Shiren the Wanderer – Fate, Fortune, and Tanuki
Introduction or: Brief History of the Japanese Raccoon Dog or: Tanuki Tales
The tanuki, a charming and beloved creature also known as the Japanese raccoon dog, holds a special place in Japanese culture. Its likeness is almost omnipresent in Japanese media, as well as in daily Japanese life, where it appears in the form of statues, posters, and figurines. These depictions are particularly prominent in the country’s Buddhist temples and restaurants, where the depiction of a tanuki is thought to bring good fortune. It is not uncommon to spot a tanuki scavenging for food in the alleys of Japanese cities, as many have been displaced from their natural habitats due to historical deforestation. Computer games, of course, have not failed to pay homage to this endearing animal either, with Mario’s statue form in the Super Mario Brothers, only accessible through the tanuki form by shapeshifting, immortalizing the legendary raccoon dog for a more casual gaming audience.
Despite their name, the Japanese raccoon dog is not related to what us Americans call raccoons. Tanuki belong to the canidae family, which places them closer to dogs and foxes than to American raccoons, which belong to the procyonidae family. Unlike American raccoons, tanuki are renowned for their remarkable ability to shapeshift, much like foxes. While chameleons are capable of changing their color, a limited form of transformation, only a select few creatures possess the power of true transformation, which manifests as complete shapeshifting. This extraordinary ability is reserved for a small group of animals, including foxes, tanuki, and some cats.
*Ponta, a tanuki merchant in Shiren 5, selling bad lottery tickets
In Japanese folklore, the tanuki was once considered a harbinger of misfortune, blamed for every mysterious sound and occurrence within the woods where they dwelled. However, in more recent history, this perception has undergone a significant shift, and the tanuki is now celebrated as a bringer of good fortune, benevolence, and overall good-times. They are enshrined in lore as the “bake-danuki”, a family of yokai found throughout Japanese folktales and literature. According to legend, the tanuki is known for being a skilled shapeshifter with the ability to morph into almost anything, including humans. They often use this ability to play pranks on humans or live among them for long periods of time without being noticed. A key component of their shapeshifting ability is their pouch, or in cruder terms, their ball sack. Frequently using their ball sack as a secondary object of transformation; for example, a tanuki may shapeshift into a samurai, armor and all, but shapeshift their ball sack separately into a sword; or they may shapeshift into a merchant and use their ball sack as their vending stall. Although this ability is impressive and potentially dangerous, tanuki are characterized as absent-minded and more focused on the pleasures of life than any serious long-term endeavors. So, if you are tormented by a tanuki, it is likely not out of malice but rather pure jovial curiosity, fun, or pure necessity.
Of course, not all tanuki are the same. While most raccoon dogs are typically associated with their playful and whimsical personalities, some tanuki pursue more serious means to survive. Many become adept at salesmanship and often disguise themselves as merchants. This depiction is commonly found in various forms of media, particularly in computer games where tanuki merchants are a frequent occurrence. For instance, the Shiren the Wanderer series (hey – that’s what this article is supposedly about!) features several tanuki merchants. Other popular games, such as the Animal Crossing series, also include clever tanuki merchants like Tom Nook (whose name is a play on the word “Tanuki”). Tom Nook is a cunning real estate mogul who entraps the player with crippling debt, tricking you into working for him to pay it off; fortunately, he is a jovial tanuki who doesn’t care how quickly the debt is actually paid off. One wonders if Tom Nook’s store is his own ball sack, but that is a question for another article.
*tanuki statue, tom nook, and artwork depicting a tanuki holding his big pouch
Tanuki are often depicted as protectors of nature who will do anything to prevent the destruction of their homelands. For instance, in response to a human-led campaign to destroy a forest, tanuki may band together to plot the protection of their homeland. However, their efforts are more likely to result in long nights of partying and fun rather than anything productive, similar to my attempts at writing.
In one story, after numerous unsuccessful and half-baked pranks by the tanuki to halt the construction of a new residential housing district in their forests, which resulted in the loss of many tanuki lives, the surviving tanuki had no choice but to transform into humans and integrate themselves into Japanese society for survival. Today, it is said that whole families of tanuki still live in and around Tokyo, disguised as humans and engaging in everyday activities such as office work, street performing, and vending to make a living; ironically, some may have ended up working as contractors and real estate agents, selling the very same lands they were forced to flee all in an effort to make ends meet; after all, tanuki are far more concerned with survival and fun-times over more noble principles.
