I first across this manga in a small (but well stocked) comic shop in Sheffield. At the time this was the only place outside of London that would stock Japanese language manga, and as my visiting the shop is rare occurrence I snapped up the earliest volume I could find. You might think that buying a comic in a language where you can't even read the basics is a strange thing to do, and you'd be right.
But Japanese manga (or tankoubon, the compiled editions) are very cheap compared to Viz, Darkhorse or any of the other major western publishers' equivalents. I'm not sure of the reasons for this, but you'd pay at least half the amount for a similar product in Japan as you would the US or Europe, plus you get a nice dustcover and extras such as pull-out posters included in the price. Those of you who remember Viz's graphic novels before they dumped the dustcovers (for cost reasons, presumably) will know what I'm talking about: it just feels nice and looks classier.
Anyhow, back to the point! I didn't have to pay much, just a few pounds and I got myself a tankoubon that will most likely never be published in this country or any other English speaking country, for that matter. You see, Devilman Lady contains graphic scenes of rape and violence. I can't be sure of the exact nature of these scenes because I can't read the words, but it's pretty damn obvious what's going on. In the volume I purchased (2) a school girl is seemingly sodomized against her will within the first few pages and Devilman Lady herself witnesses her friend Ran as she is raped by a demon, only to fall victim to the same fate some time later. These scenes are not as graphic as those printed in specialist pornography, but they do show about as much as Japanese censorship laws will allow. Many will be offended by their inclusion in a comic, regardless of how the events are portrayed. I'm not going to attempt to address the issue of the rights and wrongs of including this sort of material in a comic, but it would be wise to note that the rapists are villanised and punished (usually killed by Devilman Lady) for their crimes.
In this early volume the plot is fairly straightforward; Jun (assuming the names are the same as the anime version) is a school teacher who fights demons as her alter-ego, Devilman Lady. I'm not sure of her relationship to the Ran character, but she appears to play a similar role to that of Ryo in Devilman; locating and helping fight the demons as best she can. The second volume introduces us to a demon posing as a fellow teacher. He begins to rape the pupils before meeting his match in Devilman Lady, although Jun appears to be struggling to come to terms with demonic powers at this stage and struggles to transform in time to save Ran from being raped. Having dealt with one demon with a taste for rape, her next adversary is the female Siren that you may recognise from the Devilman OVAs.
As is the case with the OVA, this fight sequence with this demon bird is a real highlight. Go Nagai can really illustrate an excellent fight scene. Everything remains cohesive throughout, I never found myself getting lost or confused as to where the characters were in relation to each other and what they were doing. His bold, simple page layouts make good use of available space, illustrating movement with heavy use of zip lines. These fights take up well over half the volume, which makes this one very action-heavy manga.
With the simplistic plot, plenty of reference material and all this action, I was able to enjoy reading trough Devilman Lady. I later went back to the small shop in Sheffield and bought two more volumes that were on sale for less than a third of the price that I'd bought volume 2. These were volumes 11 and 15. Volume 11 is much the same; Jun is still working as a teacher and Devilman Lady is fighting an octopus demon. However, we are introduced to one interesting character. During a fight with some anonymous demons (who again try to rape our heroine) she is saved by a floating skull that scares the demons away. Falling to the ground, she picks it up and takes it home with her. It has two bat-like bones protruding from the temples much like Devilman, and also features a similar bone structure around the mouth (Devilman Lady retains her human mouth when she transforms, unlike Devilman who mutates into a grotesque demon face). For some reason she sketches on paper what she imagines the body of her rescuer to look like, a kind of costumed super-hero with a bone patterned outfit. Even stranger than that, she actually goes ahead and makes the costume, with boots, gloves and all!
As Jun is sound asleep (she must be tired after all that sewing) the costume and the skull magically rises to form a kind of dead, flying Devilman who goes out to slay demons in the night. It makes no sense whatsoever, and no matter what the Japanese text explains, it won't stop the concept from being totally bonkers.
By the 15th volume the strange costumed Devilman skull is gone, but believe it or not, thing have gotten a lot weirder. The first half of the volume features someone who looks an awful lot like Ryo from Devilman wandering around what appears to be a depiction of hell, Cerberus and all. Here he finds Devilman (fully skinned with no silly costume) in a proper thinking man's statue pose. Perhaps he is pondering the carnage happening in the other world, where Jun and the rest of the world face an apocalyptic situation. The demons are out in greater numbers than ever and the yakuza style organisation that appeared briefly in volume 11 appear to be responsible. The earth is fighting back, however, as they prepare for the fight with armies, tanks and special forces. We see Jun suited in special armour along with several other people. These turn out to be demons who have human instincts, just like her. They fight alongside Jun during the battle, ripping through the enemy hordes and jumping around like acrobats. Not all of them survive, however, as there are some demons who are just too powerful. At the end of the volume Jun is faced by two of the most powerful, both standing at least twice or three times as tall as her.
This apocalyptic finale to the series (I assume this is near the end) is not that dissimilar to Devilman, although I don't know if she eventually faces the devil or who the devil really is. Regardless, this is the natural climax to such an action orientated manga and I hope the TV series follows a similar path.
I can't give Devilman Lady a rating. Not only do I not understand Japanese, I haven't read more than the three volumes I own. Having said that, I can wholeheartedly recommend it to Devilman fans. If you're lucky enough to see it, buy it. Not only does it look pretty on the shelf, it's fun to flick through the pages and see Devilman Lady as Go Nagai intended her. Namely, kicking demon's all over the place!
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