Megaten games reference a wide variety of sources, ranging from not only philosophical, scientific, and religious writings, but even other media such as fiction books, manga, or movies. So this page will be a short alphabetical list of some of the more notable examples of movies or books. It will not bother explaining most of the other media being referenced themselves in any large depth as there is already plenty of information on those things elsewhere, and often the reference will be little other than a specific demon, rather than any large thematic aspect.

Note that while not all, a few of the references, similar to references about religions or philosophy are meant to tell you something about the figures or themes being expressed, similar to the religious presentation. The star wars references give a loose parallel to the sides, giving them context by comparing them to things from star wars. As does the 2001 references. There is also a disproportionately large amount of references to horror films, in keeping with the nature of the games of having to interact with frightening or demonic figures.

However, any fiction (or quasi fiction) that fits into other sections, such as the writings of jung or the religious writings of blake will be in other sections based on the religious content even if technically written in the form of a fictional text.

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Numbers

1984. One potential reference is that the main structure in tokyo millennium is shaped like a pyramid, which may be a reference to the ministry of truth from 1984. Since tokyo millennium is implied to likewise be ruled by an authoritarian government, and the games at times represent dystopias.Like in 1984 the inner circle actually have more rules applied to them, since they are closer and easier to control than those who lived in valhalla.

2001: a space odyssey: In a few different games, different aspects of the ambiguous transcendent of the monolith from 2001 are associated with the law side. In the reveal for iva, yhvh's head was shown in something that looks like the way the inside of the stargate looks in movie. And in iva itself, you reach him via a black slab that looks like the monoliths in the movie, and is even referred to as a monolith. Earlier in the series, the wisemen are seen in a room that resembles the room seen at the end of the movie, after david bowman goes through the stargate. These references show the ambiguous, incomprehensibly alien or transcendent nature of some of the figures this is related to. Which also ties to how the last area in iva is called non euclidean space. And how the wisemen are characters who are shrouded in mystery. It may also reference how at the end of iva, nanashi can become a god, similar to what happens to david bowman in 2001. Note how since the wisemen are associated with the aliens of 2001, relates them to a radical alien transformation of humanity that can happen, and which atlus is making the case may be too alien for comfort, and not something to hope for.

Forn a few non-law related references, in persona 4, in naoto's area, there are things on the wall that look like hal. And arthur, the AI in strange journey is named after arthur C clarke, the writer of the book version, and of course is also obviously meant to call hal to mind, though he does not end up causing problems for the mission. Note how strange journey involves futuristic missions into a portal in the same way 2001 has something analogous to. So the 2001 references showing up there are drawing a parallel. Though interestingly, the AI named arthur (obviously loosely meant to reference hal, also) becomes a strong neutral representative. Arthur attributes the misplacement of gore's body as most likely due to human error, which is a reference to hal's lines in 2001. And since strange journey already has many references to 2001, mem aleph's second form as an embryo in a bubble is likely also a reference to the star child. There is also a scene designed to look like the stargate in smt nine.

2channel. In persona 5, Morgana's code name is a direct reference of Monā, the Shift_JIS art mascot cat created by 2channel textboard users. Some of its most distinct features include his smiley face, consisting of the universal quantifier symbol (upside-down capital “A”) for a mouth, flanked by an apostrophe and grave accent for eyes, and his pointed years. Likewise, Futaba from persona 5 shares a name with Futaba Channel / 2chan. A third potential reference is that ravana's second form in DDS closely resembles some depictions of mona.

Letters A through D

Ace ventura. The protagonist of devil summoner is said to be based on ace ventura.

A clockwork orange. In strange journey, the demon mother maya has a move called ultraviolence in reference to the book. Notably, the book / movie does have loose analogues to alignments, since the main character and their gangs are chaos analogues, the government with its brainwashing plan is law, and the resistance can be considered more neutral. So a chaotic character having this move is fitting. likewise, the use of the word vid to mean see in raidou may also be a reference.

A Dream Within a Dream is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1849. The poem dramatizes a confusion in watching the important things in life slip away. Realizing he cannot hold on to even one grain of sand leads to his final question that all things are a dream. In overclocked, amane uses the phrase a dream within a dream to refer to how impossible a task would be under certain situations. While that may also be an inception reference, the phrase ultimately originates from poe.

Akira: In shin megami tensei II, the city backdrop of fights looks like the city in akira. It is likely that chiaki's arm replacement in nocturne is also a reference. The name akira also shows up often in the series, though that may also be a devilman reference.

Aladdin. The Djinn enemy is a carbon copy of Genie from Aladdin. Note that djinn is a different way to say genie.

Al Gore was a former vice president known for campaigning for people to take seriously environmental concerns. Commander gore in strange journey may be a reference to al gore's literature and appearances in this capacity due to the game's theme of environmental issues.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 fantasy novel written by English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice falling through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. Many aspects of the story detail or references aspects of mathematics, in relation to its writer being a mathematician. Some writers argue that the story as a whole is meant to be a satire or criticism of forms of new math that were emerging at the time of its writing, but there is no direct evidence of this.

Alice does show up as a character in SMTI, and several games past there. However, the character is not merely the above form of alice, but actually a composite figure. There is also an old scandanavian myth of a girl named alice. When Alice died and became a spirit, she gained extreme magical power that drove her insane. Alice was used to scare Scandinavian children into behaving, or else Alice would visit them at night and kill them so that she may become "friends" with them.

In SMTI, her character seems heavily based on the latter, her showing up in-plot as a figure who has people killed but preserved as ghosts in where she lives so that they can be her friends. Alice also shares many physical similarities with the book character, most notably the blue dress and the blond hair. Also, her signature move "Die for Me!" seems to draw inspiration from the book, as it features spear-wielding card soldiers. Furthermore, her smt imagine attack, "Mad Tea Party," takes further inspiration from the book as it references the chapter in which the protagonist met the Mad Hatter and March Hare. Also, In Devil Survivor 2, she briefly quotes the Lewis Carroll poem Jabberwocky. Teddie also dresses up as alice in persona 4.

Later in persona q the queen of hearts also shows up as a boss in an alice themed area. The jabberwocky also shows up as an enemy in a few games.

Alien. Satan's head in his common SMTII design obviously resembles the xenomorph's head from alien. The alien itself's head being based on the art of H.R.Giger. This art was originally made to represent that the human semblance of order placed over sexuality was a construct, and that sexuality itself, and the things it was connected to in nature was merely a cold mechanical inhuman and amoral drive to survive. For its appearance on satan, this could imply that this aspect of the animalistic essence underlying humanity is still present, and that only by living via a coherently established order can one surpass and override this. And that to see satan, angel of judgement implies a failure to do so. Interestingly, even though this was absent from the original alien movie, later movies in the alien franchise did start giving the plot a kind of religious sci fi tone, similar to how megaten tends to have.

American gods. Although the games themselves are not showing an overt reference, in an interview about dsj, they talked about liking the idea of godlike beings born from a shift in values as the times change, like happens in the book. Since some gods like the goddess of tokyo in Iv seem to be that exactly, then this being in mind for the company likely means there was influence. Note that how gods work in american gods is similar in general to megaten.

Angel heart is a book and movie that was the original use of the term Louis cypher. Used in more or less the same context as later uses. In nocturne, lucifer also has a ring resembling the one lucifer has in the movie.

Another eden had a crossover event with persona 5 where you met the team of characters and could permanently get joker and morgana on your team.

Arsène Lupin is a fictional gentleman thief and master of disguise created by French writer Maurice Leblanc. He is used as the main persona of the main character in persona 5 representing the nature of him working as a thief, but not for evil ends. This figure is obviously also the inspiration for the show lupin the third, who is implied to be the grandson of the original lupin. The literary device of the gentleman thief who works as a thief not for personal gain, but at times to fix wrongs with the society is a common trope, and relevant to persona 5s overall themes of fighting back against problems already existing in the structure of society itself. Ones deep enough that working outside the law is more effective. Likewise, the coffee shop the main character in p5 lives in is known as cafe le blanc.

Arthurian literature. The Holy Grail is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Different traditions describe it as a cup, dish or stone with miraculous powers that provide happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often in the custody of the Fisher King. The term "holy grail" is often used to denote an elusive object or goal that is sought after for its great significance. While over time the concept of the holy grail became conflated with the cup that christ used at the last supper this was not the case originally. Persona 5 has the holy grail show up as the final boss, and becomes the final treasure. Being conflated with the ultimate treasure due to being the desires of humanity given form.

Astro Boy, known in Japan by its original name Mighty Atom, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka from 1952 to 1968. The story follows the adventures of an android named Astro Boy (sometimes just astro) and a selection of other characters. The manga was adapted for TV as Astro Boy, the first popular animated Japanese television series that embodied the aesthetic that later became familiar worldwide as anime, providing the inspiration indirectly and setting the stage for much of all things that followed it in anime style.

Nezha, also known as Nataku or Nata Taishi is a demon in series whose art is heavily based on the design of astro boy himself. This association comes from how in his lore, he is often depicted as a young boy able to fly via wheels that are by his feet, and shoot fire, which looks mechanical in a sense, giving the parallel to astro boy some basis. The character igor was also stated to be designed taking heavy inspiration from Osamu tezuka's works in general.

Aura Battler Dunbine is an anime series that involves fantasy and robotic elements created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of gundam. There is a fairy character named Cham Huau who is the source of the art for the fairy demon.

The avengers. "The Duhvengers" from persona 5 references The Avengers, involving the world's most pathetic superheroes trying to fight an alien invasion. Note that in iva, the design for odin is also based on the marvel thor, and the idea of the norse god actually being alien figures.

Back to the future. "Back To The Ninja" in persona 5 is a reference to Back to the Future, about a guy who travels back in time to learn Ninjutsu so he can save his friend from dying.

