Digital Devil Story

The original Digital Devil Story trilogy follows two third year students at Jusei High School; Akemi Nakajima, a brilliant but socially aloof student who suffers from bullying, and Yumiko Shirasagi, a recent transfer. Akemi and Yumiko are revealed to be reincarnations of the Shinto deities Izanagi and Izanami, giving them mystical powers and creating a strong emotional bond. In the first book, as an act of vengeance against the school bullies, Akemi combines his computing skills and knowledge of the occult to summon Loki to kill them. Eventually Loki breaks free of Akemi's control after Akemi refuses to offer Yumiko as a sacrifice; Yumiko is mortally wounded, forcing Akemi to take her to Izanami's resting place to restore her, battling Loki along the way. In the second book, the god Set manifests and begins to manipulate world governments, while capturing Yumiko and using her as a medium to maintain his form. When given the chance to kill Yumiko and stop further demonic attacks, Akemi instead saves her. The third book sees Lucifer appear and manipulate events to entrap Akemi and condemn him to death for causing the demonic invasion. Broken by his experiences, Akemi goes berserk, forcing Izanami to kill him while possessing Yumiko.

The New Digital Devil Story sequel series is set four years later in the demon-controlled world, where Lucifer fights off other factions who seek to control Earth, and an alliance of Japanese deities who want to save it. The story primarily follows two new Jusei High School student; Kita Asuka and Reiko Kido, the respective reincarnations of Susanoo and Amaterasu. After awakening to their powers, they join a human resistance force and rescue Yumiko, who was captured by Lucifer's forces so her power could keep them stabilised in the human world; their holding process has driven Yumiko insane. Kita and Reiko receive guidance from Akemi's spirit in finding Yumiko and restoring her sanity. Akemi and Yumiko, who are being used by multiple factions within the conflict, eventually both choose reincarnation so they can be reunited. The conflict becomes divided between the Japanese alliance, the forces of goddess Hel, and the competing wills of Lucifer and the archangel Gabriel. One of the Japanese faction, the reborn Emperor Sutoku, pursues his own vendetta against God by causing widespread devastation, fighting Lucifer to the death in the process. God forcibly ends the conflict by crashing a meteor onto Earth, which Kita and Reiko narrowly survive. New Digital Devil Story ends thirty years later with the world struggling to rebuild, and Akemi and Yumiko's new forms reuniting.

The concept for Digital Devil Story came to Aya Nishitani when he was working at Toshiba as a programmer in 1979, where he worked with one of the earliest online networks;^[4] while needing to use computers, he disliked how they were automating the work process.^[5][6] Already having an interest in the occult and with demon summoning being prominent in fiction of the time, Nishitani came up with the idea of a demon being summoned and controlled like an artificial intelligence.^[5] He wrote a science fiction short story based on this premise, which was first published in the December 1985 issue Softbank's Oh!PC magazine under the title "Majutsu".^[b][5][7]

The short story was seen by Toshio Suzuki, then editor-in-chief at Tokuma Shoten, who contacted Nishitani and asked him to expand it into a full-length novel.^[2][5] Nishitani was aware of the potentially controversial content, and attributed Suzuki's drive and support for getting the project to publication.^[2] When asked to come up with titles, Nishitani produced several including Digital Devil Story and Megami Tensei; while the former was more favoured by Tokuma Shoten's editing staff, Suzuki insisted that Megami Tensei be included, becoming the first book's subtitle.^[8] The Megami Tensei title was in reference to the reincarnated Izanami, who was central to the narrative.^[2]

Nishitani described the core philosophy of the series as being based in Buddhism, incorporating its focus on reincarnation inspired by reading the stories of Shinran during school.^[3][5] His focus on the Shinto goddess Izanami was due to him being from a region of religious significance to her, influencing his portrayal of Izanagi as an "inadequate husband", and having a liking for weak main characters. Akemi's death in the third book caused concern at the publisher when he showed the manuscript, but Suzuki defended it as a fitting end for the character.^[5] Nishitani also incorporated world mythology into the series; Loki was written as a demon in reference to how Norse deities were recast as demonic figures when the region converted to Christianity, while Set was portrayed as a serpent both as a reference to Yamata no Orochi and a homage to a deity from the Conan the Barbarian stories.^[3]

