Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei

A premise is necessary here. Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei is a 1987 OVA based on Aya Nishitani’s novel, which was later adapted into a Famicom game and ultimately gave birth to the Megami Tensei series. This is not Shin Megami Tensei, but the earlier fictional work that started everything. For those unfamiliar with Nishitani’s output, it’s important to understand that he is a novelist whose stories are deeply rooted in witchcraft, occultism, demon summoning, and explicit violence. If these themes are not for you, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. There’s no need to dismiss or dilute the legacy of this franchise.

With that ... out of the way, let’s talk about the direction, handled by Mizuho Nishikubo. Given the challenge of condensing Nishitani’s short novel into a 40-minute OVA, Nishikubo does everything possible to hold the narrative together. If the story feels underdeveloped or abrupt, the issue lies more in the format than in the execution; reading the original novel and then revisiting the OVA makes this abundantly clear. From this perspective, the adaptation remains faithful to the source material and successfully conveys the bleak, oppressive tone Nishitani intended.

The animation could certainly have been stronger, but it gets the job done where it matters most. Key scenes are effectively emphasized through deliberate color choices and careful composition, helping to reinforce the occult atmosphere. The soundtrack is subtle and atmospheric but lacking standout melodies. It still is cohesive and effective in tying the scenes together.

If you’re a Megami Tensei fan who wants to understand where it all began, Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei is essential viewing. If, on the other hand, you have no interest in 1980s anime or in the franchise itself, then you shouldn't even be reading this review. Out of my sight!

Story: 2/2
Direction: 1/2
Animation: 1/2
Characters: 1.5/2
Music: 0.5/2
Bonus points: 1/2

Final score: 7/10

If you're wondering at any point what's happening in this OVA--or why--you should just watch a good anime instead.

Better yet, just play the games because they're amazing.

Mind you, the music isn't bad at all--it's actually probably the best part of this OVA--especially the last two tracks.

Plus, the OVA is only 45 minutes long and, again, the music is good. Not amazing... but good.

I recommend just listening to the soundtrack and watch a better anime on mute while you listen.

... For those studying Japanese, the dialogue is slow enough and simple enough that it's not a terrible way to study Japanese either.

That said, the pacing of this OVA is nonexistent, the animation and character design are unmemorable, the story is boring.

It's not good enough to care, it's not bad enough to meme.

Why is Cerberus in this animation? Why is Loki? Why is Loki a weird anthropomorphic beast creature? Why are they enemies? Why is anyone doing anything in this animation?

Why are you still asking questions?

If you're going to watch this OVA anyway, just turn off your brain and watch it.

I knew it! Fortran is the programming language of the Devil!

To cut to the chase: This one-shot story is just one huge pile of horse manure, with a confusing and convoluted story featuring characters you don't care about.

The 'novelty' of this OVA is that it involves summoning a demon through the use of the high school's computer, complete with cheesy bleeps and bloops and reel-to-reel tapes and all that. The way that computers are shown here may seem way quaint and silly, but keep in mind when this was made -- in an era ... when only a tiny fraction of the public had access to any sort of computer at all. Anything involving computers was, for many people, a Big Unknown. And when you have a Big Unknown, it can be kind of scary -- or, at least turned into something big and scary for the purposes of a movie. Hence, devil worship via the computer.

But don't worry, before this story is even a third of the way finished, almost all of the digital computer stuff is stripped away from the story, and it turns into just a regular human vs. demon story instead.

And stripping away the novelty, and you're left with, well, nothing worth watching. The main character is a complete douchebag for the first part of the story, then makes a sudden switch and we are supposed to be rooting for him, but by then it's already too late and the characterization of a douchebag is already set in stone. The girl in the story is a confusing element, starting out as the scared new girl in class, then for a brief moment has shining laser eyes that kill everything, then she's basically useless for most of the rest of the show. As Mr. Douchebag is left to fight the Giant Pink Slime Monster over and over.

Before long, I was tuning out from the story, as too many loose ends were left flapping around, too many unexplained events, and no clear path to follow along.

Artwork and animation were perfectly fine, I guess, if you like how well they draw and animate pulsating pink stuff. The background music was laughably bad, even by the standards of the time.