Shutendoji (manga)


Shutendoji, 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 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 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 that he will return for him after 15 years. After said period of time, strange events start happening around the baby, now a teenager named Jiro Shutendo.

Characters

Main characters

;Jiro Shutendo
The fifteen-year-old protagonist of the story, he is an oni.
;Miyuki Shiratori
Jiro's schoolmate and love interest. She becomes infatuated with him after he rescues her and a schoolmate from some bullies. In terms of characterisation, she fits both the ingenue and damsel in distress archetypes, given that, throughout the narrative, she often ends up naked and captured at the hands of the manga's antagonists.
;Ryuichiro Shiba
Jiro's adoptive human father.
;Kyoko Shiba
Jiro's adoptive human mother.
;Goki
One of the two oni created to protect Jiro. He looks relatively humanoid, unlike most oni, and acts as a mentor for Jiro.
;Senki
One of the two oni created to protect Jiro. He brought him as a baby to his parents.

Allies

;Yusuke Shiratori
Miyuki's older brother and Jiro's first and best friend.
;Naojiro Oyama
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.
;Riki Muso
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".
;Kosaku Kaji
Another descendant of an oni, a timid, bookish boy with psychic abilities.
;Yashi Koya
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".

Enemies

;Yonen Majari
The high priest of Ankoku Jashin Kyo, an evil cult who worships demons. His goal is killing Jiro.
;Kukai Jawanbo
Majari's lieutenant, a powerful priest who wields a double kusarigama.
;Iron Kaiser
Kukai's son, who grew and became a military cyborg in order to avenge his father.

Original manga publication

Prototype

Before starting serialization, Nagai created a 57-page oneshot titled Shutendoji, published in the issue of 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 2=邪神戦記 or Princess Han Shutendoji.

Original serialization

Shutendoji started being published as a serialized series from, to, 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
Japanese release dateVol.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

  • Kodansha
Japanese release dateVol.ISBN
1
2
3
4
5

  • Kodansha
Japanese release dateVol.ISBN
1
2
3
4
5
6

  • Fusosha
Japanese release dateVol.ISBN
1
2
3
4
5
6

  • Fusosha
Japanese release dateVol.ISBN
1
2
3
4
5
6

  • Kodansha
Japanese release dateVol.ISBN
1
2
3
4

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.
Italian release dateVol.ISBN
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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
Release dateVol.SubtitlePagesISBN
1Oni no Kechimyaku218
2Oni Tenshi204
3Jakyo no Wana188
4Ankoku tera no Shito194
5Samayo Eru Oni Tachi198
6Saraba Itoshiki Oni Tachi201

The second one was written by Fusamichi Kitamura and published in two volumes published in 1987 by JICC under the label Adventure Novels.
  • JICC
Release dateVol.PagesISBN
1282
2250

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.
#TitleLengthDirectorOriginal release date

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

Staff and production notes

Source

Video game

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

''Gomaden Shutendoji''

Gomaden Shutendoji is a manga created by Go Nagai and Masato Natsumoto, which was originally published from to, in Akita Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Champion Red. While it has a similar setting, the story is different from the original series.