Persona series

Not quite Shinto; Rise and Kanji have Buddhist Personas, and Teddie's is Ainu.

Fair. So more Japanese myth in general (and it's a very syncretic tradition).

Either way they're the only team without any classical mythology influence, counting even the P1 and P2 squads.

P4 was very rural Japan and Personas to match.

Digital Devil Saga was Hindu themed to an extreme degree.

The Buddhist ones you can say are Japanese since a lot of deities have been syncretized into Shintoism from Buddhism. Or Vice Versa with Japanese Buddhism.

I never said that they weren't Japanese, just that they're not Shinto (though Kanzeon/Guanyin is Chinese in origin)

Various incarnations of Susano-O and Hermes pop up a LOT as Personas for whatever reason.

Both are renowned trickster gods within their respective pantheons and thus tie into the Jungian Trickster archetype.

It’s like how Lucifer’s been used to represent Judgement ever since FES as the max Judgement arcana.

Technically Lucifer is the penultimate Judgement Persona in P3 because Messiah is the ultimate Persona of that Arcana. It's pretty telling P3 is the only game that does that.

Knowing SMT 2 lore, I find it more interesting that Messiah is in part based on Jesus since the angels in SMT 2 were all about trying to FORCE the Messiah to show up early and Aleph is basically clone Jesus.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Apr 30th 2024 at 12:05:37 AM

Different timelines.

I'm like 98% sure that is the answer.

My current headcanon/theory is that Persona 3,4,5 are in the same universe as SMT 1 and 2, just different timelines due to shenanigans.

It's pretty easy to see Yaldy as an alternate version of YHVH who has yet to evolve into that state seen in SMT 2, and now won't because the thieves stopped him.

That would be wrong.

SMT IF and Persona are spawned from Raidou's Normal ending. While SMT 1 and 2 are spawned from Raidou's Law ending.

But wouldn't that imply that both SMT and Persona are indeed in the same universe just from different branch timelines?

Raidou's ending you basically rewrite the universe based on your path.

And all of SMT is essentially a multiverse.

Not quite. While it is a multiverse there are different multiverses with very specifics different origins.

Devil Survivor 2, SMT 1-2/Raidou/Persona, SMT 3/V, SMTIV/IVA, SJ, Devil Childre , Digital Devil Saga, Last Bible, etc. all have very different origins and rules based on how the universe works and thus the origins are different. Sometimes figures from unrelated universes can even be reborn in others ala S Mt II Seth, Four Archangels, and Satan all coming from SMTI-II timeline where the Four reincarnated as humans and the other two live inside the Sun.

The nature of existence and how it functions usually being a thing already determined before humanoid life exists. Like how SJ Mastema and Lucifer are “Visitors” aka Aliens contrasting with the rest of the pantheons that exist there and originate from earth alongside humanity. The universe of DDS being the result of God(Brahman)/a higher dimensional being trying to survive in a lower plane of existence in Quantum Devil Saga.

And don’t even get me started in Last Bible or Devil Children. With the former having two very different branches on how existence happens.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Apr 29th 2024 at 11:15:18 AM

You know, the character page for the P3 antagonists says that Jin Shirato is famous online for non-assassin related reasons, but I cannot for the life of me remember what, if anything, was said about how or why he was famous in-universe. What even was the state of online fame in the late 2000's? It feels like that's fifteen million years ago at this point.

We don't know why. I think fellow terminally online person Fuuka recognizes him, but I might be misremembering.

Are you familiar with figures like angry video game nerd, Nostalgia Critic, Linkara, and the Spoony One?

Those are examples of late 2000 internet celebrities that I feel nerds like Fuuka would follow.

At least if she could understand English. I have no idea what Japanese 2000s internet culture was like.

I didn't want to have to think of Jin as the Japanese AVGN, but now I have no choice.

So a silly thought:

So this reddit post exists. I'm reminded of how I like to joke that Persona 4 and Stardew Valley are the same game.

Think about it:

• Your MC is a city slicker who gets invited to the countryside by a family member.
• Said country town is facing the encroachment of a large mercantile chain, threatening local businesses as a result.
• You establish relationships with the locals, up to and including establishing romantic relationships with them.
• You can do things like fish and cultivate (great) vegetables.
• If that's not enough to get your blood pumping, though, then you can always stop by the local randomized dungeon for some combat.

There is literally one mention of how Jin's well-known online by Akihiko when they start reading about the Nyx cult. No more details are given.

Well you know, even assassins need to have hobbies and a side hustle, so making youtube videos about retro games is a pretty decent occupation to have in 2009 if you can sustain a large enough audience.

Not sure how the youtuber reviewer scene in Japan is like though. I'm pretty sure there's at least 1 or 2 Japanese youtubers who make videos about Dragon Quest.

"These dickholes in S.E.E.S. don't want Mother Nyx to come down and kill us all? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?! What a shitload of fuck!"

Persona 5 is 60% off on Steam. Can I play it without having touched anything else in the series?