Follow TV Tropes

Following

Anime / Devil Survivor 2: The Animation

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Devil_Survivor_2_The_Animation_2202.jpg

The animated adaptation of the sequel to Devil Survivor, Devil Survivor 2: The Animation follows Hibiki Kuze, an Ordinary High-School Student who gets thrust into a conflict between humans, demons, and Eldritch Abominations from the stars above.

He is first introduced to Nicaea, a "dead face delivery site" (in beta) that can show users other people who will die in the immediate future via videos, by his friend Daichi Shijima. Later on, they go to the subway and look up the newest video from Nicaea.

The video is a high quality depiction of a train crash in the same tunnel, with their videos depicting each other's deaths.

In a rush, they attempt to leave the station, but fail. Fortunately, they are saved by Nicaea and are allowed another chance to live. They team up with Io Nitta, a fellow high school classmate, to help fight against the aliens known as the "Septentriones". They also meet others and make friends along the way, including those from the shady JP's.

The Shin Megami Tensei wiki states that the manga writer (where the anime takes its storyline from) was Makoto Uezu.

Note that the adaptation may contain some spoilers from the original game, so beware.


In addition to those from the main page, DeSu2: The Animation provides:

  • 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Dubhe looks like his animation is 3D CG in front of a 2D landscape.
  • Adaptational Villainy:
    • While he was an antagonist, Botis was portrayed as someone doing his job rather than one who just Kick the Dog For the Evulz like Bifrons. Here he butchers humans, kills Keita with Ziodyne, and abandons Fumi to die in the collapsing building.
    • Yamato as well. The anime has been building him up as the main antagonist, rather than Polaris and the Septentriones.
  • Adaptational Wimp:
    • The summoners themselves don't contribute to the fight anymore, instead just running around behind their summoned creatures. Some of the demons suffer from this as well. Demons who took many hits to down in the game instead get slaughtered in one or two hits...which is technically Truth in Television when you have over-leveled monsters and what you should be doing in the games themselves.
    • Daichi in game was a firm Cowardly Lion; he tended to get scared often, but he always fought regardless of the situation. The anime heavily downplays Daichi's abilities, making him a Joke Character for almost the entire series until the last few episodes.
  • Adaptation Induced Plothole: To achieve the Reset Golden Ending in-game, the player had to choose Daichi's path, aka the Neutral path, but stress wanting to have things go back to normal during discussions with the group across the game from that point onward or else the player would get a different ending. The anime has Hibiki do a blend of Ronald's path, and the Anguished One's path for most of the run time, but the ending is the Reset ending. This causes problems since not once did Hibiki stress wanting to reset the world like the player must in-game and instead seemed to almost be fine without it thanks to the flashbacks are shown to his time growing up beforehand, resulting in the ending just kind of happening without any reason for it to do so.
  • Adapted Out:
    • The real Big Bad of the game, Polaris, never actually appears in the anime, thus meaning the Final Boss battle against it never occurs. This also means that, at the end of the story, Polaris gets away scot-free with everything, save for actually destroying the world, meaning technically, Polaris could return.
    • Airi's father only appears in a brief flashback, and Airi only mentions him once. In the game, Airi's father is not only an important part of her backstory, but also the backstory of Ronaldo. He also is a recurring character with his own subplot in a series of optional events.
  • Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Phecda is initially immune to all non-Almighty attacks before splitting into two of itself, but Ronaldo and the others attempt to go full force against it. Io joins in with Kikuri-hime, and Otome with Sarasvati, the latter using Drain, an Almighty skill. However, Phecda uses Dark Thunder, which completely annihilates all demons on the field. Everybody except Hibiki has to retreat since they don't any other demons left.
  • Anyone Can Die:
    • Just as it is possible to have happen in the game, Hibiki and company fail to prevent Keita's death face clip from happening.
    • Ronaldo, Otome, AND Joe die fighting Megrez. Moreover, unlike Keita's death, none of these three were anywhere close to where they could have died in the game. Though since they can die, their deaths are still within expectations.
    • What truly sets the anime for this trope is the battle against Benetsnatch where not only Jungo dies, but Airi, Hinako, and Fumi (three character who can't die in the game at all) as well! Meaning everyone is officially fair game.
