History Manga / Devilman

A new Devilman manga, ''Manga/DevilmanGrimoire'', ran in Champion Red magazine from March 19, 2012 to December 19, 2013. It was written by Go Nagai and illustrated by Rui Takato. A {{Reboot}} of the original manga, it starred Akira Fudo and Miki Makimura, who believes herself to be a witch. It featured many characters from the original Devilman. It remains to be seen whether this series is connected to previous series of the Devilman universe (''Devilman'', ''Violence Jack'', ''Devilman Lady'' and ''Shin Violence Jack''), or whether it is set in an alternate universe.

On 25 December 2014 ''Devilman Saga'' was released in Shogakukan. It is written and drawn by Go Nagai, and its main character is Yuki Fudo, a Japanese roboticist who is called in to study a strange and ancient mural from Antarctica. According to promotional material, it is the final chapter in the original Devilman storyline.

A new Devilman manga, ''Manga/DevilmanGrimoire'', ran in Champion Red magazine from 19 April 2012 to January 2014. It is written by Go Nagai and illustrated by Rui Takato. A {{Reboot}} of the original manga, it starred Akira Fudo and Miki Makimura, who believes herself to be a witch. It features many characters from the original Devilman. It remains to be seen whether this series is connected to previous series of the Devilman universe (''Devilman'', ''Violence Jack'', ''Devilman Lady'' and ''Shin Violence Jack''), or whether it is set in an alternate universe.

A new Devilman manga, ''Manga/DevilmanGrimoire'', began running in Champion Red magazine on 19 April 2012. It is written by Go Nagai and illustrated by Rui Takato. A {{Reboot}} of the original manga, it starred Akira Fudo and Miki Makimura, who believes herself to be a witch. It features many characters from the original Devilman. It remains to be seen whether this series is connected to previous series of the Devilman universe (''Devilman'', ''Violence Jack'', ''Devilman Lady'' and ''Shin Violence Jack''), or whether it is set in an alternate universe.

A new Devilman manga, ''Devilman Grimoire'', began running in Champion Red magazine on 19 April 2012. It is written by Go Nagai and illustrated by Rui Takato. A {{Reboot}} of the original manga, it starred Akira Fudo and Miki Makimura, who believes herself to be a witch. It features many characters from the original Devilman. It remains to be seen whether this series is connected to previous series of the Devilman universe (''Devilman'', ''Violence Jack'', ''Devilman Lady'' and ''Shin Violence Jack''), or whether it is set in an alternate universe.

* AdaptationalDistillation: The Famicom game is based directly from the manga, but certain events are rearranged, such as [[spoiler: Miki's parents being captured by Demon Hunters]] as soon as Akira gains his powers, and covers boss beattles with Sirene, Aguel, and Zenon.

** One of the most prominent things the series tears apart is the predisposition that shonen series have towards ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption. While Akira ripping apart his demon foes is initially framed as heroic, it soon becomes clear that it's slowly corrupting him morally. The war between demons and humans also begins as GrayAndGrayMorality; demons view humans as legitimate intruders to their ancestral homeworld and want them gone, especially considering how much humanity has polluted the planet. While some demons like Jinmen are definitely evil, others like Silene and Kaim are genuinely [[ Noble Demons NobleDemon]]. On the other hands, demons are slaughtering humans en-masse in horrifically violent ways, which perhaps justifies why humanity is so violent towards them in return. In the end, the cycle of violence is so all-consuming that humans become no better than demons at their absolute worst, turning the series into EvilVersusEvil. [[spoiler: In the end, the demon's ploy to take back their homeworld through violence ends up wiping them out instead, having dragged the remainder of humanity to their level. As a result, everyone suffers- Akira dies after losing his only family, and Ryo/Satan murders their only loved one.]]

