In the post-apocalyptic Junkyard, a mysterious religious order known only as the Church watches over the brutal competition between warring tribes as they vie to unify six territories and thereby gain access to Nirvana, the promised land. In the wake of one particularly unusual battle, Serph, the leader of the upstart Embryon tribe, rescues a strange girl and discovers that he and his fellow fighters have gained the ability to transform into terrifying demon warriors. But these new abilities, along with this enigmatic girl named Sera, threaten to upend the balance of power not only in the Junkyard, but within the Embryon itself.

 

Avatar Tuner, Vol. I opens the Quantum Devil Saga, a series inspired by the Shin Megami Tensei video games, which are widely popular in their native Japan and have gained a considerable following in the West. Translated into English for the first time, experience the story of Serph and his tribe as they fight not only to win, but to understand the supernatural forces that govern the Junkyard.

 

Shin Megami Tensei is a trademark of Atlus Co., Ltd. ">

In the post-apocalyptic Junkyard, a mysterious religious order known only as the Church watches over the brutal competition between warring tribes as they vie to unify six territories and thereby gain access to Nirvana, the promised land. In the wake of one particularly unusual battle, Serph, the leader of the upstart Embryon tribe, rescues a strange girl and discovers that he and his fellow fighters have gained the ability to transform into terrifying demon warriors. But these new abilities, along with this enigmatic girl named Sera, threaten to upend the balance of power not only in the Junkyard, but within the Embryon itself.

 

Avatar Tuner, Vol. I opens the Quantum Devil Saga, a series inspired by the Shin Megami Tensei video games, which are widely popular in their native Japan and have gained a considerable following in the West. Translated into English for the first time, experience the story of Serph and his tribe as they fight not only to win, but to understand the supernatural forces that govern the Junkyard.

 

Shin Megami Tensei is a trademark of Atlus Co., Ltd. ">

In the post-apocalyptic Junkyard, a mysterious religious order known only as the Church watches over the brutal competition between warring tribes as they vie to unify six territories and thereby gain access to Nirvana, the promised land. In the wake of one particularly unusual battle, Serph, the leader of the upstart Embryon tribe, rescues a strange girl and discovers that he and his fellow fighters have gained the ability to transform into terrifying demon warriors. But these new abilities, along with this enigmatic girl named Sera, threaten to upend the balance of power not only in the Junkyard, but within the Embryon itself.

 

Avatar Tuner, Vol. I opens the Quantum Devil Saga, a series inspired by the Shin Megami Tensei video games, which are widely popular in their native Japan and have gained a considerable following in the West. Translated into English for the first time, experience the story of Serph and his tribe as they fight not only to win, but to understand the supernatural forces that govern the Junkyard.

 

Shin Megami Tensei is a trademark of Atlus Co., Ltd. ">
Cover

Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, Vol. 1

Copyright © 2011 by Yu Godai

Originally published in Japan as Kuontamu Debiru Sāga Abatāru Chūnā I by
Hayakawa Publishing Corporation, Tokyo

 

English translation © 2014 by Kevin Frane and Hayakawa Publishing Corp.

Edited by Elye Alexander and Joseph Reeder

Cover art by Hirotaka Maeda

 

All rights reserved. No portion of this book

in excess of fair use considerations may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form or by any means without

written permission from the copyright holders.

Published 2014 by 

Bento Books, Inc.

Austin, Texas 78732

bentobooks.com

 

ISBN-13: 978-1-939326-01-0 (Hardcover)

978-1-939326-00-3 (Paperback)

978-1-939326-02-7 (Kindle)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014945489

 

Printed in the United States of America

First edition, July 2014

Quantum Devil Saga

AVATAR TUNER

Vol. 1

 

 

 

 

Yu Godai

Translated by Kevin Frane

The Territories of the Junkyard

 

Muladhara, held by the Embryon tribe and led by Serph.
Svadhisthana, Held by the Vanguards tribe and led by Harley Q.
Manipura, held by the Maribel tribe and led by Jinana.
Anahata, held by the Solids tribe and led by Mick the Slug.
Vishuddha, held by the Wolves tribe and led by Canis Volk.
Ajna, held by the Brutes tribe and led by Varin Omega.
Sahasrara, the inviolate territory that holds the Temple, the headquarters of the Church of the Arbiters of Karma.