    • And now at the end of Episode 12, only Hibiki and Yamato remain alive. Fair game, indeed.
    • Although not focused on too much until the closing scene of Episode 12, all of humanity and Earth has been consumed by the void. Yeah, so everyone on Earth died except Hibiki and Yamato.
  • Big Bad Friend: Yamato is one to Hibiki and he has no problem killing his friends to get what he wants, even though he never directly did.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Yamato comes in to save Hibiki from certain death at the hands of Phecda in episode 6.
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation: The official subs mistakenly translated Ja'aku Furosuto as Jack Frost. That demon's name is "Black Frost" in the English games to preserve the "Jack"-ja'aku/"evil" pun. As such, his Race was also mistakenly assumed to be Fairy instead, despite the voiced line literally saying it was Jaki. This error was also present in the dub.
  • Bloodier and Gorier: Due to Nintendo DS graphical limitations being bypassed, the video clips can now be viewed in true high-quality.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Botis attempts to kill Alcor in episode 11 and quickly learns how bad of an idea that was.
  • But Now I Must Go: Alcor at the end of the series, having decided that humanity has finally shown its will and that he is no longer needed, departs the current world for another.
  • Butt-Monkey: Daichi, with his low-level demons and high-level confidence, often plays this role.
  • Bystander Syndrome: The JP as a whole outright refuse to help others. Even worse, they become angry and defensive when people tell them that they are capable of helping other people. Not necessarily even asking them for help, just pointing it out. Sure, their actual mission is admirable and important, and the anime justifies it thus, but the prevailing opinion even within the anime is that they don't need to be asshats about it. This makes a scary amount of sense once you learn of Hotsuin's motivations and feelings on the weak.
  • Cherry Tapping: JP's believes that they can slow down and potentially kill Merak by using a tank forward and four advance flanks consisting of thousands of JP's members against it with demons that primarily use Garu. The tank forward and the first forward gets killed by its spawn, while the rest gets killed by Circumpolarity. Note that in the games, you're not supposed to do this, since bosses in most Shin Megami Tensei games usually have high armor, and the games are made on the philosophy that you're supposed to hit hard and fast with extreme preparation.
  • Compressed Adaptation: Since it would be difficult to adapt every story option from the game into just 13 episodes, much of the storyline had to be streamlined or changed. Some of the changes include:
    • In general, party members that you are introduced to and recruit throughout the game are already in play and actively working offscreen by the end of the first episode.
    • Joe was one of the first party members to be met and recruited in the game on Day 1. He makes his first appearance in the anime only on Episode 5, on Day 3. His girlfriend has already passed on, when it should have been the last day. He also joined Ronaldo much earlier than in the game.
    • Hinako is already a JP's member instead of convincing the party to let her join.
    • Keita was killed in Episode 3, meaning any storylines involving him are gone.
    • Other than an ex-detective, Ronaldo is also an ex-JP's member, and thus has knowledge of the Septentriones early on.
    • The group finds out about the whole "Defeat the Septentriones, Rule the World" thing right after Phecda's defeat, instead of near the end of the week. Granted, just about everybody who would normally be in the party at that point (minus poor Keita) was present when this was revealed.
    • Episode 7 compresses the majority of endgame spoilers into an entire string of them in the first half and The Stinger.
    • Episode 8 sees Ronaldo and Otome get killed FAR before the point where their deaths would occur in the game. Joe dies with them instead of earlier in the day.
    • The Anguished One revealing himself as a Septentrione is one of the last big reveals in the game. In the anime, he reveals this fact on Day 4.
    • In Episode 9 The Pasupata destroys Ailoth instead of simply shooting it down, although its fragments crush Sapporo regardless.
  • Cool Versus Awesome: First major fight: Ogre vs Dubhe. Ogre was already established as a badass, but this one took it further. Unfortunately, Dubhe has Agi attacks, and Ogre is weak to fire. Not really recommended to fight like that in a game like this.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Most of the attempted attacks on Merak end quickly, with no survivors. Hibiki manages to kill it just before it destroys the tower.
    • Alcor vs. Botis. Botis barely even has time to raise his knives before Alcor, with a single gesture, crushes him into nothingness.
