Neo Devilman Chapter 1

[digitalalterego]

I've been making my way through a lot of Devilman content recently! I've got to say, the quality varies extravagantly between all the spin-offs, sequels and side-stories. I've gotta review some of those, eventually too. At the moment I'm reading Neo Devilman, and anthology full of short Devilman-related stories by different authors (including Go Nagai himself at times) so I wanted to write my thoughts about each chapter. These aren't necessarily canon, but the way the Devilman universe works they can be as canon as you like. I'm gonna treat them like canon, and try and fit them into the original story.

Chapter 1 is set during the end of Devilman, actually it's somewhat of an alternate ending. It has a lot of Christian imagery and lore woven in which I like, as well as a depiction of Satan's original punishment which is probably one of my favourite parts of the Devilman story to speculate on and imagine. And a surprising final page, but I'll talk about that last.

The world has been destroyed, both the humans and demons have been defeated, and Akira walks alone through the ruins of Tokyo. There is an image of Picasso's Guernica, which has a famously anti-war message just like Devilman. I love these kinds of allusions and references to art, maybe just cause it makes me feel a little smarter when I notice them. Although I do genuinely believe referencing other inspirational or related work in a piece of media truly makes it feel more deep and intentional, to the point that the creator really understands the message they are trying to convey enough to relate it to other works.

Then Akira meets Ryo, and he is transported to some kind of imaginary space, the kind of thing Psycho Jenny likes to do. But of course Satan is even more powerful in this aspect. The way they are sitting at a table and conversing here really reminds me of S3 E6 of Hannibal. I love love love Hannibal so I think I just see it whenever I go.

Ryo then begins to yap at Akira, as he does in the original ending. But what he says is very different. Honestly, and I've really tried to think about it, I dont get what Ryo is talking about at all. He speaks about having to destroy the earth to build the "Millenium Kingdom". My first thought was what the hell is that? It's a bible reference. The Millenium Kingdom is a future 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ, during which time an angel is sent to bind Satan and prevent him from deceiving humanity. At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will rebel one last time and then be destroyed for eternity. Huh? Why does Ryo want this? Ryo brings up another topic that answers this somewhat sketchily.

(Edit: okay, I wrote the next paragraph after re-watching Devilman Crybaby. this caused me to misremember Ryo's ending monologue, and confuse his original speech with the one from Crybaby. in the original manga, Ryo doesn't even talk about love, just talks about how foolish he has been and wishes for forgiveness. i still left the paragraph though because it's still a pet-peeve i had about Crybaby and i said some stuff i think is still relevant to Ryo's character)

Of course, that topic is his favourite non-existent concept of love. I think Satan is a very naive character. He only seems powerful from the lense of a human. On the level of an angel, he seems extremely emotionally naive. Saying that is the only way I can justify his strange relationship with the concept of love. In the original Devilman ending Ryo says that love doesn't exist, or at least that that's what he thought until he fell in love with the human Akira. This is a total contradiction! And a pet-peeve I've always had about the original story. What feeling was it that drove Satan to rebel against God, when He originally attempted to erase demons from the earth? Empathy. Or, love. Ryo knows love, in fact he should know it better than God himself. His compassion for the demons is no different than his compassion for Akira, and I dont understand how an intelligent character like him doesn't realise that!

Okay. I got a little off topic. Because in this conversation, Ryo does not say that love doesn't exist. What he says is more interesting; "I'm doing this out of my love for all humanity." My brain is in tatters. What Ryo is saying, is that his love for humanity (perhaps more specifically for Akira) is what has driven him to sacrifice both the human and demon race and bring about this Millenium Kingdom which, by the way, means he will be bound for 1000 years. If we consider this, it actually begins to make a bit of sense. Akira is the "angel" sent to bind Satan for 1000 years (and possibly to ultimately defeat him?). Actually, this only occurred to me while writing the post, and it made me understand the "surprising ending" a lot better!

After Ryo finishes his speech, we get a shot of Satan and Devilman standing face-to-face, ready to fight. Devilman should win, he should trap Satan and allow 1000 years of peace to flourish. But that isn't what he does. We cut back to the psychic dinner table, and Akira is suddenly leaning across it to kiss Ryo. I couldn't believe my eyes. If Ryo's motivation in this story were blurry, Akira's were bordering on the incomprehensible. But now, i understand. And his motivations are actually pretty similar to the original ending.

In the original ending Akira fights Ryo because he cant accept that anyone at all is beyond saving. After all, he has a hero's heart. He tries to defeat Ryo to put an end to his war not because he hates him, but because he cares about him. This ending is the same. Akira stays quiet throughout Ryo's entire monologue until that final moment. He could leave the table, he could walk away, like in the alternate ending from Shin Devilman. He could give up on Ryo. But he doesn't. Earlier, Ryo mentions that humanity should love him back for what he does for them, his act of keeping God's authority at bay. Return that apple-shaped offering of freedom that he planted in the garden of Eden all the way in the beginning. Akira kissing Ryo represents this. Akira represents humanity itself, finally returning the love that Ryo wanted. It isn't happy or sad, but personally I find it a very satisfying ending (even if I don't ship Ryo and Akira. Yeah, I said it).

Aside from the storytelling, the art is gorgeous. I love the line quality, effects, texture, depth, contrast, it's totally beautiful. The only problem I have with it is that I'm not a fan of the way Akira and Ryo's hair is drawn. And a little nitpick that some panels reuse the same drawings, just zoomed in or altered slightly. Other than that this Chapter was a visual treat. I especially loved the drawings of the massacred city with Xenon lying on top of the wreckage at the beginning.

Overall this was a really enjoyable comic, clearly the author cares about the Devilman story very much. It connected with the story without repeating it, a trap that so many Devilman rewrites and spin-offs fall victim to. I'll be surprised if any amount of the chapters in the rest of Neo Devilman are this good, but hopefully I'll get through them all and find out anyways.