Devilman: Tanjou-hen

Akira Fudou leads the life of a typical high school student. After a chance encounter with school bullies, he is rescued by his childhood friend Ryou Asuka. Ryou and Akira catch up over the course of an afternoon that ends with them crashing a party at a nightclub. Initially uncomfortable with the environment, Akira is shocked when violence provokes some of the club's partygoers to transform into demonic monsters. He and Ryou are only saved from the encounter thanks to the intervention of a great demon known as Amon. Amon possesses Akira, and the two together form the powerful Devilman⁠—a being that, due to the influence of Akira's strong empathy for his fellow man, is resolved to keep the human race safe from the threats of demonkind.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Asuka, Ryou Main

Mizushima, Yuu Japanese

Fudou, Akira Main

Hayami, Show Japanese

Devilman Main

Hayami, Show Japanese

Makimura, Miki Supporting

Kouyamaki, Jun Japanese

Jinmen Supporting

Professor Asuka Supporting

Terashima, Mikio Japanese

Yamanobe Supporting

Manjirou Supporting

Uchida, Naoya Japanese

Fudou, Kaori Supporting

Ikeda, Masako Japanese

Fudou, Reijirou Supporting

Tsukayama, Masane Japanese

Iida, Umanosuke Director, Script

Nagai, Go Script, Original Creator

Wolskel, John Script

Sakamoto, Eizou Theme Song Performance

Reviews

Mar 20, 2012

Donwun

Recommended

This is one of the first animes i ever saw and considering it’s themes it’s clear to me now that when I began my anime journey this anime in particular probably had a profound effect on my young mind for both good and bad reasons.

Storyline

Akira Fudou is your typical kind hearted high school student. He looks after cute little bunny rabbits while at school and has a nice girl friend (not dating) that he lives with since his parents are away on an excavation in the South Pole.

One day while walking home from school Ryo, an old friend from Akira’s childhood turns up out of ... the blue and demands that Akira follow him as he has something very important to discuss with him.

After Akira agrees to hear him out Ryo starts to explain the horrifying details of what had recently become of his father who was a scientist.

Ryo’s father seemed to have gone mad after investigating the existence of demons.

At this point I should mention this first movie is somewot slow placed while the foundation of the story is being laid down. It’s a bit of a drag but stick with it as things start to spice up soon enough.

Ryo takes Akira back to his father’s study where a lot of his research is being kept. Here Akira gets to actually SEE some of the crazy revelations Ryo’s father discovered.

After that, all hell breaks loose…..why…because due to their snooping around with demon research / artefact’s, they get the attention of actual demons who start to chase them down.

So after some more entertaining chase / demon encounters Ryo & Akira come to the realisation that the world will soon become exposed to the threat of a global demon outbreak…..so the question is what can they do to stop it…

Well that’s the best part which I am not going to spoil for you…let’s just say it involves performing a certain ritual that involves alcohol, debauchery and violence.

Since the name of this anime is Devilman it should be obvious at some point someone or something will become the Devilman….and no surprise to anyone who has seen the cover art who it’s going to be.

So after DEVILMAN IS BORN true insanity ensues and Holy Shit the last 10 minutes of this anime is hardcore violence at its best.

So yeah, in summary the first half of this anime is mostly explanation and build up for the last 15 minutes of pure awesomeness…..It was kinda worth the wait but sadly just after it starts getting really interesting its over……and at the time I watched this there was no way for me to know there was a part II so I was like Goddamn it I wanna know what happens next!

Then luckily for me 2 weeks later (at the time 1993) on Channel 4 part two was broadcast….which I have also reviewed

Animation

Keeping in mind this is late 80’s animation it is pretty decent…I mean the character designs look a bit cutesy at first but when the demons get involved things change quite dramatically.

The standout thing for me in this movie is the strange opening sequence, the return to the strange opening sequence in the middle of the movie and the super gory action sequence at the end.

Compared to today’s standards it’s not top notch but I feel it has still aged pretty well and is still very watchable.

