Series Synopsis
Series Synopsis
Jun Fudo (voiced by Junko Iwao) is a successful model who has been losing her confidence. Normally a quiet
and shy person, she starts to question if she chose the right career. Making matters more unnerving, she can’t shake the feeling she
is being watched.
One day, Jun gets a knock at her door. The person on the other side introduces herself as Lan Asuka (voiced
by Kaoru Shimamura) and commands Jun to follower her.
Taken to a dark and frightening
warehouse, Jun is told to wait inside. There she is confronted by a
chained man keeling over in pain. To her horror, the man
transforms into a ferocious beast and attacks. With no one coming to the rescues,
Jun accepts that this is indeed her death.
However, a spark is lit
within. Jun’s eyes glow golden and she undergoes a terrifying metamorphosis.
She reawakens as a creature known as a Devilman and easily kills her attacker.
Asuka informs Jun that mankind
is at a crossroads. People are beginning to turn into dangerous beasts and
demons. Although she wishes for nothing more than to be left out of it, Jun is
the only one with the power to combat the coming threat.
Series Positives
Series Positives
I don’t hate it.
 |
| Jun |
Devil Lady
had a lot of things which were well done and interesting. On the other hand it
still had a lot of bull s@#$. There were times when I was fully engrossed in
what was happening. Other times I needed to bash my head against my desk in
order to stay awake.
This series is both a gem and
a headache. In the end though, there was just enough here to allow me to,
again, not hate this show.
Atmosphere
As a horror anime, Devil Lady does its job well enough.
While there weren’t any moments which were terrifying, there was plenty of uneasiness
to get the chills flowing.
 |
| Asuka |
Much of that credit has to go
to the show's art style. There's just something about this era of anime which
works for horror. Maybe its age, maybe it’s the obvious budget constraints, but
90’s animation offers up a distinct advantage compared to it's modern counterparts. You can see it here and in other
shows like Serial Experiments Lain
and Boogiepop Phantom.
Hell for that matter you can
even look at Sailor Moon. When
that series went dark it could get legitimately creepy. And believe it
or not, this won't be the only instance in which I compare Devil Lady to Sailor Moon in this review.
There’s inherently more grit
to this art work and it’s especially effective in shadows, something this show
understood. The majority of what was going on was kept away from the public.
There were a ton of empty homes, after hour businesses, and abandoned warehouses.
There was even a fight which took place outside during a thick fog.
Even at the end of the show,
which was mostly in the what-the-f@#$ territory, the action felt up close and
personal. How this was achieved was a little insane, but we’ll get to that.
Although there were a lot of
action scenes, most of them quite good by the way, this was still fundamentally
a horror series. Haunting and unsettling imagery were present throughout, adding
to a perpetual feeling of dread. However, it was the music which created this
show’s tense atmosphere.
The score wasn't all
that complicated. Actually it was a little bit generic if I’m being completely
honest, but Christ did it do its job. Devil Lady’s music was able to bring the show into the realm apprehensiveness and
for horror that’s a big accomplishment.
Early on, there was a scene which took place in Jun’s friend, Kazumi’s (voiced by Kazusa Murai),
home. Kazumi had become a target, so we knew going in that something was in the house. Kazumi was walking up
to her room, unaware that both her parents were already dead, and was heading
straight into danger. It wasn't hard to imagine what was going to happen and it played out as expected. Yet as Kazumi climbed the
stairs, everything got a lot slower and the music started to play.
Nothing that was about to
happen would have been a surprise. There was plenty of time to mentally
prepare, but still I found myself cowering. If it were in my power I would've abandoned ship and gotten out of the house. That feeling of being pushed
forward is what gives horror its bite. Forcing a character towards an obviously
dangerous situation builds up a lot of tension and it's that tension which
allows these types of stories to thrive.
Jun
Kazumi being the sole
exception, Jun was the only character I ended up liking.
