Devilman is about a teenager named Akira Fudo. At first, Akira is very shy, modest and gentle, trying to avoid conflict. When his parents are lost on a business trip in the Arctic, Akira goes to stay with his childhood friend Miki Makimura and her family (mother, father, and bratty kid brother Tare). Both soon form a close relationship. Miki, a tough, smart, self-sufficient girl, loves Akira but wishes that he would stand up for himself when he gets pushed around, and is frustrated by his lack of backbone. She often has to defend herself from bullies even when Akira is with her. In the first OVA, she saves Akira from a gang of bullies who are threatening him.

One day, Akira's best friend, Ryo Asuka, asks a favor and completely changes Akira's life. Ryo's father had discovered the existence of demons when he found a mask during an excavation of the ruins of an ancient Mayan temple. This mask turns out to be a fossilized demon skull, which shows whomever wore it what the world was like when demons ruled over it. Ryo shows Akira this and informs him about the demons' revival. Akira then sees Ryo's plan: "To fight a demon, one must become a demon."

Demons have the ability to possess and control humans. However, Ryo believes that people like Akira may be able to harness a demon's powers when possessed, due to the fact that Akira has a pure heart. Ryo takes his friend to a nightclub and picks a fight to draw demonic attention to the club. Demons possess the clubbers and threaten Ryo and Akira, until a demon known as Amon the Lord of War, also called the Beast of Hell and one of the strongest demons, attempts to possess Akira. However, Akira manages to gain the upper hand of the possession process with Amon and transforms into Devilman. Devilman contains the strength and power of the demon Amon, as well as the heart and soul of Akira, giving Akira complete control.

After he becomes Devilman, Akira is no longer timid and shy. He becomes very aggressive and no longer lets anyone push him around. This change pleases Miki, although she is unaware of Akira's newfound powers.

Throughout the series, Devilman has many battles with the demon hordes. He encounters many foes such as Sirène the demon bird, the water demon Geruma, and a large turtle-like demon called Jinmen.

In the manga, the story ends with Ryo revealing Akira to be Devilman via a TV broadcast, yet the Makimuras still accept Akira as their friend. Akira then confronts Ryo and discovers that his friend Ryo is really Satan in a dormant state. Satan reveals to Akira that he convinced Akira to become Devilman in order to survive in the world he was planning to create. After Miki and her whole family are brutally slain by a paranoid human horde (in a particularly famous scene, Akira retrieves Miki's dismembered body from her burned house and later is seen holding her head in his arms), Akira states that he has no one left to protect, thus has no reason to exist except to have his final fight with Satan. Satan reveals that he has fallen in love with Akira and is a hermaphrodite. The final battle between Devilman and Satan and his armies ensues. The Earth is completely destroyed during this war. At the war's end, Satan reveals to Akira the truth behind their reason for defying God: even though God unintentionally created demons, he wished to destroy them. Satan was appalled at this, believing that even though demons were a violent, bloodthirsty race, they still had a right to live. They joined the demons, then convinced them to enter a state of hibernation in the ice, in order to save strength for the final battle with God. Upon awakening, Satan discovered the beautiful planet they fought for have been ruined by the human race. Enraged at the damage this new race had done, Satan led the demons in a war to exterminate humanity. While they explain this to Akira, Satan realized that in the end, they were no better than God, and begs Akira to forgive them as he dies.

The 1972 anime TV series has no such apocalyptic conclusion and the ending is happier for Akira and Miki than in the manga. Devilman's identity as a real demon is exposed to Miki in the final episode, but she accepts that she is in love with Devilman, even if he is not human.

Devilman evolved from Go Nagai's previous manga, Demon Lord Dante, after Toei Animation approached Nagai about turning Dante into a television series. The producers wanted certain elements toned down, and a more human-like anti-hero created. Devilman was born as a result of this. Go Nagai worked on the anime's scenario along with Masaki Tsuji, a well-known film scenario and science-fiction writer whose name became well known in the anime world through his work on such series as Astro Boy, Attack No. 1, Captain Future, Urusei Yatsura, and Dr. Slump. Tsuji scripted all but four of the 39 episodes in the TV series. Nagai would work with Masaki Tsuji again in future, notably on the anime versions of Cutie Honey, Dororon Enma-kun and Majokko Tickle, and on the 1992 live-action video version of Oira Sukeban.

