Enma-kun 1973
Enma-kun 2011
This should be interesting. The original manga by Go Nagai was a hit in Japan during the 70s, however, neither the manga or anime series saw an overseas release. Now, several decades later, Brain’s Base has decided to reboot the franchise with the new Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera.
From what I’ve seen so far, it looks like the show will follow the “demon of the week” structure. The show actually opens up with the Noppera-bou” demon (from Volume 1 Chapter 5 of the manga). In this particular episode, Enma and company face a demon who steals the faces of humans leaving them “faceless.”
Enma is our hot headed protagonist who often times acts before thinking. Yukiko-hime is Enma’s foil in both a figurative and literal sense (her powers are that of ice while Enma is that of fire). Together with Kapperu, a Kappa water spirit, they make up the Youkai Security Force, tasked with defeating and returning various demons in the human world back to hell.
They replace Totsumu, the human boy that Enma befriends, with Harumi, a young girl about the same age. In the manga, she is actually Totsumu’s girlfriend and doesn’t appear until later (it is actually Totsumu who is supposed to get his face stolen this episode).
Stay classy Go Nagai
Takahiro Kimura is in charge of character designs. As such, the characters differ greatly from their previous manga and anime versions. Most noticeably Kapperu is smaller, and more “cute” looking (though it may just be a form). Yukiko has that Shin Cutey Honey vibe. Enma himself looks different, but at the same time, it is obvious he retains much of the Go Nagai style. He almost looks like a kid version of Devilman or Violence Jack.
With Brain’s Base the studio at the helm, we can expect a decent level of animation quality. It’ll be interesting to see the various demons each week in their spotlight of animation (aka glorious moving tentacles).
It will be interesting to see how the relationship between Yukiki-hime and Enma-kun plays out. Enma seems a lot more forth-going in this version than the 70s anime version. Though I wonder what Brain’s Base’s thought process was going into this adaptation. They already Kikoushi Enma back in 2006, which is the manga sequel to Dororon Enma-kun. If they wanted to adapt the franchise, wouldn’t they want to start with the original, then Kikoushi Enma, then finally Satanikus Enma Kerberos? To me, it would have made more sense, since those who’s seen the OVA will obviously see the characters in a different light (Kapperu being one of them).
Chinese Cartoons 