With Xi Wangmu’s defeat the barrier blocking the exit from the Ikebukuro underground to the East Entrance has been lifted. The underground district’s music is much more upbeat now, but it remains overrun with demons and will stay as such for the remainder of the game. The East Entrance is a pretty large stretch of road but just like Sunshine City there’s a giant poison swamp smack-dab in the middle of the area that makes mapping the whole place out a pain. This is where the Juraku Bookstore is located, though I haven’t the foggiest if it’s supposed to be based on a real-world business or not. Google Maps reveals that there appears to be a nail salon in that space, so if there ever was a bookstore there it’s long gone. We won’t be tackling it quite just yet though. Since we’re about to end this chapter of the game I’m going to do a quick sweep of all the outstanding challenge quests:
Mikado Quest 15 - Relic Recovery: Small Fridge
Surprisingly enough this one is not handed down by Hugo and the Monastery but rather by K himself. He writes that the refrigerator he uses at his tavern has broken down and wait just a minute! K actually has a fridge in his bar?! How has he been running it?! Has he had some solar panels up on the tavern’s roof this whole time?! Well regardless we could only complete this one now as a second Small Fridge is awarded by diving in to a Domain at the northern end of the Ikebukuro Station East Entrance.
Fuu-ki
HP
- 1593
- Weak to Elec; Reflects Force; Nulls Dark
- Javelin Rain - Deals moderate Physical damage to all enemies.
- Zanma - Deals moderate Force damage to one enemy.
- Fog Breath - Lowers all enemies’ Attack and Speed.
The Domain guardian this time is the third and final of the three Fujiwara oni bros not counting big bro Ongyo-ki. Not much to write home about even though he does have some okay techniques.
Turning the Small Fridge in to K earns us 2500 macca. Hey, that’s a little bit more than the Monastery ones pay out!
Mikado Quest 16 - Relic Recovery: Wind Turbine
Ah, the missing piece of the puzzle! Hugo wants a generator so that the Monastery can actually run the computers and stuff we’ve been handing them and these little turbines are randomly found at the Ikebukuro Station East Gate tech shop storefronts. As with the others we’re paid 2200 macca for turning the Small Generator in. I can’t imagine this being very useful though if it’s so small…
Ueno Quest 7 - Hunter Tournament Prelims
This quest has actually been available ever since we beat Pealliah but if we had taken it on then we would’ve been slaughtered, and even now we can still get clobbered very easily.
So this challenge quest is the start of a two-part chain that concerns a classic post-apocalyptic trope that we haven’t encountered yet: blood sports! Every year the denizens of Tokyo hold their local bread and circus as contestants slug it out in a life-or-death battle to determine who’s the number one dog in the house and this year the preliminaries are being held in Ueno at the Ryogoku Kokugikan sporting arena located right next door to the Kelpie river crossing. Are you ready to rumble?!
Subzero Nodon
HP
- 980
- Nulls Light
- Lunge - Deals inaccurate Physical damage to one enemy with increased crit rate.
- Critical Wave - Deals inaccurate Physical damage to all enemies with increased crit rate.
- Tarukaja - Raises party’s Attack.
- Nue, Hairy Jack, Inugami
Subzero Nodon is Lv. 30, so I don’t know why this quest is unlocked so early. What really makes these battles tough is the fact that the enemy team will almost always get the first move and when they’re packing moves with a high crit rate that can easily spell disaster. I’d say that the Hairy Jack is the most dangerous foe here since it knows both Damascus Claw (a stronger version of Bouncing Claw) and War Cry. Fortunately it’s weak to Light so I had my Lailah remove it with Hamaon. After that it’s just a matter of memorizing the demons’ weaknesses (since the analysis screen just shows all their stats as “?” since this is technically a boss battle) and Subzero Nodon isn’t very threatening on his own unless he gets lucky with Critical Wave.
Commander Dynamo
HP
- 980
- Nulls Light
- Tetanus Cut - Deals Physical damage and may sicken one enemy.
- Zionga - Deals moderate Elec damage to one enemy.
- Tarukaja - Raises party’s Attack.