Along with the television series, Devilman was also produced as a serialized manga with over 53 issues in Shōnen Magazine beginning in 1972. Go Nagai designed the manga to be more horror-like and mature than the anime version, making it similar in tone to Demon Lord Dante. It was later reprinted in a five-volume series, and has enjoyed over a dozen reprints in five different languages. The manga's occult horror elements, extreme violence, and complex apocalyptic story made it an instant hit.

In an essay written three decades after the debut of the original manga and TV series, Nagai commented that he designed Devilman as an anti-war work. According to Nagai, the fusion of humans and demons is an analogy for the draft, and Miki's gruesome death parallels the death of peace. "There is no justice in war, any war," wrote Nagai, "nor is there any justification for human beings killing one another. Devilman carries a message of warning, as we step toward a bright future."

Manga

The manga was originally published by Kodansha from June 11, 1972 (1972-06-11) to June 24, 1973 (1973-06-24) in Shōnen Magazine. The series has been published in tankōbon format several times, most of them by Kodansha. Starting with the 1987 publishing, most Kodansha editions include Shin Devilman, which originally was not meant to be included in the canon of the original series, as a part of the volumes.

The manga has also been published along with Cutie Honey in the magazine Gekkan Kanzenban Devilman x Cutie Honey (月刊完全版デビルマン×キューティーハニー, gekkan kanzenban debiruman x kyūteī hanī) published by JIVE during 2004 in order to take advantage of the release of the live-action films of both series.

Shin Devilman (新デビルマン, shin debiruman') was originally published in Kodansha's Shōnen Magazine Special in May 25, 1979 (1979-05-25), January 25, 1980 (1980-01-25), September 15, 1980 (1980-09-15), March 6, 1981 (1981-03-06) and May 8, 1981 (1981-05-08). All chapters were drawn by Go Nagai, but the first chapter was written in collaboration with Masaki Tsuji, while chapters two and three were written by Hiroshi Koenji. The rest of the chapters were done by Nagai. The manga is sometimes known as Devilman 2 and Neo Devilman. In this manga, Akira and Ryo travel to different epochs and places from human history in order to stop demons from causing hate between humans and thus make humanity destroy itself. In the first chapter they meet a young Adolf Hitler, in the second the French heroine Joan of Arc, in the third the goddess Nike, in the fourth Marie Antoinette, and in the last chapter the Cheyenne and Custer.

A one-shot, which is not originally part of Shin Devilman, but that has always been compiled along with the series in Tankobon, was published in the magazine Variety by Kadokawa Shoten. This 16-page story does not have any text and it presents the moments of Akira after the death of Miki in the original series, but before the battle with Satan, as he buries the remains of Miki and encounters Ryo.

Anime

The anime series was 39 episodes long and ran from July 8, 1972 (1972-07-08) to April 7, 1973 (1973-04-07) on NET (now TV Asahi). The series enjoyed high ratings while it was on the air, though its popularity was dwarfed by that of Nagai's longer-running Mazinger Z on Fuji TV. The storyline of the anime series is different from that of the manga and of the OVAs.

• Akira and his father are killed while mountain climbing in the Himalayas, and Devilman chooses Akira's body as a cover to disguise himself. Although Devilman takes on his appearance, Akira is gone and Devilman is the body's sole occupant.
• Devilman's mission is to cause death and destruction on Earth to pave the way for a demonic invasion of the human world. However, when he moves in with the Makimuras under the disguise of Akira, he finds himself attracted to Miki's tough, no-nonsense ways, and is thus distracted from his mission. The lord of the demons sends forth a succession of demons to eliminate the distraction by killing Miki, and Devilman/Akira resolves to fight to protect Miki.
• Unlike in the manga, Miki survives at the conclusion of the anime series.
• The characters Ryo Asuka and Satan do not appear in the anime series. In Satan's place is a demon named Lord Xenon who commands the Demon Tribe from the Kingdom of Ice. Lord Xenon appears as a shadowy figure that appears very similar to Demon Lord Dante.
• The violence in the anime series was toned-down significantly from the manga.

