Welcome again humans, to one of my anime reviews(because I know you need to take a breather from those interview articles).
This time around we dust off the old treasure chest and pull out a good classic. This is a really evil and blood curdling one with some kicking ass served on the side. We make a deal with the devil (or rather merge with one) in Devilman. The bad ass of bad asses when it comes to old school anime(an ass so bad that you can’t even sit down with it).
His face is pretty bad too.
Devilman was originally a gruesome action/horror manga in the early 70s and has quite a history and following. This particular edition is the two part ova (original video anime) released In the mid 80’s. There was an anime based on the Devilman manga In the 70’s, but it was a rather tame monster of the week show and really deviated from the story. This one on the other hand is the first to get everything pretty spot on.
In Devilman, we learn that demons were once the dominant species millions of years ago(much like VHS was). The ice age froze all of them, and over the last evolutionary years mankind has risen unopposed. But the demons have been gradually thawing due to global warming (an inconvenient truth indeed). Akira Fudo learns from his friend Ryo the ability to merge with a demon, thus becoming the hero Devilman. Fighting and killing demons with his demonic powers. The ova covers the origin of Devilman in one hour episode, followed by the second being about his battle with the bird-woman demon Sirène.
The anime is quite superb in setting up a dark atmosphere. Plenty of dark colors and some really weird looking demon designs. This also includes animation where Devilman and the demons can speak without moving their mouths. And you can bet things get quite bloody throughout the show. Staying true to the manga , demons and humans are ripped apart . Devilman has powers such as fireballs, but all he really needs is his own hands (everybody’s favorite) in order to murder a few demons and get the violent action going.
And of course the character’s relationships and personalities are entertaining to watch too. Akira is the man of heroics while his pal Ryo is a hardened but also cool collected guy that provides info on the demons. The evolution of Akira from a shy boy to the bloodthirsty Devilman is an intriguing trip. He starts off as somebody who won’t fight back when threatened, and bit by bit he becomes more accepting of the things he must do. Until he goes through the process of becoming Devilman. Upon his transformation, he completely becomes a killing machine in his demon form, while in human form he is absolutely confident in himself. Although after his transformation, he still has to mentally balance being both demon and human(like trying to eat chocolate and vanilla at the same time).
Devilman prefers chocolate.
So there are the bloodsoaked details of this old school gem. Go watch now before you become part demon and lose interest(boredom demons are the worst).
