I previously reviewed Kekkou Kamen, and today I want to wax poetic about yet another wonderfully wacky series from the mind of Go Nagai.
The Devilman Lady (デビルマンレディー) manga and anime are two entirely different creatures, which really can’t be compared at all. They have nothing but the vaguest similarities, including the lead characters’ names. After that, they are just about as different as possible.
Today we’ll deal with the manga. Typical of a Go Nagai creation, the manga is full of strong women who get naked rather often, and sex, much of which is violent and non-consensual. Because this is a story that resides in his Devilman universe, there is demon-y stuff going on and half-human, half-monster hybrids…you know, the usual. Tons of violence.
In the manga version of Devilman Lady Fudou Jun is an extremely butch woman, who teaches in a high school. She coaches the girl’s tennis team, works out with weights and is in general as fit and muscular as any woman who clearly uses steroids can be. One night, while on summer camp trip with her tennis team, she and the students are attacked by demon bats. The boys are eaten or turned into ravening monsters, the girls are eaten and/or raped. Jun is bitten and becomes this super-strong bestial creature that defeats all the demons and saves a few of the girls.
After the incident, Jun is visited by a woman, Asuka, who can only be described as completely psychotic. Asuka tells Jun that is her destiny to become the Devilman Lady and defeat these evil devil-creatures, who eat men and rape women. Jun resists, until Asuka produces her father and mother, who calmly tell Jun that she was born with this propensity, but they gave her drugs as a child to supress it – but now it’s time to become the Devilman Lady! – so Jun does. From that point on the story consists of tremendous amounts of violence and sex and Yuri implications between Asuka and Jun which, sadly, do not go much further. They share one hot kiss early on, and from there it’s all downhill.
Jun opposes many humans-turned-beasts, without the angst expressed in the anime, and always wins in the end. As it progresses, the story gets very weird and complex and includes a love affair with Lucifer (really Akira, the Devilman) and ends with…
Spoiler Warning!!
…Jun and Asuka merging together to form St. Michael the Archangel and fighting alongside Lucifer to defeat the demon legions of hell.
I bet you saw *that* coming a mile away, eh? ^_^
This was *such* a weird ending to a manga that I could not stop staring a the last page, re-reading the text over and over, because I was sure I was getting it all wrong.
Anyway, to sum up. Violence and violent sex, blood and more violence. Many sexy naked women, not as much Yuri as one would hope. Volume 1 has the hot kiss – stick with that and you’re fine.
Next up, the anime – a Yuri lover’s dream. ^_^
A really good post I must say. I watched the anime some weeks ago and found your blog until… today XD but you have tons of materials here.
For the anime I admit: Devilman Lady is not for sissies. It has sex, psychological torture on the main characters and gore. Yes, gore and Yuri in one place.
I specially like the first chapter scene where the face of *something* like a vampire is emerging from the darkness of Jun´s room. It has a terrific music that obviously made me shiver while I was watching it alone at night.
Good stuff and congrats for this blog!
Sincerely,
Sakti
spoilers ahead regarding manga version..
great post on both the anime and manga! i just finished reading chapter 16 & 17 of the devilman lady manga and just wanted to update you on Jun and Asuka’s relationship! Finally they have developed into more than ‘just’ a kiss!literally a bed scene! with lots of drama and jealousy mixed in!
i wonder if there are more chapters out there…..*hopeful*
Scootergal
Where did you guys read the manga?
Does not seem scanlated or Licensed.
@Adam – I bought the bunko version at Book-off and read it in Japanese. The anime was licensed and put out by ADV. you might still be able to find it on online anime stores.
I just finished the manga not 10 minutes ago. I must say, it is as you’ve said. It’s your typical Go Nagai manga. Gore, check. Sex, check. Violence, check. Nudity, check. Beautifully drawn women, check.
In addition to S’ update, Asuka and Jun merged together to form the angel Lucifer to fight together with Devilman against Archangel Michael. Unless I read a crappily translated version, because it did have many spelling/grammatical errors.
Commenting on the complex plot twists and such near the end, Go Nagai left many questions unanswered. “I thought Devilman held a small grudge against Satan/Lucifer, despite them being best friends. Why did he suddenly join sides with him?” And of course the unanswered questions about Jun and Asuka! But I guess that’s alright, since it doesn’t really tie in with the plot… Anyway, nice review. I’m coming to love your reviews!
Thanks Mina.
Hey Mina,
Not sure if you will read this since your post is rather old. Anyways, you are right, Jun and Asuka join together to form Satan (Lucifer). They were always Satan actually, but she/he (Satan is a hermaphodite in this universe) was split in half to hide its identity from God. After giving birth to Akira which was the plan all along, they finally can restore their memories and become whole again.
Archangel Michael is actually the main antagonist of the story, kind of a proxy of God, since whole fight is against God who tries to exterminate demonkind. Michael was the one who secretly set up Human Alliance to kill demons and devilman and to keep Satan from awakining again.
As for why Akira joins Satan…This Akira has been through a lot since we left him at the end of Devilman. I think first of all he has listened to Satan’s reasons at the end of Devilman, then he was reborn in Hell, saw the reality of the demons, lived amongst them, so must be simpatetic to their cause. Also, apart from their friendship/enemy relationship, we shouldn’t forget that Akira fell in love with Jun, who is one half of Satan. He might appreciate what Satan has done for him too, bringing him back from Hell and all that…just saying.