Devilman: Crybaby

[Spoiler Warning]

I don't understand the hype...What a complete waste of time. They rely so heavily on sex and gore but the story was just absolutely awful. If I could give this series a 0 out of 10 I would.

First of all, let's address the English dialogue. Can we stop it? If you can't speak English, just stick with Japanese and subtitle it. The English dialogue was so cringy and unnecessary. Just stop it. They also used Arabic letters to showcase that people from an Arabic origin were discussing the news but the letters meant nothing. It wasn't even a sentence, just letters. Did the creators ... not have a single Arabic friend to write them one sentence? Maybe even use Google translate?

Ok, on with the review.

Story: Extremely weak, rushed, and nonsensical. The questioning of humanity's ability to descend into chaos and violence and whether or not human beings are worth saving at all is not new. It's been done over and over again, which is fine, but at least develop the story. Every decent anime would at least have a decent backstory, some sort of plot to follow, build up, and hopefully reach a climax at some point. This story is ridiculously bad that I found myself yawning throughout the entire thing.

There is absolutely no consistency, depth, or any cohesiveness to this story. When I finally reached the end of the story, the simplicity in its conclusion was...extremely disappointing. "God did it" is not an ending. It's just an excuse to wrap up a story that was haphazardly put together in the first place.

Also, what's with the constant rapping in the first few episodes? We get it, some kid likes to rap. Congratulations! Can we develop a story now?

0/10

Characters: Couldn't care less for any of them. No character development whatsoever and every one of them felt rushed. You know what I learned about the main character? Devilman? He cries. That's his character arc. He cries in the beginning of the series, and then he cries near the end trying to save humanity. Where else could you possibly have known that the main character cries I wonder? It's in the title. They spent more time drawing Miki's crotch and passing the baton back and forth (mostly to herself) than developing any of the main characters.

0/10

Animation style: What was the budget for animating this series? Was there even a budget? The fights looked terrible and it looked like all they cared about is how to draw boobs semi-correctly. Speaking of boobs, why did Ryou, a supposedly male protagonist, grow boobs in the end of the series? Is that supposed to mean something? Are we just gonna gloss over the fact that a man grew boobs without explaining anything? I researched this question by the way, and apparently Satan has boobs in the manga. So, logically, when Ryou transforms into Satan, he grew boobs. This is what some people refer to as a masterpiece by the way.

0/10

What an abomination...I'm speechless at how bad it is...and I don't understand how or why anyone would call this a good anime.

Story: The Story in Crybaby was very good, the pacing was solid throughout the entire story, it never felt like there was unnecessary dips, and it managed to push through to the end and conclude in a satisfying way, which many shows nowadays fail to do.

As someone who had never previously read Devilman or watched any adaptation, all of the twists that were present in the classic series were new to me, and most were well done, they are hard to predict until the show wants you to know or gives large hints, it does well at subverting your expectations.

9/10

Art: Art is something that ... I felt was not a high point in the series, it had solid animation and went for a very deliberate style, and did well in capturing the feel of the classic art style of Go Nagai, however doing something for the sake of homage is not necessarily always the best possible choice, I'm sure many will disagree with me here, but again I have no ties to original series.

7/10

Sound: I loved the music in this show, especially the Opening which is one of my favourites that I've heard in general, but beyond the music the sound effects and such were consistently good, but nothing really beyond just good.

7/10

Character: Easily the best part of Devilman Crybaby is the characters, every single character is so well done, everything is deliberate, everything is consistent, and interesting Akira is one of the best characters I've seen in a long time, he doesn't fall into any overarching category, he as a character is incredibly unique and his relationships with the other characters especially Miki and Ryo are just incredible.

10/10

Enjoyment: This series was really damn enjoyable the action was solid if a bit sparse but when it did happen, it was incredible, with the soundtrack and voice acting backing it up, the switch flipping at the end of episode one is when I knew I was going to love this series

9/10

Overall Rating: While I'd love to give this a 10, I didn't think everything was executed as well as it could have been, it's extremely close to a 10 but it's not quite there, some things did feel like they were passed over fairly quickly, and some aspects of the show did feel more standard than outstanding.

9/10

Going into this series, I had zero background information on any of its details. Didn't know that it was a manga adaptation, that it contained adult content (so. much. boobs.), or that it was directed by THE Maasaki Yuusa (Tatami Galaxy, that one episode in Adventure Time) until I decided to do a little research halfway through the series. So there was little to no expectations in my part, other than my friend suggesting I watch it. And I have to say... I was kinda disappointed by the end. Started promisingly but faltered way down as it rushed to its finish line. Let's break it ... down, shall we?

Story: 5
- First episode was definitely intriguing, establishing the world and its themes, but felt a bit rushed and jumbled at times
- Pacing was odd, to say the least
- Themes of humanity and the good/evil that comes with it, not the most original idea (granted, the manga was written way back in the 70's)
- The second half is where it reaaaaally dovetails
- Plot development feels unnatural

Art: 8
- Greatest asset, even with the occasional flaws
- Eclectic and unique camerawork
- Character design is lush and defined
- An ecstatic and colorful palette that transitions late in the series to darker and muted tones
- Animation in the mid-episodes sometimes felt stilted, and just plain bad in a few scenes

Sound: 6
- Nothing really noteworthy, music and sound design is solid, even inventive on occasion
- Plenty of electro beats, and wood percussions
- OP song is quite good (not really a factor for critiquing)

Character: 5
- No character is downright hateable, so that's good
- Most likable is definitely Miki, the bright and hopeful girl next door
- Contrasting of Ryo and Akira is obvious, but not memorable
- Supporting characters have confusing arcs and inconsistent internal logic

Enjoyment: 4
- Admittedly enjoyable at first, with its melange of colors and overzealousness in presentation, but becomes downright depressing by the end, minus any form of catharsis or larger talking point
- Can't imagine anyone willing to re-watch all of this for the sake of entertainment

Overall: NO THANKS, I'LL PASS (or watch once and regret losing 5 hours of bountiful sleeping time and writing a review after, 6am in the morning...)


#Thanks2018

It looks beautiful, the OST is remarkable in and of itself and these two things you can easily verify yourself with a quick google. However, the story is a complete mess. I'd argue it's still a fine anime if you like action, ultraviolence and sex, or just want to enjoy some top tier directing.

The main character becomes a human-monster and he does change because of that, but his "what have I become?" moment is really tame and rather expeditiously dealt with. We don't know how he gets past it, but there's really no time because when his inner demons pop up the plot requires him ... to fight some more and brush over the problem. Being a "crybaby" may be linked to this. He's so empathetic that he cries the tears that others don't dare to, but this characteristic seems to only show up when it's dramatically convenient, rather than him actually being that considerate. Else he'd be torn by what is happening and take an active role in the story, rather than just reactive. Similarly, he can help others beat the devils that took over them, but there's no rhyme nor reason for why they can do that, he just tells them "you will become a devilman" (i.e. a man that controls the devil) and they do.

