Devilman anime character with red skin, black horns, yellow eyes, and white bat wings

Devilman

1972anime franchiseclassic

Published August 17, 2026

Devilman is a horror manga and anime franchise created by Go Nagai in 1972 that follows timid teenager Akira Fudo after he fuses with the demon Amon and turns into a demon-fighting hybrid. The series became a landmark of dark supernatural manga and got a widely praised Netflix anime reboot, Devilman Crybaby, in 2018.

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Overview

Devilman follows Akira Fudo, a timid teenager living with the Makimura family, whose friend Ryo Asuka drags him into archaeological work centered on a fossilized demon skull2. The skull reveals visions of a distant past when demons ruled Earth, and Akira ends up fused with the demon Amon, Lord of War, gaining terrifying powers while keeping his human conscience. Transformed into Devilman, Akira battles other demons before the story reaches its bleak, apocalyptic conclusion.

The franchise is known for graphic body horror, religious imagery, and Go Nagai's grim view of the war between demons and humanity. Its influence runs through decades of dark anime, and the 2018 Netflix reboot Devilman Crybaby brought that violent tone to a global streaming audience1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Manga / TV anime (Japan)
Creator
Go Nagai
Date
1972

Devilman was created by manga artist Go Nagai, launching on June 11, 1972 alongside a televised anime adaptation directed by Masayuki Akehi and Tomoharu Katsumata that ran for 39 episodes2. The TV version diverged sharply from the source material, painting Devilman as a straightforward monster-of-the-week hero while the manga pushed toward an apocalyptic ending, a gap that later adaptations kept trying to close1.

How It Spread

Nagai kept revisiting the property through follow-up manga, including Shin Devilman from 1979 to 1981 and Devilman G from 2012 to 20142. Two original video animations, Devilman: The Birth (1987) and Devilman: Demon Bird Sirène (1990), directed by Umanosuke Iida with Nagai's involvement, gave fans a closer take on the manga's brutal tone. A live-action film followed in 2004.

The franchise got its biggest global boost on January 5, 2018, when Netflix released Devilman Crybaby, a ten-episode anime directed by Masaaki Yuasa and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi1. Polygon called it visually stunning and one of the year's early standouts, praising Yuasa's fluid animation and the show's willingness to lean into blood, sex, and grief1.

Fan output followed the Crybaby release. Pixiv hosts thousands of works tagged with the Japanese spelling デビルマン3, and a Devilman Crybaby megathread on r/anime pulled over a thousand upvotes as viewers dissected the ending together.

Frequently Asked Questions