Devilman

Devilman

Cover of Kosansha's Shōnen Magazine #25 released on June 11, 1972, featuring the first chapter of Devilman.
デビルマン
(Debiruman)
Genre Action, horror fiction
Manga
Written by Go Nagai
Published by Kodansha
JIVE
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Original run June 11, 1972 – June 24, 1973
Volumes 5 (List of volumes)
TV anime
Directed by Masayuki Akihi
Tomoharu Katsumata
Produced by Ken Ariga
Yoshifumi Hatano
Written by Masaki Tsuji
Susumu Takaku
Tadaki Yamazaki
Toyohiro Shimokawa
Music by Goh Misawa
Studio Toei Animation
Network NET (now TV asahi)
Original run July 8, 1972 – April 7, 1973
Episodes 39
Manga
Shin Devilman
Written by Go Nagai (with Masaki Tsuji and Yasutaka Nagai)
Published by Kodansha
English publisher Verotik
Demographic Shōnen
Magazine Shōnen Magazine Special
Original run May 25, 1979 – May 8, 1981
Volumes 1
Novel
Shin Devilman
Written by Yasutaka Nagai
Illustrated by Go Nagai
Published by Asahi Sonorama
Imprint Sonorama Bunko
Original run May 13, 1981 – March 31, 1982
Volumes 4
Novel
Shin Video Shousetsu - Devilman: Tanjou Hen
Written by Yasutaka Nagai
Illustrated by Kazuo Komatsubara
Published by Kodansha
Published July 7, 1987
Original video animation
Devilman Tanjo Hen
Directed by Tsutomu Iida
Produced by Toshio Tanaka
Ryohei Suzuki
Katsuhiko Hasegawa
Koichi Murata
Written by Go Nagai
Tsutomu Iida
Music by Kenji Kawai
Studio King Records
Kodansha
Oh! Production
Licensed by L.A. Hero / Dark Image Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd.
Released November 1, 1987
Runtime 50 minutes
Original video animation
Devilman Yocho Sirène Hen
Directed by Tsutomu Iida
Produced by Toshio Tanaka
Ryohei Suzuki
Hirohiko Suekichi
Written by Go Nagai
Tsutomu Iida
Music by Kenji Kawai
Studio Bandai Visual
Kodansha
Oh! Production
Licensed by L.A. Hero / Dark Image Entertainment
Manga Entertainment
Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd.
Released February 25, 1990
Runtime 60 minutes
Novel
Devilman: The Novel
Written by Yasutaka Nagai
Illustrated by Go Nagai
Published by MediaWorks
Imprint Dengeki Bunko
Original run May 25, 1999 – August 25, 1999
Volumes 4
Game
CR Devilman
Publisher NewGin
Genre Pachinko
Platform Arcade
Released 2002
Live-action film
Directed by Hiroyuki Nasu
Produced by Rioko Tominaga
Toshiyuki Matsui
Hiromi Kitasaki
Written by Machiko Nasu
Music by Goro Yasukawa
Hiro (theme song)
Studio Toei Company
Licensed by Media Blasters / Tokyo Shock
Eastern Eye
Released October 9, 2004
Runtime 115 minutes
Anime and Manga Portal

Devilman (デビルマン Debiruman?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai which originally started as an anime adaptation of the concept of Nagai's previous manga series, Demon Lord Dante. A 39 episode anime series was developed by Toei in 1972 and Nagai began Devilman as a manga in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine, barely a month before the anime series started. The series has since spawned numerous OVAs, manga, novels, and films.

Devilman and other characters from the series have shown up in cameo appearances numerous times in Go Nagai's other works. The most notable is Tomoharu Katsumata's 1973 feature film Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman, which features Devilman teaming up with Nagai's titular robot to fight Dr. Hell.

Contents

Plot

Devilman is about a teenager named Akira Fudo. At first, Akira is very shy, modest and gentle, trying to avoid conflict. When his parents are lost on a business trip in the Arctic, Akira goes to stay with his childhood friend Miki Makimura and her family (mother, father, and bratty kid brother Tare). Both soon form a close relationship. Miki, a tough, smart, self-sufficient girl, loves Akira but wishes that he would stand up for himself when he gets pushed around, and is frustrated by his lack of backbone. She often has to defend herself from bullies even when Akira is with her. In the first OVA, she saves Akira from a gang of bullies who are threatening him.

One day, Akira's best friend, Ryo Asuka, asks a favor and completely changes Akira's life. Ryo's father had discovered the existence of demons when he found a mask during an excavation of the ruins of an ancient Mayan temple. This mask turns out to be a fossilized demon skull, which shows whomever wore it what the world was like when demons ruled over it. Ryo shows Akira this and informs him about the demons' revival. Akira then sees Ryo's plan: "To fight a demon, one must become a demon."