- Tsuchigumo, Pealliah, Kuda
As the name says our second opponent likes electricity…but that’s a lie. He’s really an ailment specialist as you’ll be seeing Tetanus Cut and Poison Breath a lot. And poison and sickness carries over between battles so you need to take care of that ASAP. Saving grace is that the Kuda has an easily-exploited weakness to Gun, so as long as it’s alive it’s not hard to farm extra press-turns from it.
Buzzsaw Sanya
HP
- 980
- Nulls Light
- Gram Slice - Deals Physical damage to one enemy.
- Scratch Dance - Deals up to three hits of Physical damage to random enemies.
- Tarukaja - Raises party’s Attack.
- Baphomet, Inferno, Churel
Out of the four battles, this one went the smoothest. I had brought out a Tonatiuh with Blast Arrow (moderate Gun damage to all) and that move was strong enough to tear right through the enemy team since the demons don’t have a lot of HP in this round. The Baphomet knows Mamudo so take care of that quickly with Hama or Hamaon.
Captain Ayame Arei
HP
- 980
- Nulls Light
- Dream Fist - Deals Physical damage and may put one enemy to sleep.
- Stun Needle - Deals Gun damage and may bind one enemy.
- Tarukaja - Raises party’s Attack.
- Rakukaja - Raises party’s Defense.
- Silky, Dantalian, Basilisk
Basilisk brings the ailments with Poison Breath and Bind Voice, Silky never had a chance to do anything special, and Dantalian’s the most dangerous of this group since its role is to spam Mazanma. Even if no one’s weak to Force that’s still a very powerful attack so electrocute the caster ASAP.
In between each round you’re given the option to have Flynn either spare his opponents or finish them off. Even though I may really, really want to kill the annoying bastards I don’t because I’m too soft for my own good. The crowd gets really pissed if you let them off, though. They’re here to see blood! Regardless, making it through all four rounds of the survival battle means that Flynn is crowned champion of Ueno and earns the right to participate in the Tokyo Finals at a later date. Until then we’re awarded with nothing but EXP and the Showdown Ticket.
Shinjuku Quest 7 - Ikebukuro Free District
More photography! This client is a Hunter by the name of Inukai who’s camped out inside a side room just outside the exit from the underground on Shinjuku’s west side. He tells Flynn that he’s heard that the Ashura-kai were recently kicked out of Ikebukuro so he’s anxious to head over there himself, but first he wants us to take a picture of the Sunshine 60 building and the East Entrance so he can see how the place is holding up. Unlike with the Kasumigaseki bunker one here we have to search out proper picture-taking spots ourselves but both of them will be indicated on the field with a little AR exclamation point. For Sunshine 60 the spot is a car abandoned on the expressway, and for the East Entrance it’s by a median in the road. Once Inukai sees the desolate state of the city he decides that he’s good on moving to Ikebukuro for now and pays us 5000 macca.
Shinjuku Quest 8 - Demon Guarding the Shrine
This quest wants us to slay Okuninushi the (metaphorical) creator-god of Japan since he’s taken up residence in the Kanda Shrine and has started to attack people. The mission description places the shrine “far to the north of Kasumigaseki” but a much simpler direction is to just look immediately to the north of the Holy Resurrection Cathedral. Once we enter the shrine Okuninushi tells us to clear out but since we’ve come to fight that’s no option. Before we fight the deity is kind enough to explain just why he’s so ticked off at humanity: our own selfishness has destroyed the “Field of Autumn Leaves” and we’re nothing but a blight on the land that must be wiped out by divine punishment. Harsh.
Okuninushi
HP
- 2696
- Weak to Ice; Resists Light and Dark
- Dream Fist - Deals Physical damage and may put one enemy to sleep.
- Berserker God - Deals heavy Physical damage to one enemy.
In the Devil Survivor series Okuninushi is one of the strongest demons you can obtain and he was even the True Final Boss of Amane’s route in Overclocked. Elsewhere in the franchise he’s much less impressive, and that includes here. He’s just…so limited in what he can do. Yeah he can hit hard but there are so many ways around that that he has no countermeasures to. So just pile on the cold and he’ll succumb.
