#Seraph DDS

[vinnigami]

Summer means it’s time for a beach episode! ☀️

[queered-into-oblivion]

We got those cosplay photos back yayy {hovermediacos on instagram}

[huaqinger]

[marasschino]

Elusive DDS/QDS posting

[vixy-exists]

They got their gun back

[nyyyxmidnight]

Yes, current Atlus is garbo at the LGBTQ.

Yes, old Atlus was much better at the LGBTQ.

Yes, Digital Devil Saga is an amazing game duology.

But I have played both DDS, and the above is misrepresenting these two characters, and in a way, misrepresenting the duology itself.

Spoilers for basically absolutely everything about both these characters, a large chunk of plot, and other characters, you've been warned.

Let's start with the one on the left. Her (yes, her) name is Jenna Angel. She identifies as a woman. She was married to a cis man. She is not intersex. She is a hermaphrodite. She has a complete set of both male and female sex organs. She has functional male and female gonads. Intersex human beings don't.

She is also self-fertile (another impossible thing for humans), and has carried a child to term.

The person on the right is named Seraph. They were both from the mystical union upon death of Sera, Jenna Angel's (cis, female) child, and the main protagonist of the game, a cis man named Serph. As they merged, Seraph acquired the characteristics of both characters. Thus, Seraph is a hermaphrodite, just like Jenna, at once male and female, wholly.

Seraph is the union of the divine feminine and the divine masculine. The game is entirely based around Hindu mythology, so Seraph's divine avatar is Ardhanarishvara ("The Lord Who Is Half Woman") a union of Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati.

Why hermaphrodite characters though?

The union of opposite concepts, and ultimately, of all things as one, is a theme both in Hindu mythology and in DDS. It's similar to the Hermetic concept of the sacred androgyne. Once reunited as one being, male and female, humans are closer to divinity, "like gods". Another thread going through DDS is "communication with god", so what better way to communicate with the one god (Brahma in this case) to save the world than by becoming "like a god"? And this is how Seraph comes into existence, the true union, without karma, of Male and Female. Seraph is basically perfect and worthy of speaking with god (and kicking god's ass, this is an SMT game after all).

All the above doesn't mean there is no good LGBTQ content in DDS, tho. There is a gay couple in this game, and one of the guys is in your main party. There is a lesbian couple in this game, too, even more openly than the gay one, and again, one of the girls is in your main party.

Just, the above characters aren't it.

(as far as I can recall, I don't think there are explicitly trans, nonbinary, or intersex characters in DDS)

(there are good trans characters in other old!Atlus games however)

(but that's a subject for another post)

Save for nahobino’s nb swag in smtv it’s sad that the game with the most lgbtq rep is one of the more niche installments of SMT. Two nb/intersex characters (Angel and Seraph), AND lesbians. And thats for games made in fuckin 2004-2005. That’s almost unheard of in video games of that era, especially for Atlus who usually uses queer stuff as a gag.

[1driedpersimmon]

Some guys

[vinnigami]

that nonbinary person with two-toned hair will save you just keep trying

[parasitoidism]

Digital Devil Saga 2 Manga Scans

Hello! I scanned my copy of Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner 2: 4koma Gag Battle, which you can see here:

I have a lot more dds manga left to scan (both 1&2, 4koma and short stories) so stay tuned for that :D

[vixy-exists]

some mini sketches from weeks ago

[lostbizkits]

Seraphposting, like god intended

[vinnigami]

this cat cannot navigate any kind of maze

[vixy-exists]

No excuse, I was bored and thought they would look cute in Heroine’s/Yuka’s clothes :’)

OG sketch I did of them in her clothes looks kinda cute too so... have that as well

Yes I draw this mini, it is in fact hell