I Picked Up the Demon Lord (魔王ひろいました , Maō hiroimashita) is chapter 1 of the Beelzebub manga.
VOMIC adaptations of the chapter were aired as weekly segments of the Japanese variety show Sakiyomi Jan Bang! throughout August 2009 and released online in September 2009 on Shueisha's VOMIC website.
Summary
"Long, long ago, in a certain place, there was a very, very handsome, cool, popular, well-respected by everyone, well-respected, kind-hearted young man."
As this narration is told, a brown-haired teenager is seen standing among a group of teenagers in a field next to an airport, all of whom had been beaten and are now lying on the ground. One of them, revealing his name to be Oga, tells him to die, to which Oga snaps his legs. Appearing cruel to everyone, he commands that everyone bow to him (dogeza). The teenagers oblige.
The narrator revealed to be Oga himself, is interrupted by a white-haired teenager. Oga gives a “Huh?”. The white-haired teenager tells him not to “Huh?” at him and argues that Oga isn’t really kind-hearted and popular. The two of them are inside a bedroom. Oga, revealing his name to be Furuichi, calls him an idiot and insults his mother. Furuichi tells him not to. Oga challenges Furuichi on whether he really thinks he is the kind of person that would force people to bow on his command. Furuichi agrees, to which Oga begins strangling him. Furuichi gives in, wanting to hear the rest of his story.
Back to the narration, the teenagers try to apologize to Oga, apparently a legendary Ishiyama High student who had never lost a fight, for trying to murder him once while he was sleeping. In a friendly tone, Oga comments on how he would have died if he were someone else, to which one of the teenagers claims he would’ve liked to see that. Claiming to do laundry in his narration, Oga grabs one of the teenagers by his legs and “washes” him at a nearby river, really drowning him. The rest of the teenagers claim of him being a devil. He sees a large old man floating downstream, to which Furuichi tells him to stop narrating. Furuichi questions Oga on where he plans on taking the story with this large old man floating downstream. Oga claims he really did see him. Furuichi denies this at first but comes to believe Oga is serious. He tries to imagine a plausible case: a homeless man living under a bridge who was washed into the river.
Once again narrating, Oga claims to have pulled him onshore, then suddenly splitting into two to reveal a naked baby boy inside. Furuichi angrily interrupts him, denying the splitting in a loud voice. Oga calmly claims the man remarked that the baby is cute, to which Furuichi demands he stops telling the story, and, breaking the fourth wall, tells him that the readers won’t care about it. Furuichi regrets having invited him over to his house for a consultation and tries to leave him to catch a date. Oga tries to have him listen, but Furuichi claims he should bring the baby in before talking any further. To his shock, Oga reveals the baby he found. Furuichi becomes irate at him for having kept the baby on standby out of his sight, to which Oga claims it would have scared him if he just showed him. A bit of time passes, indicated by a “now loading” bar with a small piece of poop prompting the reader to wait. Oga tries to resume the story, but Furuichi is turned off. Meanwhile, a gothic-dressed woman is flying over the city on a large bird, finding something.
Continuing his story, he recalls being surprised at the sight of the baby. In the form of a Dragon Quest game menu, Oga contemplates his options for handling him: “Fight”, “Run”, “Threaten”, “Sob” or “Kill”. Trying to confront him like an adult, he makes a tough face and asks if he is lost. Without a response from him, Oga contemplates what had happened. He imagines a classier, politer version of himself asking the baby if he is lost, offering to help him with a “s’il vous plait”. Trying to imitate his imaginary face, he tries confronting the baby again and asks him to come over. However, he keeps his crude eyes and voice and the baby still doesn’t respond. After many more times trying to confront the baby, Oga claimed he made an evil face to catch his attention, threatening to turn him into a wax doll. Surprisingly, the baby responded in amusement. Since then, Oga claims the baby had stayed attached to him. As he does so, the baby makes a warcry.
Suddenly, the gothic-dressed woman from earlier flies into the room through the window. Pitying Oga for thinking the baby will be attached to him, she tells him to die. Furuichi is scared, but Oga is crossed, claiming the woman seems to be acting so high and mighty in another person’s house. Furuichi feels strange hearing him say this, as they’re in his own house and not Oga’s. Ignoring Oga, the woman, revealing herself as Hilda, steps down the window and tries to woo the baby back, but the baby embraces Oga in fear. Oga makes an evil smirk, claiming the baby hates her. Hilda tries to pull the baby away from him, but the baby holds tight to Oga while he starts laughing at her. Furuichi tries to convince Oga to let go since Hilda came to welcome the baby. Suddenly, the baby sends off an electric shock, terrifying Oga and Furuichi.