Humans are monsters and they go on massive witch hunts for devils once they become public knowledge. Everything devolves into random killing and world war for, really, no real reason, but it serves the plot and the forced drama. Some characters that were friendly for some time and seemed to fight against discrimination suddenly turn coats and go crazy too. It breaks the suspension of disbelief and that's when you don't care anymore, however in the case you don't notice the flaws this anime will appear to be the best and most dramatic thing you've ever seen.

There are some good parts, some good micro-stories that get played well and are consistent, mainly concerning humans who turn into devils and can't control their impulses and eat their friends only to wallow in pain and want to die later on.

There seems to be a group of organized smart demons that control things from the shadows but their origins are left unclear and rather quickly forgotten, this part lacks closure.

Ryo, the childhood friend who gets the main character in this whole mess is shrouded in mystery and acts completely inconsistently too. He's the main force that drives the plot so that makes things even worse.

SPOILER IN THIS PARAGRAPH
There's also some side story about some high school (or whatever grade they are in) colleagues trying to best each other and the "gambatte" (do your best, be the best) attitude is not a problem until it interferes with the death of an important character that in their last moment only have the thought of "passing the baton" to the main character (they are track both runners). I mean, when I die, I sure as hell won't think about who gets to inherit the code I've written.

So yeah, without getting into the actual ending, I'd say that the themes barely get explored, are contrived for the purpose of providing forced drama, and the characters are inconsistent too because they are subservient to this purpose as well.

Is Devilman Crybaby bad?
If you want something that doesn't insult one's intelligence, yeah, it's pretty bad. Still, there are parts which are genuinely awesome, but they are harder to notice, mostly micro-stories that hold some truth and feeling.
If you can get past the stupidity of the plot this anime is actually really worth it thanks to how amazing it is on an aesthetics level. This also means that you need to pay attention to the screen, watching this anime on a 2nd screen while doing something else is a complete waste of time and will ruin your experience.

I'm rather torn about what rating to give this anime, on one hand I want to give it a 10 for the amazing work the animators, director and sound people have done on it, on the other hand I want to give it a 1 for the plot. I expect that once the hype dies this anime will be rather polarizing. I hope that this review can shed better light on it.

I have never seen a story across any medium devolve into such drivel. There is no justification for the appalling behavior of any of the characters. It becomes so stupid, it is infuriating to watch.

There is no explanation to the backstory and mechanics of things, and no eventual payoff whatsoever. My suspension is of disbelief is thoroughly shattered (and then some) past the halfway point, and it just keeps picking up the pace exponentially until the final fuck-you that is the ending.

It is dreadful in tone and content. If you liked this anime, you were most likely filling in innumerable plot holes and characterization ... flaws with the manga they wrote at a time before either you or the writers knew how these things were passably written. As a standalone, Devilman Crybaby is nonsense.

2/10, because that Miko girl had some nice knockers, I guess. Don't bother with this anime.

(This is gonna be a long and wordy review so skip to the conclusion if you don’t care about the justification for my score)

I’m honestly not sure where to start. I never expect anything directed by Masaaki Yuasa to be normal, nor do I expect them to be lackluster, especially with shows like The Tatami Galaxy, Kaiba, and Ping Pong under his belt. These previously mentioned shows are some of the best examples that come to mind when I think of anime that is wildly eccentric and experimental, and I find it incredible that they could embody such words without alienating the viewer or ... quickly losing their charm. From THAT Masaaki Yuasa comes an anime that is horribly uneven and unsatisfying

ART:

I was genuinely surprised that this series’ art could be so disappointing. Yuasa’s bread and butter is his crisp animation. Each of his series has a radically different art style, but most have a level of polish and absurdity that keep them incredibly distinct. Devilman Crybaby has those things too...occasionally. The first episode already had me convinced that Yuasa had “done it again” with the fantastic introduction of Akira and Ryou and the vivid colors of the Sabbath party. It wasn’t until sometime during the third episode when I realized that the quality of the art is terribly inconsistent.

At that point, I wasn’t even trying to critique the series, nor was I specifically watching for the animation quality to falter; it was bad enough for me to notice even when I wasn’t looking for it. I’m not that picky when it comes to the art style for most shows, and a lot of times drops in quality will fly right past without me noticing. What I do care about is Akira looking like an elongated extraterrestrial in one shot and Johnny Bravo in the next (and no, he hadn’t transformed). Once I noticed, I saw it everywhere. Changes in character designs, extreme lack of detail in certain shots, and choppy movements started coming to my attention quite frequently. The only scenes that were mostly exempt from these quality drops were the fights and close-up conversations. The rest constantly moved between passable and poor.

Even ignoring the inconsistency, there is nothing surprising about Devilman’s art outside of the grotesque monsters and gore. Fight scenes and demon designs are the only time that Yuasa takes any risks in the animation of the series, so it’s unsurprising that these things turned out very well (though the fight scenes have a lot of jump cuts and weird camera angles that sometimes obscure the action). However, this series also has its fair share of narrative, and any scene that didn’t involve violence or transformations was accompanied by shockingly dull art, save for a few beautiful backdrops of the city. Anything outside of the realm of demons and Sabbath parties was bland and forgettable, which is probably the most painful thing I have to say in this review.

I was only impressed with last four episodes, as there was some astounding art to go with the dark turn that the series takes. I just wish the art had retained this level of quality throughout.

SOUND:

Inconsistency hit this anime pretty hard in more than one spot. I often negate sound in my reviews because it’s one of those things that I forget to pay attention to, but as with the quality drops in the art, the sound effects were sometimes abysmal enough for even me to notice. And again, this was not a constant phenomena, but it also wasn’t a rare occurrence. Blood splats, movement noises and “impact/collision” sounds (not sure of the proper terminology) would jump between perfectly fine and low quality. If you want a specific scene as some kind of “proof” of my complaints, look no further than the bus scene from episode 4. The poor sound effects in this scene were enough to completely erase any sense of drama that it was supposed to create. I actually found myself sighing in disbelief.

I don’t have much to say about the music and voice acting. None of it, besides the mangled english, stood out as lackluster, so I guess that’s a plus.

CHARACTERS:

The characters are the one strong point that I have to acknowledge. Though they are often undermined by the pacing and tone (which I elaborate on in the story section) the main cast is quite likable and some characters, such as Miko, even receive a good bit of development. That being said, side characters are given little focus, which doesn’t fit well when Devilman tries to force us to mourn or sympathize with them.

The only weak point I can think of is how Akira was treated in the beginning. The series starts out by forcing Akira to go through a huge character change (his transformation into Devilman) before the viewer has a strong understanding of what type of person he is. We spend the rest of the series hearing about how much Akira has changed and having characters give their opinion on his development, but we have such limited knowledge of who he was before that we can’t make our own judgements.

STORY:

(WARNING: I am going to spoil the story. I have major complaints that can’t be explained without including spoilers, so skip to the conclusion if you care)

Okay, so the animation and sound effects are inconsistent. But a good story can still carry an anime. That’s all that really matters, right???...

Though I can understand this sentiment, Devilman’s story is a far cry from being its saving grace.