Nishitani's two main influences when writing the novels were Ryō Hanmura, known for "pulpy" novels with adult content, and occult elements from the work of H. P. Lovecraft. He described his writing style for the series as being aimed at a young audience, using early feedback from university students.^[3] As the series progressed, Nishitani noted that his relationship with Tokuma Shoten soured after Suzuki and others he knew left for other projects. After the second book's release, the new executive producer at Tokuma Shoten wanted him to change the story's focus to a male protagonist and drop the "Megami Tensei" title, which Nishitani refused to do.^[5]

The New Digital Devil Story sequel novels were written due to demand from fans of the original trilogy.^[9] Commenting on the difference in his writing between the 1980s and the 1990s, Nishitani said that publishers were asking for snappier writing in novels, contrasting against his original bulkier style. To adjust his style, he sought advice from literature teachers and students at two universities, and asked his wife to double-check his writing.^[10] Akemi's evolution across the series was a central theme; starting out as a flawed god, before going through different reincarnations to achieve perfection by the end of New Digital Devil Story.^[5]

The illustrations for the novels were done by Hiroyuki Kitazume, who alongside his illustration work had risen to fame as an animator and character designer for Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985).^[11] Kitazumi was one of two artists proposed to Nishitani by Suzuki, and Nishitani was immediately impressed by Kitazumi's work. As the initial story was planned as a tragedy, Nishitani felt that Kitazumi's "beautiful" designs would soften the impact.^[5] For the original trilogy Kitazume designed the characters after the story was finished, while for New Digital Devil Story Nishitani collaborated with Kitazume on designs before completing the writing process.^[12] Kitazume would go onto collaborate with Nishitani on a number of other books.^[5]

All the Digital Devil Story books were published by Tokuma Shoten's Animage Bunko imprint; the original trilogy released between 1986 and 1988, while New Digital Devil Story was released between 1990 and 1993.^[9] During the original trilogy's release, Tokuma Shoten failed to trademark the "Megami Tensei" title, causing Nishitani to lose the media rights relating to that name. After 2000, due to the rights issues and different companies handling related projects, Nishitani became detached from Digital Devil Story and did not speak much of it.^[5]

The original trilogy was re-published through the Megaten α mobile platform managed by Atlus during 2004.^[13] Fukken.com also began reissuing the series in 2005;^[14] the books were reissued in three volumes dubbed "Complete Editions", each containing three books in the series; the latest reissue came in 2012.^[15][16][17] For the second and third volumes covering New Digital Devil Story, new cover art was drawn by Kitazume.^[16][17] For each of these re-releases, Nishitani edited and updated the writing to be closer to what he felt was his own style.^[3] The series has not digitally republished as Nishitani felt the contents were too firmly grounded in the era when the books were written.^[5] As of 2026, the novel series has had no official English translations, but Nishitani stated he was discussing a release with an English-language publisher.^[4]

During the 1980s to 1990s, Tokuma Shoten was well known for its multimedia expansion projects, and they followed this approach with Digital Devil Story.^[8] Planning for crossmedia expansions began in 1985, with Nishitani discussing it with three other producers.^[2] The first novel, Megami Tensei, was licensed out first for an original video animation (OVA), then for a video game adaptation based on the OVA.^[8]

Nishitani remembered that the third Digital Devil Story book sold 30,000 copies,^[5] and as of 2008 the Digital Devil Story series as a whole has sold 800,000 copies.^[6] While exclusive to Japan, a dedicated online fan following has produced ongoing fan translations.^[31] Power Unlimited noted Digital Devil Story, and by extension its adaptations, as an example of fantastical cyberpunk fiction from its time period.^[32] In 2024, Toshin Kagami of RealSound described the first novel's story as simple despite its "outlandish premise", noting it as an early parallel of hostile internet-based forces influencing the real world both in fiction and reality.^[33] Also in 2024 in a retrospective on the derivative Megami Tensei franchise, Lucas Deruyter of IGN noted that Nishitani's original novels had become very obscure compared to the game franchise they spawned.^[34] While some series retrospectives mention the novels, the game franchise is given greater focus.^[31][34][35]

Due to Tokuma Shoten becoming disinterested in using the Megami Tensei name for further media projects, Atlus acquired the trademark for their use.^[8] After signing a contract with Nishitani to allow production of their own project, Atlus started development on Shin Megemi Tensei (1992) for the Super Famicom.^[5][28] Shin Megemi Tensei was a critical and commercial success, establishing Megami Tensei as Atlus's premier series both in Japan and internationally, spawning multiple sequels and spin-off series.^[28][35][36]