Devilman Volume V - The Final Battle

[majingojira]

Once again, it's time to check in on Akira Fuudo, Ryou Asuka and Miki Mikamura and...

See It all fall apart.

When we last left Ryou Asuka, he was driving back home to check up on the research notes. Something hasn't been sitting right with him about the plan he set up.

But he finds out that the demon fossil mask that had the psychic visions was...




He checks for the notes--but they're gone.

Then he checks his family photo albums.


Then it gets worse.





Then Demons descend on the house--to meet with him. Psychogenie's among them.

At the Mikamura's, Akira and the others are commentating on the loss of civilization, when Ryou appears on the news to dispel that mad scientists' madness...ostensibly.


He then tells the truth--in the worst way possible Followed by a film--of Akira becoming a Devilman!



They show the film, and it scares the bejesus outa everyone.









One of the things I hate about posting this series is that I have to cut so many epic long takes and build ups.

Akira speaks up to defend himself from his adopted family.




After some reaction shots:



Ryou continues to sow the seeds of distrust and fear.



The Demon hunters come after Akira leaves.


The parents are taken by the demon hunters, while Ryou and Akira meet up in the post-apocalyptic wastelands.




Ryou tells him that this IS the plan. The plan was never to save humanity, only to save Akira from the coming revolution.


He disappears into a mysterious light.



Ladies and Gentlemen, Ryou Asuka is Satan.

And the basis for this guy: Kowaru Nagisa. This guy:



Get an idea where this is headed yet?

Akira then learns what happens to the Mikimura's and vows to free them. The Demon hunters are going down!





Cue "Night on Bald Mountain":

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, things get worse.




They stockpile weapons and make some improvised ones too.

Miki is also rather badass.




They hold down the fort well, but Akira, upon getting into the basement, is less than successful.

Miki's parents are already dead by the time he gets their. Her father managing only a few breaths before expiring.



Then things take a turn for the worse back home, as we intercut between the two scenes.



That last panel is such an Iconable image...

He notices some technicians from the lab.





I love that image.

Miki is fairing even more poorly than Akira is!

Disarmed and surrounded...

She's one by one confronted with the dead and dismembered bodies of those she lived with.

Including her little brother.

Remember again one commentator noticing that the humans are scarier than the demons.

That's the very point.

Akira broods over what he discovers and wonders if he can go on fighting...



Guess who?

And this is what he finds when he runs home.

I'm so sorry I had to cut pages from this...The entire scene is wonderfully horrific.








Xenom and Satan discuss the flow of events, recapping much of the plot.







...




Yeah. You read that right. Satan's a Hermaphrodite.

At first I thought "Perhaps a male homosexual attraction in a manga made in the 1973 was too much for them and they had to cover it up like this".

But maybe this is still a little extreme.

It's certainly weird.

The internet also demands I do this:

"IT'S A TRAP!"




They gather and have a huge battle, but it's covered only briefly.




Also, the god-thing moves.


After the battle, Ryou ans Akira lay on a shore somewhere on the desolatae planet once called earth by the now extinct apes that crawled upon its surface.

Watching the moon.





And that's how it ends. There have been other stories told using Devilman and set int he same world, but this is the one that started it all.

And helped build the iconography for End of Evangelion.

This the only way to end it is to link this.
 

Comments

[greenmask]

So.. stylish and passionate.

[alexanderlucard]

Angels are often portrayed as hermaphroditic and have been long before DevilMan. Art of Lucifier and other angels being "third gender" is almost as old as Christianity itself. The origins of which depend on who you talk to/what you read. The most common answer tends to revolve around mistranslation of Greek and Hebrew texts.

Although the idea of angels being third gender has faded in Western Culture, Japan has ran with it for a long time, so Satan being a hermaphrodite wasn't really a shock for readers back in the 1970s.

[majingojira]

Interesting--this is the first I've heard of it, usually it ended up as "Genderless" in the works I've read.

I'd love to know where you found out those tidbits.

[alexanderlucard]

I'm a folklorist and I also got roped into specifically doing a lot of Japanese folklore for various reasons over the years. It's just one of those
things you encounter a lot over the years and it sticks with you.