Batman. One of the most obvious references to batman in the games is that the demon Kresnik, whose logo looks identical to batman's logo, except for being red and having eyes on the bat. Which is a humorous use for it, since kresnik is a vampire hunter, and bats are obviously associated with vampires. (Interesting side note is that kresnik is the same thing krusniks from trinity blood are based on). In addition to this, you can also see nurse joker at club milton in SMT IV if you return there later after you first fight a boss there, and see the demon rave going on. And in persona 5 there is a movie called the cake knight rises. "The Cake Knight Rises" references The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, with Batman and Joker replaced with bakers and murder replaced with talk of pies and cakes. The Protagonist and Morgana both lampshade how ridiculous these changes make the movie.

The Baker: Do you wanna know why I use pies? Cakes are too quick. You can't savor all the little [beat] taste sensations. You see, when forced to choose, cake or pie, people show you their true taste!

The Cake Knight: I am nothing like you. You're a psychopath who bakes for money!

The demon betelgeuse also wears a bat mask to reference that the actor who played the movie character also played bat man later on. Another association is that in persona 5, anne's battle outfit looks somewhat like a red version of catwoman's outfit. Likewise, futaba's English codename, along with her red hair, glasses and non-combative nature, is a direct reference to Barbara Gordon / Oracle.

Battlestar galactica. In persona 3 there is a drink called cylon tea.

Bayonetta shows up as a character in dx2.

The beatles. In iva, the outfit nanashi wears has part of the lyrics to the beatles song "imagine" on it. Specifically the lines: "Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try. No hell below us, Above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today." This is in keeping with the game's theme of neutrality and humanism, and how they lived in a world where they were being ravaged by supernatural creatures, and were using it as a literal mantra of rejecting unnatural goals for humanity, in favor of identifying with life as a human as they exist now, and fighting back.

Beauty and the beast. Naoto and Kanji's Combination Limit Break is called Beauty and the Beast.

Beetlejuice. The demon named betelgeuse in both forms it appears in is a near exact copy of the main character named after the movie he appears in, beetlejuice. Beetlejuice is a 1988 American comedy-fantasy film directed by Tim Burton.

Before midnight. "About Midnight" is a movie you can watch in persona 5 that references Before Midnight.

Beowulf is an old english poem from the 1000s that is considered one of the most improtant works of English literature. In the story, the protagonist Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair. Interestingly, grendel is described as a descendant of the biblical cain. Though what exactly he is in the story is left ambiguous.

Later in his life, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorized by a dragon, some of whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon but does not kill it. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon to its lair at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf, whose name means "remnant of valour", dares to join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally wounded in the struggle. He is cremated and a burial mound by the sea is erected in his honour.

While beowulf shows up as an obscure figure in some games, the more relevant figure seen is grendel, who shows up as a character in strange journey, being the leader of the demons abused by jack's squad.

Berserk. Goro's mask changes when he summons Loki, and when it does it resembles the Berserker Armor's helm, which is fitting as he has the ability to turn people psychotic. One of Junpei's earlygame weapons in Persona 3 Portable is the Great Sword, which looks similar to the dragonslayer from berserk. Dx2 also had a crossover event with berserk.

Beverly hills 90210. In persona 5, a movie you can watch called "Bubbly Hills, 90210" references Beverly Hills 90210, and has plenty of Soap Opera, Love Triangle hijinks being discussed when you watch it.

Billy Joel. One of the battle quotes for the Shadows is "Only the good die young, kid."

Blade runner. The outfit satan has on in his human form is based on the outfit roy batty wears in blade runner. The reason satan's outfit is based on roy batty is because roy batty also kills his creator, thinking he deserves it and sarcastically refers to his creator in a way that implies hes like the god of replicants. This also has a subtle implication of how yhvh's perspective on humans in game implies making them to be used in a sense, similar to how the replicants in the movie and book were made to be used. The act of putting a human or demon in the role of replicants calling to mind in a sense blade runner's own themes of the lack of a sharp difference between the two, and how despite the intent behind someone's existence, if there even is one, it doesn't make it a set fact one has to comply with.

Another potential reference that may not be as obvious is the innocents in smt imagine seem to parallel the replicants from blade runner. Being designed to essentially be similar to humans, but docile and used as servants, but some become self aware, rejecting their position, leading to a struggle. The overall world in II also loosely calls to mind the general tone of the worlds in most philip k dick stories, but this may be an unintentional similarity merely due to the cyberpunk influence. The demon persephone also resembles pris from the movie version a bit, though its not clear whether this was intentional.

Blood: the last vampire. When crossdressing in p4, the main character's outfit is meant to resemble saya from blood the last vampire.

Blue velvet is a movie by david lynch that appears to be the source of the name for the velvet room, seeing as how the room is itself blue. Doubly so since the room is based on the red room from twin peaks, another thing made by david lynch.

Bon Jovi. A chat conversation about motorcycles after Makoto joins the party references the song "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi: Ryuji says: "It'll be just like the song! "I'm a phantom, on a steel horse I ride..."" and then makoto says: Don't say such things. And for the record, I am most certainly not "wanted."

Brave new world is a story that like 1984 is meant to be about a dystopia, but whereas the one in 1984 is noticeably horrible, the one in brave new world is meant to be more subtle, implicatint that the people there are kept ostensibly happy using bread and circus tactics, and are not quite aware of the fact that they are not living totally fulfilling lives. Like with 1984 it is not clear whether the loose hinting at or calling to mind of brave new world is deliberate in game, or merely coincidental by touching on some of the same themes being touched.

Some of the games loosely try to relate law worlds to the type of thing brave new world is getting at since while they are implied to be happy worlds via a utilitarian metric, the games imply that this is missing a deeper aspect that the self regulating peaceful nature of the world prevents from arising. And that in part the worlds stay in existence via making other options seem incomprehensible. Note of course that the implications of what is missing from law worlds in actuality seem very vague, and seem to imply that in a socialistic system the fact that you are equal with others is inhibiting some kind of negative freedom that would lead away from that balance. Which is up for grabs whether you count that as a serious loss when it leads to a much happier world. Note that brave new world is not utilitarian in the normal sense, despite glorifying short term hedonism.

In ronaldo's ending in record breaker, which parallels law somewhat, it shows hands being held in a relationship like way only to zoom out and you see alternating sexes doing this in a long chain. Like in brave new world, it might be hinting that in place of a few personal relationships, people being too friendly will have many, making the specific ones less particular. This presumably being used to apply to ideas like regular friendship as well. Note also that in brave new world they would ban people who get self aware enough to challenge the system.

Calvin Klein. On the hooligan demon you can see that it is wearing calvin klein underwear.

Car logos. The school logo designs from the persona games all reference car logos on them. The one from p1 references Peugeot, p2 references Subaru, p3 references BMW, p4 references mercedes benz, and p5 references Citroen. The mercedes benz logo can also be seen on Melchizedek's face, and on the older artwork for the demon Duergar.

Carrie is an American horror novel written by Stephen King and published in 1974. It is about a girl named Carrie who uses her recently discovered psychic powers to exact revenge on those who bullied her. The novel ends with her death and her hometown becoming a ghost town, similar to in the game silent hill. She shows up as a haunt demon in the first persona.

Carmen. Carmen is a fictive female gypsy created by Prosper Mérimée who shows up in persona 5 as anne's first persona. She first appeared in Mérimée's eponymous novella that was first written and published in 1845. The novella was adapted into a variety of different genres, most notably the opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet which diverges in significant points from Mérimée's original story.

Whatever the version, Carmen is generally depicted as a classic femme fatale who would take advantage of her beauty and charm to make men fall for her but quickly break the relationship once she is bored of her wooer and then looks for the next victim. Carmen is also usually seen smoking tobacco because she had once been working in a tobacco factory. She is later slain by a spurned ex-lover driven to a jealous rage after she leaves him. Though she knew he would be fated to kill her, she declares that she would rather die than allow herself to be bound to the will of another and that "Carmen will always be free".

Case Closed, also known as Detective Conan, is an ongoing Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama about someone who was transformed into a child, and so solves mysteries in that form. Naoto's introduction line, "The body of a child-the brain of a genius," is likely a reference to Conan Edogawa of Detective Conan.

Casper the Friendly Ghost. On the hooligan demon's hat a design is seen closely looking like the design for casper.

Castlevania. Synchronicity Prologue is noticeably based on castlevania, drawing heavily from its artstyle and dynamic.

Catherine. Futaba in p5 has a PVC figure of Catherine.

Child's play is a 1988 American supernatural slasher film series that revolves around a killer doll named chucky. Chucky is portrayed as a notorious serial killer whose spirit inhabits a fictional "Good Guy" doll and continuously tries to transfer his soul from the doll to a human body. A demon in the early games that looks like a killer doll is obviously meant to resemble chucky.

Christine is a horror novel by Stephen King, published in 1983. It tells the story of an antique automobile apparently possessed by supernatural forces. The car appears as a demon in SMTII.

Code Geass. Early in her Confidant, Futaba says the line "victory conditions met!" in reference to having the protagonist around. This is a bit mistranslated nod to one of the Catch Phrases of Jun Fukuyama's (Joker's Japanese voice actor's) role as Lelouch Lamperouge in Code Geass.

Conan the barbarian. The devil summoner designs of thor seem to be based on conan from the conan the barbarian version played by arnold schwarzeneggar.

Creature from the black lagoon. The demon lagoon from megami tensei I seems to be based on the creature from the movie.

Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a future setting that tends to focus on society as "high tech low life" featuring advanced technological and scientific achievements, such as information technology and cybernetics, juxtaposed with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order. It is a common theme in various anime, but shows up in western works as well.

