Shutendoji (manga)

Shutendoji (手天童子), also known as Legend of Shutendoji, is a Japanese manga series created by Go Nagai which combines elements from Japanese folklore with science fiction. An OVA series was released beginning in 1989 and ending in 1991, for a total of 4 episodes.

In 2002, a remake/sequel titled Gomaden Shutendoji (降魔伝 手天童子) started being published in the magazine Champion Red, being one of the series that were released in the first issue of the magazine.

Plot
Artist and writer Ryuichiro Shiba and his wife Kyoko are visiting a temple in order to make a promise of marriage to their ancestors. At that moment, however, two oni appear before them and fight to death, one of them carrying a baby on his mouth. After defeating his opponent, the oni gives Ryuichiro and Kyoko the baby and declares he will return for him after 15 years. After said period of time, strange events starts happening around the baby, now a teenager named Jiro Shutendo.

Main characters

 * Jiro Shutendo (手天童子郎)

The fifteen-year-old protagonist of the story, he is an oni.


 * Miyuki Shiratori (白鳥美雪)

Jiro's schoolmate and love interest.


 * Ryuichiro Shiba (柴竜一郎)

Jiro's adoptive human father.


 * Kyoko Shiba (柴京子)

Jiro's adoptive human mother.


 * Goki (護鬼)

One of the two oni created to protect Jiro. He looks relatively humanoid, unlike most oni, and acts as a mentor for Jiro.


 * Senki (戦鬼)

One of the two oni created to protect Jiro. He brought him as a baby to his parents.

Allies
Miyuki's older brother and Jiro's first and best friend.
 * Yusuke Shiratori (白鳥勇輔)

A friend of Yusuke who is a descendant of ancient oni. He's the heir of a yakuza family trained through generations to protect Jiro.
 * Naojiro Oyama (大山 直次郎)

A human descendant of ancient oni and another friend to Yusuke. She is a strong female oni who hides under the guise of a rowdy, masculine-looking girl with a love for professional wrestling. Her nickname is "Ricki".
 * Riki Muso (無双 力)

Another descendant of an oni, a timid, bookish boy with psychic abilities.
 * Kosaku Kaji (梶 工作)

Another descendant of an oni and the last member of Yusuke's gang. He is a plump boy with superhuman strength that practises sumo wrestling. He's nicknamed "Koyatashi".
 * Yashi Koya (小谷 椰子夫)

Enemies
The high priest of Ankoku Jashin Kyo ("School of the Evil God from Darkness"), an evil cult who worships demons. His goal is killing Jiro.
 * Yonen Majari (魔邪利 妖念)

Majari's lieutenant, a powerful priest who wields a double kusarigama.
 * Kukai Jawanbo (邪腕坊 苦海)


 * Iron Kaiser (アイアンカイザー)

Kukai's son, who grew and became a military cyborg in order to avenge his father.

Prototype
Before starting serialization, Nagai created a 57-page oneshot titled Shutendoji, published in the issue of February 1975 in the Shōjo magazine Princess, published by Akita Shoten. While this manga has some similarities, it is a completely different story, as well as being a Shōjo manga instead of Shōnen. It would later be renamed as or Princess Han Shutendoji (プリンセス版手天童子).

Original serialization
Shutendoji started being published as a serialized series from September 5, 1976, to April 30, 1978, in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine by Kodansha.

The manga was originally compiled in 9 volumes, and would later be re-published several times.


 * Kodansha (KC Magazine, 1977–1978)


 * Kodansha (KC Special, 1985)


 * Kodansha (Goka Aizoban, 1988–1989)


 * Fusosha (Fusosha Bunko, 1996–1997)


 * Fusosha (Legend of Shutendoji, 1998)


 * Kodansha (Kodansha Manga Bunko, 2001)

Besides the printed volumes, the manga has also been published in 10 ebook format volumes by ebookjapan. The series has also been published in some compilations of other Nagai's manga.

Publications outside Japan
d/visual published the full series in Italy from 2004 to 2005.

Novels
Two series of novels based on the manga were released during the 1980s. The first one was written by Yasutaka Nagai and was released in 6 volumes from 1986 to 1989 by Kadokawa Shoten.


 * Kadokawa Shoten (Kadokawa Novels)

The second one was written by Fusamichi Kitamura and published in two volumes published in 1987 by JICC under the label Adventure Novels.


 * JICC (Adventure Novels)

OVAs
The manga was adapted into 4 OVAs released from 1989 to 1991. The OVAs were originally released on VHS and later on laserdisc, both times by Nippon Columbia.

They were re-released in DVD format also by Columbia in 2001.

Releases outside Japan
The OVAs were released in the US by ADV Films in VHS (4 tapes) and later on DVD (2 discs).

They were also released in Italy by Dynamic on VHS and in Latin America on TV by Locomotion.

Staff and production notes
Source(s)
 * Distributor: Nippon Columbia
 * Original work / organization: Go Nagai
 * Planning work: Dynamic Planning
 * Director: Junji Nishimura (1, 2), Jun Kawagoe (3), Masatomo Sudo (4)
 * Scenario: Masashi Sogo
 * Work supervision: Hideyuki Motohashi (1, 2)
 * Animation supervisor: Satoshi Hirayama (3, 4), Masatomo Sudo (4)
 * Character design: Satoshi Hirayama (3, 4)
 * Mecha design: Masahiko Okura (3, 4)
 * Art director: Masazumi Matsumiya (1, 2), Masuo Nakayama (3, 4)
 * Director of photography: Tadashi Hosono (1, 2, 3), Akihiko Takahashi (4)
 * Sound director: Akira Yamazaki
 * Music: Fumitaka Anzai
 * Animation work: Studio Signal
 * Production: Nippon Animation
 * Cast: Ryo Horikawa (Jiro Shutendo), Sumi Shimamoto (Miyuki Shiratori), Michihiro Ikemizu (Ryuichiro Shiba), Sanae Takagi (Kyoko Shiba), Rei Sakuma (Tanemura), Hiroya Ishimaru (Kitani), Tessho Genda (Goki), Daisuke Gori (Senki), Osamu Kobayashi (Yonen Majari), Shigeru Sakahara (Yusuke), Yoko Matsuoka (Rickey), Kiyoyuki Yanada (Naojiro), Kiyoshi Kawakubo (Oyama), Akio Otsuka (Iron Kaiser), Rihoko Yoshida (Captain Persis), Ryusei Nakao (Major Gill), Sakiko Tamagawa (Sonia), Chikao Otsuka (Oniryu), Koji Yada (Ishi)

Video game
Along with the OVAs, a Role-playing game for the NEC PC-9801 was released by the Japanese company Enix in October 1990.

Gomaden Shutendoji
Gomaden Shutendoji (降魔伝 手天童子) is a manga created by Go Nagai and Masato Natsumoto, which was originally published from August 19, 2002 (cover date October 2002,) to October 19, 2005 (cover date December 2005), in Akita Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Champion Red. While it has a similar setting, the story is different from the original series.