Later, Hilda apologizes for what had happened and introduces herself as Demon maid Hildegarde. Oga and Furuichi think of contrasting perceptions of a Demon. Furuichi thinks of one as a powerful being, while Oga thinks of one as a dimwitted weakling. Hilda introduces the baby as Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, the Demon Lord. Once again, Oga and Furuichi think of contrasting perceptions of a Demon Lord. Furuichi thinks of one as an almighty entity, while Oga thinks of one as an ugly, worn-out figure. Oga and Furuichi are trying to reason the existence of Demons at hand. Furuichi tries to have Hilda end the strange topic of Demons, but Hilda refuses and points out that Oga had been chosen as the Demon Lord’s parent.
Hilda tells the two of her master, the Great Demon Lord. In a flashback set to Hell, the Great Demon Lord, playing a fighting video game, declares to his minions that he will begin to destroy the Humans tomorrow. One of his minions points out a wedding he has to attend with the Dragon King. The Great Demon Lord declares the day after tomorrow to be his day of destruction, but his minion points out a Chupacabra searching bus tour on his schedule that day. Troubled by his crammed schedule, the Great Demon Lord decides to send Beelzebub to do the destruction. He calls for Hilda to look after him and destroy the world.
After Hilda concludes her story, Oga and Furuichi try to take in what she just told them. Eventually, Furuichi places his hand on Oga’s shoulder and wishes him good luck. Oga becomes angry, yelling at Furuichi for abandoning responsibility of taking care of Beelzebub and refusing to take responsibility for Beelzebub himself. Hilda, confirming his lack of will to raise him, expresses her happiness and demands they die. She pulls a sword out of her umbrella and causes a large explosion in Furuichi’s room, blowing the wall off his house. Oga and Furuichi run away. Furuichi demands Oga pay him back for the damage in the house and seems to be laughing controllable. Oga is carrying Beelzebub, claiming to a shocked Furuichi that he won’t let go of him. Hilda jumps on top of a utility pole and demands they give up. Oga runs off, telling her to stay there, while Furuichi claims he can see her panties. A nearby bystander stares at them from directly below her. Provoked, Hilda sends her bird, Ak-Baba, after the two. Oga kicks Ak-Baba in the head and runs off with Furuichi.
The two end up near an overhead power line, in the sight of a group of teenagers able to identify Oga. Hilda points her sword next to Oga’s head and makes a small cut on his cheek, grateful that Beelzebub won’t become stuck up on a contract. Blood drips from his cut onto Beelzebub’s face. The nearby teenagers are excited to find someone about to murder Oga and rush over to back Hilda up to become legends around town. However, Beelzebub starts to cry deeply, sending a massive electric shock on everyone around him, including the teenagers, who are sent flying back. Hilda tries to approach Beelzebub and calm him down, but the electric current is too powerful for her and she is sent flying back. Oga is lying on the ground with Beelzebub on top of him, presumed dead by Furuichi.
Furuichi asks Hilda what they can do. Hopeless, she claims only the Great Demon Lord can stop his crying. Suddenly, Oga calmly sits next to him and puts a hand on Beelzebub’s head, telling him to stop crying and that he’ll be made fun of if he continues. He stops instantly to everyone’s amazement. Oga walks away, thinking he is cool. Beelzebub tries to follow him, but Oga tells him to stop. The teenagers pointed out a steel tower about to fall on Beelzebub. Oga rushes back to him in time to shield him, not knowing what he’s doing. Seeing the tower fall on him, he manages to summon enough power to create a crater in the ground and cause the steel tower to disappear. Everyone is shocked at what had just happened. Beelzebub is safe, but Oga passes out.
Oga wakes up in bed at home, thinking about everything that had just happened was a dream. Hilda greets him, kneeling next to him with Beelzebub on her lap and revealing the fact that everything he experienced was not a dream and that he had slept for two days straight since it all happened. Oga is shocked at Hilda’s presence in his home, to which Hilda calmly declares Beelzebub to be raised by Oga and whom will grow up to be a great, human-destroying Demon Lord.
Characters in order of appearance
- Tatsumi Oga (flashback)
- Takayuki Furuichi
- Alaindelon (flashback)
- Beelzebub IV (flashback)
- Hilda
- Ak-Baba
- Great Demon Lord (flashback)