Demons have the ability to possess and control humans. However, Ryo believes that people like Akira may be able to harness a demon's powers when possessed, due to the fact that Akira has a pure heart. Ryo takes his friend to a nightclub and picks a fight to draw demonic attention to the club. Demons possess the clubbers and threaten Ryo and Akira, until a demon known as Amon the Lord of War, also called the Beast of Hell, and also one of the strongest demons attempts to possess Akira. However Akira manages to gain the upper hand of the possessing process with Amon and transforms into Devilman. Devilman contains the strength and power of the demon Amon, as well as the heart and soul of Akira, giving Akira complete control.

After he becomes Devilman, Akira is no longer timid and shy. He becomes very aggressive and no longer lets anyone push him around. This change pleases Miki, although she is unaware of Akira's new-found powers.

Throughout the series, Devilman has many battles with the demon hordes. He encounters many foes such as Sirène the demon bird, the water demon Geruma, and a large turtle-like demon called Jinmen.

In the manga, the story ends with Akira is revealed by Ryo on a TV broadcast to be Devilman, yet the Makimura's still accept Akira as their friend. Akira then confronts Ryo and discovers that his friend Ryo is really Satan in a dormant state. Satan reveals to Akira that he convinced Akira to become Devilman in order to survive in the world he was planning to create. After Miki and her whole family are brutally slain by a paranoid human horde (in a particularly famous scene, Akira retrieves Miki's dismembered body from her burned house and later is seen holding her head in his arms), Akira states that he has no one left to protect, thus has no reason to exist except to have his final fight with Satan. Satan reveals that he has fallen in love with Akira and is a hermaphrodite. The final fight between Devilman and Satan and his armies ensues. The Earth is totally destroyed during this battle, and Devilman dies at the hands of a regrettful Satan, who revealed his/her reason for defying God was because that even though God created demons, he wished to destroy them. Satan was appaled at this, believing that even though demons were a violent, bloodthirsty race, they still had a right to live, so he/she joined the demons. While he/she explains this to a dying Akira, he/she realized in the end, he/she was no better than God.

The 1972 anime TV series has no such apocalyptic conclusion and the ending is happier for Akira and Miki than in the manga. Devilman's identity as a real demon is exposed to Miki in the final episode, but she accepts that she is in love with Devilman, even if he is not human.

Production

Devilman evolved from Go Nagai's previous manga, Demon Lord Dante, after Toei Animation approached Nagai about turning Dante into a television series.[1] The producers wanted certain elements toned down, and a more human-like anti-hero created. Devilman was born as a result of this. Go Nagai worked on the anime's scenario along with Masaki Tsuji, a well-known anime scenario and science-fiction writer who later worked on such series as Captain Future, Urusei Yatsura, and Dr. Slump.

Along with the television series, Devilman was also produced as a serialized manga with over 53 issues in Shōnen Magazine beginning in 1972.[2] Go Nagai designed the manga to be more horror-like and mature than the anime version, making it similar in tone to Demon Lord Dante. It was later reprinted in a five-volume series, and has enjoyed over a dozen reprints in five different languages. The manga's occult horror elements, extreme violence, and complex apocalyptic story made it an instant hit.

Media

Manga

Main article: List of Devilman chapters

The manga was originally published by Kodansha from June 11, 1972 (1972-06-11) to June 24, 1973 (1973-06-24) in Shōnen Magazine.[2] The series has been published in tankōbon format several times, most of them by Kodansha. Starting with the 1987 publishing, most Kodansha editions include Shin Devilman, which originally was not meant to be included in the canon of the original series, as a part of the volumes.[3]

The manga has also been published along with Cutie Honey in the magazine Gekkan Kanzenban Devilman x Cutie Honey (月刊完全版デビルマン×キューティーハニー gekkan kanzenban debiruman x kyūteī hanī?) published by JIVE during 2004[4] in order to take advantage of the release of the live-action films of both series.

Shin Devilman (新デビルマン shin debiruman'?) was originally published in Kodansha's Shōnen Magazine Special in May 25, 1979 (1979-05-25), January 25, 1980 (1980-01-25), September 15, 1980 (1980-09-15), March 6, 1981 (1981-03-06) and May 8, 1981 (1981-05-08). All chapters were drawn by Go Nagai, but the first chapter was written in collaboration with Masaki Tsuji, while chapters two and three were written by Hiroshi Koenji.[5] The rest of the chapters were done by Nagai. The manga is sometimes known as Devilman 2 and Neo Devilman.[3] In this manga, Akira and Ryo travel to different epochs and places from human history in order to stop demons from causing hate between humans and thus make humanity destroy itself. In the first chapter they meet a young Adolf Hitler, in the second the French heroine Joan of Arc, in the third the goddess Nike, in the fourth Marie Antoinette, and in the last chapter the Cheyenne and Custer.

