Devil Hunter Yohko

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Devil Hunter Yohko
魔物ハンター妖子 (Mamono Hantā Yōko)
Genre	Horror, Action, Magical Girl
OVA
Directed by	Katsuhisa Yamada, Hisashi Abe, Akiyuki Shinbo
Studio	Madhouse
No. of episodes	6
Released	1990
Runtime

Devil Hunter Yohko (魔物ハンター妖子, Mamono Hantā Yōko^?) is an anime series created by Madhouse, produced by Toho (the company famous for the Godzilla franchise), and published in North America by ADV Films.

Devil Hunter Yohko is about a boy-crazy sixteen year-old girl named Yohko Mano who banishes demons from the Earth. Yohko is played by Aya Hisakawa in the original Japanese dialogue. In the English dubbed version she is portrayed by Amanda Winn-Lee.

For centuries, the Mano family has been slaying demons. Yohko's grandmother, Madoka, is the one hundred-seventh Devil Hunter, and Yohko's mother, Sayoko, would have been the one hundred-eighth, but for a small hitch: A Devil Hunter must be a virgin to take on the power and responsibility. Sayoko became pregnant before Madoka could reveal the family's secrets, and so the job fell to Yohko, who had nearly been deflowered herself by her friend Osamu, who had been possessed by a demon thanks to the efforts of the school principal. But it wasn't until Yohko's friend Chigako Ogawa (Ogawa Chigako, also pronounced "Chikako") was endangered and Madoka was believed dead that Yohko took the ring that gave her the ability to transform into a Devil Hunter.

Throughout the six OVAs, Yohko comes into her own (while complaining the whole way), gains an apprentice named Azusa Kanzaki, goes back in history to the time of the first ever Devil Hunter, Haruka Mano (Mano Haruka), and even discovers a relative who looks exactly like her.

It should be noted the fourth "video" doesn't actually advance the story: it's a volume for Devil Hunter Yohko-based music videos, based on manga drawings and other songs that may or may not pertain to the plot. This is because of the cultural tetraphobia (see also triskaidekaphobia). Instead, the video was released as Devil Hunter Yohko: Super Music Clip in Japan.

[edit] Trivia

• In the first volume, it was clearly shown that it was made for a mature audience but as it went on, it got more and more suitable for teens ( because of the occasional nudity between transformation scenes ). The original rating was 17+ but for volumes 2 and over, it changed to 13+

• As the story goes on, Yohko appears younger. In part 1, they drew her with a lot of detail, giving her a mature look. But in part 6, they use less detail and make her look more carefree.

• Devil Hunter Yohko was ADV Films' (then A.D. Vision) first VHS release. ADV co-founder, Matt Greenfield, said the reason Yohko was chosen as the first release was because he and those involved thought it would be a "solid seller" because of how racy the show was. The fact Toho had an American licensing branch was another major reason that Yohko was the first anime to be released by ADV.