Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san

Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san is an on-going manga by Yasuhisa Kubo, and a Spring 2011 anime series from studio Production I.G.

Center: Azazel. From top right, clockwise: Salamander, Sakuma, Beelzebub, Moloch, Akutabe and Undine.

Demons do exist. They are powerful, malicious, vindictive and... cute as hell!

The mysterious and knowledgable detective Akutabe and his young, increasingly less naive assistant Rinko Sakuma, make use of their powers to solve cases. Hilarity Ensues.

The anime adaptation of Yondemasu yo Azazel-san is directed by Tsutomu Mizushima (Bludgeoning Angel Dokurochan, Haré+Guu, Kemeko Deluxe, The Legend of Koizumi... and Big Windup). It's like Sergeant Frog, but crazier. And with more profanities.

Now with a character sheet.

Tropes used in Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san include:

Actor Allusion: Since the anime there's been a number of fanart of Salamander and Moloch in Masamune's and Shingen's outfit, respectively.
Aerith and Bob: In a way: most angels and demons have a proper angelic/demonic name and a common Japanese first name (Azazel Atsushi, Beelzebub Yuuichi, Undine Megumi, Salamander Kimitake, Moloch Yoshinobu, Zeruel Takeru, etc.). The angelic/demonic names function as surnames.
Affably Evil: The demons. Usually Played for Laughs.
- Indeed, while Sakuma does get along with Azazel, Beelzebub and most other demons, they don't particularly like her or care about her well-being, and they're sometimes seen plotting her and Akutabe's demise.
All Myths Are True
Animation Bump: Episodes 5 and 6 feature looser-than-usual animation direction by Chiaki Nakajima, who in the past has worked on The Tatami Galaxy and the token realistic Art Shift episode of Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt. As a result both episodes are some of the best looking in the show, with 6 having some of the most expressive and lively character movement in the TV series, not to mention some interesting scene composition and use of color.
Angels Are Useless: The angels are just watchers unless they're fighting demons.
Archangel Lucifer: Lucifer is apparently not the king of the demons, but he is the highest ranking and probably most powerful demon. And he loves reminding others about this.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Beelzebub's true form is a huge, monstrous fly with a tiny crown on its head.
Badass Bookworm: Akutabe is almost always seen reading something, from grimoires and newspapers to (apparently) children's books.
Balloon Belly: Happens to Gusion after he cleans up the evidence to a mess Koutarou made.
Baleful Polymorph: Sakuma is nearly turned into a cow by Moloch (in the first OVA) when she fails to provide him an adequate sacrifice.
- Later she actually turns into a panda when Behemoth decides he doesn't want her sacrifice after all. She only turns back when Behemoth accidentally destroys the sacrifice, a PSP.
Berserk Button: Do not question Beelzebub's... peculiar eating habits.
Beware the Nice Ones: Do not piss Sakuma off. EVER.
Bishonen: Beelzebub's humanoid form. It even becomes a plot point.
Black Comedy
Blind Without'Em: Sakuma.
Bratty Half-Pint: Koutarou, with the exception being that he dug himself out of his own mess when Sakuma and Akutabe didn't feel like helping him out.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: A number of times, most obviously when Lucifer specifies his sacrifice (marijuana leaves) and Azazel worries about the manga influencing the readers.
- Aside Glance: In episode 12, Beelzebub looks at the camera to tell the audience to treat their grandmothers well.
- The Behemoth story, big time. A manga editor at Evening (the magazine Azazel-san is published in) wants to murder Kubo Yasuhisa and the entire plot revolves around Evening. Sakuma even likens a manga with half-assed artwork to Hunter X Hunter.
Butt Monkey: Sakuma and Azazel, the latter even more so.
Catch Phrase: Strawberry Warrior's is "Nyorin!"
The Chew Toy: Moloch. He's a powerful demon of destruction... and the first time we see him (in the OVA), Akutabe forces him to eat beef curry.
- Azazel even more so, as he constantly gets to be on the receiving end of Akutabe's and Sakuma's wrath.
Christmas Cake: Undine. Because of this, she usually falls in love with horrible men, like Akutabe.
Cluster F-Bomb
Corrupt the Cutie: Sakuma's slowly getting there.
Cosplay: Sakuma's forced into this so that she can get some notes for a test. She later joins for real once she finds out there is a profit to be made.
Crapsack School: Happens to Golgotha Middle School thanks to Undine.
- The whole setting of the series can probably qualify as one.
Curb Stomp Battle: Anytime any of the demons try to go up against Akutabe they lose. Terribly.
Cute and Psycho: Beelzebub usually comes off as a pleasant (in his own way), well-mannered person... until he slips into the darker side of his persona, which is foul-mouthed, vulgar and violent.
