Review of Devilman: Crybaby

(SPOILERS AHEAD BE AWARE) Devilman Crybaby is a disappointment at almost everything it tries even though it tries at a lot of things, this show constantly wants to make itself seem a lot smarter than it actually is making establishing shots that don't make much sense and are drenched in symbolism that kind of falls flat for me, mostly suffering from coming off either really heavy handed trying to make me feel more than I actually do or coming off as extremely cringe as the writers jack off to how smart they are especially with the final twist reveal at the end of the season (peoplewho have watched it will know) but to be honest the reveal falls flat once you notice that it's completely obvious in episode like 3

the show is pretty fucking ugly though to be honest the art style isn't really at fault because during certain shots and angles the show legitimately does look very nice at times however the shows art style gets bogged down by some terrible frames that have been very clearly thrown in without much care put into them shots tend to be pretty static mostly shifting from static frame to static frame and while amazing cinematography isn't necessary to tell a good story it would certainly help spice up the pretty static show overall

The Story is pretty hit or miss during certain sections and while the show never made me cry I did feel bad when bad things happened although I mostly attribute this to the score rather than the storytelling itself which at times goes too quickly making for an almost incomprehensible sequence of events all at once or spending time around doing nothing but looking at the B-Plot over 4 episodes just for the characters to die just before the ending to make you feel sad for characters you had no reason to care for up until then

things go generally unexplained in the moment leading to a lot of confusion when especially in the first and second episode when demons suddenly start appearing out of no where and start killing things and then the main characters a demon but not really he's special cause he has humanity and some demons do and some don't but there's not really a distinction between the 2 some just are and aren't and only really the main character and 1 side character know when someone is or isn't capable of such things they just kind of know

generally the soundtrack is the best part of the show and it's not really that close although I don't really have an attachment to it by any means, but as with all music it's pretty subjective but it generally fit the tone of the scene in question the opening and endings are bangers but I don't really find myself humming melody's or feeling like i came away with anything other than music for the moment I was sitting in my chair watching the scene where the music came in if that makes sense

while Devilman Crybaby is very ambitious in it's themes, art style, and story telling it generally falls flat in most places and if you're not a very critical viewer you'll find enjoyment in the show if you can get past the art style however for me personally there are too many issues in the story telling and general direction with the show and it's generally pretty poorly written although the conversational dialogue is fine, most of the overarching plot is weak at best with confusing portions only able to be explained with research which no viewer not invested wants to do.

4/10 try harder next time, see me after class, I'm not mad just disappointed, Netflix makes the worst anime.