Review of Devilman: Crybaby

Devilman Crybaby is... the weirdest anime-watching experience I've ever had. It's one of the most sexually and violently graphic anime I've seen and I had to force myself to wade through the first half of the series, but by the finale, my opinion of the show had taken a *complete* 180. And that's all I'm going to say here before I move on to the ratings. Story: 7 Devilman Crybaby has a BIG pacing problem. The studio tried to crunch a complex and compelling story into just 10 episodes, and it doesn't work well at all: the anime rushes through so much content it doesn't give youproper time to appreciate or absorb what's going on. The story moves in fits and starts, jumping suddenly and unexpectedly into new plot points without proper buildup or exposition, making the plot unable to flow smoothly and feels disjointed. Which is why as the story develops in an unexpected direction heading into the final episodes, all of it comes on way too suddenly. Without giving enough time to build up the tension and stakes, the story loses some of its strength.

Another problem with the story is the overload of violence and sexuality. Well, I could care less about the nudity and gore in every episode, that's not the issue. This anime's comfortableness with mature themes enhances its gritty tone and sense of harsh realism- but only to a certain point. After the show barges past that point, all the graphic stuff just feels weird. And gross. When an anime shows the MC having a wet dream and then waking up and seeing his cum drip off the ceiling, demons ripping people apart in gruesome detail, characters masturbating onscreen, and mobs stabbing and shooting innocent civilians to death, all for no real reason other than shock value, I feel like I have to draw a line of moral integrity somewhere.

But I'm glad I didn't quit watching. Because by the time Devilman Crybaby heads into its last 3 or 4 episodes, it gets amazing. This anime does away with plot armor completely, something that's incredibly refreshing and different from other anime. Many very important characters will die, and the anime handles their deaths really well. Not exploiting them for pure shock value, but actually allowing their deaths to add something meaningful to the story.
The ending is legitimately one of the best I've seen in any anime. Not only is it bitter and completely unexpected, it brings closure to the story in a beautiful and poetic way.

And it's not just the ending that's super good. The way Devilman Crybaby delivers its messages through the story is incredible as well. When Akira stood in front of a bunch of suspected demons being stoned to death at the stake by their own neighbors and let himself be hit instead to prove devilmen weren't evil, I was already like, "Hmm, this is pretty good." When the mob was actually moved by his deed and realized what they were doing was wrong, that really came as a surprise. Slowly but surely, Akira helped them regained their humanity. Civilians in anime are usually annoying idiots with no purpose in the story but to be an obstacle to the good guys. No matter how much the protagonist tries to get them to see the truth, they're horribly ignorant and refuse to change. But in Devilman Crybaby they're a lot more complex and realistic than that. The anime uses character depth for some genuinely emotional story beats, and not just in that scene I mentioned, but in many moments throughout the episodes.

Art: 8
Devilman Crybaby's artstyle reminds me a lot of Mob Psycho 100 Season 2. The art doesn't focus on detail, but more on artistic expression and fluidity. I love the use of color and movement to add weight to important scenes, but I'm not really a fan of the lack of detail. The anime's simplistic art style can sometimes make characters look too cartoony.

Sound: 6
One area in which Devilman sucks is its music. Most of the OSTs that play are generic and boring, and don't match whatever scenes they're played in. This really drains from the tension in any of the action scenes. There's one good song, Débilman no Uta, and the anime uses it just two times: as a song that plays on the radio in some random guy's car, and as a cellphone ringtone. It's a shame the studio wasted the song like that, I think it would've been better as the opening than the opening theme we got.
This is also probably a good place to complain about the bad English. While I like that they're sticking to realism by making the characters speak English in situations where they would in real life, like if they're American or speaking to an international audience, the Japanese VAs' English just isn't that good. It's hard to understand especially since there aren't subtitles for the English dialogue.

Character: 10
Devilman Crybaby shines in its characters. The level of depth every character and every character relationship is given in this anime is awesome. From Miki and her rival Miko, to Akira and his best friend Ryo, to random bystanders and enemies, Devilman Crybaby does a great job of fleshing out each character and developing them in unexpected ways.
I didn't like Akira near the beginning of the series. For the most part Akira was a generic anime protagonist, who starts out as a weak antisocial loser, then gets his powers and suddenly becomes handsome, edgy, and popular. It's not until the later half of the series that his devil side begins to shift to the side as his human self becomes more visible, and he becomes a much more likable and interesting character.
Ryo, Akira's best friend, was annoying. I hated how smug and psychopathic he always behaved. Let's just say that by the end of the anime my opinion of him changed a bit. One problem I do still have with his character is that his relationship with Akira isn't expanded on enough. The anime claims they're best buddies, as close as brothers, but we don't see that in the series. I wish Ryo and Akira actually had a couple of genuine moments together but instead all we get from the times they're together are Akira being bouncy and energetic while Ryo acts all smug talking about the next step of his plan or whatever.

Enjoyment: 8
Up until the 6th episode or so I didn't really like Devilman Crybaby. All the noisy demon sex, constant fanservice, and splashy gore just annoyed me more than anything. But after the anime gets past all the buildup and kicks into overdrive near the end of the series, things start to get interesting. If I rated the anime somewhere around episode 5 I would've given it a 6 at best, but the final few episodes completely changed my opinion of the series.

Overall: 8
While it has a lot of flaws, Devilman Crybaby succeeds at being a great anime in my book. From its captivating characters to its exciting story arc, it's something I'd definitely recommend to any mature anime fan.