Outside Japan, the TV series was broadcast in Italy in 1983 and enjoyed great popularity there.

OVAs

Devilman: The birth (デビルマン 誕生編, debiruman tanjō hen) was released in November 1, 1987 (1987-11-01) by King Records. It was followed by Devilman: The Demon Bird (デビルマン 妖鳥シレーヌ編, debiruman yōchō shirēnu hen), released in February 25, 1990 (1990-02-25) by Bandai Visual.Kazuo Komatsubara, an animation director on the original TV series, was the character designer for the OVAs, which were animated by his Oh Production.

Both were directed by Umanosuke Iida (credited under his birth name, Tsutomu Iida) and were closely developed in conjunction with Nagai himself. The OVAs' plot revolves around Akira's transformation into Devilman up until his battle with Sirène. Besides a few minor alterations, the OVAs are faithful to the original manga. Both OVAs were released on Laserdisc and on a single DVD by Bandai Visual in March 28, 2003 (2003-03-28). The two OVAs are also the only Devilman anime to have been commercially released in the United States (by Manga Entertainment), although the DVD release includes only the English-dubbed version (the original Japanese version was previously released on VHS).

In 2000, Amon: Apocalypse of Devilman was released as a pay-per-view event in Japan and was later released on video and DVD. It covers the period between the humans becoming aware of demons and the final battle between Devilman and Satan.

Films

Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman is a crossover film between Devilman and Mazinger Z produced by Toei and released in July 18, 1973 (1973-07-18). The movie features alternative versions of the events from both series, and is therefore not canonical to either one.

In October 9, 2004 (2004-10-09), a live-action tokusatsu film directed by Hiroyuki Nasu was theatrically released in Japan. The film starred Hisato Izaki as Devilman, Yūsuke Izaki as Ryo Asuka and Ayana Sakai as Miki Makimura. The cast also included AV Idol Maria Yumeno.

This movie topped an annual poll by the magazine Eiga Hihō for the worst movie, attracting five times as many votes as the second-place film, and also got first place at the Bunshun Kiichigo Awards and Sports Hochi's Hebi-Ichigo Awards. It was voted the worst Japanese film of the 2000s in an online poll, which noted that the excitement of the manga series getting a film adaptation increased the universal disappointment with the film. (It was not, however, labelled the worst film ever.)

Music

A large number of soundtrack albums have been released since the beginning of the original series.

Title	Format	Company	Standard number	Release date
Devilman	Flexi disc	Asahi Sonorama	APM-4016	July 10, 1972 (1972-07-10)
Devilman	EP record	Columbia	SCS-502	August 10, 1972 (1972-08-10)
TV Original BGM Collection: Devilman	LP album	Columbia	CX-7088	March 1983 (1983-03)
TV Original BGM Collection: Devilman	CD	Columbia	28CC-2295	May 21, 1988 (1988-05-21)
TV Animation Drama Series: Devilman	CD	Columbia	COCC-12398	March 1, 1995 (1995-03-01)
Animex 1200 Series 71: Devilman	CD	Columbia	COCC-72071	September 22, 2004 (2004-09-22)
Original Soundtrack Devilman Tanjo Hen Ongakushu	LP album	King Records	K20G-7359	1987 (1987)
Original Soundtrack Devilman Tanjo Hen Ongakushu	CD	King Records	K30X-7094	November 1987 (1987-11)
Visual Sound Series Devilman Shin Mokushiroku	CD	King Records	K32X-7055	1987 (1987)
Devilman Tanjo Hen / Yocho Sirène Hen	CD	King Records	KICA-10	March 21, 1990 (1990-03-21)
Devilman Densetsu ~ The Legends of DEVILMAN	CD	Pony Canyon	FSCA-10054	October 21, 1998 (1998-10-21)
Nagai Go Hero Densetsu Onkyo Geki Devilman Armageddon Hen	CD	First Smile Entertainment	FSCA-10209	February 20, 2002 (2002-02-20)
Devilman Densetsu + 3 ~ The Legends of DEVILMAN	CD	BeeSmile	BSCH-30011	March 10, 2004 (2004-03-10)
Eternal Edition Dynamic Pro Films Files No.11 & 12: Devilman	CD	Columbia	COCX-32285/6	July 23, 2003 (2003-07-23)
Devilman no Uta (21st century ver.)	CD single	TEAM Entertainment	KDSD-95	February 22, 2006 (2006-02-22)
Hikari no Naka de	CD single	Sonic Groove	AVCD-16051	September 23, 2004 (2004-09-23)
Devilman Original Soundtrack	CD	avex trax	AVCD-17543	October 6, 2004 (2004-10-06)

