A dark anime that explores the strength of compassion amidst chaos.
Devilman Crybaby on Netflix isn’t like most anime. At first glance, it looks like too much to take in—a violent, confusing, and shockingly real storm. But behind all the blood and chaos is a story with a lot of emotional depth. Why would you want Devilman Crybaby? Is it just a cruel show that kills off great characters to make people feel bad? Not at all.
While showing a high-stakes supernatural war, this show is brave enough to look at morals, love, and loss through the lens of people. At its heart, the story is about a high school student named Akira Fudo who gains the power of Amon, the king of the underworld, by mistake.
Akira is now one of the strongest people on Earth thanks to this power. But he doesn’t give in to evil. Instead, he fights “devils,” which are monsters that look like people. The story follows Akira’s rise as Devilman for the first six episodes. But in the last few shows, the focus shifts to a darker truth: people are the biggest threat.
Ryo is Akira’s childhood friend and, in fact, the reincarnation of Satan. Their paths are linked. Ryo doesn’t care about other people like Akira does. He sees the world in black and white: weak people should die, and death is kindness.
A scene with a sick cat shows how different their morals are: Akira cries over the cat’s death, but Ryo doesn’t understand why he should care. This difference sets the stage for a complicated story about right and wrong, power, and the ability to care.
When Ryo includes Akira in a plan to show the world devils, things get even more complicated. Their first mission, which seemed easy at first, turns into chaos when Koda, another Devilman, is given a potion and kills a lot of people in an arena.
These events, shown around the world, cause fear, showing that people’s knowledge can also be their downfall. People in the civilian population start killing each other faster than the devils, showing that people are often their own worst enemies.
We were always our own worst enemy, not the devils.
As the world goes crazy, Akira sees friends and family killed by gangs that are motivated by fear and false information. These terrible events change Akira, leading him to go against the crowd to save innocent people. He plays a more violent role, but his actions stem from caring, not meanness.
The main idea of the series is summed up in this contrast between Akira and Ryo: real strength comes from caring about others and having strong morals, not just having power. The thing that makes Akira unique is that he is always kind. Because he cries for others rather than himself, he shows that emotional sensitivity is a strength, not a problem.
Even though he has the power of the greatest devil, he still cares about other people. In the end, this innate goodness goes against both Ryo’s view of the world and Satan’s view of nothingness. Children, who represent innocence, see Akira for what he really is: a guardian, not a killer. This shows that even in the worst times, there is still hope.
The strongest person is one who can be cruel but chooses not to.
When Akira and Ryo finally meet, it’s an extremely devastating scene. Akira has no choice but to fight after Ryo tells her that he is Satan and that he wants to rule the world. Even though there is death and destruction, Akira’s kindness never wavers. The last fight is both physical and mental, and it ends with a moving scene in which Ryo cries, not because he lost, but because he finally understands how much Akira loves and cares for him.
This ending is both sad and beautiful. God erases Akira and his friends from the world, leaving only Satan. One bright spot is that Akira’s kindness makes Satan feel love for the first time —a human feeling. Ryo thinks Akira is “weak,” but she shows that real strength comes from caring about others, even when you’re facing death and enormous power.
Kindness can change even the most evil person or thing.
Devilman Crybaby is more than just a story about humans and devils. It’s also a thought experiment about how powerful empathy can be, how cruel fear can be, and how strong the human spirit can be. People who watch it are forced to think about what morality is and how their decisions affect the world around them.
Even though Akira Fudo is still a “crybaby,” his compassion and emotional depth change the world in ways that brute strength could never do on its own. By combining beautiful animation, nonstop action, and deep moral questions, Devilman Crybaby shows how anime can convey ideas. It is violent, heartbreaking, and attractive. It is a modern masterpiece that shows us that empathy is still the most powerful force in a world full of power and death.
