The protagonist is a strange pipe You need to operate it to fight against the 12 constellations controlled by the witch and save the world from the witch
It was released on NEC’s game console PC engine, so many people haven’t seen it You can see some familiar personal styles from Kaneko.
↑This is protagonist
All the bosses in the game
It is one year later than Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei II, so it is not surprising that some constellations look like the demons in MT2 and that famous God face.
Here are some higher-resolution versions of the Kaneko monster/urban legend columns (compare to decade-old versions) sometimes referred to as his “Creature Features.” But that’s just a fan-made moniker; Truth is, it’s unclear where exactly these columns were originally from. They were reprinted in Digital Devil Apocalypse, where these scans seem to be from, and DDA says they originate in ゲーム批評 (”Game Criticism”) magazine, which you may remember from an older post giving a rundown of Kaneko’s columns in all the issues of it available on archive.org. But not a single one of those uploads contains a “Creature Feature,” so I’m puzzled: Either they are in other, unarchived issues of Game Criticism or the editor of DDA was wrong and they have some other provenance. But, either way, what we do have through DDA is fun and fascinating! There’s 24 in total.
Halloween is on the approach, and what could this mean? Tricks, treats? Skeletons, witches, draculae? A child’s laughter sounding lightly through the autumn leaves? No, it doesn’t mean any of that GARBAGE- it’s time for the annual outing of KANEKO’S CRIB NOTES! Please enjoy this smattering of delirious cribs that will make you think “damn, that’s the thing that the other thing is based on”.
NEZHA: The modern pop sensibility of Soul Hackers is on display in Nezha’s Astro Boy inspired design, drawing a parallel between the two “rebuilt” child heroes. It’s evident from the twin spikes and whatever the fuck that is, you know, his metallic underwear I suppose.
CHERUB: Following the probably erroneously designated ‘Ophanim’ from SMTII, and playing on Kaneko’s documented fascination with angelkind as spacecraft, this Devil Summoner take on Cherub pushes the concept even further, borrowing a look from the cover of ancient alien classic The Spaceships of Ezekiel by Joseph F. Blumrich. Compare the cover to the Japanese edition that Kaneko was more likely familiar with!
SERAPH: The composition of Seraph’s four heads and crossed arms is a likely homage to the iconic cover of 1974’s Queen II. Slap that shit on your dorm room wall for a change!
TITANIA: Titania’s appearance in SMTII is a slightly embellished take on this Brian Froud illustration of the ghostly Glaistig of Scotland. Thanks to Psiguy for originally sharing this ID from @yen_den, based on a post uploaded to the @theavalonians twitter account!
FIONN MAC CUMHAILL: In the spirit of equanimity, a last addition to the DOI’S CRIB NOTES series: Fionn Mac Cumhaill appears to be inspired by the dress of legendary illustrator J.C. Leyendecker’s 'Cu Chulainn Riding His Chariot Into Battle’ (1911), from the rectangular pattern of his mail-coat down to the telltale 'X’ meander that runs along the fringe of either cloak.
Cool to see Kaneko referencing one of my other favorite illustrators, JC Leyendecker.
Long post today. I recently picked up Megami Ibunroku Persona Club, a fan book that includes 12 of Kaneko’s rough sketches for the game’s original Persona designs. Here’s scans of them that I did over a couple of days, they were printed tiny so these were the best that I could get (there are also textless versions in the link).
I’ll provide translated commentary too… translated by me, so it might not be that great. I’ll give my own input underneath as well, but I won’t be translating the handwriting on the art. It’s hard to read, for one, and it just outlines basic features and colours, likely for sprite artists to use as reference.
‘Vesta, the goddess of hearths in Roman mythology. The shape of her hat is somewhat reminiscent of a jester’s, and her lack of legs is a distinguishing characteristic. Her entire body is covered in leather’.
Vesta also reappears in P2 EP, and is Yukino Mayuzumi’s initial Persona in both games. You can also spot Vesta behind some text in the Persona Original Soundtrack booklet here.
‘Gozu-Tennō, deity of the Gion Shrine in Kyoto. According to some legends, he his sometimes equated with Susanō. The horns extending from his mask and intertwining with each-other are quite impactful’.
The cape is meant to be coloured red… definitely inspired by Spawn. Also in the
Persona Original Soundtrack booklet, here.
