Devilman Crybaby - An Analogy for Love
[ i've just rewatched the series for the 6th time, here's an essay i wrote about it a while ago ]
Warning: this following doc contains spoilers for Devilman Crybaby
Before I begin, I would like to make a note saying this is pure speculation and my thoughts and opinions on my three watches of the series. I have gone through and made notes on things that have stuck out to me episode by episode, and each interpretation of the characters is based on my own opinions. Enjoy.
“Love’s not real. There is no such thing, therefore there is no sorrow. That’s what I thought” Is the opening line of Devilman Crybaby, delivered by Ryo Asuka. The first line in this series being about love and a character’s interpretation of it gently opens the gates to the rest of the series and the subtle undertones of love scattered throughout the episodes and the relationship between characters.
From the start, Ryo is portrayed as a cold character with an unhinged side, shown in his initiation of the massacre of the Sabbath. Yet, whenever speaking to Akira, Ryo seems to soften, as if letting down his walls for the one person he may consider a friend. Akira Fudo, on the other hand, is a gentle soul, as shown in the opening scenes of him reaching out to Ryo, asking if he’s okay, and protecting the kitten the two had found on the cliff, putting himself in harm’s way to make sure Ryo wouldn’t injure it. Akira bleeds love, and it is shown through all his actions in the series, from following Ryo to the Sabbath to fighting him head-on in the final episode.
Part one: Before the betrayal (Episodes 1-5)
Episodes one to five focus on showing the audience more of Akira and Ryo’s friendship and how it developed from that to codependency, where Ryo took advantage of Akira’s kind heart and his love for his friends and humanity and used that as leverage to eventually put Akira in a situation where, no matter what he said, Ryo managed to successfully manipulate the world and turn it against Akira and the other Devilmen.
From the first episode, it is evident that Akira has unconditional love for everything that lives, and he is a very sensitive person at heart, having an almost ‘sixth sense’ where he can tell what someone is feeling even if they don’t know it themselves, earning himself the nickname ‘Crybaby’. An example of this is in the first minutes of episode one, where Akira is crying after the death of a kitten he fought hard to take care of. Ryo asks him why he is sad since he knew the kitten was dying, as “The weak ones die” and Akira counters his words by saying “You’re crying too, Ryo” which works as direct foreshadowing to the final episode, where Ryo sheds his first tears in his life over Akira. Throughout these episodes, Akira shows multiple different forms of love in the connections he makes, the first being platonic love, shown in his relationships with Miki Makimura, Ryo Asuka, and other people he meets whilst following Ryo, and the second being familial. The show of familial love is seen both in his encounter with his deceased parents after they had been absorbed by a devil, and in his relationship with the Makimura family, where he acts as an older brother figure to Taro, and almost as an adoptive son to the Makimuras. These are the two major forms of love Akira shows throughout the first half of the series, however, other forms of love are shown as the series progresses.
From the get-go, it is made explicitly clear that Ryo is not a good person. He is cold to the world outside of himself and Akira’s friendship, and even then the word ‘friendship’ doesn’t seem to quite cut how he feels about Akira. To Ryo, Akira is a pawn, and he has been ever since he returned from America and swept him away from the docks to bring him to his house. He knew what kind of person Akira was, and took full advantage of the fact that he would do almost anything to help his friend, even accompanying him to the Sabbath to help with Ryo’s ‘research’. Ryo never shared his intentions with Akira prior to arriving, and he led Akira into danger for the chance that Akira would assimilate with Amon and become a Devilman. He knew that Akira’s heart was too pure to be completely corrupted by the assimilation, making him a new form of devil and therefore an important part of Ryo’s research.
Through the assimilation, Ryo created a codependency with Akira- he placed him in a situation where Akira couldn’t tell anyone else what he had done and who he was now except for vague comments, such as him saying to Miki ‘This body needs a lot of fuel’ as they were walking home together. He put Akira in a situation where Ryo was the only one he could speak to regarding his current state as a Devilman, and in return, Ryo would provide him with enough food to fuel himself, but would also make Akira accompany him and record him in his Devilman state. At a point, Ryo became obsessed with being the only one with access to this footage, going as far as finding the home address of the photographer Nagasaki to wipe the files from his computer, and then get rid of any evidence that he had been there in the first place. Ryo realized Akira was special, and he wanted to do anything he could to keep him under his thumb for his plans to go smoothly.
After the betrayal (episodes 6-12)
In the second half of the series, love seems to take a backseat as violence and the war against humanity come into full swing, however, the undertones are still there and still lingering, from Taro’s mother sacrificing herself so her son didn’t go hungry in his Devilman state, to Miko’s confession and declaration of love and admiration towards Miki. However, as the other characters seem to have grasped at and come to terms with their own forms of love, Akira’s love towards Ryo flickered and faded away after his betrayal and attempt at turning humanity against Akira. Ryo’s plan was simple; turn Akira’s love towards humanity into hatred as humans turned against him and whoever stood beside Akira, so Akira would side with him in destroying humanity. However, underestimated how much Akira truly loved his family and his friends- Miki’s death ruined him emotionally, and instead of running towards Ryo and wanting to enact revenge in Miki’s name, Akira knew that she would still have been alive had Ryo not betrayed him.