A one-shot, which is not originally part of Shin Devilman, but that has always been compiled along with the series in Tankobon, was published in the magazine Variety by Kadokawa Shoten.[5] This 16-page story does not have any text and it presents the moments of Akira after the death of Miki in the original series, but before the battle with Satan, as he buries the remains of Miki and encounters Ryo.

Anime

Main article: List of Devilman episodes

The anime series was 39 episodes long and ran from July 8, 1972 (1972-07-08) to April 7, 1973 (1973-04-07) on NET (now TV Asahi).[6] The series enjoyed high ratings while it was on the air, though its popularity was dwarfed by that of Nagai's longer-running Mazinger Z on Fuji TV. The storyline of the anime series is different from that of the manga and of the OVAs.

Outside Japan, the TV series was broadcast in Italy in 1983 and enjoyed great popularity there.

OVAs

Devilman: The birth (デビルマン 誕生編 debiruman tanjō hen?) was released in November 1, 1987 (1987-11-01) by King Records.[7] It was followed by Devilman: The Demon Bird (デビルマン 妖鳥シレーヌ編 debiruman yōchō shirēnu hen?), released in February 25, 1990 (1990-02-25) by Bandai Visual.[8] Kazuo Komatsubara, an animation director on the original TV series, was the character designer for the OVAs, which were animated by his Oh Production.

Both were directed by Umanosuke Iida (credited under his birth name, Tsutomu Iida) and were closely developed in conjunction with Nagai himself. The OVAs' plot revolves around Akira's transformation into Devilman up until his battle with Sirène. Besides a few minor alterations, the OVAs are faithful to the original manga. Both OVAs were released on Laserdisc and on a single DVD by Bandai Visual in March 28, 2003 (2003-03-28).[9] The two OVAs are also the only Devilman anime to have been commercially released in the United States (by Manga Entertainment), although the DVD release includes only the English-dubbed version (the original Japanese version was previously released on VHS).

In 2000, Amon: Apocalypse of Devilman was released as a pay-per-view event in Japan and was later released on video and DVD. It covers the period between the humans becoming aware of demons and the final battle between Devilman and Satan.

Films

Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman is a crossover film between Devilman and Mazinger Z produced by Toei and released in July 18, 1973 (1973-07-18). The movie features alternative versions of the events from both series, and is therefore not canonical to either one.

In October 9, 2004 (2004-10-09), a live-action tokusatsu film directed by Hiroyuki Nasu was theatrically released in Japan.[10] The film starred Hisato Izaki as Devilman, Yūsuke Izaki as Ryo Asuka and Ayana Sakai as Miki Makimura. The cast also included AV Idol Maria Yumeno.[10][11]

Music

A large number of soundtrack albums have been released since the beginning of the original series.

Title Format Company Standard number Release date
Devilman Flexi disc Asahi Sonorama APM-4016 July 10, 1972 (1972-07-10)
Devilman EP record Columbia SCS-502 August 10, 1972 (1972-08-10)
TV Original BGM Collection: Devilman LP album Columbia CX-7088 March 1983 (1983-03)
TV Original BGM Collection: Devilman CD Columbia 28CC-2295 May 21, 1988 (1988-05-21)
TV Animation Drama Series: Devilman CD Columbia COCC-12398 March 1, 1995 (1995-03-01)
Animex 1200 Series 71: Devilman CD Columbia COCC-72071 September 22, 2004 (2004-09-22)
Original Soundtrack Devilman Tanjo Hen Ongakushu LP album King Records K20G-7359 1987 (1987)
Original Soundtrack Devilman Tanjo Hen Ongakushu CD King Records K30X-7094 November 1987 (1987-11)
Visual Sound Series Devilman Shin Mokushiroku CD King Records K32X-7055 1987 (1987)
Devilman Tanjo Hen / Yocho Sirène Hen CD King Records KICA-10 March 21, 1990 (1990-03-21)
Devilman Densetsu ~ The Legends of DEVILMAN CD Pony Canyon FSCA-10054 October 21, 1998 (1998-10-21)
Nagai Go Hero Densetsu Onkyo Geki Devilman Armageddon Hen CD First Smile Entertainment FSCA-10209 February 20, 2002 (2002-02-20)
Devilman Densetsu + 3 ~ The Legends of DEVILMAN CD BeeSmile BSCH-30011 March 10, 2004 (2004-03-10)
Eternal Edition Dynamic Pro Films Files No.11 & 12: Devilman CD Columbia COCX-32285/6 July 23, 2003 (2003-07-23)
Devilman no Uta (21st century ver.) CD single TEAM Entertainment KDSD-95 February 22, 2006 (2006-02-22)
Hikari no Naka de CD single Sonic Groove AVCD-16051 September 23, 2004 (2004-09-23)
Devilman Original Soundtrack CD avex trax AVCD-17543 October 6, 2004 (2004-10-06)

