Devil Lady

Jun Fudo is a glamorous, successful model whose life is upended after an encounter with Ran Asuka, a woman who exposes her to a savage werewolflike creature called a devil beast. That meeting unlocks a hidden ability in Jun: she can mutate into a powerful beast while still holding on to human thought and feeling. Unlike other devil beasts who give in to feral violence, Jun’s retained conscience makes her useful and dangerous to those in power. Ran Asuka works with a government unit called the Anti-Beast Special Squad, which wants to train Jun to hunt and eliminate other transformed humans. Jun is pulled in opposing directions, coping with violence, exploitation, and her own doubts as she tries to decide who she will be without any easy answers.

Released in 1998 as a TV anime, Devil Lady adapts Go Nagai’s manga Devilman Lady. The series features Junko Iwao as Jun Fudo, with Kisho Taniyama, Hochu Otsuka, Kaoru Shimamura, and Kazusa Murai rounding out the principal voice cast.

The show didn’t collect mainstream awards like Emmys or major international prizes. It received little formal recognition from major ceremonies, though it has persisted as a notable entry among late 90s mature anime.

Devil Lady left a mark on genre fans for pushing graphic body-horror and moral ambiguity into televised anime. Its stark scenes and adult themes helped normalize more explicit, psychological horror in some subsequent series, and it keeps a steady cult following among viewers who favor darker, more transgressive animation.

Audience response has been mixed to positive, holding a 7.4/10 average from 122 votes. Viewers often respond to its blunt look at identity, the costs of violence, and institutional abuse, while criticizing uneven pacing and extreme imagery. The show works best for viewers who can handle graphic content and who want an intense, morally uneasy story about what it means to stay human.