Legend has it that a few of these tanuki have forgotten their shapeshifting abilities, now permanently trapped in human form, forever doomed to live out the rest of their lives as humans. While this is certainly just a fanciful story, it contributes to the allure of the tanuki, leaving you to ponder whether the person beside you is truly human or actually a tanuki in disguise, or if the bench you’re sitting on is really a tanuki ball sack. This story is brilliantly portrayed in the Studio Ghibli film Pom Poko, which comes highly recommended by our staff (me).
*scene from Pom Poko, animated by Studio Ghibli, 1994
As mentioned earlier, kitsune, or foxes, are the opposite side of the tanuki coin, known for their shapeshifting abilities and closely aligned with tanuki in terms of common goals, although there are some significant differences between the two. Tanuki and kitsune can be seen as rivals competing for shapeshifting supremacy; however, only the fox would care about this rivalry as they are more intelligent and envious than the tanuki; or as the saying goes, they are “as clever as a fox.” The tanuki is far too concerned with eating and goofing off to care about such things.
It is often said that while the fox has seven disguises, the tanuki boasts eight, making it technically superior in terms of shapeshifting abilities. However, quantity does not necessarily outweigh quality. The fox, for instance, focuses on mastering a select few transformations to maliciously trick people, while the tanuki tends to shapeshift haphazardly out of necessity or just for fun. As a result, foxes are generally perceived as more malicious and dangerous shapeshifters, whereas tanuki are considered lazy but fun-loving shapeshifters. Regardless, if you manage to end up on their bad side, you are undoubtedly in for a world of hurt.
To illustrate this distinction between foxes and tanuki, consider their differing approaches to stealing food from human villages. While a family of foxes may resort to scheming and backroom dealings with humans, using their shapeshifting abilities to pose as businessmen offering seemingly attractive deals with hidden strings attached, akin to the treachery of organized crime or a pact with a demon, a tanuki family is more likely to transform into an alien spacecraft or ghostly apparition to scare the villagers away, thereby allowing them to sneak into the homes and steal the food.
Foxes would argue that their methods result in more sustainable food procurement long-term, while the tanuki methods are shortsighted and foolish; however, one thing is certain: the tanuki methods are far more fun.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate
You may be wondering, “why all the tanuki talk?” Well, this is because Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate, which I will be calling Shiren 5 from now on, is a game that perfectly captures the essence of the tanuki. It not only incorporates all the characteristics that define a tanuki, but it also includes multiple appearances of the animal throughout the game, primarily as merchants who run the lottery but also as wandering merchants in dungeons. From its reliance on chance to its overtly Japanese aesthetic, Shiren 5’s gameplay feels like a mischievously playful trick played by a tanuki. At every turn, the game is merciless and seemingly out to get you, but it can also be extremely generous and offer unexpected rewards; eating some grass could make you sick and lead to your death, or it could make you gain three levels and become super-fast; this playful unpredictability is quintessentially tanuki-like, and Shiren 5 captures this essence in less than 600 megabytes. Shiren 5 feels like a celebration of the tanuki’s mischievous, silly, and random nature; constantly fun to play, even when it seems the odds are not in your favor.
*eating some bad revival grass
To preface this paragraph, the plot of Shiren 5 is not important. Shiren 5 is a game’s game about gaming and high scores. With that out of the way, you play as Shiren the Wanderer, accompanied by his faithful ferret companion named Koppa. Shiren is a silent protagonist, while Koppa acts as his mouthpiece at key moments in the plot, often stating Shiren’s intentions and making decisions for him. Much like Kenshin Himura of Rurouni Kenshin, you get the impression that Shiren is a kindhearted soul with a storied past who can’t help but help the helpless.
The prologue of the game hints at Shiren’s previous adventures, which ultimately lead him to stumble upon the village of Inori. Here, he encounters Jirokichi, a young man whose girlfriend is on her deathbed, suffering from an incurable disease. Inori is situated near the Tower of Fate, a massive structure where it is rumored that the god Reeva makes his abode at the very top. Luckily, Reeva is the god of fortune, which fittingly ties into the game’s central theme of chance by serving as a literal stand-in for one of the game’s core mechanics: RNG, specifically “random number generator”, or just plain randomness. He may or may not grant your wish, based on a dice roll, but also based on his own whimsy; much like a tanuki playing a trick on someone wandering into their territory.
