Devil Lady

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Devil Lady
デビルマン レディー
(Debiruman Redii)
Genre Action, Horror
Manga: Devilman Lady
Author Go Nagai
Publisher Flag of Japan Kodansha
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Flag of Japan Weekly Morning
Original run 1997
Volumes 17
TV anime
Director Toshiki Hirano
Studio TMS
Network Mainichi Broadcasting System
Original run 10 October 1998 – 29 September 1999
Episodes 26

Devil Lady (デビルマンレディー Debiruman Redī?, Devilman Lady) is an anime and manga about a woman named Jun Fudo. She lives in a city terrorized with beastlike humans and is secretly recruited to rid the city of them. It is a creation of Go Nagai's and is a reimagining of the Devilman manga and anime, but features a female protagonist, rather than a male one.

The anime is distributed by ADV Films, and was directed by Toshiki Hirano.

Contents

[edit] Original Manga

The Devilman Lady manga was created 1997, a year before the TV series started. The manga storyline is a much more violent and sexually oriented, like a pornographic comic. The manga shows a depiction of many of the characters being tortured, rape and other disturbing moments.

Story from Volume 1

Jun Fudo was a teacher who raised her younger brother, Hikaru, while their father was away in the United States. One day, as she and a group of students go on an outdoor trip Jun begins to experience unusual nightmares. Far worse things were about to happen to them, however, when a group of demons, martial artists in human form, in a nearby chalet attempt to rape Jun and the female students in their demon forms.

As she was being violated, Jun felt her soul being ripped apart and because of this, a terrifying transformation occurs turning her into the Devil Lady. She protects the girls who have survived the demon attacks and kills the demons with her newfound strength. Suddenly, a woman named Lan Asuka appears and says that she was the one who had awakened the sleeping beast within Jun.

Totally confused by all this and also by her fathers sudden appearance and experience, things became too complicated for Jun to understand. Through Professor Fudo's knowledge, he tells a tale of a strange phenomenon that occurred in shantytowns years ago. It was known as the "Devil Beast Syndrome" in which its inhabitants would transform into demons and rape women before eating them with no memories or intelligence of their previous lives and giving them enhanced strength with other abilities to boot.

Professor Fudo doesn't believe that their "Devil Beast Syndrome" transformation was supernatural but was actually the next stage of human evolution, calling it "Nature's way of dealing with mankind's overpopulation". He also said that few people were genetically engineered to retain their conscience should the "Devil Beast Syndrome" occur in them, Jun being one of them. With Jun now becoming the Devilman Lady, she will fight for the sake for humanity to protect them from the devil beasts and their creations.

[edit] Anime TV Series

The Devil Lady TV show's storyline is almost completely different from the manga, featuring only two characters from the original manga, Jun Fudo and Lan Asuka. Also, because it was being shown on television, the sex and violence that was given in the manga had to be toned down.

[edit] Characters(anime)