** The tragedy of the demon-human war is that by the end of it there was very little moral distinction left between either side. Ryo makes the argument that humanity has declined so far in morality, that there is no point in trying to save them. Akira, however, even as a devil has a human heart that is more righteous than what remains of humanity; therefore it only makes sense that Akira should survive so that humanity's spirit will live on through him. Akira is caught off guard by this argument, and reacts to it with disgust, but Ryo is closer to the truth than Akira would like to admit.
** Ryo's dismissal of humanity is made all the more ironic when you consider just how human he acts. He feels such deep emotions that most demons are too feral or consumed by bloodlust to consider. The very idea that he's able to recognize that humans have moral standards they ought to live up to reveals how deeply infected by humanity he is. Even after reawakening as Satan, the effect Ryo's humanity had on Satan's heart is undeniable -- to the point that Xenon mocks him for being led astray by these human emotions. The biggest factor that betrays Satan's loss to his human heart is his love for Akira, something that when Xenon brings up Satan doesn't even bother to deny that it's true. Despite siding with the demons, the tragic irony of Satan's fate upon reawakening is that Ryo's heart, his humanity, had already '''won''' the war against Satan.

** Ryo's dismissal of humanity is made all the more ironic when you consider just how human he acts. He feels such deep emotions that most demons are too feral or consumed by bloodlust to consider. The very idea that he's able to recognize that humans have moral standards they ought to live up to reveals how deeply infected by humanity he is. Even after reawakening as Satan, the effect Ryo's humanity had on Satan's heart is undeniable -- to the point that Xenon, Satan's right hand man, mocks him for being led astray by these human emotions. The biggest factor that betrayals Satan's loss to his human heart is his love for Akira, something that when Xenon brings up Satan doesn't even bother to deny that it's true. Despite siding with the demons, the tragic irony of Satan's fate upon reawakening is that Ryo's heart, his humanity had already '''won''' the war against Satan.
** By contrast, the once loving, kind and heroic Akira becomes more like a demon as the story advances. It starts out subtly with him enjoying the battles he fights, and engaging in utter brutality, but he always held on to some semblance of his humanity. Akira loses what little connection he had left to his humanity after witnessing the death of Miki's parents and Miki herself. Afterward, a grief stricken Akira declares his indifference to humanity -- no longer caring if they live or die -- stating that it's no longer his job to save them, and subsequently declares war against Satan. Akira is no more, and Devilman is all that remains. Satan later confesses to the dying Akira that he harbored no more ill will towards humanity, and was filled with sorrow over the extinction of both the demons '''and''' the humans. The twist of fate is that the man who set out to save humanity, because a demon who no longer cared about anyone, while the angel who desired humanity's destruction became more human over time.

* {{Irony:}}
** The tragedy of the demon-human war is that by the end of it there was very little moral distinction left between either side. Ryo even uses this against humanity, arguing to Akira that humans were no longer worth saving since they didn't live up to their own moral standards. Akira, now a demon, is more human than any other human left on Earth; therefore, it only makes sense that '''Akira should survive''' to carry on humanity's spirit. Akira is caught off guard by this argument, and reacts to it with disgust, but Ryo is closer to the truth than Akira would like to admit. ** However, even Akira's human heart has its limits. After undergoing immense trauma [[spoiler: from the death of Miki's parents, the thugs-turned-friends, and Miki's death]] Akira considers humanity dead weight and has no more desire to save them -- Akira ceases to be and only Devilman remains. By contrast, Ryo as the [[spoiler: reawakened Satan]] confesses to Akira that he mourned the [[spoiler: extinction of all the demons, and humanity]] learning from Akira's example that there really was value in humans after all. The tragic twist of fate, is that the man who loved humanity from the start learned to hate it, and the [[spoiler: angel who desired its destruction learned to value its existence]]. The human Akira turned into a demon, and the angel with a heart of darkness became more human.

** Horrifically subverted, as [[spoiler: Miki's younger brother is ''beheaded'' before her very eyes. We even get to see his head and its ''crying face''.]] Also earlier on when [[spoiler: one of her brother's friends is eaten by his demon-possessed parents, while his pleas go unrecognized]]. Also, [[spoiler: when a young friend of Akira's name Sachiko is eaten and absorbed by the demon Jinmen, her sorrowful face now a part of its turtle-like shell, forcing Akira to end her pseudo-life to kill the demon, with her smashed face still visible after the shell dries. Did I mention that she also tells him from the shell the exact manner of her horrific death?]] During [[spoiler: the demon invasion, a mother watches her family torn apart by a tentacled demon, including her infant, before she herself is split in two from crotch to head.]]

