Netflix has no Standards and Practices department. As long as you don't do anything EXTREME, it's basically the wild west. With this freedom, Masaaki Yuasa has constructed a 10 episode series that, while not the focus of the show, takes on a subject matter that is almost entirely absent in anime: sex.
Oh, there's at least one new show every 3 months with nipples in it, that's not what I mean. Japan's pornography laws forbid any uncensored genitalia in the pelvic region, so while you will see anime with female nipples in them (that are almost always marketed towards adults but that's a given) you'll almost never find a show that shows sex. If you go too far, you'll be considered pornography. That's not to say that I want non-hentai anime with uncensored sex, that would be unnecessary, but sexuality can be used maturely and effectively in stories.
Masaaki Yuasa knows this and has made two anime that feature sex frequently in their stories: Kemonozume and Devilman Crybaby.
I've seen several anime that have nudity in them, usually for only an episode or two but there are only two other anime that I've seen that use nudity more frequently, which are Yuasa's own Kemonozume and High School DxD. DxD is a meh fanservice show that really only uses its nudity to tease rather than to drive a plot. Devilman Crybaby on the other hand has truckloads of nudity, only calming down in the later episodes to focus on the story. A lot of said nudity is used extremely sexually. This show has no fear of the human body, whether masculine or feminine. Sex is used to represent temptation and desire, not just the desire to bust a nut but the desire to transform into a demon and unleash rage. This same theme was used in Kemonozume, although that show had to stay confined with what's allowed to be shown on TV regardless of timeslot. So while sex was prevalent, nothing was really shown past nipples. Devilman Crybaby shows everything short of straight-up penises and straight-up vaginas. It embraces sexuality as something to cherish and not be ashamed of. I'll be damned if I see another new anime use sex as much as Devilman Crybaby for at least another decade.
Outside of this show's themes about sex, I would still call this one of my favorite Masaaki Yuasa works. I've seen all of his movies and TV shows and I'd say the only ones I like more are The Tatami Galaxy/Night is Short. While I love how this is one of very few anime to use sex rampantly (and not just nipples, sex), everywhere else the show is good but I've seen done better in other Yuasa works. The story/animation/music are all good, but none are peak Yuasa. The story takes a complete tonal shift in the later half that while I did like it, it certainly wasn't the least bit subtle, but I can probably put the blame on the original source material for that. The animation on transformations and such looks fantastic but during the "normal" scenes the animation sometimes feels cheap. Far from the best animation in a Yuasa work.
Devilman Crybaby is a great show that I respect a lot. In aspects like sexuality themes and some of the animation, it's Masaaki Yuasa on steroids. In most other aspects it's good, but not special for a Yuasa work. There's nothing wrong with this being your first Yuasa work, and I certainly recommend watching Kemonozume if you loved Devilman Crybaby. Honestly there isn't a Masaaki Yuasa work I wouldn't recommend.
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