The client Hunter, Hayashida, appears for the after-action report. The Field of Autumn Leaves Okuninushi mentioned is actually Akihabara. Hayashida protests that the town’s destruction was the Ashura-kai’s fault and not theirs and that they couldn’t take Okuninushi’s attacks lying down even so. No high-minded moral about how the land must be respected, just “Don’t look at me, screw those guys!” though we are rewarded with the Bushi Tasogare legwear which is good enough to last you all the way to the endgame. And Okuninushi is also unlocked for fusion (Lv. 34 Kunitsu).
Shinjuku Quest 9 - The Malevolent Star Falls
This is a delivery quest but one that’s a little different from normal in that instead of a relic or other item it’s calling for a demon. The description says that people have been seeing shooting stars in the sky but since Tokyo is obviously sealed underground they can’t be natural and it’s suspected that a demon’s behind it. Instead of asking Hunters to seek out and destroy it they want an immortal demon for the job instead, namely Baldur. I’ve had Baldur in my Gauntlet for a while so I hand him right over and we’re awarded with a Sleepless Ring - an accessory that, unsurprisingly, prevents Flynn from being put to sleep. Let’s hope that that mystery demon doesn’t have some mistletoe on hand, in the form of a cellphone strap or otherwise.
NG+ Shinjuku Quest 1 - A Grudge from the Streets
Despite being issued in Shinjuku the actual quest takes place in Ikebukuro. Our task is to eliminate three hordes of Jack the Rippers who’ve been doing their thing at Ikebukuro Station’s east entrance.
Killer Horde
HP
- 1459
- Weak to Fire; Nulls Dark
- Tetanus Cut - Deals moderate Physical damage and may sicken one enemy.
- Javelin Rain - Deals moderate Physical damage to all enemies.
- Sukukaja - Raises Speed.
Well I’m glad that I just got the Glass Magatama to deal with Tetanus Cut. Javelin Rain is annoying but I can deal.
Destroying the three hordes earns us the Pest Crop from Strange Journey. It’s a dagger-type weapon in this game and can possibly sicken foes on contact.
Ikebukuro Quest 1 - Sunset for a Demonnapper
As you can probably imagine there aren’t all that many quests that originate in Ikebukuro, this being one of the few exceptions as it’s issued by a demon. The client is Hariti the deity of parenting in Buddhist lore and she is residing at the Kishimojin Temple just a bit south of Ikebukuro Station. It’s a fitting location given that’s her Japanese name. Anyway, like the earlier quests with Wu Kong and Isis this one is a send-up of actual myth - here Hariti’s young son Priyankara has gone missing and she wonders if Buddha himself is the one behind it (in the myth he hid Priyankara away in order to teach her a lesson so that she would give up eating humans).
That’s when another demon drops in to say hello and it’s actually Wu Kong, speak of the devil. He even has a line where he recognizes Flynn from that earlier quest back in Naraku. He’s here on the behalf of Buddha himself to assure Hariti that Buddha had no hand in this particular kidnapping but he does know that Priyankara’s being held in Ikebukuro. Hariti asks Flynn to help her search and away we go. Our destination is the sole side room accessible in the Ikebukuro Station East Entrance area just south of the entrance from the underground in the facade of the Seibu Ikebukuro department store. Inside the culprits are a trio of starving, desperate men who have kidnapped Priyankara for…some reason that they’re not in any state to articulate. Priyankara hides behind Flynn and the men summon the demon Kanseiteikun, more properly known as Guan Yu, who reluctantly agrees to clean up their mess.
Kanseiteikun
HP
- 1445
- Resists Physical and Gun; Nulls Light and Dark
- Fang Breaker - Deals Physical damage and lowers one enemy’s Attack.
- Berserker God - Deals heavy Physical damage to one enemy.
- Hungry Man x2
We’ve actually seen Kanseiteikun before as part of the Imperial Hordes that prowl Ikebukuro. He hits hard, very hard, but he has the same problem Okuninushi did in that that’s all he can really do plus he has less HP. The two Hungry Men accompanying him only do one thing: shoot Priyankara who’s our escort this fight. Fortunately the kid’s Made of Iron and barely takes any damage.