The tone is the main crutch of the series. It tries to create too many different moods, and never finds one to settle on. The first few episodes present a brutal, if somewhat tedious, action anime. This is followed by bouts of drama that never seem to fit with the absurd violence that permeates each episode. Finally, we have the execution of all of these elements, which tries to be sporadically comedic, tragic and surreal. This wouldn’t be a problem if they found a way to mesh all of these tones properly. Instead, the show leaps from one to another with reckless abandon and ends with its last four episodes feeling like an entirely different show. This is also a product of the pacing, which goes from meandering to fast paced at a moments notice and leaves important details in the dust.

It’s too dark to be taken lightly and too cheesy to be taken seriously. The result is some questionable scenes where I genuinely couldn’t tell if the dark comedy was intentional, and dramatic scenes that had little to no impact. “Akira’s parents are gonna die! Don’t you care??? Oh wait, all we’ve done is imply their relationship in previous episodes, so let’s just hamfist some sad dialogue and flashbacks to make you care about them.” Unlike Yuasa’s previous projects, which always seemed to have a heartfelt core, any attempt made by Devilman Crybaby to be heartfelt feels insincere and unnatural.

Devilman’s final quarter is a bleak and tiring affair. We are suddenly supposed to care that human lives are being exterminated, but since the very first episode, human death has been given no significance. You see dozens of humans get slaughtered within the first fight and zero portrayed consequences. Now we are shown a snippet of a funeral and Akira is complaining about innocent humans being killed in the crossfire, as if such events can even phase the viewer at that point. The death of background characters only seems to matter when the show wants it to, and at any other time they are simply fodder to decorate the quickly resolved action sequences.

Then comes the scenes that are meant to be the emotional climax of the series, however, it is too late for them to shock or sadden the viewer. Those last four episodes are filled to the brim with the deaths of so many important and unimportant characters that their suffering ceases to have any effect. The cast starts dropping like flies so quickly that their deaths feel utterly insignificant. It’s just gratuitous despair in the misguided attempt to dig some grief from the viewers, even though the bulk of the series has already passed at this point.

Failed attempts at emotional resonance and a tone that seems to be all over the place leaves this series feeling like a mess, and is dissatisfying no matter what angle you look at it from. If all you’re looking for is action, you will be let down by the short fights and an intrusive narrative. If you want a drama or something meaningful, you’ll find yourself distracted by Devilman’s inability to maintain a coherent approach.

The very last episode is a beautiful and otherworldly experience, one that I hoped the entire series would be like. However, a single episode isn’t enough to carry an entire show, especially one that feels like a monster hunter anime for six episodes, a dystopian movie for three, and ends with a monolithic bout that it did not properly build up to.

CONCLUSION (4/10):

This show was a huge disappointment for me and I’m perplexed by the overall reception that it seems to currently have. I tried my hardest to find things to compliment about it, and even then I couldn’t think of much. What I see is a series with major inconsistencies in quality and narrative execution. It almost finds its footing towards the middle, and then proceeds to miss the mark by a mile. The best thing that I can say about Devilman Crybaby is that it could have been worse, but as of now, it’s already a subpar outing no matter what genre you try to fit it in.

[SPOILER WARNING]

Admittedly even I couldn't predict that Kyubey was Devilman's best friend all along. And no, I'm not talking about Satan (wait for episode 10).

There is no story here. It's literally just 'the current thing is boring, let's move to the next thing', which is usually also completely random. Mix in some funkay drawings of boobs and maybe some penetrative sex and some rather ridiculous 'art', probably masturbation, and there ya go. Done. Also gun violence and lots of biting and stabbing. More time is spent objectifying or detailing sexual violence and harassment and assault, particularly against women, than developing any particular character save Akira ... (sort of), and the problem isn't that the boobs and masturbation are present, but that they serve no purpose other than like... hur dur boobs and ejaculation and photographers taking advantage of minors isn't that so gritty???

Ryo wants to reveal demons to... someone. Because. This involves turning Akira into Devilman... because. He wants to film Akira fighting as Devilman against demons... because. From some basic research into the series, I knew that Ryo is in love with Akira from way back in the 70s when the original manga first came out, even without seeing the heavy homoerotic subtext between them throughout the show and, of course, the climax, no pun intended. I thought maybe the Devil just wants to make his boyfriend stronger or sexier. But wait, he fell in love with the weaker, cheery, pure Akira. So why does he want to change that? Maybe he's bored? Maybe he's answering a hypothesis? Maybe he wants to eradicate demons?

No. Just you know. Cause. Where does he get his wealth? We don't know. Doesn't matter. Why's his secretary so weird? Who cares. It sort of doesn't matter anyway. Which is hilarious because of how that plotline ended and the way they've built it up left me feeling nothing. But the government conspiracy! There isn't one, really, outside of Ryo's babbling early in the show. By the time we get to the government, it's random shots of people somewhere, who we don't know, worrying about the present situation, likely already demons, likely close to getting killed. Why does Akira cry for other people? Just cause. His backstory is handled so poorly. Why do his parents seldom if ever contact him, particularly in this story's age of instantaneous Internet connectivity? Surely by this point they're aware that Akira doesn't seem to be working towards being a doctor (although we don't even know what he's actually interested in, besides track, which he apparently sucks at anyway).

I appreciate the worldwide reach of whatever social media the characters are using that allows pretty random people to reach everyone on the planet with a mobile device or TV instantaneously (except Akira's parents to their only child). That's pretty nifty. Not how most social media works, particularly with different international laws and network infrastructure in place and human habit, but sure, whatever. I also give kudos to the person who thought that people seeing one massacre live, on TV, would make people across the globe lose their minds and nations to collapse. I hope that person has a good supply of whatever drugs they're taking.

The art is pretty bad, not just from a stylistic standpoint, but after the first episode or so it loses all precision whatsoever and mainly turns into stretchy bits of color attacking other stretchy bits of color, usually in the dark. Sometimes there is blood or semen or breast milk. Frequently there are wonky boobs and implied sexual acts (but don't worry, no dicks until like episode 10 and you gotta squint for it!). It reminded me a lot of Peter Chung, which isn't great because I really don't like Peter Chung's art style: too stretchy and ridiculous. Lots of muscles on muscles moving and veins and random sweat and eyeball shots. Which is contrasted with the rather spare attention given to human movement and expression in this show. There are a lot of scenes at the Mikamura dining table, where no one save Akira and Taro ever eat anything, and everyone sits rigidly straight in their chair having rather detached and disturbing conversations with each other. You could call this the "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" room for how it features a ridiculously large version of "The Last Supper" on a wall behind them, with the ridiculously straight-backed emotionless family 'eating' together. PMMM frequently featured background imagery that sort of looked like it was added with crayon or paint, versus the more fluid animation of the story itself. That's really all I got out of the sequences between all the awkwardness.

