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Devil Lady 3

ADV Films // Unrated // April 1, 2003
List Price: $29.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]

Review by Don Houston | posted February 19, 2003 | E-mail the Author
Movie: Devil Lady 3: The Strengthening is the third set of episodes from Go Nagai's series that deals with a fashion model, Jun, coming to grips with a condition that allows her to become a powerful monster under certain circumstances. Her abilities are harnessed by a group known as the Human Alliance in order to track and slay other people with similar capabilities that are less able to control the violent tendencies the power gives them. Her immediate supervisor holds her in open contempt since it's her feelings that Jun is not really human at all. As the series progresses, it becomes quite evident that Jun is losing control piece by piece and realizes that using her power so much may well be contributing to her ultimate lose of control. The following section includes spoilers:

The episodes:
10) Flames: This episode deals with a young girl who survives a house fire and is discovered to have the beast ability. The possibility of the power being an infection is raised for the first time here and it becomes clear that the Human Alliance will treat the girl as a laboratory experiment to find out some answers to the whole riddle of the mystery behind the ever increasing number of transformations by regular citizens. The girl has the ability to control fire and that makes her very dangerous.
11) Box: In a department store, a fired employee takes refuge in the elevator as he systematically kills victims. The Human Alliance and Jun seek him out. When Jun confronts him, she finds that while he may not be in control of the power, he has hope of regaining his humanity if allowed. The theme of redemption is strong here.
12) Faces: Jun, under increasing pressure from her world saving exploits, starts to have visions of becoming what she fears most: an uncontrollable monster. As she fights yet another threat to the world, we learn that her Human Alliance associates consider her expendable.
13) Rope: This was the most sexually themed episode of the series so far. The monster is a regular guy except for his incredibly large (20+ feet long) "snake" that grows out of his lower abdomen area that needs women to sustain itself. The man's sister had been kidnapping local girls to feed his needs and Jun solved his problem quickly.

Picture: The picture was once again very dark and moody in a full frame format. After awhile, it started to become less troublesome than it was in the 2nd disc (which was the first I reviewed). This type of horror/supernatural anime is served well by the darkness but I still prefer more well lit scenes and a more complex style of animation employed.

Sound: There was a 2.0 English track and a similar Japanese track with subtitles. The voice acting was improved over the previous volume and the English dub as good as the original Japanese track.

Extras: The extras included four original drawings, a clean open and close, the original trailer and some trailers for other ADV releases.

Final Thoughts: There was nudity and violence with some erotic overtones so it wouldn't be appropriate for children. ADV rates this as 17+ in order to keep it out of the hands of kids. With the improved voice acting, the show is starting to grow on me a bit more but I'm still suggesting it as a strong rental for now. There seemed to be a continuing set of subplots that added to the appeal to me in which Jun is being guided down a set path where she will have to be put down by her employers and the trailer for "Home", episode #14, shows more than a little hint about a character that had been on the sidelines until now. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next which was not the case previously.

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