Review of Devilman: Crybaby
Story 1/10 Art 3/10 Sound 3/10 Character 4/10 Enjoyment 5/10 Overall 4/10 Story: I don't know what to say about the many story failures, so instead here's an example: there's a scene where people are lining up to hug a 20 foot tall demon like he's the pope. They were shooting him 10 seconds ago. This is a joke, right? Nope!The story is skewed heavily in favor of human emotionalism rather than, you know, actual plot. What little plot exists was ripped mostly from the original Devilman series. They also tried to toss in elements from the Devilman mangas, OVAs, and even the live action movie. As a result characters will appear from nowhere and then die in spectacular fashion without us ever knowing who they were and why they existed.
Finally, apparently rappers are very important to the storyline. Yeah, I don't understand either.
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Art: They spent all of their budget on backdrops and still images. Meanwhile, the characters are walking caricatures. The main character inexplicably ends up looking like Mugen from Samurai Champloo. Oh, and the 1987 Devilman OVA is animated better. Enough said.
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Sound: The sound was passable at the beginning, but once the fighting starts, the studio skimped on unique samples and ambient sound. The black sabbath in particular was dry and uninspired. Heck, even the theme song was mediocre. The sound quality reminds me of an amateur web series.
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Character: The characters were surprisingly dynamic and heartfelt. Unfortunately the progression and emotion was undermined by absolutely horrendous pacing. There's too much content to fit in only 10 episodes. It's unfortunate since characterization was a strong point for this anime.
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Enjoyment: Devilman Crybaby compresses so much emotional baggage into 30 minutes that it feels like a montage of angst. If you start to enjoy a scene then the anime will almost unerringly rip you away with a timeskip. Worst of all, nearly all of the original story's symbolism has been stripped out and replaced with sex. I suppose if you like bloody sex a.k.a. guro then this anime is for you.
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Ruling: If you want to actually enjoy the Devilman series - please, look elsewhere.