* DemonicPossession: It only works properly on humans who've "lost their reason" (such as from madness, panic, rage, and the altered state you get into when participating in a drug-and-booze-fuelled party/orgy). Doing it on a person in a regulat state of mind causes the death of both the demon and the human.

* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: The ''AMON'' manga has Akira in the iconic yellow shirt from the anime even though it follows the original manga more closely than the anime did.

* CanonWelding: Almost all incarnations of Devilman (and Manga/ViolenceJack) can be considered linked together thanks to TheReveal in the Amon manga that [[spoiler:God himself put the entire universe in a time loop to punish Satan by making him constantly relive the death of the one he loves]].

* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler: Satan vs Amon in first volume of Amon: The Darkside of Devilman. And if Satan's memories are true, his fight with ArchangelMichael was even more one-sided and involved literal curbstomp.]]
* DeathByAdaptation: In the original ''Devilman'', Dosu Roku, Masa and the fat guy with big teeth from Dosu Roku's gang went from being Akira's enemies to his friends and allies, essentially becoming human members of the Devilman Army. While the fat guy's ultimate fate is unknown, [[spoiler: Masa was killed trying to save Miki and Tare from the lynch mob while Dosu Roku played a major part in the ''AMON'' manga]]. In ''Devilman Grimoire'', [[spoiler:Dosu Roku and the fat guy are unceremoniously eaten alive by a demon in the first chapter, while Masa lasts until the second chapter, where his head is bitten off by Silene]]. This establishes the fact that Grimoire is not just a retelling of the original story but is a whole new continuity, with the ultimate fates of the main characters up in the air.

* DependingOnTheArtist: Satan. In Nagai's hands, s/he is not only a hermaphrodite, but Nagai draws him/her with female-like facial features and body curves, also in some designs (though not all) he seems to imply that Satan's lower parts are those of a woman. Other artists on the other hand, like Yu Kinutani from ''Amon/Strange Days'' and many others from ''Neo-Devilman'', maintain [[spoiler:Ryo's]] male psyche even in Satan form, and in some extremes they might draw Satan with a male lower part too; and yet the breasts are present in all renditions of Satan.

** [[spoiler: In ''Amon'' all of those motivations are, to some extent, true - Satan wants to create a better world for demons, but also wants to bring his own vision of order, which is why Amon opposes him. He reveals Akira's secret out of jealousy towards Miki because he thinks he is the only one who can save Akira.]]

* DisposableWoman: [[spoiler: Sachiko and little Yumi in the ''Amon'' OVA.]]

** [[spoiler:The Devilmen lose the war against the demons, but the demons are apparently wiped out too, not to mention mankind. Akira dies for nothing, and Satan will be imminently killed by God's angels. It is also revealed in sequels and spinoffs that God will create a TimeLoop to punish them eternally.]]
** Averted in the NES game, however, as [[spoiler:beating Satan in the final battle [[EarnYourHappyEnding wins you a happy ending]], while losing to him gets you the same ending as the manga and OAV.]]

* EvilVersusEvil: Amon vs other demons in the "Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman". [[WordOfGod According to Go]] the conflict in the TV-series is also this, in contrast to the manga's GreyAndGreyMorality.
* {{Expy}}: of ''[[Manga/MaoDante Demon Lord Dante]]'', Go Nagai's earlier work.
** Ashura from the Amon manga is clearly an expy of [[Anime/MazingerZ Baron Ashura]].
* FakeMemories: Nagai himself goes this way in his chapter for ''Neo-Devilman'': at the climax of the Devilman vs. Satan battle, there's a flashback of Akira meeting Ryo for the first time at school, here Ryo seems to manipulate Akira's memories to make it so they already knew each other, implying that a few traces of Satan were there since the very beginning.

* FateWorseThanDeath: The demon Jinmen devours humans and absorbs their living souls onto his shell.
** [[spoiler: Satan's fate as revealed in Amon is to eternally lose the one s/he loves for all eternity as punishment for rebelling against God. The horrific treatments he's subjected to as Ryo in Manga/ViolenceJack (which is also part of the time loop, meaning it's also going to happen forever) may also figure into it.]]
* FanservicePack:Fusing with Amon not only grants you superpowers and a demonic SuperForm, but evidently a killer human body (and less compunction to [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl cover it up]]) as well. Miki even lampshades this in ''Devilman Grimoire'', jokingly wishing ''she'' had been possessed after seeing the improvements Amon made to Akira's build.

