Main Protagonist

Dante Allies & Friends!

Jun Fudo/Devilman Lady!

This universe, she is younger sister of Akira Fudo/Devilman!

[Chainsaw Man Series VS Devilman Series)

First of all, gloss over the fact of how late I am with this, I've never been good at keeping up with stuff like that. Second, this entire post is mostly just for me to let out all the storm of thoughts forming in my brain right now, because that's how I operate, but feel free to drop your insight.

ALSO SPOILERS AHEAD

So, I'm a big fan of the Devilman series, let me establish that. I've fell in love when I stumbled upon Amon: Apocalypse of Devilman years before, which led me to catching up with older shows/OVAs, I even got my hands on the manga. I simply love it- the premise, philosophy, questioning all of what we understand as being human, empathy, love... I live for media like this. So obviously I checked out Crybaby on Netflix too.

And, in my opinion, it wasn't actually that good at all, despite the hype.

The animation is the front of it, let's start with that.

I know it's hard for people to adjust. Anime throughout the years has had various styles, so distict and popular at the specific time periods that it pretty much separated anime styles into groups of how shows were stylised at the time. So when something breaks through that drastically, it may received mixed, if not mostly negative comments (look at Aku no Hana for example). And you know, I actually liked it for the most part. It was unique, its fluidity in motion captivating, in my eyes. But the more episodes, the more obvious it was that it didn't work for everything, slowly starting to become more annoying than charming, visually speaking.

My second ick? Sirene. Oh my.

I'm talking about episodes involving her as a whole.

I've always been mesmerised by this specific act in the story to be honest. Sirene's story itself is something I find beautifily tragic. In love with the demon prisoned in a human body, the demon possessed by someone else pretty much, desperately wanting to free him in order to be together while also following insticts of a demonic being - proving its strenght for the sake of survival ingrained into demons' very core, thriving at the thought of defeating someone who can outpower you (and being good at it, considering she was one of very few, if not the only demon close to finishig Devilman). Among her is Kaim, the demon in love with her - both of them creating this duo of unconditional feelings, making us question whether demons and humans are actually that different and if demons are capable of caring about each other without wanting anything in return (like Kaim letting himself be killed, so Sirene could get a chance at winning), then what makes us special as human beings in comparision to them? I am passionate, as you can see, about this.

And disappointed that in comparision, this act in Crybaby was shallow and felt sped up, present only for the sake of it. I remember feeling down and upset, kind of like when you order something amazing at first glance off the web, only for it to arrive looking cheap and horrible in quality. Their fight felt like it lasted for a minute, Sirene's and Kaim's story and their purpose to it more of a speck. I personally feel that if they could pull it off in an OVA (The Demon Bird, 1990), manga (1972) etc., they could've pulled it off here.

Bringing time feels especially important to me, since many other shows having the same runtime (around 22/23 minutes if you count out the op and ed) are able to still make it work while also having deep/complicated stories like Devilman.

These episodes also brought something else to my attention while watching.

Their obsession with NSFW stuff. Blood, gore, sex. "But it's for the more mature audience, obviously they put that in." Yeah. Original Devilman is bloody and gory as well, absolutely not meant for younger readers/watchers. But here, when I finished watching the show, if felt like it became an excuse for them, putting it into scenes without rhyme or reason - and I do expect a little more reason, because Devilman in its core is meant to be a bit more than a show someone can just jack off to on a Friday night I think or fawn over edgy guts and all. As I mentioned, it came off to me extremely strongly while watching the Sirene act - mostly because she felt highly sexualised (among other female characters) and her feelings for Amon focused solely on "rail me, Amon".

"People in love want to do these things together, especially demons, because" - sorry to interrupt, but this whole act, to me, was meant to prove that demons are not actually mindless beasts, but instead able to purely feel for someone beyond the physical need just like people, making us, consumers, ask ourselves how it correlates to our own humanity if those "vile and mindless monsters" also understand what it means to love and save someone we care about.

Instead, I saw pointless sex scenes, adding nothing to its core while feeling like it had some purpose meant for it, they just didn't feel like elaborating. I can deal with it to some extent. Maybe I did miss a point, maybe I'm exaggarating. But from where I stand, its only point was to scream "look at this thing, it's 16+". And nothing beyond - which, again, hits me harder when I remembered previous stuff was nowhere near close to stuffing itself with NSFW while still being meant for older people, violence paired with topics of demonic need for violence and survival while mentions of sex barely present or hinted at without feeling like it's shoved down your throat, focusing on its debate over morals and meaning of humanity, questioning who is really the actual monster. Unlike Crybaby - trying to do something similar and forgetting about it later.

Those are the most important points from me. Again, it is meant mostly to be a mindless rant and "let-it-out" sort of deal, so forgive the messiness of it. I'd also like to remind that these are my personal views and I am willing to have a convo about it.

