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Stray Little Devil (ストレイ リトル デビル, Sutorei
Ritoru Debiru
?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kotaro
Morio. The manga was originally serialized in Dengeki Comic
Gao!, and was later published into five bound volumes by MediaWorks from January 2005 to
March 2007. DrMaster
Publications Inc. licensed the manga series for
English-language publication in North America and released the five
volumes between June 2006 and October 2007.[1][2] The
story is a comedic fantasy, detailing the life of a girl named Pam
Akumachi, who is unintentionally drawn into the "Spirit World". Her
only hope of returning home is a mysterious individual named Remi,
who promises to tell Pam the way back if she becomes a full-fledged
devil by passing through the devils' educational system.
Plot
Stray Little Devil starts when a very young Pam "Akuma"
Akumachi hears her grandmother tell a story of the time when she
met a "kind devil". Years later, Pam attempts to perform a spell
taught to her by her grandmother in order to summon such an entity.
Much to the surprise of her classmates Masao and Rinka, the spell
works and opens a portal in their classroom - at which point Pam's
heirloom necklace pulls her through the portal and into the
Spirit World. This is a realm inhabited by Spirits, Angels
and Devils, where humans are apparently nothing more than a
fairytale.
One of the first people Pam meets in the spirit world is angel
Linfa, who is the spitting image of her classmate Rinka, but
quickly attacks Pam with a magical sword. Pam is saved in the nick
of time by Remi, who reveals a shocking fact: Pam discovers she
herself has been transformed into a devil! Remi informs her that
there is only one way she can return home, which is to become a
full-fledged devil.
After Remi leaves her, Pam is soon picked up by Lizyerra, a
female devil who teaches interns at the Pandaemonium, the devils'
HQ. Since Pam has not passed the
spirits' entry exam to become a devil, she is first classified as a
"stray" devil. Because she has no familiar, which is considered a
prerequisite for being a devil, she is at first classified as a
probationary intern. Lizyerra matches Pam with two other students
of hers, Raim and Vine, so they can help her catch her familiar in
the neutral territory between devil and angel land. Pam eventually
claims the tempestuous storm djinn En Zu, who was waging a brutal
fight with none other than Linfa. With her internship confirmed,
Pam has to start the devilish education program and learn to
survive in the Spirit World.
Characters
- Pam Akumachi
- The main
character of the story. Pam is a kindhearted, somewhat clumsy
girl who is not that good at learning, but prides herself on her
homework and cooking. Pam is trying her best to become a
full-fledged devil with the sole goal of returning to the human
world. She has considerable trouble with adapting to the Spirit
World and the Pandemonium at first, and seems to be becoming quite
fond of the fierce angel Linfa. Since arriving in the Spirit World,
Pam has contracted the ferocious storm genie En Zu as her familiar, an arrangement not devoid of
conflict. En Zu has informed her that her heirloom pendant, which
has demonstrated unusual powers, is a piece of Tupsumati, the Tablets of
Fate.
- Aregna
- Chairman representative of the angels' council and Linfa's
patron, Aregna is a tall, often stern-faced angel of great power,
whose eyes usually seem to stay closed. He seems to have some
personal history with the female devil Lizyerra and is, despite his
haughty appearance and past military exploits, more open minded
about the other inhabitants of the Spirit World than many of his
fellow angels. He tries to encourage Linfa to become friends with
Pam and retains Lizyerra's 'private number', apparently retaining
fond memories of old times they have shared together. It is
revealed in volume 4 that Aregna's real name is "the ruler of the foundation" Ninurta, Girsu and a contemporary -
and currently an opponent - of Remi. He sealed away the ancient
Queen of the Angels, half of which resides in Linfa.
- Raim
- One of Pam's classmates and a fellow devil intern. She has a
very rough and blunt personality and inexplicably speaks with a Kansai
dialect (inexplicable since the Spirit World is not Japan). She
is also an admirer of the devil's instructor, Lizyerra, which
caused some friction between her and Pam at first, since she felt
Lizyerra was showing favor to Pam over her. The two eventually
become friends through some trial and hardship. Raim has revealed
that she chose to become a devil in order to earn a lot of money
for her home; with sufficient wealth, she could afford to have a
town built which can withstand the constant storm winds of that
region, to the local spirits' net benefit.
