Devilman: The Birth

Meet Akira Fudou, your average high school kid whose life gets flipped upside down when his childhood friend Ryou Asuka shows back up and casually drops the news that demons are real and they want the Earth back. Ryou's solution? Drag Akira to a nightclub that turns into a literal bloodbath when partygoers start transforming into monsters. To survive, Akira has to merge with a powerful demon, but somehow keep his human heart intact. That's the setup for Devilman: Tanjou-hen, the 1987 OVA adaptation of Go Nagai's legendary manga. This single episode covers the origin story, and it does not hold back. The gore is heavy, the atmosphere is suffocating, and the whole thing leans hard into body horror that feels genuinely unsettling even by today's standards. There's something about that late-80s Oh! Production animation: the hand-painted cel work, the grotesque creature designs, that digital effects just can't replicate. It's raw in a way that gets under your skin. If you watched Devilman Crybaby on Netflix and want to see where it all started, this is the version that bridges the gap between Nagai's original manga and that modern reimagining. Fans of Violence Jack or Tokyo Majin will feel right at home with the dark mythology and brutal tone. At one episode, it's a quick watch, but the themes about human nature and what you're willing to become to protect what you love stick around longer than you'd expect.