Review of Devilman: Crybaby

Not only was this anime not good, it was actively bad. It was so bad that I am now writing my first review on this website. As I watched Devilman Crybaby I was genuinely intrigued less by its art-style or story, but more by its character depiction and development. As the plot flew forward, my opinions of almost all of the characters were changed as some characters initially antagonistic became loyal and protective, while others initially loyal and protective fell into madness. This anime did an excellent job of developing so many side characters, from the gangsters who fall in with Miki, to Miki herselfand the rest of Akira's adoptive family, and I genuinely loved it. I think genuinely the best scene to epitomize this is the scene in which Noel teaches his son, Taro a story from the bible: "He who lives by the sword shall die by it."

Then I reached about the 8th episode, when all of this character building amounts to absolutely nothing. Every character who is not Ryu or Akira over the course of the last 3 episodes becomes irrelevant one way or another, and Akira, the character who has changed the least of all of the characters in the other anime since his transformation in the Devilman himself, becomes the primary focus of the show.

The ending and the last three episodes in general are an insult to the watcher. As all of the characters to whom we have grown attached (the aspects of the show that were actually enjoyable) leave the show's narrative to make room for the final showdown, they are replaced by needless, unforshadowed, senseless violence.

All of this culminates in a vague ending which borrows from Evangelion liberally (and ineffectively) in both format (with repeated flashbacks meant to be symbolic but somehow lacking both the subtlety and the weight of Evangelion's) as well as in image (an apocalyptic landscape characterized by unexplained spearlike objects made of light sticking out of the earth and a blood-red ocean, where have we seen this before? Not to mention a giant, white, barebreasted humanoid being center screen for 70% of the final episode.) All that was missing was the sudden cuts to shots of real life Tokyo to show how hard Devilman Crybaby was trying to fit the mold of the many great philosophical Anime that had come before it .

The only philosophy Devilman Crybaby manages to impart however, is that people who help one another and are peaceful and loving are weaker and will inevitably lose to the self-serving members of our society which (and I know this has little to do with the quality of the anime itself but I have to say it anyway) is something I refuse to believe.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing wrong with sex in anime, and I have nothing wrong with gore in anime, Mnemosyne is one of my favorite anime of all time, but Devilman Crybaby is nothing short of torture porn; 7 mediocre episodes of disappointing action and really truly good character-building, followed by 3 insulting episodes which are bordering on nonsensical and repulsive.

If you are looking for a mature anime which has its share of nudity and gore, with beautiful artwork and a compelling story, philosophical implications, and excellent action, go watch Mnemosyne, it provides everything that Devilman Crybaby tries to provide and does it infinitely better.

If you are looking for mindless sex and nudity, go watch a hentai, you'll be more satisfied.