- Vine
- One of Pam's classmates at the Pandemonium. Vine is a pure
blooded devil and the granddaughter of the devil council's
chairman. Her parents have died from unknown causes. Vine is
extremely kindhearted, gentle and nice, to the point that she
doubts she has what it takes to be a proper representative of her
species, despite the fact that she has access to powers that devils
born of the exams can not access. One of her signature traits is
"Hell's Heavenly Smile"; by smiling at people, Vine can typically
persuade them to do even the most ridiculous things.
- Lizyerra
- The most prominent female instructor at the devil academy. She
is very motherly and takes good care of her students, including
Pam. She is known for her rather curvaceous and voluptuous figure,
though she is rather rough in her manners. She enjoys drinking
alcohol and apparently has some past history with Aregna. Although
she usually acts annoyed at his behaviour and calls him names,
there have been more than a few hints that she harbors some
romantic interest in him.
- Linfa, Successor of the Aureole
- The first recurring character of the series who Pam meets in
the Spirit World. Linfa is an extremely powerful angel for her age
and a personal favorite of Aregna, representative of the Angels'
Council. Although she initially tried to kill Pam for trespassing
into Angelea and has stated that devils are no better than the
rampaging monsters she often kills for the Church, she may be
slowly starting to warm up to her. This is probably because Pam has
saved her several times, with no regard for herself or the danger
posed to her by the Law of Conservation of Luck. Linfa looks and
sounds exactly like Pam's human classmate Rinka. In Volume 4, it is
revealed that Linfa is half of the ancient Queen of the Angels,
identified by Remi as "the black beast".
- Remi
- A mysterious young man of great powers, who first reveals to
Pam of her transformation into a devil and tells her what she has
to do in order to return home. En Zu has declared that Remi does
not smell like any angel, devil or spirit. It has been revealed
that Remi and En Zu know each other. Rem also knew Pam's name when
he first met her and apparently has plans for her involving the
restoration of the shattered Tupsimati. He seems to care about
Pam's well-being, but he avoids answering her
questions. In volume 4, it is revealed that Remi is working to
restore the Tupsimati and is going to enact an ancient ritual to
renew the Spirit World, which is starting to die. The way he is
going about this brings him into conflict with his contemporary,
Aregna, and eventually lead to Remi framing Aregna and later
battling him in prison. It appears that Remi was the victor,
killing his opponent.
Spirits
and Familiars
In order to become a devil intern, a candidate must
have a familiar. Familiars are wild, savage spirits or
beasts of the Spirit World which the candidate has tamed and sealed
under a contract of service with a special pen. Once this is done,
the master may typically summon their familiar to perform
tasks.
- En Zu
- En Zu calls himself the storm genie and the king of darkness.
His true form is an indu gud, a huge eagle with the head
of a lion. During his first encounter with Pam, he had for some
reason become a huge, malformed beast which was being hunted and
fought by Linfa. Pam's heirloom necklace knocked En Zu out and
shrunk him dramatically, allowing Pam to claim him as her familiar.
En Zu does not relish the relationship, as he views Pam as a
weakling and a fool, although he does look out for her as a
familiar should. Alas, Pam has become convinced that En Zu, whom
she addresses as "Zu-kun", is a pervert; in his combat form, which
looks like a young male devil, Zu has managed to shock Pam's
sensibilities without meaning to. Additionally, En Zu seems to have
lost a lot of his memory from before the time when he was claimed
as Pam's familiar, due to psychological trauma he suffered
before Pam took him. Recent information indicates that En Zu is a
usurper and that he had been imprisoned for a long time before
being released by Remi and went on his ill-fated rampage.
- Vivian
- Vine's familiar, Vivian is a mermaid-shaped spirit creature that looks as if
it is made entirely out of water. Some of the powers she has
displayed seem to be to allow her mistress to scry and also to
provide a "water cushion" to catch people falling out of
control.
The Spirit World, a
brief introduction
The series has a complicated rulebook for its Spirit World:
- The Spirit
World is divided into three areas:
- Angelea, the land of the Angels. Their headquarters,
the Church, is located here.
- Daemonea, the land of the Devils. Their headquarters,
seat of
government offices and educational institute, the
Pandemonium, is located here.
- The Cooperative Development Sector separates the two
realms of Angelea and Daemonea and is considered neutral territory
that anyone may enter. It is forbidden for angels and devils to
enter the other side's own realms without permission, however. The
city of Urk is located in the Cooperative Development Sector.
