Me and the Devil Blues

• Name — Me and the Devil Blues • Ja Kanji — 俺と悪魔のブルーズ • Ja Romaji — Ore to Akuma no Blues • Genre — * Historical • Psychological horror • Supernatural

• Type — manga • Author — Akira Hiramoto • Publisher — Kodansha • Imprint — * Afternoon KC (2003–2008) • Young Magazine KC (2015–2017) • Magazine — * Monthly Afternoon • (November 25, 2003 – February 25, 2008) • Young Magazine the 3rd • (February 6, 2015 – March 6, 2017) • First — November 25, 2003 • Last — March 6, 2017 (on hiatus) • Volumes — 5

• Portal — yes Me and the Devil Blues is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Hiramoto. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazines Monthly Afternoon (2003 to 2008) and Young Magazine the 3rd (2015 to 2017). The manga was licensed in North America by Del Rey Manga. It tells a fictionalized story of Robert Johnson, and how he became a blues legend. School Library Journal named Me and the Devil Blues as one of the best adult books for high school students in 2008. Me and the Devil Blues won the 2009 Glyph Comics Awards in the Best Reprint Publication category.

In the winter of 1929, Robert Johnson lives in Robinsonville, Mississippi, with his family and his pregnant girlfriend, Virginia Travis. While working in the plantation fields, Johnson aspires to become a great blues guitarist. After a disastrous performance in a juke joint, his friends suggest that he perform a ritual: go to the crossroads in the middle of the night, play a song on the guitar, and the devil will gift him the power to play the blues, in exchange for his soul. The next night, Johnson hears a bluesman play an eerie tune in the dark, leaving behind a wooden guitar. Johnson takes the guitar in attempt to return it, only to wander into the middle of a crossroad; he decides to perform the ritual there. Johnson recounts that night to Virginia, where she suggests the bluesman is the famed Son House. Johnson meets him alongside his partner, Willie Brown, spending the next few days learning to play the blues from them. One night, after no sign of progress, a drunk Johnson leaves the joint and suddenly finds himself in the middle of a cemetery, where he hears the same eerie tune playing. With newfound composure, he returns to play the blues so outstanding, it leaves the entire joint in awe. Immediately after, Johnson's family appears, berating him for seemingly abandoning them. To his horror, six months had inexplicably passed, both House and Brown had never met him, and Virginia is already dead from a failed childbirth. Now on his own, Johnson leaves Robinsonville with his wooden guitar. A year later, Johnson spends his time honing his guitar-playing skills with his mentor, Ike Zimmerman. One day, they are nearly run over by a stray car driven by Clyde Barrow. In the distance, Barrow crashes his car and is knocked unconscious. Waking up in the middle of the night, he finds himself near a cemetery with an eerie tune playing, leading him to meet Johnson. Recognizing Johnson's blues playing as what he heard in the cemetery, Barrow insists he join him, despite Johnson being wary of his intentions. From there, Johnson and Barrow go on a journey through the South, encountering hostile white supremacists led by child-murderer Stanley O. McDonald, all while Johnson, discovering his right hand now exhibits ten fingers, remains haunted by his deal with the devil.

The manga takes its name from the title of the Robert Johnson song, "Me and the Devil Blues". Written and illustrated by Akira Hiramoto, it was originally published in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from November 2003, to February 2008, when it was put on indefinite hiatus. The manga was transferred to Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Young Magazine the 3rd in September 2014, a then-recent spin-off to Weekly Young Magazine. Its first chapter was published in February 2015. The series' latest chapter in the magazine was published in March 2017. Young Magazine the 3rds last issue was released in April 2021. Kodansha has published the first five volumes between January 21, 2005, and July 6, 2015. In North America, Del Rey Manga released the first four volumes in a two-volumes-in-one format. The first volume (containing volumes 1 and 2 of the Japanese editions) was published on July 29, 2008, and the second volume (containing volumes 3 and 4 of the Japanese editions) was published on December 30, 2008.

• 35. "From Four Until Late ③" • 36. "From Four Until Late ④" • 37. "They're Red Hot ①" • 38. "They're Red Hot ②"