Beelzebub

Time to tackle the demon world and delinquents!

Name: Beelzebub

Japanese Name: べるぜバブ

Air Date: January 9 2011 – March 25 2012

Studio: Pierrot+

Episodes: 60

PLOT

The story follows the ‘strongest juvenile delinquent’, Tatsumi Oga, a first year in Ishiyama High – the school for delinquents. One day while sleeping next to a river he sees a man floating down it, he pulls him to shore and the man splits in half revealing a baby boy. This boy is the son of the demon king and he has been chosen as the one to raise it with the baby’s demon maid Hilda. The story follows his life with the child and at the delinquent school.

[via Wikipedia]

By the time I finished reading the plot, I was already wetting myself ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*. I had tears coming out of my eyes because this plot was so ridiculous – which means that this series is going to have plenty of LOL moments xD I haven’t enjoyed a good comedy for a while. If I laughed at the plot, then how can I take this series seriously? I had doubts with myself since I have such a childish mind, so please excuse me for any weird comments that you may see in this post!

Oh and did I mention that Katsuyuki Konishi plays Tatsumi? I love this man but I’ve barely watched any anime with him as one of the cast members. Apart from La Corda d’Oro…

First Impressions:

I’ve never watched a series about delinquents so I wanted to see how Pierrot+ interprets them. My idea of a delinquent has a lot of piercings, tattoos and talks in a weird accent for some strange reason…please don’t take offence anyone! I think that’s the stereotypical view of a delinquent since that’s what you hear about a lot lately. I would like to see if there can be many types of delinquents, not just your stereotypical sort. It’d be interesting to see female delinquents for once that way, there is balance.

Character designs are…interesting. I can’t think of another word! Limited vocabulary stored in my brain isn’t very useful (￣^￣)ゞ I have a brain the size of a pea. Furuichi looks like an old geezer, I’m worried that he’s going to be a massive pervert! Watch out girlies ( ；´Д｀) pervert on the loose! Is it strange to think that he’s like the sidekick for Tatsumi? Well he’s always with him so that idea was bound to get in my head one way or another. I think that they’re like Batman and Robin. Oh god, I just get a disturbing image in my head…Furuichi wearing a Robin suit. Ewww! Get it out, GET IT OUT!

And after 2 minutes of the first episode, I am already ROFL everywhere! Straight in with the comedy, I like! Ah Tatsumi, such a typical delinquent! He’s big headed and thinks highly of himself. He’s extremely cocky and practically loves himself a bit too much. I love what happens at the beginning of episode 1! Tatsumi is about to fight another delinquent named Abe the ‘killing machine’. Trust me, this guy is huge. I’m not going to write the whole conversation because it’s long but here’s my favourite part:

Delinquent 1: “Wait, that’s not sweat!

Delinquent 2: “There’s a baby pissing on his head!”

*Baby Beel makes a noise or a grunt…whatever it is*

Abe: “Whatever! Fight me!

*Tatsumi punches Abe in the face whilst holding Baby Beel in the air*

Tatsumi: “Does my head look like a urinal to you, you brat?”

*Baby Beel squeals in delight*

ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*. Baby Beel, you’re so cute!

Midway Impressions

Tatsumi is the type of delinquent you don’t want to mess with. He’s got some serious fighting skills! And it’s really obvious that Aoi Kunieda fancies him, she blushes furiously when he’s around but she has to be a killjoy and deny that she has feelings for him! Oh yes Aoi, nothing says ‘I love you’ more than denying everything whilst going red in the face ヽ(*´ー`*)ﾉ I mean, I know he’s younger than Aoi but age is nothing but a number in love! Tatsumi is still as outrageous as ever. He certainly likes picking fights with all the wrong people. Is there really a plot for this? It’s just pure comedy and the music in the background = LOL! Pure shounen madness I guess ＼(^o^)／

I was right about Furuichi. He’s a huge pervert, no wonder his sister thinks he’s weird! Plus sharing a room with Alaindelon?! Now that’s going a bit too far don’t you think xD even his parents misinterpreted the situation. I kinda feel for the guy. No seriously, Alaindelon follows him EVERYWHERE. Even the bathroom! How weird is that?! Alaindelon is the person who can teleport between the demon world and the human world so he’s pretty awesome I reckon. But his obssessiveness with Furuichi really creeps me out. It’s also the moustache…it doesn’t work with me

Hildegard (Baby Beel’s maid) kicks ass! Hilda, for short, is a cold and detached character but she loves Beel and has a strong loyalty towards him. From the start, she really dislikes Tatsumi but begins to accept him after she sees how much Baby Beel is attached to him. I’m not kidding, whenever she tries to get Beel away from Tatsumi, he clings on for dear life. She adores her bocchama and doesn’t want Tatsumi teaching him all the wrong things. That’s a maid’s love to her master ❤

Don’t worry, Tatsumi doesn’t normally look like that! He only did it for the LOLs xD

Overall Opinion

I don’t think I wrote many spoilers since this series was so long! Especially 60 episodes, I don’t want to type too much…my fingers ache!

