Unknown
04-17-2004, 03:56 PM
"Who is it? Tell me who is it. It is Devilman! Devilman! He is called the traitor. He gives all he has to fight. The arrow of a devil is the supersonic wave. The ear of a devil is the ear of hell. The wings of a devil can fly. The light wave of a devil is a heated light wave. He has the power of a devil. He is the hero of justice. Devilman! Devilman!" - roughly translated lyrics to the DEVILMAN opening theme song.
I've recently been watching the old 70's DEVILMAN tv series (or as the original Japanese spoken version goes, DEBIRU-MAN) so I thought I'd put together some comments, thoughts, and opinions about this excellent little show as I went along since the upcoming Japanese live action motion picture has new viewers interested in the character (read about it <url=http://www.horrorexpress.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=585&st=0>HERE</url>. It'll probably be best to do this by pointing out the more interesting aspects or developments about the various episodes instead of lengthy individual episode breakdowns because that would just take forever considering that there's thirty-something episodes in the complete series. I'll also post different screen captures from the DVD's too for visual assistance and as reference material.
Most importantly before I start, it has to be noted that this Devilman is NOT a hero or other such nonsense. In fact, truth be told, he actually helped in killing Akira Fudo and his father in order to find a human host body for himself. There's also no demonic Amon spirit that made it's way here either as you've seen in later animated versions of the character. This is simply Devilman, the demon. And when he's playing at being the human, Akira Fudo, he still retains his own devilish mind which, as you can expect, really makes him a very bad person. Quite simply put, he's a bully, a thug, and always has to have his way or there's gonna be a fight. He's selfish, rude, impulsive, and easily agitated. Just the sort of behavior you'd expect from a demon, huh? But hey, that's why he was sent to Earth by Lord Demon (Xenon) to begin with, to cause chaos and harm, and set up for the arrival of all the other devils intent to conquer our puny planet.
One thing to note that's quite different from what you may have seen before, the 70's Devilman has the ability to "grow" to an enlarged state, somewhere between 50 and 100 feet tall. I'm not real sure of the exact height. This ability is essential in his fight against the other monsters since they too can become such large horrific beasts. Funny thing though, this power (which may or may not have gone over well with fans) would eventually be dropped from all the other Devilman products that followed since this series. Yet it's something that would return in the DEVILMAN LADY (aka DEVIL LADY) saga that GO NAGAI created much much later. I can only assume that it all comes from his earliest serpentine creation, MAO DANTE (alias DEVIL DANTE or DEMON LORD DANTE) which, to my knowledge, was the original concept idea for DEVILMAN. This character also was a demonic giant that towered above the buildings of mortal man and laid waste to the masses in the most malevolent of manners. But it's something that can (and must) be reviewed at another time.
Anyway, to wrap things up, after assuming Akira's human body and identity as a highschool student, he moves in with Miki Makimura, her younger brother Taro, and her parents kinda as a foster or surrogate family. But strangely enough, he finds Miki to be most appealing to him. She's sexy, sassy, and to his shocking surprise, she won't take any lip from him. Ah, it must be love! Of course, if she had any clue that he was actually a demon, I'm sure she'd be alittle more careful around him. But when Lord Demon finds out why Devilman isn't fucking shit up as he should be, he promptly orders Miki's death. Well, Devilman just won't stand for this so he goes against the Devil Clan (the term of Lord Demon's horde) and thus sets the stage for the "Meet And Defeat The Demon Monster Of The Week" storyline which initially serves to flesh out all of our characters.
The animation and, for the most part, the storylines can be considered quite crude by today's high cinematic standards. But give 'em a break, this was waaaay back in the 70's. The artwork is very similar to other Japanese anime series of that time period you've probably seen before such as SPEED RACER (alias MACH A GO GO) or BATTLE OF THE PLANETS (alias GATCHAMAN or G-FORCE) or STARBLAZERS (alias SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO). Yet oddly enough, for some reason, I think the style still works for this show with it's relentless and often psychedelic approach to earthly annihilation by wickedly evil satanic forces. I mean, even with thirty years under it's belt, the series still packs a wallop and refuses to pull it's punches as it serves up violent visions of people being burnt alive, ripped in half, eaten, tortured, and generally tormented to no end. There's mass murders, large scale destruction, violence towards women, violence towards children, you name it. Oh, ya just gotta love the carnage! I can only suggest that you just watch it with an open mind and after all's said and done, I don't think you'll have any problems with it's aging onscreen appearance.
Now, at long last, the DEVILMAN television series reviews begin...