Cyberpunk plots often center on conflict among artificial intelligences, hackers, and megacorporations, and tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune. The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and the use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors ("the street finds its own uses for things"). Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction.

Megaten as a series started at a time when cyberpunk was a big thing in anime and manga, and heavily involved many of these themes. It has an aesthetic that calls it to mind, and often involves corporations or governments causing mass problems, with regular people or those lower in society having to react to it. It also has technology show up with a heavy cyberpunk aesthetic.

Daimajin. The large stone colossus form of maskado seen in SMTIV may be a reference to the figure daimajin of the japanese movie in the godzilla series of the same name, who is a similar looking large stone figure. Similar to masakado he is a helpful spirit who can be summoned to aid humanity when they are in need.

Damnation alley. The red sprite and the other vehicles from strange journey seem to be based on the landmaster form damnation alley.

The dancing girl is one of the books that was distributed by lilith in smtiv.

Danganronpa. One of the prizes in the for the player inaccessible crane machines is a black and white bear-like stuffed toy. Mona even comments that he has the feeling he's seen it somewhere before.

Darkstalkers. In Revelations: Persona, Nekomata was renamed Felicia as a reference to the character of the same name from Capcom's Darkstalkers fighting series.

David Bowie. Although its not confirmed, one presented potential inspiration for the design of louis cypher is that it is based on david bowie somewhat. This ties in to not just the hair and stylized presentation, but the fact that david bowie had an eye condition that made his eyes look two different colors that is reflected in lucifer's design. He was also known for donning many different personas, similar to what lucifer does in game. David bowie even cites buddhism as an inspiration for the understanding of the transience of it all. There was also christian and kabbalic references in some of his songs.

DC comics. Humans who have become spiritual beings while still retaining their human nature are referred to as "meta" in the english games. This is presumably a reference to dc comics using the term metahuman to imply someone with powers beyond human.

Death Note is a heavy source of inspiration for the character goro akechi in persona 5. He obviously looks like light from the manga / show, even having a similar outfit, and his abilities involve using supernatural powers to give people heart attacks (among other things) seemingly suddenly without them having the chance to fight back. In addition to this, he presents himself as a detective, despite secretly being a darker figure who has a hidden side that the detective aspect is a cover for.

Both death note, and the persona (or indeed megaten in general) series-es address issues that could come with having powers that let you function way outside the law, in this case supernatural ones that the law cannot properly understand. And arrive at a vague indirect humanistic message of ultimately needing to accept and learn how to do things in normal ways, which as a message is loosely meant to address religious concerns as well. Since the concerns also address issues of justice, and trying to find a justice that is radically transcendent and alien to ordinary human functioning, and potential issues that might arise from such.

Futaba's sitting posture in p5 is also identical to L's, and their plan to uncover goro is likewise something that calls it to mind.

Deus ex. When you visit Kamoshida's Palace with a full party for the first time, you get detoured to the Velvet Room to discuss your rehabilitation with Igor. One of the dialogue options is "I never asked for this." Which is a reference to deus ex human revolution.

Devilman is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai It is a heavy inspiration for some of the aspects of megaten games, such as the idea of choice and three way struggle between heaven, hell, or humans, with both heaven and hell coming off like malevolent, albeit occasionally sympathetic figures. SMTI especially closely parralels its plot.

In SMTI, You are warned about the coming demon apocalypse by a mysterious person who grants you the ability to use demon power to fight demons. The power involves fusion, and humans can even take demons into themself. It seems like its a containable breakout at first until it becomes obvious its heading an apocalyptic way, and that you can't even trust humans, since they are getting unhinged. Questions of destroying the demons with nukes, and paranoia about the fact that demons can appear as humans. Angels are added into the mix in late game, and the fighting continues until nearly everything is wiped out, ending on a single platform surrounded by water. All of which describes the story of devilman as well. Lucifer in SMT also more or less looks almost exactly like in devilman. And the main character being someone demons try to seduce.

In devil man, the description of the demon society directly says that only the strong survive, which is a direct parralel to megaten which uses almost identical language. The series also depicts reason as a quality opposed to ordinary functioning of demons, who rely on aggression, violence, and intuition over logic. Which shows up in megaten too, where on the chaos ending in SJ, your crew talks about rejecting logic, and logic no longer being in the way. Both stories also talk about demons living on the world in ancient times, and how humans took over and changed this somewhat, as well as divorced themselves from nature, with demons lamenting that humans ruined the beautiful world with modern human society. And planning to wipe out modern human civilization to return to a more demonic mode of action. And so tie demons to natural living, and being in tune with the earth.

Both series-es address how demons coming out ultimately leads to a world war that ends in modern society being wiped out almost entirely. And adress how nuclear missiles used to wipe out demon infested areas would play into this, which end up harming many humans as well. Ironically, although this does not come up very directly in the megaten games, the implications of different countries and even people turning on eachother out of fear over the sudden appearance of demons and realizing they can take human form are still there, and devilman gives some context of how this would lead ultimately into a global catastrophe. In both stories, they generally open with humans versus demons, only to have angels and the armies of heaven appear later on, only to be more cold and less obviously benevolent seeming than otherwise expected. Another possible reference is how in strange journey the demons begin their invasion from Antarctica.

Some demon designs are based on it, such as amon's arms in strange journey redux, and possibly asmodeus in IV. As well as the mouth boobs of argilla's design in DDS, which is a direct reference. Many angels are also shown as androgynous, but having boobs similar to the angels from devilman, and in some cases having wings on their head at the same time like merkabah. Likewise, in if... Akira's last name and his possession is a reference to Devilman, whose protagonist, Akira, gets possessed by the demon Amon and gains supernatural powers. And the devil appearing as a light haired manipulator who shows up as a human, and is the main figure among the demons who can also appear as an angel may be a reference to any number of things but appears in both stories. Raidou's sideburns may also be a devilman reference.

Devil may cry is a hack and slash video game series developed by Capcom. The plot revolves around the story of the half demon dante protecting humanity from various opponents and demons. It is very loosely based on the Italian poem Divine Comedy by the use of allusions, including the game's protagonist Dante (named after Dante Alighieri) and other characters like Vergil (Virgil), Trish (Beatrice Portinari), Lucia (Saint Lucy), Trismagia (Satan), Furiataurus (the Minotaur), Geryon, and Cerberus. Many of the enemies are also named after the Seven Deadly Sins, such as "Hell Pride" or "Hell Lust". Dante of course shows up as a character in certain versions of nocturne, as well as in dx2 which would imply the games taking place in the same multiverse. Later, in devil may cry 5 dante meets a person with tattoos who summons demons, with many considering this a nocturne reference.

In addition, The Very Top of tartarus where Nyx Avatar is fought in p3 highly resembles the top of Temen Ni Gru from Devil May Cry 3. Which may have been intentional, seeing as how recently they had just used dante in a game explicitly.

Die hard. "Clean Hard" in p5 is a Die Hard reference, about a janitor who's forced to work overtime cleaning a skyscraper on Christmas.

Dirty dancing. If you shake a demon with the "kid" personality for money and wring all the cash you can from him, he will say "Nobody puts Baby Demon in the corner!".

Disney land. The area destinyland that shows up in SMTI and p5 is a reference to disney land. In p5 even having a similar theme and appearance. In the pc engine version of the game it had enemies in it based on donald duck and mickey mouse.

The divine comedy. Mementos and the final areas in persona 5 are directly structured around the divine comedy. The final law areas in IV also seem to be named after it.

Doctor who. In the fifth palace of persona 5, the space station, some of the random enemies when on the map are designed to look like daleks from doctor who. In addition, pluto from SMTIV seems to be based on the daleks who considered their leader a god, talking about blasphemy in a metallic voice. It is also possible that the helmets in strange journey are based on the cybermen.

Donald duck. Alongside mickey mouse, in the pc engine version of smti donald duck is an enemy in tokyo destinyland, which is itself based on disneyland.

Dracula. Although dracula himself does not show up as a demon (though generic vampires do), the term nosferatu, popularized by the book dracula shows up as its own demon.

Dragon ball z. One scene has Yusuke breaking Futaba's Featherman action figures and trying to repair them. The ensuing poses of the action figures are that of the Ginyu Force from dragon ball z. Also in p5, on your first attempt at a workout routine, you wind up sprawled on the ground in exhaustion. The pose you make is Yamcha's iconic death pose. Chaos hero's outfit in SMTI was also based on piccolo's outfit. Originally his hair was based on super saiyin hair as well, but he was given a helmet to cover it.

Dragon quest. The entire Void Quest dungeon from persona 4 is a shout out to Dragon Quest and retro JRPGS in general. The boss uses the Megami Tensei battle screen for several attacks, and some of the text that pops up as you progress through the dungeon is directly taken from the first Shin Megami Tensei. One specific shout out occurs when you beat the bonus boss of said dungeon, a pile of bones in the boss lair, when examined "No response. It must be a tile, not an object" alluding to the recurring Dragon Quest line "No response. Looks like a corpse."

Dumbo. The Aerophant's depiction of holding a feather in its trunk is most likely a reference to Dumbo, the 1941 Walt Disney animated film about a big-eared baby elephant who learns to fly after being encouraged by crows giving him a "magic feather" that boosts his confidence.

Dune. Kaneko has said that thanatos' design is designed after baron harkonnen from the movie version of dune.

Dungeons and dragons. Ascomoid is a monster that originates from the fantasy role playing game Dungeons and Dragons. It shows up in megami tensei ii as a floating rock ball with an eye and mouth. Note of course that the concept of alignments also comes from dungeons and dragons style games even though they replace the good and evil axis with light and dark and the law - chaos metric is somewhat changed from theri ordinary DnD uses. Another demon directly from dungeons and dragons is Myconid. And ochre jelly. There is also a demon named treant which is a reference to dungeons and dragons, though it ultimately comes from lord of the rings' ents.