* GodIsEvil: [[spoiler:In Amon, where it's revealed God has everything happen in an endless loop that makes '''everyone''' suffer and die just to make Satan watch Akira die by his/her own hands for eternity. Meaning that he condemns two whole sapient species to suffer and die horribly and pointlessly over and over for eternity [[DisproportionateRetribution just to punish a single rebel]] ({{Satan}}, of course).]] At that point he can be considered damn close to early ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' YHVH in terms of bastarditude. However, this detail is not consistent with all adaptations.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: Oddly enough, no one's really evil, but no one's really good either. The demons only want humans gone because they're seen as intruders; the humans want the demons gone because they don't like the idea of dying. The only exception is [[GodIsGood God]] but even He has some dickery.

* HotterAndSexier: Go Nagai took full advantage of Yuu Kinutani's incredibly detailed art style while making the AMON manga. While there's no explicit sex, many of the girls including Miki herself were given more curvaceous body proportions, and humanoid female demons like Siren who are mostly in the nude were often given many panels focusing on their breasts and buttocks; still Go Nagai averted the series taking the {{Fanservice}} route by simply making these "improvements" only a visual extra.
** Taken [[UpToEleven Up to Eleven]] in ''Devilman Crybaby'', where there are explicit sex scenes.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The manga is rife with violent ways to maim or kill, impalement is one such way.

* InfantImmortality: Horrifically subverted, as [[spoiler: Miki's younger brother is ''beheaded'' before her very eyes. We even get to see his head and its ''crying face''.]] Also earlier on when [[spoiler: one of her brother's friends is eaten by his demon-possessed parents, while his pleas go unrecognized]]. Also, [[spoiler: when a young friend of Akira's name Sachiko is eaten and absorbed by the demon Jinmen, her sorrowful face now a part of its turtle-like shell, forcing Akira to end her pseudo-life to kill the demon, with her smashed face still visible after the shell dries. Did I mention that she also tells him from the shell the exact manner of her horrific death?]] During [[spoiler: the demon invasion, a mother watches her family torn apart by a tentacled demon, including her infant, before she herself is split in two from crotch to head.]]

* [[spoiler: KillEmAll]]

* LoveMakesYouCrazy: [[spoiler:Ryo/Satan]] sacrifices many of his strongest demons to ensure Akira becomes Devilman. Also doubles as LoveMakesYouDumb.
** [[spoiler: S/he admits to being crazy at the end of the final volume of Amon.]]

* {{Meaningful Echo}}: [[http://mangafox.me/manga/devilman_grimoire/v01/c001/45.html Compare this scene of Miki from Devilman Grimoire]] with [[http://mangafox.me/manga/devilman/v05/c001.3/42.html this one from Devilman.]] Also compare [[http://mangafox.me/manga/devilman/v05/c001.3/13.html these]] [[http://mangafox.me/manga/devilman_grimoire/v01/c001/48.html two.]]
* MeaningfulName: ''Devilman Crybaby'' refers to Akira's sensitivity and his tendency to cry easily.

** In the ''Sirene The Demon Bird'' OVA, while Akira transforms, he has a very Manga/ViolenceJack-esque features. Someone working on the OVA must've done their homework as [[spoiler:Akira was reincarnated as the titular Violence Jack]].

* NotGoodWithRejection: God. Satan/[[spoiler: Ryo]] rebelling against him once and refusing to follow him, has effectively ''derailed all of creation'', any notion of a 'grand plan', and doomed the lives of everyone within it. The wrathful deity rips from the fallen angel, [[spoiler: Akira]] - the only person Lucifer ever did love, [[DisproportionateRetribution over and over again in a vicious time-loop]].

