Ah, I finally found the strengh to talk about my favourite manga. You must have heard about it, because I've already spoken about it, but well. Let me explain to you why you absolutely have to read Devilman !
So, Devilman is a manga in five volumes, by the famous
Go Nagai ! You don't know him ? Well, you certainly know Mazinger Z ? Or Goldorak ? Bingo ! That's him. Released in 1972, that manga isn't about robots, but, as the title seems to show, demons.
Let me explain to you.
We first meet Akira, a young boy, nice and weak :
and his friend, a young girl, Miki, who's everything but weak. She has a strong character, and doesn't like not to be respected ! Just for you to know, Go Nagai isn't a macho. Miki isn't the first strong girl he create, and for an author of the 70s, that's pretty cool.
Akira had a normal life, adopted by Miki's parents, before his old friend, Ryô,
suddenly reappeared in his life.
Ryô is the son of a famous scientist that just died, and he's going to reveal something really important to Akira.
Really.
In fact, his father discovered that, a long time ago, demons were the ones who were dominating the Earth. They had disappeared, stayed asleep, but now, they are going to return.
And demons are strong. Way too strong for humans. And you know the worst ? They can take control of humans. Ryô's father tried to kill his own son before killing himself...
At this rate, it seems like there's no more hope for humanity. But if Ryô has come to meet Akira, that's not for nothing. Because the pure soul of the young boy is able to resist to demon's control. He can be possessed by a demon, have his powers, and still have a human soul.
To Ryô, Akira is the only one who can save humanity. That's why Akira is going to be invested by a demon, Amon, and become Devilman...
At this point, Akira is going to change. The demon in him makes him completly different, now he's strong, and so much cooler :
It's a big fight against demons that is going to begin...
So, we're done with the manga's speech ! But my presentation isn't over yet, because Devilman is way more than a synopsis.
Devilman is a critic. A critic of what ? Of society. Of Mankind. Because the main enemy of humanity isn't going to be demons. No. It's going to be Humanity itself.
I don't want to spoil you, so you'll have to read the manga to understand, but you have to know that Nagai is saying something sadly true in his manga. Read, you'll see.
Devilman is great because the critic is so damn right.
And I'd like to explain you why, but I can't. You have to discover it by yourself !
So, Devilman is definitely a great manga.
Still, you have to be prepared.
Devilman shows no mercy. It's violent, very violent. Lots of blood, lots of death, that's not a nice critic at all, that's a critic very pessimistic and true, served by a violence that'll make you ill at ease.
The author's style of drawing is kind of special too, it's an old manga so maybe you'll don't like it (plus, there are mistakes sometimes), personnaly I'm really keen of that kind of drawing style, but it's not the case of everybody. That style really goes well with the manga's horrific ambiance.
To sum up, here are the good points I saw in Devilman !
1) A critic, very intelligent
2) Interesting characters , with a psychology, and real female characters
3) No taboos in that manga, there are naked bodies, uncensored death scenes. Yet the violence is never free.
4) It's short ! Only five volumes, and the story has no breaks, and everything is perfectly explained.
5) You can't find it in French, it doesn't exist anymore, but the scans are avaible on Internet... In English !
So
go and read it !!!