The art quality really deteriorates around episode 5, when regular humans turn into blobby squares or rectangles with ridiculously long torsos and wonky heads, and the art only sort of improves around episode 9. I know all shows reuse animation to save money and time, but this one had a lot of issues with it, particularly when most of the reused bits had big errors in them, either from physics or logic or both. There's one they reuse a lot, where Ryo is driving his car. The 'camera' is located where the wheel is coming out of the dash, staring upward at Ryo, so you can see his hands on the wheel. From that angle, he's driving with his palms facing the dash, and his fingertips resting on the wheel. When the 'camera' switches to be near the shoulder of the passenger seat, looking towards the windshield, Ryo's hands have moved up, and he's holding the wheel more 'normally', with his palms facing towards his stomach. But then the camera frequently switches back to the underwheel shot, and his hands have moved again. It's a very wonky thing that shows up two or three times, but first shows up in episode 1 and/or 2.

That giant "Last Supper" reproduction should have been foreshadowing for the rest of the 'story', with heavy-handed metaphors for everything. Perhaps the most hilarious product of this, even moreso than the ridiculous "Last Supper" painting, is when Ryo literally pulls out a Christian Bible for no reason and starts reading from it. And then heads for Peru to dig up something. What, we never find out. Doesn't matter. I do wonder what happened to all the other religions. Why does everyone think Christianity will save them? Other religions talk about devils and evil, and this IS Japan. Where are the Shinto priests? The Buddhists? I wouldn't be surprised that they ignore other religions, since this is Japancentric, even with the frequent references to the US, but at least pull those into the mix. If this is just a story about "what if Christianity was the dominant/only religion and the stuff in its mythology was true", sure, but it's hardly enjoyable to watch.

The rap is random, overly drawn out, and by and large bad, which is pretty sad because Japan has some really great rap artists. Lost opportunity there. The only moment this really works is when the one guy raps at Miko, at least at the beginning of it. About 3/4s of even THAT moment were pretty ridiculous.

The only character I cared about was Miko. She had the only real character development in the story up until episode 9, when Akira actually started developing his own character arc and the mini rapper group started going somewhere in episode 8. Miko has a backstory and character development, and her story is really tragic. Unfortunately the showrunners apparently couldn't decide whether they wanted the audience to care about her story, be alarmed at the way adults can take advantage of desperate minors, or just fap to masturbation and boobs. Also, for a show that features a lot of track team race time, and with at least one person on staff who understands how a sports bra works at one time in the show, every time they had that repeated track of Miko's basketball boobs running was just so strange.

Also, for a show that seemingly wants to only showcase how evil humans are or can be, they have a very limited understanding of evil. You have sexual assault, pedophilia, sexual harassment, child pornography, massacres of indigenous peoples, racism, racial profiling, mob violence, drug usage... and that's about it. And it's really minimized for a focus on how sex (or at least boobs) is a hallmark of devils/evil. I'm not sure if it's a ham-fisted parody of how Christianity demonizes women or what, but it's... it's not great. It's boring, if nothing else.

There is no overall message here, other than that humans can be really screwed up and nuclear warfare is very likely and quite scary (and female sexuality is so scary, and gay/lesbian love always leads to death - like seriously, how "original"/end sarcasm). Akira is not a savior. As far as I can tell, this series better follows the manga than older anime adaptations did, at least overall plot-wise, which may make "Devilman" fans happy.

Honestly, if you want to watch something that sort of looks like a drug trip that isn't almost always in the dark, watch "Gankutsuou". That has story and the art is nice. If you're not a "Devilman" fan, I'd suggest passing on this one. It's just not worth the time, although it's thankfully relatively short.

English version

Quite disappointing and more if you saw the manga but as a single adaptation also has consistency problems the script of the series.

Story .. 4/10
90% original and 10% manga This would not be a problem if the script of this would have been good as an adaptation, but if we add that they rewrote the relationship that Ryo and Akira have, making it dull and without the explosive dynamics that both had and with the double of Yaoi bait of the one who had in the manga, the excessive amounts of unnecessary sex when it is only functional and required for the Sabatt (This ... already looks like Devil Lady), the secondary characters have an unnatural development of motivations after they have become devilman and are inconsistent in their personalities and what they proposed first to what they end up being, from then on it seems a fanfic of what the original devilman was.

Art. 6/10
Yuasa has failed me, this time the direction has not taken a course as creative as in his previous works and even feels uninspired, it is only functional

Sound 7/10
The electronic style is quite good to Devilman's soundtrack but it is not always and I would like to comment that the music of the opening is bad.

Character..5 / 10
As I said above, they rewrote a lot of the characters and making their characters quite flat and especially in Ryo, Miki and Akira are the most rescatable cast, the other secondary devilman who joined the story in the second half are forgettable and a weight dead to the plot of what their motivations are.

Enjoyment .. 6/10
I liked the series but they took away everything that made Devilman shine in the beginning, he has enough good moments in the series but it does not take away his problems that are loaded

Overall 5/10
Mediocre and quite disappointing coming from Yuasa in charge of this project

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Version en Español

Bastante decepcionante y mas si viste el manga pero como adaptación sola también tiene problemas de consistencia el guion de la serie.

Story.. 4/10
90% original y 10% manga Esto no seria un problema si el guion de este hubiera sido bueno como adaptación, pero si sumamos que reescribieron la relación que tiene Ryo y Akira volviendola sosa y sin la dinámica tan explosiva que tenían ambos y con el doble de Yaoi bait del que tenia en el manga, las excesivas cantidades de sexo innecesario cuando únicamente es funcional y requerido para el Sabatt (Esto ya parece Devil Lady), los personajes secundarios tienen un desarrollo antinatural de motivaciones luego de haberse convertido en devilman y son inconsistentes en sus personalidades y lo que se proponían primero a lo que después terminan siendo, de ahí en mas parece un fanfic de lo que el original devilman era.

Art. 6/10
Yuasa me ha fallado, esta vez la dirección no ha tomado un curso tan creativo como en sus trabajos anteriores e incluso se siente poco inspirado, solo es funcional

Sound 7/10
El estilo electrónico le quedo bastante bien al soundtrack de devilman pero no queda siempre y de paso me gustaría comentar que la música del opening es mala.

Character..5/10
Como había dicho arriba, reescribieron mucho de los personajes y volviendo sus personajes bastante planos y sobretodo en Ryo, Miki y Akira son lo mas rescatable del cast, los otros devilman secundarios que se unieron a la historia en la segunda mitad son olvidables y un peso muerto para la trama de lo que sus motivaciones son.

Enjoyment.. 6/10
Me gusto la serie pero le quitaron todo lo que hacia brillar a devilman en un principio, tiene bastantes momentos buenos la serie pero no quita sus problemas que se carga

Overall. 5/10
Mediocre y es bastante decepcionante viniendo de Yuasa encargado de este proyecto

A wild Masaaki Yuasa appears! Yuasa uses adaptation of a classic! It’s super effective!


Where to begin. As many of you know Masaaki Yuasa is one of the current leading anime directors. Always pushing boundaries wherever he can. His previous works have all been pretty spectacular, so when I’ve heard about him adapting Devilman, a classic 70s manga that shaped the manga industry as a whole and inspired numerous artists, I was pretty excited. And now after watching the series I must say that the hype is well deserved.