* OneMythToExplainThemAll: Akira's friend Ryo tell him that Demons once roamed the Earth before being frozen in the arctic while humans dominated the planet. He also mentions that some demons got free, and could be the true causes of monster myths like Wolfmen, Dracula, and Ogres.
* OrderVersusChaos: In Amon manga Satan and God are representing two different orders - one that involves demons and one that doesn't. Which is why [[spoiler: Amon, who is clearly chaotic, refuses to ally himself with Satan, as he sees no difference between Satan and God]].
* OutOfClothesExperience: This happens a few times in different adaptations. In the original manga, Akira tries to convince himself and [[spoiler: the Makimuras ]] that he is still human despite also being a devil. A vision then appears of Akira, naked, running from himself as a giant Devilman whose hands have closed around him. Akira has two more experiences in the Devilman: the Demon Bird OVA. Once as he is fighting [[spoiler: the turtle devil Jinmen, who has his mother's soul trapped on his shell after eating her. He is almost defeated and his mother calls out to him. Akira then appears naked in his human form in a vision of an icy cave and witnesses how his mother died. The vision allows him to gain the resolve to defeat Jinmen and save his mother's trapped soul.]] Later, Akira has a dream where he starts clothed in a swimsuit, but becomes naked when the dream quickly shifts into a nightmare that climaxes with Miki impaled on a demon's teeth.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: Ryo, is in fact, the {{hermaphrodite}} Satan, who took the body of a human to learn mankind's weaknesses and plot their demise.]]

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: An interesting case. The manga is gut-wrenchingly cynical but Nagai (who wrote ''Devilman'' as a cautionary tale) is firmly idealistic and believes that humanity is heading for a bright future. The writing process took such a heavy toll on him that he had to write the ''much'' LighterAndSofter ''Anime/MazingerZ'' on the side to blow off steam.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Shirenu has been spelled Silen, Sirene, Silene, Siren,... The list goes on and on.

* StockSoundEffect: Someone in Toei must be a Franchise/{{Godzilla}} fan. Because an episode has the demon Godo sending a ''Tyrannosaurs rex'' in modern day Japan sounding just like said monster.

* [[spoiler: SufficientlyAdvancedAlien /AncientAstronauts: What God, and by extension Satan, Amon and Sirene are revealed to originally have been in ''Demon Knight'', the official prequel manga to Devilman. Seems to outright contradict some important story elements from both the original manga, and ''Amon: Darkside of Devilman'', but look up BroadStrokes above.]]
* SummoningRitual: Used by Miki in ''Devilman Grimoire'' to summon demons.[[spoiler:Unfortunately ''actual'' demons show up and they weren't summoned by the ritual.]]

* SureLetsGoWithThat: When one of the mob calls Miki a witch, in the heat of the moment, she's gloats that she is a witch and warns them not to underestimate her. But as the mob begins to surround her, she says she's ''not'' a witch.

* TookALevelInBadass: At the start of the manga, Akira Fudo is so weak and timid, Miki has to stand up to bullies for him. After he merges with Amon, not only does [[{{Squee}} Miki take notice of his swagger]], Akira literally beats his bullies one-handed.

*** Also in ''Devilman Grimoire'', after losing one of his feet, Akira decides to stay behind and let the demons devour him in order to buy time for Miki to escape.

* AndIMustScream: Victims of the turtle-like demon Jinmen are doomed to live an eternity as a tile in his shell.

* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: The short sequel for the ''AMON'' manga, ''Strange Days'' features a whole new cast of characters, whom some will become Devilmen and clash at the Devilman vs. Satan final battle, the focus is Kira and Ryuu, and their band ''THE FLYERS''.

* AscendedExtra: Amon, the original demon whom Akira's Devilman form take its powers from, stops being merely a past legacy mentioned in the original manga, to being given a personality and form in the final OVA and even more in the manga with his name; in it Amon actually takes over Akira's entire body, both in demon and human form thus being promoted to protagonist.

* BigRedDevil: Generally averted as the demons are a CastOfSnowflakes, Amon being the only one who plays it straight
* BittersweetEnding: In the original Toei anime. The real Akira may be dead, but he still lives on as part of Devilman.

* BroadStrokes: The prequel manga ''Demon Knight'' explains a few things, like why Satan is a hermaphrodite [[spoiler: (he/she is a forced fusion of the male SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Lucifer and human girl Yuria)]]and the origins of demons[[spoiler: (They are humans or aliens forcefully hybridized with animals, by God, who is a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien/[[AncientAstronauts Ancient Astronaut]])]]. But it does directly contradict stuff found in ''Amon: Darkside of Devilman'', ''Devilman Lady'' or even the original manga, and does not explain other stuff, like the hermaphroditism of other angels than Satan, and ignores the existence of Michael. But this is quite possibly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the fact it's stated to be memories of an AlternateUniverse, which allows the events of the past to occur in numerous, different variations.