    • Benetnasch in Episode 11. In-game, he floats around and makes himself invulnerable from your party but doesn't do much before you figure out how to defeat him. In the anime, he wipes out Sapporo, Osaka and Nagoya in seconds despite the JP's barriers, and kills the game's ace in the hole, Trumpeter, in one hit. He would probably have ended the anime there and then if Yamato wasn't defending Tokyo with his magic circle, and if he kept his Pacify Human ability.
  • Cut the Juice: When the JP's headquarters come under a hacking attack, the group suggests they just cut the power. Unfortunately they can't do that since if they did it would also kill the barriers protecting them as well leaving them horribly exposed to attack.
  • Darker and Edgier: The Septentriones are far more menacing and threatening, characters die by the boatload, often in realistically abrupt ways, and nearly all of the game's humorous moments are either deconstructed to be Played for Drama, or omitted entirely.
    • In some cases its inverted concerning the Septentriones. Dubhe is no where near as strong as his game counterpart, and both Alioth and Mizar are taken out easily.
  • Deconstruction: Most of the game's humorous moments get this treatment. Hibiki's Cloud Cuckoo Lander antics are treated as a psychological defense mechanism of a broken, desperate man, Daichi's bumbling very nearly gets the team killed multiple times, Yamato's Crosses the Line Twice treatment of his minions is taken to its logical conclusion, and more.
  • Demonic Possession: In contrast to the game, Io is forced by JP's to become the vessel for Lugh in episode 10. She only maintains her self-awareness for about 160 seconds before Lugh fully takes over. Hibiki calls her back to reality at the end of the episode.
  • Demoted to Extra: Keita, Joe, Ronaldo, and Otome are all demoted from main characters, to small roles in the story. Keita himself only lasts for around two episodes, while the remaining three last for only three.
  • Deus ex machina: It turns out Hibiki has the power of the Dragon Stream. It's also really convenient: it can defy death.
    • Hibiki getting the other demons sent to him with no explanation of this being possible previously. Even when they've all been deleted from existence and there's nothing left. He then fused them all to make Lucifer, who defeats Satan with a hug.
    • Even before that, Yamato has no explanation as to how he even survived the suicide attempt.
    • The ending itself. Almost none of the characters changed and were barely developed to begin with. Yet the Triumphant ending still happens. It ultimately feels very shallow as a result.
  • Disney Death: Hinako is seemingly killed by Merak in the fourth episode. Though fairly badly wounded, she makes a recovery (as she's needed to summon Shiva on day 5).
  • Dull Surprise: The actors in the English dub have trouble emoting. Hibiki in particular is very flat.
  • Eldritch Location: The "Akasha Stratum", the...place beyond the Terminal, is represented like this, with a myriad of gears and stars. Comes equipped with an Empathic Environment as well.
  • Evolving Credits: Dead characters are removed from the ending credits. By the end of the series there's a giant gap in between Hibiki and his classmates and Yamato. As of Episode 12, it's just Hibiki and Yamato after Makoto was stabbed by Alcor's tentacles, Alcor himself attempting to take Yamato out in a suicide attack, and both Io and Daichi are consumed by the void.
  • Face Death with Dignity: After Benetnasch spots Fumi disrupting its Healing skill, it annihilates her demon and kills her. She wishes Makoto good luck with the rest, briefly expresses disappointment over missing the end of the world, and realizes that she finds death boring before being vaporized, in monotone.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death:
    • In the original game, only a few sprites got hit with the Septentrion's attacks. In this adaptation, there's a high body count. They also use their signature move from the games to kill an insane number of civilians, which was something that was not accurately portrayed in the games due to graphical limitations.
    • Dubhe's introduction in the game consisted of him striking a few random civilians. His special skill is a spreader that kills an entire populace in one go as if a bomb went off.
    • Merak's Circumpolarity is stylized along a six-by-however long the stage was, and was essentially a big freaking laser. Don't underestimate the power of the move, as it can hit very hard. The adaptation has Circumpolarity having a charge-up time, a much more stylized animation, a freaking Ice Magic circle, and an after-effect of snow, the latter of which was not present in the game. On top of this, it killed three advance flanks.
  • Fanservice: The DVD covers, except the first and the last one, which just features Hibiki and the Anguished One, respectively. The other five covers feature Io putting the focus on her boobs; Fumi in a Boobs-and-Butt Pose showing of her short skirt and Side Boob; Hinako dressed as Stripperific as ever, winking and playing with her glasses; Airi holding her breasts and baring her midriff; and Makoto showing ample cleavage, and Clothing Damage on her thighs. Io, Fumi and Hinako seem rather indifferent about it, while Airi and Makoto don't look entirely comfortable.
