Devilman (Hiruta Manga)

Devilman
Author	Mitsuru Hiruta
Illustrator	Mitsuru Hiruta
Published on	August 1972 to June 1973
Published by	Akita Shoten

Devilman is the name of a manga by Mitsuru Hiruta, who had worked with Go Nagai since Harenchi Gakuen. It was based on the Deviman TV-series and published in Akita Shoten's Bouken Ou magazine from 1972 to 1973.

Production

Very similar to the format of the anime series, the manga had a  monster of the week style structure each chapter introducing a new foe for the hero to battle with, often the chapters were based upon the anime episodes and were reworked to fit the format, with some obvious differences and similarities, though there were multiple chapters that played their own stories entirely, frequently these were the strongest chapters in the manga.

Story

Coming home from school late one evening, the young teen Akira Fudo is attacked and killed by the cruel demon Devilman. Devilman then attempts to merge with Akira, but as the boy lay dying his thought lingered on the girl of his dreams Miki Makimura, and those pure thoughts overpowered Devilman's consciousness and allowed for Akira to become dominant of Devilman's memories, abilities and appearance.

As Devilman, Akira would fight against the demonic forces of Demon King Zennon such as the winged Kentos, the grotesque Dagon or puppeteer Zool. Each time ending in defeat for the attacking demon.

Eventually Zennon sent out his strongest agent, the moon demon Dremoon, who flooded the coasts of Japan, killing millions. Akira, unsure he would be able to beat the devil, said goodbye to his loved ones before braving up for the battle and went out to combat the demon. After a deadly battle, Akira managed to slay Dremoon. With this he promised to protect humanity no matter the cost, till the very end.

Characters

• Akira Fudo: The main protagonist of the manga, he defends the earth against Zennon's demon forces.
• Zennon: The leader of the Demon Tribe, he sends his troops to try and defeat the Devilman.
• Miki Makimura: Akira's object of affection whom he must constantly defend from attack.
• Kensaku 'Tare' Makimura: Miki's younger brother who is easily panicked and frightened, lending to his nickname Tare.
• Dremoon: Zennon's strongest warrior, sent to do battle with Devilman in the final chapter.
• Sirene: An agent of the Devil Clan, sent to cause chaos alongside Devilman.
• Jewel: A high ranking demon killer, sent to assassinate Akira Fudo.

Trivia

• 

  An advertisement for the manga

  In spite of Hiruta's manga being made to help publicise the anime series, it used the idea of Akira still being dominant over the demon like in the manga, rather then having Devilman inhabit Akira's corpse.
• Despite the demoness Lyamon being shown on the cover of the manga (both using art from the TV show), she never actually appears in the manga.
• On occasion, the name Hiruta would show up on shop banners and posters, in reference to the comics creator.
•  In the chapter titled 'The Wicked Vetra', the demon Zannin appears and is built up as a major threat set to return, though he never does and doesn't even meet Akira during the time he did appear.
  • Interestingly his design is closer to that of Zennon from Demon Lord Dante than the anime version of Zannin.
• Tare's girlfriend Miyo gets mentioned in 'The Wicked Kentos' but never makes a physical appearance.
• Despite the lack of the demoness general Lacock, several of her clothing minions still appeared including Jewel, Kentos and Weathers.
• Many demons in the manga use designs from early concept art pieces, including Jacon, Bela, Weathers, Dremoon and presumably Wuduu.

Cover Gallery