Review of Devilman: Crybaby

“ The terrible watching experience was not worth the philosophical prompts. “ I walked into Devilman: Crybaby with somewhat high expectations but without any idea of what to actually expect from it. What I got was an incredibly eccentric, action-packed mini-series that somehow managed to simultaneously feel painstakingly dull and slow. Many people who rate this series commend it for how good it looks with its unique animation and use of colour. I agree to some extent, but MY GOD. For an anime with so much running involved, you would think the animators would at least try to make the running look A LITTLE BIT decent.All the sequences with running in them feel awkward and laughable (I literally laughed out loud the first time I saw Miki running). I genuinely think that the animators have never seen someone run in a sports bra; the boobs are just flying all over the place as if they aren’t being held back by anything at all and it is SO BAD. As for the use of colours, it’s really dynamic and I have nothing bad to say about it! The colours shine especially during the sex and gore-filled scenes, particularly near the beginning of the anime.

Ahh, yes. How could I possibly discuss Devilman: Crybaby without bringing up the ever-so-controversial sex and gore? Well, in my opinion, it fits. The show is about demons so, naturally, there is an emphasis on sinful behaviours such as gluttony, lust, wrath, and the like. Is it possible these things were a bit overstated? Well, yeah. As I’m not used to watching shows that are so graphic, and since I’m not a fan of gore in general, I was genuinely shocked by some of the outlandish scenes. But most times, those scenes served a purpose, and I don’t think that it’s valid to rate the show poorly because of how gaudy it is in terms of its visuals. After all, that’s what gives Devilman: Crybaby such a distinct style. However, this style does in no way compensate for how ugly I think this show is overall, but we’ll get to that later.

Another thing people often discuss about Devilman: Crybaby is the masterful philosophical and sociological commentary on humanity, thought-provoking themes, religious image patterns, and amazing metaphors that all come together for an interesting ending. This is all true. I love that I was prompted to think about what makes someone human and what humanity really is, and I love that the things I initially thought were pointless and weird were actually significant upon closer inspection. Despite that, though, my actual watching experience wasn’t really affected by these themes at all, despite the show being all up in your face about them. I acknowledge that it’s all very thought-provoking and the show has a clear message, but I only really had time to reflect on the concepts properly after I had finished Devilman: Crybaby.

This brings me to the part of the review where I discuss the aforementioned “actual watching experience”. This is where things get ugly. As I watched the show, I felt lots of different emotions. I was shocked, sure, but I was also bored, confused, and straight-up unimpressed at times. These are a few of the reasons why I think this show didn’t work for me:

1. Shitty characters are shitty
This is the thing that most bothers me about this show. Most of the characters in Devilman: Crybaby don’t even feel like actual people; they’re more like shells of characters with super rushed backstories and no significant development all-around. No, giving Miki one flashback that tells the audience “I look like a foreigner so I get bullied” is NOT the only thing you should be doing to develop characters. And no, just because Akira is an interesting character with a cool concept attached to him does NOT mean that he was developed at all throughout the entirety of ten episodes. We see nothing introspective from literally anyone, and nothing about any character changes despite all the changes occurring in the character's surroundings. Becoming a demon/devilman doesn’t fucking count as character development. Any character that isn’t too bad (like Miki or Miko, even) is literally just a trope that was given two seconds of “unique” backstory. None of the characters change too significantly throughout the show except for Miko, but she is such a boring and one-dimensional rival trope that the change is predictable and - for lack of a better word - bad.
Relationships between characters are either cheesy, rushed, nonsensical or awkward. You don’t get any decent insight as to why these characters even talk to each other, much less why some are friends and why some are rivals. Even if some are interesting at the start, every single character is static as hell and I cannot believe that people somehow manage to gloss over this.

2. It’s all pretty ugly
The characters, the movements, the backgrounds...every aspect of Devilman: Crybaby’s visuals look like a rough sketch. That can work for some shows, but this specific style does not appeal to me. Everything moves in exaggerated and wild ways that just don’t mix well with the overly simple designs. I will (again) commend the show for the use of colour, though. The direction/shot composition was also good for the most part.

3. Non-existent plot and super weird pacing
The plot was just...everywhere. It seems as though they put the themes first, established events to solidify them, and packed them all into ten episodes carelessly. There are some times where everything is happening so quickly that it’s hard to process, and other times where you’re trying not to fall asleep as you wait for something interesting to happen.
The ending is bittersweet and leaves room for thought (as most of this show does), but I didn’t get even a little emotional over it because - referring back to my first point - shitty characters are shitty.

4. Cliche themes/Only focusing on thematic development
All the themes are really cool or whatever but GOD are they cliche! The creators didn’t even try to make this show anything more than “we live in a society” and “humanity sucks”. Cliches can be done well, and being cliche is not always bad, but this show does not set a good example.
When society crumbles, it feels so unbelievably exaggerated because of how sudden and stereotypical it is. Everything is simply done to develop themes, without any thought as to why it would even be happening. There’s no logic. The rappers are definitely there for thematic development as well, but they just rap about sOciETy and the state of affairs at different points in the story, which is both shallow and pointless. When you think deeply about the themes and devices, they can become interesting, but as you’re watching it’s all just too obvious (yes, obvious...this will be explained in the next point) for me to care.

5. This show spat in my face and called me a dumbass
I felt like an idiot watching this. Not because the show was too smart for me, but because Devilman: Crybaby actually treated me (as a viewer) like a child that has to be spoon-fed the “complex” idea that good and evil exist. Sure, there was some nuance, but not nearly enough for the philosophically-driven show that this is. A perfect example of this is the contrast between Akira and Ryo. It isn’t even mildly discreet, so looking at the “black and white” thing they were trying to pull off just made me frustrated. We get it, the show is about good and evil and humanity.

6. Soundtrack
What even is this soundtrack? This is more of a personal opinion than an important aspect of my critique, but I just gotta say that the crazy electro beats are not my style. It makes sense for the show, what with everything being so “out there”, but it just wasn’t for me. The songs that weren't so techno were honestly forgettable, but not bad by any means.

Devilman: Crybaby has really amazing things working for it (colour, direction, theme), but these are far outweighed by the catastrophic nature of the things working against it (everything else). If you want something to be able to analyze after watching, this show might be for you. But for me, the terrible watching experience was not worth the philosophical prompts. The interesting parts of the show become more interesting the more you think about them, just as the bad parts of the show become worse the more I think about them. There is no way I would watch Devilman: Crybaby a second time, but the concepts and some of the scenes are fond memories that are good food for thought.