* CompositeCharacter: In ''Devilman vs Manga/GetterRobo'' Akira has the story and personality of his manga incarnation but the powers of the anime incarnation. Silene in that manga has the look of her manga version, the powers and personality of the anime version and little bits of later incarnations, including her love for Amon.
** Amon himself in his manga, he is not as ObviouslyEvil as in the [[OriginalVideoAnimation OVA]] nor as good and gentle as Akira; Amon is just a tad more bitter than Akira turned out to be after the Devilman transformation.
* ContinuitySnarl: Averted. The ''AMON'' manga makes it painfully clear that Amon took over Akira's body completely with no chance to revert back, this would negate the original story in which Akira was himself till the final clash with Satan by stating that Amon is the one in control now. ''Strange Days'' comes and has Akira in control of his body just in time for the final battle, implying that Akira was back in control sometime between ''AMON'' and ''Strange Days''; the war went on for 20 years after all.
** ''Violence Jack'' being a true sequel to this series became a shaky thread over the years after ''Creator/GoNagai'' went on to create ''Manga/DevilmanLady'' and several other works that expanded its universe, ''Violence Jack'' came mere months after ''Devilman'' ended and Go Nagai bridged the connection to Devilman only a bit in the beginning and the at the very end, very loose connections to boot that Nagai didn’t bother to expand on, meanwhile ''Devilman Lady'' was made after Violence Jack and in that series Nagai made very solid connections to ''Devilman''. Go Nagai has also said that ''Violence Jack'' should be treated as its own universe, but that didn’t stop him from again making cryptic connections to ''Devilman'' in ''Shin Violence Jack''.
** Case in point: Violence Jack treats itself as a reboot universe created an unspecified time after the world ended in Devilman, [[spoiler:in this new world it’s revealed at the very end that Satan created the Slum King out of Zenon’s body to be his personal punisher, in mourning for what he did to Akira in the past, and Violence Jack himself turns into Devilman at the end to fight against Satan yet again]]. Come Devilman Lady and that series proposes a different following for Devilman, in it [[spoiler:Satan was reborn as two women on earth, Zenon was made the ruler of hell in Satan’s absence and Akira lived in hell all this time, he is only reborn again as the son of Jun the titular Devilman Lady]].
** ''Devilman Lady'' and ''Violence Jack'' contradict themselves, the only thing that can reconcile ''Violence Jack'' standing firm in the timeline is the revelation that Devilman’s world is on a constant loop thanks to God’s continuous punishment against Satan, so ''Violence Jack'' can be a separate loop.
* CrapsackWorld
* {{Crossover}}: With ''Anime/MazingerZ'' in TheMovie, ''Mazinger Z vs Devilman''.

** There's also the appearance of the Cartoon version of Devilman in the manga ''Manga/MazingerAngels''. Once again, he holds his own against giant robots. Later in that series, [[Manga/DororonEnmaKun Enma-kun]] passes Akira by at a festival, and they give each other a knowing, angry glance.

* DarkerAndEdgier: The 2018 anime series ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'' is one of the darkest and edgiest adaptations of the series, with large amounts of blood and gore intermixed with scenes of graphic sexual content.

* DeconstructorFleet: ''Amon: The Darkside Of Devilman'' arguably takes original series and deconstructs a few things. The original manga itself seems to deconstruct or [[UnbuiltTrope unbuild]] many common shonen tropes.