Other media

Three novels have been released. The first one Shin Devilman (真・デビルマン shin debiruman?) was written by Go Nagai's brother Yasutaka Nagai with illustrations by Go. It was originally published in 1981 by Asahi Sonorama in four books.[12] It is not related to the manga Shin Devilman, from which some chapters were also written by Yasutaka. With the release of the first OVA, in 1987 a single volume novel based on it was released by Kodansha titled Shin Video Shosetsu - Devilman: Tanjo Hen (新ビデオ小説 デビルマン 誕生編 shin bideo shousetsu debiruman tanjou hen?). It was also written by Yasutaka Nagai, but it had illustrations by the OVA's main designer, Kazuo Komatsubara. In 1999 a second novelization of 4 volumes titled Devilman: The Novel (デビルマン The Novel?) was published by MediaWorks and once again written by Yasutaka and illustrated by Go.[12] All three series of novels are unrelated to each other even though all were written by Yasutaka Nagai.

A video game based on Devilman was released for the Famicom by Namco on April 25, 1989 (1989-04-25).[13] Bandai also released a game based on Devilman for the Sony PlayStation and Windows 98 on April 13, 2000 (2000-04-13).[14] Along with several of Nagai's other creations, Devilman appeared in the Japanese Super Famicom game CB Chara Wars: Ushinawareta Gag (CBキャラウォーズ 笑われたギャーグ cb kyarauōzu warawa reta gyāgu?).[15]

Devilman and other characters from the series have shown up in cameo appearances numerous times in Go Nagai's other works. The most notable is Tomoharu Katsumata's 1973 feature film Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman. Miki is the first female protagonist of the 1974 manga Oira Sukeban, and Akira has appeared in various incarnations of Cutie Honey, most notably the 1994 OVA New Cutie Honey. Miki and Ryo Asuka also appear as dogs (with dog-like bodies and human heads) in the Violence Jack manga.

Powers & Abilities

Devilman possesses a variety of powers that are mostly consistent with every appearance.

(Note: Devilman's named attacks are mainly associated only with the series and not the main manga. Only a few related manga actually have him using these techniques by name, such as Devilman VS Getter Robo.)

His other powers include superhuman strength, speed, and movement, a healing factor that allows him to grow back limbs in a matter of hours, and superhuman endurance that grants him a high resistance to heat and acids except for his wings. In the television series he could use echolocation to locate his opponents, survive in space, and could change his size, usually being around 20 feet tall. This tied into a weakness of Devilman, where injuries he sustained as either a human or in a smaller form would become worse in giant form.

Demons

Throughout the Devilman franchise demons have been used as Devilman's opponents in both the manga and the anime. In the original manga and the OVA trilogy, demons were ancient life forms that required to consume other creatures including other demons to grow and become stronger. In the television series they became more similar to demons from religions such as Christianity and were more organized, although they were just as brutal toward each other.

From The Manga

TV series demons

In the 1970's TV series, the Demon Tribe consists of demons from ancient times led by Xenon, a shadowy figure that replaces Satan in the anime and appears similar to Demon Lord Dante. It has been shown in various episodes that they care very little for other organisms and even each other, as they often fight to the death no matter how small the disagreement. Devilman becomes rogue against the rest of the Demon Tribe in the first episode. Most of the demons have supernatural powers such as shapeshifting, telekinesis, teleportation, possession of organisms and objects, illusions, and phasing through matter. Since most of the demons, including Devilman, often fly back from Japan to the Himalayas in under a minute, the presumed flight speed is around Mach 14.

Remakes and sequels

Go Nagai released a manga series called Violence Jack. The series takes place during the aftermath of Armageddon and the battle between Satan and Devilman. It is speculated that Jack is Akira Fudo, who has lost his memory. This series became an OVA in 1986, and was released in the United States in the 1990s in an edited release by Manga Entertainment and an uncensored release by Critical Mass.

