Review of Devilman: Crybaby

Those who are weak die. That is a saying among villains and other less-than-desirable characters in many forms of entertainment. That is, until they are presented the error in their ways and are defeated once and for all. When it comes to Devilman Crybaby, the closest thing I can say while avoiding any spoilers is... not so fast. This review focuses solely on Devilman Crybaby. I have not seen any other Devilman titles. Devilman Crybaby is an interesting take on a complicated war between humans and demons. I can appreciate the fact that it takes a dramatic turn rather quickly, so it was easy toget hooked on the show early. The animation is certainly not good, but it is still passable and I eventually came to appreciate it. The music is great and stayed that way.

Ultimately what makes the show good is how it develops about halfway into the 10-episode series. On the surface it makes you think: Devils are bad. Guy becomes half-devil. Guy kills devils and wins. But it's nice to see that things actually get pretty complicated. The existence of devils shoves the entire planet into a hyper-intensified version of the red scare, where mass hysteria turns the entire population into Philadelphia Eagles fans. From this it became hard to identify what is right, and what motivates different groups at play. What made this enjoyable was there was no telling what was going to happen except a firm belief that it wasn't going to end well.

That being said, I think the story took too long to develop. The first and second halves feel like two completely different shows. My least favorite part of it all is I think it became so violent to the point that it was senseless gore porn. Some of the fights were critical to the story and I understand that it gives the gritty feel that a show like Devilman should have, but I will reiterate that I think they just went too far with it. I also think their excessive use of nudity, especially in the first few episodes, was unnecessary. There is an entire genre of TNA for people who want that, but I don't like it in shows that focus on a dark and serious story. Did I mention that the show is violent?

Overall, 6/10 is a fitting score for me when it comes to Devilman Crybaby. I certainly enjoyed it but I also have my issues with it. Reboots or re-imagined stories have a difficult time surviving in the anime world, and even though I never saw the originals I believe Crybaby was a good one. I would have liked to have seen it be maybe a little longer with a more satisfying ending, but for what it is it fits the 6/10 title of "fine". Not bad, but not particularly great, either.