Devilman

Original Title: デビルマン
Romanized: Devilman
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

Global warming is beginning to thaw the ice caps, and rising sea levels aren't the only nasty side-effect--there are some immortal demons that have been trapped in the polar ice for the past few millennia, and they're none too happy about the situation. And, of course, their prey of choice are human beings. Enter Akira, one of those average, everyday anime high school students (well, except for the fact that his parents died under mysterious circumstances while spelunking at the south pole). When Akira's friend Ryo shows up and tells Akira about the unsuspecting world's impending demon problem, Akira decides to take a crack at joining with a demon himself. In theory, a pure young man should be able to control the demon's consciousness and harness its power to fight the rest of its kin, but will it really be that easy? If it is, then Devilman will be the one force standing between the people of earth and demon anarchy.

Review

Rating: 3 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2005-02-01

Ah, more demonic carnage from the master of gore (or sleaze, depending on the series), Nagai Go. True to form, Devilman has heapin' helpings of bloody demon fightin' action, a lot of nudity (male and female, for once), and enough spilled guts to fill a dumptruck. It also has some rough spots and starts off with some rather unsettling writing (of the wrong sort), but by and large Devilman ended up being better than I was expecting, at least among gory action movies.

Devilman starts out a little slowly, and although the level of tension is pretty high, nothing really happens until toward the end of the first episode. Plot-wise, that episode also botches Ryo's moral dilemma (or rather lack thereof): the grim task of merging with a demon to save the earth has an air of tragedy to it, but the method used to get there is just plain out of character for him. Skip the rest of the paragraph if you hate spoilers, but I just can't see a sweet, rabbit-protecting high school student looking at a room full of unsuspecting ne'r-do-wells who are about to be possessed by demons and then killed (by him, if all goes as planned), and having his only concern be whether he'll really be able to beat them all. His friend's insane drive and the general idea of the Black Sabbath cast as a loser punk party were both fine, but the nonchalance is totally out of character for Akira.

After the weak start, though, things pick up a lot; the characters are functionally interesting and sympathetic enough (always Nagai Go's strength, especially by the standards of gore flicks), the story gets moving, and there's lots and lots of action. Well, saying that the story gets moving is a little misleading--there really isn't any story to speak of, but at least there's a lot going on, and it's generally exciting.

Keeping the action exciting is something that Devilman does surprisingly well at; series like this usually aren't very interesting aside from the action because there is no real tension, and even during the fights you rarely get the feeling that the hero is trying very hard. In this case, though, some of the horror movie-inspired suspense scenes are tense and almost scary (not really, but way more than I was expecting), and I actually believed that Devilman could have lost a fight. It's a rare occasion that I feel attached enough to the hero in ultraviolent anime to care at all about the outcome of a fight, and this was one of those occasions.

None of that is to say that Devilman is anything impressive story-wise, just better than most of its kin. It's also not to say that there isn't a high cheese-factor; as usual, women always get attacked in the bathtub, the demons try to sound deep, and everything and everyone gets ripped into little bloody chunks in the end. (On the other hand, for those who appreciate tasteful tastelessness, the gore and nudity are plenty gratuitous without seeming to be in particularly poor taste.) I do appreciate the amusing social tie-ins; aside from the unforeseen side-effect of global warming there is some pseudo-deep talk about man's natural predators (who'd have thought that demon invasion would be the cure to Japan's overpopulation woes?).

Coming back to the gore, and considering that this is an older splatterfest series, the action is easily two steps above the norm--lots and lots of it, and a minimum of still-frame or cheap animation cop-outs. And just because the action is voluminous doesn't mean it isn't well done--the fight choreography is fast and surprisingly interesting. There are even a few flashes of creativity; the way that the superhuman battlers get around normal houses is a nice touch (Devilman clearing out an extra-large hole in the celling so as not to hurt the human he's carrying) and some of the bizarre things possessed household objects do are properly unsettling, too.

The gore also stands above the pack--this is Nagai Go, and he hasn't earned his popularity for nothing. The detail and relish with which the flying blood and viscera are executed is worthy of merit (not to mention on par with much newer animation), and there's even a touch of artistic flair to it. Along the same lines a couple of long (and completely gratuitous) scenes of life in prehistoric, demon infested times stood out as bizarre but creative in a sick-nature-show sort of way.

The acting in the dub (there is no sub as of this writing), unfortunately, doesn't do much for the legitimacy of the story or its seriousness. Though the actual acting is passable, this has the feel of an older dub in the worst way--stiff dialogue and exaggerated voices, and the writing is downright strange. The dialogue sounds like British English (words like "knickers" for underwear and "plaster" for a bandage), but none of the actors are British (though there is a demon with a Southern accent), making for some weird moments. The music is sparse and on par with other older OAVs; orchestral but overblown.

In all, Devilman does not rise above its demon-happy splatterfest roots, but within that genre it's surprisingly well done, and even has enough creativity to keep somewhat more discerning viewers interested. One thing it doesn't do is show it's age; this is vintage animation that can hold its own with anything new. Don't even think about it if you don't like gore and action, but there's more than enough of both of those things to keep almost anybody happy.

Related Recommendations

Aside from the parallel series Devil Lady, has a lot in common with Shuten Douji (the Star Hand Kid), another of Nagai Go's works. Also a little bit like the infamous Urotsuki Douji if that weren't... well, what it is. Say, I just noticed that "Douji" ("boy/kid") is in both of those titles... I wonder if it's just a coincidence...

US DVD Review

The DVD isn't bad, but there are a couple of major omissions. The video transfer is decent and the English audio is actually full Dolby 5.1 (though not terribly well separated). Unfortunately, there is no subtitle/caption track, and there is no Japanese audio (I have no idea why that would be missing). The menus (which seemed a bit glitchy) provide access to a chapter index, some previews, and a bio on Nagai Go.

Content Guide

Very, very gory (though most of the gore is demon-derived), and has lots of nudity (also largely demon-derived), plus generally foul language. Would easily be 16-up, if not worse on account of the sheer volume.

Violence: 4 - Massive amounts of blood and guts.

Nudity: 4 - Voluminous, though most of it is in the form of demons, and none of it is particularly detailed.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - Surprisingly little.

Language: 4 - Nothing creative, but a lot of coarse language.

Notes and Trivia

One of the earlier works of Nagai Go, creator of such dubious classics as Cutey Honey, Violence Jack, and Kekko Kamen. It's also the second anime I've seen this month that makes reference to Dante's Inferno (Sol Bianca: The Legacy was the other).

There was also a CG-heavy live action Devilman movie produced in 2004, and a third OAV episode produced much later, in 2000.

Availability

Available on dubbed (only) DVD from Manga Video. Was also available on dubbed VHS.

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