 This section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (September 2007)
Jun (Jum) Fudo
Jun is a successful supermodel in Tokyo when the story begins. She is found by a woman, Lan Asuka who forces her to confront a werewolf-like monster called a Devil-beast. As it tears into Jun, her own powers awaken within her and she becomes a Devil-beast herself. She defeats the beast with her new powers and reverts back to her human form. Asuka then tells her that she is a member of a military unit known as the Human Alliance whose purpose is to hunt down and kill all those who are affected with Devil Beast Syndrome. Asuka gives Jun an ultimatum; if Jun doesn't hunt for them, she will be hunted by them. Jun has no choice but to obey Asuka from that point on.
Jun is a very quiet and timid person who seems to avoid most social interactions, with two exceptions. She is generally open with her manager and outrightly friendly with an aspiring teen model named Kazumi. As the series progresses she becomes much more independent. She is the second human with devil beast syndrome capable of retaining her ability to reason.
Voiced by: Junko Iwao (Japanese), Shawn Sides (English)
Devilman Lady/ The Devil Lady
Jun's alter ego, Devilman Lady is the exact opposite of Jun. She is loud, violent, and temperamental. Her unforgiving and aggressive nature tends to make all of her battles very graphic. Her appearance is basically a female version of Devilman.
As far as her abilities go, all of her senses are greatly increased and she has night vision. Her ability to heal is also highly amplified, bordering on regeneration. Her strength allows her to bend and twist steel girders, without struggle. She is able to fly via large wings that unfold from her back. She can generate high voltage electric currents to destroy her enemies instantly and form blades of energy around her arms or elbows to neatly slice through almost anything. Lastly is her most powerful ability called the giga-effect, with this ability she can become a giant and fight other devil-beasts that has grown immensely.
Aside from the way she can retain her human conscious, her giga-effect ability is what many people and devil-beasts alike are after.
Additional theory:
Although not openly spoken, the series seems to have a great deal untold psychological storyline dictating many of the characters' interactions.
With this in mind, it would appear that Jun's alter ego is an expression of a deeper inner self. Meaning that she has always had a desire for aggression and violence, always been a devil-beast, and she never confronted or reconciled that aspect of her persona. During the series she tells of growing up in Sendai city, and feeling very different around other children, being unable to relate to them well. The indication is that her alter ego has always been there, but subconsciously repressed, probably due to Jun fearing herself. As the series progresses, she becomes more independent, she also seems to reconcile this side of herself. Thus her monstrous, violent side blends with her kinder side as she becomes true to her own nature, and more mature. (Shown in only the last few episodes of the series.)
Side note: Many Japanese consider that Sendai (仙台) has, (on average) Japan's least attractive women, which coincides with a comment early on: Another model remarks that Jun is not very exotic looking, for a model, but instead looks very plain.
Lan Asuka
Asuka is the woman who scouted Jun for the Human Alliance, and is a high-ranking government official. As far as her personality goes, she is a cold, aggressive, and manipulative woman, who cares nothing for the people who work under her. When she forced Jun to confront the Devil-beast Wolver, she had no concern for Jun's survival, her theory that Jun was a Devil-beast was based only on a hunch. As the series progresses, even though she is cruel to Jun, she cares about Jun's safety. She acts as Jun's liaison and tells her when and where a beast will appear. She seems to have different intentions from her organization and does a great deal of work without their knowledge.
Voiced by: Kaoru Shimamura (Japanese), Siân Rees-Cleland (English)
Kazumi Takiura
Kazumi is a young and aspiring teen model who has been a fan of Jun Fudo's work since before she entered the profession. She meets Jun during an audition when she entered the wrong building, and since then they have been close friends, with Jun acting as a big sister or mentor. When Jun first joins the H.A. as a hunter she is forced to alienate her friends including Kazumi. However, this proves to be a mistake. When rogue Devil-beasts find out about Jun they consider her a traitor and seek to punish her. They do this by finding out about those close to her and Kazumi was an easy target. While Jun was able to find out in time to save Kazumi, she wasn't able to stop the beasts from brutally killing Kazumi's parents. Kazumi is later taken in by Jun, and is unaware of Jun's night life (although she strongly suspects something is wrong). As the series progresses, the relationship between Kazumi and Jun gradually progresses into a romantic one.
Voiced by: Kazusa Murai (Japanese), Camille Chen (English)
Dr. Jason Bates
Bates is a scientist working at the Samuelson Labs in New Jersey, and is the current head of all Devil-beast research. He visits Japan to witness Jun's battles for this research, and during this time, expresses an interest in Jun romantically, although the feelings are not mutual. He also expresses his views that the Devil-beasts are not evil and how he sympathizes with them. Later during Jun's battle with a Devil-beast in a television studio, she is nearly killed by a beast only to be saved by Bates, a Devil-man like Jun. Bates is the first devil-beast before Jun to retain human faculties, and be used for the side of humans, however he is far from being like Jun. He sometimes acts as though he would prefer to give in to his beast side and run amok like all of the others. This makes him a very dangerous potential threat.
Voiced by: Nakao Ryuusei (Japanese), J. Hudson Brownlee (English)
Kiyoshi Maeda
He is Asuka's personal secretary and also Jun's driver. Although he works for Asuka, he is more morally concerned with Jun's status not only as a human but also her demon side and he tries to help her as much as he can. As the storyline progresses, he ends up getting caught in a conspiracy that may end up getting him killed and a shocking truth is revealed as he learns more of Lan Asuka's past and the future that she will unleash.
Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki
Tatsuya Yuasa
Yuasa is Jun's long time modeling agent who has been there for her when she goes for auditions. He has a wife and daughter who loves him. After Jun's first Devilman experience, Yuasa started to get worried about Jun. As the story progresses, Yuasa feelings for Jun grew and is falling for her.
Voiced by: Naoya Uchida
Satoru
A child who acts as the leader and organizer of the more militant Devil-Beasts, who's intention is the genocide of all humans. Satoru is a clever and dangerous foe who Jun has underestimated several times. He considers Jun a traitor to his kind and he will use all of his resources to make her life a living nightmare.
Voiced by: Mami Koyama

[edit] Devil-Beast Syndrome (Anime)

This "disease" is a strange affliction that plagues the Devil Lady universe. While it may stay dormant within a user for years without a symptom, once they begin to become apparent there is no cure. An individual with D.B.S. will usually transform into a monstrous creature with awesome powers and little to no control over themselves. The transformations always seem to have something to do with the users inner feelings or strengths (cat lovers may become cat-like, swimmers may become fish-like etc), those that retain their greater human faculties have the ability to control when and how they transform. It takes a great deal of damage to kill someone with D.B.S. Lastly is the Giga effect. Presumably any Devil-Beast with enough control is able to "Go Giga" or to mutate into its most powerful form, which always seems to include a dramatic size increase (sometimes the size of a skyscraper).