First of all Devilman itself is far from flawless. The series is pretty dated, the humour is ... awkward to say the least, the characters are mostly bland and the story itself is filled with ridiculous plot devices and asspulls up the…well ass. So I was hoping that Yuasa is gonna “fix” the flaws of Devilman and modernize it. And he did it. The story’s core message and plot stays mostly the same. We get some new characters and some new twists here and there. The story indeed is modernized but it’s done naturally. There are some iffy moments here and there, some plot holes and out of nowhere stuff but nothing major.


Biggest positive about this adaptation is added depth to its characters. The manga’s characters were shallow, at times almost caricatures. Crybaby gives everybody several layers. Even Miki who in the original was sort of a “thing” for Akira to protect/depend upon works on her own well here. No awkward “you’re making me horny” phrases and no creepy chuckling. This in return adds a lot of emotional resonance between you and the cast. The manga left me mostly cold, but the anime moved me in a ways I was not expecting.


The biggest negative is sadly it’s pacing. Yuasa works fast and story needs to keep moving, plus the manga itself was very fast paced (especially towards the end), but Crybaby has very strange pacing issues. It stays still at times when characters are having important moments but blitzes through important battles and some important plot points. This could very well be intentional so I am not gonna knock it until I’ll re watch it to determine if it was indeed intentional.


The production is obviously godlike, if this is what Yuasa with good budget is, I want more. Animation is more on model so this is probably Yuasa at his normiest. But that hardly takes away from the fact that the CGI is virtually undetectable and very well blended. The colours serve purpose as always and dictate the tone and mood of the scenes well without being too overpowering. Yuasa also somehow gets even better at directing. Camera work in the early episodes feels very real and the movements add to the overall message that the scene dictates. The music is great (Kensuke Ushio can have my babies) from hard synths to organs. I was expecting rock/metal style of soundtrack but I am not mad at all. Oh and there’s some rapping. And it’s great!


And now for my final point…the 18+ stuff. Yes there is extreme gore. Yes there is nudity and sex. And I love it. But some people might not, so beware! There are guts flying everywhere, people getting their heads blown off and there are nips, asses and even 1 uncensored female crotch shot. But this stuff doesn’t serve purpose of being there just as fan service. It works together with the story and builds characterization and themes. Plus there are some pretty drastic scenes. Definitely not for the faint-hearted. If you are one of those people, avoid Devilman Crybaby at all costs!


Ps. for Yuasa - Boy if you don't chill with all the meta jokes

This will be my first review ever so i hope i can do this right :)

As a big Devilman fan, having read tons of manga, spinoffs, watching OVAs etc. I was waiting for a true adaptation of the manga. One that captures everything that the manga expresses.
And i have to say, i have never seen an adaptation of a manga more true than this one.
You have to think about the fact that this is an adaptation of a manga that was created back in 1973. So of course it can't be depicted exactly the same as in the manga.
Note: Please be aware that this ... Anime contains a lot of graphic content (blood, gore, sex ... a lot)

Story 9/10:
I don't even want to go too much into the story, because you get the gist by reading the synopsis. It's nothing too special but build up in a fantastic way with, in my opinion, a perfect ending.

Art 10/10:
If you liked "Ping Pong the Animation" or "Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei" then this anime will be the perfect treat for you, at least visually.
It uses a special artstyle that is kinda weird to look at first, but you get used to it very fast. It fits perfectly and is a good replacement of the old artstyle of the Devilman Manga.

Sound 10/10:
Sometimes theres music in animes you don't even notice and sometimes there is music in animes that hits you in the right spots. This is the latter. Kensuke Ushio did an amazing job capturing the right emotions and feelings with his music in the right time.

Character 9/10:
They did something here that i didn't expect, but it worked out perfectly.
They replaced some characters and gave them kinda new personalities, without changing the plot or the relationships between the main characters.
They made it much more modern. That is a good thing and made the story much more enjoyable.

Enjoyment 10/10:
I had so much fun watching this anime, even though i knew all the plottwists and everything, because Masaaki Yuasa just knows exactly what he had to do to revive the spirit of the Manga. There was no boring episodes or developements etc.. I was fully absorbed in the world of Devilman.

I can fully recommend this anime. It was finally a true adaptation and made me so happy :)
I hope i could help and wish you guys a lot of fun :)

Overly reliant on sexuality and violence instead of focusing on the potential development of it's characters. These elements play an important part to the story as a whole, but felt that the explicit nature was unnecessary; especially for how much screen time they take in these ten episodes. There was also potential for side characters to feel more important, but never felt enough attention to their personal drama to build a sense of connection. The animation is different, but that's not a bad thing as it is of a high quality and rather impressive. The second half is an improvement over ... the first half, but the tonality of the show had already made it's impression and heavily impacted my ability to enjoy the show.

The (nearly) perfect adaptation.

This show is a love letter to Devilman, covered in blood and semen and delivered wrapped around a brick though someone's skull.

Reminiscent of the crudest of 90's OVA, half-way between a brutal gore-flick and pornography, Crybaby revels with self-indulgent ecstasy in the smut and violence of the original, ramping it up even higher, with brilliant production quality and several good reasons for its inclusion it is a feast for the eyes where tender introspection and character moments come between the most extreme abuses of the human form and this series' invention of the airborne-murder-rape.

It is hence in spirit extremely faithful to ... the original, it updates heavily in setting, elaborates on some ideas, includes new characters, cuts some bits out and overall is a much more focused piece, and were it not for the last episode, it would have been the perfect adaptation, anything I could have ever wanted, but alas, while even that episode is a thrilling and interesting one, it makes, with slight deviations from the manga, the only few changes that actually hurt it in comparison, and this is alteration of some of the final conversations, which undercut much of the show up to that point.

But aside from that one little blunder, it's nearly sheer perfection, it's pace is fast, it's gripping beyond belief(I have watched the entire series back to back while drooling and laughing maniacally) and overall one of the single most pleasant experiences I have had with any work of cinema.

Adapting an overly violent and virtually anachronistic work is a bold stance. Built upon an antiwar theme and cemented by the novelty of both shock and schlock value, Devilman managed to gain its classic status in a notorious but comprehensible manner.

Crybaby aims to update said elements, to remain faithful to the original as well as to make the proper additions that would make the story more compelling and interesting for broader audiences. It tries with a simple, cartoonish artwork and multiple visual gimmicks to compensate for what ultimately looks like a pretty tight budget. Which could also be related to the logistical constraint of ... releasing all the episodes at once or having screened two other movies (the studio) just the year before. Whatever the reason is, the visual department being distressingly plain can’t be attributed to a matter of style, particularly when it doesn’t match with the severity of the events it portrays. It arguably works in its favor for the first half, but certainly not for the last.

One of the main criticisms this show is receiving is related to the explicit content. Make no mistake, it is inherent to the story and these series. But what is most important to approach is the purpose of all this content. Is it really justified or makes up for its presence for more than just the sake of being different and refreshing altogether?

