English Dub Series Review: Devilman Crybaby Season One

Devil on my wayward Man, don’t you Cry no Baby.

A new year means new anime, and we’re kicking it off with a show that has a complex pedigree. For one, this comes as an adaptation of the iconic 70’s manga by Go Nagai, who is nothing short of a living legend in the industry (and also kind of insane). Aside from inventing the concept of piloted mecha with the Mazinger series and creating one of the first major Magical Girl characters with Cutie Honey, and the first erotic manga with Harenchi Gakuen, “Uncle Go” (as he is affectionately called by his fans) also heavily tested the limits of common decency with Devilman, with all of these works and others becoming major influences for the creators of global phenomenon like Gundam, Sailor Moon, and Berserk.

The premise of Devilman is a deceptively easy one to describe: Regular over-sensitive pacifist Akira Fudo is a track and field hopeful in high school when he reunites with his prodigy friend from childhood Ryo Asuka, who informs him that demons are real and that he plans to exterminate them. They plan to lure out some at a “Sabbath”, a trendy name for really depraved drugs and sex parties. Sure enough, the demons begin emerging and one even possesses Akira, giving him supernatural strength and abilities, but retaining his mind and soul, becoming the being known as Devilman. The next day at school, his new body and ignited self-confidence get him a ton of attention on and off the track, but he soon realizes other demons have begun targeting his friends and family, including demons who know his demon self, Amon, and others who find themselves in a similar situation as him. The series initially involves Akira and Ryo’s efforts to defend their town and the world against the rising demon threat, as well as the two’s increasing tension as their principals towards fighting demons, begin to drift…

…and that’s where I’m stopping in terms of plot details because this show is really something you can only really figure out after you watch it for yourself. However, part of that is going to depend on how much sex, gore, violence, and whatever the hell else you can stand in your anime because this show is NSFW to the letter. Deaths are gruesome and disturbing, sex acts hypnotic and graphically detailed, and the tone becomes downright depressing towards the end (and after the end depending on your take). I honestly wouldn’t know how to describe some of the things I’ve seen, let alone whether or not if I should, but what that amounts to is that this show is not for everyone to say the very least. That’s not a judgment on anyone who has their limits on what they can tolerate in their entertainment, but it really will come down to taste in that regard.

That all said, if you do brave the near traumatizing torrent of debauchery that comes with this show, you might just find something with a heart, even if it’s a black, nihilistic, demon heart. The story, and likely the manga it’s based on, tackles a lot of really big ideas about morality, humanity, sin, and pushes them to the absolute limit with increasingly deranged and demented imagery (also likely due to the original author’s signature artistic hysteria and this show’s own director’s psychedelic style, more on that later), but sets it around a cast of characters who are invigoratingly grounded. It takes an episode or three to really get a sense of them all, but they become like an island in a storm by the time things really hit the fan. Akira’s compassionate and sensitive nature (being the reason for the Engrish-y subtitle “Crybaby”) stays true as his demonic powers evolve and the world around him crumbles, but it always feels genuine and never saccharine, while Ryo’s unflinching hatred for demons and determination to kill them foils intriguingly against it. The ending also has its own set of implications, good and bad, which will have your mind racing and heart beating regardless of your familiarity with the franchise.

That’s not to say there aren’t some downsides to the execution. I haven’t read the original manga or seen much of the other adaptations, so I don’t have much in the way of comparison to that but do know of the director, Masaaki Yuasa. He’s a creator who’s done many critically acclaimed projects such as The Tatami Galaxy and Ping Pong, and dabbled in international works such as the “Adventure Time” episode “Food Chain”, and the villain origin story episode of the French series “Wakfu”. His animation style lends itself to many of what helps this show to stand apart from the more monotone scene of recent anime, but there are some distinct moments I found myself more distracted and weirded out that the more likely intended appalled and awed. Another issue is the length, as it scrunches the five 200-page volumes of the original manga into ten 25-minute episodes. By the halfway point, it’s pretty much a sprint to the end and all its own horrors (in a good way, of course), and if you’re someone who likes their explicitly or even bittersweet happy endings, you may want to look elsewhere. And of course, there does seem to be moments where the show dives into the tantalizing sex and violence in ways you have to wonder were entirely necessary, even if there are just as many where it feels justified.

If you want something different in your anime, Devilman Crybaby has it. If you want something you can safely show your friends and family, this is probably not the one. Netflix has many of options, and no one in their right mind is going to fault you for passing on this one. However, if you’re willing to test yourself for five hours of balls to the wall insanity that will take you by surprise at every turn in all ways good and bad, you may just find yourself having a time.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go watch something lighter. Like John Carpenter’s “The Thing.”