Our story starts in episode one far off in the snowy mountains of the Himalayas as Lord Demon awakens and asks for three powerful able-bodied demonic servants to appear before him. He tells them his plans for dominating and ruling the human world, something he wants more than anything else. But only the mightiest of demons can have the special privilege of carrying out his wishes so he commands the three to kill one another until only a single mighty survivor is left standing. Now this particular demon will lead the way for the rest to follow once they've all been awakened from their ancient slumber. And you guessed it, Devilman wins this savage battle royal. However, during this demonic melee showdown, Akira Fudo and his father, who have been mountain climbing, stumble unto this scene of battle. As expected, they're instantly killed by the three demons so when Devilman eventually wins the fray, he's saved the daunting task of searching out a perfect human host body to disguise himself in. He chooses Akira and he's sent off into our world to prepare it for the upcoming infernal hellish apocalypse.
Episode two introduces us for the first time to Devilman's former friend and possible lover (and the most popular villian from all the various DEVILMAN incarnations), Silene the Devil Bird (or sometimes referred to as Siren the Demon Bird). She's sent by Lord Demon to investigate the mysterious and rebellious actions of the once subservient Devilman. Silene soon discovers that Devilman is indeed in love with the human Miki and she informs her superior about this disastrous development. Lord Demon instantly orders Miki's death unless Devilman returns to his unhallowed heritage. Devilman refuses this proposition and declares war on anyone who would dare harm his beloved Miki. One thing I'd like to point out now is the fact that no matter what he's said or done, Devilman's not much interested in saving people, or the world. He just doesn't want anything to happen to his would-be girlfriend and fighting demons determined to enslave or kill off the human race is simply a means to protect Miki, that's all. So Silene returns for a fight but is bested in battle and as I mentioned earlier, this sets up for the "Meet And Defeat The Demon Monster Of The Week" scenarios to begin.
Episode three isn't of much interest save for the new villian, Gelmer, who will later appear completely revamped and looking mighty stylish in the early 90's DEVILMAN resurrection as a two-part OVA masterpiece. No, I gotta take that back. There is something else worth mentioning about this episode. We find out Taro really can't control his bladder (see image to the left) when he's scared.
Episode four is of great importance since it introduces us to the demon general Zannin who will go on to appear in several episodes to come. One thing to note about the character of Zannin, he first made his debut in the old DEVIL DANTE manga and would go on to also show up in the DEVILMANLADY and AMON: DARKER SIDE OF DEVILMAN manga series too. But back to the story, Lord Demon, utterly disgusted by the failures of his underlings, summons the great Zannin to replace Devilman as the key piece in his plans for reclaiming the mortal world. He tells Zannin the legendary tale of how demons once ruled our planet during the time of the dinosaurs. And it was, in fact, the Ice Age that sent them packing into the frozen depths of the Himalayas, not human evolution. Now that their hibernation is finally over, Lord Demon believes that his demon brethren are destined to have their planet back. So with Zannin now running the show on Earth, he calls upon Bedora, a huge bat spooky looking beast that can control poisonous spiders, to kill Devilman. Of course, Bedora fails in his attempts and once he returns to Zannin in defeat, he's swiftly beaten and burnt to death for his failure. Zannin just doesn't play those kinds of games, it seems.
Episode five introduces us to another main ongoing character. And that's Himura, Akira's new classmate rival who surely seems that he has some sort of involvement with Lord Demon's gaggle of fiendish bad guys. But more on that later. Zannin's latest scheme involves a nasty demonic witch (Zobu-something) and another female demon named Rita. Rita was once Devilman's friend and Lord Demon's lover who was forever enslaved by the Devil Clan for trying to flee from her world into the mortal realm. Now sealed inside of a crystal casket with a crystal knife anchored in her chest, she's being used as bait to lure Devilman into a deadly trap. Well, always the valiant do-gooder (yeah right), Devilman pops in to help her out only to get mixed up in some of the most outrageous scenes and off-the-wall battles I've seen in the series so far. First off, we're shown Witch Zobu eating a still conscious Rita to assume her identity. Devilman gets pissed and in the final throw-down in a funky haunted mansion, Zobu gets her legs sliced off below the knees so she's forced to walk on her hands. She flees through a flaming door that looks like it goes straight to hell. She returns, floating through the air with some fight still left in her. But it gets worse. Devilman severs both of her arms this time and finally burns the evil bitch up with his patented "DEVIL ARROW" energy beam. And that's the end of the fight. And if that wasn't enough, we find out the teachers of the local highschool that Akira and Miki attend all suffer from a slight case of pedophilia. Yikes!