Most like many other Yuasa’s stories and adaptations, there is a clear inflection point towards the middle, in this case marking the transition between the diverse subplots that surface during the first episodes and the mass hysteria that follows the revelation of the demons’ existence. What follows is a hackneyed depiction of distrust in human nature, a self-flagellation of sorts that cannot avoid the triteness of the subject. It is probably a tale that requires the utmost sobriety, while the new retelling just adds an additional layer of wackiness (and rapping) instead. With the transition between these two parts being rendered in an absurdist fashion.

Which brings the next principal issue: Humanity and by extension all the characters of this series are mere caricatures. The show attempts to defy the amazing simplicity of the two-dimensional theme it presents by affording the main cast with a recurring background that truly backfired by infesting the last run of episodes with jarring mood shifts that made the already grotesque imagery harder to digest.

Visually uninspiring and sloppy, thematically basic and spoon-feed as well as devoid of any compelling characters, Devilman Crybaby is completely dependent on the viewer’s prior expectations and their response to the always unexpected presence of blood and sex, an appeal that seemingly never ages.

Warning: Big boy words are used in this review, so if you can't handle mature language, go watch Clannad or something

People need to understand that sex, violence, death and other similar content is very prevalent in this show and for good reason.

Devilman: Crybaby depicts what would happen if humans ever had to face a more powerful species; we'd get fucked! The human race has a lot of dark themes hidden from the public eye: drug abuse, group sex, stabbings, murder, etc. and the fact that this show doesn't shy away from this is certainly commendable. It has been a long time since an anime has ... had the balls to push the envelope this far, yet never entirely promote satanic affairs like in other previous anime. It's refreshing for a guy like me who wants more adult cartoons that aren't comedy crapfest to see a show that rids itself of PC culture to tell a powerful story that will affect anyone that chooses to watch.

Not to say the anime is great in every way. The sound is unremarkable, the pacing is erratic and Yuasa still shows his incompetency to design actual human beings, but this is a step in the right direction. Overall I recommend Devilman Crybaby.

Devilman: Crybaby is the first show to be completely released this year, due primarily to Netflix's all-at-once method. It aired in the Winter season of 2018 and has 10 episodes. It's a complete adaptation (read: adaptation, not 1:1) of Go Nagai's 1972 Devilman manga. The premise is about a man who becomes possessed by a devil while keeping control of himself in order to fight the growing demon menace that is threatening mankind. Devilman first became popular because it was the first manga at the time to be so violent and graphic, with lots of sexual content. The anime adaptation changes a lot from the ... manga to the point that only the core plot points are similar. The director, Masaaki Yuasa, has been known for his unique directing style and made great use of it once again in this show.

Quality

It would not be possible to talk about Crybaby without mentioning how it changed so much from the manga. There is a lot of modernisation, like the use of cameras, smartphones, social media, etc. This was similar to how Parasyte, set in the 80s, was transformed into a mid 10s setting. The best part of the modernisation is that the bland tough guys from the manga become a rap gang who are quite impressive at their art. The most noticeable changes, other than the character designs, are that the show has a lot of track racing. This acted as a way to characterise Akira and Miki, of whom received little characterisation in the original manga. We are shown a bit more of Akira before he becomes Devilman, which was a significant improvement because the manga began with an infodump between Ryo and Akira. All of the relevant characters in Crybaby have some personality to be distinct, but their personalities can be described in one or two sentences.

The plot takes mostly the same turns as the original, but with the added track racing there is another level to develop the story. Most scenes regarding Miki are new, including the photoshoot related scenes, and they act to display degeneracy, of which comes tumbling down at the end. Considering how bland Miki was in the source material, all of these changes are welcome, but Miki is still not compelling. The manga liked to throw everything at you at once, but the anime takes a slower approach. A complaint people had about the adaptation was that it minimised the roles of some of the demon enemies, however, one of the characters they complain about was hardly relevant in the manga, and the other had changed scenes to increase the emotional impact. I have no complaints about any of the changes because they are logical and make the story and show better as a result. This is not to say the plot has no issues, because it has many significant ones. Crybaby seems to move at a very fast pace towards the end and doesn't take the necessary time to justify a lot of what happens. Many plot points were created for the sake of shocking the audience, which diminishes its value. Compared to the manga, however, this is still an improvement because it was also very rushed at the end and didn't take any time to justify what happened. The manga was bad schlock, the anime is alright schlock. Schlockfests like this are uncommon, and what we usually get is poorly produced.

Since Crybaby is a Masaaki Yuasa work, it would be an insult to not praise his directing. The art style might seem weird and the running animation is positively goofy, yet this is all part of Yuasa's charm. Yuasa is clear with what he is conveying because he is a visual director. He gives information off with the slightly drugged up visuals rather than via infodumps ala the manga. His directorial changes led to a far greater payoff for certain scenes, and one particular scene with Miki's Christian father later on in the show that he made was one of the best moments of the show. Yuasa improves upon the original with this adaptation. The theme exploration is shakily done and this adaptation muddies the waters a bit more than the "War is evil", "Nukes will destroy the world", "Humans were evil all along". There are also a lot of Christian themes, most of which are well presented and none of which stoop to the level of Evangelion, which used religious imagery and symbolism because it looked cool instead of being substantial. The iconic ending has a neat concept behind it, but is very poorly executed due to the rushed plot.

Entertainment Factor

The main reason you should watch Devilman: Crybaby is for the entertainment. There's a lot of violence, a lot of R-rated sexual content, a great soundtrack, and fluid animation. The original Devilman became popular because it was the first manga to push the boundaries so much and become edgy. Crybaby acknowledges this and delivers even more sex and gore. Very schlock. Quite haram at points. Not recommended as a romantic show to watch with your wife because she'll probably hate it or start crying at all the gore and horror elements, but if you have some mates you want to spend a 4 hour night with, grab a six pack and enjoy the night.

Some people might take issues with Yuasa's art style or dopey animation, but I see that as part of the fun and a great reason to watch Devilman. I first became interested in this show because I saw Yuasa's name attached, and a lot of people became interested because it was part of the Devilman franchise. The plot is quite basic and the themes are messy, but for people who like Transformers, Fast and Furious and Evil Dead, this is a good pick.

Overall Message

The original Devilman slapped on a "War is bad, humans are bad" message onto an insubstantial story, but Crybaby attempts to weave the themes into the story a bit more than this. There's a moral dilemma late in the show with Miki's Christian father, but that is ultimately insignificant, although well done, in a sea of gratuitousness, violence and degeneracy. "Humans can be terrible" is a very juvenile outlook on humanity, one shared by edgy teenagers. Not to be taken seriously. "War is bad" is a more mainstream message but it's slapped on just like in the manga. Some collateral damage is shown, but the "humans are bad" idea gets in the way of the anti-war message by implicating humanity in crimes, degeneracy and slaughters. The ending tries to suggest that God will punish the evil in this world, but the show rushes through the ending sequence so much that it's hard to take any message seriously. Devilman Crybaby should be considered devoid of any meaningful message, despite the Christian undertones of some sort of Revelation/Noah's Ark.

Should you really watch Devilman: Crybaby?
No. No you should not.