The god Reeva requires one to gather the Dice of Fate from the Tower of Past, Present, and Future, then travel to the top of the Tower of Fate and roll the die to grant a wish. Of course, Jirokichi wants the wish for his girlfriend’s disease to be cured, and Shiren and Koppa can’t help but tag along for the ride; and in typical gaming fashion, doing almost all the work for Jirokichi. This makes up the driving motivations behind our mystery dungeon tour, and to be fair, Jirokichi does help a good bit as you travel up the tower.
The people of Inori constantly speak of fate; a common talking point is that of predestination. It is believed that some people are just “born with bad luck” and destined to be destitute and downtrodden for their entire lives, driving many adventurers and tourists to climb the tower in an attempt to change their fate. Much like the game mechanics themselves, sometimes the tanuki are not kind, a dungeon-run can seem doomed from the start or, on the flip side, extremely favorable. It all depends on the roll of the dice. Shiren’s plot, while simple, is clever in this way as it mirrors the core gameplay based around random chance and luck; very self-aware of its purpose. Was eating that grass that killed you predetermined, or random? Is random actually just an illusion we create to feel better about our predetermined destinies? Are we doomed from birth? All questions without answers.
*Kenshin Himura, the Tower of Fortune, and Shiren the Wanderer respectively
Shiren the Wanderer is part of the Mystery Dungeon series, a collection of role-playing computer games primarily developed by Chunsoft. The series was inspired by Rouge, a classic dungeon-crawling computer game that co-creator of Dragon Quest, Koichi Nakamura, played one day and wanted to replicate. Thus, the Mystery Dungeon series was born, starting with the Super Famicom and continuing to this day, almost exclusively developed by Chunsoft (now known as Spike Chunsoft). The first Mystery Dungeon game was based on Dragon Quest: Torneko’s Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon, but it was later adapted for Pokemon, and Final Fantasy with the Chocobo Mystery Dungeon series. At this point, there is a Mystery Dungeon for every major JRPG franchise that actually matters, all that’s missing is Shin Megami Tensei.
Shiren, like other games in the Mystery Dungeon series, follows the formula laid down by Rogue. You assume control of the protagonist, in this case, Shiren, and venture through a series of randomly generated dungeons. Each dungeon contains several floors, with each floor being entirely randomized based on its designated tileset and a set of underlying rules. In this way, dungeons often feel like a shapeshifting tanuki trying to block you at every turn; playing the ultimate trick on the player.
A major gameplay component in Shiren and other Mystery Dungeon games is the reliance on chance, also known among seasoned computer gamers as RNG. This “luck” determines the items you’ll find lying around, which monsters you’ll encounter, if those monsters will have any buffs, how many traps you’ll inadvertently step on, and literally everything else. Ultimately, if fortune favors you, you can have incredibly good luck, or conversely … extremely bad luck; all depending on how the tanuki are feeling that day. To top it all off, you are graded at the end of each dungeon-run and provided a score in very computer-gamey fashion, something I highly appreciate.
*pummeled to death by an Eligan, score displayed at the end of the run
The core gameplay in Shiren is centered around turn-based combat. Each player and monster gets a single move per turn, more if buffs come into play. If you move one tile, the monsters move one tile; if you attack, the monster attacks, and so on. At the beginning of each dungeon, you start at level 1 and gradually gain experience as you progress through each floor. Along the way, you’ll discover various items to aid you, such as storage containers, grass with various beneficial (or detrimental) effects, weapons, shields, magic scrolls, and much more; ultimately which items you find are based on the whims of RNG, or as I like to call it, the will of the tanuki.
Part of the charm of Shiren 5 is the vast array of bizarre monsters you encounter on your adventure. Most of these monsters are based on yokai spirits, which gives them a distinctively Japanese feel. It’s easy to imagine a tanuki shapeshifted behind some of the silly creatures you encounter, from fur balls to seed-shaped creatures that consume items to multiply their experience point yield, mage birds, creatures that put you to sleep, robots that lay traps, goblins riding carts, dragons, demonic children who dress up in grass, and many others. The variety of monsters is impressive, with each having its own gimmick. For instance, kappas throw items at you, which occupy a slot in your inventory, while some birds fill up available slots in your storage pots with dirt, rendering them unusable. Moreover, some items on the ground are disguised enemies that spawn a monster when used, and other monsters can grab you and throw you at party members or off ledges. Often, you have to respond to certain monsters in unique ways, requiring you to get creative with your item usage, so you better pray the tanuki favor you on your travels.
