Devilman Lady

—by Maria M. Rider

Nagai Go, creator of such fan favorites such as CUTEY HONEY and MAZINGER Z, has created a new spin-off of his popular DEVILMAN. Unlike the original OVA series, DEVILMAN LADY takes place in the present and revolves around the life of a magazine fashion model, Fudo Jun.
DEVILMAN LADY follows in the dark footsteps of Nagai Go's original DEVILMAN series as it is gloomy, foreboding, and involves a lot of violence. The series takes a bit of a twist from its predecessor as the demonic possession problem is being taken cared of by the Human Alliance as opposed to two people. It creates more of an X-FILES feel to it as Fudo Jun and Asuka Ran are sent out to take care of demonic happenings around the city.
Jun, a young model who has traveled to Tokyo to make something of her life, is a rather popular model in the magazine KIKI. Her eyes are alluring, her face is beautiful, she is perfect in every way. But lately, her life has been a bit disturbing, as she feels as if she being watched. Enter Asuka Ran, a mysteriously beautiful blond, who whisks Jun off to a warehouse. Despite Jun's demands for answers, Ran just keeps talking in enigmas.
Ran knows of Jun's eyes, she can tell she is hiding something of herself she does not want anyone to see. Unfortunately for Jun, Ran wants to try to bring Jun's true self out and with the aid of a wolf monster she gets her wish. Jun finds out she is a human with the power of a demon and is now made to help the Human Alliance on their secret project, Beast Progression, where occurrences of demonic activity have recently increased.
After a night of utter terror and chaos, Jun returns to her life as a model, but with the ever-watchful eye of Ran always in the shadows. After her metamorphosis, Jun is more forward, and aggressive, not like the shy, quiet woman she used to be. Despite her denials to Ran about her demonic nature, Jun eventually accepts her role as Ran's "attack dog" in the Human Alliance's project.
Devilman Lady has a lot of quality animation and has stunning visuals. The art style is vastly adapted for the present animation and quite dark and violent for a TV series. The background music for the show reminds this author of the music played during many horror movies. The opening song is sung by a chanting choir in Latin and draws up images of demons and gothic horror as its foreboding song calls those creatures forth.
Iwao Junko takes on the lead role as the beautiful model, Fudo Jun. She does a stunning job in this more adult role, a far cry from her previous roles as Tomoyo from CARD CAPTOR SAKURA and Key from KEY THE METAL IDOL.
This is the first volume of an eight volume series with this first volume containing four episodes and the rest contain three. This author being a fan of anime horror, this is definitely not a series for the weak-hearted, but if you are a big fan of Nagai Go's other works or the original Devilman OVA series, this is a good series to check out! Pay no attention to the LDs cover art which leaves nothing to the imagination, but I'll have to admit it'll definitely get many a fan to purchase the LD on the art alone.

LD Color / Stereo / CLV2 / 98 Minutes
Volume One/99.2.10/POLV-3261
Volume Two/99.3.1/POLV-3262
Volume Three/99.4.1/POLV-3263
Volume Four/99.5.8/POLV-3264
Volume Five/99.6.2/POLV-3265
Volume Six/99.7.1/POLV-3266
Volume Seven/99.8.1/POLV-3267
Volume Eight/99.9.1/POLV-3268
¥5800 each
Available now in Japan
Where to buy