Sound

I like the music in Devilman…its got a melancholy feel to it. The English dub is really quite comical to me but not in a bad way…I mean, re-watching this now I can understand why some people may find it korny but overall I think it works out very well. Devilman in particular say’s some really funny shite when he’s killing demons…certainly not the sweet boy Akira he was before.

Overall sound is pretty decent…compared to the original Jap language it’s a bit spicier which worked out well enough in my opinion

Characters

Devilman has an extremely small cast, which works in its favour. There’s pretty much Akira / Devilman, Ryo, Miki (barely) and the various demons Akira and Ryo have to face.

For such a short anime I think the characters are developed well enough…In particular you get good foundation for Akira’s character which is the most important thing.

Enjoyment

I enjoy this anime on two levels, the first being nostalgia. I remember how confused and weird I felt about rooting for a demon to suceed…..this was way before the more recently accepted anti-hero boom we are surrounded by today.

The second level is the action in this anime is pretty hardcore, animated decently, barebone and VERY enjoyable to watch.

It’s a short fun crazy ride… I have enjoyed this title for many years and overall still find it of a high standard even after all these years.

Value / Final Thoughts

Over time Demon protagonist’s have become more common place in movies (Hellboy) and especially in anime, to name a few: Hellsing, Vampire hunter D, Inu Yasha, the cast of Saiyuki, Chrono from Chrono Crusade etc. So Devilman kinda loses the anti-hero shock value it had around the original time it was made.

But like I said before being very young and coming from a Christian upbringing in particular made this anime quite the shell-shocker.

I was hesitant to write this review at first as I did feel a lot of my praise for it would come from nostalgia but after re-watching it I am now reassured it is actually a quality title that still holds up to this very day

It’s short and sweet, thought provoking and many do hail it as a cult classic.

Surprisingly though I found more reviews for this anime on IMDB that on various anime sites….however the manga is vastly more popular than the anime incarnations.

Planet Tyro Rating: Solid B

Devilman Franchise Blog: http://bit.ly/157LdCG

planettyro.com

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 6, 2018

iBlewupthemoon

Mixed Feelings

So, you've probably seen Crybaby if you found out about this. The big question is "How's the OVA's?" The answer? "Eh?"

This OVA takes basically the first part of the manga where our wimpy hero becomes the hero that Japan deserves, Devilman, and drags it out ad nauseum. Crybaby had the right idea condensing the part this OVA adapts to a single 20 minute episode, because its littered with boring exposition and flashbacks that you are likely to skip. Despite the lengthy runtime, we don't get a whole lot of development from our main characters, much less side characters like Miki, who were absolutely spoiled in ... the Crybaby adaptation

However, the presentation is actually pretty good. Action scenes are smooth and have surprisingly good impact and it still looks really good despite being from 1987. Not to mention the delicious amount of gore. This is the 80's after all.

If you are to watch this, watch the dub, because the excessive swearing and one-liners is what most of the enjoyment of this otherwise mediocre late 80s slugfest comes from. However, when the characters aren't being more hammy than a Boar's Head, particularly during parts with exposition or parts where the plot is making an attempt to be serious, the delivery is quite wooden. At these points, the Japanese dub is actually much better, and some parts where the dub overdid it, such as the "I'M DEVILMAAAAAAAAAN" scene, the original actually sounds really cool. But the original language, without the swearing and overacting, just makes the underdeveloped characters and plot in this simultaneously bloated and thin OVA more obvious.

So just pop a cold one, turn your brain off, and enjoy the condensed 80s in this pretty fun romp.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Oct 21, 2020

BerserkerGapher

Not Recommended

Honesty this movie(dub that is) is ironically one of the funniest things ive seen. Just the line delivery is so over the top that it carries the movie. The pacing is actually pretty decent tho but that probably due to short running time. A lot of things bugged me tho like how the music never fit any of the scenes. I had a hard time telling if a scene was supposed to be scary, badass, funny, or sad because all the music cant empahaise anything and when it can the voice acting ruined it. The characters were kinda forgettable and the story was really ... basic. There wasent a lot here but damn this movie is entertaining for all the wrong reasons.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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