is a manga series written and illustrated by

Shigeru Mizuki was a Japanese manga artist and historian, best known for his manga series ''GeGeGe no Kitarō''. Born in a hospital in Osaka and raised in the city of Sakaiminato, Tottori, he later moved to Chōfu, Tokyo where he remained until his death ...

. Several versions of the manga exist, one of which was adapted into a

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

TV show, and another into an

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series. In addition, two movies were spawned from the anime TV series: ''Akuma-kun: The Movie'' released in 1989 and ''Akuma-kun: Yōkoso Akuma Land e!!'' released in 1990. An original net

series has been announced with

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

and director

Junichi Sato is a Japanese anime director, best known for working on '' shōjo''-based anime and in the magical girl genre. He was formerly associated with TYO Animations (formerly Hal Film Maker). Born in Ama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, his first major ...

returning from the previous series. Sato will serve as the chief director with Fumitoshi Oizaki serving as the series director.

Hiroshi Ōnogi is a Japanese screenwriter and novelist focusing on anime productions. Ōnogi attended Keio University in the same years as ''Macross'' character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto and creator Shōji Kawamori, both of whom he would first collaborate w ...

will oversee the scripts. The series is set to be released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

in 2023.

Basic setting

In this series, the contents vary from version to version. The common plot points of every adaptation are listed below. * The protagonist is a child prodigy who appears once every 10,000 years. The protagonist is always nicknamed “Akuma-kun”. * Akuma-kun wants to create a world where all human beings can live happily, and he believes that harnessing the power of demons is necessary for him to achieve that goal. Additionally, the entities referred to as demons in the series are not limited to that of Christian origins, rather the series features various monsters described in myths and folk stories from all around the world. * At the beginning of the story, Akuma-kun has not yet succeeded in the summoning of demons, and has repeatedly conducted magical research and experiments. However Dr. Faust appears and teaches the secrets of summoning demons to Akuma-kun, and as a result he finally succeeds in invoking demons. * In addition, Dr. Faust gives Akuma-kun the Solomon Flute. This flute gives Akuma-kun the power to bend demons to his will. The flute was used by King Solomon. * Akuma-kun has multiple subordinates who follow him. They are often referred to as the “twelve apostles”. The twelve apostles also differ from series to series.- To summon demons, Shingo, standing in front of a magic circle casts a spell, ”エロイムエッサイム、我は求め訴えたり”. (Eloim, Essaim, frugativi et appelavi.) This is a spell written in a grimoire spread in France during the 18th and 19th century.

1989 anime series

Characters

Shingo Umoregi (埋れ木真吾) is a boy in fifth grade. He was nicknamed “Akuma-kun” by his friends due to his immense knowledge of demons and the occult. His father Shigeru Umoregi is a manga artist who struggles to sell his work. According to Faust, Shingo is said to be the Messiah, who appears once every ten thousand years to bring peace to the world.

List of episodes

Video game

is a role-playing video game for the

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

that was released on February 24, 1990, and is based on the anime. It was developed by

Tose () (also called Tose Software) is a Japanese video game development company based in Kyoto. It is mostly known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch ports and remakes#Game & Watch Gallery series, ''Game & Watch Gallery'' series, various ''Drago ...

and published by

Bandai is a Japanese multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and Richmond ...

. The game follows Shingo Umoregi (Akuma-kun), who the player controls, through three different types of areas. The

world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of th ...

allows Akuma-kun to visit different towns and dungeons. The world map is in an

overhead perspective A variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions ...

and features

random encounter A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing games whereby combat encounters with non-player character (NPC) enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random, usually without the enemy being physically detected b ...

s, which pit Akuma-kun against randomly appearing enemies. During battles, the perspective switches to first-person and the player selects different types of attacks from a menu. During battle, the player can summon demons to aid Akuma-kun with fighting. The player's party and the enemies then take turns attacking each other, similar to most other turn-based RPGs. When Akuma-kun enters a town, the view switches to that of a

side-scrolling video game '' A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller), is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphic ...

. By moving up at certain areas, Akuma-kun can enter buildings and shops. The game begins as a wizard explains to Akuma-kun that the world will be a better place if demons and humans establish contact. Akuma-kun then sets out to establish this connection.

References

External links

* {{Netflix original animated series and films 1989 anime television series debuts Anime series based on manga Bandai games Encourage Films Demons in anime and manga Japanese children's animated fantasy television series Japanese drama television series Japan-exclusive video games Japanese-language Netflix original programming Japanese role-playing video games Kodansha manga Manga series Netflix original anime Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Manga adapted into television series Shigeru Mizuki Shōnen manga Shueisha manga Television shows based on manga Toei Animation television Tose (company) games TV Asahi original programming Upcoming Netflix original programming Video games based on anime and manga Video games developed in Japan