- The entire Spirit World functions under the Law of
Conservation of Luck; an angel's good luck is a devil's bad luck and vice versa. If a member
of one race helps a member of the other, the one performing the aid
will immediately receive bad luck in equal measure to the good luck
of the receiver. It is as yet unknown what would happen if members
of the two races strove to render equal service to one another.
Since the two have engaged in at least one world war, it may be
some time before such attempts would be made.
- There are two possible sources for angels and demons.
- A spirit can choose to take an entry exam to become an angel or
a devil at some point in its life. Alternatively, a spirit could
decide to remain as it is indefinitely. It is also possible for a
trainee to forsake demonic status, at least, and return to being a
spirit.
- Pure-breds. Devils - and presumably angels - can reproduce
sexually with members of their own kind. It is as yet unknown
whether angels and devils could reproduce together, with spirits or
humans, although there seems to be some evidence of the latter.
Pure-bred devils apparently have access to powers which devils
spawned through the entry exam cannot touch.
- Angels can 'fall', thereby becoming devils, if they are outcast
from their people for acts of treason. Traditionally, the eyes of
the fallen are branded with runes, leaving them blind. There is at
least one case where an angel took a rune for a fallen lover,
allowing them both to see with one eye, while the other was
blinded.
- Economy. The devils of Daemonea are organized
by the "Guild", a tail-end organization of the Pandemonium which
unifies revenues by unionizing all devil business in the autonomous
areas, like the city of Urk. The angelic counterpart is known as
the Chapel. The main difference between the two, other
than the races which run them, is that the Chapel performs services
for free while the Guild takes money. The Chapel runs on donations,
given in gratitude for service.
- Morality. While angels in the Spirit World do
apparently have a reputation for charity and kindness and devils
have one for competitiveness, neither race seems to be purely good
or purely evil. The Spirit World angels are capable of being overly
aggressive, standoffish and can sometimes resort to in-fighting,
while devils can be quite caring among each other and concerned
about the welfare of others. Spirits seem to be unconstrained by
preconceptions about their morality and may adopt any
standpoint.
- Flight. Most creatures in the Spirit World
seem to be capable of flight. Demonic flight - and probably the
other forms - is not actually dependent on possessing wings and the
wind, but rather on an ability to sense and navigate the flow of
"ether", a very different kind of current. Wind and ether may at
times flow against each other. Pam has managed to fly using ether
without going against the wind, which is considered a credible
feat, even an innovation. Alas, this style of flight can apparently
cause dizziness and nausea because of the many strange maneuvers
one has to perform to manage it.
- Religion. Although the
sign of the cross is frequently shown in Stray Little
Devil and the use of angels and devils seems to refer to the
Christian
religion, it is revealed in Volume 4 that the Spirit World
adheres to the Sumerian
mythology, when a religious festival takes place and
the creation myths are read to a crowd. Various characters' names
and the names of assorted objects also refer to the Sumerian
mythology (see hyperlinks).
Reception
The first volume of the manga was given mixed reviews, Hilary
Goldstein from IGN gave first volume
a Must Read rating. Goldstein goes on to write: "Whether
artistically, thematically or plot-wise, you're not going to get
what you're expected, and that's a very good thing in the growing
manga market, where many titles tread the same ground."[3] In a
review at Anime News Network, Carlo Santos
commented that "It could still use a lot of improvement in the
story department, and it needs to stop resorting to clichés all the
time, but what there is, is handled well".[4] Alex
Hoffman at Comics
Village stated "An interesting premise and good character
interaction make this fantasy manga worth reading, but production
values hamper its ability to tell its story."[5]
References
- ^
"Stray Little Devil volume
1". DrMaster. http://www.drmasterbooks.com/sld_v1.html. Retrieved August 5,
2009.
- ^
"Stray Little Devil volume
5". DrMaster. http://www.drmasterbooks.com/sld_v5.html. Retrieved August 5,
2009.
- ^
Goldstein, Hilary (July 25, 2006). "Stray Little Devil Vol. 1
Review". IGN. http://uk.comics.ign.com/articles/720/720934p1.html. Retrieved August 5,
2009.
- ^
Santos, Carlo (October 14, 2006). "Stray Little Devil". Anime News
Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/stray-little-devil-gn-1. Retrieved August 5,
2009.
- ^
Hoffman, Alex (December 09, 2008). "Stray Little Devil Volume
1". Comics
Village. http://www.comicsvillage.com/review.aspx?reviewID=486. Retrieved August 5,
2009.
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