is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ryuhei Tamura. It is the story about a first year student at a school for juvenile delinquents. It was first published in 2008 as a one-shot in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump, subsequently winning the fourth Gold Future Cup. The manga was serialized in the same magazine from February 2009 to February 2014. A spin-off series, Beelzebub: Bangai-hen, was serialized in Jump Next! from May 2014 to March 2015. The overall series's chapters were collected in 28 volumes.
An original video animation (OVA) adaptation, produced by Pierrot+, premiered at the Jump Super Anime Tour in October 2010. A 60-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by the same studio, aired between January 2011 and March 2012.
Plot The story follows Tatsumi Oga, a delinquent student at Ishiyama High, who discovers an infant boy inside a dying man by a river. The child, Beel, is revealed to be the son of the Great Demon Lord, and Tatsumi is forced to raise him alongside the demon maid Hilda. Seeking to rid himself of this responsibility, Tatsumi attempts to transfer Beel to stronger students, targeting the Tōhōshinki—Ishiyama's four most powerful fighters. After defeating their leader, Hajime Kanzaki, Tatsumi inadvertently strengthens Beel's attachment to him. A supernatural seal appears on Tatsumi's hand, marking his contract with Beel. Its complexity grows with Tatsumi's malevolence, though he initially resists fighting to curb its spread. When Himekawa, the second Tōhōshinki member, kidnaps Hilda and Tatsumi's friend Furuichi, Tatsumi intervenes, unleashing the Zebul blast to win. The battle expands the seal, alarming Hilda with its toll.
Tatsumi later meets Aoi Kunieda, a girl who mistakes his bluntness for romantic interest. Unaware she leads the Red Tails and is the Tōhōshinki's third member, he asks her to become Beel's "mother," further confusing her. Their confrontation is interrupted by the MK5 assassins, whom Tatsumi defeats. Beel senses the fourth Tōhōshinki member, Hidetora Tojo, but Tatsumi remains oblivious. Aoi, believing Tatsumi and Hilda are married, is challenged by Hilda to test her strength but is deemed inferior. Meanwhile, Tatsumi is framed for attacking classmates by the MK5, prompting Aoi to fight him. Natsume exposes the deception, but Tatsumi defeats the conspirators.
Seeking to offload Beel, Tatsumi pursues Tojo at the beach, unaware Kanzaki and Himekawa orchestrated the clash. Aoi warns Tatsumi of Tojo's strength, but their duel is delayed when Beel falls ill. Beel's sickness severs Tatsumi's seal, and Hilda departs for the demon world for aid. Tatsumi later finds Tojo carrying Beel and loses their first fight. Returning home, he learns from the demon doctor Furucas that Beel's illness stems from suppressed power. Restored by Furucas's assistant Lamia, Tatsumi, aided by the Tōhōshinki, defeats Tojo in a rematch—but Beel's unleashed energy destroys Ishiyama High.
The students transfer to Saint Ishiyama, where discrimination ends after Tatsumi's team defeats the elite Six Knights in volleyball. The school president, secretly a demon, covers up Tatsumi's supernatural display during the match. A new teacher, Zenjirō Saotome, arrives, effortlessly subduing Tatsumi and Tojo. When demons attack Tatsumi's group, Saotome reveals himself as a Spellmaster and repels them. He trains Tatsumi, who later defeats powerful human-demon contractors. The story concludes with Tatsumi returning from the demon world, carrying another mysterious infant.
Characters Main characters
A first-year student at Ishiyama High School and is renowned for his extraordinary strength, which strikes fear into the local delinquents. Alaindelon chooses him to be Beelzebub's father because he appears to possess the qualities of the ideal parent for the future Devil King: he is strong, arrogant, and thinks nothing of his fellow man. Despite his violent and selfish personality, he continues to care for Beelzebub, grumbling about it all the while. Through battles against delinquents and demons, he matures and gradually learns to control Beelzebub's immense magical power.
Known as Beelzebub or . He is the youngest son of the Devil King. He is very attached to Tatsumi, always clinging onto Tatsumi's back or sitting on Tatsumi's head. When he becomes agitated (and initially when he saw blood), he'll often throw a tantrum that will spontaneously electrocute anyone within his vicinity. Without Tatsumi, he is physically weaker than even the average human child, but contact with Tatsumi allows him to unleash his demonic powers. After fearing for Tatsumi's safety when he contracted a fever (as his power would end up killing Tatsumi), he severed the contract and ran away. He then became somewhat attached to Tojo, who resembles Tatsumi (at least in his own mind). Later, when Tatsumi and Tojo start to fight, Beel snaps out of his fever and goes back to Tatsumi. At that point, their mutual trust becomes so great that Beel even erases the Zebub spell to allow Tatsumi to fight Tojo without using demonic powers.
Hilda is a demon maid who helps Tatsumi take care of Beelzebub IV. She reveres the Great Demon Lord and considers it an honor to be chosen as Beel's caretaker. Although she is usually blunt and cold, she has a kinder side that emerges occasionally, often surprising and disbelieving others.