Durara characters showed up as a crossover event in record breaker available for download.

Dystopian fiction. One of the features of the games is that various lawful situations, both for regular and dark law are depicted as paralleling various dystopian fictions. Fahrenheit 451 for IV, brave new world for desu II, 1984 for SMTII, minority report for overclocked. While some of these references may be more vague than others, some seem to be on purpose. Note how law is associated more with fictional dystopias, and chaos is associated more with real dictatorships in-game. since the all-encompassing aspect of law reflects something not often seen in real life. Law's new world order associations of course implicitly tie it to a lot of fiction. And of course the cyberpunk elements in the games as well and post apocalyptic aspects.

Letters E through L

Edogawa Ranpo is a mystery writer who is considered the father of the Japanese detective story and was a great admirer of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Goro Akechi is a reference to the name Kogoro Akechi, a fictional private detective created by him. Akechi is the first recurring detective character in Japanese fiction and is clearly inspired by Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. It also makes sense for Akechi to be the rival of the team as in the introduction to the translated version of 'The Early Cases of Kogoro Akechi' The Fiend with Twenty Faces (Akechi's main rival) is referred to as 'more of an Arsene Lupin than a Moriarty.

Edwin starr. One optional discussion with Chie in p4 about midterms has her ask "what are midterms good for?" One of the responses is "Absolutely nothing!" to which she'll respond "say it again!", referencing Edwin Starr's famous song, "War."

ER. "ICU" (Intensive-Care Unit) is a reference to ER (Emergency Room). It is a movie you can watch in persona 5.

Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist body horror film written, produced, and directed by filmmaker David Lynch. The segment of it with the lady in the radiator is a likely inspiration for the part in the labyrinth of amala where you look through the holes to see the place with the lady in black and lucifer. Both scenes involve someone looking through something to see a stage with a checkered floor pattern in a kind of surrealist situation, and both talk about heaven. Both also ultimately end with the person looking through to the stage ending up there themselves, and finally their transformation into something non-human. Since megaten games feature multiple other references to david lynch's works, the association is likely on purpose.

Escape from new york. K from SMTIV's design was based on the character snake, played by kurt russel in escape from new york, with similar hair and eyepatch.

Etrian odyssey. In etrian oddysey a jack frost pin is seen on one of the gunner's hats.

Excel saga. Sometimes a demon, when Scouted, will ask what role he would play. Answering "A spare, in case" will freak him out, refusing to become "emergency rations".

The exorcist. Kaneko said in an interview that the pazuzu design was based on the design in the exorcist.

Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury, published in 1953. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The book's tagline explains the title: "Fahrenheit 451 – the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns..." The lead character is a fireman named Montag who becomes disillusioned with the role of censoring works and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and joining a resistance group who memorize and share the world's greatest literary and cultural works. SMTIV talking about how certain books should be purged in the law ending was likely meant to call this to mind, in keeping with how various megaten endings reference dystopian literature.

Fairy King / Yousei-ou. Cu Chulainn seems to be based on the same character from this anime.

Fate/stay night. One of Ms. Chouno's lessons in p5 is about the fragility of life, mentioning that because a cat has nine lives they probably wouldn't die even if you killed them. Which is a reference to fate/stay night.

Fauna is a 1987 Spanish art book featuring photographs of supposedly real, newly discovered creatures and written by a fictional German Zoologist Peter Ameisenhaufen. The demon Aerophant comes from the book.

Fight club. In the updated art for law hero in SMTI, he is wearing an outfit that is meant to be a copy of one tyler durden wears in fight club. This association is ironic, seeing as how being the law hero he is in many ways a polar opposite of that character. This association was likely originally accidental, since law hero's original artwork did not look like this, but had the same colors, and so it was likely changed for the re-draw, simply because it already looked somewhat like that. Although there's nothing hinting at direct inspiration, the goal of project mayhem in fight club is ultimately something resembling strange journey's chaos.

Final fantasy. The line "I bet he'd slit his mama's throat for a five-yen piece!" from persona 3 is a reference to ff6. In addition, the part in SMTIV's law route where they start calling you a warrior of light seems to be a potential final fantasy reference.

Fist of the north star. In persona 5, (in the japanese version) Ryuji and Haru both nickname Makoto "Post-Apocalyptic Raider" the first time they see her Metaverse outfit and Persona, a reference of Raoh's title from the Fist of the North Star series. Makoto and Raoh are both specialized in fist fighting and use a mount.

Flowers for Algernon. In the English localization, the gun left behind by the bonus boss in the Secret Laboratory of persona 4 is called Algernon, with its description stating that it was named after an experiment in finding happiness. This is a reference to the book Flowers for Algernon. And of course parralel's naoto's plan to use a procedure to get happiness.

Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus, is a novel written by English author Mary Shelley that tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a grotesque but sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific experiment. The most direct reference to this seems to be that doctor victor in raidou seems to be a parralel of doctor victor Frankenstein himself, due to his associations with alchemy, which the doctor in the novel is associated with. Since the character mentions to avoid the arctic circle, which is the place the doctor dies in the book, it is possible he is meant to literally be the same doctor, but somehow having survived and become a mad doctor. Notably, his character is mixed with the later mad doctor interpretation of some later movie adaptions which was not present as a facet of the original doctor frankenstein character.

In addition to this, there is a demon named franken in SMTII among other games which takes the form of frankenstein's monster. And in the persona series, the companions of igor tend to have names based on characters from the book. Such as lavenza, caroline, justine, elizabeth, margaret and theodore. Although it is not clear why they use this naming schema for them in particular.

Friday the 13th. There is a demon named friday in the series that is meant to look like Jason Voorhees from the horror film series, Friday the 13th. There is also a movie poster in p3 called friday on a certain day.

From beyond. The demon rahu is designed to look like Dr. Pretorius from the movie from beyond.

Full metal jacket. Demonee-Ho quotes Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the Training Battle against him in SMTIV.

Galaxy Express 999. The demon virtue seems to be based on claire from galacy express 999.

Game of death. Chie's initial Persona, Tomoe, wears a yellow jumpsuit similar to Bruce Lee's in Game of Death. Note that this may also be a kill bill reference, since the jumpsuit is similar for both movies. The more likely reference is bruce lee however, since she also quotes him in game, and likes martial arts.

In the US version, one of Chie's winning quotes is taken from Bruce Lee's Enter The Dragon: "Don't think. Feel." Given her love of martial arts films, this is an example in universe. Furthermore, if you watch her bouncing around idle during battle, she'll sometimes stop to do his signature nose-thumb flick. The Golden adds to it; when she uses Dragon Hustle there is a chance she'll say "Don't miss all this heavenly glory!". And of course, the Yellow Track-suit costume.

Gangster movies. In apocalypse certain chaos demons acted like mob stereotypes from mob movies. This is in keeping with the fact that the ideology of chaos closely resembles that of gangsters, engaging in violence and having a might makes right mentality.

Ghost. "Wraith" from persona 5 is a reference to the movie Ghost. You can even hear a Demi Moore analog talking about feeling her dead lover nearby when you watch it.

Ghostbusters. In iva, navarre heavily looks like slimer from ghostbusters. This likely being intentional, due to him literally being a ghost, as well as fulfilling a similar role in the plot of comedic relief. Similar to navarre in the games, slimer is often implied to be a person who was dubious in life who got some redemption in the afterlife. Likewise, navarre common gets metaphorically called disgusting, which parallels the fact that slimer is seen as a physically unpleasant ghost. Another demon who is possibly based on slimer is abbadon in his SMTI form.

Ghost in the shell. Medjed, the hacker collective that threatens big corporations to reveal their secrets, and its subplot in the game is a shout-out to the plotline of the first season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

Ghost rider. The demon hell biker has a likely purposeful similarity to the main character in ghost rider.

The Girl on a Motorcycle also known as Naked Under Leather, is a 1968 British-French film. Nemissa from soul hackers' outfit is an almost exact copy of Marianne Faithfull's outfit from the movie. Likely to represent nemissa as having a kind of chaotic and impulsive attitude similar to the character in the movie. Which is depicted as in a sense freeing, but when not reigned in ultimately likely to end in disaster. Both stories also end in a sense with the death of the main character, though while the girl on a motorcycle ends with her crashing into a truck, nemissa's death ends with a more self aware and calm realization and act of self sacrifice.

The godfather. "The Good Father" in p5 references The Godfather, telling the story of a mob boss who just wants to spend time with his children.

God hand. Chie's Galactic Punt follow up technique and her God's Hand move are likely meant to call god hand to mind.

Goeman. Ishikawa Goemon is a Historical-Domain Character from Japan, specifically the Sengoku Jidai. This outlaw character is considered the Japanese equivalent of Robin Hood, and his story is still featured in Kabuki Theater. He shows up in persona 5 as yusuke's persona. Considering his association with Joker, he may also double as a reference to Ishikawa Goemon XIII.

Grand theft auto. When they question Yukiko about her kidnapping in p4, Yosuke rules out the possibility of the culprit wearing bright yellow clothes at the scene of the crime, which is a reference to the first grand theft auto. Also in p4, after repeatedly propositioning the player character, Sayoko offers to pour him a cup of hot coffee, which is a reference to gta san andreas.

Gundam. The character char aznable form the gundam series is a likely inspiration for certain characters in the series, namely dagda, doubly so since he shares his voice actor. They parralel in a few ways, such as having issues with a mother like figure, being jaded with the current way of things, and being skilled and having scheming like plans. Since gundam's influence is so heavy in sci fi based anime and manga in general, it is likely also a vague inspiration on the robotic and mechanical elements in the games, albeit a less obvious one.

