Devilmanデビルマン

The first collected edition, published while the manga was still running in Weekly Shonen Magazine. The ISBNs you see were added to 1981-and-later reprints — the actual 1972-73 first printings carry no ISBN at all.

Why you cannot buy it: Every listing carries a placeholder price around 30,000 yen. Japanese used-book chains use this when a copy is gone from the warehouse but the listing cannot be deleted.

Published by Akita Shoten alongside the Kodansha edition. Very likely the "Boken-o" version — a different, TV-anime-based retelling rather than the Magazine story. Listed here for completeness, not verified as the same work.

Why you cannot buy it: Published before ISBNs were assigned in Japan, so no shop listing can ever be matched to it automatically.

The first bunko (pocket paperback) edition, 5 volumes at 280-300 yen each. Predates ISBN adoption in Japan, so no ISBN exists in the National Diet Library record either.

Why you cannot buy it: Published before ISBNs were assigned in Japan, so no shop listing can ever be matched to it automatically.

The first omnibus: the 5 original volumes re-cut into 3 thick books of 348-365 pages. Volumes are numbered "dai-1-shu" and the numbering does not follow the publication dates — volume 1 came out in November 1986, volume 2 in July 1983.

The only edition of this era from a publisher other than Kodansha. 2 volumes, 540 yen each, 18cm. Reissued by the same company in 1998 under the "St comics" imprint.

Why you cannot buy it: The ISBNs are valid and were searched, but no seller on the Japanese market has a copy listed.

Five volumes at 980 yen each, 1987. The National Diet Library record carries no series title, so the imprint name is unconfirmed — the ISBN block (4-06-1769xx) belongs to the KC Deluxe range. Japanese sellers list it as "gouka aizoban", the luxury collected edition.

A larger-format reissue with the same 5-volume split and the same page counts as the 1972 edition (205/231/232/207/205pp). Japanese sellers describe it as the "kanzen fukkokuban" — the complete facsimile reprint. This is the edition collectors pay for.

The second bunko run: 5 volumes, 256-268 pages, 500 yen + tax. Careful — the 2009 edition uses the exact same imprint name but splits the story into 4 volumes instead of 5, so a listing that just says "bunko set" is ambiguous.

A reissue of the 1986 Daitosha edition. 2 volumes, 800 yen each, 268/274 pages.

Why you cannot buy it: The ISBNs are valid and were searched, but no seller on the Japanese market has a copy listed.

A budget omnibus: the whole story in 3 books of 352-388 pages at 514 yen each. On paper this is the most efficient way to read Devilman — the problem is that almost nobody is selling it.

Japanese and English printed side by side on the same page, 5 volumes. Made for readers who want the Japanese text but need the meaning next to it. This is not the same thing as an English-only edition.

An English-language edition, 5 volumes — but published in Japan by d/visual, which is why it holds a Japanese ISBN (4-902751-…) and sits in the National Diet Library. It is a separate lineage from English editions sold through Western distribution.

A single volume collecting the "Boken-o" serialization — the TV-anime-based version, not the Weekly Shonen Magazine story. Different content from every other edition on this page.

Why you cannot buy it: Every listing carries a placeholder price around 30,000 yen. Japanese used-book chains use this when a copy is gone from the warehouse but the listing cannot be deleted.

One volume in the National Diet Library record. Whether that is the first book of a set or a single complete omnibus cannot be determined from the bibliographic data alone.

Same imprint name as the 1997 bunko, but 4 volumes instead of 5 and 322-336 pages each, 762 yen. The only mechanical way to tell the two apart is the shelfmark sub-series "Go Nagai masterpiece comics".

Four volumes, 318-329 pages, 857 yen each. The same 4-volume split as the 2009 bunko, in a larger trim size.

Published by Shogakukan rather than Kodansha, for Go Nagai's 50th anniversary as an artist. 5 volumes, 255-272 pages, 778 yen each. One of the very few editions you can still buy new.

A restoration of the story as it originally appeared in Weekly Shonen Magazine, 3 volumes at 2,700 yen each. Note the title mismatch: the National Diet Library records it as "Debiruman -za faasuto-", Japanese shops sell it as "DevilmanーTHE FIRST-". Only the ISBN proves they are the same book.