History Anime / Devilman

** Mixed with ValueDissonance, if not outright BlueAndOrangeMorality: the Demon Tribe lives by a strict "Might makes right" ruleset, enough to consider acceptable for tribesmen slaughter themselves to choose who's the strongest and most able to carry a certain mission. Until Miki calls him out, he can't even understand what's the harm in his action. He's the strongest among his now human peers, he has the right to put them in line or even kill them if he sees fit.

* OffModel: The animation in the Kazuo Komatsubara- and Shingo Araki-overseen episodes is fairly good for its day, but several of the other animation directors were Off Model to various degrees, perhaps none worse than Masamune Ochiai.

* JapaneseDelinquents: Akira's attitude veers into this territory ever since Devilman killed the original Akira. Miki then has to step in and give him an ArmorPiercingSlap before he goes too far.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The final episode ends not only with Miki still alive, but with a (somewhat) tender moment between her and Akira, in which Miki tells him she still likes him even though she saw him transform, and Akira tells her he loves her. However, as the ending theme song plays, the narrator informs us in no uncertain terms that Akira's trials are not over and he has many more demons left to fight, leaving the future uncertain.]]

* ArcVillain: The series has several arc villains over the course of the series: Zannin, Himura, Muxan, and Marshall Lacock.

* BrickJoke: After Lala misinterprets Akira saying, thinking death will cure her idiocy, she literally tries to kill herself ''or trying to get killed''. [[spoiler:After she dies, she tells Devilman in spirit that her idiocy has been cured and he solemnly says "Is that so?"]]

* ClingyJealousGirl: Miki is turned UpToEleven. The series introduces a romantic rival for Miki in the form of Lala, the Silver Demon.

* MsFanservice: Lala. Occasionally Miki too, although in both cases they're never seen in anything less than undergarments or swimsuits. Miki gets a few [[BathtubScene]]s, but nothing explicit is shown.

''Devilman'' is an anime based on the manga ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' by Creator/GoNagai. Aired from 1972 to 1973 on Tokyo's NET (now Creator/TVAsahi) and affiliated stations across Japan, it premiered shortly after the manga's beginning and was produced roughly at the same time, but its story deviated completely from the start and only portrayed Devilman in a very vague light. Masaki Tsuji, a well-known screenwriter and novelist and a fan of Nagai's work, worked with him to adapt the storyline for television. The series was fairly popular in its day (its highest-rated episode rated 15.5%) but was soon overshadowed by the anime version of Nagai's ''Mazinger Z'', which premiered late the same year on rival channel Creator/FujiTelevision.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Episode three, when Akira gives a group of classmates a severe beating with his belt for allegedly giving Miki "strange looks."