Name(s): Shin Megami Tensei: Tokyo Revelation / Shin Megami Tensei: Tokyo Mokushiroku / True Goddess Reborn: Tokyo Revelation / 真・女神転生　東京黙示録
Format: Original video animation [OVA] (2 episodes)
Studio(s): J.C.Staff
Related: Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei (1987)

Blah blah, no fancy introduction needed. I’m a huge Shin Megami Tensei fan and I’m watching the Tokyo Revelation OVA for that reason alone. I think it’s as good a reason as any, and it’s probably the only thing that could compel someone to watch this notoriously mediocre anime in modern times.

To be fair, this was significantly better than I was expecting after seeing the original Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei anime. We actually have a decent start here, as the story is comprehensible and not excruciatingly boring in its pointlessness, undoubtedly because this anime is an original story that’s not trying to cram a novel into 45 minutes.

Still, 55 minutes isn’t enough for this kind of story to have the impact it wants. If you’re familiar with SMT at all, then you know what to expect regarding the most basic storyline. A bad kid with super hacking skills and an interest in the occult (which, as usual, is never seen as bizarre by anyone) summons demons using his computer. It’s up to some other kids who are the incarnations of some opposing gods or some shit to save the day.

The characters are as generic as they come, and there’s a surprising amount of them despite the length, assuring none of them go through any development. The only moderately interesting character is Kobayashi and his relationship with Kojiro, and that’s only really because Kobayashi is an openly gay character, which is fairly unusual, even more so since they don’t make a joke out of him, although he is an antagonist. The SMT fanboy in me wants to call it an early example of the franchise’s progressiveness and lack of taboo in any of its writing, so I’ll go ahead and stand by that.

What else is there? No awfully dated synth score like the first anime. There’s a lot of typical shonen-esque action but not too much that it takes away from the exposition this time, not like the exposition here is very valuable.

Overall very bland, but not a total bore unlike the first. I’m only glad to have seen this because I gained new knowledge of the franchise, and I can only recommend it to others for the same reason. Gakison’s voice is pretty hilarious, though.