  • Feathered Fiend: An Itsumade kills the one who summoned it and then summons more to attack a shelter with people.
  • Friendly Enemy: Yamato and Alcor are pretty polite to each other, even when it's clear that they oppose each other. This contrasts their hostility towards each other in game.
  • Foreshadowing: 64,399. It's underneath Hibiki's name in the Nicaea app. If that's Macca, that's impossibly high for the beginning. By episode 5, the number is at a much higher 537,830. A later episode shows it reacting to stress, making it something of an indicator for Hibiki's deteriorating mental condition. That 3.4 million in episode 6 becomes something of an Oh, Crap! moment in hindsight.
    • For some reason, Alcor also calls Yamato "Shining One", a name that was reserved for the Protagonist. Episode 6 has him mentioning multiple "Shining Ones".
    • Also, in episode 7, Joe comments on Airi's "cute bellybutton". Which becomes a major role in the 5th day in the game when Kama appears because of Airi's "cute bellybutton".
    There's no accounting for a demon's tastes.
    • In episode 8, "Brionac" is Lugh's Spear, and JP's needs a person to wield it. Io eventually does exactly that.
  • Hollywood Hacking: Episode 3 involves JP's Extreme Graphical Representation of firewalls being broken down layer by layer.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Mentioned by JP's scientists that if you aren't a skilled enough summoner, then the demon will decide to make food out of them.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Makoto, which doubles as Taking the Bullet, to protect Yamato from Alcor's metal limbs.
  • Inconsistent Dub: The official subs show several cases of this; for example, Hibiki's first demon is Byakko (in the games it goes by its Chinese name, Baihu), and Yamato channels the Ryumyaku (translated to "Dragon Stream" in the game).
  • It Can Think: Demons are portrayed as being silent beasts, in contrast to the game where the first ones have seen speak immediately. Then Botis shows that he's fully capable of speech after the group was celebrating their victory too early.
  • It Makes Sense in Context: "The world would just disappear." Not quite as straightforward as it sounds. Or perhaps to be more precise, more straightforward than it sounds.
    • The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: The Void is a removal of absolutely everything. What makes this perplexing in Episode 8 when compared to the video game is that it is represented as if the screen itself is being erased.
  • I Was Just Passing Through: Yamato takes this attitude after saving Hibiki from Phecda. A few minutes later, Alcor reveals that Yamato saw the death clip, and Makoto reveals that Yamato risked his life activating the transporter to get there in time.
  • Kaiju: Merak is called this by a bystander, though it's more like a surreal homicidal spaceship with a Wave-Motion Gun.
  • Kaizo Trap: Megrez kills Otome, Ronaldo, and Joe by sending off its bombs as it was dying.
  • Karma Houdini: Polaris ends up getting away with everything, in the end, thanks to being The Unfought. The only setup they suffer is the reset being achieved, but it's entirely possible it could return.
  • Killed Off for Real: Keita by the end of episode 3.
    • Otome, Ronaldo, and Joe follow in episode 8.
    • As well as Airi, Fumi, Hinako, and Jungo in Episode 11.
    • Even Io, Daichi, Makoto, and Alcor in episode 12.
  • Large Ham: Black Frost, a giant evil snowman, made all the more awesome for being the most powerful demon the heroes have personally summoned, as well as being summoned by Daichi of all people. "HEEEEE...ho."
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: Everyone save Hibiki, Yamato, and Alcor. The explanation for the other two is that they still most likely physically existed and Alcor is a Septentrione. The others being deleted before this explains why they don't remember.
  • Last Breath Bullet: As Merak starts to literally fall apart at the seams it attempts to fire of Circumpolarity one last time.
  • Last of His Kind: Lampshaded with Hibiki and Yamato near the end.
    Hibiki: The world is just you and me.
  • Magitek: The barriers are shown to be maintained by praying monks and various computers.
  • Match Cut: With a black king chess piece and a spire on top of the Kyoto Hospital in episode 5.
  • Mid-Season Twist: Several of the game's big plot twists concerning what the heck is going on are revealed in the seventh episode.
  • Mood Whiplash: Very apparent with the inter splicing of death clips and breathers. Especially bad in episode 11, where Io, Daichi, Airi, Jungo, and Hinako share a cheery moment with each other and exchange email addresses...only for them to all immediately receive dead face clips of each other.
  • Mythology Gag:
  • Never Found the Body: Otome, Joe and Ronaldo.
  • Not Quite Dead: Powerful demons tend to be this when they appear to be defeated.
