Amon - The Apocalypse Of Devilman Online

While The Birth serves as a stylish, brutal introduction, Amon is something else entirely: a psychological horror film that dismantles its protagonist, questions the very concept of identity, and plunges the viewer into a maelstrom of visceral gore and existential despair. This article delves deep into the making, plot, themes, and legacy of this infamous and brilliant OVA. The 1980s OVA boom allowed creators to bypass television censorship, producing direct-to-video content for a mature audience. Devilman: The Birth (1987) was a landmark, adapting the first half of the manga with stunning, gruesome detail. Its success guaranteed a sequel.

In the end, Akira’s human consciousness briefly resurfaces, horrified by the carnage his body has wrought. He begs Miki to run. But the final scene offers no hope. Akira’s face transforms one last time into Amon’s snarling visage, and the OVA ends with the narrator’s grim words: “The apocalypse of the devil man has begun.” 1. The Illusion of Control: The Birth ended with Akira believing he could use Amon’s power for good. Amon brutally deconstructs this idea. The OVA argues that there is no compromise with a primal force of chaos. The moment Akira merges with Amon, his human identity is on borrowed time. The film asks: Can you truly weaponize hatred and violence for love and protection? Its answer is a resounding, bloody no .

Culturally, Amon has gained a massive reappraisal in recent years. As audiences have become more accustomed to “dark” reboots and deconstructionist anime (like Evangelion , which owes a clear debt to Devilman ), Amon is now seen as a landmark of adult animation. It directly influenced works like Berserk (1997) and the Devilman Crybaby (2018) Netflix series. amon - the apocalypse of devilman

Ryo Asuka is a tragic figure in the manga, but in Amon , his callousness is on full display. He treats Akira’s disintegration as a scientific data point. He created Devilman, and now he watches his creation self-destruct. The OVA hints at Ryo’s true nature (Satan) but doesn’t fully reveal it, making him seem less like a fallen angel and more like a detached, monstrous god playing with pawns.

In the vast, bloody tapestry of dark fantasy and horror anime, few works have cast as long a shadow as Go Nagai’s 1972 manga, Devilman . Its exploration of a reluctant demon-human hybrid, the nature of evil, and an apocalyptic ending where Satan himself wins remains shocking even today. However, the original 1972 TV anime was a neutered, children’s version of the source material. It wasn’t until the 1987 OVA Devilman: The Birth and its 1990 sequel, Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman , that Nagai’s violent, nihilistic vision was finally rendered in animated form. While The Birth serves as a stylish, brutal

Amon: The Apocalypse of Devilman , directed by Umanosuke Iida (who worked on The Birth ) and written by Go Nagai himself alongside Akinori Endo, picks up immediately where the first OVA left off. The animation studio was Oh! Production, with character design and animation direction by the legendary Yoshihiko Umakoshi (later known for Casshern Sins and My Hero Academia ). Umakoshi’s work here is raw, muscular, and grotesquely beautiful—a perfect marriage of Nagai’s crude, expressive style and high-fidelity anime detail.

Commercially, it underperformed compared to The Birth , likely due to its relentless grimness and the fact that it ends on a cliffhanger that was never resolved. (A third OVA adapting the apocalyptic finale of the manga was planned but never made.) Devilman: The Birth (1987) was a landmark, adapting

For fans of psychological horror, body horror, and animation that pushes boundaries, Amon is essential viewing. It is a masterpiece of despair—a howling, bloody scream into the void, reminding us that sometimes, the hero doesn’t just lose. He becomes the apocalypse.