| This article is about the character. For the race, see Nahobino (race). |
The protagonist of Shin Megami Tensei V, mainly referred to as the Nahobino (ナホビノ*)?, is a young male high school student living within the city of Tokyo.
Appearances
- Shin Megami Tensei V / Vengeance: Protagonist
Personality
As per Megami Tensei tradition, the protagonist's thoughts are based on dialogue choices picked by the player. The thoughts of his choices are often based around the theme of Order, Potential and Humanity, which are central to the game's major endings. Generally, it will involve either the protagonist supporting Bethel and God's order loyally, even in spite of other people's skepticism and criticism of the angels, or the protagonist will follow his own traditional ideals on justice, being indifferent towards a world.
During the beginning of the game, the protagonist is displayed to be distracted in classes, not paying attention and even falling asleep. He would make efforts to obey the rules, although those are weaker than normal: he'd try to find himself a companion as per the buddy system rule established by his school, but as he's come out empty-handed, he'd decide to leave alone. He would still be convinced to go out with his friends when they invite him however, regardless of whether he would want to or not.
Most dialogue choices usually don't directly affect the direction of the game, with the exception of a single choice, as well as a potential follow-up. The themes of Order may generally relate to the protagonist's faithful and blind obedience to Bethel as a whole, which is opposed to the choices of disinterest in Order, finding it to get in the way in following his own ideals, which instead might make him cold to others. On another hand, he might be uncertain of his ideals entirely, such as when Shohei Yakumo questions him directly what his thoughts on Order are.
Regardless of the protagonist's thoughts on Bethel, he will still work with them, and will support the side of law in their war against chaos, although in technical terms, with Hayao Koshimizu's guidance, they ignore their lack of orders to join, and enter their warzone anyway. The protagonist would be specifically aligned with Koshimizu's branch, which even cuts ties with the rest of Bethel as soon as the forces of chaos are defeated. It is only later on that the protagonist is to make a choice of which ideal he should pursue in the battle for the Throne of Creation.
The protagonist is generally selfless and is willing to help those in need; he had even risked his life protecting Tao Isonokami from Lahmu when the demon possessed Sahori Itsukishima, even if his sacrifice was in vain. Tao would later commend him for risking his life for him, calling him a "true savior," and finds him befit to rule on the throne.
Based on his in-battle voice, it would seem that he has much energy and conviction, and perhaps even anger towards his foes. This may allude to the fact that he possesses the knowledge of Susano-o, the violent Shinto god.
In the "Return of the True Demon" DLC and subquest, the protagonist would be compared to the Demi-fiend, referred to have matching traits in their journey against defying death and the cycle of creation and destruction.
Profile
Shin Megami Tensei V
"A student whose peaceful days attending Jouin High School in Tokyo were all but shattered after being thrust helplessly into Da'at. But upon fusing with Aogami, a Proto-fiend from Bethel, he transformed into a Nahobino: a powerful being that can take on any demon."
The protagonist is a third-year high school student at dormitory-based Jouin High School, living an ordinary life. He is friends with Yuzuru Atsuta and Tao Isonokami. It has been also implied that he knew Sahori Itsukishima.
In the midst of mysterious incidents, as per the school's established buddy system, one day while returning from school through Shinagawa Station with his friends, the station was closed because of a nearby murder, causing a traffic backup. Searching for other students, Ichiro Dazai, who wandered off in a different direction in a hunt over rumors from monster sightings, and Yuzuru, who also went to look for him, he enters the Takanawa Tunnel, which suddenly collapses on them.
Having regained consciousness, the protagonist finds himself lost in a desolated and deserted Tokyo, a mysterious world called "Da'at." He soon notices Ichiro being taken by an Angel flying away while trying to chase them. Suddenly attacked by demons, while running, a mysterious man appears before him, and lends him a hand. In the process, the protagonist fuses with him and becomes a "Nahobino," a condemned being, using this power to fight back and wander through Da'at. During his journey, he meets with a Amanozako who was ambushed by a group of Preta before being saved by the protagonist and decides to be their partner as they adventure Da'at. Heading to Tokyo Tower, the protagonist would fight Hydra to help Aogami recover some of his memories.
Eventually, he and Yuzuru reunite and split-up to search for Ichiro who went missing and later finding out he is inside the Tokyo Diet Building. Inside the Diet Building, the protagonist would meet Shohei Yakumo and her partner, Nuwa after a brief encounter with him. Yakumo explains to the protagonist the motives behind his actions and why he is so opposed to demons, at first thinking he was no different from the others before departing. Afterwards, the protagonist meets up with Ichiro who has been put under the protection of angels, and return back to real-life Tokyo safely, where they're awaited by Tao, who informs them about the other world: in addition to their world, there is also Da'at, a collapsed Tokyo where legendary demons awaken from the darkness and take aim at Tokyo and humans. However, there is an organization that fights these demons, Bethel, with Tao and Yuzuru being veteran members, and the protagonist and Ichiro agree to join their cause to protect Tokyo.
While returning to his regular school life, demons would suddenly break out of Da'at and in the real world, and the school would suddenly be raided by demons. Lahmu, in particular, captured Sahori Itsukishima, an acquaintance of the protagonist who has been bullied, using her vulnerabilities to confuse her and get her to ally with him. Because of this, she would kill her bullies in the confusion, although she would get kidnapped by Lahmu, although she never truly wanted to get involved in any of it. The protagonist and Tao both agree to rescue Sahori and the rest of the kidnapped students.