‘Aizen-Myōō, the love deity of Esoteric Buddhism. She can transform sentient beings’ lustful desires and troubles into spiritual enlightenment. Buddhist statues often depict Aizen-Myōō with the face of a scary-looking man, but the female image used here is perhaps the most human-like’.
Kei Nanjo’s initial Persona in P1. Also in P2 EP, with a couple of additions to her design. Aside from her heels and long, black coverings, it’s essentially P1′s design replicated underneath.
“Lakshmi, the goddess of beauty in Hindu mythology. The protruding back of the head looks a bit like an alien. The rubber material used in these designs comes from Kaneko-san’s favourite clothes”.
Not in P2 IS, but she does reappear as a sprite in P2 EP, with different colours. The head was definitely inspired by the Xenomorph from Alien.
“Kali, the goddess of war in Hindu mythology. The protruding design of her breasts is quite striking, but their bellow-like shapes are less noticeable in-game”.
“Shiva, the god of destruction in Hindu mythology. Both Shiva and Kali had different rough designs than the versions shown on page 4”.
The art on page 4 is just the finalised art of Shiva and Kali. The designs are the same as they are in the sketches, I think they just meant the art is different.
“Garuda, the bird god of Hindu mythology. The cape, pose and mask are reminiscent of old-fashioned anime”.
The anime in question seems to be ‘Science Ninja Team Gatchaman’ from 1972. Thanks to @RustyVanBurace on Twitter for pointing this out. Notice the G on their belts, which I suppose stands for Gatchaman (I haven’t watched it). Garuda also has the G on his stomach, but in this case, I guess it just stands for Garuda, lol.
“Vishnu, the main deity and god of creation in Hindu mythology. He has appeared in commercials and other media, so you might recognise his face, but few people actually identify him as Vishnu”.
Here’s a link to the commercials in question. He probably has the most art of any Persona in the game, which might be why the only text in the art is his name. There might have already been public material that the sprite artists could have used for reference, or maybe this art was done earlier on, and Kaneko didn’t think about outlining colours just yet.
“Durga, an incarnation of Kali. Her hat-like mask and the design of her clothes, which seem to be made of a rubber material, make for one of the most daring outfits in the series”.
Yukino Mayuzumi’s ultimate persona in both P1 and P2 IS. If anything, it got even more daring in IS, with robo-hands cupping her boobies and being used as high heels.
“Shōmen-Kongō is prominent god in the Kōshin cult. Kōshin-tō monuments can often be found along roadsides. He is the initial persona of the protagonist, who you will see many times during awakening scenes. He has somewhat of a Tokusatsu design”.
Better known as Seimen-Kongō. The name means ‘Blue-Faced Vajra-Yakṣa’. I know next to little about any Kōshin stuff, so don’t trust my translation for this one particularly. Sometimes he’s depicted with three monkeys, as seen below. The monkeys are the origin of the phrase “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”, which is why one has a mask over their eyes, another has a mask over their mouth, and the last one has… headphones, lol. Shōmen-Kongō has a tail in the art below, but not in the rough art.
On the Tokusatsu note from that last sentence - I don’t know enough about Tokusatsu to guess what it’s from, but the face, including the lack of mouth, looks like a mask in particular. The yellow lines going down his body also look like something from Ultraman.
“Urvashi is a prominent Apsara (celestial nymph) in Hindu mythology. Her design strongly expresses the dancing aspect of the Apsaras”.
Cool design, but she’s not all that notable in-game. She’s meant to be the ‘main’ Apsara, so it’s surprising that the only other game she appeared in was Majin Tensei II.
“Hanuman, the heroic god of Hindu mythology and the original form of Qitian Dasheng. The only motif remaining from the monkey figure is his tail. The shape of his head is quite familiar…”
Last one! AKA Sun Wukong, Seiten Taisei, Son Gokū, etc., you know the drill. The shape of his head is quite familiar indeed, since it comes from Ultraman. Ultraseven, in particular. Also notice the similar plated design on the neck and shoulders. Thank you AtmaFlare for finding this dude (or on Twitter,
@atmaflare).
^ Is this Kaneko’s magnum opus?
I haven’t seen these before, they’re great! Thanks for scanning!
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Kabuso
Yatagarasu
Jubokko
Suiko
Strix
Ba
Pulukishi
Mandrake
Bogle
Zhuyin
