Gekiman!

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Gekiman is not a traditional manga, so you should know what you're getting into. Gekiman is more of a remastered Devilman manga with "Director's commentary" track added. Yes, most of the content of this manga are redrawn pages of the original Devilman manga, so you should read that first, as you will definitely get spoiled otherwise. Really, read the original manga first, don't go into this thinking you're fine to go if you've only watched some of the adaptations. This is, after all, about the original manga and there isn't really a need for someone who isn't a fan of the Devilman manga to read ... this - if you didn't like it, you will most likely not enjoy reading Gekiman at all. Well, technically this manga also partially spoils Harenchi Gakuen but as that manga doesn't even have an English translation I doubt anyone cares about that.

Personally I enjoyed every part of this manga, both because of the interesting information surrounding the creation of one of the most influential manga and interesting extras like scenes that did not make it into a final cut (something even Nagai didn't manage to push through the editors), but also because this is practically a remake of Devilman with noticeably better art. Reading this is just like reading the already great story of the original manga again while also learning of contexts and maybe gaining even more respect for the author. Well, technically it does not cover the full story as some parts are omitted or mentioned only briefly, which is why you should read the original first, but it still covers about 75% of it. And the art is really great - it certainly shows the improvement Nagai Go managed to go through. Not that the art of the original is bad, but it can feel a bit dated sometimes. Gekiman on the other hand has abundance of cool pages and fresh art. Also, some redeeming information about the 70's Devilman tv series is included as well.

The main problem with Gekiman is that some parts might feel a bit overdramatized and if this is your only source of the information then as a reader you're not sure whether it is 1:1 retelling of the situation or if a bit of dramatizing things up is involved. Nonetheless, if you're a fan of Nagai Go and specifically Devilman, I would wholly recommend it. 7/10 would be more fair rating, but as a Devilman fan myself my enjoyment was 8 out 10.

Gekiman is an autobiography written by Go Nagai , a major artist in the world of manga that everyone should have already heard about, even those that are just entering the world of Japanese comics.

I tend to enjoy biographies because they usually give a lot of context necessary to understand the process of creation and to explain why they were important at the time of their release, which is not always evident, especially with an artist like Nagai whose works aged pretty poorly. If there’s one thing that’s clear to me, it’s that this one is very poor, scarce in informations and in the ... end not really worth reading.

Gekiman! is in reality the first part of the Gekiman series where each installment focuses on one of Go Nagai's most famous manga. This entry is about the creation of Devilman and his inspirations for it but at the time I'm writing this he already wrote sequels centered around the creation of Mazinger and Cutie Honey.

Now, you could think 6 volumes is a lot of time to spend on a single series, especially one that didn’t even last that long, and GOD DAMN IT IS IT A DRAG !!!
There’s a simple explanation for that however, it’s because around 80% of its run is dedicated into redrawing segments of Devilman (if you can call them segments at this point) lazily and lacking a lot of its original impact. If that sounds retarded, it’s because it fucking is !

The remaining real life parts aren’t really that interesting either, the explanations on how he came up with his ideas are either inexistent (the guy dreams them or has random flashes of inspiration, what was the point of even showing that ?) or they’re just stating obvious things you surely already got on your first reading like the parallel with WWII or “that monster got a mouth in stead of her vagina because I think men would be afraid of that”, WELL NO SHIT MAN !

Another point that’s really weird for me is how Nagai invents himself a new persona to fit his romanticized version of history which I consider to be a plain fallacy and judging from the wiki of the series, it seems to be even more jarring in the subsequent entries (still untranslated though so I won't comment on them)

If there was to be one thing done right, I’d say it’s about how the manga and anime coexisted at the same time and how they came to be so tonally different, mainly because Nagai had no idea what he wanted to do and made it up on the go, there’s also the presence of a few deleted scenes but that’s the only good thing I can say about it.
If you really want to read an autobiography about the creation of manga in the 60s and 70s, please do yourself a favor and read “A Drifting Life” if it’s not already done.