicine. Abe no Yasuno fought off the hunter and saved the white fox, but not before sustaining serious injuries to himself. In the aftermath, he is saved by a mysterious, enchanting woman named Kuzunoha and the two eventually fall in love and get married.

Later, Kuzunoha gave birth to Abe no Seimei, who was born with strange powers, and by the age of five, he was said to be able to to see and command lesser Oni. One day, when Abe no Seimei was still a child, he noticed his mother possessed a fox's tail under her kimono. Realizing her disguise had been found out, she fled her home and returned to Shinoda; her husband and son pursued her and she revealed she was the very same white fox that Abe no Yasuno had saved many years ago. Kuzunoha gives her son a special book that will allow him to speak with beasts, and bids farewell to her family, never to be seen again. Her famous farewell poem can be found on a silk parchment in the Inari Shrine in Izumi."

So in the Megami Tensei overall lore, naturally that forms the basis of a clan of devil summoners who exist long before COMPS become a thing. This is also a history where the Taisho era lasted longer than IRL.

Also Hirasaki City area was once part of a small country that fought the Yamato dynasty off with magic and demons, had ties to China, and defeated the Yamato army, but lost in the long run, whereupon the queens only daughter was captured, tortured, and executed in a cruel manor, and her spirit was so angry it needed to be sealed for safety.

And then there's whatever is going on with Sumaru that has students in school during July, but the rumors coming true isn't new (I'd guess ten years but an exact timeline is hard to pin), and that's before the city was retconned by rumors to have a history involving things like a local princess, as of The EP timeline from which the other persona games follow.

It's also a reality where SMT 1 was averted, and instead If timeline events happened. So there are people who are born naturally capable of using magic (such as law and chaos hero), and a highschool student brought his school into an alternate dimension, filled with demons, true death was canceled, and he became ruler. Two students then proceeded to fight their way through said world and defeat him to get back to the human world.

The history students are screaming. The devil summoner games have connections to the persona games, and the crossover brings me joy. The tech tree evolution is hilariously wack.

So that all said, let's talk about Summoners, facts, extrapolation, and headcanons. Starting with Showing up in multiple games. (Soul hackers 2 not included as I have not yet interacted)

Madame Ginko:- the overseer of the Kuzunoha clan, and the most respectfully treated trans person in the series, the owner of Club Cretaceous (understandably has a lot of summoners), and has preference for Dragon Demons, according to Demikids.

In spite of her showing up the most of anyone on this list, I don't really have a lot of headcanons for her really. I heard she was a bodyswapper, and according to her bio her hobby is moon watching, and favorite food is Oden. Her blood type is Type A, which in Japan does give personality indication.

Maybe later I'll do a post on blood types and Megaten universe characters who share that blood type.

Has a bodyguard in the form of Utsumi Kunihiko, blood type AB, who likes pizza and breeding tropical fish.

Kinap:- first showing up in Devil Summoners as a user of the DDS-Net who gives you hints and hacks into a museum sincerity system for you.

In Soul Hackers, Kinap is probably not the same being as last time, but who knows, as he is never shown on screen. Spoilers ahead for plot points in Devil summoner soul hackers.

In mythology:- "In Mi'kmaq folklore, a Kinap is a mortal human gifted with uncanny physical strength and other powers. In many legends, a Kinap's power manifests as a child, and he either becomes a child-hero or dies young by using too much of his strength too early. In other legends, an adult Kinap features as a mortal hero slaying a terrible monster or leading the other Micmac men into battle. ."

He sends the protagonist on vision quests throughout the game. Apparently Kinap was once a Shaman who tamed Manitou, and proceeded to use him in battles to be Victorious in wars, and used the slain foes as sacrifices, to grow Manitou stronger.

Then one day he realized "oh snap. Feeding it all these souls might make it too strong and I will lose control one day." So he took preventive action and sealed Manitou away. He also created Nemissa out of a fragment of his soul, but for her to be effective, she would need to understand humans. Rather than introduce her to some humans he knew then, he sealed her and abandoned his mortal form to watch over them. And possibly Devil Summoners Protagonist IDK. Obviously that goes super well, lol.