But Devilman is, as I hopefully showcased, important to me. I love the manga, I love OVAs, I love shows and specials.

So it cut me extra deep to admit to myself that I did not, at all, love or even like Crybaby.

Because it wasn't just what it really could be.

                       When Yuri is so scarce you gotta dive into the classics

    I’m pretty sure you have all heard of the controversial yet popular Netflix original series ‘Devilman Crybaby’ which is the latest within the Devilman series. The Franchise spanning manga, anime, movies, ovas, Novels, video games, live action and a spin-off all starting way back in 1971  with Go Nagai’s Demon Lord Dante.

    While there’s so much to unpack from each series I want to focus on one specifically that gives tones of tasteful Yuri goodness; Devilman Lady / Devil Lady, which has lots of peak Yuri moments or undertones, depending on sub or dub. Though I will be talking about the 1998  sub version of the anime. There is a manga as well yet it heavily differs from the anime.

                                               Summarized Plot:

   Jun is a 22 year old model who’s pretty popular amongst the industry. Even with the popularity Jun is a kind person who mostly keeps to herself and has very few close relations with people. Our story generally begins with her being approached by Asuka who leads her to a warehouse thus introducing us to Beast and the discovery that Jun herself is also a Beast. She gets provoked into wakening up her beast gene by the means of survival and the harsh rebukes from Asuka to fight. Without much of a say for herself she is forced into a whole new world of fighting, uncontrollable urges, and dealing with the psychological repercussions. 

                                                  Main Characters

   Despite there being plenty of consistent characters throughout the show each leaving some form of impact on Jun.  The main cast, with Yuri undertones, can be narrowed down to 3.

                                 Jun Fudo | Protagonist | 22 | Model

                    Kazumi Takiura | Low-Key Love Interest | 18 |  Model

                Lan Asuka | Bitch Ass Hoe | 23 | Head of Human Alliance

                                              Where’s The Yuri

   Finally, We have few instances of Yuri. Starting off with our first (and my personal favorite) is Jun and Kazumi. In just a few episodes in jun is confronted by a beast who calls out Jun for being romantically interested in her kohai even practically stating they are lovers. Kazumi doesn’t make it any better. After some circumstances she forces her way into Jun’s home and  teases Jun about them sharing a bed together. Like a cute little puppy in love she often feels excluded when she realizes that Jun is changing and has starting to distance herself emotionally. The more Jun pulls away the more Kazumi tugs creating a very unhealthy cycle between the two.

                                                                Our Second couple brings up nothing but bittersweet memories of a time long past. Being a minor character yet having a deep impact and realization to Jun's feelings, is her former Classmate. As the two meet and begin to reconnect Jun confronts the past and acknowledges the downfall of their friendship. In snippets of flashbacks it is revealed that the classmate had feelings for Jun, not being able to contain herself she begins to slowly fondle at Jun while unconscious. Coming too and realizing what is happening to herself Jun tries to run away and begins a struggle with her friend resulting in an life-long injury an thus the deterioration of their friendship.

   Lastly, Jun and Asuka. While I have debated on adding this pairing to this category not just because of my totally distaste for this toxic relationship but because of some important facts that contradict the pairing yet not wanting to giveaway too much spoilers for those who wish to watch the series to experience themselves.

   Asuka is just unsympathetic to those around her most likely seeing them as nothing more than stepping stones to get what she wants; Including Jun, who she often berates, chastises, degrades and demeans, seemingly all coming from her disdain for beast in general. Though she shows no hesitation of relying on Jun to fight other beast, of course, not without making some form of comments of Jun embracing her true nature - a violent blood-thirsty beast.

   Jun constantly has to remind Asuka that she isn't anybody's Lapdog, fights of her own free will, and is still human regardless of the recent changes. Asuka does show some concern when the MC fights turn dire but it just seems superficial as minor actions shows that Jun is nothing more than a trump card for Asuka's questionable plans...

                                                                                                                                         Worth the Watch?

   If your watching for just the Yuri there is a lot of great scenes, solid dialogue (at least in the sub case) Just be mindful that the Anime also falls under the categories of:

            Horror | Psychological |  Violence {at least in the 1972 sense)

    Plus a shoot tone of angst with a sprinkle of tragedy an a pinch of *SOL. Can you smell the depression? Is it worth the watch? Well that’s up to you to decide

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Sources

https://devilman.fandom.com/wiki/Devilman_(Franchise)

https://devilman.fandom.com/wiki/Demon_Lord_Dante

https://devilman.fandom.com/wiki/Devilman_Lady

https://devilman.fandom.com/wiki/Lan_Asuka

https://devilman.fandom.com/wiki/Jun_Fudo_(TV)

h e l l o

Main Antagonist

Dante Enemies!

Jinmen, Ghelmer, Sirene & Kaim!