Priyankara asks Flynn what he’ll do with these pitiful men now that they’re crushed and eh, let’s spare ‘em. The kid’s angling for his mom to eat them and that wouldn’t be cool after she converted to Buddhism and all. The would-be kidnappers stagger off with a bewildered/relieved “Thanks.” and then mother and child are reunited. Hariti awards us with the Antidote Ring which gives Flynn immunity to poison when worn (I guess Ikebukuro’s as good a place as any to hand that out) and we can unlock her for fusion (Lv. 36 Lady) and she’s a good source for Mediarama. Kanseiteikun is unlocked for fusion too but…since he’s a Famed (Lv. 67 Famed) all I can say is good luck.
VR Quest - Training Battle 3
Burroughs has added two more of these. This one’s a bit more complicated than the one with the three Jack Brothers. We’re up against an Oni and a Dantalian who immediately go first and focus fire on Flynn’s only demon: a Spriggan. It looks like there’s no way to win but what we have to do is have Flynn use Blight on his first turn then summon Zhen from his stock and have it unleash Pandemic Bomb on his next. We won’t be able to do anything else ‘cause that’ll use up all our MP and the Dantalian will proceed to spam Tetrakarn each turn but that’s okay. With the two demons losing HP each turn from the poison we can just pass our own turns and wait them out with the sickness ensuring that the Oni’s attacks are weak enough that at least the Zhen will outlast them. The Dantalian and the Oni go down, the latter complaining about how cheap we’re being, and we’re awarded with 2000 macca.
VR Quest - Training Battle 4
We’re up against a Phoenix, a Jack Frost, a Raijuu, and a Toubyou and we have to beat them all in one turn just like in the second mission (no Great Logos involved this time tho). Flynn has a team of Flaemis, Aquans, and Aeros in that order and the solution is to pass until Aeros comes up and it can wipe the whole enemy party with Mazanma. Any other spell in Flynn’s team’s arsenal will be absorbed by one of the demons immediately ending the turn and failing the mission. We’re awarded with another 2000 macca.
With all that out of the way let’s finally dive into the Juraku Bookstore Domain and settle things with the Black Samurai at last. Like the other mappable Domains it’s nothing special until we get to near the end where the apprentices encounter that horde of Lilim that the Black Samurai sicced on us back at Kiccigiorgi Forest meaning that we’re on the right track. Isabeau side-eyes the guys dubiously wondering if they’ll be all right this time but the guys are all fired up and ready to go with payback on their minds.
Lilim Horde
HP
- 1105
- Weak to Ice; Nulls Elec, Light, and Dark
- Dream Needle - Deals Gun damage and may put one enemy to sleep.
- Zionga - Deals Elec damage to one enemy.
Wait, this is supposed to be a boss (mini or otherwise)? All you have to do is throw out a single Mabufula, which you have access to what with the Yuki Jyorou that’re in the area, to whack off huge chunks of their health and you can beat them before they can make a single move. Well so much for that.
Winning earns us a Life Stone.
Geez, even the reward sucked. Mido says that we can fuse Lilim though (Lv. 33 Night), so there’s that at least. Anyway we advance and enter the back of the Domain where Isabeau expresses her disappointment that there aren’t any books in here that she had been hoping to find. So the Black Samurai appears to help her out by attempting to spoil what happens next in her manga.
Getting serious, after that little joke the Black Samurai addresses the group and grandly welcomes them to Tokyo and asks what they think of it, since after all it’s a mirror image of the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado. Jonathan explodes in anger being insulted at his home being compared in any way to the post-apocalyptic hellhole of Japan’s former capital and the Demonica-clad woman merely chuckles at him and directs a different question to Flynn: if he was told that he had to live in Tokyo, could he? Well we probably could if we absolutely had to but there’s something to be said for having a proper bed to sleep in without worry of being shanked or eaten and Jonathan would probably blow a gasket if we said otherwise so we’ll just say that we could never for now. She merely observes our answer and then just…surrenders to the apprentices. No proper boss fight with her or anything, it’s over just like that. Burroughs announces that the Capture the Black Samurai mission is finally completed earning everyone a hefty amount of EXP and a 4000 macca bounty.
Well uh, I guess that’s it for this leg of the game. Tune in next time when we determine whether the Black Samurai floats or not!
Compendium
- Hairy Jack
- Also known as Barghests, Hairy Jacks are said to be vicious black dogs that wander the moors of northern England and are omens of death. The hound in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle\'s The Hound of the Baskervilles was inspired by the Barghest.
