Fucking hell,man, but here are my real thoughts about Devilman Crybaby: fucking incredible.
I was initially weirded out by the copious sex, violence, and just general weird animation.
But as I got more into it, like Kill la Kill, it demonstrated a purpose for all of the excess, mainly:
1) creating an atmosphere that would qualify humans as corrupt, seeking out “vices” to deal with suffering and emotions that come with being human and
2) establishing that it’s both sex and violence that blind human beings to the truth about one another, from what really matters. That being love, compassion, and what is deemed as “Weak.”
and that’s what really made the show for me.
I’m a sucker for shows that believe in compassion.
I loved Avatar the Last Airbender because its message involved forgiveness, communication, tolerance for all ways of life, the lies that instigate violence, cycles of hatred, and propaganda that instills fear. It preached that in order to make the world a fair and just place, people needed to know not only the truth, but the wisdom to accept other forms of life, and ways of life.
ATLA was a celebration of life, human life and animal life, in all forms.
It told children, teenagers, and adults that violence does not have to be the answer.
We just make it the answer because it’s easier.
What made Devilman Crybaby such a good show in my opinion was the same concept.
You see, people mocked Akira for being a “crybaby” and for being weak.
Bullies who were reflected in the rioters, the people who tied others up and threw rocks and beat them to death for being “demons” even though a real demon would just kill them.
They are the people who think compassion makes you weak.
They’re the people who became so afraid of “demons,” who are humans after all, that they turned on each other.
Humans being demons all along? Brilliant, because humans were killing humans before the demons really had to do anything.
The double metaphor is fantastic.
Miki, believing in love and tolerance. Miko, loving her, and dying trying to save her.
Dying, fighting Satan, and knowing he would die, but wanting to die anyway, fighting for what he believed in.
The demons who sacrificed themselves to fuse with him…that was a great moment because the devilmen believed in Akira.
The compassionate people, the true humans, believed in Akira.
The fucking demons who murdered Miki and Miki and paraded their heads on sticks?
No, they might’ve looked human, but the demons who tried to help Akira were the real humans all along.
Which is why it’s so brilliant that demons ARE humans, since they’re just merged with humans.
That means that all along, human beings could’ve learned to coexist with demons.
So all the hysteria, the violence, people hunting one another, shooting each other in the streets, the fear.
the belief that “only the strong survive.”
it’s completely deconstructed here.
it’s completely tossed into the flaming trash because we SEE that there is no war between humans and demons.
it’s a war between humans, it always has been.
and it could’ve been avoided, maybe, if humans had just recognized themselves as the real threat.
yes, there are bad demons just murdering people, but there were, and are, humans who did that before.
all they had to do was stay calm, trust one another, find some compassion.
for other humans AND for demons who could and DID decide to side with humans.
That’s the best part, I think.
There were demons who knew they were still human, who wanted to keep fighting for the human side.
It wasn’t just Akira, but all the devilmen, all the crybabies, who were mocked for being the “weak,” but who were the true heroes all along, the people with the most strength and courage, to do what was right.
If you look at all of Devilman as….a metaphor, then it’s a story about people who ache at night for all the sorrow in the world, who see animals, people suffering and know their pain, feel their anguish as their own, and want to do something. And if they can’t do something, then the very least they can do is cry, because they are human. Because something uniquely human is the ability to pity others. And to cry for them, for suffering that is not your own, because the human heart, weak and fragile, is made all the more powerful for it.
Akira’s humanity allowed him to keep in control of himself, even as a demon.
Miko’s humanity allowed her to fight for someone she loved.
Miki’s humanity allowed her to inspire others.
Everyone who helped Akira was strong for doing so, even if they lost everything in the end.
And in the end, when Ryo realized what he had done…. he saw what sorrow was. He realized what love was, and as God descended onto earth again, to passively clean up the mess, he would then be left with the knowledge of losing something you will never have back.
He lost the person who showed him what love is, fittingly, because if he hadn’t lost Akira, then he would’ve never known what he meant to him.
I’m not going to lie, I cried at this show, and thats not something that happens often.
kimi no uso made me cry, anohana made me cry. angel beats kind of made me sniffle.
but i don’t often cry at anything UNLESS a dog dies or something.
So it’s quite a feat that an anime that i dismissively called the anime tit monster factory (from the first episode) managed to do that.
1) Taro’s father was crying as he watched Taro eat his mother.
2) Akira cried for Miki’s family and at the subsequent scene when she hugged him and said he’d always been like that.
3) Miko and Miki were running, and Miki was having flashbacks of running together as kids.
4) when they both died horrifically and their limbs were put on sticks and waved around.
5) at the very end, when Ryo realized what he’d done.
So the last few episodes were emotional rollercoasters.
painful…painful rollercoasters.
do not ride if you have a past medical conditions.
I gotta go work out or something, cuz the emotional build up gave me a bit of a headache, and some major heart ache, and it’s been a while since anything has made me feel something, excuse me.
11/10 show, wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, though, cuz they would think i was weird (i mean…they’d watch one episode and be like kira wtf so ill go to my grave without suggesting it to a soul)
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