Shin Megami Tensei Series

Well they could always rely on demons but that would require them to think beyond Goddess of Tokyo = GOOD.

Just imagine the one character who restores fertility and drinking water to Tokyo is a New Game Plus quest with Ex-Gaean Minako.

I got the Neutral ending in IV however I can't find my way around the last dungeon in IV A.

Here’s a Map. Japanese only though sorry.◊

Oh yeah, the weird out of place goddess of Tokyo is one of the worst things in SMT IV.

Seriously, just a major broken Aesop there.

Law having its roots in US imperialism is honestly kind of weird to me because in my opinion it's Chaos that embodies the worst aspects of American culture, specifically the whole "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality that makes it your own fault if society screwed you over and says it's okay to be greedy and selfish.

I never thought the Goddess of Tokyo was “out of place,” since local gods are not an uncommon thing in Asia.

Well it’s in part due to the demons used.

Angels and other beliefs that were westernized like Norse mythology for some reason represent the Law faction while Chaos is more diverse.

So that affects the brand.

Notice it’s the Law alignment that usually scrubs over Japanese influence like how Mikado westernizes the descendants of Japanese people?

Also it’s the law faction that nukes Japan in the first game.

Serious question then, is the goddess of Tokyo actually based on any real deity?

Regardless, I have more issues with her than just that but I’ll save it for another time.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Feb 28th 2024 at 10:36:01 PM

x3 The puritanical hatred of the Other is DEEPLY tied to Law and American Imperialism. That’s why I said you can’t really divide these aspects because they feed into one another. Chaos gets the more obvious negative aspects of American Imperialism and beliefs but Law gets the puritanical show compassion and then genocides the people they were compassionate to five seconds later for being impure/unclean/unworthy.

This is in fact a common tactic used in spreading American puritanical beliefs in Africa. Using aid given by religious people to as a springboard to spread bigotry and hatred of people and cultures that are different. Like sexuality. Which some countries outlawed last year being LGBT+ after years of getting aid from oeganizations and businesses that want to discriminate against LGBT+ people like Chik-fil-a.

Heck fundamentally even the angels and YHVH are themselves a Hierarchy based on power, with the most powerful angels on top and the weakest on the bottom. It’s why Yosugas is the closest to embodying both of these sensibilities together.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Feb 28th 2024 at 8:34:39 AM

I guess I make sense if you look at it from the context of the US being the one to lay down and enforce international laws and regulations that benefit it. Like how the five security council members get a veto at the UN, or how Japan's whole post-war constitution and political structure exists because of American invasion and occupation. It was a necessary evil, but countless Japanese nationalists don't see it that way.

Or how many times America overthrew democracies to replace with dictatorships and fascist states that benefit it or businesses.

I always assumed the Goddess of Tokyo was based off the Shinto belief of kami inhabiting all things; in this case, it would be the capital of the country.

It’s more that she’s an insidious parasite who wants to exist, but doesn’t actually want to do anything to help the people. She just wants them to believe in her so she can keep her existence. Dagdas route revealed this side of her, since fundamentally Dagdas plan worked as he said it would, and that’s why she goes to other Universes to get someone to help her. Because no one in the new universe would ever choose to willingly rely on her.

And like Dagda is the way he is BECAUSE of humanity. Just like Kokuten became Krishna because of Flynn’s Observation, so too did some human at some point Observe Dagda into the edgy neckbeard who lives in Izanami basement.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Feb 28th 2024 at 6:45:12 AM

Well yeah that too. I have a whole rant on her ready but I won’t because I’ve got other things right now.

Wow. I need to get cracking on IVA.

...and V. Gotta do five before I can do VV.

I am so far behind. It took me years to finish Vanilla IV, though that was because my 3DS hinge was broken for years and I kept getting my cash eaten before I could save anything to fix it.

The Krishna bit is only revealed in the short story I posted a couple pages ago.

Basically an incarnation of Flynn from 15th century or so Japan Observed Kokuten into Krishna as he was dying and facing off against Kokuten who was that incarnations Archenemy, in part because Kokuten decided to not rely on his Divine Powers allies to aid him at that time.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Feb 28th 2024 at 6:53:10 AM

Going back to V, I do feel like the school had a lot of missed opportunities given Bethel Japan was running things. Like this probably wouldn't work in base V or even W but imagine a school with humans and a bunch of other demons going to school, praying in Messian churches, getting stopped by angel cops for dilly-dallying instead of going home after school. Just all doing the most absolutely mundane Urban Fantasy stuff before shit starts getting real.

Probably wouldn't really work with SMT, at least mainline SMT.

So, on top of being anti-Christian (and anti-every other religion that isn't Shinto) this series is also extremely anti-American.

Yeah, the White had the right idea. Just blow everything up.

I mean it’s explicitly against a specific kind of American, American Imperialism, one that shown itself to be every bit as vile as SMT has shown with its allegories(and many Americans have likewise criticize such Imperialism).

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Feb 28th 2024 at 6:58:04 AM

That's one thing that all countries have: blind, jingoistic, "no, I'm actually better than you, so it's OK for me to believe my country is better" Patriotic Fervor.

And like this isn’t to say Japanese Ultranationalism is seen as good either. Shinzo Abe expies are usually villains for a reason, Or the non-American Yakuza gang Ashura-Kai are scummy pieces of shit, or that Yuki Mishima expy was an early Chaos rep in SMT 1 obsessed with “Make Japan Great Again”. Likewise Tamagami who likewise sought “Make Japan Great Again” and was “Neutral” that worked with Angels to make Japan the ideal superpower he envisioned.(One of Japans far right cults has members in the American GOP and has brought CPAC to Japan).

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Feb 28th 2024 at 7:03:25 AM

Going back to what you said about how the US "overthrew democracies to replace with dictatorships", well we didn't do that exactly with Japan, but the stranglehold the Liberal Democratic Party has had over the country for the past few decades is due to no small part of us funneling them loads of cash to win elections back in the day.

Also us pardoning and letting a bunch of war criminals escape punishment because of the ever-present fear of Dirty Commies during the Cold War.

Yeah even when we aren’t overthrowing governments we aid and fund oppressive government parties that benefit us as well to make sure they stay in power.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Feb 28th 2024 at 7:05:30 AM

I feel like we're starting to get off-topic.

And yet, Raidou 1 and 2 go with the complete opposite.

Hey, how about that Mara?

He sure is a dick.