Review of Devilman: Crybaby

I neither knew nor expected much of this show nevertheless I watched the first episode and was somewhat positively surprised by what I got. Firstly, the simplified and very hand drawn looking art style is refreshingly unique and matches the show’s style nicely. It makes action scenes feel dynamic and helps building the atmosphere in the, admittedly few, calmer parts of the show. A clear plus in my opinion. Secondly, this anime’s music and sound effects are a masterpiece. They build up an intense atmosphere sucking the viewer in its whirl and enhance every part of the show. The rap and beatbox sequences that are scattered throughoutthe series are amazingly well done and again fit perfectly into the overall style of the show.

However, sadly it’s not all roses: The story, though simple, could have been interesting enough if it were told out a little more and the team focused more on interesting questions like they touched in episode nine where the question arises if not humans themselves, turning violent and hateful in the face of a superior enemy, are the true evil of this show that needs to be overcome rather than the devils.

Instead the show focuses mostly on flashy displays of extreme violence and sex.
It feels like the director lacked faith in the story and decided to focus on jumping from one ‚shocker‘– scene to the next, wasting the potential of all the unique characters which could have become, given enough room to develop, quite interesting.

If violence and sex are overused without giving them purpose by using them to drive character or story development, they lose their weight very fast and leave no impact on the viewer.
This, in addition to insufficient character development, leads to a loss of immersion and viewers not being able to connect to the characters and story.

The show lost its chance to be truly amazing, however, all the gore, sex, awesome art and perfectly used audio still make for a rush like experience worthwhile watching and the story is at least good enough to not get in the way of that.

I was reminded of my experience with the game: „Hotline Miami“.
So if you can accept a shallow story and wasted character potential and just like to let your mind drift through an atmospheric, audio visually amazing gore and sex rush, definitely give this show a try.