Shutendoji (manga)
# Shutendoji (manga)

Shutendoji (Japanese: 手天童子, Hepburn: Shutendōji), 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, Gōmaden Shutendōji) 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.

## Characters

### Main characters

**Jiro Shutendo (手天童子郎, shutendou jirō)**


    Voiced by: Ryo Horikawa

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

**Miyuki Shiratori (白鳥美雪, shiratori miyuki)**


    Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto

Jiro's schoolmate and love interest.

**Ryuichiro Shiba (柴竜一郎, shiba ryūichirō)**


    Voiced by: Michihiro Ikemizu

Jiro's adoptive human father.

**Kyoko Shiba (柴京子, shiba kyōko)**


    Voiced by: Sanae Takagi

Jiro's adoptive human mother.

**Goki (護鬼, goki)**


    Voiced by: Tessho Genda

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, senki)**


    Voiced by: Daisuke Gori

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

### Allies

**Yusuke Shiratori (白鳥勇輔, shiratori yūsuke)**

Miyuki's older brother and Jiro's first and best friend.

**Naojiro Oyama (大山 直次郎, oyama naojiro)**

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 (無双 力, muso riki)**

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 (梶 工作, kaji kosaku)**

Another descendant of an oni, a timid, bookish boy with psychic abilities.

**Yashi Koya (小谷 椰子夫, koya yashi)**

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 (魔邪利 妖念, majari yonen)**

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.

**Kukai Jawanbo (邪腕坊 苦海, jawanbo kukai)**

Majari's lieutenant, a powerful priest who wields a double kusarigama.

**Iron Kaiser (アイアンカイザー, aion kaisa)**


    Voiced by: Akio Ohtsuka

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 February 1975 (1975-02) 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 Jashin Senki (邪神戦記) 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 (1976-09-05) to April 30, 1978 (1978-04-30) 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)

| Japanese release date | Vol. |
| - | - |
| April 5, 1977 (1977-04-05) | 1 |
| May 10, 1977 (1977-05-10) | 2 |
| July 20, 1977 (1977-07-20) | 3 |
| August 20, 1977 (1977-08-20) | 4 |
| March 25, 1978 (1978-03-25) | 5 |
| June 25, 1978 (1978-06-25) | 6 |
| July 25, 1978 (1978-07-25) | 7 |
| September 20, 1978 (1978-09-20) | 8 |
| November 25, 1978 (1978-11-25) | 9 |

* Kodansha (KC Special, 1985)

| Japanese release date | Vol. | ISBN |
| - | - | - |
| August 6, 1985 (1985-08-06) | 1 | 4061011529 |
| August 6, 1985 (1985-08-06) | 2 | 4061011537 |
| September 6, 1985 (1985-09-06) | 3 | 4061011545 |
| October 5, 1985 (1985-10-05) | 4 | 4061011553 |
| November 6, 1985 (1985-11-06) | 5 | 4061011561 |

* Kodansha (Goka Aizoban, 1988–1989)

| Japanese release date | Vol. | ISBN |
| - | - | - |
| September 17, 1988 (1988-09-17) | 1 | 4061769081 |
| September 17, 1988 (1988-09-17) | 2 | 406176909X |
| October 17, 1988 (1988-10-17) | 3 | 4061769111 |
| November 17, 1988 (1988-11-17) | 4 | 406176912X |
| December 17, 1988 (1988-12-17) | 5 | 4061769138 |
| January 17, 1989 (1989-01-17) | 6 | 4061769146 |

* Fusosha (Fusosha Bunko, 1996–1997)

| Japanese release date | Vol. | ISBN |
| - | - | - |
| August 30, 1996 (1996-08-30) | 1 | 4594020534 |
| September 30, 1996 (1996-09-30) | 2 | 4594020755 |
| October 30, 1996 (1996-10-30) | 3 | 4594021042 |
| November 30, 1996 (1996-11-30) | 4 | 4594021204 |
| December 30, 1996 (1996-12-30) | 5 | 4594021476 |
| January 30, 1997 (1997-01-30) | 6 | 4594021719 |

* Fusosha (Legend of Shutendoji, 1998)

| Japanese release date | Vol. | ISBN |
| - | - | - |
| April 1, 1998 (1998-04-01) | 1 | 4594024580 |
| April 1, 1998 (1998-04-01) | 2 | 4594024599 |
| May 10, 1998 (1998-05-10) | 3 | 4594024696 |
| June 10, 1998 (1998-06-10) | 4 | 459402470X |
| July 10, 1998 (1998-07-10) | 5 | 4594025064 |
| August 10, 1998 (1998-08-10) | 6 | 4594025072 |