Let's deffine Manitou :- " Manitou is the belief of Algonquians meaning “mysterious being,” or simply “mystery”. It is an Algonquian word that represents the unknown power of life and the universe. Common among the indigenous peoples of North America, it is related to the concept of mana, a personal supernatural force, and connected to the worship of the sun. A supernatural force that according to an Algonquian belief permeates the natural world.

Manitou is universal and manifests everywhere: the environment, events, organisms, etc. When the world was created, Aashaa monetoo meaning the “good spirit” or “great spirit”, gave the land to the indigenous peoples, specifically to Algonquian-speaking ethnic group indigenous Shawnee. In some Algonquian traditions, it was also called Gitche Manitou.

Native Americans acknowledge traditional healers and spiritual leaders who used manitou to see the future, heal illness, and change the weather. Ojibwe traditional healers used their spiritual connection to cure patients since the illness was believed to be caused by spirits and magic. To communicate with spirits and influence manitou, a healer would sing, dance, and drum beats to enter a trance. They sometimes also used hallucinogens to make a connection. For non-healers, they interacted with spirits by embarking upon a “vision quest,” by means of hallucinogens, fasting, praying, and by isolating themselves from society. A person who underwent vision quests would see objects or animals and also heard voices that would become later on as his or her guardian spirit.

In tribes that practice shamanistic rituals, manitous are connected to an inanimate object or animals to achieve the desired effect. A buffalo manitous for a successful hunt or plant manitous may be connected for healing. It involved the belief that shamans had the power to communicate with spirits, heal the sick, and help bring souls of the dead to the afterlife.

The early Native Americans in Illinois believed that each person has his own god, which they call their Manitou. It could come in a form of a bird, serpent, or other similar things, of which they have dreamed while sleeping. These manitous were considered as a lucky token. For war, manitous came in the form of species of birds, including falcons, crows, ducks, swallows, and parakeets. Representations such as skin or feathers of their manitous were displayed on their homes to ask for guidance and power when they went for fishing, hunting, or war.

As soon as adolescents became aware, it was expected that young adults start their vision quest in the wilderness. To trigger a manitou in a dream, the young adults went fasting without food and water for up to seven days. A manitou could take the form of a bear, wolf, bison, mountain lion, deer, bobcat, bird, or some other animal. "

What does the megaten wiki say about Manitou?

"Originally Manitou was a great spirit of the land found in North America, but Kinap utilized Manitou as a weapon in ancient times. Contact with mankind and their souls threatened to turn the peaceful mindless force into an entity of destruction. Kinap then sealed Manitou away and created Nemissa from Manitou to bring death to it should it ever be awakened and become a force of destruction.

The Phantom Society and Kadokura find the entity, and make their own plans to give it the souls of mankind for their own agendas. Manitou is also capable of feeding on the souls of demons, as shown by the slain Godly soul that it gains power from. "

It kind of sounds like Manitou should have been the one sending you on Vision quests, and generally working with Kinap. They have just sort of used Manitou as a buzzword. Nemissa Is a legend of a star goddess who seduces a hunter.

But yeah, they are more used as cool names, not particularly respectfully researched or portrayed use of legends from native people. I like Nemissa as a character, but as far as mythology goes, she's an OC with a legend based name.

If they wanted a native legend that actually ate souls, they could go for Nalusa Chito, assuming they did their research with cultural consultants of the mythology they are inspired from and portray it respectfully.

" Nalusa Chito, also known as a Impa Shilup, was the soul-eater, a great black beingIf individuals allowed evil thoughts or depression to enter their minds, Impa Shilup would creep inside them and eat their souls. "

Don't speak their names.

For more info, go to

As an antagonist, it could probably suit the cyberpunk setting of the time pretty well.

"Cyberpunk narratives often incorporate a sense of hopelessness or nihilism, typically featuring a gritty and violent backdrop, with crime, artificial intelligence, class uprising, governmental and corporate corruption, anarchy, gang warfare, and transhumanism all being central themes. The range is broad but the combination of these themes in the cyberpunk aesthetic is often used to convey deeper meanings and commentate on modern society and sometimes predictions of future society."

Soul hackers was first published in 1997, during Japan's lost decade, the name for its economic crisis.