I'm trying to think of a recent few Western examples of it, but all that is coming into my head is The Prophecy movie with Christopher Walken and a lot of Vertigo comics. However it's a pretty old concept. Kabbalistic Judiasm and Christianity have regularly portrayed Angels as having both (and as you said, neither) sexes. Depending on the Rabinnical Scholar, you can also get a debate on when Adam was both sexes (Genesisi VIII:I) and that his female bits were taken away, not his "rib" to make Eve. You can go even further on this with the Lilin offshoot, but that's neither her nor there.

In Japan it shows up a lot in the more folklore oriented pop culture bits. The Megaten series tends to have third gender angels (just watching my language as knowing S-D, someone might find Hermaphroditic offensive), as does anything Kikuchi Hideyuki does with them. Some Japanese writers take the third gender a step further with gods and the like being able to switch gender at will, which is probably something you've seen before. Hell, I'm watching in right now in a copy of Our Home's Fox Diety I was sent to review. My theory is, "Japan likes Futinari/Shoji angels." ;-)

If you want to find some craaaaazy shit online just google "hermaphroditic angels" or "Hermaphrodite religion angels" and you'll find everything from wacky forums discussions to exerts from books talking about how the presentation/gender of Angels have changed regularly.

[majingojira]

As an amateur folklorist, I was hoping for a written source, but that's good too.

And Given the followup which I know to be spot on, I'll believe ya on it (I've actually heard that Rabinnical theory before, but like you I can't remember where).

Time for some Google!

[icon_uk]

Yes, the Christian tradition I grew up (Catholicism) identifies them as having no gender at all, so them being hermaphroditic is a new one on me too.

[alexanderlucard]

The herm vs genderless keeps flip-flopping through the centuries. It just depends on the art that is vogue at the time combined with what language Matthew 22:29 is translated from or who one wishes to interpret it. You'll get scholars that claim the concept of angels being third gender was surpressed to keep both genders from appearing equal since men are supposed to be the superior gender, that it was changed from both into none when sexuality became more and more demonized and various other theories. In my book the truth simply is, people interpret holy books differently and sometimes they draw Angels with two wings, somethings with six or eight and something they draw various, both or no sets of genitals on them. It's art, you know?

It's not something you really encounter these days in a lot Western Christianity. These days it is a concept more in various Protestant versions of Christianity or Kabbalistic Judiasm. It's a concept, like various bits of any religion that waxes or wanes.

[icon_uk]

Fascinating, thank you.

IIRC the two wings is more or less an affectation too, angels don't have wings in the Bible. The higher ranking Seraphim have six wings, and Cherubim have wings, but also four non-human faces, and then we get into powers, and thrones and dominations, and Angemon who digivolves to Magna Angemon or Seraphimon whilst Angewomon warp digivolves to Magnadramon and it just gets terribly confusing.

It's also hard to think about the topic without remembering Alan Rickman as Metatron in "Dogma".

[janegray]

Aww, that page where Miki is torn into two people looked like she was turning into a DevilWoman, I was hoping she and Akira could be together that way :(

Man, Satan is a dick. Talk about crocodile tears.

[majingojira]

If Miki did become a Devilwoman, she'd out-awesome everyone else in the series, and there'd be a happy ending :)

[icon_uk]

I should add that this has been a remarkable series, I've only seen a bit of the anime (I was about to say a "snatch of the anime", but given this series approach to such things, that might be misinterpreted)

It's also practically sequel-proof, since it ends with a literal Biblical post-apocalyptic finale.

[majingojira]

Oh, but it does have a sequel. It's called "Violence Jack". It's not revealed as a sequel until the very end, but takes place in the post apocalyptic hell-hole they left.

With people re-created somehow.

It's even darker and more violent than this.

But most of the proper followups are side stories or re-tellings.

[mistygeek]

This series of post has really been an awesome read.

[mistygeek]

I just wanted you to know I've been links you all your Devilman post on tumblr (http://superherocomics.tumblr.com/tagged/Devilman) and they've been getting some love.