As a quick summary, here's a brief rundown:
What I liked:

• The banger of an OST
• The contrast Akira and Ryo's ideals throughout the runtime
• The freestyle rap/beatboxing portions of the show
• The insane creativity the show displays

What I didn't like:

• Miki aka the standard tropey childhood friend
• The absurdity getting a little out of hand occasionally
• The over-reliance on sexual shock value

Anyway, enough of the summary. Devilman Crybaby was something that had sort of escaped my attention for a long while, until I recently had some time on my hands and I binged it all out in a day. All I have to say for myself after that is wow what a rollercoaster. I feel like I was just whipped back and forth emotionally and now I don't really know how to feel. To be frank, I haven't felt this way about an anime since End of Evangelion, which Devilman Crybaby really reminded me of, especially the ending. But, that makes sense to a degree, since the original Devilman inspired Evangelion somewhat. Either way, I certainly liked Devilman Crybaby more than End of Evangelion, but they both left me with a definitely feeling of emptiness. As if no matter what anyone does, good or bad, we all end up causing our own destruction.

As far as audio is concerned, Devilman is a symphony. Its opening is really unique and cool, while its OST is a banger with its synthwave sounds, with certain hip hop influences. I simply cannot say enough about how good this music is, like its really, really good. Before I move on though, I have to touch on one of my favorite aspects of the music and that's the rap at the beginning of certain episodes and during a few others. Yes, it's really silly and to some, probably cringe worthy, but I personally loved it. The lyrics were always hinting at the meaning of the episode and certain characters backstories and motivations. Even better, they kept it in Japanese even in the dub, which was super cool and much better than some random English dude trying to rap. Just give it a listen:

▶ Visually, Devilman may seem somewhat simplistic, which would be true, but the animation more than makes up for the artstyle being so simplistic. All the fight scenes are gloriously animated and simply a pleasure to watch. Personally, I loved the way they used contrast with Ryo and Akira, even though its a simple thing.

Favorite Character: The Rap Gang (Wamu, Gabi, Babo, Kukun, Hie)

I'm not even joking honestly. By the end of the show, these guys turned out to be some of the kindest and most pure characters in the show. Between their protectiveness over Miki and their eventual comradarie with Akira, they just really stole the show for me.

But, on a more major note, I really liked most of the characters in Devilman Crybaby. Ryo and Akira's friendship and conflicting ideals being my favorite aspect of the show. It was really endearing to see them stick together through everything, even when Akira disagreed with Ryo's reasoning, he still treated him like his dear friend and, honestly, that's pure friendship. However, their conflicting ideals was a really interesting thing to follow as the show went on. Akira beginning to think more for himself and realize that Ryo was being really shady and inhumane; and Ryo falling farther and farther down the rabbit hole. Akira's incessant righteousness got a little annoying toward the end, when everything went downhill, but that's just a personal gripe, not really an inconsistency with his character.

While still on the topic of characters, I really disliked Miki, not because of her character per se, even though I'm a self admitted hater of childhood friends, but because of how riddled with tropes she was. She was almost literally the morally upstanding childhood friend insert character and it was really annoying. Not that any of those things are inherently bad, she just felt chalk full of overused trope after overused trope. Also she

Spoiler, click to view

got my boys, the rap gang, killed so I can't forgive her.

Anyway, that's just a little tangent of mine.

I would say the only other real issue that plagued Devilman Crybaby for me was the rampant sexual content. It's a little absurd how much there is packed into 10 episodes. By no means am I obsessed with censorship or anything, but I just think it was used as too much of an excuse to go insane with the weirdness and shock value of Devilman Crybaby, because, if you boil it down, none of the sexual content was relevant to a great degree. Maybe with one or two characters or scenes, which would be totally fine, but like I've said, I think they just go quite a bit over the top.

With all of that said, Devilman Crybaby is insane. Insanely good. It manages to fit a full, concise story into 10 measly episodes, which is more than most 24 episode anime can say these days. I finished this days ago and yet I'm still thinking about the ending and the messages the show left in its wake. I'll say that it made its impact. It definitely isn't for everyone, especially those with weak stomachs and can't handle the rampant sexual content and violence, because the show is truly brutal. I didn't touch on it, but sometimes it's just uncomfortably brutal. Which I'm a fan of, but I can see why others would shy away. Despite all appearances, Devilman Crybaby is truly thoughtful and contemplative in its depiction of human nature and approaching doom. It poses a deep and meaningful questions without words, but by showing the viewer how easily screwed up humanity can be and how easily we can destroy each other. If you think you can take the controversial themes and presentation, I highly recommend Devilman Crybaby.