  • Off with His Head!: The first thing Ogre does after being summoned? Knock a Kobold's head clean of it's shoulders.
  • Oh, Crap!: The typical reaction to a newly-added death clip. Even Yamato of all people gets one in Episode 5 when he receives a clip of Hibiki's death.
  • Only Mostly Dead: Fumi and Hinako. But not Keita, Otome, Ronaldo, or Joe.
  • Panthera Awesome: Byakko, one of the Ssu-Ling, glows with blue lightning and is Hibiki's first demon.
  • The Promise: In episode 9 Yamato makes Hibiki promise to stay by his side until the end and pass judgement on him if he decides his existence is a sin.
  • Reset Button: The anime's ending, which is also the Triumphant ending. Small changes that show the difference include Hibiki having his hood already down at the beginning and his phone out before even meeting Daichi, being more optimistic during their talk, changes to Nicaea into a joke site, and even the sites page having minor differences and speaking to Io. The changes start getting much more different from there.
  • Revenge: Lugh against the Hotsuin family for imprisoning him and turning him into a tool.
  • Running Gag: Daichi trying to help out against an enemy, only to for his demons to be Curb-Stomped or running away.
  • Screw Destiny: Technically possible, you just need to never, ever give up and have the strength and willpower to fight fate. If you don't have even a single one of these up to the standard you need...you're screwed. Especially if you get a Dead Face clip.
  • Shown Their Work: episode 13's fusion of Lucifer by Hibiki is possible in the actual game.
  • Smart People Play Chess: Yamato, who had challenged Alcor to a few games of chess in the past. He also likes to never admit he loses when Alcor beats him.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Most of the deaths are abrupt, sudden, and without warning, just like they would be if a similar invasion happened in the real world.
  • Taking You with Me: Megrez launches one final attack on Ronaldo, Otome, Joe, Jungo, and Airi as it dies. Only the latter two survive the assault.
    • Despite the fact Alcor tried to take down Yamato with a kamikaze attack during Episode 11, the only good thing that did was kill...Yamato's vest.
  • Theme Naming: The firewalls are named after Lovecraftian horrors. And they "duplicate" Nyarlahotep's layer by referencing those within that mythos itself.
  • There Can Only Be One: Taken to the Logical Extreme. By episode 12, Hibiki and Yamato are literally the last two humans alive, and only one of them will get to meet Polaris.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Daichi in episode 11 when he summons his first strong demon Black Frost, who is in fact said to be the strongest demon the heroes have ever had access to, and gets his own serious fight scene.
  • Tragic Keepsake: Hinako begins using Keita's Berserker in episode 8.
  • Wham Episode: Happens early on with episode 3 of the anime Keita's fate shows that here the best route with (almost) all characters surviving will not happen.
    • Episode 8: Ronaldo, Otome, and Joe all getting slaughtered by Megrez, and at the end we see the Void rapidly devouring Japan.
    • Subverted with Episode 10. Everything is set up to look like Io will die...and then it seems like she does, but comes back to life. Of course, considering the tone of the show, this may as well be a Wham Episode just since it has a happy ending.
    • Episode 11. Fumi, Airi, Jungo and Hinako all die.
    • Episode 12: Alcor, Io, Daichi and Makoto all die. The void consumes the world, and Hibiki and Yamato are the last of humanity, preparing to fight in Heaven.
  • Wham Line: Episode 9.
    Makoto: Io Nitta, tomorrow you will die for us.
    • Episode 10.
      Hibiki: Nitta-san!
      Yamato: That is not Nitta. That is Lugh.''
  • What the Hell, Hero?: In episode 6, Hibiki calls out Yamato for using people as pawns for his own goals.
    • Hibiki himself gets yelled at by Daichi earlier in the same episode for always going off on his own.
    • Makoto, Fumi, and Yamato get called out by everyone else for making tough decisions to preserve the human race. Except everyone is catching on the fact that JP's are only preserving the competent elite, meaning they have the audacity to pretend they're serving the greater good while sacrificing people for their own agenda. Yamato isn't making a big secret out of it, and Fumi is being her typical trollish self, but Makoto staunchly sticks by the company line of having good intentions and bears the brunt of their attempts to convince them to save Io.
  • You Are Not Alone: Daichi tries to impress this on Hibiki during his What the Hell, Hero? moment, even leading it off with a Man Hug.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: Most of the Death Clips are set in stone, and it is close to impossible to change them, short of really strong forces or demons. even if the person shown can't actually die in the original game.
  • Zerg Rush: Employed by both JP's and Merak during Monday's battle.

Alternative Title(s): Devil Survivor 2

Top