The cast of Devilman also crossed over with characters from Mazinger Z and Violence Jack in the 1991 OVA CB Chara Nagai Go World. This release featured the familiar characters in comical and lighthearted antics in super deformed form. In this series, it is revealed that Violence Jack is a future version of Akira Fudo. It is also revealed that Miki is an otaku and that she knew of Akira's identity as Devilman due to reading the manga offscreen.

In 1997, Nagai created Devil Lady. Devil Lady is based on Nagai's idea of if the main character was a woman. The Devil Lady series contains its own original story that stands out from the Devilman series.

Popular reception and themes

The storyline in Devilman made it stand apart from other manga of the time. However, its extreme violence made it a major target of protest for the PTA and other groups. The manga has been translated into English in a series of five bilingual manga volumes published by Kodansha,[16] although the only Devilman anime to have been commercially released in America are the late 1980s OVAs.

Go Nagai is said to have been highly shocked that his giant-robot work Mazinger Z, which was on Japanese TV at the same time as Devilman and which he originally did not take very seriously, surpassed Devilman in popularity. The reason was that he had worked especially hard on Devilman and only made Mazinger as a way to blow off steam.

In an essay written three decades after the debut of the original manga and TV series, Nagai commented that he designed Devilman as an anti-war work. According to Nagai, the fusion of humans and demons is an analogy for the draft, and Miki's gruesome death parallels the death of peace. "There is no justice in war, any war," wrote Nagai, "nor is there any justification for human beings killing one another. Devilman carries a message of warning, as we step toward a bright future."[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "Devilman Revelations". devilworld.org. Archived from the original on 2006-06-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20060620081843/http://devilworld.org/revelations.html. 
  2. ^ a b "Go Nagai works list 1971-1975" (in Japanese). Nagai Go Special Corner. Japan: eBOOK Initiative Japan. http://www.ebookjapan.jp/ebj/nagaigo/works_02.asp. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  3. ^ a b "Shin Debiruman - Devilman 2" (in Italian). Nagai Go Special Corner. Japan: d/visual. http://www.d-world.jp/dv/gonagai.php?action=devilman2. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  4. ^ "Gekkan Kanzenban Devilman x Cutie Honey Vol.1" (in Japanese). Japan: JIVE. http://www.jive-ltd.co.jp/catalog/devilhoney01.html. Retrieved 2009-08-03. 
  5. ^ a b "Go Nagai works list 1976-1980" (in Japanese). Nagai Go Special Corner. Japan: eBOOK Initiative Japan. http://www.ebookjapan.jp/ebj/nagaigo/works_03.asp. Retrieved 2009-08-04. 
  6. ^ "Devilman (1972's anime TV series) - animemorial.net". Japan: animemorial.net. http://www.animemorial.net/en/123-Devilman. Retrieved 2009-08-02. 
  7. ^ "Devilman: Tanjo Hen" (in Japanese). Japan: allcinema. http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=88770. Retrieved 2009-07-31. 
  8. ^ "Devilman: Yocho Sirène Hen (Digital Beat - Work detail)" (in Japanese). Japan: Bandai Visual. http://product.bandaivisual.co.jp/web_service/shop_product_info.asp?item_no=BES-0351. Retrieved 2009-07-31. 
  9. ^ "Devilman OVA Collection (Digital Beat - Work detail)" (in Japanese). Japan: Bandai Visual. http://product.bandaivisual.co.jp/web_service/shop_product_info.asp?item_no=BCBA-1570. Retrieved 2009-08-03. 
  10. ^ a b "Devilman film" (in Japanese). [http://www.allcinema.net/ AllCinema. http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=319020. Retrieved 2010-10-30. 
  11. ^ Devilman at the Internet Movie Database
  12. ^ a b "Devilman variation novels" (in Japanese). Japan: Viva! Dynamic. http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~wx5h-ktb/gofo/devarie_novel.html. Retrieved 2009-08-03. 
  13. ^ "Devilman for NES". GAMESPOT.com. http://www.gamespot.com/nes/action/devilman/index.html. 
  14. ^ "Devilman Release Information for PlayStation - GameFAQs". USA: CBS Interactive. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/data/577175.html. Retrieved 2009-07-31. 
  15. ^ "CB Chara Wars Release Information for SNES - GameFAQs". USA: CBS Interactive. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/data/581962.html. Retrieved 2009-07-31. 
  16. ^ "Devilman (Kodansha bilingual comics)" (in Japanese). Japan: National Institute of Informatics. http://webcatplus-equal.nii.ac.jp/libportal/DocDetail?txt_docid=NCID%3ABA60451114. 

External links

Devilman by Go Nagai