Netflix seems determined to bet more and more on animation. We already left last year the Castlevania series, short but with very good ideas to whet the appetite of a second season. But with Devilman crybaby, he has taken ten steps further, leaving us a gem not only of Japanese animation, but globally.
Since the announcement of the series they did not put long teeth knowing the sleeve of Go Nagai (author of Mazinger Z) that they were going to adapt, Devilman, a classic of the 70s collected in 5 volumes. But above all for the director's choice: Masaaki Yuasa, one of the greatest talents of current Japanese animation, known for the movie Mind Game or series such as Ping Pong and The Tatami Galaxy.
Of course the final result has not disappointed, a brilliant base manga added to the talent of a great director, has left us a masterpiece. Devilman crybaby puts us in the current world, where the demons are beginning to appear, in the midst of chaos, a sensitive boy named Akira Fudou will be dragged to fight against the demons because he has become one of them, but keeping his heart human, since then it will be known as Devilman.
The premise a priori simple and quite unoriginal, can even remember the well-known Tokyo Ghoul (but ... hey Devilman arrived first), will remove all prejudices in his first episode, recognizing that we are not before another anime cliché of good against the evil In this sense, Yuasa and screenwriter Ichiro Okouchi (a veteran in the industry who participated in anime such as Code Geass or Planetes) perfectly adapted the original manga to our current time, also taking enough licenses that do nothing but magnify the script.
As I mentioned, the first chapter will be a great letter of presentation for what awaits us in the following: animation made in Yuasa, capable of doing things that few would imagine, total lag without cutting at all in violence and explicit sex, a mostly electronic soundtrack that fits perfectly with the series and an argument full of charismatic characters that will raise interest as it progresses.
It is for this last point, the argument, in the first that I want to delve into more depth. In these ten episodes a plot is developed that is enriched much with its background and hacks in more than one occasion, it is not very complicated to realize how not only the demons that we will see will be the villains, if not the people themselves can to become even worse than them, and it is a demon himself, Devilman, the only one who truly tries to save us. But in its most superficial layer also works perfectly, engaging a story on a slow fire that since the first chapter and is leaving us small clues (in images or dialogues) of what is coming.
Along with this splendid story come a good number of well-defined characters with charisma, even some secondary of turn, that nothing would happen if they do not have a built personality, we know their motivations and past to not leave them alone in disposable characters.
Another positive point mentioned above is the soundtrack, which, as the original work is adapted to the latest news, loaded with electronic sounds, dubstep and freestyle rap, attention above all to the latter since its lyrics will reflect many of the situations that will happen in the episodes.
Finally, encompassing the last two points discussed in previous paragraphs, and the most important, we have the chaos of the series on controversial issues such as violence and sex that get their maximum exponent with the animation of Yuasa, opting in this case for obvious reasons to a darker range of colors, which does not lack diversity, instead of more striking colors to which we are accustomed in many of his previous works.
It is a real joy to see how the most explicit violence and sex come together with the animation that Devilman crybaby leaves us. Real goings of pot that will not leave anyone indifferent; those who know how to appreciate it will enjoy each episode as if there were no tomorrow and they can not but applaud a true genius, capable of making the most of a visual game regardless of any budget.
In conclusion, Devilman crybaby is a perfect candidate series, of which I can say very little negative things, perhaps a too hasty rhythm in his last episode, but this is also characteristic of the director, who likes to go like a thunderbolt in Many occasions. A product that has flown by and I've enjoyed as few times, I just want more Devilman after finishing it and claiming that Yuasa and Netflix work together on many occasions. A feeling that only the masterpieces know how to leave, maybe with Devilman crybaby we are before one.