* DemonicPossession: It only works properly on humans who've "lost their reason" (such as from madness, panic, rage, and the altered state you get into when participating in a drug-and-booze-fuelled party/orgy).
* DependingOnTheArtist: Satan [[spoiler:Ryo]], in Nagai's hands s/he is not only a hermaphrodite, but Nagai draws him/her with female-like facial features and body curves, also in some designs he seems to imply that Satan's lower parts are those of a woman; other artists on the other hand, like Yu Kinutani from ''Amon/Strange Days'' and many others from ''Neo-Devilman'', maintains [[spoiler:Ryo's]] male psyche even in Satan form, in some extremes they might draw Satan with a male lower part too; and yet the breasts are present in all renditions of Satan.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Satan's motivations for trying to bring his "order" upon earth; in some versions, he is doing it for human- and demon-kind's well-being (in his eyes) and for Akira, of course. In others, he is doing it ''just'' for Akira and no one else.
** [[spoiler: In Amon all of those motivations are, to some extent, true - Satan wants to create a better world for demons, but also wants to bring his own vision of order, which is why Amon opposes him. He reveals Akira's secret out of jealousy towards Miki because he thinks he is the only one who can save Akira.]]

* DisposableWoman: [[spoiler: Sachiko and little Yumi in the Amon OVA.]]
* DistaffCounterpart: Manga/DevilmanLady, and Mikimura from ''Strange Days'', her Devilmen form is the exact female version of Akira's own Devilman, even closer for being less [[{{Fanservice}} fanservicey]] than the original distaff Devilman Lady Jun.
* DoingInTheWizard: ''Demon Knight'' does it, ''kind-off''. Check BroadStrokes above for details.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Everyone died except for Satan. LITERALLY. Averted in the NES game, however, as beating Satan in the final battle [[EarnYourHappyEnding wins you a happy ending]], while losing to him gets you the same ending as the manga and OAV.]]
* DudeLooksLikeALady: Ryo Asuka. In Nagai's hands he is very lady-like, when he is seen in [[spoiler:Satan form Ryo ''becomes'' a woman, as Nagai draws his face with unmistakable female facial features and body curves]]; only other artists downplay Nagai's original design and maintain Ryo just in lady-like territory.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Main difference between Amon in his manga and OVA - the former is clearly selfish and evil, but has his own set of standards and Silene seems to work as his MoralityPet. When you remove that, you get the latter.

Devilman appears in the MassiveMultiplayerCrossover game, ''VideoGame/SundayVSMagazineShuuketsuChoujouDaikessen''. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39anQm12y5s crossover OVA trilogy]] with ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'' called ''Anime/Cyborg009VsDevilman'' came out in October 2015, celebrating the franchise's 50th Anniversary. It received a worldwide release streaming on Creator/{{Netflix}} in April 2016, complete with an all-new English dub.

''Devilman'' is a {{manga}} and {{anime}} franchise enormously popular and influential in Japan for combining superhero tropes with supernatural and religious horror, with elements inspired by the Abrahamic religions exotic to Japanese eyes. It was created by the (in)famous Creator/GoNagai in 1972 as a reworking of his earlier ''[[Manga/MaoDante Demon Lord Dante]]''. The manga was originally made to promote the concurrent anime by Creator/ToeiAnimation, which Nagai worked on along with veteran scenario writer and novelist Masaki Tsuji and which was LighterAndSofter than ''Dante'', but it soon revealed its own much, ''[[UpToEleven much]]'' DarkerAndEdgier direction. It has spawned several spin-offs over the decades and was later adapted into two {{OVA}}s in 1987 and 1990 which only covered part of the story and a live action movie in 2004.

The 1980s OVA was long the only incarnation of ''Devilman'' to be available commercially in the United States. In 2014, the 1972 TV series was released on DVD in the United States by Discotek Media, albeit subtitled-only.

''Devilman'' is a {{manga}} and {{anime}} franchise enormously popular and influential in Japan for combining superhero tropes with supernatural and religious horror, with elements inspired by the Abrahamic religions exotic to Japanese eyes. It was created by the (in)famous Creator/GoNagai in 1972 as a reworking of his earlier ''[[Manga/MaoDante Demon Lord Dante]]''. The manga was originally made to promote the concurrent anime by Creator/ToeiAnimation which was LighterAndSofter than ''Dante'', but it soon revealed its own much, ''[[UpToEleven much]]'' DarkerAndEdgier direction. It has spawned several spin-offs over the decades and was later adapted into two {{OVA}}s in 1987 and 1990 which only covered part of the story and a live action movie in 2004.

While the TV series was dark by {{shonen}} anime standards, the manga and most other versions are pure horror, filled with things like graphic violence and dismemberment.