Another first year student at Ishiyama, Furuichi seems to be the only non-delinquent student there and has little, if any, fighting ability. He often points out the absurdities in Tatsumi's situation, acting as the rational and most passive member of the group. Furuichi often complains about Tatsumi, stating that just because he hangs around with him, people take him for a delinquent as well. Furuichi is the eldest child of his family, which seems to be wealthier than Tatsumi's, since they are able to spend summer holidays in a five-star resort. He is also implied to be quite a good student, and Miki says that his grades would have easily earned him a place in Saint Ishiyama School. Furuichi is a prototypical lovelorn teenager and is always scheming to ingratiate himself with the fair sex to little avail: most women—human and demon alike—around are stronger than he, and many moments of comic relief in the series arise when Furuichi has his advances on girls frustrated. He is envious of Tatsumi for being the object of Kunieda's love and for having Hilda under the same roof.
Batim is a dimensional transfer demon working under Hildegarde. He sees Tatsumi forcing other delinquents to kneel before him and decides to deliver baby Beel to him as a potential parent. He is heavily built and is most often seen wearing a tank-top and boxer-shorts. After Tatsumi becomes Beel's parent he moves in with Furuichi, against the boy's wishes. It is later revealed that he has a daughter, but in the course of the story he also displays homosexual affection for Furuichi, much to the latter's chagrin. These tendencies are exaggerated in the anime.
Ishiyama High Tōhōshinki The four leaders of the delinquent forces in Ishiyama High. is an acronym of their respective last names: , , , and . Although they were initially introduced as antagonists early in the series, the four later became Tatsumi's most loyal followers. Each gained a King's Emblem, located on a different part of their body, which allows them to tap into Beelzebub's demon powers during fights. This enables them to go toe-to-toe with other demon contract holders.
The first of the four to be introduced, he was the closest to dominating the school at the time. A sadistic and malignant third year, he was sought out by Tatsumi to be a replacement father for Beel, Tatsumi hoping Kanzaki's purportedly sinister and malicious character would be more appealing to the demon baby than his own. However, after Kanzaki viciously humiliates Shiroyama, his most loyal underling and until then his right-hand man, Tatsumi becomes enraged and punches Kanzaki through a top-story window, sending him to the hospital and further solidifying Beel's attachment to him. After that, Kanzaki loses his retinue, save for Shiroyama and Natsume. He later consorted with Himekawa and Tatsumi in order to pull down the powerful Tojo, but gets caught up with Himekawa in a fight against Tojo's underlings and is sent to the hospital again due to injuries contracted in the explosion that destroyed the school.
Takeshi is a strong and tall third-year student. He is easily defeated by Tatsumi with a single shot to the chin. Even after his humiliation by Kanzaki and the dissolution of the latter's gang, he remains attached to Kanzaki. Later, when he is sent to the hospital by St. Ishiyama students, Kanzaki visits upon him. He escapes the hospital to support Ishiyama against the Horsemen in the volleyball match, but is taken back by the staff. He is often seen acting as Kanzaki's voice of reason.
Shintarou is a soft-spoken third-year student and an underling of Kanzaki, he shows exceptional interest in Tatsumi and his exploits. Handsome and long-haired, he prefers to make lighthearted quips during frays to engaging in them personally.
Tatsuya is the son of the "Himekawa Group", a financial zaibatsu, a third-year student, and the second member of the Tohoshinki. Using money to solve his problems, he bribes friends and enemies into his employment, often turning the tables on dissident challengers by co-opting their own friends against them. This tactic proved completely useless on Tatsumi, and Himekawa was the first victim of the Zebub Blast. Following his recovery, he groups himself together with Tatsumi and Kanzaki in order to remove Tojo from power, but is caught up in the explosion with Kanzaki and most of the student body. Despite being a capable fighter, Himekawa uses underhanded tactics to prevail, such as having his opponents break their fists by punching a ceramic tile shield hidden under his shirt, or electrocuting them with a shock-baton (both are shown to be useless against Tatsumi).
Aoi is a 17-year-old second-year student and the third leader of Red Tails. She is first introduced in disguise at the park taking care of her baby brother, Kouta, who is constantly mistaken as being Aoi's own child by the mothers at the park. Aoi is the daughter of a local shrine keeper. Her nickname is "Queen" because she protects the girls at Ishiyama High from the men's "grubby hands". Because of Tatsumi's dense personality, he has yet to realize that the girl he befriended at the park that Tatsumi knows as "Aoi Kunie" and Kunieda are one and the same. Despite her tough personality, she has a rather girly crush on Tatsumi but refuses to admit this fact to others. She can feel Saotome using his demon power, which shows she has notable strength for a human.
Chiaki is a first year student who leads Red Tails. She rarely speaks and dispatches her enemies swiftly with a pair of modified air-guns hidden under her skirt (actually, she can use up to four guns at the same time). She is very loyal to Kunieda even after she leaves the gang, and is ready to shoot anyone other than Tatsumi who makes advances on her. Unlike Nene, she is the first to recognize that Kunieda is in love with Tatsumi, and she thinks it is very cute. She is an expert video game player, often playing with her little brother, and Kanzaki gives her the nickname "Akichi" (an inversion of the syllables of her name) to signify her gaming persona.