Devillady n. 14

Devil Lady #14

by Go Nagai

Mentre la Human Alliance si prepara al giorno in cui la razza umana sarà chiamata a combattere le orde demoniache nella battaglia finale per la sopravvivenza, anche Yuda Hiraoka e i suoi seguaci si preparano all'avvento di Satana!'Invitato il giovane studente Ryo Utsugi nel suo quartier generale, il misterioso leader della setta di Devil Beast gli offre di diventare la loro guida, rivelandogli una incredibile verità sul suo passato e offrendogli di vedere con i suoi occhi l'Inferno che da sempre lo affascina!'E mentre Ryo si prepara al suo viaggio, Jun è alle prese con una singolare Devil Beast: un cacciatore che ha giurato di sterminare i mostri come lei senza accorgersi che il suo odio l'ha trasformato in uno di essi...

Genres: Manga

Paperback

First published April 21, 2000

About the author

Kiyoshi Nagai (永井潔 Nagai Kiyoshi, born September 6, 1945 in Wajima, Ishikawa), better known by the penname Gō Nagai (永井 豪 Nagai Gō?), is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his professional debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman, and Mazinger Z in the 1970s. In 2005, he became a Character Design professor at the Osaka University of Arts. Since 2009, he is a member of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's nominating committee.

Reviews

[Killer of Dreams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tragedy of the beast hunter and the further blending of the Divine Comedy and creationism have spiked my interest in the series.

Rating Update 4/4/2019: 4 stars to 3 stars.

0-20 pages = 3 stars (Increasing Devilmen troubles)
20-40 pages = 2 stars (Dante and the church)
40-120 pages = 2 stars (Beast hunter first half)
120-170 pages = 3 stars (Beast hunter's demise)
170-222 pages = 4 stars (Creationism discussion)

0.27027027027027027027027027027027 + 0.18018018018018018018018018018018 + 0.72072072072072072072072072072072 + 0.67567567567567567567567567567568 + 0.93693693693693693693693693693694 = 2.7837837837837837837837837837838

Roughly adds up to 3.00 so 3 stars. The beast hunter investigation was really slow and boring. The only thing that makes up for it is his tragic death. The creationism discussion was great but it only took up a small portion of the volume.

September 1, 2019
Update
With the adoption of my new rating system, a three star rating is befitting. The original review and rating updates conform to the new rating system. I have looked through my "Devilman Lady Abridged" folder to remind myself of this volume's content. What could have been a four star-rating, centering around the beast hunter and his tragedy, is brought down by the church sub-plot and the slow aspects of the beats hunter plot. In my "Goodreads Books" excel worksheet, I had written to change the rating back to a four star-rating, but I don't understand how it can reach a four star-rating, with everything previously mentioned. In my "Goodreads Books" excel worksheet, I had written to change the rating back to a four star-rating, but I don't understand why. In my "Goodreads Books" excel worksheet, I had written to change the rating back to a four star-rating, but I don't understand why. Everything previously mentioned seems to lead to a three star-rating.

March 20, 2020
Update
Surprisingly the individual ratings for the sections in the rating update from April 4, 2019, make sense. My only minor remark would be that though I have rated the last section four stars, some pages in the last section are about Carl Gustav Jung, which disrupted the flow. I would not consider the disruption enough to lower the rating of the section below four stars. Moreover, the section titled the "Beast hunter's demise" could have reached a four star-rating because of the empathy it created in me from his tragic death, but the ending felt a bit rushed and the beast hunter was not a perfect tragic hero, since he was partly driven by a frenzy to kill Jun's assistants and hunt down beasts in society.

Finding a rating type for this volume is hard because of the various rated sections and their difference in content. I will simply characterize this book as having half its content rated as dull two star-rated content, and the other half full of three and four star-rated content. This book leans to a three star-rating but it is not a perfect three star-rated book. The rating update from April 4, 2019, uses a 2.78 star-rating for this book, which shows the imperfection. Basing the rating trends of the sections of this volume from the rating update from April 4, 2019, I have created a rating type with the following description: "The book started off good (three star-rated) before descending into a two star-rated portion, continued into a different arc that was equally two star-rated before the second half of the arc ended on a good point (three star-rated) (the three star-rating could have been four but there are some imperfections with the ending of the arc) before the book culminated in a final four star-rated section that is distinct and separate from the rest".

I have left the color of the rating as yellow because, although I believe and lean towards the three star-rating, it makes logical sense now and seems to accurately represent my original feelings, though I feel that I do not have as poignant of a memory to solidify the rating with a green. A three star-rating is the good choice for the most part.