Television series

Devilman Crybaby

Name: Devilman Crybaby
Genre: Action, Anime, Fantasy
Released: 2018
Cast: Kouki Uchiyama, Ayumu Murase, Megumi Han

Masaaki Yuasa's ten-episode adaptation of Go Nagai's 1972 manga turns a schlocky monster comic into something genuinely devastating: fluid, hallucinatory animation, gore and nudity used with purpose, and a friendship story that ends in real grief. It's fast, horny, violent, and unexpectedly tender — apocalypse as coming-of-age. Watch it if you want anime that risks looking silly to earn something true. Not for the squeamish or the impatient.

TVMaze rating

7.3

If you liked this

Attack on Titan2013

If you want the dread and scale cranked up — humanity cornered by monsters, friendships shredded by war, and a slow-burn mystery about who's really the enemy.

But It's a much longer commitment, four seasons and a lot of table-setting before the real gut-punches land.

Neon Genesis Evangelion1995

The granddaddy of anime using giant monsters to talk about trauma, identity and the horror of growing up. Yuasa's fingerprints on Crybaby owe it a real debt.

But The pacing and animation feel dated now, and the ending is famously, deliberately baffling for newcomers.

Kill la Kill2013

Studio Trigger at its most gloriously unhinged — transformation, screaming, and moral chaos delivered at maximum volume, somehow still landing real heart underneath all that absurdity and noise.

But It's much sillier and shoutier than Crybaby, with none of the tragic weight — pure sugar rush instead.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Rosemary's Baby1968

Devilman is about a human body colonised by something inhuman and the terror of losing control over it; Polanski got there fifty years earlier, with none of the gore, all of the horror.

A masterclass in dread before Crybaby was born — a woman slowly realising something monstrous has taken root inside her own body, and that everyone she trusts already knew.

But It's slow, stagey by modern standards, and there's no action at all — this is pure creeping paranoia.

Chainsaw Man2022

Modern gonzo horror-action with the same tonal whiplash — gross, funny, suddenly heartbreaking — following a kid who fuses with a monster just to survive at all.

But Its humour is broader and cruder, and it doesn't reach for the same operatic tragedy Crybaby lands on.

Tokyo Ghoul2014

Another story about a decent guy discovering the monster living inside him, and having to decide what kind of person that actually leaves him as.

But The anime adaptation is uneven and rushes plot the manga takes its time with — results vary by season.

Berserk1997

Old-school dark fantasy brutality with a doomed central friendship at its core — betrayal, violence and grief rendered with a patience Crybaby never had time for.

But It's a slower burn set in a medieval world, and the infamous ending will test anyone's patience.

Ajin2016no page yet

Immortal beings hidden among ordinary people raise the same questions Crybaby does about what separates human from monster, and who, exactly, gets to decide that.

But The CG animation style is polarising, and the show is cooler and more clinical than warm.

Promare2019

A gorgeous, breathless Studio Trigger film for when you want the visual imagination of Crybaby without the heartbreak — pure spectacle and colour instead of grief.

But It's essentially a popcorn action movie — fun and gorgeous, but nowhere near as emotionally serious.

Waltz with Bashir2008

Crybaby uses cartoon violence to make you feel real grief and complicity; Waltz with Bashir does the same trick in reverse, using animation to make an actual massacre bearable to look at.

An animated documentary about a soldier trying to remember what he did in a war — proof that animation can carry real atrocity without cheapening it.

But There's no fantasy, no monsters, and nothing to root for — it's a quiet, painful reckoning, not entertainment.

Melancholia2011

Both end the world and then dare to stage tenderness inside it — Crybaby with a demon and a piano, Melancholia with a sister and a blanket fort.

Lars von Trier's apocalypse film swaps demons for a rogue planet, but asks the same question Crybaby does: how do you love anyone when the world is definitely ending?

But It's slow, glacial arthouse cinema with almost no action — the opposite pace of everything Crybaby throws at you.