Review of Devilman: Crybaby

I came into this anime entirely blind having no background in the source manga or even rough familiarity with the story/artist. My overall opinion has me split square down the middle. Devilman Crybaby's strengths lie within its incredible unique and surreal art style and animation. I found myself enraptured by the color palettes, unique character design, and overall animation techniques. As a visual work, it makes me hope for more from this animation studio and artist collaboration. I also did enjoy the more graphic animation, but think it became too relied-on as a trope for shock value as the series went on. (Though the finalhyper-graphic scenes in episode 9 were quite eliciting of a guttural reaction that in retrospect I appreciate).

That being said, I found the story hopelessly disappointing and weak. The plot was weak; the themes have been done a thousand times and in far superior ways. The characters did not experience any growth and the plot direction was lackluster at best. The monster-of-the-week format for the initial 8 or so episodes was contrived and offered nothing stimulating save for the animation and art style. The final explanation at the end felt cheesy and unimaginative.

I wish I could like this more, but the overall plot fails to captivate any uniqueness or intrigue. It's poorly constructed with inarticulate growth and execution. It's saving grace is, quite honestly, the animation and art design, but I couldn't give a solid recommendation beyond watching it simply for the aesthetics.