For more information on what caused that, check here

For more information on how that impacts the people socially and culturally, check this video by Lady Virgilia

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I think ending the game by defeating a soul eating depression monster , especially during Japan's lost decade would have been a hopeful ending to the game. A way of saying "maybe it does suck now, but we can turn it around"

Oh wow, I've wandered pretty off topic. I'll end this one here, and come back and talk about Rei, and other characters later.

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xxwish-bonexx · 9 months

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I can feel myself slowly succumbing to another Fresh x (character) ship. Send help

#freshberry looks like such a cute ship #soulless parasite possessing a skeletons body who manipulates others to eventually either possess them or get something he wants #skeleton who wants to see the good in everyone and radiates love and care and can also lift you without much difficulty #perfect match #dear god my internal fresh polycule is growing in size #that neon bitch is gonna have an army #fresh sans #underswap sans #utmv #freshberry

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bangarangdarling · 6 months

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I really do have some nerve to be like “ew red flag” when it comes to Ascended Astarion

…and yet I’m over here kicking my feet and giggling about Gortash saying he wants to rule by my side.

Like. Be so for real, me.

#for the record if you read gortash’s mind he truly respects you #vampire king astarion just wants your bhaal army and thinks you’re trash #durge/gortash #I still love my vampire baby just…not the soulless one

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ntaras · 6 months

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i’m going to kill everyone on the internet

#the things people are trying to bring up to prove bihan as ‘evil’ are not even the right things to bring up #talk about the cyber initiative and how he was inspired by the idea of the dragon army being so one minded in battle and unable to work #without each other in order to show overwhelming and soulless power #talk about how he's so blindsided by his own ambitions that he cannot see anything wrong with himself #talk about how his role of being the eldest sibling and the grandmaster gave the mindset that he must be the only one right and his brothers #must be the ones wrong cause he has to be one who knows more and knows best #i fucking hate talking about whether a character is good or evil less of that more and more of just. looking at a character and #understanding who they are outside of the barriers of good and evil #also i already had this dumb meltdown over the rock i did not genuinly think people would be asking this question #an another note. the answer is no but the answer is also yes because it’s really fucking funny to try and kill your sibling by just kicking #a rock over the edge and letting it hit their head #it reminds me of when me and my sister were walking up like over a hundred steps of a cathedral and she asked be to wait cause she was #out of breath and i was really tempted to just start sprinting up the stairs and leave her behind #talking;

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punchy-mchurtyfist · 6 months

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SMT is a wild series with more spinoffs than I can count but one of my alltime fav chars is fuckin Viktor Frankenstein who set up his lab in the basement of an antique shop who entraps demons in huge Faraday cages to physically smash them together to force fusions for, ostensibly, shits'n giggles

#punchy talks about smt again who woulda thought #smt #the game w the longest game title known to mankind #Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzonoha vs the Soulless Army

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safrona-shadowsun · 1 year

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{If Safrona got as much empty spam solicitor follower types in-game as she has here on tumblr, she'd definitely want to release a few demons onto some businesses, maybe curse someone's entire bloodline.}

#ridiculousness #sexy soulless spambots #a whole army of them

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purseowner4thequalityanimation · 1 year

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Jorougumo in MegaTen has a strange history; while her debut was in Raidou Kuzunoha Vs. King Abaddon, she had art seemingly made for Shin Megami Tensei with a design repurposed for Amaterasu in the PC-Engine release of Shin Megami Tensei.

An ask that @eirikrjs answered in 2021 goes into it in more detail.

#Jorougumo #Devil Summoner #Raidou Kuzunoha #Vs. The Soulless Army #MegaTen #Shin Megami Tensei #eirikrjs

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cheese-rat29 · 22 days

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my hope for doctor who is that they never ever start to use cgi more than practical effects.

