Amon: The Darkside of Devilman is not a retelling. It is a corpse-autopsy of a shonen protagonist. The manga opens one year after the original series’ devastating finale. Satan, having slaughtered humanity, now wanders a silent, ruined Earth, haunted by the memory of the friend he was forced to kill. But resurrection is not salvation. Miki Makimura—Akira’s childhood friend and symbolic heart of the original story—is brought back to life by a cabal of terrified psychics.
The cruelest moment comes when she finally embraces Amon. For a single panel, Akira’s eyes flicker back—recognizing her, weeping. Then Amon roars, shreds her body, and moves on. It is not malice. It is biology. Amon simply has no use for a heart. Amon is not merely a sequel. Half the narrative is a flashback to the demon war in prehistory, revealing Amon as Satan’s former general—a being of pure, loyal violence who was betrayed and sealed away. This backstory reframes the entire Devilman mythos. Akira did not tame a random beast; he merged with a betrayed, millennia-old engine of war. Amon’s takeover is not a corruption. It is a homecoming . Why It Matters Amon: The Darkside of Devilman is an uncomfortable work. It lacks the operatic tragedy of the original’s finale or the punk-rock nihilism of Devilman Lady . Instead, it offers a bleaker thesis: Some pain cannot be survived. Not as a person. amon: devilman
For fans, it is essential as the missing link between Nagai’s classic and the 2018 Crybaby adaptation (which borrows Amon ’s raw body horror and Miki’s prolonged, brutal death). For newcomers? Do not start here. This is the hangover after the apocalypse—the story that admits there is no cure for being a devil. Only the silence of a demon wearing a dead boy’s face. Amon: The Darkside of Devilman is not a retelling