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REVIEW: Devilman: The Classic Collection GN 1

How is Some uncomfortable themes and stories, a minus or a con?

The review forget that not everything was written with an progressive mindset .This book is old and I understand somethings are not up to par anymore but we can not change history.

I didn't forget, but not every reader who picks up the series is going to be aware of its age or how drastically different things were in the 1970s. Just trying to consider all the potential readers out there.

Yeah, not gonna mince words, Nagai's works haven't really aged that well. He's definitely influential, but a lot of creators have since surpassed him while dealing with similar subject matter such as Kentaro Miura, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Hiroaki Samura, Kouta Hirano, and countless others. His works are more historically important than anything

How is Some uncomfortable themes and stories, a minus or a con? *that* is one of the main appeal that made the devil man manga such a classic story that strongly resonates with readers or fans of the work & why it has had so many re-releases what a odd critique from the reviewer.

Devilman is a manga from 1972. Why do you assume that somehow his writing and art ability stopped evolving after that?

That's like me taking your crappy devianart you did when you were 12 years old and then compare it to a full fledged professional artist's work and talk about how that pro artist has surpassed your 5 years old self.

Maybe some of these authors like Miura have done something specific, better than Nagai, but none of them can claim to have tackled as many genres (comedy, fantasy, historical, action, horror, erotica etc etc) and themes as him. Does Miura do historical manga (Masamune Date)? Does he adapt classic poems (Like with Nagai's Dante's Comedy)? What's his knowledge of Japanese folklore? Not much I'd say.

Uh, the reasons Nagai has such a huge bibliography are 1) he's been around since the late 60s so of course he's going to have more years to pile on works and 2) a lot of his works actually didn't last very long.

And, yeah, a guy can evolve and change over the years. Miura shook off the sexual violence endemic to early Berserk to the point where it's basically non-existent now and Tahekiko Inoue went from a simple basketball manga in Slam Dunk to doing his own amazing rendition of the life of Miyamoto Musashi.

But considering that Nagai STILL has written Devilman series (like Grimoire)...well, he's still the same old Go Nagai. For good and ill, the manga industry's pervy old uncle who's a little too into splatter films. Again, I'm not trying to belittle his place in the history of the medium. The guy's a legend, but successors to his work have shaven away some of the more uncomfortable aspects he never shook off.

I do find it to be a dumb con too since it makes you feel uncomfortable in a good way because how well it is handle. It would be like saying movies like Last House on the Left, I Spit on Your Grave, The Crow, Requiem for a Dream and A Clockwork Orange making you feel uncomfortable is a bad thing in those movies. Then again, I notice American anime fans are not into those type of movies.

Yeah, not gonna mince words, Nagai's works haven't really aged that well. He's definitely influential, but a lot of creators have since surpassed him while dealing with similar subject matter such as Kentaro Miura, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Hiroaki Samura, Kouta Hirano, and countless others. His works are more historically important than anything

The same is not necessarily true for Devilman, where those criticized aspects of Akira were not meant to be seen as negative. The intention behind them is different. While the story as a whole is anti-war in themes, Akira's non-violent self is seen as undesirable in the beginning, both by Miki, the thugs and (arguably) the reader.
Miki thinks his transformation is "amazing" and seems very impressed when he safes her from the same thugs next time.

So your problem is that Miki acts like a teenager rather than a thoughtful and mature person. And no, Nagai's job isn't taking our hands and tell us exactly how we're supposed to feel and react. I prefer the manga Miki way over the Mary Sue from Crybaby. She might fill your standards about pacifism and anti-bullying but she was so incredibly bland and so pure that she won't take a weapon even in self-defense. That's not human, that's an idealization of a pure maiden. People are flawed, how you can make an anti-war statement if you don't fill it with people?