Ask John: What is Devilman Lady?

Question:
I was wandering through the Anipike links and stumbled across an anime called “Devilman Lady.” I found the story to be quite interesting and I was wondering if you could give me some more information. How long is the series? Is it worth buying when released in America? What kind of review would you give it?

Answer:
Speaking as someone that owns the entire Devilman Lady TV series on import laserdisc, I’d definitely say that the series is worth buying. AD Vision recently picked up the US translation and distribution rights to this series, but there’s no telling when it will actually be released in the US. Very loosely based on Go Nagai’s original Devilman Lady manga series, Devilman Lady was a 26 episode late-night television series from 1998-1999, directed by Toshihiro Hirano, who directed the Vampire Miyu OAVs and TV series. The animation quality of the show isn’t outstanding, but is certainly adequate. The character design is absolutely wonderful, though, reminiscent of a budget version of the Rayearth OAV character design. Devilman Lady, while a slightly revisionist take on the Devilman mythology, maintains the dark, apocalyptic, atmospheric and sexual tone of the Devilman franchise. The series has its share of action and graphic violence, but at the same time, manages to focus heavily on character development and the presentation of a very mature, dramatic and atmospheric story. Some viewers may be turned-off by the episodic monster-of-the-week style of the first half of the series, but especially later on, the show becomes significantly more story-heavy and apocalyptic. The show is also definitely not one for children. Even though Devilman Lady was a TV series, like Berserk, which aired around the same time, Devilman Lady features some extreme graphic violence, a fair amount of graphic nudity, and some fairly intense sex (by TV standards).