Akuma-Kun

When I was researching the manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, I didn't know that he had written another manga besides his well-known one, "Gegege no Kitaro." After watching the opening sequence of the 1989 anime series, I stumbled upon "Akuma-kun" (Devil Boy). The series centers around Shingo Yamada, who has the nickname "Akuma-kun" because of his knowledge of demons and monsters. Dr. Faustus helped Shingo's group ally themselves with the demon Mephisto to achieve their goal of wiping out harmful creatures, including the evil scientist who created one of said creatures.

I found a live-action version of Akuma-kun, as luck would have it, on the Internet Archive, but unfortunately, only episodes one and two have subtitles. For the other episodes that were not subtitled, I kind of guessed each story by watching the characters' movements.

I found this series to have a nice blend of terror and humor. Mizuki's manga was the first source for producing this significant TV series. Also, the series began long before "Gegege no Kitaro" became a successful animated series. The last thing I should mention is that "Akuma-kun" premiered in the same year as the magic-girl animated series "Sally the Witch." Overall, this series is another favorite, and I'd love to see the show on a North American DVD or Blu-ray.

Akuma-Kun (devil's child) is a young boy who teams up with Mephisto, a old pointy nosed Tuxedo wearing demon who has a bump on his head. They are both working for Dr. Faust, who control Mephisto by using the solomon's flute. They battle monsters and ghost. One episode they both get swallowed by a giant Godzilla like monster, so Mephisto cut open the monsters guts to get out, making the stomach acid melt the monster to death. Mephisto took on mummy, Lucifer, possessed mannequins, Vampire and many others. Mephisto is always depressed that no girls wanted to go out with him because of the way he looks. After episode 10, Mephisto's younger brother Sultan Mephitso took over the show, as the original Mephisto had contract dispute. The show is very cheap and poorly lite, but that was how it was back then in japan Television. Both Mephisto died in real life in the 90's, and show still have a big cult following in Japan even though there is only 26 episode. They made direct-to-video movie version in the 80's, and animation also.