- Kuda
- Kuda are a type of kitsune fox spirit that is said to be small and slender enough to fit inside a small shoot of bamboo. Kuda are beneficial spirits who can pass on information to their masters and allow them to see into the past and future, another use for them is to steal wealth from other families. Keep a Kuda for too long however and it\'ll start to multiply and eat its master out of house and home.
- Baphomet
- Originally an idol the Knights\' Templar were accused of worshiping, Baphomet became a symbol of Satanism during the 19th century. Aside from his goat head he is associated with the pentagram and hermaphroditism and was said to be the source of witches\' powers. While his name is sometimes used as a catch-all for demons, it\'s possible that it might actually be a corruption of \"Mahomet\", an alternate name for the prophet Muhammad of Islam.
- Inferno
- The demon Inferno is a ghost who manifests itself out of roiling flames. The word inferno is originally Italian for \"Hell\" and is usually used to describe massive, out-of-control fires which are often a rather \"hellish\" sight.
- Churel
- Churel are a type of revenant spirits formed from women who died in childbirth or from other pregnancy-related complications. They are described as having reversed feet and are extremely, extremely ugly with skin that is both black and white. They do have the ability to disguise themselves as more beautiful figures and they use this to lure men away so that they can kill them and drain their lifeforce.
- Silky
- A house spirit from the United Kingdom, Silkies carry out housework while the family is asleep. If anyone tries to cause harm to her family, the Silky will kill them without remorse.
- Okuninushi
- The creator of Japan, though in a more metaphorical sense than what\'s usually presented. Numerous attempts were made on his life by jealous suitors after the beautiful Princess Yagami fell in love with him, though each time he was killed he was brought back to life. Eventually he fled, and after some misadventures involving Susano\'o he married his daughter Suseri-hime and arrived at the province of ancient Izumo where he became its ruler. When he eventually abdicated his throne he was made the ruler of spirits and magic, and the god of nation-building, business, and agriculture.
- Hariti
- The Buddhist goddess of childbirth and children. Before Buddhism she was known as a demon that devoured children, but as the story goes Buddha hid away one of her children to teach her the pain of losing a child. Since then whenever Hariti gets an urge to eat children she eats pomegranates instead.
- King Frost
- The SMT wiki speculates that King Frost is derived from a Margaret Canby story about a kind frost king. In Megami Tensei lore he is the powerful yet naive king of Jack Frosts.
- Makami
- A Makami is a Japanese wolf spirit that is the deification of strong emotions. A Makami is able to read a person\'s heart and whether they are good or evil and their image has been used as protective talismans.
- Kikuri-hime
- A Japanese fertility, life, and love goddess, famous for her role in mediating Izanagi and Izanami after their disastrous reunion in the underworld. In fact her name is derived from kukuri, which means \"to bring people together.\"
- Principality
- Principalities are angels who live in the highest levels of the Third Sphere of Heaven. As their name suggests their role is to guide peoples, institutions, and nations as they give blessings to the mortal world and inspire the liberal and scientific arts. Though they wear crowns they are still subordinate to the higher-ranked angels.
- Bishamonten, Zouchouten, Jikokuten, Koumokuten
- The Japanese names for the Four Devas, or Heavenly Kings, of Buddhism. Each of them live on high mountains and serve as guardians of the north, south, east, and west respectively under the command of the god Sakra. Bishamonten is their leader and the strongest of the group, and in Japan is also considered to be one of the seven gods of good luck.
- Mayahuel
- Mayahuel takes her name from the maguey plant, also known as the agave. Mayahuel was originally an Aztec fertility goddess who was killed by her grandmother, one of the Tzitzimimeh, and torn to pieces. Quetzalcoatl buried her and from her body the maguey plant sprouted and Quetzalcoatl used it to brew what is now a traditional Mexican beverage known as pulque.
- Yamawaro
- A type of kappa-like yokai that resembles a hairy child and mainly lives in the mountains of Kyushu. They share several traits with kappa like a love of sumo wrestling and it\'s not uncommon for them to help lumberjacks out with their work so long as they\'re rewarded with sake and nigiri rice balls.
