Name(s): Devilman: Crybaby
Format: Original net animation [ONA] (10 24-minute episodes)
Studio(s): Science SARU
Original Publication: N/A (unknown)

Probably one of the greatest examples of thematic dichotomy in anime. Yuasa‘s more contemporary understanding of youth mines Go Nagai‘s original conflicts for all their intensity. The metaphors for puberty, repression of sexuality, and self-perception mold into each other and form bizarrely contradictory scenes of humor, angst, anger, and decadence.

It’s a celebration and condemnation of sin, sometimes harnessing it for power and sometimes indulging completely in it. Beauty and ugliness combine perfectly, and in the show’s brevity and simplicity exists an ambiguity to its themes and nuance to its characterization that promote primal reactions and interpretations. There’s an onslaught of emotions from the entire spectrum on display here that all complement each other and find truth in the contradictions of the world and lack of easy solutions. There is no end goal, only a fight.

This desperate summary of the show’s impression on me will certainly come across as pretentious to some until I find the words and energy to elaborate further, but I see a lot of myself in this show and the central character. A lot of my young adulthood and fantasies are captured perfectly here.

SPOILERS

And how fitting is it that even the final scene, that of a finished apocalypse with no future for anyone we’ve seen bears its own contradiction, that of a glimmer of hope for breaking the cycle between beast and man’s struggle for dominance? This show tackles so many different tones and almost always has its cake and eats it too. Its script, structure, and themes are all perfectly cohesive in that quality. There’s truth in contradiction and hypocrisy, because that’s what people are. Devilman Crybaby is simultaneously one of the most vile and humanistic shows I’ve ever seen.