Likewise, in persona 5, Shadow Shido's first form in battle bears a striking resemblance to Char Aznable from the Gundam franchise who is also voiced by Shuichi Ikeda and Keith Silverstein in Japanese and English respectively. This fits with Shido's characterization as an authoritarian politician, as Anzable's own superiors are the fascistic Principality of Zeon.

Hellblazer. One of the demon hunters in tokyo in SMTIV is named constantine. Like in megaten, the hellblazer comics often depict both heaven and hell as forces that can be antagonistic to humanity.

Homestar runner. Yosuke in persona 4 comments on something giving him the jibblies. One NPC uses the phrase too.

H. P. Lovecraft was an American author who achieved posthumous fame through his influential works of horror fiction. The most famous of his stories being The Call of Cthulhu, and the mythology of his stories as a whole being referred to as the Cthulhu mythos. The stories have many themes, such as the harm that can come from forbidden knowledge, non human influences on humanity, fate, and the potential insignificance of humanity against the cosmic backdrop. The stories often have a tone of realization that things much larger in scale than humanity exist, some of which turn humans mad at even glimpsing, and which could easily wipe out humanity without a second thought, or even noticing or caring that it did so. Something only prevented by these beings often being prevented by some cosmic shift from currently having access to the realm humanity currently resides in.

Megaten of course references it a ton, both indirectly and directly. Directly, it has many figures from lovecraft's stories show up in the games, such as cthuhlu, old ones, azathoth, yog sothoth, shub niggurath, and nyarlathotep, who is the main villain of persona 2. Indirectly, it also has a ton of the themes show up, such as the problems with forbidden knowledge from the demon realms, and how use of it might irrevocably change humanity, and of the fact that non human forces might influence humanity. It subverts the normal lovecraftian emphasis on how humans cannot fight back against these alien forces however.

Interestingly, lovecraftian figures are one of the few things seen showing up alongside the higher angels on the meggido ark, the last area of SMTII. But no explanation is ever given. Whether its merely because they are units you can't recruit, or to emphasize the incomprehensibility of yhvh's true nature, or the cosmic scale / that you are entering space is left ambiguous. A smaller side reference to lovecraft is futaba's persona in persona 5 being named necronomicon, which is the name of the dark grimoire from the cthulhu mythos.

Hulk Hogan. In persona 4 there are enemies designed to look like hulk hogan.

Hungry heart: Wild striker. Daisuke from the sports team in p4 resembles Kyosuke Kano of Hungry Heart: Wild Striker.

Hyperdimension Neptunia. there is a character named Satochi Enaka who has a similar appearance to Chie. In fact, Satochi's name is a play on Chie's name by putting Chie between Satonaka.

I am a cat. Morgana using wagahai (a pretentious, archaic form of "I") is a reference to early 1900s Japanese satirical novel, I Am a Cat.

if... is a 1968 British drama film produced and directed by Lindsay Anderson satirising English public school life. Famous for its depiction of a savage insurrection at a fictitious boys' boarding school. SMT: if... is obviously deriving its title from this, and likewise deals with students that has some surreal scenery.

Inception is a 2010 science fiction film written, co-produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan, and co-produced by Emma Thomas. It deals with being able to enter people's dreams, and to be able to effect their mind by existing in a kind of dream world of theirs, and is a kind of heist story about a team getting together to infiltrate someone's mind. Persona 5 is based directly on this, mimicking its idea of a thief group entering people's mind, and even at the ending has the holy grail appear in a shape that comes off trying to parallel the top from the end of inception. Like inception, persona 5 (and many other megaten games as well) touch on questions of free will due to the reality of outside influences, including brainwashing as simply a stronger influence, and the potential issues that can arise from this, either ethically, or from unintended side effects.

In amane's eigth day in overclocked, she mentions how if certain travesties are left unchecked that true peace would remain a dream within a dream. While that line was originally taken from edgar allen poe, it may also be an inception reference.

James bond. One of the weapons in SMT Imagine is the golden gun.

James mason is an actor famous for his roles in north by northwest and journey to the center of the earth, among other movies. In DDS a character in the junkyard talks about hearing that his true name is james mason, and that he was looking for a girl.

Jetman. In the persona world there seems to be a show called featherman that closely parralels jetman, even including implying that there are episodes that directly reference jetman plots.

JoJo's bizarre adventure is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure tells the story of the Joestar family, a family whose various members discover they are destined to take down supernatural foes using unique powers that they possess. One obvious reference seems to be that the name of strange journey seems to be based on the title bizarre adventure. Another relation is that the way personas appear in the persona series, especially later ones seems based on the concept of stands from jojo. A Stand is an entity psychically generated by its proprietor, generally referred to as a stand user. It is viewed as a physical manifestation of the User's fighting spirit. Also, in p5 one of the wrong answers in class to "what is the phenomenon that causes human's to believe a second hand stops moving on a clock?" is "The World", a reference to the time stopping stand.

Jules Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright, known for writing among other things journey to the center of the earth. There is a character in strange journey named after him, potentially as a comparison of the mission in game with the concept of delving into the earth to find mysteries.

Kamen rider. In persona 5, Makoto's Metaverse outfit, especially her scarf, can be seen as a reference to Kamen Rider, especially those from the Showa Period. The reference is heightened further by Johanna's motorcycle appearance. The bird logo hung all over naoto's dungeon in p4 bears a strong resemblance to the Shocker symbol from kamen rider.

Kill bill. Chie's initial Persona, Tomoe, wears a yellow jumpsuit similar to Bruce Lee's in Game of Death. Note that this could in theory also be a kill bill reference, since the jumpsuit is similar for both movies. The more likely reference is bruce lee however, since she also quotes him in game and likes martial arts.

Ladyhawke is a 1985 American fantasy film, from which many of the names in IV come from such as isabeau, navarre, and aquila. And later, from iva, gaston. The movie has many similar aspects to the games, such as living in a morally ambiguous or corrupt middle ages setting, the presence of a mysterious black knight, and making pacts with demons.

Layer cake. The tune that plays Munehisa Iwai's shop is called "Layer Cake".

Les miserables. "Mes Miserable" from p5 references Les Misérables, being an over-the-top musical about an ex-prisoner being chased by his old jailer.

Linkin park. In dds an ex member of the maribel talks about sometimes you try so hard and get so far, but in the end that doesn't always matter. In addition, the chorus of Linkin Park's song "What I've Done" contains the sentence "I'll Face Myself". That is a song from the Minutes to Midnight album, which you can see on Yosuke's room in Persona 4 Arena.

The Little Shop of Horrors. A demon plant appears named Audrey, obviously based on and designed to look like the plant from the movie. In the 1960 Roger Corman film, "The Little Shop of Horrors", the man-eating plant was bred by nerdy Seymour Krelboyne when he crossbred a butterwort and a Venus Flytrap. He named it "Audrey Jr." in honor of his co-worker, whom he was in love with. The plant is given the name "Audrey II" in both the musical play and the 1986 film.

The Lion king. The new chaos ending in strange journey redux has you stand over an opening in a way that looks significantly like a well known iconic lion king scene.

Lord of the flies. Beelzebub's blue tribal leader form in the games is a possible reference to the fact that in the book lord of the flies the characters devolve to a chaotic tribal situation. With beelzebub showing up as a hallucination in this state.

Lord of the rings. A demon named balrog shows up in the series, being a reference to lord of the rings. It is a very rare demon though, only showing up in things like last bible 3. Also in last bible 3 a demon named ent appears. References to lord of the rings not really tending to appear outside that game. A different demon named treant appears which is a reference to dungeons and dragons, but ultimately comes from lord of the rings' ents. Also, in persona 5 when the crown is knocked away from Asmodeus, it'll yell "NOOOO!!! My precious!!" Also in SMTIV, an npc compares the samurai to characters seen in lord of the rings.

Love actually. "Love, Probably" in p5 is a reference to British Rom Com Love Actually.

LoveLive. While fighting hostile variations of Atlus's Series Mascot Jack Frost in p5, one of his battle quotes is distinctly pronounced as "Nee Ho, Nee Ho, Nee!", a corruption of his usual Catch-Phrase "Hee Ho".

Lupin III. Sojiro from persona 5, sports the same nose shape, beard and haircut as the thief Daisuke Jingen from Lupin III. His casual clothes also include a white trilby based on Jigen's own black fedora. Also, the roof of the castle Palace places Shadows that will almost always spot you, to recreate an iconic rooftop searchlight set piece from Lupin III. The protagonist of devil summoner is also said to be based on lupin iii.

During her Rank 3 Confidant event, Ann said that she loves and admires a female villain from an anime she watched as a child. She said that she was beautiful, strong, sincere, and sexy, and that she said whatever she wants, do whatever she wants, and knew what justice was for her. Considering all the Lupin III references, this could be a reference to the series' female thief Fujiko Mine (although "sincere" is probably not a word you'd ever associate with Fujiko).

Letters M through S

Macgyver. "Guy McVer" from persona 5 references MacGyver, featuring such things as using chocolate to stop an acid leak.

Mad max. Ryuji has a gun called Mad Maximum, whose description reads "model gun with a post apocalyptic aesthetic".

The Maltese Falcon. In a special conversation added in Golden, Naoto will compare the protagonist to the hero of a detective novel she read as a child, describing said hero as "a cool, tough private detective, who made frequently impulsive decisions when pursuing his suspects," and then mentions his name as "Sam." The name and description fit Sam Spade, protagonist of the classic novel and film The Maltese Falcon. This is more explicit in the original Japanese version, wherein she says Sam's full name.

Marilyn Monroe. When crossdressing in p4, kanji's outfit resembles marilyn monroe.

Mario. While not actually showing up in game, nocturne has a dummy text dialogue box that says "I'm "Luigi." I think I'll go with you, you remind me of my big bro." In p4, If you return to the Void Quest dungeon later when you are meant to rescue Nanako, Yosuke will make a comment about their princess being in another castle.

