The life of young Ryo Utsugy and his sister Saori became entwined with a plot by a group of Satanists to resurrect the mightiest of the demons, Mao Dante. Horror ensues.
Go Nagai is one of the most important Manga artists ever. He single handedly created the giant robot genre and this alone could ensure him a place in the Anime Pantheon.
Something less well known is his role in creating the sub genre of Demon and Angel inspired animation (Honestly is demon most of the times). It actually all started with the first version of Mao Dante which he started in 1971. Apparently Go Nagai was very impressed by a “Divine Comedy” illustrated by Gustave Dorè and decided this was perfect material to use in a horror Manga, and looking I can blame him, there is a primordial energy about that stuff and is ironic that we needed somebody from outside our culture to point it out.
Anyway this, like the rest of Go Nagai seminal work, influenced dozens of other series and left a lasting impression on our subculture.
Watching this late anime adaptation (2002) some of it look dated of course but it still retain part of its primordial energy. Mao Dante is an imposing figure, is ugliness miles away from the ethereal beauty that is predominant in modern animation. Blood run aplenty and people dies, a lot of people dies, really more than you could think is possible.
There are a couple of nice ideas and the back story is actually clearer than the usual messy ones that seem to plague Japanese animation.
Sadly the animation is sub par and the pacing in the beginning of the story is dreadfully slow and this could drive away from the interesting, but depressing, story.
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