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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Feb 2, 2019

WhiteWolfKiba

Mixed Feelings

Devilman: The Birth is the first of 3 80's/90's OVA's that adapt roughly the same material as Netflix's terrible Devilman Crybaby. This OVA is somehow both worse and better than Crybaby at the same time, and I'll explain how. First of all the artwork/animation is actually quite good. Despite being made in the late 80's the anime still looks good today because the character designs are very detailed, unlike the 2018 Crybaby. Unfortunately, BECAUSE the art is more detailed, when something very violent/gory happens it makes you sick to your stomach, more so than Crybaby made you feel with its lack of detail in the ... art. I also need to mention how much animal violence is in this anime: several cute bunnies are mutilated by school bullies and Ryo's poor dog is brutally beheaded by his mad father, and both scenes are for shock value. As an animal lover myself I hated this anime for those 2 scenes alone.

This first OVA basically stretches out Crybaby's 1st episode to an hour in length. Not much happens storywise in this OVA aside from giving some much-needed backstory about the demon world (which was absent from Crybaby) as well as details about Ryo's family and how Akira becomes Devilman for the first time. I like how this anime stays focused on the important stuff and doesn't waste your time with track and field stars, "passing the baton," random weird rappers, etc.

In terms of characters, some are more developed, while others are even less developed. For instance Miki is even less developed than her Crybaby version, barely getting any screen time at all. We learn a little more about Ryo here, as we start to feel a little bad for him after seeing all of the crazy stuff he dealt with his dad trying to murder him and killing his dog. Still, it's not long before Ryo goes full-asshole, threatening Miki with a knife just to get her to stop following them?! Next thing you know he's murdering people in that nightclub just to test a theory about demons. When the victimized dancers try to kill Ryo in retaliation and Akira stops them, you find yourself asking, "Why? Why not let them do it?" I'll say this: Akira Fudo is MUCH better here than his Crybaby version! In Crybaby it was so rushed that we barely got to know Akira before he gets possessed by Amon, but in Devilman: The Birth we take our time with this character and he only gets taken over by the demon at the very end. I MUCH prefer this approach to the way Crybaby did it. Instead of simply telling you over and over what a good person Akira is, this version of the anime actually has a scene SHOWING you he's a good person! Imagine that! Here we see how distraught Akira is upon finding the dead bunnies, and he literally puts his life on the line to protect the sole remaining bunny from bloodthirsty bullies. I actually like this Akira so far, and I hope they continue to make him a likable protagonist in the next two OVA's.

Overall, I'd say if you can stomach the animal violence this anime is OK, 6/10. Not great by any means, but part 1 is certainly watchable and preferable to Crybaby. Now let's see how they handled Devilman parts 2 and 3...

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Apr 20, 2008

Kain

Not Recommended

Its a very dark and weird anime. This is the first one of the movies. Its where you see how he becomes devilman. Its not really that good of an anime but its ok to watch if your a little bored. You should have watched this one before seeing the next two movies because you see how hw gets to know his girlfriend. Defintely see this one if you want to see the sequels which have some good action scenes and a ok story;)

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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