Part I

The Junkyard

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Afterword

Thank you as always to all of my long-time fans out there, and greetings to any of you first-time readers, as well. I’m Yu Godai, and this is my first publication with Hayakawa Bunko JA.

 

The way that the publication of Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner came about was a little different than usual, so first, I’d like to start by talking about how the series began.

It started back in 2000, when Kadokawa Shoten asked if I would like to do the story for a video game. The request had come from Atlus, the makers of the well-known “Megami Tensei” series, and they were looking for someone to write the original story and scenario for a new title related to the series. As a long-time “Megami Tensei” fan myself, I gladly accepted the offer.

What I turned in was a proposal for Digital Devil Saga, which this novel is ultimately based on. Thankfully, they liked the proposal I submitted, and so I wound up temporarily living in Tokyo, having a number of talks with the Atlus team, and gradually refining the project.

Before long, I came to realize that novels and game scenarios were more different than I’d expected. The biggest difference is that, in a game scenario, you need to allow room for the player to impact the story, which is a fundamentally different way of doing things than in novels, where in general, the story unfolds from the main character’s perspective. Ultimately, I needed to work together with Atlus’ own scenario writer if I was going to get things done right. Figuring that elements like worldview, characters, and episodic progression were things both forms had in common, I wrote a story that could be workable as both a game and a novel. In order to establish the world and the setting, to develop a general sense of the story and the main characters, and to get the right atmosphere across, I wrote up the first part of the game (up to about the first boss battle) as a simple, short piece of fiction.

After that, due to a number of reasons, such as not adjusting well to life in Tokyo and declining health, I wound up having to leave the team, but I was able to continue working on what I had been writing (as the initial contract allowed for publication of a novel version of what I wrote).

Ten years went by, and while there were a few snags along the way, I kept plugging away at the manuscript. At several points I was ready to just give up on it. Right up until publication, I would have people asking, “When is the Avatar Tuner novel coming out?” I would see comments online of people wondering if it was really going to come out at all, and it took a while for me to get rid of the guilt that made me feel.

I’ve mainly dealt in fantasy in the past, and as much as I love science fiction, I’m a fantasy person at heart. Still, I do love science fiction as well, and so what you have here is the result of my trying to the best of my ability to make something of that. Volumes 1 and 2 are focused on the characters’ abnormal transformations, but volumes 3, 4, and 5 change things up a lot, so hopefully you’ll have fun reading that far in.

There are probably a number of people out there who picked this book up because they enjoyed the games, and figured it might be fun to give this a read. Still, this is an original novel, not a novelization. While it certainly shares a number of things in common with the games, it might be better to think of this as a novel put together from my own personal ideas for the game backstory.

Also, for those of you who haven’t played the games but like what you’ve read here, I recommend giving the games a try if you get the chance. Kazuma Kaneko put together some really cool character designs, and the games feature a very elaborate game system that’s a lot of fun. I think that they’re some pretty great RPGs.

 

The original plan had been for this novel to be released through Kadokawa Shoten, but it wound up getting passed along to Fujimi Publishing, and from there to Tokuma Shoten, and in the course of all this back and forth, before I knew it, ten years had passed since I’d started my original work on it. I was just about to give up, figuring that self-publishing was going to be my only real option for releasing it. I cannot thank my editor Mr. Shiozawa at Hayakawa JA or my contact person Ms. Takatsuka enough for the opportunity to publish this novel, and for their guidance in brushing up the manuscript. I’d also like to thank Hirotaka Maeda for the wonderful new artwork that graces these covers.

This volume and the next form the first part in a three-part story, consisting of five volumes. I know this is only the first portion of a longer series, but I really hope that you’ll read it through to the end. Thank you all again.

 

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