Deltarune is Shinto
In Shintoism Deities, Spirits and Yokai are everywhere but they live in a parallel world that overlaps with ours. Same basic place but not in the same place if that makes sense. Sort of like How Dark Worlds aren’t simply alternate worlds but a different layer of our world. Everything translates but it’s also different.
They’re everywhere and even if they don’t physically manifest in our world the beings in Shinto belief still work from beyond they veil. A Rock that fell but didn’t crush a home is a spirit that made the decision to dodge your home for example.
This also happens in Deltarune the blog posts and even some rare mentions within the game itself mention how sometimes weird coincidences simply happen with some items. Spamton being in communication with both Noelle and Dess. Noelle encountering Friend through her game and Friend interacting back. Tenna always putting on the right shows and programs for the family.
Every Darkener remembers their life as an item but also had a life beyond the Light World. Entire histories happened within their own world in parallel to where they were in the Light World.
Theirs Spirits beyond the human world and exist in Shinto and this is true in Deltarune too. This is made clear with Chapter 3 and 4 because to Darkeners of Nature signed contracts with Tenna to stay where they were. Tenna took control of Darkeners native to the woodlands and made them a part of his domain like Darkeners of Water.
In the Church where Darkeners of more spiritual matters live you can see those same water spirits in their true forms. Deltarune is very Shinto in its world building even if Toby Fox didn’t intend that to be the case.
