The light

I N U Y A S H A  +  P O K E M O N  [Part 1] [Part 2]

Makoto Yuki colored paper (VA: Akira Ishida)

KANEKO’S CRIB NOTES, PART IV: DECARABIA

While Shin Megami Tensei’s Fallen race demons are often enough based on old print illustrations, Decarabia seems based on the aliens from an old Japanese sci-fi movie called Warning from Space (宇宙人東京に現わる, Spacemen Appear in Tokyo).

A typical 50’s alien yarn, Warning from Space’s extraterrestrials, whose purpose is to warn Earth of imminent catastrophe, are essentially reddish starfish with large eyes in their centers, unmistakably similar to our demonic sea-spinner. In the Goetia, Decarabia is described as being shaped like a pentagram, so this is at the very least a fitting influence. The similarity to the Warning from Space aliens is actually more striking when compared to Decarabia’s more familiar redesign from the PS1 remakes versus his original from SMT1.