Beelzebub is a genuinely funny anime. And I mean laugh out loud ’til your stomach hurts sort of funny. You’re in for a good time when the introduction to the plot in the first episode goes a little something like this: a large man with a hilarious moustache is floating down the river where he spots a ‘handsome and good looking young man who cared nothing for his follow humans’. He proceeds to bestow the green haired demon baby (Beelzebub) onto our protagonist, Tatsumi Oga, in one of the strangest fashions imaginable, before leaving with an impressive ballerina pirouette. Chaos ensues when the baby’s demon maid, Hildegarde comes looking for the toddler and finds him attached to Tatsumi. Hildegarde is not impressed but is intent on forcing Tatsumi to fulfill his contract with baby Beel. Tatsumi basically spends many many episodes trying to pawn the baby off to someone more badass than himself while trying to keep his family, who comically misinterpret his situation, off his back, with varying degrees of success, and plenty of comedy. Along for the ride are Furuichi, Tatsumi’s best friend and the show’s pervert, and a host of other delinquents from the infamous delinquent school, Ishiyama High. The series plot is not serious or anything however it does feature some things out of our daily lives and the humour is hilarious! There are moments though that just make you go ‘awww’ ヽ(*´ー`*)ﾉ the humorous exaggerated faces are drawn very well which I will give a thumbs up for. They do have a little bit of fights, which are short enough and don’t drag on too long. I guess they’re short because Tatsumi has superhuman strength!

Beelzebub is a show that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and this approach works very well for the story being told. The main characters, particularly Furuichi, seem aware that they are part of a show that routinely sets them up with other-worldly scenarios, as if to test their reactions, and they are not shy about calling out some of the more preposterous elements that arise. Characters also address the viewer directly, which adds a nice touch of humour to the show while making the situations more relatable and real. I found this approach more satisfying than one where we are asked to accept ridiculous circumstances at face value. Those sort of things don’t work with me.

The show has a lot of heart, and can also be surprisingly creepy at times; these are demons and the underworld we are dealing with after all, but this never lasts for very long, which is a pity because I think the show would have benefited from playing up the darker themes for longer periods to counter the otherwise jovial tone, which becomes a bit tiresome over 60 episodes. Still, the show maintains enough originality to entertain and the delivery of punch lines remains top notch for the most part. Thumbs up for that.

I love the opening and endings. While the openings are more rockish and have that badass feel to them, the endings are more toned down and mature. My favourite has to be the opening ‘Baby U’ it’s just so cute and adorable! It’s awfully catchy too so you’ll find yourself singing along to it in no time! The songs chosen for the series were all sung by well known singers or bands in Japan. I have to say that the studio made all the right choices here.

The chemistry between the characters is wonderful, especially between Baby Beel and Tatsumi. Although at first he shows no sympathy for others, he shows a slight tender side towards Baby Beel (๑´ლ`๑) probably because of all the hardships he has to go through since he’s raising a child – a demon child – and being a parent. Baby Beel is just the cutest thing ever! I just want to squish his wittle cheeks ❤ this relationship has to be one of the best and well-developed of the series. The director obviously spent a lot of time thinking how this bond was going to develop between the two main characters.

*Sigh* If only babies were this cute…

I really enjoyed this series! The comedy was just too much for me to handle, my poor cheeks hurt too much from laughing! Each episode made me laugh and it was just pure comedy perfection. I would definitely watch Beelzebub again and again if I had the time. The LOL moments never cease. Do give this a try, I seriously mean it!

I apologise for this post being late. I’ve recently gone back to school and my timetable is just hectic! If my posts are late then I blame school (´･_･`) I mean, school is the cause of everything, right?

I wonder what I should review next? I’ve got a lot of series in my backlog but I may do one on a yaoi anime I’ve watched recently…