In other media

Three novels have been released. The first one Shin Devilman (真・デビルマン, shin debiruman) was written by Go Nagai's brother Yasutaka Nagai with illustrations by Go. It was originally published in 1981 by Asahi Sonorama in four books. It is not related to the manga Shin Devilman, from which some chapters were also written by Yasutaka. With the release of the first OVA, in 1987 a single volume novel based on it was released by Kodansha titled Shin Video Shosetsu - Devilman: Tanjo Hen (新ビデオ小説 デビルマン 誕生編, shin bideo shousetsu debiruman tanjou hen). It was also written by Yasutaka Nagai, but it had illustrations by the OVA's main designer, Kazuo Komatsubara. In 1999 a second novelization of 4 volumes titled Devilman: The Novel (デビルマン The Novel) was published by MediaWorks and once again written by Yasutaka and illustrated by Go. All three series of novels are unrelated to each other even though all were written by Yasutaka Nagai.

A video game based on Devilman was released for the Famicom by Namco on April 25, 1989 (1989-04-25).Bandai also released a game based on Devilman for the Sony PlayStation and Windows 98 on April 13, 2000 (2000-04-13). Along with several of Nagai's other creations, Devilman appeared in the Japanese Super Famicom game CB Chara Wars: Ushinawareta Gag (CBキャラウォーズ 笑われたギャーグ, cb kyarauōzu warawa reta gyāgu).

Devilman and other characters from the series have shown up in cameo appearances numerous times in Go Nagai's other works. The most notable is Tomoharu Katsumata's 1973 feature film Mazinger Z Vs. Devilman. Miki is the first female protagonist of the 1974 manga Oira Sukeban, and Akira has appeared in various incarnations of Cutie Honey, most notably the 1994 OVA New Cutie Honey. Miki and Ryo Asuka also appear as dogs (with dog-like bodies and human heads) in the Violence Jack manga.

Go Nagai released a manga series called Violence Jack. The series takes place during the aftermath of Armageddon and the battle between Satan and Devilman. It is speculated that Jack is Akira Fudo, who has lost his memory. This series became an OVA in 1986, and was released in the United States in the 1990s in an edited release by Manga Entertainment and an uncensored release by Critical Mass.

The cast of Devilman also crossed over with characters from Mazinger Z and Violence Jack in the 1991 OVA CB Chara Nagai Go World. This release featured the familiar characters in comical and lighthearted antics in super deformed form. In this series, it is revealed that Violence Jack is a future version of Akira Fudo. It is also revealed that Miki is an otaku and that she knew of Akira's identity as Devilman due to reading the manga offscreen.

In 1997, Nagai created Devil Lady. Devil Lady is based on Nagai's idea of if the main character was a woman. The Devil Lady series contains its own original story that stands out from the Devilman series.

The storyline in Devilman made it stand apart from other manga of the time. However, its extreme violence made it a major target of protest for the PTA and other groups. The manga has been translated into English in a series of five bilingual manga volumes published by Kodansha, although the only Devilman anime to have been commercially released in America are the late 1980s OVAs.

Go Nagai is said to have been highly shocked that his giant-robot work Mazinger Z, which was on Japanese TV at the same time as Devilman and which he originally did not take very seriously, surpassed Devilman in popularity. The reason was that he had worked especially hard on Devilman and only made Mazinger as a way to blow off steam.

Devilman was ranked fifth in Mania Entertainment's 10 Most Iconic Anime Heroes written by Thomas Zoth who commented that "Shonen manga developed a dark tone with Devilman's graphic violence, casual blasphemy, and theme of using evil itself to fight evil."