Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner

Quantum Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner (クォンタムデビルサーガ アバタールチューナー) is a five-volume series of novels set in the world of Digital Devil Saga. Authored by Yu Godai, an original story writer of the games who had to leave the project due to health issues, they explore the events of the games differently and diverge from them.
The series originally was published in Japan starting in February 2011. The first volume's English release, translated by Kevin Frane, was released on July 31st, 2014, by publisher Bento Books. He has confirmed in late 2014 he was working on the second volume; as of September 13th, 2017, the second volume has been released. So far, there is no confirmation of the third volume's translation. 
==Characters==
*Serph
*Argilla
*Heat
*Cielo
*Gale
*Sera
*Harley Q
*Jinana
*Angel
*Varin Omega
*Lupa
*Canis Volk
*Shin Minase
*Kazuki Homura
*Annabella di Fiori
*Cielo Alondra
*Charles
*Dr. Kerry
*Roland Seth
*Otto Griesner
*Jobson 
*Henry Marcus
*Kei Minase 
*Chardin
==Plot==
Six tribes battle in the post-apocalyptic Junkyard, a grim world of demons and evil powers that block entrance to the promised land, Nirvana.
===Comparison with the original game===
*The circumstances before Serph assumes the leader of his tribe, Embryon, is told in the flashbacks.
*The Mantra System from the game is never referenced in the book.
*Serph is shown talking instead of being a silent protagonist. Many dialogues of Gale in the game are instead spoken by Serph in the novel.
**Serph is depicted as a caring and compassionate leader. He is also shown to be a pacifist unless hostility is the only option.
**Serph's personality is in stark contrast with Gale's, as shown when Gale refers to Serph's decisions as "illogical" because they're based on emotion rather than logic and calculation. 
*Gale, as well as the other few remaining bishops in the Junkyard, is explained to be wearing the hood for protecting the many implants and sockets behind his brain. In a similar fashion as in , he is shown using a cable to connect his brain with a displaying device to replay his visual and audio memory for his cohorts.
*The awakening of human egos after the denizens of the Junkyard receive their Atmas develops much quicker than in the game. The only exception is the bishop type denizens like Gale who require themselves totally void of emotion for their role.
*All denizens of the Junkyard already have eye colors matching their hair colors instead of gray before they receive their Atmas.
*Reinforcing the game setting, Atmas are categorized into 2 tiers: "High Atma" and "Lesser Atma". Each High Atma is unique to an individual and usually stronger than Lesser Atma. The Lesser Atma are shared by multiple people. The shapes of the brands of High Atmas are also more elaborate than the weaker tier.
*Angel uses the term "Asura" instead of "Demon" to describe the form upon activating Atma. The terminology is then adopted by the denizens of the Junkyard.
*The infected usually transform when their instinct reflexes sense hostility nearby. After getting used to it, it is possible to transform by concentrating the Mantra Om Mani Padme Hum without the presence of offense.
*Instead of simply losing some portions of HP in the game, being overwhelmed by the hunger results in body parts gradually liquefying into black, sticky tar unless the individual promptly consumes some flesh.
*Some Asura, like Hayagriva are able to absorb that black tar to fulfill their hunger.
*Singing doesn't relieve the hunger; instead Sera allows her beneficiaries to take few drops of her own blood to alleviate the uncontrollable state. Her blood is taken by the Embyron to produce the capsules in case Sera is not closely present.
*Jinana displays great anger towards the Church of Karma, and subsequently Angel, for turning them into Asuras and the ensuing catastrophe due to many of her subordinates going berserk out of hunger.
*The tribe Wolves, which is originally led by Lupa in-game is instead ruled by Canis Volk. Canis is not simply a replacement of Lupa, as Lupa makes a different appearance later in the novel.
**Lupa's previous incarnation in the cycle was the leader of the tribe Serph and Heat belonged to before he got killed and Serph and Heat murdered the enemy leader in retaliation, founding Embryon. Serph and Heat recognize him as soon as they see him, and in the end he too seems to remember having met them before.
*Varin Omega's original name is given as William van Beck, instead of Terrence E. Beck as in the games.
*Serph Sheffield is named Shin Minase and he's a major antagonist in the novel, instead of a posthumous character like in the game. Heat O'Brien is named Kaz Homura.
**While Serph Sheffield and Heat O'Brien were American and Irish respectively, Shin Minase and Kazuki Homura are Japanese and German respectively. Argilla's real self gets a canon name, Annabella di Fiori, and is Italian. 
*After the Varin Omega battle, Varin mentions Serph and Heat's real names (Shin Minase and Kaz Homura) and alludes to the fact that "Argilla is from Italy", referring to the human one. All of this doesn't happen in the game.
*Varin Omega's memories are fake, and his invisibility is an unnatural power given him by Shin Minase, which causes his body to wear down quickly.