I can't believe i live in a timeline, where this actually happened. Some crazy exces at Netflix threw a wad of cash to Yuasa, and asked him to do whatever he wanted, and in that, managed to adapt one of the seminal mangas, that inspired most major classic.

The influences of Devilman can not be understated, published in 1972, and later turned nto a water down tv anime, its been n inspiration on most modern authors.

from Hideki Ano, to Miura, every one of them have been touched by this story.

featuring what can ... only be described as the ultimate form of violence and bleakness, it looks to give an antiwar message, second to no other work of fiction.

Watch this, and you'll understand where Ano's mind was when he made End of Evangelion,
Its poetic, that Yuasa would then take all these classic works of animation, and would use them to fuel his own lysergic psycho sexual masterpiece.

10/10 watch and awe.

Spoilers ahead:

I try to be open minded about shows, and to understand why I do or don't like things and re-evaluate my opinions after to see if my mind changes.
However with Devilman Crybaby I wish I could just get the time I wasted back.

Artstyle:
The artstyle is all over the place, low quality and at times offputting.
Its a good example of the rest of the show really; messy and all over the place, bold and violent but overall just seems low budget fustercluck.

Story:
... Story progression is weak and has almost no depth.
I am all for the harsh sex, drugs, and violence. But this show seems to do it mindlessly for the sake of having it rather then making any discernible point.

From the offset the decline in humanity is a complete over exaggeration and all seems drastically unlinked to the existence of Devilman and the devils themselves.
It feels completely out of place and hints that there is more to what's going on but never delivers.

I kept waiting around for some payoff due to reviews and buzz online but I don't get it at all.
The senseless increase in violence and killing of the characters is a mess, building up right to the end where it appears that all that has happened is for nothing.
Making watching the past 10 episodes leave me with "why did I even watch that?".

Characters:
The main character Akira is a weak pathetic mess and his character progression is non existent. and the supporting cast and their motivations are all either exaggerated stereotypes, or just non existent.
The only character with any depth is Miki who is the most likeable thing in the whole show.
However the buildup to her being the last main supporting character to die senselessly is just another weak part of the show.
It seems that the build up to her death is supposed to be some deep catalyst to Akira finally going all out against Satan. But the show for me was killing its strongest role at this point. And from there I was completely pessimistic the end would deliver.

Final battle and ending:
I have no clue where to start here.
It is just a fast meaningless mess; there seems to be this hint to deeper topics, like rebirth, the violent tendencies of man, but no.
It kills all. Everything builds up to nothing we can recognise and that is where I have the biggest problem with this story. It makes everything that just happened pointless.
I wish I could get those hours back, I would give the show a zero if I could.

6.0/10

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Exploitation done right, Devilman: Crybaby is what I endlessly want the over-abundance of overly-pulpy overly-rediculous anime to be like. One of the only redeeming factors of Devilman, adapted by the venerable Masaaki Yuasa, is the astounding soundtrack. Everything else really doesn't shine as bright as I'd hoped, but what I got instead was a thoroughly unhealthy meal. A massive dollop of cheese mixed in with a hard-to-swallow cacophony and exploitation-era brutality that was endlessly easy to indulge in.

That's what a plethora of anime is missing. A medium which is often bathing in pulp, you'd expect these kinds of elements to really shine in many ... of the anime of this nature. However, leave it to the America-based company, Netflix, to do what I wish a lot of anime had the uncensored cojones to do. Indulge in ludicrousness. In the spirit of the 70s, Devilman really just is. It isn't a specific thing, either, it just is. Period.

With Yuasa-infused visuals lies a barrage of sex, violence, and rock and roll, or should I say synth-electronic dubstep-esq fusion. Quintessential marks of a long-gone era when the censors in Japan seemed lighter and the possibilities seemed tainted in grimdark nihilism. With sexualization that is as exploitatively hilarious as it is absurdly indulgent, you would never expect to see something like this in an anime nowadays. In fact, you'd be hard-pressed to find any nudity in television anime that isn't confined to the expensive blue-rays, and even then the nudity is often there for titillation and pandering fanservice. Censorship is a bitch, and if I were to praise Netflix for anything it is their willingness to go raw. And raw do they go with Devilman.

Guts spray across walls and skulls get crushed and viscera flies across white floors. The squishing sound-effects ripped from soundboards that sound a decade old are present, as well, which is as welcome as it is fun. There is so much present in Devilman that I wish a series like, for example, Re:Zero would have indulged in. A series that I heavily criticized for its blatant cornball storyline with an emphasis on death without the masochistic eye needed to make that kind of cheesiness engaging. Yuasa, with the backing of the uncensored Netflix, proves that the pulp that I often can't stand in anime can be put to good use. Every silly event piles onto the next, becoming a project that is messy in every regard, both in storytelling, characters, blood, and even seminal fluid on more than one occasion. And if anything, it's fun.

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[The Meat]

Not everything is twitching fingers and rolling intestines, though, as Devilman's absurdity doesn't stop with its exploitation-era-esq violence and sex. The story is utter and complete nonsense. That may be unfair. It is comprehensible if you try to look past the total and complete inanities and lack of anything resembling verisimilitude, but that doesn't mean it is even remotely palatable. I found myself scratching my head as much as I found myself groaning at how utterly haphazardly everything seems to be laid in place.

Character motivations struggle to mean anything. Hell, no character even has remotely realistic reactions to any situation. If their family dies, they may cry about it for a moment only to move on the next. Only to have another character break down in a prolonged sequence of tears at the death of someone else. Things often don't make sense, or at least lack any cohesion between written characters. This messiness drifts towards the pacing, as well. When I say pacing I use that term lightly. There is not pacing that I can see. The entire series is confusing. Some scenes drag endlessly to end up with no reward, other scenes simply slide by in a few moments yet end up playing a big role in the series.

Characters are introduced that lead you to believe they'll be important figures within the series arc, however, their episodes of introduction end in an ultimately minor role that does virtually nothing to move the story ahead. The last four episodes of the series are truly off-the-rails and can be classified as "so bad it's hilarious," but that's positive in its own right. I watched Devilman : Crybaby with my friends and we had a blast laughing at the multiple moments of really, really bad phonetic English reading from Japanese voice actors. Then, to our surprise, actual, legitimate Russian voice acting. The lack of any cohesion is seriously baffling and astounding at the same time.

There is a fairly large cast in this short, ten-episode anime and they end up somewhat blending into one another. This is due to the lack of characterization of a lot of characters. Deaths mean virtually nothing when everyone is expendable and no one is remotely fleshed out enough to be someone I saw myself becoming attached to. I do like the fact that Devilman didn't shy away from the nihilistic character-death. I found myself happy that these banal characters got fittingly violent ends, however, I feel like that isn't the response this series wanted to enchant me with.

My enjoyment stemmed from this unbelievable pulp more so than it did a compelling narrative, characters, or anything of that nature. Instead, a character I believe we were meant to like gets brutally murdered and yet I can't help but laugh because it is so over-the-top in every sense of the word. You know what? I'm not complaining. This grimdark edge-fest is fine as it is as a product of its time, and seemingly faithfully adapted from the original manga which, from what I've seen, was quite controversial for its time.