*sleep stun locked by a pesky Naptapir, more common than you’d think
In Shiren 5, when you die, all your progress is lost and you have to start over from floor 1 at level 1. Initially, this might seem overwhelming, but the game offers a way to reduce the impact of death by using specific items, such as Undo Grass. This item presents two choices upon death: return to the village while retaining all of your items, or instantly revive in the dungeon. Both options consume the grass, creating a risk/reward situation that can result in catastrophe if players make the wrong choice at the wrong time. Choosing to return to the village and keep your items is often the wisest choice, but it means starting over from floor 1 of the dungeon. Nonetheless, doing so gives you the advantage of retaining all your items for your next attempt and forms the foundation of the game’s power progression system, which is almost entirely loot based.
The loot based power progression system revolves around upgrading weapons and shields through usage and magical means, and combining them to create new weapons/shields with combined effects. This is the primary way to increase your wanderer’s power beyond simply leveling up, which only provides temporary benefits that are always lost upon death. It’s possible to start every run with an effective power level of 0 if you don’t know what you’re doing. However, the cheat death mechanic allows you to keep upgraded weapons and shields through dungeon-runs, which can provide a huge advantage on future dungeon-runs. For example, I was able to obtain a powerful tri-directional sword, combine it with almost every other weapon in the game, and upgrade it to max. Through careful use of Undo Grass and patience, I was able to hold onto this weapon throughout the entirety of the main game and even ended up defeating the final dungeon with it.
All of this creates gameplay that, while very simple, keeps you on the edge of your seat, as everything is at risk, especially if you forget to bring your Undo Grass, or choose to use it to revive in the dungeon instead of taking you back to the village upon death. The items you invest significant time in, like my tri-directional sword, become the backbone of your wandering skeleton, since losing them permanently can set you back hours of progress, crippling you by effectively forcing you to start from scratch. As a result, you become quite possessive and neurotic about how you approach dungeon exploration and progression. No matter how many tanuki tricks are thrown at you, you are determined to hold onto the weapons and shields you’ve invested so much time and effort into; as you bond with these weapons, they become a part of you, and the thought of losing them becomes a nightmare lurking in the back of your mind at all times.
In the end, once you have a good understanding of the game’s mechanics and master the art of managing your items effectively, permadeath becomes less daunting. The sense of accomplishment that accompanies your progress with your chosen sword and shield is genuinely gratifying. It is a unique experience only made possible by the curious mix of permadeath and risk/reward systems at play in Shiren 5. However, losing everything feels terrible and can be discouraging at times, but this is a necessary evil to maintain the uniquely rewarding nature of the game.
It’s worth noting that the progression systems are not present throughout the entire game. Once you finish the main story dungeon, numerous optional dungeons open up, offering even greater rewards. However, many of these dungeons require you to start from scratch with nothing on hand. Shiren 5’s main story dungeons are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the game’s content, and due to the randomized nature of every little thing you encounter, the tanuki tricks never stop and the replayability never ends.
This is the part where I give my recommendation for the game, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. Even if you have no prior experience with “rougelike” games, Shiren the Wanderer: Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate is an excellent starting point. Furthermore, it is likely already available on a platform you own. The footage for this review was captured on the Switch version of the game, but it’s also available on Steam, Nintendo DS, Android, PlayStation Vita, and iOS. Shiren 5 lends itself to portability, as it’s easy to pick up and play in short bursts, making it an excellent game to play on-the-go. As such, I would recommend the Vita or Switch version over the Steam version, unless you own a Steam Deck; and, of course, I would never recommend a mobile version of any game.
One of the things that makes Shiren 5 stand out is its deceptive simplicity and straightforwardness. I played the game for about 30 hours originally, then took a break to play something else for a few months, and came back to Shiren 5 afterwards. I started my same savefile and was not lost in the slightest. The game’s design is such that it’s nearly impossible to lose track of progress, even after extended breaks. Its random and charming nature, quintessential tanuki-ness, and “start over” gameplay have a unique allure that will keep players coming back, even after completing the main story.
And remember, if you get bored, put the controller down and do something else. If you’re not having fun, it’s not worth it. And in Shiren’s case, if you get frustrated, put the game down and play something else, the tanuki will still be there when you return.
Tanuki Bless.
(originally published on 5/7/2023)