Preta

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Preta
DeSum
Other Name(s)	Gaki
Race(s)	Haunt SpiritShin Megami Tensei: Nine
Alignment(s)	Dark-Chaos
Order(s)	Frost

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Preta is a Demon in the Megami Tensei franchise.

Profile

Origin

Preta, also known as "hungry ghost" or "gaki", originate from Buddhism. They are pitiful humanoid creatures who happens to be reincarnated human beings due to dependably unjust behaviors they have done in their past lives. Those creatures often wander off in the human realm or being send to one of the six realms: Hungry Ghost Realm, a realm where most of the pretas resides. In the aftermath to that behavior, the suffering for the preta is strictly dependable for any punishments such as not being able to eat edible food due to their very thin size of their necks; if succeed, the food will ignite their mouths, getting attacked by animals, or shooing off by bigger, more stronger demons such as oni. One of the most notorious punishments for the preta is being forced to eat really revolting inedible things such as human wastes. The presence of preta is invisible to the human eyes as they can't see them. However, in a preta-centric Theravada Buddhist stories, petavatthu, it is seemed that some humans such as the monk can communicate with them to discuss about their predicaments such as murdering off or abusing their loved ones.

Their art depictions vary from a Japanese scroll of the hungry ghost called gaki-zoshi. In this art, the preta are grotesque with thin limbs and a rather large swollen stomachs as they can either be slightly bigger than normal humans or even larger and comes with few colors of skins: black, darkish blue, yellow, dark beige. In some of the arts in the scroll, the preta are depicted naked while some of them, on the other hand, wears fundoshi.

Design

Preta's design varies for each Megami Tensei games.

For his debut in Shin Megami Tensei, his appearance is monstrous; he has three fingers, visible sharp claws, large swollen stomach, and a purple skin.

In Last Bible, his appearance is shown to be short goblin-like with beige skin and comedically large lips.

In Soul Hackers, his appearance ultimately changes into a more "goofier" look while being a little bit more faithful to the actual preta in the gaki-zoshi scroll; he has purple skin, four fingers, elastically elongated chin, wears golden jewelries on his wrists and ears, has two red ofudas, and a tiny set of hair which happens to be a shaved yet messy bowl cut. In Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner, his appearance is as the same as Soul Hackers but this time, his design is brown, yellow ofudas, and silver jewelries.

For most of the games during his Devil Summoner/Soul Hackers design, Preta has visible genitalia. In the artwork, it happens to be either shadowed or being black out in censorship. However, for most 3D Shin Megami Tensei games he's in, it is left uncensored while a very few games such as Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon have it removed.

Gameplay

Shin Megami Tensei V

	Name Level Preta 3	Strength 8 Vitality 7 Magic 7 Agility 5 Luck 4
Race HP MP C. CostCompendium Summoning Cost Gift Type Haunt 40 54 — —
Resistances — WkWeak — — WkWeak WkWeak StrStrong ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1
Ailment Resistances — — — — — — — — ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1 ×1
Skill Potential +1 — +1 — — -3 +3 — — -1 —
Basic Attack 1 attack with the Phys element to 1 enemy
Skills Skill Cost Description Level
Magatsuhi Skills Skill Description Omagatoki: Critical All attacks, including magical attacks, will become Critical hits for all allies for 1 turn. Twilight WaveRequires Haunt Talisman Heavy Physical attack to all foes. Chance of inflicting Sleep.

Compendium

Compendium Entries
Shin Megami Tensei (A-Mode DDS)	Origin: Japan - The forms of greedy souls. They have large heads and a thin neck, fat bellies, and shriveled limbs. They are plagued with a hunger that can never be satisfied.
Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne	They are "hungry ghosts," as they are unable to swallow food. This is a punishment in reincarnation. One with too many desires in life is doomed to spend time as a Preta.
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey	A ghoulish demon of Buddhist lore. Greedy humans cast into the Preta realm of Hell become these. Their hunger is unrelenting and their suffering continues until they are reincarnated.
Shin Megami Tensei IV	Known as gaki in Japanese, they are ghoulish demons of Buddhist lore. Greedy humans cast into the preta realm become these. Their hunger is unrelenting and their suffering continues until they are reincarnated.
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse	Known as gaki in Japanese, they are ghoulish demons of Buddhist lore. Greedy humans cast into the preta realm become these. Their hunger is unrelenting and their suffering continues until they are reincarnated.
Shin Megami Tensei V	Known as "gaki" in Japanese, they are ghoulish demons of Buddhist lore. Greedy humans cast into the preta realm become these. Their hunger is unrelenting and their suffering continues until they are reincarnated.
Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine	The form given to those who are cast down into the Preta Realm, one of the Six Realms of Buddhist scriptures. Those who lived extravagant lives are said to be cast into the Preta Realm after death. Preta are constantly tormented by hunger and thirst, but whenever they put something to their mouths, it bursts into flame, and so they are eternally deprived of food and drink. Their figures are gaunt, except for their bellies, which are strangely swollen.
Liberation Dx2	Known as Gaki in Japanese, they are ghoulish demons of Buddhist lore. Greedy humans cast into the Preta realm become these unfortunate creatures. Any food they try to consume burns up in their mouth, fated to be tormented by never ending hunger and thirst.
Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon	A ghoulish demon from Buddhist myth. Greedy humans cast into the Preta realm of hell become these. Their hunger is unrelenting and their suffering continues until they are reincarnated.

Nomenclature

Names in Other Languages

Language	Name	Meaning