So, that about wraps up the first DEVILMAN television series review. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. And you can better believe that there's more insanity to come...
I've recently been watching the old 70's DEVILMAN tv series (or as the original Japanese spoken version goes, DEBIRU-MAN) so I thought I'd put together some comments, thoughts, and opinions about this excellent little show as I went along since the upcoming Japanese live action motion picture has new viewers interested in the character (read about it <url=http://www.horrorexpress.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=585&st=0>HERE</url>. It'll probably be best to do this by pointing out the more interesting aspects or developments about the various episodes instead of lengthy individual episode breakdowns because that would just take forever considering that there's thirty-something episodes in the complete series. I'll also post different screen captures from the DVD's too for visual assistance and as reference material.
Most importantly before I start, it has to be noted that this Devilman is NOT a hero or other such nonsense. In fact, truth be told, he actually helped in killing Akira Fudo and his father in order to find a human host body for himself. There's also no demonic Amon spirit that made it's way here either as you've seen in later animated versions of the character. This is simply Devilman, the demon. And when he's playing at being the human, Akira Fudo, he still retains his own devilish mind which, as you can expect, really makes him a very bad person. Quite simply put, he's a bully, a thug, and always has to have his way or there's gonna be a fight. He's selfish, rude, impulsive, and easily agitated. Just the sort of behavior you'd expect from a demon, huh? But hey, that's why he was sent to Earth by Lord Demon (Xenon) to begin with, to cause chaos and harm, and set up for the arrival of all the other devils intent to conquer our puny planet.
One thing to note that's quite different from what you may have seen before, the 70's Devilman has the ability to "grow" to an enlarged state, somewhere between 50 and 100 feet tall. I'm not real sure of the exact height. This ability is essential in his fight against the other monsters since they too can become such large horrific beasts. Funny thing though, this power (which may or may not have gone over well with fans) would eventually be dropped from all the other Devilman products that followed since this series. Yet it's something that would return in the DEVILMAN LADY (aka DEVIL LADY) saga that GO NAGAI created much much later. I can only assume that it all comes from his earliest serpentine creation, MAO DANTE (alias DEVIL DANTE or DEMON LORD DANTE) which, to my knowledge, was the original concept idea for DEVILMAN. This character also was a demonic giant that towered above the buildings of mortal man and laid waste to the masses in the most malevolent of manners. But it's something that can (and must) be reviewed at another time.
Anyway, to wrap things up, after assuming Akira's human body and identity as a highschool student, he moves in with Miki Makimura, her younger brother Taro, and her parents kinda as a foster or surrogate family. But strangely enough, he finds Miki to be most appealing to him. She's sexy, sassy, and to his shocking surprise, she won't take any lip from him. Ah, it must be love! Of course, if she had any clue that he was actually a demon, I'm sure she'd be alittle more careful around him. But when Lord Demon finds out why Devilman isn't fucking shit up as he should be, he promptly orders Miki's death. Well, Devilman just won't stand for this so he goes against the Devil Clan (the term of Lord Demon's horde) and thus sets the stage for the "Meet And Defeat The Demon Monster Of The Week" storyline which initially serves to flesh out all of our characters.
The animation and, for the most part, the storylines can be considered quite crude by today's high cinematic standards. But give 'em a break, this was waaaay back in the 70's. The artwork is very similar to other Japanese anime series of that time period you've probably seen before such as SPEED RACER (alias MACH A GO GO) or BATTLE OF THE PLANETS (alias GATCHAMAN or G-FORCE) or STARBLAZERS (alias SPACE BATTLESHIP YAMATO). Yet oddly enough, for some reason, I think the style still works for this show with it's relentless and often psychedelic approach to earthly annihilation by wickedly evil satanic forces. I mean, even with thirty years under it's belt, the series still packs a wallop and refuses to pull it's punches as it serves up violent visions of people being burnt alive, ripped in half, eaten, tortured, and generally tormented to no end. There's mass murders, large scale destruction, violence towards women, violence towards children, you name it. Oh, ya just gotta love the carnage! I can only suggest that you just watch it with an open mind and after all's said and done, I don't think you'll have any problems with it's aging onscreen appearance.
Now, at long last, the DEVILMAN television series reviews begin...