Cute Little Fangs: Azazel's girlfriend, Kiyoko in her human form. Azazel himself has them as well but they're not very cute.
Dark and Troubled Past: Many members of the otaku circle Sakuma joins have suffered severe traumas due to bullying and other abuse in the past.
Deadly Gas: In his monstrous form Beelzebub's breath is comparable to really, really noxious gases.
Death Glare: Akutabe pretty much all of the time, but Sakuma has a mean one too.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The "Azazel chews on a Zaku's leg" scene. The leg is even pixelated!
- Sakuma's reaction to Salamander putting her words back inside her.
- Salamander's spit is awfully thick. And white. And sticky.
- Sariel's hairstyle.
- Strawberry Warrior licking the condensed milk off the strawberry in the mock opening...
Deranged Animation: The series is mostly realistic, as per Production I. G.'s usual art style. Oftentimes the animation goes nuts though, almost to Ren and Stimpy levels.
Energy Ball Of Potty: Beelzebub tries to blast Akutabe with one. Obviously, it doesn't work.
Everything's Better with Penguins: Played with: Beelzebub is actually a fly demon.
Executive Meddling: With the manga being what it is, the anime has been on the receiving end a lot during production to be fit to air on TV. In interviews various staff members asked Kubo Yasuhisa to write stories that can be adapted easier for TV.
Extreme Doormat: Himoi, a cheerful one.
Flipping the Bird: Lucifer likes to do this.
Four-Fingered Hands: The demons. Humans have normal five-fingered hands.
- The anime gives Beelzebub's human form five fingers.
Freudian Slip: After cosplaying for a while, Sakuma's speech patterns accidentally slips to the Strawberry Warrior's.
Fundoshi: Salamander is always wearing one.
- When Beelzebub is thought to be dead he changes his usual white fundoshi to a black one.
Gag Series: Well, duh.
Gainaxing: The client in the first episode thanks to Azazel. It's temporary.
- Raphael in the anime.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: And sometimes, Beelzebub tries to eat it.
Godiva Hair: Undine.
God Is Evil: Well, not as much evil as a bit of an asshole.
Gonk: Oh, so many. Case in point: Sariel.
Good Is Not Nice: The angels, as we've seen so far. They're perverts and hypocrites.
Gratuitous English: Mostly the American "sumo wrestler" in volume 4, but Salamander also has a couple of instances. And Lucifer's tattoo says "God /bless/ fuck your ass".
Green-Eyed Monster: Undine is the personification of Envy.
He Knows Too Much: Moloch No.2 learns something about Akutabe that Akutabe really wants to keep a secret. It doesn't end well.
Hellish Pupils: Lucifer (duh).
Hey, It's That Voice!: The anime has a pretty impressive cast, for its genre and category. In the voice commentary the director said he'd been surprised that some of the more high-profile seiyuu (such as Rie Kugimiya or Keiji Fujiwara) accepted his offer.
- Azazel is Vash, France, Leeron and Don Patch.
- Akutabe talks a lot like Ulquiorra, but in the voice-over he manages to use his Veneziano-esque voice.
- Rinko Sakuma is Negi Springfield and Mikoto Misaka.
- Beelzebub is Nozomu Itoshiki, Izaya Orihara and Koyomi Araragi.
- For the fourth time, Salamander always carries a katana with him.
- Undine is Mariya Shidou, Kaere Kimura and Clain.
- In the first episode, Rie Kugimiya cameos as Kiyoko, Azazel's girlfriend.
- Zeruel is Keiji Fujiwara and Sariel is Takeshi Kusao.
- Dotachin is voiced by Ryoko Shiraishi.
- Fujisaki, creator of Namaste-chan is Yuji Ueda.
- Seiya is Mitsuo Iwata.
- Junko Minagawa as the money-grubbing landlady.
- Kenichi Suzumura as Himoi.
- Nobuo Tobita as the stalker Okada.
- Yuko Kaida as Uriel.
- And Lucifer will be voiced by Takehito Koyasu.
High-Pressure Blood: Every single time. In the very first episode a small cut on Sakuma's finger spurts out fountains of blood.
Hot-Blooded: Salamander.
The Idiot From Osaka: Azazel.
Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Akutabe impales Azazel, Beelzebub, and Salamander with Sakuma's umbrella.
Inconvenient Summons: The demons are often in the middle of something when they get summoned.
- Played with when Sakuma summons Beelzebub while he and Lucifer are duking it out at full strength, saving the world of demons from serious damage.
- The third time Azazel is summoned, he's having sex. The first time Beelzebub is summoned, he's on the john. Which actually makes for a good case of foreshadowing.
Invisible to Normals: The demons by default. They can make themselves visible at will.
It's All About Me: Lucifer. Oh Lucifer. But then, he represents Pride.
- The sheer size of his ego makes him one of the few demons who are not intimidated by Akutabe.
Jerkass: Akutabe. He seems to have a soft spot for Sakuma, though.
- Most demons are as well, when they're free to do whatever they please instead of cowering from Akutabe. Then again, they're demons.
- God himself is a bit of a jerkass, too.
Karmic Transformation: Happens to anyone who betrays the contract with their contracted demon without the protection of a grimoire. Like Okada and Himoi.
