Anime Meta-Review
Devilman, OAV Series
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Title Info
- seen: 1 of 2
- type: OAV
- grade: watchable
- Other elements of this title:
- This title has been commercially released in Australia.
- This title may offend the sensitive.
- people: Go-Nagai
- Series state: Can't find any more to watch.
- made: 1987
- Review created: Recently, but I didn't record the date.
- mod: none
Go Nagai (original creator) at his very best, which still doesn't add up to that much...especially given that this is produced by other people. The story opens with a sort of fantasia gone evil, which is fairly promising. Back in the real world, after a bit of modern evil, we meet the hero Akira Fudo, a strong minded but gentle student. A `friend' of his reveals the shocking truth that `devils' are real, and plan the destruction of mankind. The only way they can be beaten is for some human to take on the power, and fight the personality, of a demon...and guess who he has in mind.
There's some pretty good sections in this anime, and given the short running time it really jumps around. The views into the demon world, full of brightly colored monsters and wonders feasting on one another is strangely interesting. The school violence, while a bit over the top, is promising and introduces a romantic angle. The discovery of demons, and the horror of their existence is excellent, being dark, dismal and hopeless. Some very nice action to be found here. Sadly, at the end of the anime (and after a stupid transformation scheme) we discover that it is going to be another `school child with dark super-powers' series (and stupid appearance). I got the feeling that if you changed `devil' to `alien bio-weapon' you could swap between this and something like the guyver without even noticing. I look forward to the second OAV to see if it can redeem itself.
The animation is older, which limits it somewhat. There is also an interesting use of color, with the demon world being insanely bright and the horror scenes very dark (and normal life somewhere in between). The sense of design is a bit over the top (as seen in the school punks) which limits the believability of `normal' scenes but adds to the representation of the unearthly devils. The dialog and story is strong early, but the emergence of the devilman basically puts a stop to that, and lots of gouting action amidst strange alien horrors is the order of the day. Which is a shame, because the best action is achieved using a shotgun and a car in the middle of the first OVA. The story is fairly basic, and story holes abound. If you like horror this is worth checking out, and its quite watchable, but there's got to be something wrong when the unveiling of the hero marks the low point in the episode.
Wow, I thought I didn't like it much, but Lord Carnage attempts to tear it apart in this review.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:17 WST 2009