#text #text post #doctor who #nuwho #there's nothing inherently wrong with cgi #but using it in place of sets and props and fx makeup? bullshit and stupid #obviously cgi is used in doctor who but when it actually makes fucking sense. like to show a huge dalek army.#the tardis is a set which is so fucking cool #when you see a small number of cybermen? those are people in there!!#it makes the world feel real and loved and grounded #it's one of my favorites things about doctor who and i hope that aspect never ever changes #this is my worry now that they're partnering with disney #because disney takes these very loved stories and properties and turns them into advertisements #they're soulless #it happened to marvel #and star wars #they have no soul no heart they're just money makers

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jisuto · 2 months

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#shin megami tensei #devil summoner #raidou kuzunoha #raidou #raidou kuzunoha vs the soulless army #smt #dsrk #my edits #my gifs #smt edits #q

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futomimi · 3 months

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#it's raidou kuzunoha vs the soulless army in case you're wondering.

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clesetialspace · 10 months

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Rambling about Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army

As a bit of background I moved houses in September. Well, in that move my cords for my ps2 were ruined. We went to the combination farmer and flea market yesterday and there was a vendor selling stuff for old consoles. I was able to get both replacement cables for 12 bucks and no wait (both a big bonus in my book).

I don't have, really any, collection of ps2 games with the grand total I own being 4. Those 4 games are BloodRayne, Kessen, Persona 4, and Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs the soulless army. My ps2 was originally owned by my grandfather, which means that the games were either sports, shooters, or some generic variety titles. Of course I had no interest in said games, with the gems being the aforementioned 4 owned games. And then at some point it went to storage so no new games were ever bought for it and with it basically being a fancy brick until yesterday, why would I buy any more after it's unearthment.

BloodRayne isn't all that good and Kessen is a real time strategy game, so I'm not sure why those two were safe from being lost to time. Persona 4 has been played and beaten numerous times. Thus it has been Raidou Kuzunoha's turn up at bat. the game was too hard for me to beat when I was younger (I apparently didn't even make it past chapter one), but I'm determined to actually beat it now that I am a little less of a kid. I remember a lot less of the very early game than I thought. My old file had me at the Daidouji basement but I don't remember rescuing Rin at all.

For those unaware Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army has you play as silent protagonist Raidou Kuzunoha (he is technically nameable but I tend to just use the canon name). It is your job to protect the capital from demons as the influx of people has made the barrier between humans and demons weak....I think. I know what's going on in the game but when putting it down into words, I'm always a little less confident (;._.).

Anyways you are sent to act as a detective for Narumi's detective agency. Chapter one has you called by a sixteen year old girl, she asks you to come to a bridge and kill her. You go to the bridge, but before you can properly talk to her, she is stolen away by men in red masks. So now you have to find more about the stolen girl. Using her dropped butterfly brooch you find out she is Kaya Daidouji and also that the Daidouji family is rumored to be cursed. When you get to the Daidouji estate you find out that her father has fallen seriously ill. After snooping around the estate you are able to find a picture of Kaya. Using this picture you are able to talk to two girls from Kaya's school who point you towards her best friend Rin. You go to her and ask her about Kaya and her disappearance, but before you can get any answers she is transported to the dark realm where you have to go and get her.

When you get there, she is being held hostage by tsuchigumo who says he's going to eat her. He then runs down the street. You give chase but are stopped by something called a Dragon Jaw (seemingly an uncrossable barrier) and have to go the long way round. You then destroy an elemental barrier using a volt demon and then fight tsuchigumo x3. After he is defeated Rin is teleported back to the regular realm due to her summoner being slain. You finally can ask her about Kaya and she reveals that Kaya has recently gotten more sad and distressed. I can't remember if it was here or earlier where it is revealed that the aforementioned Daidouji family curse is that all girls born into the family are cursed to turn into/ be possessed by demons once they turn sixteen and Kaya is only a month or two away from her sixteenth birthday.

After talking to Rin you go back to the Daidouji residence where after more poking around you are able to get to what is translated to basement or cellar but is more an underground cave under the house. It is there where there is a cell which is revealed to be where Kaya had been living. It is there you find her diary. After retrieving said dairy you are attacked by a skeleton guardian who trys to kill you for taking it. and that's as far as I've gotten. I'm sure there will be more story updates as I get further along.

As you can clearly see guide writing is not in my future lol

#retro gaming #ps2 #playstation 2 #shin megami tensei #devil summoner #raidou kuzunoha #raidou kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army

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