Review of Devilman: Crybaby

It looks beautiful, the OST is remarkable in and of itself and these two things you can easily verify yourself with a quick google. However, the story is a complete mess. I'd argue it's still a fine anime if you like action, ultraviolence and sex, or just want to enjoy some top tier directing. The main character becomes a human-monster and he does change because of that, but his "what have I become?" moment is really tame and rather expeditiously dealt with. We don't know how he gets past it, but there's really no time because when his inner demons pop up the plot requires himto fight some more and brush over the problem. Being a "crybaby" may be linked to this. He's so empathetic that he cries the tears that others don't dare to, but this characteristic seems to only show up when it's dramatically convenient, rather than him actually being that considerate. Else he'd be torn by what is happening and take an active role in the story, rather than just reactive. Similarly, he can help others beat the devils that took over them, but there's no rhyme nor reason for why they can do that, he just tells them "you will become a devilman" (i.e. a man that controls the devil) and they do.

Humans are monsters and they go on massive witch hunts for devils once they become public knowledge. Everything devolves into random killing and world war for, really, no real reason, but it serves the plot and the forced drama. Some characters that were friendly for some time and seemed to fight against discrimination suddenly turn coats and go crazy too. It breaks the suspension of disbelief and that's when you don't care anymore, however in the case you don't notice the flaws this anime will appear to be the best and most dramatic thing you've ever seen.

There are some good parts, some good micro-stories that get played well and are consistent, mainly concerning humans who turn into devils and can't control their impulses and eat their friends only to wallow in pain and want to die later on.

There seems to be a group of organized smart demons that control things from the shadows but their origins are left unclear and rather quickly forgotten, this part lacks closure.

Ryo, the childhood friend who gets the main character in this whole mess is shrouded in mystery and acts completely inconsistently too. He's the main force that drives the plot so that makes things even worse.

SPOILER IN THIS PARAGRAPH
There's also some side story about some high school (or whatever grade they are in) colleagues trying to best each other and the "gambatte" (do your best, be the best) attitude is not a problem until it interferes with the death of an important character that in their last moment only have the thought of "passing the baton" to the main character (they are track both runners). I mean, when I die, I sure as hell won't think about who gets to inherit the code I've written.

So yeah, without getting into the actual ending, I'd say that the themes barely get explored, are contrived for the purpose of providing forced drama, and the characters are inconsistent too because they are subservient to this purpose as well.

Is Devilman Crybaby bad?
If you want something that doesn't insult one's intelligence, yeah, it's pretty bad. Still, there are parts which are genuinely awesome, but they are harder to notice, mostly micro-stories that hold some truth and feeling.
If you can get past the stupidity of the plot this anime is actually really worth it thanks to how amazing it is on an aesthetics level. This also means that you need to pay attention to the screen, watching this anime on a 2nd screen while doing something else is a complete waste of time and will ruin your experience.

I'm rather torn about what rating to give this anime, on one hand I want to give it a 10 for the amazing work the animators, director and sound people have done on it, on the other hand I want to give it a 1 for the plot. I expect that once the hype dies this anime will be rather polarizing. I hope that this review can shed better light on it.