Eirikr is Stealing Knowledge

A "strange obsession?" I don't think there's anything strange about it. Japan is one of the countries that successfully resisted European Christian attempts to proselytize. That's going to leave as mark. Of course, it's much more complicated than this.

This is a topic I touched on for the Fan Myths series:

Under Myth #7. Also note the bit about the cultural "booms" (ブーム; crazes/fads) Japan used to go through. As far as I understand, these booms often resulted from NHK documentaries about said subjects. Apparently Cu Chulainn/Irish myth was one such boom during the 80s, and is why Cu was even in Megami Tensei in the first place (apart from "Fairy King").

So yes, I think Japan's own history with the West, not something "strange", has affected the SMT demon roster, as evidenced from this old demon origins bar graph done circa Nocturne in 2003:

How the categories are defined is not as straightforward as you might expect, though--"Europe" is mostly stuff like Norse and Greek and Fairy demons more than Christian ones. Angels and demons tend to get slotted under "Middle East." Some examples from SMT2 Akuma Daijiten:

Oh man, Muspell. It's one of those demons that I seriously researched once upon a time and didn't come up with anything definitive. I think it's just supposed to be a generic jotun of Muspellheim, though--one of those under Surt's command. From the Prose Edda:

A "son of Muspell"? I guess that's the best bet.

I don't think a generic "Nifl" would have a reason to exist, as equivalent giants don't live in Niflheim. The other major giant race is the frost giants; so one might this guy, only icy, I guess. It's the kind of thing that may have existed if they made model edits during the PS2 era as fervently as the sprite palette swaps and edits of the SFC games. They should honestly do this for the new games! It's interesting and would be a cheap way to add needed roster variety!

The Demon Art Recolors of the Shin Megami Tensei Certain Victory Strategy Guide (真・女神転生必勝攻略法), Part 3

The last of the SMT1 Art Recolors galleries!

Part 1 and background info:

Part 2:

Part 3 contains, in order:

Pulukishi (from Ganesha)

Quetzalcoatl (from Samael)

Rangda (from Barong)

Ravana (from Mahakala)

Red Phantom (from Vampire)

Rusalka (from Undine)

Sarasvati (from Lakshmi)

Sarutahiko (from Momunofu)

Sawo Bhaku (from Lakhe)

Senko (from Tamamo)

Siren (from Harpy)

Slime (from Black Ooze)

Succubus (from Lilim)

Sylph (from Pixie)

Tam Lin (from Cu Chulainn)

Tan-ki (from Xuanwu)

Taotie (from Abaddon)

Taraka (from Yakshini)

Tezcatlipoca (from Loa)

Throne (from Angel)

Troll (from Nezha Taizi)

Virtue (from Dominion)

Watcher (from Backbeard)

Weredog (from Kobold)

Yaksha (from Rakshasa)

Yurlungur (from Serpent)

Zenki (from Shuten-douji)

Zombie Lady (from Obattarion)

Zouchouten (from Komokuten)

update on the GoW Laufey stuff: apparently it takes places on some "god afterlife" called "Everywhen " i dont know what the gods in the trailer are supposed to be (i think the khornate (thats a warhammer thing sorry) looking one might be agni? idk why agni is there i dont think he's death then again in not that familiar with hinduism or indian religions). well looks like god of war went full on comic book like it wasnt already

lol, you know the score, Craneo.

But correction: My stroke happened because of GoW Ragnarok (that day, I was receiving harassment from the GoWblr community over criticisms I had made of its Odin. It wasn't the sole cause of course, I think the extra stress just was a tipping point for my blood vessels. Go figure, huh?)

Heck yes, this is a wonderful idea. To be honest, since we're currently in another pretty dull interval between SMT mainline games, I would love more asks of this sort (I should probably edit the ask prompt to reflect this). I feel more and more like this blog has, in its lo-ong history, answered almost every possible question about SMT, anyway.

I also want to say today was fantastic. Fair, cool-but-sunny weather, I got to do everything I wanted to do (read and organize the parts for my action figure customs), and my sprain was at a minimal level of pain.

It's funny you should ask about bunnies, since they've been somewhat of a throughline in what I've been reading lately. I just finished Of Mice and Men, and rabbits are constantly on Lennie's mind. And in The Two Towers, Gollum caught some rabbits Sam wants to cook in a stew.

He calls them "coneys," which I've never heard before in reference to rabbits. It's ultimately from the Latin for rabbit, cuniculus.

That said, I don't have much affinity for them. I had a couple bunny plushes as a kid but as far as pets went, I wanted a dog back then. But then I got a cat and the rest is history.

My favorite rabbit story is from as friend who had an (unfixed) male rabbit who could apparently smell wild females from their deck, after which he would deposit giant wads of bunny spooge around their house. Poor guy! I absolutely lost it the first time he told me this story.