Ranked #2398

Devilman Lady

This is my favourite anime of all time, and I will admit from the off, I am somewhat biased towards it. Nonetheless, I don't expect anyone reading this to go in to this anime expecting something that they themselves will give 10/10, but nonetheless, to check out this series because it is worthwhile.

A quick synopsis to begin: Jun Fudo is a fashion model, who is approached by a mysterious blonde stranger named Lan Asuka. Lan brings her to a warehouse and sets a wolf demon upon Jun, who transforms into a monster herself and fights back. Jun is a Devilman, an evolved human with great power, who has retained her human conscience.

The story's comic book scenario belies an intensly deep story. There are many questions asked in regard to the nature of the human condition, and Jun herself is portrayed not as a heroine as such, again, keeping it away from descending into a comic book feel, but rather as a tool, and a weapon being manipulated in some grand scheme involving the plight of the entire human race. There are romantic elements, the story is very much yuri based, with a lot of sexual ambiguity thrown in. But it never comes across as crude. The series builds to an epic finale which is reminiscent of it's origins: a Devilman story wouldn't be a Devilman story without a truly epic and memorable ending.

The series' one weakpoint is in it's animation quality. Whilst it deserves a solid score for it's design which is realistic and gritty, very true to it's setting and atmosphere, and also for having some genuinely morbid and unique mosnter designs, the smoothness of the animation is very inconsistent as is the detail. This is a low budget anime from the late 90s, and many of them suffered this. However that period is considered a golden period of anime because of how many of these shows were actually incredibly good, and Devilman Lady I think was the absolute best.

Finally, the music, along with the muted pacing and design is the final piece of the puzzle to add to why this anime is so good. It's story is rich, it's characters real, and finally, it's atmosphere is absolutely palpable. Personally I feel this is just about as flawless an anime as you'll find in all but visuals. But I care less about people agreeing with that than simply giving this show more attention, which it definitely deserves, and is one of the best adaptations of Go Nagai's mangas available. read more