Devilman Crybaby

Plot

High schooler Akira Fudo shares a home with Miki Makimura, his longtime crush and only friend, along with her brother Taro and parents Noel and Akiko. When Akira steps in to protect Miki from a gang led by rapper Wamu, his childhood friend Ryo Asuka saves him. Ryo explains that his Amazon rainforest expedition uncovered evidence of demons, which world governments are hiding. To expose them, Ryo brings Akira to an underground nightclub called the Sabbath Party, where he smashes a bottle and attacks patrons, prompting demons to emerge. Ryo records the massacre but gets pinned by a demon. Akira’s willpower overpowers Amon, a powerful demon attempting to possess him, allowing Akira to take on Amon’s form and slaughter the demons. After escaping the Sabbath, Akira and Ryo battle several demons, including the cruel Jinmen, who killed Akira’s parents, as well as Amon’s lover Sirene and her associate Kaim. Later, Ryo outs track star Moyuru Koda and athlete Miki “Miko” Kuroda as demons on television, leading Akira to recruit them.

As the story unfolds, Akira and Ryo’s friendship frays because Ryo takes increasingly extreme steps to keep Akira’s secret safe. Meanwhile, the revelation of demons sparks global panic, riots, and paranoia, with humanity turning on itself. Demons begin possessing humans on a massive scale, spreading fear and distrust. Disgusted by Ryo’s indifference to the chaos he caused, Akira, joined by Koda and Miko, searches for other Devilmen and plans to form a team to protect humanity. Feeling remorseful and confused, Ryo returns to the Amazon and announces a worldwide broadcast to reveal the demons’ origin, but instead exposes Akira’s identity by showing footage of his transformation into Devilman. This triggers mass violence and genocide: Miki’s family is killed by police and buried by Akira outside the city, while Miki and her friends try defending Akira on social media, only to be murdered by a paranoid mob that mistakes them for demons. Devastated after seeing the mob parading his friends’ dismembered bodies on pikes, Akira incinerates the entire crowd in revenge.

Betrayed, Akira confronts Ryo, who reveals he is the fallen angel Satan. After being cast out of Heaven, Satan found demons living on Earth. God destroyed their bodies for their savagery, but their souls survived. Reincarnated as Ryo, Satan plans to wipe out humanity and reclaim Earth for the demons, whom he considers simpler and superior. He orchestrated Amon’s merger with Akira so Akira could survive as a Devilman and stay by his side. Akira refuses to join Satan and gathers other Devilmen to fight, but they are defeated. With humanity, demons, and Devilmen all gone, the Earth lies in ruins. Satan reminisces with Akira, unaware that Akira has already died. Realizing he killed the only person he ever loved, Satan is overcome with grief, cradling Akira’s lifeless body as an army of angels descends to destroy and reshape the world into a new one with two moons.

Production and release

Devilman Crybaby is based on Go Nagai's manga Devilman. It was produced as a Netflix original series by Aniplex and Nagai's Dynamic Planning, and animated by Masaaki Yuasa's studio Science Saru. Yuasa directed the anime, Ichirō Ōkouchi wrote the script and Eunyoung Choi served as the animation producer. Ayumi Kurashima was the character designer, while Kiyotaka Oshiyama was responsible specifically for the demon's design. Although Yuasa was a fan of the original Devilman, it was a project he never imagined he would work on. It was Aniplex with whom he collaborated on Ping Pong the Animation (2014), that suggested a Devilman adaptation. Yuasa did Crybaby aware that Nagai was probably restrained in the depiction of its sexual and violent content by having Devilman published in a shōnen (young males) magazine. The director commented that Nagai's later works were "even more extreme" and so he created Crybaby with the mindset of "If Nagai-sensei could have done as he pleased, he'd have gone this far". Yuasa also expressed his desire in creating a sequel to Crybaby, saying that if he did, he could explore the "different settings and ways of telling the story". Crybaby updates the 1970s scenario of Nagai's manga on which it is based to a 21st-century setting. While the manga featured delinquents who bullied Akira, the anime uses rappers as substitutes for them. Because of that, some episodes feature extended rap sequences performed by professional rappers. These rap performances function as a type of narrator throughout the series. The director said he made this change because he believes "rappers are the people who speak what's on their minds today". It features commentaries done through rapid text messages and social media to explore humans' reaction to demons. Yuasa commented that the technologies and social media's popularity made the 21st-century situation very close to the Devilman manga's violent scenario, as "people are a lot more connected, for good and bad". On the bad side, he cited people getting shot over a video game, police brutality towards African-Americans, the rise of nationalism in politics, and problems being blamed on foreigners. On the good side, he mentioned people coming out as LGBT through social media and a greater "acceptance of different opinions and lifestyles". The series takes place in a universe in which the 1970s Devilman TV series exists, its theme song appears as a child's ringtone, and the bedroom of one of the children is filled with Devilman anime objects. The series was first announced in March 2017 to celebrate Nagai's 50th anniversary as a creator.

Themes and analysis

The anti-war themes of the original Devilman are reinterpreted as a metaphor for bigotry, in which manipulation and paranoia are discussed using the allegory of the demons as "the other". The anime's themes of puberty, sexuality, sex, love, and LGBT identity were explored in critics' analysis of the work, along with a debate over whether the series' perspective and ending are nihilistic.

Reception

Fans were divided in their response to Yuasa's take on Nagai's work, though the series' announcement and release were among the most widely discussed anime series released in 2018. Its viewership numbers are unknown as Netflix does not disclose these figures, though many journalists described the series as a hit. Critics assessed Crybaby favorably, with some calling it a "masterpiece", the best Netflix anime, and one of the best anime of the year overall and the decade. Although the response to its graphic content and ending was divided, its animation, soundtrack, characterization and faithfulness to the original manga were praised.