Which is why I can't help but applaud the audacious efforts of the series even if I can't necessarily enjoy all of them. Don't get me wrong, the absurdity in every episode got great laughs from me. The ridiculous moments are fully enjoyable. However, the show isn't anything but a collection of ludicrous moments highlighted by a signature art style from a great director. Everything else, apart from the previously mentioned amazing soundtrack, is virtually non-existent or honestly, bad.

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[Conclusion]

To keep this short, Devilman isn't good or anything I expected it to be. From a name like Masaaki Yuasa, I expected something less pulpy and stupid and more intense, exhilarating, and well-realized. Yuasa, after all, has made my favourite anime series ever, Tatami Galaxy. His style here isn't anything impressive, in my opinion. While certain sequences certainly look spectacular, they all pale in comparison to something like Tatami Galaxy's incredibly well-realized directing. I find that his style simply may not fit the product, or at least didn't feel naturally placed within a story like this.

The majority of the action scenes are either under-animated, silly, both, or just flat-out too dark, as in, lighting wise, making everything a chore to see or experience viscerally. If it weren't for how the series' reminds me of 70s and early 80s exploitation flicks I wouldn't be praising the positives as much. It has an almost refreshing amount of sex in it when compared to Japan-airing anime, where nudity is non-existent and sexuality is often childish or perverse. This, while far from mature, is at least so hyper-indulgent that it becomes entertaining. The sexual content here is just laughable, yet entertaining because of that. The same can be said for the brutally charming gore, as well, which doesn't always translate to compelling action, unfortunately.

The story and characters are the series at its lowest. While the story is at least somewhat entertaining due to its absurdity, the characters are far from fleshed out enough to be anything but walking cutouts, and while I'm sure it is different than in the manga in some ways, I can't say that the manga's approach, whatever it may have been, equal or not, matters to me in context of reviewing this series as it is. As it is, Devilman : Crybaby is is a completely entertaining mess that I'll gladly recommend to fans of heavy pulp and violence, which I feel should coexist with one another more frequently in the sterile, safe landscape of modern anime television.

DEVILMAN crybaby is a brutal and brilliant masterpiece from Yuasa Masaaki, a visionary director who has worked an absolute miracle in this adaptation of Go Nagai's enduring series.

Here is an anime that is so boldly, exuberantly and gloriously itself that it holds nothing back and takes no prisoners. We become happy, eager victims of what becomes one of the most simultaneously celebratory and gut-wrenching experiences ever animated.

Full of blood, sex and violence, this isn't a series for the easily perturbed. From its first sincere and sadistic minutes, you'll know if you can stomach the rest of it. The entire breadth of this series will ... leave you feeling utterly wretched. Its deceptively simple story is painted with masterful strokes by Yuasa, who directs with such vibrancy and life, it's downright inspiring. If you're familiar with Mind Game, Kemonozume and Kaiba, DEVILMAN crybaby will feel especially familiar.

So vagueness and adulation aside, what's this series?

The short of it is that timid, optimistic, crybaby high-schooler Akira becomes a Devilman -- a half-human, half-demon hybrid that has a voracious appetite for food, women and fighting. Akira undergoes the typical power fantasy transformation of the mild-mannered loser who becomes attractive, bold and strong. But he's still a crybaby, after all is said and done. What lives inside him is a strong sense of wanting to do good, despite battling not only demons, but also his own newfound impulses and urges. There's of course that clear irony of a devil teaching others about love, sacrifice and humanity. But that's the type of show DEVILMAN crybaby is -- it takes all our assumptions and pounds them into dust.

The rest of the characters consist of Akira's best friend and resident sociopath, Ryo, and the sweet-tempered girl-next-door (well, they live in the same house), Miki. The remainder of cast is peppered with excellent and memorable supporting characters, including the pitiable Miko, and my favourite, Wamu, the leader of a group of Japanese rappers who act and serve as a Greek chorus, narrating the events of the series through their freestyling.

This hardly registers as a complaint, but if there was one notable shortcoming of this series is its breakneck pace. We hardly have time to breathe as it lunges forward through its story and character development. This works most of the time and it doesn't hurt the anime in any meaningful way. The creators trust us to figure things out and not have the obvious spelled out for us. For instance, Akira embraces his newfound power instantaneously -- his musings about his existence as a hybrid come later. And perhaps this was the intention. There's no time wasting here. Every second has a point. However, I can't help but imagine some of the emotional sucker punches that could have been had they spent a few more minutes expanding a story thread or a character arc.

As for the technical aspects, this anime is a wondrous assault on the senses. The animation and art style are superb, but of course, if you're familiar with Yuasa's work, you can freeze frame on certain moments and find some woefully and hilariously bad work. I consider it charming at this point and a marker that yeah, this is surely something he's had a hand in. The music utilises synth and it pulses, beating like a electric heart in time with the action on screen.

This is the type of anime that comes rarely -- one made with vision, purpose and meaning, and not churned out as a seasonal filler meant to sate the black hole of empty consumption that is the industry at present.

DEVILMAN crybaby is that desperate gulp of air a drowning soul craves.

This is the first anime that compelled me to register on this website and write a review. I've always browsed through the recommendations list looking for the next anime series to watch. Devilman Crybaby was recommended to me through MAL and obviously Netflix so I started reading the reviews here before I bother watching it. Some people really loved this series while others were critical and honestly after reading the critical reviews I thought they were haters. So I went ahead and watched Devilman Crybaby anyway and I can't believe how spot on those critical reviews were. There really is no story. You only get ... to find out about the full story IN THE LAST EPISODE. The characters are all over the place with their personalities and I didn't understand the motive behind any of their actions.

Here are a few questions that are never answered or addressed in the anime. After the massacre in the nightclub, why is the club still open? Why are people still going to the nightclub after knowing that there was a massacre there? Are people really that desperate to become Demons that they're willing to risk being eaten alive by Demons? Let's assume that Akira is special and became a Devilman on his first try, why is he special? Because he wanted to save his friend Ryo? That's it? Why is Akira so oblivious to the fact that Ryo doesn't like human beings? Does Akira really not know that Ryo aims for humanity's destruction after all these years of being together? They've known each other since childhood and Akira is in disbelief that Ryo isn't a big fan of human beings? None of this makes any sense and the characters are all over the place. They all seem to switch personalities and judgement just to keep the story going.

If this is your first time watching an anime that depicts humans in their evil ways then you must be either really young or super sheltered. Yes, humans can be evil and do terrible things. This anime didn't expand on anything aside from the fact that humans are vulnerable and can be exploited through their impulsiveness, fear of the unfamiliar (in this case demons), sexual desires, and terrible judgement. The animation was really lazy as well and it looked like Masaaki Yuasa animated this series in his spare time.

I'm sorry for the fanboys that really like this series but you can't be blinded to criticism. There's a lot of things in this anime to criticize and if you don't acknowledge them then this community is being very childish.