Review of Devilman: Crybaby

(Includes Spoilers and Biblical background) That’s an interesting thought: that the devil finally learned what it meant to care for something other than himself. In biblical lore, Satan was once Lucifer, the greatest and most powerful of God’s angels. Lucifer saw God’s creation, and assumed he could do better. Thus, Lucifer rebelled against God, and God cast Lucifer out of Heaven. In short, Lucifer never cared about God’s creation. Lucifer never understood the point of humanity, and always believed that his way was always better. His indifference led him to constantly destroy humanity, because he was twisting and warping humanity away from what they aresupposed to be: a pure reflection of God himself, an expression of the Creator’s ability to create. Because Lucifer saw himself as more powerful than his creator, he always believed humanity inferior and in need of “his way”.

However... God cared about Lucifer. The devil exists, because God loves ALL his creation, even the very embodiment of evil itself. So God gives Lucifer all the resets and all the chances to understand what exactly is so amazing about God’s creation, because God wants Lucifer to understand. Because God cares, and wants Lucifer to care as well.

God doesn’t want to force Lucifer; love never forces the object of love to be something it isn’t. If a lover forces their beloved to be something other than who they are, then the beloved becomes something else, and is no longer the beloved. So of course God would never force Lucifer, whom God loves, to be anything other than whom Lucifer is: his most powerful angel, fallen to arrogance and pride.

That makes Akira the culmination of God’s plan: for Lucifer to finally understand why God made humanity, and what was special about them.

What makes God’s creation special is their capacity to love, and to allow that love to transcend all the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual trauma that the entire universe could possibly throw at them. God’s creation cares about EVERYONE, regardless of their worth or their morality. God’s creation cares about everyone, and wants everyone to progress, wants everyone to succeed in spite of all the garbage and terror and trauma life throws at them.

At the end of Devilman Crybaby... the devil finally gave a shit about humanity as they are, and finally understood what it means to care about someone other than himself. He finally understood.

Overall i would love to give it a 10/10 but it is just lacking in some places. If it was revised and brushed up more it would be a 10 for sure but at its current state i will be giving it a 9.