Review of Devilman: Crybaby

Recommend >> Yes. It's not stupidly long and it'll most likely take you one sitting to get through it anyways. Story >> Very Good The themes are presented well. A character arc or two is developed in an unfulfilling way, but it makes use of it's time and rarely ever feels like it drags. Art >>Very Good The weirdness of the art and animation style is wonderfully utilized in the most demonic of scenes, but sometimes it can be really distracting. Just that demon run cycle alone.Sound >>Good

There's a literal donkey sound for a scene that is so annoying, distracting, and pointless to me. This series has already shown how far it can go and it decides at this moment to wink at the viewer? It would've been better if it was just played straight or over the top like the rest of the series had been.

Outside of that the music is pretty good, I wouldn't call it great since I barely remember a lot of it while watching the series. The most memorable being the beatbox/Rap bits.

Character >>Decent

This is the biggest complaint that I see on the series and admittedly I can see why it would be. I, on the other hand, see the characterization as perfectly serviceable for this short, to the point series.

Some characters fall flat to an extent, such as Akria's willingness to put up with a bunch of bull crap from Ryo before doing much about it.

Miki M. is a well executed static character that serves as a perfect foil to the world around her.

Miki K. is a well executed dynamic character that works so well even in the meta-narritive especially with her unspoken rival, Miki.

Don't walk into this series expecting crazy complex characters with aspirations beyond: being a good guy, beating my rival in a race, ect. Don't expect the worst characters either.

Enjoyment >>Great

It's definitely a favorite for me. The ending is honestly what sealed the deal for me, it's unfortunate how there are others that are misreading those last 5 minutes. I believe it was a haunting and perfect end to something along the same tone as Devilman Crybaby.

Outside of the ending, the show was easy to binge and had a great chunk of stand out moments.

Overall/Other Thoughts>>Good

Speaking from someone who hasn't read the manga, seen the original OVAs, but has seen and heard mostly all of the spoilers in the series from reviews, I left with a very positive outlook on it.

I tend to be more conservative with blood, guts, and nudity but I guess since every youtube video I saw on the subject was talking about how extreme it was--I kinda expected little bit worse. So it more or less softened the blow for me, so I could actually focus on what was going on. Was it a bit much? Ehh, in ways it felt appropriate. These demons felt like literal demons, no holding back, real demons. So it works and becomes less of the focus as the series progresses.

Is it perfect? Not really, there was the mild issue of preachyness, but I found the more annoying preachyness coming from reviewers that tried too hard to make it political in a nonsensical way. Equating it to Trump just because there's a cameo, forgetting the fact that multiple series and movies have done the same for previous presidents such as Obama. The closest that I can equate it to politics is "the Red Scare," and even that's pretty loose since the basis around the Demon Vs Human issue is the question: "can humans become just as terrifying as a monster as any other demon?" You cannot equate demon=immigrant/discriminated class because ALL of the demons, including the Devilman, do horrific, unjustifiable, illegal things. Thus the logic stands to reason with that said, ALL immigrant/discriminated classes do horrific murderous things...but they can possibly, maybe, be decent sometimes. Which is blatantly false and creates negative implications unfairly brought on by the reviewers and nearly kept me from ever wanting to watch this series because of possible pandering to a specific group that would date a timeless story.

The characters may not be all that special, but the themes, art, and presentation are worth a look at.