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

Nov 29, 2023

MizuhoKamui

Recommended

This OVA is faithful to the manga and features plenty of bloody demon fight scenes, male and female nudity, and enough gore to fill a dump truck. Although the show has some rough spots and unsettling writing at the beginning, it ended up being better than expected, at least among gory action movies.

Devilman begins slowly with tension building, but the first episode lacks substance until the end. In terms of the storyline, the episode mishandles Akira's moral dilemma. It is tragic to merge with a demon to save the Earth, but the chosen method is completely out of character. Despite a slow start, the movie ... quickly gains momentum with a lot of action and interesting characters. Go Nagai's talent for creating sympathetic characters, especially in gory movies, is showcased. Although there is not much of a story, the abundance of thrilling events makes up for it.

Devilman manages to keep the action exciting and engaging, and even during the fights, the hero's effort is palpable. The horror movie-inspired suspense scenes are particularly effective, and though not truly scary, they create a sense of tension that I did not expect. I found myself actually caring about the outcome of the fights, and it was a rare instance where I felt attached enough to the hero in ultraviolent anime.

Regarding the gore, and given that this is an older splatterfest series, the action is notably superior to the average - there's a lot of it and not much of the cheap animation cop-outs or still-frames. The fight choreography is fast and surprisingly interesting, and there are even a few creative moments, such as the way that the superhuman fighters navigate normal homes. Some of the strange things that possessed household objects do are also effectively unsettling. The gore in the series is also better than most. The flying blood and viscera are executed with great detail and relish and are even worthy of merit, with a touch of artistic flair. Similarly, a couple of long scenes of prehistoric life during demon-infested times stand out as bizarre but creative in a sick-nature-show sort of way.

The music, a less memorable soundtrack by Kenji Kawai, is sparse and on par with other older OAVs: orchestral but overblown.

Overall, Devilman doesn't transcend its demon-splatterfest roots, but within this genre, it is surprisingly well-executed. It has enough creativity to keep even the more discerning viewers interested and doesn't show its age; it's vintage animation that can hold its own with anything new. However, if you're not a fan of gore and action, this series is definitely not for you. But, if you are, there's more than enough of both to keep almost anyone happy.

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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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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