The Mark of Zorro. Zorro (Spanish for "fox") is the secret identity of Don Diego de la Vega, a fictional character created in 1919 by pulp writer Johnston McCulley. He is a Californian nobleman living in Los Angeles during the era of Mexican rule (between 1821 and 1846), although some movie adaptations of Zorro's story have placed him during the earlier Spanish rule. Zorro is the persona of morgana, following the symbolism of thief or outlaw type characters who ultimately work for the larger good against corrupt governments.

The mask. In SMTIV, there's a demon npc with a green face that is based on The Mask, looking very similar to him.

The Masque of the Red Death is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball within seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color. In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose "costume" proves to contain nothing tangible inside it; the guests also die in turn.

The song beneath the mask references the story, talking about "poe's masquerade," and how there is nothing inside their clothes. Likely, implying that the one breaking into the castle to confront those hiding themselves away is being compared to the phantom thieves themselves. Relating to the heavily red theme of the game. The velvet room of persona is also designed to reference the room design of the story, since it talks about rooms of different colors, and describes the one just before death as a velvet apartment, and covered in velvet.

The matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film about how robots keep people stuck in a virtual reality world, and which has heavy gnostic themes. Although there doesn't seem to be any obvious direct references, many of the plots such as those of digital devil saga where people turn out to be in a virtual world are likely indirectly inspired by it. Since it so heavily shaped the public perception of how that type of plot should be run in general.

Matsuko Deluxe is a Japanese columnist, essayist, and TV personality known for his cross-dressing stage persona, as well as his pro-gay remarks and sexuality. in Iva the figure of maitreya has a semi androgynous appearance that seems to be based on his stage persona.

Meat loaf. After the mid-term exams, Chie asks Yukiko what she chose for the question which asks what "that" refers to in the sentence. They both have different answers and neither of them really seem sure. This is most likely a nod to Meat Loaf's famous song "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" since it's long been debated what "that" is refering to.

Mega man. Although it may be incidental, the end of synchronicity prologue has an aspect before the final boss room that looks like quickman's stage from mega man 2.

Memento is another nolan movie that was a potential inspiration for the name of mementos. Doubly so since persona 5 is based so heavily on inception, and references other nolan movies in it such as his batman movies. There doesn't seem to be any obvious reason for that name in particular in reference to the movie other than the fact that mementos in game changes its shape commonly, and so you are told you cannot use memory when maneuvering it. Which could relate to the main character of memento having no memory past a certain date, and so not being able to rely on it.

Men in black. In persona there is an enemy called men in black. It doesn't specify whether it is a reference to the movie or to the conspiracy theory though.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. "Merry Christmess" in p5 references Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, with the nationalities of the prisoners and jailers reversed.

Metal. There is a demon named metal, designed to look like fans of heavy metal in MTII.

Metal gear solid. In devil survivor 2, io sneaks into a place in a box in a similar way as snake does in the mgs series. In p5 Shido's final Shadow form references Senator Steven Armstrong from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, another glasses and dress suit wearing ambitious politician who transforms into a giant shirtless man in dress pants with massive veiny muscles. Also, one of the many questions that can be asked during a negotiation is if love can bloom anywhere, even on a battlefield.

Metroid. Aigis's gun Phalanx B2 in p3 is clearly based on Samus Aran's Arm Cannon, specifically in missile mode (and it seems to fire missiles to boot).

Michal Jackson shows up in SMTII under the name mister thriller, in reference to the music album.

Mickey mouse. Alongside donald duck, in the pc engine version of smti mickey mouse is an enemy in tokyo destinyland, which is itself based on disneyland.

Minority report. The idea of the brand of death in amane's eighth day in overclocked somewhat resembles the idea in minority report of stopping further crimes and issues before they happen. Albeit slightly toned down. Adding to the credibility of this being explicit is the fact that it is common for many of the games to associate aspects of law with dystopian fiction. So it is likely an explicit reference.

Mission impossible. "Admission Impossible" references Mission: Impossible, and is about a man tasked with breaking into his own high-security apartment to get his keys.

The mist: is a story about a mysterious fog that may or may not have monsters lurking in it. A few of the students in p4 even bring up how similar the situation is to a book that they read.

Although it is not clear if this is a reference or just a coincidence, krishna asks flynn if he is going to bleed on him at a point when flynn is too damaged to fight back in apocalypse.

Nansō Satomi Hakkenden. The figure of Yatsufusa who shows up as holy race in devil summoner is from the epic novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden by Kyokutei Bakin. In the novel, Lord Satomi jokingly promises his daughter Fusehime's hand in marriage to a dog, Yatsufusa, if the animal can defeat his enemy, Lord Anzai. To his surprise, Yatsufusa returns with Lord Anzai's head. Lord Satomi does not wish to fulfill his promise to Yatsufusa, but Fusehime leaves with the dog anyway.

One year later, Fusehime learns through a vision that she is carrying Yatsufusa's offspring. A warrior of the Satomi clan comes to rescue Fusehime by defeating Yatsufusa, but shoots them both by accident. When Fusehime dies, the eight beads of her necklace come apart and fly away on the wind. The eight beads represent the eight virtues of Confucianism and reincarnate into eight protagonists of the story.

. In persona 5, morgana mentione that he has the ability to transform into a vehicle in the cognitive world because the idea of a cat doing so is already ingrained in the human subconscious. Implying that this is because humans are familiar with the movie, and the catbus in it.

Neon Genesis Evangelion, from Classical Greek meaning "The Gospel of the New Genesis", commonly referred to as Evangelion or Eva, is a Japanese science-fiction anime television series. Evangelion is an apocalyptic anime, set in a futuristic Tokyo fifteen years after a worldwide cataclysm. The story centers on Shinji, a teenage boy who is recruited by his father into the shadowy organization Nerv to pilot a giant bio-machine mecha called Evangelion in combat against monstrous beings known as Angels. The series explores the experiences and emotions of Evangelion pilots and members of Nerv as they attempt to prevent another catastrophe. In the series there are many references to psychoanalytic concepts, such as the oral stage, introjection, oral personality, ambivalence, and the death drive. It features religious symbolism throughout the series, including themes and imagery derived from Kabbalah, Christianity, and Judaism.

The most obvious references to evangelion show up in devil survivor 2, where the septentriones are very obviously designed to have a similar aesthetic to the angels from evangelion. The plot also follows a similar structure, including working for a morally ambiguous organization against the invaders, the invaders' intentions being ambiguous but involving the destruction of humanity, a white haired mysterious person working with you only to turn out to be one of the figures themselves, and questions of how if at all the world should be radically transformed using their power. It is also possible that the concept of third impact from evangelion is an inspiration for krishna's plan in iva.

In the movie version of persona 3, the scene where the main character's persona first awakens clearly calls evangelion to mind, even copying its design of white lines moving across the screen.

Nightbreed is a 1990 American dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella Cabal. In the movie many monsters worship baphomet which the baphomet form seen in SMTII is based on the design of. That design was quickly ditched in favor of the Eliphas Levi design in later games however.

Nine inch nails. One of the Piggytron's attacks in persona 5 is March of the Piggy, in reference to a nine inch nails song.

Nintendo. Checking the inventory after buying the retro game console in p5 shows it's named the Famidrive, a mash-up of the Famicom and (sega) Mega Drive. The console physically resembles an American Super Nintendo.

No longer human is a japanese book about a troubled man incapable of revealing his true self to others, and who is instead forced to uphold a facade of positivity. It shows up in SMTIV as one of the books distributed by lilith. In reference to the idea of people repressing their inner selves.

Nosferatu. The regular vampire unit from the game, like many vampires in fiction is designed to look like count Orlock from the classic movie nosferatu.

The notebook. In one of the Death Arcana S. Links in persona 4, she talks about how her husband was diagnosed with a disease that made him forget who she was, and each day she had to remind him, and the day ended with him remembering her-only to forget her the next day.

Obake no Q-tarō. The demon Ghost Q is based on the ghost Qtaro from the gag manga Obake no Q-tarō.

Ocean's 11 is a movie about getting a heist team together to rob a casino. The casino area in persona 5 is likely inspired by it.

OK K.O.! Lets be heroes is a show on cartoon network that referenced devil summoner, persona, SMTIV, and overclocked by having a scene appear where a thing is labeled hero summoner overclocked, and a small thing underneath says persona as a description for personality. And this is coming out of a gauntlet looking thing that resembles the gauntlets in IV.

Overwatch. One of the messages from the Phantom Thieves fansite during loading screen include a Spanish sentence "Que es Fantom Thief?" which brings in mind the series of ARG game meta-wise in Overwatch before the release of Sombra, a Mexican hacker.

Paprika. Although its not clear whether the parralels with paprika are intentional, due to inception being the more direct influence, paprika does end in a similar way to persona 5, with the plot about going into minds ultimately ending with the mental world intersecting with the real one, causing major calamities. Since paprika is so well known in japan, the possibility of it being an influence is high however. And it inspired inception as well, so at the very least is indirectly.

Paradise lost. In SMTIV one of the books that a casualry mentions wanting to read is paradise lost. This ties to the fact that many consider the figure of satan in it to be a tragic anti hero or dark hero rather than a villain character. Which is of course how he is viewed by the gaians in the games.

Peter pan. In digital devil saga there is a fairy statue named Twinklebell, based obviously on tinker bell from the peter pan stories. Also, a class question in p5 asks you to identify the pirate Captain Kidd; incorrect responses include Captain Hook and John Silver.

Phantom of the Paradise. The demon Illuyanka seems to be based on the phantom from the movie phantom paradise.