While retrieving the kidnapped students one by one with Bethel's help, and giving them shelter over at the Fairy Village in Da'at, they would eventually receive intel about Sahori and Lahmu's whereabouts, where they confront the demon. Lahmu would merge with Sahori in the process, and although Lahmu alone has been defeated, he would successfully merge with Sahori, luring Tao in to kill her. The protagonist would stand inbetween to protect her, but he'd get himself killed in the process, leaving Tao vulnerable for the fused Lahmu to take down as well.
In her dying breath, Tao would be contacted by a higher being, reminding her of her role as a goddess, getting her back on her feet, and sacrificing her life to revive the protagonist and Aogami. In spite of Lahmu's attempts to retaliate, Sahori would snap out of the fusion and gain back control of herself, leaving him exposed. The protagonist would then approach and finish Lahmu off, killing him and sacrificing Sahori in the process, to her gratitute.
The protagonist would eventually help Bethel fight off the forces of chaos and slew a majority of their leaders, in request of Hayao Koshimizu. The protagonist would eventually fight on Chiyoda and defeat Surt with the help of Okuninushi, Take-Minakata and Sukuna-Hikona by giving him the Akiha-Gongen Talisman. Later the protagonist encounters a Decarabia who would help him by sabotaging lady Ishtar's power source in order to get inside the Demon King's Castle and defeat Arioch.
After the demon king, Abdiel organizes a summit meeting with other branch representatives with representatives Odin, Zeus, Vasuki and Hayao Koshimizu who was planning to quit Bethel in order to protect Tokyo on their own without the help of the angels. Abdiel in the meeting tries to convince the others of Bethel's noble cause, although her words fall on deaf ears as they are more interested in the empty Throne and the Nahobino among them; as such, Abdiel instantly tries to exterminate the protagonist to invoking God's laws on him and prove her point, only to be defeated and her reality shattered, left behind on the summit by everyone else who seek to become a Nahobino and take the throne by leaving Bethel with the three keys each possessed.
After Bethel fractures, the protagonist would meet with Hayao Koshimizu along with his knowledge, Yuzuru Atsuta and Ichiro Dazai who later decides to console Abdiel with the help of the protagonist and learning that the only way for her to save god's order, is by becoming a Nahobino and find her knowledge who would be standing right in front of her, Ichiro Dazai.
Suddenly, the protagonist would hear a familiar voice to meet at the school dorm. At the dorm, the protagonist finds Tao much to his surprise at her survival as she was assumed to be dead. Tao explains that while she did in fact die as a human, she had awoken to her power as a Saint and was reborn as a goddess, now following her role to guide the Nahobino to the Throne of Creation. She decides to assist the protagonist in reclaiming the throne and teleports him to Taito to accomplish their missions and retrieve the three keys from Odin, Zeus and Vasuki to create the key leading to the Empyrean, where he can decide what he wishes to do with the throne - uphold God's will, save Tokyo or destroy the throne to have humanity fend for themselves. Depending if specific criteria has been met, the protagonist may also choose to use the throne to create a world for humans only, ridding them of gods and demons alike, but not before bidding farewell to Aogami.
Gallery
Shin Megami Tensei V
Skills
Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance
.png "Nahobino (Vengeance).png (2.42 MB)")
Other
![Art of the Demi-fiend and Nahobino drawn by Rokuro Saito in celebration of the Shin Megami Tensei 30th Anniversary[1]](https://sonicgame.netlify.app/host-http-megamitensei.fandom.com/wiki/File:Rokuro_Saito_30th_Anniversary_Demi-fiend_and_Nahobino.jpg "Rokuro Saito 30th Anniversary Demi-fiend and Nahobino.jpg (1,017 KB)")
In Other Languages
| Language | Title |
|---|---|
 Japanese
|
主人公 (Hero) |
 Korean
|
주인공 (Hero) |
  Traditional Chinese
|
主人公 (Hero) |
Trivia
The Nahobino in the Etrian Odyssey HD DLC.
- The protagonist's hobby is reading.[2]
- The book the protagonist is reading in trailers is volume 5 of the Man'yōshū.
- The protagonist knew Sahori before the events of the game. This is implied by both some of his dialogue choices (i.e. he knew of her full name) when Tao wanted to talk about her, and according to Nuwa in Chiyoda he knew the girl when he was trying to save her.
- How the Nahobino's hands allow one to create a sword of light though their fingers may stem from the battle of Take-Mikazuchi and Take-Minakata as spoken in the Kokiji; during their fight, Take-Minakata grasped Take-Mikazuchi's arm, in which Take-Mikazuchi morphed his hand into an icicle and then a sword, causing Take-Minakata to lose his grip. Take-Mikazuchi is also said to be borne of the blood from Izanagi's Totsuka-no-Tsurugi (which literally means "Sword of Ten Hand-Breadths") upon slaying Kagatsuchi upon his birth.
- The Nahobino's name is decided by the player, however, by entering a debug state of the game their name defaults to "Kei Amemura" in all languages except for Japanese. As the name is not used in any official media (instead being referred to as "Protagonist" or "Hero") and there is no way to access this data normally, it is unknown whether the name is official or only a placeholder for development purposes.[3]
Appearances in Other Media
| Title | Details | Date | External Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etrian Odyssey Origins Collection Etrian Odyssey III HD |
DLC | June 1, 2023 | Steam: Steam page (Collection) Switch: Store page (Collection) Steam: Steam page (Etrian Odyssey III HD) Switch: Store page (Etrian Odyssey III HD) Steam: Steam Page (EO III HD Character Set DLC) Switch: Store Page (EO III HD Character Set DLC) |
References
- ↑ https://twitter.com/s_696/status/1654023591405682688
- ↑ 真・女神転生V - 公式サイト, Shin Megami Tensei V Japanese Website
- ↑ The Canon name of the Shin Megami Tensei V Protagonist, Youtube (Faz, July 16 2024)