What Does “Shin Megami Tensei” Mean? – Answered

What is the translation of “Shin Megami Tensei”? Let’s find out what it means and how it relates to the history of the series.

What does “Shin Megami Tensei” mean?

In Japanese, “Shin Megami Tensei” means “New Goddess Tensei”. The Shin Megami Tensei games occasionally introduce reincarnations into the story and feature goddesses as obtainable demons, including an entire race called Megami. But the title has less to do with the game’s story and more to do with how the series is differentiated from, yet still related to, the original media, which tells the story of Megami Tensei characters.

The Origin of Megami Tensei

Image from Megami Tensei Wiki

The Shin Megami Tensei series is actually based on the novel Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei by Aya Nishitani and its sequel. As with The Legend of Zelda, the Megami Tensei here is not the protagonist of the novel, but an important woman that the protagonist must assist. Her name is Yumiko Shirasagi, and she is the reincarnation of the goddess Izanami.

As the title sequence suggests, Megami Tensei isn’t even the name of the series – it’s just the name of the first book, part of the Digital Devil Story trilogy. Still, the novel was popular enough to be adapted into an anime of the same name, and there are countless video games that are adapted from its subtitle Megami Tensei. These video games later inspired the Shin Megami Tensei series.

The First “New” Megami Tensei

The first Shin Megami Tensei game was released in 1992 for the Super Famicom (the Japanese version of the SNES), inspired by but not directly adapted from the original Megami Tensei series. The hero of Shin Megami Tensei is the reincarnation of the biblical figure Adam, and the heroine is the reincarnation of Eve, but Eve is not considered a “goddess” in the series, and does not appear in any game except the Japan-exclusive Shin Megami Tensei NINE.

The Shin Megami Tensei title mainly refers to how these games are “new” takes on the concepts of the original novel series. Thankfully, you don’t need to play the games in any particular order, and the same goes for the spin-offs and even the novels, so don’t worry if you can’t get your hands on the Japan-exclusive book that started it all.

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