* AdaptationNameChange: The original anime series translates Akira's last name as Hudo rather than Fudo.
** The series also changes the name of Miki's younger brother from Tare to Tone.

* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: In contrast with the original manga where [[spoiler:Miki dies and Devilman Akira loses faith in humanity to fight only for his Devilmen army]], the LighterAndSofter anime has Akira solely focused in protecting Miki and not much else; needless to say [[spoiler:she survives in this adaptation]]

* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: In the anime series, instead of just horrendous demons clashing against Devilman in dark scenarios as seen in the manga, the animated adaptation often had giant monsters randomly attacking a nearby building. For this reason, Akira was given extra powers for this adaptation: not only could he transform into Devilman but he could also transform into a ''Giant'' Devilman to fend off these monsters.

* BroughtToYouByTheLetterS: In the LighterAndSofter anime series Akira wears a t-shirt with an ''A'' insignia; the ''AMON'' manga also has him in the iconic yellow shirt even though it follows the original manga more closely than the anime did.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Miki. UpToEleven in the 1972 TV series, which introduces a romantic rival for Miki in the form of Lala, the Silver Demon.

* DarkerAndEdgier:
** While the TV show is LighterAndSofter than the manga in most other respects, TV Devilman's origin story is surprisingly darker than in the manga. In the manga Akira merges with a demon, gaining its powers and the ability to transform at will. In the anime, a demon kills Akira and enters his body, essentially stealing his identity. For the rest of the show, Akira is just a disguise that a demon wears. Not even Miki knows the secret.
** The 2018 anime series ''Anime/DevilmanCrybaby'' is one of the darkest and edgiest adaptations of the series, with large amounts of blood and gore intermixed with scenes of graphic sexual content.

* DeconstructorFleet: Amon: The Darkside Of Devilman arguably takes original series and deconstructs a few things. The original manga itself seems to deconstruct or [[UnbuiltTrope unbuild]] many common shonen tropes.

* LighterAndSofter: The 1972 anime series in comparison with the manga. Lots of changes to the story were made, the violence and nudity were considerably toned down, lots of comic relief was included, [[spoiler: and most [[SparedByAdaptation of the characters who died at the end of the manga are still alive in the last chapter of the first anime series]], which also has a BitterSweetEnding instead of the tragic conclusion of the manga - Akira and Miki are safe, as are most of the other main characters, but Zennon is still very much alive and has plenty of demons left at his disposal.]]

* MsFanservice: Miki. Also Lala in the 70's TV anime.

* NamedByTheAdaptation: In the anime, Akira's Devilman form has no name, other than just Devilman. The manga gives the name Amon.

* SparedByAdaptation:[[spoiler:Miki]] in the first anime series,[[spoiler:Susumu]] in the live action movie.

* SuperPoweredEvilSide: Amon was originally this, but he transcended to pure evil after [[spoiler: Miki Makamura got killed]].
** Might be an UnbuiltTrope as it's probably one of the first if not the first use of it in manga and one of the rare instances that shows how having one corrupts and changes a once cowardly boy into a BloodKnight.

* TooDumbToLive: Lala, in the '70s TV anime. So much so that she giggles and acts cutesy even while her demon BFF, Aurora, is talking about how dumb she is ''right in front of her.''

* FridgeBrilliance: In the anime incarnation, Devilman starts suspecting that Miki may be under attack because she's growing weaker and her usually "beautiful incarnate" is growing pale and clammier, with every other human character blaming some mild illness. Since in the 1976 Devilman isn't Akira Fudo anymore, but a powerful superman wearing the looks of a mere human, makes perfect sense: Devilman has no knowledge of human illnesses, as the Demon Tribe is composed by strong, battle-fit specimens, and the very idea of the girl he loves growing ill with no apparent reason is enough to make him restless, worried and confused.

* MythologyGag: In chapter 10 of ''Devilman Grimoire'', Akira fights an ice demon who bears a resemblance to Ryo Asuka. The end of the chapter is very similar to the end of the original manga, [[spoiler:except Akira and his foe's positions are reversed, with Akira revealed to be talking to the upper half of the demon's corpse. [[UnexplainedRecovery He gets better]], though]]. Also doubles as a [[ContinuityNod continuity nod.]]