Devils' Line

デビルズライン (Devils Line)

10.0(1)

OtakuDen

6.8(124,545)

MAL Score

Ranked #5759

Popularity #951

Action
Drama
Romance
Supernatural
Adult Cast
Vampire

Episodes: 12
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Apr 7, 2018 to Jun 23, 2018
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Vampires live in the shadows of modern society, woven into its underbelly. Though they can survive without feeding, intense emotions can trigger a surge of bloodlust that strips away restraint and turns them dangerously feral. Tsukasa Taira, a 22-year-old university student, is pulled into that hidden world when a longtime friend exposes himself as a vampire during a fraught encounter with Yuuki Anzai—a half-human, half-vampire investigator.

After her friend is taken into custody, Tsukasa’s connection to Anzai deepens, and an uneasy attraction grows between them. Their relationship is complicated by what Anzai is: even as he tries to keep his instincts under control, the part of him that hungers for Tsukasa threatens to overwhelm everything they’re trying to build.

Otaku Consensus

Devils' Line earns its cult following when Platinum Vision leans into adult urban melodrama: the 12-episode pacing is aggressive, the police setting gives the romance institutional pressure, and the mix of gore, sex, music, politics, and fights is exactly what positive reviews single out. The recurring criticism is execution rather than concept; detractors see a strong vampire-romance hook and character development let down by uneven handling, which explains its split reputation despite solid popularity.

Why You Should Watch

Watch Devils' Line if you want vampire romance with adult consequences: physical attraction treated as danger, policing treated as politics, and gore that punctures the usual beautiful-monster fantasy. It scratches the same itch as Tokyo Ghoul's human/monster intimacy and Psycho-Pass's urban law-enforcement pressure, but in a lean 12-episode package centered on desire rather than ideology. The sweet spot is viewers who like messy, high-risk relationships without harem cushioning or school-comedy detours. Platinum Vision's version moves quickly from private encounters to institutional paranoia, so the appeal is less mystery-box lore and more the friction between romance, bloodlust, professional duty, and public order. If you can accept rough edges in exchange for a darker seinen mood, its cult reputation makes sense.

Key Characters

T
Tsukasa Taira
Tsukasa is notable because the romance filters the supernatural through a 22-year-old university student's adult boundaries, fear, and desire rather than a school-age wish-fulfillment lens.
Y
Yuuki Anzai
Anzai gives the series its most discussed tension: an investigator whose self-control is both professional duty and romantic obstacle, making intimacy feel volatile instead of decorative.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
Platinum Vision produced Devils' Line as a compact 12-episode Spring 2018 TV run, which helps explain why reactions often focus on momentum and bingeability rather than long-form worldbuilding.
2
The series has a distinctly adult profile in database tagging: AniList marks it as Primarily Adult Cast at 74% and Seinen at 71%, a useful distinction from the many supernatural romances built around school settings.
3
Its most praised tonal blend is unusually crowded for a short vampire anime: web reviews repeatedly call out romance, gore, sex, police politics, fights, music, and character development as working in combination.
4
The writing structure is credited to two series-composition staff members, Kenji Konuta and Ayumu Hisao, matching the show's split attention between relationship drama and urban-crime escalation.
5
The design pipeline names Chisato Kawaguchi for character design, Tomokazu Sugimura for prop design, Masaki Mayuzumi for art direction, and Aiko Yamagami for color design, underlining how much of the series' identity depends on grounded city texture rather than gothic period imagery.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: Devils' Line is based on work by original creator Ryou Hanada, with the anime adaptation handled by studio Platinum Vision.
Fun fact 2: The TV broadcast ran from April 7, 2018 to June 23, 2018, finishing as a 12-episode series rather than continuing into a split-cour format.
Fun fact 3: Its database footprint is stronger in popularity than in score: on MyAnimeList it holds a 6.83 from 124,545 votes, ranks at #5759, yet sits at a much higher popularity position of #951.
Fun fact 4: AniList gives it a close critical equivalent at 66/100 and records 1,530 favourites, reinforcing that the show has a dedicated niche audience despite mixed aggregate scoring.
Fun fact 5: Sound is a notable part of its reception: Tooru Nakano is credited as sound director, and viewer writeups specifically mention the music alongside the gore, sex, storyline, and characters.