#jjcat

[eirikrjs]

I'm curious about what demons you WOULDN'T want to ever see introduced to the series tbh, Jesus is probably an obvious one because the player is meant to be the Messiah but I think it'd be fun to hear your thoughts.

To be honest, I'd love to see them try Jesus. Mostly to rubberneck at the inevitable wreckage.

The problem with Jesus being in SMT--and this elucidates some issues with perception of demons and their designs as a whole--is that we in the English-speaking/Western world are familiar with Jesus. We know his stories, we know what he looks like, etc., even if it's just a specific version of Jesus from a particular denomination. Jesus in some form or tradition may still be a daily part of our lives, whether we're actually Christian or not. Japan being not particularly Christian (just over 2% of the population of 123 million) means his appearance would have to be localized to a Japanese understanding of what he is. So to make Jesus more palatable to the home audience, they might lean into lean into ideas that would seem fringe or "weird" to us (and thus completely ruin the immersion and suspension of disbelief)--again, only because of our familiarity. One such idea might be this, one that I found while researching for JJCAT almost a decade ago:

But beyond the Takenouchi bunken, there's also the tale that Jesus actually died not on Golgotha but in Japan (!). Obviously this is all JJCAT-level hogwash (to us), but, without the same level of familiarity, it might to Atlus seem like a decent creative starting point for SMT Jesus.

So there you have it. A moderately-informed Megaten fan will think these represent an Atlus Jesus:

When the truth would be closer to this:

[fascinator-birds]

Flamecrest (Regulus goodfellowi)

© jjcat

[birds-that-screm]

Flamecrest (Regulus goodfellowi)

© jjcat

[birds-in-trees]

Flamecrest (Regulus goodfellowi)

© jjcat

[sunbird-haven]

Ruby-cheeked Sunbird (Chalcoparia singalensis)

© jjcat

[eirikrjs]

Your article about JJCAT has irreparably rotten my brain. I randomly ran into a post on Reddit about the Sakafuneishi stone (which apparently nobody really knows what it was made for) and my first thought was "yo that really looks like the sefirot" lmao

It's funny,because my brain was also damaged recently (not irreparably,thankfully)

Here is the stone:

[eirikrjs]

Do you hold it against Kaneko that he used JJCAT for inspiration for some things in Megaten, like Hachiman

Nah. Kaneko at least seemed to understand they were just fringe theories. Hachiman being influenced by YHVH makes the design more interesting in my opinion and uniquely Kaneko/Megaten. Kurama Tengu wearing a kippah and tefillin is still weird every time, one of those things you can't unsee.

[eirikrjs]

Hi! I've been getting into SMT recently and was somewhat taken aback by the way it portrayed various religious figures. I decided to look and see if there were any writings on the subjects of SMT and antisemitism. As such, I just wanted to express admiration for your blog post about JJCAT and SMT. It's such a fascinating and nuanced post, and I'm learning a lot from it, both about antisemitism and fringe religious theories as well as about the SMT games.

I'm happy you enjoyed it!

I've found it's a topic most SMT fans tend to avoid exists. Or, as I've found even more common, the article is one that is frequently skimmed and misunderstood and then merely projected as preposterous, or that I made it up despite the direct quotes from Kaneko and co. (which made broaching it even possible). And my ultimate conclusion was that there is no anti-Semitism, just a heck of a lot of ignorance and some unfortunate coincidences that don't look good on Atlus' part.

But the JJCAT discussion exists because it IS fascinating, and if I had the stomach for it there could almost be a sequel of sorts with ancient astronaut stuff. Watching the old Chariots of the Gods documentary recently, I was struck by the suspicious handful of SMT demons that appeared in it. So Kaneko was definitely into that as well, as some of his comments reveal (or don't).

But it is best when fringe theories inform, say, a single demon instead of a setting's entire worldview. Hachiman being Yahweh is just an interesting factoid that helps you understand the design but using JJCAT to define a world's racial dynamics requires defter handling than what we've seen from Atlus, maybe even games in general.