In retrospect, it’s a little weird this ended up being the case. When first introduced, I truly thought
Jun was a throw away character. Someone who existed as an initial sacrifice
to establish the show’s horror intentions. Then low and behold, she was
the one who ended up turning into the Devilman. So that was defiantly a
surprise.
Jun's entire character arc was extremely
interesting to follow and I’m not just saying that because I think the rest of
the characters were utter crap. Jun turned out to be a legitimately fascinating
person.
Although she was annoyingly
submissive through pretty much the whole show, Jun still managed to build an
air of confidence around herself. I’m referring to her…not acceptance, but
rather her familiarity concerning her Devilman half. Jun didn't want to fight, but understood that she wasn't going to be
able to get out of doing so. Therefore, when she had to throw down, she threw down.
That was unless the show
insisted it needed to drive home the conflict between a person’s humanity versus
their beast-like tendencies ten f@#$ing times.
Series Negatives
Oh this one’s easy. There's no reason this show should've been twenty-six episodes long.
This could've been and
should've been thirteen episodes at most. This was at the core of
this series’ problems. To fill in the gaps, pointless details were added, as well as overly long explanations,
unnecessarily complex dilemmas, and an out of nowhere God verse the Devil
plot line/ending.
Let’s discuss the
ending really quick. What the s@#$ was this? I knew something was going to break because if neither Paranoia Agent nor
Mirai Nikki could manage to keep the
rest of the world from getting involved, there was no way Devil Lady was going to. However, this show managed to do this in a way I can’t help but wonder why it was even bothered.
This is what I was getting at
when I said the ending still managed to keep everything close. The entire
planet was very aware of what was going on, but no one seemed to give a crap. The
God damn apocalypse was unfolding, but everyone went about their business as though
it was a normal Tuesday. So yeah, this show managed to retain a sense of
mystery, but why leave the shadows in the first when you’re not going to do
anything?
The world was ending, mass
genocide was occurring, and there was a battle between the almighty going on,
there was no reasons why I should have been as bored as I was.
Especially when this wasn’t the case for the vast
majority of the show.
Any Character That Wasn’t Jun
Here’s my second comparison
to Sailor Moon. This was a villain of
the week show. Every episode played out exactly the same. A demon showed up,
caused a lot of death and carnage, Jun killed it, rinse and repeat twenty
times. Sailor Moon did this to and
yes it was a fault of the show, but at least it was happening to characters you
gave a s@#$ about.
The Sailor Soldiers was a group made up of vastly different personalities and each one could pull their weight.
Devil Lady had Jun, who
was good, but she couldn’t do everything and there was no one to pick up
the slack.
Asuka was a person who existed. Was she the villain; eventually I guess. The show never fully established what it was that made her tick. It felt as though her character was being made up as she went along because where she ended up should have had a lot more impact
than it did.
At least Asuka had a plan, if
you could call it that. Everyone else was either irrelevant as represent by
the group of beast girls who showed at and took over the ending. Incompetent, as in every
single soldier or government agency in the show (yeah let’s totally egg on the
scary demon lady and be surprise that she got pissed and started attacking people). Or annoying, like the other villain
of the show who was responsible for bring in pseudo philosophy concerning humanity's evolutionary path. Let's also not forget to mention the other
Devilman of the series, Jason Bates (voiced by Ryusei Nakao), because f@#$ him.
Jun truly was the shining diamond
in this steaming pile.
Final Thoughts
It sounds like there were a
lot of things in this show I didn’t like and that’s true. There were a lot of
things in this show I didn’t like.
Devil Lady was way too long, it had an ending which was completely anti-climactic, and it was filled to the brim with characters who were insufferable. Yet going back to what
I said at the beginning, I don’t hate this series.
What it does get right is
pretty good. It was a decently strong horror anime when it wanted to be in terms
of both music and visuals. Plus it had a lead character who made up for a lot of
the nonsense. It got on my nerves, but I’m still glad I watched it. Therefore,
although it’s extremely tentative, I would recommend Devil Lady.
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