Akuma

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Akuma
Name
Japanese	悪魔
Rōmaji	Akuma
Meaning	Demon
Additional Information
Primary Abilities	Various
Located in	Western countries

Akuma (悪魔 Akuma, lit. "Demon") are a class of magical beings similar to yōkai although the distinction between the two categories may vary and become ambiguous.

Overview

In the GeGeGe no Kitarō franchise, the term is usually used to refer to demons who appear in books such as The Bible and Grimoire and are normally depicted as Western Yōkai. Akuma and Yōkai are regarded as the First Humanity on Earth (地球の第一人類 Chikyū-no-Daiichi-Jinrui).

In the Akuma-kun franchise, the term refers to most magical beings, not exclusively demons mentioned from above, but also Japanese yōkai and other numerous entities of myth.

Description

Akuma come in all shapes in sizes, sometimes resembling humans like Belial, or animals like Buer. They often have exaggerated features, like pointy ears, sharp horns, sharp teeth, wings, powerful weapons, and other features.

In the 1971 anime, Akuma are shown to be predominately colored varying shades of purple

GeGeGe no Kitarō

50 legions of Akuma appeared as Buer's minions in the Shonen Sunday story, Akuma Belial. He summons them to attack Kitarō and Nezumi-Otoko, however them and their master get sucked up and eaten by Yakanzuru.

Akuma later appear in the Challenge Series story Secret of The Geoglyphs as minions of Lucifer. They took a "Land of the Gods" from the Incas, and kidnapped 1,000 beautiful women from Earth to make them slaves, but when Lucifer went mad under the control of Medama-Oyaji, they started a civil war and then stole the rocket Kitarō and his friends were riding on and fled to Earth.

An Akuma also appeared in the Zoku GeGeGe no Kitarō story, Neko-Musume. He was summoned by a method written in a magic book called "The Book of Solutions." Neko-Musume, who summoned him out of curiosity is taken into the book to be sacrificed to the Demon King. In reality, he is revealed to have been used by the assassin Witch.

Powers and Abilities

Minions of Buer shooting an energy blast in the 1996 anime.

Longevity: Similarly to Yōkai, Akuma are able to live for quite a lengthy amount of time and only die when defeated in battle.

Unique Abilities: Many individual Akuma have a number of abilities unique to them, ranging from Belial's Hundred-Fold Multiplication or Buer's hand manipulation.

Destructive Beam: Buer's army in the 1996 anime gathered and formed a shape of a giant serpent and shoot white blasts of beams from the mouth part of the serpent.

List of Akuma

GeGeGe no Kitarō

Satan's Flock

• Satan
• Gehör
• The Eight Shinigami
  • Astaroth
  • Beelzebub
  • Black Angel
  • Eligor
  • Furfur
  • Lucifer
  • Moloch
  • Pluto

Other Akuma

• Behemoth
• Belial
• Buer
• Genieya's Father
  • Demon King's Minion
• Linew

Akuma-kun

• Mephisto
• Mephisto II
• Gremory

Etymology

• While the Chinese letter "魔" (Ma) itself stands for demons and demonic entities in general, it can be used for numerous supernatural topics other than demons in the narrow sense. For example, the term 怪魔' (Kaima, lit. "Mysterious Demon") can refer to a broad range of yōkai, and some yōkai bear the letter in their names, such as Hitorima. Additionally, the titles Demon King (魔王 Maō, lit. "Demon King") and Demon God (魔神 Majin, lit. "Demon God"), Demon Man (魔人 Majin, lit. "Demon King"), and Demon Beast (魔獣 Majū, lit. "Demon Beast") have been given to various figures, including yōkai and non-demonic characters, such as Genieya's Father, Sanmoto Gorōzaemon, Shin-no-Akugorō, Dai-Majin, Yasunori Katō, Mimizu-Otoko, Kā, and so on.