Satanika and Lady Death... Not Separated At Birth...

I was researching some of the older, unloved anime in my collection one fine day and for some reason that defies description, I thought that Satanika and Lady Death were somehow related. After further investigation though, I found that aside from both being part of the "bad girl" genre, there's not really any relationship between the two productions.

A powerful story of innocence lost, savage betrayal and glorious rebirth, Lady Death begins in 15th Century Sweden, where Hope, the beautiful daughter of Matthias - a skilled mercenary who is in actuality Lucifer, the Lord of Lies - is accused of being the devil's consort following a hellish incident witnessed by local villagers.

Sentenced by the town priest to be burned at the stake, Hope is visited by the malevolent Pagan as she writhes in pain. Unable to think clearly, she accepts Lucifer's offer of life in Hell over a hideously painful death... only to discover that there are far worse fates than dying.

Lucifer's grand plan to corrupt a soul of pure innocence meets unanticipated resistance, as Hope rejects Lucifer's scheme and eventually finds herself transformed into the powerful warrior Lady Death, who challenges the Lord of Lies for control of Hell itself.

The popular Verotik comic character Satanika comes to life in full Japanese animation. Produced by Mad House Studios. ("X". Ninja Scroll, Wicked City) this beautiful anime pilot features story boards by the renowned Rintaro and character designs by Yoshiaki Kawajiri. Also included are interviews with the series creator Glenn Danzig and Mad House staff Rintaro, Takuji Endoh and Mad House producer Masao Maruyarna. Plus a tour inside Mad House Studios. Japanese anime fans and Satanika fans alike will all want to own this fantastic and powerful video.

----- Essentially, Satanika is a promotional music video (about 2-3 minutes) featuring the talents of Mad House Studios (Ninja Scroll and Wicked City) and about 25 minutes worth of interviews.

According to John, a contributor to the AnimeNation new blog...

Satanika was an original character created by Danzig lead singer Glenn Danzig’s comic company Verotik Press. Verotik worked with Japanese adult manga artist Wingbird to create a number of Satanika manga for American publication, and in 1998 Verotik worked with Madhouse Studios of Japan to produce a 3 minute long music video pilot for a planned Satanika OAV series. Unfortunately, Verotik Press encountered financial difficulties and closed, ending hopes that the planned full length Satanika anime would ever be produced. Central Park Media released the short Satanika pilot animation on VHS tape in 1998, along with "making of" footage and interviews with creator Glenn Danzig and the Madhouse Studios animation staff.

According to Wikipedia...

Many of the events from the comics are altered in the animated film. Instead of summoning a demon with whom she bargains for her life, Hope's spell summons a pair of flying demons that carry her physically to Hell (restoring her badly burned body in the process), dropping her in the court of her father, who intends for her to join him by his side. When she refuses, he casts her out, only for her to side with the master blacksmith Cremator, an escaped slave of his, and to lead an army of hellspawn creatures against him. In this continuity, her curse is to be trapped in Hell for as long as one of Lucifer's allies remains alive. Unlike in the comic, Lady Death is presented as more of a heroine whose goal isn't to destroy all life on earth, but to liberate Hell from Lucifer's tyranny.

I did however, finally sit down to watch and rewatch Lady Death and I also played the Satanika tape again to refresh my memory. What little I've seen of Satanika, so far, looks good. But, sadly, given that the original comic book publisher (who funded the anime production) went bankrupt and the subsequent comic book publisher also went bankrupt, I don't expect that there will ever be a finished movie or OVA.