Planet of the apes. Although its not particularly clear how, in an interview it was stated that the mannekins in nocturne were based on planet of the apes.

Pokemon. In the Japanese version of persona 5, when Morgana is transformed into a rat in battle he will make noise reminiscent of Pikachu who is also voiced by Ikue Ōtani. Also, in one of the phone texts, the protagonist may say "Morgana, I choose you", a reference to "Pikachu, I choose you". The demikids games were also made to try to tap into the tone of pokemon. Not that both pokemon and megaten are mons games.

Portal. Before cleaning up her room, Futaba from p5 has a book with the Aperture Science logo from Portal on her floor.

Power instinct. On a certain day, Futaba asks you to play video games with her, and specifically mentions a game named Power Intuition.

Power rangers. One of the melee weapons you can buy for Akechi is called a Quasar Saber. Which references power rangers lost galaxy.

Prison break. "Jail Break" is a movie you can watch in persona 5 that is a reference to Prison Break.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica commonly referred to as simply Madoka Magica, is a Japanese anime television series produced by Shaft and Aniplex. It details the plot of some young girls caught up in a plot where a mysterious creature named kyubey offers to grant them a wish in exchange for them signing on to fight demonic entities named witches. The revelation comes from the fact that the witches are born from the death and transformation of magical girls themselves, and that kyubey is using the energy created from this to protect the universe from destruction, as it is the only source that can override entropy, and so the only force holding off heat death.

This is heavily referenced in the plot of the triangulum segment of record breaker. First, it references the aspect of the outcome not going well, and so going back in time to seek another outcome. Then, two of the triangulum endings reference the ending of madoka, mainly rewriting the world, or the main character becoming a god to protect humanity. Like madoka magica, record breaker also has a depiction of utilitarianism in it, with the early game ideology of miyako. An aspect she shares with the law side in the games in general.

Also, in persona 4 arena, one of yukiko's color palettes is designed to look like homura from madoka.

Punch out. Out of all the video games you can play in p5, the most blatant reference is Punch Ouch, a retro boxing game where you fight from Cracker Joe to Mike Bryson.

Punk. There is a demon named punks which is designed to look like fans of punk music in MTII. There are also punk outfits in IV and IVA.

Puzzle & dragons has a crossover with persona 5.

Queen latifah has an album called persona which looks inspired by the design of the original persona. Although it may be coincidental.

Radiant historia. Like SMTIV, radiant historia also had a head monk named hugo who was trying to manipulate a religious population.

Redemption. Iwai Munehisa, the game's Arms Dealer in persona 5, is styled after Jason Statham. At one point in production, he was even wearing the clothes of Statham's character in the 2013 film Hummingbird / redemption.

Red Hot chili peppers. The design of the protagonist's half demon form in nocturne is based somewhat on the band red hot chili peppers, and their tendency to not wear shirts often during concerts.

Ripley's believe it or not. Junpei's Believe it or Don't? from p3 is a reference to this.

Robin Hood is a heroic outlaw in English folklore who, according to legend, was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. Traditionally depicted as being dressed in Lincoln green, he is often portrayed as 'robbing from the rich and giving to the poor' (more specifically returning funds taken from taxes considered opressively high) alongside his band of Merry Men. Robin Hood became a popular folk figure in the late-medieval period, and continues to be widely represented in literature, films and television. In persona 5, robin hood is the persona goro first appears using.

Robocop. In devil children there is a demon that looks like robocop named cyborg deka. Deka is japanese slang for police.

Rose of Versailles is being read by isabeau in smtiv. It is presented as an inspiration for her views, with her coming to see revolution of too crazy a nature as an issue. The story itself being placed during the french revolution.

The running man. In SMTIV, the enemy hunters during the qualifying round of the Hunter Tournament are named after the Hunters from The Running Man.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a well known japanese composer. Ryuji Sakamoto from persona 5 is likely named after him.

Salvador Dali is a famous surrealist painter most commonly known for drawing melting clocks. The demon Orgone Ghost is based on his painting face of war. The trauma and the view of war had often served as inspiration for Dalí’s work. He sometimes believed his artistic vision to be premonitions of war. This work was painted between the end of the Spanish Civil War and beginning of the Second World War.

The painting depicts a disembodied face hovering against a barren desert landscape. The face is withered like that of a corpse and wears an expression of misery. In its mouth and eye sockets are identical faces. In their mouths and eyes are more identical faces in a process implied to be infinite. Swarming around the large face are biting serpents. In the lower right corner is a hand print that Dalí insisted was left by his own hand. The implication then being that this ghost is a spirit that witnessed and represents these aspects of battle, and says something about the nature of war itself.

Saw. "Pach-Saw" is a reference in p5 to Saw, with two people locked in a room with a killer elephant by a mysterious person who calls it a "game".

Scanners is a science fiction movie, where the titular people are rare humans with the powers of telepathy and telekinses. It is the source of the inspiration for the messian unit scanner.

Senda Mitsuo. In the manual for MTIIs original release, the dark hero is given the name "Senda." This may be a reference to comedian and radio host Senda Mitsuo.

The Sex pistols. Walter from SMTIV's design was heavily inspired by Sid Vicious and Johhny Rotten from the band the sex pistols.

Shakespeare. The fairy Titania is derived from the fairy queen character in William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which in traditional folklore had no name. While considered beautiful and delicate, Shakespeare portrays her in the play as a very proud fairy, with powers that easily match those of her husband, Oberon. Due to the massive success of the play and its status as a classic, Titania is used to name the fairy queen in many other works of fiction. In addition to those two, the fairy puck also shows up as a demon in ii, which is from the same Shakespearean story. Note how puck and oberon are showing up in the underground as major figures, giving a heavy Shakespearean aspect to the fairy society here. Which is interesting since that is the overall tone it is presented in there, and oberon is normally their leader, but in iva the fairy society is shifted to reflecting gaelic mythology.

Sherlock holmes. In the persona 4 anime, there is a fictional character in universe called loveline who is a detective who wears a deerstalker cap as a reference to sherlock holmes. Despite sherlock holmes often being depicted as wearing such a hat, in the stories he does not actually wear one often, merely donning one at times he travels to the country and it would have been reasonable to wear one. The idea that he wears one all the time being something created by artists to distinguish the character.

Shigeru Mizuki is a japanese artist who is known for the manga series GeGeGe no Kitaro, but who also has an extensive set of works aside from this. He is the source behind a lot of the inspirations for the demon designs in many of the games, such as bugbear / Backbeard, culebre, and forbi. Quite a few of the demons as they appear in game are based as much on the works of mizuki than they are their actual lore.

The shining. There is a demon named redrum in the series, which comes from the word redrum appearing in the book and movie the shining. Redrum being murder spelled backwards.

Silent Hill. The enemy Yomotsu-Ikusa is designed to look like pyramid head from silent hill.

The simpsons. Though its not a facet of the game itself, In some of the official screenshots used in the USA manual for Strange Journey, the protagonist is named after langdon alger, lance murdock, or many other characters from The Simpsons.

Slam dunk. Kou from p4 resembles Kaede Rukawa of Slam Dunk, being similarly sports related.

Slumdig millionaire. "Tanktop Millionaire" from persona 5 references Slumdog Millionaire, featuring a young boy with an Indian accent being interrogated about his miraculous luck on a game show. The interrogator even refers to him as a "slumdog."

Sonic the hedgehog. There is an equipable accessory in persona 5 that increases your agility named "Sonic Socks", that according to its description; let's you "run as fast as a hedgehog".

Spongebob. Although it might not me on purpose, the ara mitama in the games bears a strong resemblance to the hot sauce drop from spongebob.

Star trek. In persona 2, the bolontiku is shown doing the vulcan salute. And overall is depicted as if it was an alien. Another possible inspiration comes from the fact that in an interview about smti they described law's ideology as based on the needs of the many. Which may be a direct star trek inspiration referencing spock, doubly when mixed with the tone law has of being cold and unemotional at times. Which although less present in smti, was still a feature of post transformation law hero. That potential reference is unconfirmed however.

Star wars. The most obvious reference to star wars is how the samurai outfits in IV look like luke's outfit from the beginning of a new hope, and how their sword hilt looks like a lightsaber. The black samurai from the same game is likely meant to call to mind darth vader. Since these outfits resemble law and chaos respectively, this also makes a vague association between law to jedi, and chaos to sith. Since the jedi seek to be passionless, and the sith to rely on anger and power, and to challenge eachother, this is a likely association. This also relates to the vague pantheistic views of the sides. Just like the jedi and sith with the force, the law and chaos religions, and neutral as well disagree not necessarily on what exists, but on how to use it / its ramifications, what the proper mode of life is, and so how the underlying spiritual reality relates to it.

Another star wars reference is how in iva, vishnu flynn looks like a sith, and obviously uses red lightsabers. In shin megami tensei II, when zayin is turned to stone he also looks like han frozen in carbonite from empire strikes back. Also, in persona 4 you can get an item called the light sword which resembles lightsabers heavily. Also, during Ann's Confidant link in p5, she's invited by Mika to a photo shoot. One of the protagonist's dialogue options is "It's a trap!" And one of the enemies in the fifth palace looks like a death star when appearing on the field. And at one point in her Confidant link, Futaba, overcome with anxiety, pleads with the Protagonist to help her, stating; "Help me, Protagonist; you're my only hope!". Possibly a Mythology Gag as Persona 4 made the exact same reference. At the end of the Devil Confidant in p5, Ohya figures out that Joker is one of the Phantom Thieves. One of the dialogue options is for Joker to respond with "Lala-chan's the real phantom thief", to which Ohya will say that "Lala-chan's more of a... phantom menace". Chie's later personas also use lightsaber copies.