Keigo: Beelzebub, most of the time.
Killed Off for Real: Moloch, it seems.
Killer Rabbit: All the demons.
Large Ham: Salamander!
Laser-Guided Amnesia: Gusion's ability, Oblivion.
- Also happens to Koutarou as a sacrifice for his contract to Gusion. He loses the memories of his grandfather.
Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: A red-haired Cloud and orange-haired Miku in episode 9, the Major in episode 10. Gonked out, of course.
- The corresponding manga chapters have more: Goku and Vegeta, Hakuoro, Gintoki, Usagi, Yukimura, and of course the inevitable Rei.
- Volume 2 has an employee of Evening hugging a plush Moyashimon toy (both Azazel-san and Moyashimon are published in Evening).
Lovable Sex Maniac: Azazel. You mileage on the "lovable" part may definitely vary.
Loves Me Not: Undine does this in episode 7 to some screaming and obviously-in-pain mandrakes.
Meganekko: Sakuma. Undine accused her of using this trope to try to seduce men and fixes it (temporarily).
Mood Whiplash: One moment, it's Marshmallow DJ. The next, Moloch is dead.
More Than Mind Control: Salamander's ability, Revolution, which makes people believe in what they say if they really think the opposite.
Motor Mouth: Half of the people exposed to Beelzebub's ability, Divulgence, become this. The other half, well...
Mouthy Kid: Koutarou.
Nobody Poops: Oh, so much averted.
- Hell, it's one of Beelzebub's abilities.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: Salamander's entire character is a parody of Yukio Mishima. (Although obviously he doesn't look like Mishima, being a small, red lizard, his fundoshi-and-katana outfit is a Shout-Out to Mishima. His full name is Salamander Kimitake. Kimitake was Mishima's real first name.)
Occult Detective: Akutabe. Sakuma is studying to become one.
Only in It For the Money: Sakuma.
Only Sane Woman: Sakuma.
Otaku: Sakuma grudgingly cosplays for some in her university to get her hands on some notes.
Pandaing to the Audience: Behemoth looks similar to a huge panda (with a trunk), and Sakuma gradually turns into a panda when Behemoth doesn't accept her sacrifice.
Perpetual Frowner: Akutabe, Salamander
Red Eyes, Take Warning: It's when Beelzebub uses his powers.
- Happens sometimes when Akutabe gets mad.
Rock Me, Asmodeus: Lucifer tries to demonstrate his awesome guitar-playing skills to Akutabe, but his cute koala paws make it difficult. (He also wears leather pants and sunglasses, and has the ego of a rock star.)
Scaled Up: While fighting Beelzebub Lucifer turns into his true form, a huge black dragon.
Seppuku: Salamander tries to commit seppuku a couple of times, but never gets to go through with it.
Shapeshifting: Undine's ability, Jealousy. She mostly uses it to Gonk people up, but she can also use it on a much larger scale.
Ship Tease: Akutabe and Sakuma, especially in episode 9 when Akutabe asks Beelzebub and Azazel to go see what Sakuma's up to when her work habits change.
- In the manga Azazel implies that Akutabe just pretends to have a hands-off approach to Sakuma learning to be a demon summoner, and is actually watching her from the shadows. (Then again, it's Azazel who says this so it may or may not be true.)
Sliding Scale of Comedy and Horror
Stalker with a Crush: Okada.
Straight Man: Akutabe and Koutarou.
Straw Misogynist: Salamander.
- Because of this he is the least popular demon in the manga among female readers. One of the reasons why the director of the anime gave the role to Kazuya Nakai was to boost Salamander's popularity. It worked.
- He's so bad, the first thing he does to Sakuma when she greets him is spit on her face. Later, when the man who summoned him introduces himself to her, Salamander chastises him.
Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Sakuma claimed to be able to see one after Undine had "cured" her myopia.
Stylistic Suck: Namaste-chan.
Super-Deformed: Mixed with Sleep Mode Size in the first OVA. The demons are properly monstrous in hell, but in the human world they become absolutely adorable.
Tall, Dark and Handsome: Akutabe.
Throw the Book At Them: Akutabe is fond of doing this to his demons, with the added effect that the books he uses are grimoires, and touching a grimoire has very painful consequences for demons.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Undine's parents. Though they're not really human...
Toilet Humour
Too Kinky to Torture: Salamander is quite the masochist.
Took a Level in Badass: Sakuma, in the second OVA.
- In the manga she eventually learns how to handle demons, and becomes almost as bad as Akutabe.
Trademark Favorite Food: Curry for Beelzebub.
Tsundere: Koutarou convinces Undine that Akutabe isn't a jerkass, he's just this.
Unusual Eyebrows: Akutabe and Lucifer have none.
Villain Protagonist: Pretty much everyone except Sakuma, who is more of a neutral/anti-hero anyway.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Poor, poor Moloch.
- His younger brother doesn't fare much better either.
Widget Series
X Meets Y: It's Hellblazer in Japan.
Yandere: Undine