This one drops the weight of the world on a kid's head in the first few minutes and never once pretends he asked for it. Dr. Faust is already dying when he finds the birthmark on Shingo Yamada's forehead, so the mentorship is basically a handoff and a goodbye, and that's the whole emotional engine: a boy inheriting a war he didn't start from a man who won't be there to help. Then there's Mephisto, dragged up from hell and visibly furious about the arrangement, and the friction between reluctant devil and appointed savior is better company than any noble sidekick would be. It's pure Shigeru Mizuki in its bones, folklore horror where demons are grotesque and slightly pathetic rather than epic, rendered in that thick 1989 Toei cel look that makes every shadow feel painted on by hand. Watch it for the moment Shingo stops flinching.

Dr. Faust has fought monsters for four centuries, and he sees that a new age of demons is beginning. Old and close to death, he cannot face the threat himself. He spots a birthmark on the forehead of a boy named Shingo Yamada, marking him as the chosen demon fighter, and passes his magic on to him. Faust calls up a devil named Mephisto from hell, who is far from eager to help. After Shingo and Mephisto seal a pact in blood to protect humanity, the pair set out to take on the supernatural world in this adventure, fantasy and horror film.