Akira slowly became a shadow of himself following Ryo’s betrayal, especially after he discovered that Miki had defended him publicly online, and as a result, had died horribly. Akira’s last remaining family had died, and he witnessed the cruelty of humans firsthand as he saw his friends body parts be raised on stakes and waved as trophies in front of the remains of what once was his house. Despite this, Akira still wanted to save humans. He wanted to make sure Miki’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain, he wanted to hold out hope that humans and devils could co-exist, and he wanted to do it to honor her.
Despite his previous close relationship with Ryo, Akira’s love for humanity outshines whatever love he had towards Ryo, especially following Miki Makimura’s death. As Akira’s love for him decreased, Ryo’s love for Akira seemed to grow more and more, growing from a (questionably) platonic love into obsession- obsession with wanting Akira by his side as he destroyed the world, and a deep desire to be able to control him the way he could control the other devils.
After his successful slaughter of the human race, Ryo was left with the consequences and the aftermath. He repeats what he said in the first episode- “Love’s not real. It doesn’t exist, therefore there is no sorrow. At least, that’s what I thought.” but this time he turns and asks “Akira, why am I the only one whos speaking?” and it is revealed that Ryo successfully killed Akira. For the first time in his life, Ryo begins to feel emotions to someone other than himself- he realizes, too late, that he too, loved Akira, in a way that was left open to interpretation by the audience. Ryo realizes he is now alone, and he killed the only person he loved. Perhaps that was his divine punishment from God- not being exiled from heaven, but made to live the life of a human and feel their emotions, and only then he could understand the true wrongs of what he had done, both towards humanity and to the one person he cared the most about.
Despite starting as something codependent and possessive, Ryo’s love towards Akira was real, and therefore so was his sorrow. He grieved the loss of his love, and in doing so he felt a minuscule amount of the pain he had caused Akira to go through by tipping the dominos that inevitably caused the death of the Makimuras.
At the end of it all, Ryo lost. He may have succeeded in wiping out humanity, but the loss of Akira stunted him and made him realize that he could have everything and destroy it all, but nothing could fill the void caused by the loss of a loved one, let alone when their death was caused by your actions. Satan had never been as human as he was at that moment, faced with the aftermath of everything and a newfound understanding that there was no reversing it.
Love through other characters:
Despite Ryo and Akira’s crumbling relationship as the series progressed, other forms of love blossomed and died, one being the unconditional love of Noel and Akiko Makimura towards their son, Taro,
Upon discovering that her son was now a Devilman after he consumed a dog to satiate his never-ending hunger, Akiko decided to leave to protect him as best as she could. Inevitably, Taro’s hunger began to hurt him, and so Akiko sacrificed herself so her son could eat. Noel Makimura found them after tirelessly searching, and he was distraught as he found Taro, in his Devilman form, consuming his mother. After seeing his father Taro began crying, perhaps out of the guilt of having killed his mother, or fear that his father would inevitably kill him, however, both Taro and Noel met their demise as a firing squad shot them both to death, with Noel’s final words being those begging the officers to stop because his son was in the tent.
Episode five shows a reference to a deeper romantic love between Silene and Amon, as well as Caim and Silene. Amon was Silene’s lover at a certain point before he had assimilated with Akira, and Caim was devotedly in love with Silene. While Caim longs for Silene, she repeatedly puts him in his place and tells him she would never love him, yet despite this Caim still sacrifices himself for Silene in her fight with Amon.
Another direct relation to romantic love is seen through Koda and Junichi. Although not much is known about Junichi, his death greatly affected his boyfriend, Koda, who became distant from his former self and eventually turned against humanity to ‘survive’.
Miki (Miko) Kuroda’s confession of love towards Miki Makimura was another example of romantic love. Despite her confession being rushed, as the two were being hunted, Miko declared her love to Miki in the midst of it all, with Miki reciprocating, saying she loved her too. Miko proceeded to sacrifice herself then, to give Miki a head start in running in the hopes she’d get away. She spent her last moments begging for Miki to be spared, and ultimately her sacrifice was in vain, as Miki was baited with the deceased body of Wamu before being brutally killed and dismembered.
Ryo’s love for Akira could also be seen as romantic, and I believe this is the case. Akira is the only person Ryo seems to genuinely care and be concerned about, even if inevitably he betrays him, he seems like a softer person whenever he is around Akira, and he realizes his feelings for the other when it is too late.
All in all, Devilman Crybaby is laden with undertones of love, and the story itself is an analogy for many different kinds of love as well as how love can be corrupted by lust. Love is what helped Akira Fudo inevitably win against Satan, and love is the reason why the story of Crybaby is a time loop, the story repeating itself over and over again every time Ryo kills Akira. Love is Ryo’s divine punishment; he is made to suffer through love and loss over and over again in a never-ending loop as his punishment for defying God, and he can never change the order of events with each new cycle his mind is wiped clear once more. From Akira and Ryo’s troubled relationship to Taro and his mother, there is always some form of love being represented on screen, whether it is obvious or not, and by realizing that and understanding the emotions Ryo is neglecting to realize, the heavy aspects of the show seem to hit twice as hard as, at the end of it all, even in his mighty heavenly glory, Satan is reduced to nothing but a lonely man in the absence of love.
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