Jan 23, 2024
Go Nagai really needed the shounen age limit.
I did not enjoy “Devilman Lady” at most times. It's a story I'd obligatorily love just by virtue of the premise and concepts. A psychosexual narrative about the humanity in one-self. The natural evolution of the concepts seen in the original Devilman manga, but then the author decided I'd be interesting if there were just COPIOUS AMOUNTS of rape included. Character development? Let's set up a new rape scene for that. Transition towards a new arc? Gang rape the protagonist. I wanted to grab the author by the neck at times. If a story doesn't need to show
...
that, DON'T SHOW THAT. Hell, if the author believes it's imperative to have it, he can imply it. Door closes, screams happen inside, cut to the end of the scene. Incredibly disturbing, leaves things for the mind, that's it. But no, every fifth chapter there's a new rape scene. I'm not even disturbed by it, just tired of reading it.
My problems don't stop in the disturbing content, either. The writing suffers horribly. Rules pulled out of the ass, arcs, or plot points that go nowhere, scenes that mean nothing, filler arcs, pages upon pages of wasted ink on boring elements that didn't need to be there. It felt like a villain of the chapter, with no connective tissue in many scenes. I didn't care for half the things I read, BUT, I have to clear up. I was invested in the story.
It's a shame that these issues come with some of the best scenes in the Devilman universe. The trip to hell arc was some of the best I've read in the mythos. The icy forest assault, the demon king scenes, the implications towards destiny, the church assault. These moments threw me into binging the series, until more of those terrible elements came along to stop it. I could've finished this in one day if it had the quality of the things I mentioned, but there's always something to stop you. I ended up dropping off the series, and retaking it recently. Managed to power through, and I don't think it was entirely worth it.
This manga has the two sides of the same coin. The worst of the worst, edgy, offensive content you can imagine, coupled with incredible moments that make one believe it's worth it. The only thing that sealed the deal in believing this manga doesn't deserve a read, is the ending.
What even happened? In two chapters, everything went to hell. Nothing made sense anymore. As if the rules of reincarnation were thrown out the window, the plot needed an ending, the end plan had to happen, and we don't have time to explain why. Then, right before the climax, the end. Nothing got resolved, the main character didn't mean anything, the main villain didn't mean anything. Nothing meant anything. It was as if it got cancelled, and I've seen no evidence of that.
It's a shame. The art evolved, the dialogue was impressive at points, but it always turns back to the same old “let me explain why this is happening in extreme detail” when you can erase the dialogue, and we get the same information. All the elements that could've had subtlety got explained to death, and the ones the author clearly couldn't explain, he left in the dirt to confuse us. Always a great aspect, with the opposite happening at some other point.
5/10. Instead of being an “average” manga, it's one with great moments and other TERRIBLE moments.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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