Review of Devilman: Crybaby

An anime that could easily be dismissed as hyper-sexual, hyper-violent, juvenile slop after the first few episodes, Devilman Crybaby is far more profound and mature than initially meets the eye. The hyper-sexuality and violence continue throughout the anime, and this is undoubtedly an anime aimed at a mature audience, but make no mistake about it- this is a textbook example of anime as an art form. It is, at its core, a social commentary. Delving deep into themes like xenophobia, the cruel and weak aspects of human nature, fear, mass hysteria, humankind's dependence on faith and religion and the inability of humankind to calmly or rationallyrespond to things they do not understand, Devliman Crybaby's content is often quite dark and it doesn't pull punches with its graphic depictions of the aforementioned subject matter.

Based on that description and everything else you've read about this anime, you should have a pretty good idea as to whether or not this is for you. It's not the kind of anime I'd recommend to a general audience, and while I rarely give warnings regarding subject matter and I think in general young people can handle more than they are given credit for, this one really is an anime that should probably only be watched by those who are 18+.

If you think this might be your cup of tea, while it isn't perfect and one could nitpick things such as sometimes bare-bones writing, a somewhat rushed ending and an overall episode count perhaps two or three below where it arguably should have been, there's a high quality, well thought out, genuinely profound piece of art to be found here. I liked it more and more as it went on and ended up quite satisfied and I suspect you will be too.

OBJECTIVE RATING- 8-8.5
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 8.5