* Kodansha (Kodansha Manga Bunko, 2001)

| Japanese release date | Vol. | ISBN |
| - | - | - |
| October 12, 2001 (2001-10-12) | 1 | 4063600971 |
| October 12, 2001 (2001-10-12) | 2 | 406360098X |
| November 12, 2001 (2001-11-12) | 3 | 4063600998 |
| November 12, 2001 (2001-11-12) | 4 | 4063601005 |

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 date | Vol. | ISBN |
| - | - | - |
| July 23, 2004 (2004-07-23) | 1 | 4902751046 |
| October 15, 2004 (2004-10-15) | 2 | 4902751097 |
| December 17, 2004 (2004-12-17) | 3 | 4902751151 |
| February 18, 2005 (2005-02-18) | 4 | 4902751399 |
| April 15, 2005 (2005-04-15) | 5 | 4902751402 |
| April 29, 2005 (2005-04-29) | 6 | 4902751410 |
| June 30, 2005 (2005-06-30) | 7 | 4902751429 |
| September 2, 2005 (2005-09-02) | 8 | 4902751437 |
| October 26, 2005 (2005-10-26) | 9 | 4902751445 |

## 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)

| Release date | Vol. | Subtitle | Pages | ISBN |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| July 1986 (1986-07) | 1 | Oni no Kechimyaku (鬼の血脈) | 218 | 4047740217 |
| March 1988 (1988-03) | 2 | Oni Tenshi (鬼天使) | 204 | 4047740225 |
| June 1988 (1988-06) | 3 | Jakyo no Wana (邪教の罠, jakyō no wana) | 188 | 4047740233 |
| October 1988 (1988-10) | 4 | Ankoku tera no Shito (暗黒寺の死闘, ankoku tera no shitō) | 194 | 4047740241 |
| February 1989 (1989-02) | 5 | Samayo Eru Oni Tachi (彷徨える鬼たち) | 198 | 404774025X |
| June 1989 (1989-06) | 6 | Saraba Itoshiki Oni Tachi (さらば愛しき鬼たち) | 201 | 4047740268 |

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)

| Release date | Vol. | Pages | ISBN |
| - | - | - | - |
| October 1987 (1987-10) | 1 | 282 | 4880633062 |
| December 1987 (1987-12) | 2 | 250 | 4880633070 |

## 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.

| # | Title | Length | Director | Original release date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | "Chapter of Hyoki" "hyōki no shō" (憑鬼の章) | 50 mins. | Junji Nishimura | December 21, 1989 (1989-12-21) |
| 2 | "Chapter of Goma" "gōma no shō" (降魔の章) | 50 mins. | Junji Nishimura | July 1, 1990 (1990-07-01) |
| 3 | "Chapter of Tekki" "tekki no shō" (鉄鬼の章) | 48 mins. | Jun Kawagoe | March 1, 1991 (1991-03-01) |
| 4 | "Chapter of Ongoku" "ongoku no shō" (鬼獄の章) | 54 mins. | Masatomo Sudo | March 1, 1991 (1991-03-01) |

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

* 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)

Source(s)

## 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 (1990-10).

## Gomaden Shutendoji

Gomaden Shutendoji (降魔伝 手天童子, Gōmaden Shutendōji) is a manga created by Go Nagai and Masato Natsumoto, which was originally published from August 19, 2002 (2002-08-19) (cover date October 2002 (2002-10)) to October 19, 2005 (2005-10-19) (cover date December 2005 (2005-12)) in Akita Shoten's shōnen manga magazine Champion Red. While it has a similar setting, the story is different from the original series.

| No. | Release date | ISBN |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | April 17, 2003 (2003-04-17) | 978-4-253-23063-6 |
| 2 | September 25, 2003 (2003-09-25) | 978-4-253-23064-3 |
| 3 | April 15, 2004 (2004-04-15) | 978-4-253-23065-0 |
| 4 | September 22, 2004 (2004-09-22) | 978-4-253-23066-7 |
| 5 | February 19, 2005 (2005-02-19) | 978-4-253-23067-4 |
| 6 | August 20, 2005 (2005-08-20) | 978-4-253-23068-1 |
| 7 | December 20, 2005 (2005-12-20) | 978-4-253-23069-8 |