Another important reference is that in SMTII, the mutants of the underworld are designed to look like jawas. And in one of the hidden shops in SMTIV you can see a darth vader helmet and a stormtrooper helmet in the background. And in strange journey the signal beacons used in the second area look like small death stars. One final note is that the star wars theme is on the nocturne disc, though obviously not actually showing up in-game. Probably used to test the audio.

Steven Segal. Steven silverman from persona 2 seems to be based on steven segal.

Stranger in a strange land. is a 1961 science fiction novel by American author Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human who comes to Earth in early adulthood after being born on the planet Mars and raised by Martians. Grok is a term from the book that means "to understand intuitively or by empathy, to establish rapport with" and "to empathize or communicate sympathetically (with); also, to experience enjoyment", with this being a central theme of the book. In raidou 1, when raidou sees people from the future they are seen using this word, although it seemed to be being used in a more general way.

Grok was conceptualized as a Martian word that could not be defined in Earthling terms, but can be associated with various literal meanings such as "water", "to drink", "life", or "to live", and had a much more profound figurative meaning that is hard for terrestrial culture to understand because of its assumption of a singular reality.

According to the book, drinking water is a central focus on Mars, where it is scarce. Martians use the merging of their bodies with water as a simple example or symbol of how two entities can combine to create a new reality greater than the sum of its parts. The water becomes part of the drinker, and the drinker part of the water. Both grok each other. Things that once had separate realities become entangled in the same experiences, goals, history, and purpose. Within the book, the statement of divine immanence verbalized between the main characters, "Thou Art God", is logically derived from the concept inherent in the term grok.

The Super Sentai Series is the name given to the long running Japanese "superhero team" genre of shows produced by Toei and Bandai and aired by TV Asahi, that is used as the basis for Power Rangers. In addition to having a guest artist from it design some demons for SMTIV, the characters wearing different colored scarves loosely calls the idea of that kind of team to mind, though this may have not been intentional.

Super smash bros. When observing the rules of the battle arena in Sae's Casino, Futaba remarks that it's like "the whole Challenger Approaching thing in Super Bash Bros". In addition, the main character of persona 5 is now added to smash bros as a playable character.

Sword art online has a crossover event with the rerelease of persona 5.

Letters T through Z

Taco bell. Kaneko said in an interview that decarabia's eyes are giving puppy dog eyes like the chihuahua from a certain advertisement. Presumably meaning the taco bell advertisements.

In SMTI, chaos hero's outfit seems somewhat inspired by shredder from teenage mutant ninja turtles. Although there are other possible inspirations.

Teito Monogatari is a japanese epic historical dark fantasy/science fiction work. Yasunori Katō is the main character, and his outfit is a heavy inspiration for the outfit of raidou, and the series as a whole is a large inspiration for megaten. It was widely regarded as the first novel to popularize onmyōdō and fūsui mythology in modern Japanese fiction.

Like megaten, the work is a re-imagining of the 20th century of Tokyo as influenced by the occult. Most of the subject matter builds upon references to classic Japanese and Chinese folklore, although the centerpiece of the mythology is the legend of Taira no Masakado, a 10th-century warlord and who was placated into a guardian kami through centuries of worship. The presence of masakado as a centerpiece of the myths may have also been an inspiration for his role in various megaten games, especially in SMTIV where he is presented practically as the main god of neutral by the end of the game.

Tentacle porn. A possible explanation for why cthulhu has a penis in his SMTII design is the fact that in tentacle porn tentacles are often a stand in for one.

. In persona 5, futaba's summer outfit includes a tetris design shirt.

Terminator. The messian unit terminator is based on the terminator series. The artwork of the Terminator is a reference to the T-800 in the first movie of the "Terminator" franchise, albeit with the weapons reversed. In the movie the T-800 used the AR-18 assault rifle right-handed and the SPAS-12 left-handed.

Texas chainsaw massacre. The messian unit executioner is possibly based on the killer of the texas chainsaw massacre, who held a chainsaw and wore a mask over his face. It also looks similar to classical executioners however.

The Thing is a 1982 American science-fiction horror film about an alien that can shapeshift and infest people's bodies getting loose in an antarctic base, and the struggle of not knowing who has already been affected by it. Although on its surface they aren't that obviously similar, strange journey was confirmed to be heavily inspired by the thing. The Thing and Strange Journey both feature isolated research teams in antarctica investigating an unknown phenomenon, each knowing that the fate of the world is at stake. Both also involve a degree of paranoia. In the thing anyone can turn out to be already infested by and taken over by the alien, while anyone in Strange Journey can lose their mind, or come under the influence of outside forces, leading to infighting among themselves by the end. There are also minor characters in strange journey named Blair and Norris, whose names come from the thing.

Thomas the tank engine. In SMTII there is a fighter named thomas the tank.

Thor in his marvel (specifically movie) incarnations was an inspiration for odin's iva appearance, because Doi the artist was inspired by movies about Norse mythology and thought that portraying Thor and the other Norse gods as aliens was an interesting idea. The design was also mixed with the designs of the ultra hero toys.

The Three Musketeers is a historical novel by Alexandre Dumas. Set in 1625–1628, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan (based on Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan) after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. Although d'Artagnan is not able to join this elite corps immediately, he befriends the three most formidable musketeers of the age—Athos, Porthos and Aramis—and gets involved in affairs of the state and court. The persona milady from persona 5 is based on a character of that name from the book. Although that persona stands out among those used by the phantom thieves, being one that comes from a character or figure not meant to be seen as a good character at all. Being interesting in that their personas are somewhat inconsistent on that front.

Timberland. In Dx2 there are various demons who will ask what you think about their timbs.

Tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live-action film or television drama that uses many special effects. A notable example being ultraman. Megaten has many directly ultraman inspired designs, but some look like a more vague tokusatsu design in general. Zeus among others tie to this overall dynamic.

Transformers. When Kaneshiro summons his Piggytron, he says "Let's roll out". Also, one of the weapons you can find for Aigis in p3 is the Six Shot. It can transform into six different shapes, referencing the transformer of the same name.

Trauma center / team. Chie resembles the Mexican paramedic doctor Maria Torres of Trauma Team, while Yukiko resembles Tomoe Tachibana. Being another atlus game, this was presumably intentional. Likewise, the protagonist of p5 shares similarities with CR-S01 who is a main character from Atlus title, Trauma Team. Both characters were arrested when in truth they were being framed. In addition, they have some similarities in terms of physical design. Likewise one of the healing items in p4 is referred to as antibiotic gel.

Treasure island. A class question in p5 asks you to identify the pirate Captain Kidd; incorrect responses include Captain Hook and John Silver.

Tron. In persona 5, futaba's outfit has lines on it that are a likely reference to tron lines.

T. S. Eliot was a British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic. In nocturne, hikawa quotes his poem The Waste Land, which is widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. The whole opening of which is: “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain.” The poem itself has large themes of resurrection, and is about a desolate place that needs a new beginning. That it depicts the beginning of spring as cruel is somewhat paradoxical, since this cruelty is also tied to new beginnings. Which is in keeping with hikawa thinking that the world itself needed a new beginning.

Twilight the book witch detective which is a reference to twilight can be read in persona 4. It is described as a very bad book.

Twin peaks is an American serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch, which involves murder mystery and surreal elements. The velvet room in persona is based on the red room from twin peaks, which is presented as something a character visits in a dream, but which seems continuous with the events in the waking world. Which likewise has to do with how the velvet room in persona is a place that is described as existing between dream and reality, or between consciousness and the subconscious. Twin peaks, like persona, is also based heavily on jung's work, and may be a heavy inspiration for the persona series as a whole. Likewise, lucifer's young self with the old woman in nocturne is another twin peaks reference.

The twilight zone. Although it is not obvious whether it is meant to be directly based on it, the world of musubi resembles the nature of hell from the twilight zone episode a nice place to visit. Being a world where you are alone and cannot interact with any other people, but in exchange the world reacts solely to your wishes and lets you live out various desires.

Ugly betty. "Not-so-hot Betsy", a reference to Ugly Betty is a movie you can watch in persona 5. The joke, as the title suggests, is that this version's protagonist is merely Hollywood Homely.

Ultraman is a Japanese science fiction television series created by Eiji Tsuburaya. Various designs from the games are based on it, such as odin in iva being based on the main figure, and asherah from sj being based on the ultraman nemesis dada.

Undertale. When Okumura runs out of enemies to throw at you and tries to summon more, the battle text reads: "But nobody came..." Which is a reference to what happens in undertale's evil route if you kill every enemy in an area, but get into another battle screen. The irony of atlus referencing undertale being in that shin megami tensei games in general were one big inspiration for it. Note that that phrase originates in the earthbound series.

Utamaro Kitagawa. Yusuke Kitagawa from persona 5's name is a reference to Utamaro Kitagawa, an 18th century Japanese painter who commonly went by the name Yusuke.

Vocaloid. Hatsune miku shows up in persona 4 dancing all night.

The walking dead. "The Running Dead" is a movie you can watch in persona 5 that is a reference to The Walking Dead.

Warning from Space is a Japanese science fiction tokusatsu film released in January 1956 by Daiei, and was the first Japanese science fiction film to be produced in color. In the film's plot, starfish-like aliens disguised as humans travel to Earth to warn of the imminent collision of a rogue planet and Earth. As the planet rapidly accelerates toward Earth, a nuclear device is created at the last minute and destroys the approaching world. The aliens in their own form are shaped like starfish with an eye in the middle and are a near exact depiction of the art for decarabia.

Waxwork. There is a demon made of wax presumably named after the movie waxwork about people being attacked by wax figures.

Wicked City is a 1987 Japanese OVA neo-noir horror film. It is the source of the demon design arachne. Like smt, the movie is about a world where there is an alternate world populated by demons that most humans do not directly know about.

The world ends with you. During one of the student conversati