Shin Megami Tensei: DeviChil is the anime adaptation of Devil Children Black Book & Red Book. Both the games and the anime were produced concurrently, but the only common point between them are the main characters, as each medium tells a completely different story.
It was broadcast on the Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting Network at the Saturday 7:30-08:00 AM timeslot and ran for 50 episodes from October 7, 2000 to September 29, 2001.
Plot[]
Due to family circumstances, Setsuna Kai is moving to a new city where he's supposed to live by himself in an apartment. As soon as Setsuna arrives, he witnesses a mysterious rain of rocks and barely escapes being crushed by an enormous boulder. Setsuna's new home wasn't as lucky, being completely destroyed by another giant boulder. Setsuna is distraught, not knowing what to do when he's approached by a scientist named Hiromi Kaname. Dr. Kaname's equipment apparently can tell that Setsuna is a "Devil Child", and so Dr. Kaname decides to take Setsuna to his laboratory.
The laboratory also doubles as Dr. Kaname's house, and there he explains to Setsuna that there exists another world known as the Expanse, where demons live. The Demon Lord Lucifer is trying to take control of the Expanse, and for that purpose he is using his magic to turn good demons evil. Those demons are marked with a brand somewhere in their bodies, and as they wreck havoc in the Expanse, the human world is affected by it in a related manner.
The only way to put a stop to this is traveling to the Expanse and defeated the demon causing the incident, but regular humans cannot travel to the Expanse. Only Devil Children, humans who for some unknown reason have demon DNA in them, are capable of this feat. Setsuna must now work together with Mirai Kaname, Dr. Kaname's granddaughter, in order to stop Lucifer and protect both worlds.
Characters[]
Protagonists[]
- Setsuna Kai: A hot-blooded 5th grade student who loves soccer.
- Mirai Kaname: A fiery 5th grade student with a short temper.
- Cool: Setsuna's partner. A Cerberus cub who uses fire magic.
- Veil: Mirai's partner. A small Gryphon who uses wind magic.
- Jack Frost: A snowman demon who joins Setsuna and Mirai after being freed from Lucifer's magic brand.
- Mechi: A small orange demon in the shape of a ball that uses thunder magic.
- Hiromi Kaname: Mirai's guardian who aids her in her investigation of the Expanse.
- Sphinx: Former adviser to Prince who joins Setsuna and Mirai after they help save his home. He uses both wind and thunder magic.
Antagonists[]
- Lucifer: The main antagonist of the first half of the series who wants to take over both worlds.
- Abaddon: Lucifer's minion who is always together with Fenrir.
- Fenrir: An effeminate werewolf who used earth magic.
- Demogorgon: A musclehead demon who values brawn over brain.
- Vibhishana: An extremely wise strategist, but incredibly rude to his peers.
- Paimon: A vain demon who favors strategies that result in financial gain.
- Zebul: An ancient demon who is looking for a powerful energy source to revive himself, and created Zett Takajō to look for one.
Songs[]
Opening Themes[]
Ending Themes[]
- Tenkai no Aurora ~AURORA HEALING~: episodes 1-40.
- Idol ~IDOLL~: episodes 41-50.
Insert Songs[]
- KAZE no Uta
- Memories
- Kitto...
Home Media Release[]
The anime was originally released only in the form of rental VHS tapes, with a total of 17 tapes. A DVD release was eventually announced, finally being released on October 19, 2007 after a brief cancellation. The DVD release consisted of two box sets, each containing 5 discs and 25 episodes. As a bonus, it contained creditless versions of the first opening and ending songs as well as commentary from various staff members.
On February 6, 2019, the entire series was in released in a remastered Blu-Ray set. The set contains two discs, each covering one of the series' two story arcs.
Gallery[]
Credits[]
- Distributors
Buena Vista International (All media) (2002) (worldwide)
Mondo TV (DVD) (2005) (Italy)
See Also[]
Trivia[]
- While not the first animated adaptation of a Megami Tensei property, Shin Megami Tensei: DeviChil was the franchise's first serialized anime series.
- According to head writer Shinzo Fujita, the anime's title uses the shortened form DeviChil instead of Devil Children because of Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting's request, as they didn't want to market a series with the word "Devil" in its title. This is also the reason behind the anime's use of マカイ instead of 魔界 when referring to the Expanse.
- According to Shinzo Fujita and series director Yoshio Takeuchi, the anime was originally going to have only 26 episodes, but had the number extended to 50 due to good reception.