Our story starts in episode one far off in the snowy mountains of the Himalayas as Lord Demon awakens and asks for three powerful able-bodied demonic servants to appear before him. He tells them his plans for dominating and ruling the human world, something he wants more than anything else. But only the mightiest of demons can have the special privilege of carrying out his wishes so he commands the three to kill one another until only a single mighty survivor is left standing. Now this particular demon will lead the way for the rest to follow once they've all been awakened from their ancient slumber. And you guessed it, Devilman wins this savage battle royal. However, during this demonic melee showdown, Akira Fudo and his father, who have been mountain climbing, stumble unto this scene of battle. As expected, they're instantly killed by the three demons so when Devilman eventually wins the fray, he's saved the daunting task of searching out a perfect human host body to disguise himself in. He chooses Akira and he's sent off into our world to prepare it for the upcoming infernal hellish apocalypse.
Episode two introduces us for the first time to Devilman's former friend and possible lover (and the most popular villian from all the various DEVILMAN incarnations), Silene the Devil Bird (or sometimes referred to as Siren the Demon Bird). She's sent by Lord Demon to investigate the mysterious and rebellious actions of the once subservient Devilman. Silene soon discovers that Devilman is indeed in love with the human Miki and she informs her superior about this disastrous development. Lord Demon instantly orders Miki's death unless Devilman returns to his unhallowed heritage. Devilman refuses this proposition and declares war on anyone who would dare harm his beloved Miki. One thing I'd like to point out now is the fact that no matter what he's said or done, Devilman's not much interested in saving people, or the world. He just doesn't want anything to happen to his would-be girlfriend and fighting demons determined to enslave or kill off the human race is simply a means to protect Miki, that's all. So Silene returns for a fight but is bested in battle and as I mentioned earlier, this sets up for the "Meet And Defeat The Demon Monster Of The Week" scenarios to begin.
Episode three isn't of much interest save for the new villian, Gelmer, who will later appear completely revamped and looking mighty stylish in the early 90's DEVILMAN resurrection as a two-part OVA masterpiece. No, I gotta take that back. There is something else worth mentioning about this episode. We find out Taro really can't control his bladder (see image to the left) when he's scared.
Episode four is of great importance since it introduces us to the demon general Zannin who will go on to appear in several episodes to come. One thing to note about the character of Zannin, he first made his debut in the old DEVIL DANTE manga and would go on to also show up in the DEVILMANLADY and AMON: DARKER SIDE OF DEVILMAN manga series too. But back to the story, Lord Demon, utterly disgusted by the failures of his underlings, summons the great Zannin to replace Devilman as the key piece in his plans for reclaiming the mortal world. He tells Zannin the legendary tale of how demons once ruled our planet during the time of the dinosaurs. And it was, in fact, the Ice Age that sent them packing into the frozen depths of the Himalayas, not human evolution. Now that their hibernation is finally over, Lord Demon believes that his demon brethren are destined to have their planet back. So with Zannin now running the show on Earth, he calls upon Bedora, a huge bat spooky looking beast that can control poisonous spiders, to kill Devilman. Of course, Bedora fails in his attempts and once he returns to Zannin in defeat, he's swiftly beaten and burnt to death for his failure. Zannin just doesn't play those kinds of games, it seems.
Episode five introduces us to another main ongoing character. And that's Himura, Akira's new classmate rival who surely seems that he has some sort of involvement with Lord Demon's gaggle of fiendish bad guys. But more on that later. Zannin's latest scheme involves a nasty demonic witch (Zobu-something) and another female demon named Rita. Rita was once Devilman's friend and Lord Demon's lover who was forever enslaved by the Devil Clan for trying to flee from her world into the mortal realm. Now sealed inside of a crystal casket with a crystal knife anchored in her chest, she's being used as bait to lure Devilman into a deadly trap. Well, always the valiant do-gooder (yeah right), Devilman pops in to help her out only to get mixed up in some of the most outrageous scenes and off-the-wall battles I've seen in the series so far. First off, we're shown Witch Zobu eating a still conscious Rita to assume her identity. Devilman gets pissed and in the final throw-down in a funky haunted mansion, Zobu gets her legs sliced off below the knees so she's forced to walk on her hands. She flees through a flaming door that looks like it goes straight to hell. She returns, floating through the air with some fight still left in her. But it gets worse. Devilman severs both of her arms this time and finally burns the evil bitch up with his patented "DEVIL ARROW" energy beam. And that's the end of the fight. And if that wasn't enough, we find out the teachers of the local highschool that Akira and Miki attend all suffer from a slight case of pedophilia. Yikes!
So, that about wraps up the first DEVILMAN television series review. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. And you can better believe that there's more insanity to come...