Review of Devilman: Crybaby

[Content warnings for Devilman: Crybaby: Full nudity, graphic sex/sex acts, rape, gore, generally pretty scary and definitely not for kids] Overall: 5/10 Did I enjoy it? Sure. Would I watch it again just for fun? No. Probably not. I enjoyed some aspects of the show, but the majority of the anime left me confused and a bit bored. Story: 3/10 The story was predictable and it felt underdeveloped at times. The plot twist with Ryo felt really out of place. I'm not sure if others felt this way, but his plot twist almost made no sense to me. I guess it's a given since I haven't read themanga or had any backstory on any of the other Devilman series. Also, just a personal preference I guess, but there was waayy too much focus on sex in the show. I thought it would just end at the Sabbath, but it continued throughout the show with really no reason to be there. Sirene and Akira, Miko and some random guy on the street, the sex scene with Koda, etc. etc. The only reason my story rating isn't lower is because it did make me very emotional towards the end, and that always makes me bump up a score, even just a little bit.

Art: 8/10
The art style of this anime is very beautiful. I've never seen any other show quite like it. It's very simple but every character is distinguishable and very stylized. The use of color in this anime is also used really well. The shading and highlighting is unique, though sometimes the shine on things like Ryo's car do distract a bit. And although I know it's a part of the style, I'm not a huge fan of the anatomy sometimes.

Sound: 9/10
The OST is definitely my favorite part of this anime. After finishing the anime, I listened to the OST on repeat unironically. It's really beautiful music. As for other sound such as the voice acting, personally, I watched it in dub. I actually don't really understand the hate around it that much. The dub was much higher quality than a lot of other animes and the acting was very good. I'm glad they didn't dub over the Japanese raps. I just wasn't a big fan of Young Ryo's voice or some of the crying scenes.

Character: 3/10
I'll be honest. I didn't feel very attached to any of the characters at all. The only one I really liked was Akira, which is great since he's the main character, but I didn't care much for anyone else. I thought Ryo was really cool in the first couple episodes, but I don't like the turn his character took. Miki was pretty boring, and Miko was forgettable before her transformation. After it, she was just unlikable and mean. No one's backstory was developed very well either. I really only remember Ryo's and maybe a bit of Akira's and the fact that Akira's mother taught him how to tie his shoes. That's literally it.

Enjoyment: 5/10
My favorite episodes were the first few episodes. That's really the only reason I continued and watched the rest. I thought the story would get better again. There were also some really minor things that led me on, like, I thought there would be different supernatural aspects other than demons and devilmen because of the coach in the first episode who ate the fly like a frog. What was that?? Was he just a random devilman or something? A lot of my questions were left unanswered and kept me wondering throughout the entire show.