Later as the syndrome becomes more wide spread, it is learned that the syndrome is not passed as a virus but as sensory data. Simply being around a Devil-Beast and experiencing it with any of the five senses is enough to become one. On top of that, being around a particular Devil-Beast for a long amount of time will make a person become a Devil-Beast of similar design (Kazumi grew wings almost exactly like Jun's). Also it becomes apparent that simply becoming a Devil-Beast is not enough to make one act monstrous, and that the ones Jun was forced to dispatch were merely more volatile individuals incapable of accepting their change.

By the end of the series it is revealed that the Devil-Beasts are merely the next stage in human evolution and completely inevitable. The idea that this change would be negative and disastrous is proven false and ends on an optimistic note with Jun walking past two little girls at play who both have tails.

[edit] Episode List

  • 1. Beast
  • 2. Blood
  • 3. Wings
  • 4. Seed
  • 5. Shark
  • 6. Cat
  • 7. Fog
  • 8. Enemy
  • 9. Eyes
  • 10. Flames
  • 11. Box
  • 12. Faces
  • 13. Rope
  • 14. Home
  • 15. Crows
  • 16. Voice
  • 17. Hunger
  • 18. Body
  • 19. Fetters
  • 20. Corpses
  • 21. Signs
  • 22. Wish
  • 23. Life
  • 24. Heart
  • 25. God
  • 26. Man

[edit] Manga/Anime Differences

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

(Please note: The following information has only been checked against an untranslated copy of the manga and therefore may be less than accurate.)

The anime series is more of a makeover from its manga. The manga consisted of 17 volumes and is more adult oriented. There were many differences between the manga and the TV series. They are:

  • Jun Fudou is completely different from her anime version, she is much tougher, brave and exercises regularly. She is also a teacher. As the story progresses, she gets more affiliated with the military and using their weapons. The Giga effect that transforms her into the Devil Lady in the TV series is not exactly introduced in the manga. She does enlarges herself at will to a certain size for escaping (including growing wings) and giving birth to her loved one. She also makes use of her tail as a weapon unlike her tail in the TV series which doesn't do anything.
  • Jun's Devil Lady Awakening is also different. In the TV series, she was awakened by a werewolf attacking her in episode 1. The manga shows her awakening when she and her female students were violated by the devil beast.
  • Lan Asuka is different in the manga. She has psychic powers and can disappear and reappear. She can also feel a presence of a devil-beast when one is nearby. She is also much more friendly to Jun unlike the anime version of herself. In the manga, Kazumi doesn't exist and Azuka is the love interest.
  • Other characters from the Devilman series make an appearance. Akira Fudo/Devilman, Ryo Asuka/Satan, Silene, Demon Lord Dante, Psycho Jenny and Zenon make an appearance.
  • Aoi Kurasaki, who was a character introduced in the anime in episode 5, also appeared in the manga. But unlike the TV series, she appears more often and is in love with Jun. Her appearance is also completely different. She has more muscles. She has 2 devil bodies, the first being a shark form as seen on the TV series.
  • Unlike the TV series, Jun Fudou is never into lesbianism except with Lan Asuka. But it could be interpreted as self-love because they are one being. Plus Lan Asuka is actually male. Jun Fudou's true love is Akira Fudo/Devilman.
  • Humanity is doomed in the manga instead of being saved in the TV series.

[edit] See also

[edit] References to other anime

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Both Jun Fudo and Lan Asuka's last names are derived from the male protagonists from Devilman, Akira Fudo and Ryo Asuka.
  • The character Kazumi never appeared in the original manga. Her looks are based upon the character Miki Makimura, Akira Fudo's female friend in Devilman.
  • During the latter part of the series, an Akira Fudo lookalike, Takeshi, joins the cast. He was voiced by Ryouichi Tanaka, who played Akira/Devilman in the original Devilman TV series.
  • Another anime creation by Go Nagai was Iron Virgin Jun, in which the main character is named Jun Asuka, an amalgamation of Jun Fudo and Lan Asuka's names.
  • Jun's two forms are actually a tribute to both versions of Devilman. While her regular sized form is similar to the second generation Devilman, her Giga Effect form is a tribute to the original one. This is evident both by her increase in size(an ability she shares with the original) and her turquoise skin and yellow eyes. She also has no body hair in her Giga Effect form, looking slicker and more solid, another difference between the original Devilman and his (hairier) successor.

[edit] External links

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