*When Serph, Heat and Argilla storm Sahasrara, Cielo and Gale stay behind and fight a mass of Karma.
*Lupa and Jinana are actual party members and sacrifice themselves at the top of the Karma Temple in order to stop the mass of Karma. Like in the game, they never reach Nirvana, but they participate in the final battle.
*An amorphous mass of a fluid called Karma, that propagated from Harley Q's dead body, consumes the entire Junkyard before the final battle.
*Unlike Lupa in the game, Canis Volk is never battled. He asks Serph for a mercy kill while being consumed by the mass of Karma. 
*Harihara is never fought and Shin takes Sera to Nirvana instead of Angel.
*The ending shows Serph escaping a lab in Nirvana, a thing that only happens in the second game.
*Shin Minase has a sister named Kei, who is going to be an important character in the third novel. She doesn't exist in the game.
*Cielo's true self appears in volume 3. He never appeared in the game.
*The Demi-fiend does not appear, but Michael (one of the Four Archangels) does, as a transformation of a man named Henry Marcus at the end of Volume 3.
*Book 3 is a prequel to the entire story. 
*Serph never directly meets Angel. Shin Minase on the other hand appears various times instead of them. Book 2 ends with Serph reaching Nirvana, but without any final boss: Serph is no match for Shin Minase and gets dragged outside the Junkyard without any chance to fight back. Serph, however, does meet Angel in book 4. 
*Elemental weaknesses aren't mentioned, and the combat is more direct and based on raw physical and magical power rather than on exploiting the enemy weakness. Healing spells and status ailments don't appear at all. Book 3 is much less combat-focused, with the first two thirds of it not having any combat at all.
*Psychics that aren't Technoshamans appear: they're called Empaths and serve as cognitive technicians, using their powers to heal mental disorders. Kazuki Homura and Cielo Alondra are Empaths. They both communicate with the Technoshaman to talk with god. Kazuki is responsible for breaking Sera's mind and causing her to turn the sun black. Kazuki was a normal human in the game, Alondra didn't even appear.
*Sera was much crueler and more sociopathic before losing her memories and being thrown in the Junkyard. This never happened in the game's timeline.
*David Gale does not exist in the book continuity. The reason for this is that Gale wasn't in the original draft for the plot, thus nothing was planned as a backstory for him. As a Bishop, Gale was produced in a different facility and was different than the rest of the Embryon. Instead of David Gale's death, what made Angel evil was the pain of being disconnected from God and the desire to return at one with it. 
*At least in book 3, Roland is seen at Karma Society talking to Annabella, so it appears book Roland works for Karma instead of opposing it. Though he does seem skeptical about Shin Minase's plan of using Kazuki to contact God. By the time Serph meets him, however, Roland has become the leader of the Lokapala. He, however, lacks an Atma.
*Gregory Wojzeck is alive. He was said to be dead in the game. 
*Heat's upgrade is called Shiva, not Vritra. 
*Serph does not pull a mutual sacrifice in the EGG to defeat Heat. Instead, Shin crystallizes Serph when he's going to save Sera, and, right after Heat kills Shin, Serph also dies by crystallization (only to will himself back to life to devour Heat). As such, Serph doesn't fall in the EGG with Sera still in it, so Gale doesn't need to save her alongside Roland, and she doesn't become Varunani.
*Seraph does not exist. Instead, Serph eats Heat first to transform Varuna into Vishnu, and later, at the end, eats Sera, though he still retain his personality instead of Sera's. Ardha is instead associated with Shin.
*The Embryon do not die, and their data does not ascend to the Sun. Instead, Serph talks to God from Earth after having eaten Heat and Sera. 
*Angel's Atma is called Lucifer and is the first Atma ever created. It's also the "final boss" of the series, fought by Serph in Vishnu form (because Brahma doesn't appear).
*The ending involves Serph, Sera and Heat being called the Trimurti. In the second game, on the other hand, Heat is much less prominent than he is in the later two books, and it's completely optional to have him in the final battle, as he's mutually exclusive with Roland (a character who lacks an Atma in the book). 
*Some bosses do not appear at all, like the Tribhvana, Kali and Dakini, Meganada, Kartikeya and especially both final bosses. The names of Harihara's two forms, Vishnu and Shiva, are used for Serph and Heat's "powered up Atma", whose abilities and looks are conspicuously different from the ones in the game. God has no physical form and as such it can't be fought.
*The ending shows Serph moving through time and returning to the past, meeting a man named Chardin, who is on the verge of death, and discussing with him about the nature of God. Chardin does not appear in the game at all. 
== Gallery ==
==External Links==
* Official site
* Interview with the translator
* Another interview with the translator
* Chapter 1 of Vol. 1 (preview from BentoBooks.com)
Category:Novels
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