Akira gained a demon body through the deal, offered when Ryo gained a human heart. Thus, the deal maker and the deal taker both engage out of love. Ryo manipulates around AkiraвЂ™s human heart not to torture it, but to preserve it in an indestructible body and survive apocalyptic war together. However, Satan doesnвЂ™t offer power in exchange for ownership of an immortal soul in Hell as with Faust.

Akira comes close when he compares Ryo to King Enma (the Buddhist god who decides whether humans enter Heaven or Hell) dragging him to Hell before they join the Black Sabbath to face possession.

Neither of them know at the time, but the final volume reveals Ryo to be an amnesiac Satan investigating humans and plotting to take back ownership of the Earth for demonkind. Ryo doesnвЂ™t need to merge with a demon, as it turns out Akira has made a literal deal with the Devil. Akira gains the body of the powerful Amon, the equivalent to the demon Mephistopheles who serves Faust, and becomes Devilman with Ryo as his sidekick. TheyвЂ™re willing to go down in flames together, and the love story begins. He may have been introduced as a wimp, but his righteousness shines through as we see why Ryo trusts him to believe in his outrageous theories and resist the demons. He accepts the deal with the Devil not out of arrogance, but out of love for Ryo and humankind. In the end, his terror at the existence of violent creatures loses to his trust in Ryo. When his friend Ryo explains demons can only be challenged by being possessed by one, he shows trepidation and tries to escape. His classmate Miki teases him for his weakness, but heвЂ™s content to run away from bullies. Unlike how Faust seeks demonic power out of dissatisfaction with mortal life, Akira shows no desire to become stronger in the classic manga. Of course, this post contains spoilers for the original Devilman manga, Devilman Lady, and Devilman Crybaby. Devilman stands apart from the Christian legend of Faust in how it imagines a deal with the Devil as a tragic, horrifying, and enduring romance. By transforming his body to gain strength and save the world from demonic invasion, heвЂ™s made вЂњa deal with the DevilвЂќ that sacrifices his humanity. AkiraвЂ™s heart overcomes the demon and he retains consciousness only in versions where his friend Ryo Asuka exists to guide him, otherwise the demon takes control. In every iteration of the Devilman franchise, teenage Akira Fudo becomes possessed by a demon. In my Intro to Devilman, a Demonic Manga MasterworkВ I said Go Nagai wrote one of the best love stories of all time, and in honor of ValentineвЂ™s Day IвЂ™d like to explain why.

Devilman manga ending explained