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Overview
Devilman Crybaby is an interesting, if not profoundly confusing, piece of media. I will start off by stating that I am not familiar with any prior adaptations or the original source material for the series beyond youtube compilations of funny moments from the 80s dub, so this review is entirely based on my opinions of this particular version of the story.

Story - 5 (Average?)
What is the point of Devilman Crybaby? Being Satan is suffering? Things sure do happen throughout the 10 episodes, dramatic and shocking things, in fact. And yet even with the clarity of having completed the series and thought on it for several ... weeks, I still cannot understand its intended meaning. I want to believe that Devilman had a purpose, it really feels like it should! But any moral or commentary I can think to have been an intentional choice on the part of the creators is contradicted by one event or another.

At least in a series like Neon Genesis Evangelion the confusion is a part of the experience and the strange choices in direction and animation have something to say. Yet even with its wide acclaim, Evangelion remains a divisive franchise-- for good reason! A lot of its more experimental approaches to its storytelling did not resonate with many viewers, which is normal! Whether you enjoyed Evangelion or found it pretentious, the least you can say about it is that it had a message that the director was trying to convey. Devilman fails in this category on a near-comical level.

That being said, it did manage to keep me engaged through 10 episodes, so I suppose that has to count for something.

Characters - 6 (Fine?)
Was it just me, or were there no characters of value in Devilman? Akira has no personality-- I seriously tried to think of any way to describe him besides the damn two-word title of the series and there is simply nothing else there. Without spoiling the last section of the series, any characterization and likability that Akira was able to scrape together through the series is completely obliterated when he makes a series of frankly baffling choices which contradict everything the series has shown us about him up to this point.

Ryo sure is. Ryo definitely does. One time Ryo. And then he.

Art - 7 (Good)
No. No, Devilman Crybaby did not have exceptional animation. My brothers in Christ, did you not see the very obvious 2d rigging on almost every mundane shot? Now I'm not here to complain about technological advances, I am very much pro-CGI if it helps take the load off animators who are already putting in ridiculous hours.

That being said. That shit was Family Guy level. Regularly.

The fight scenes looked nice enough, a lot of the animation was above what is average for a tv anime series. That being said, I'm not going to lie when I say I was disappointed. Animation isn't everything, but howdy golly gee did they not make up for it in any other areas.

Enjoyment - 5 (Average)
I did not care for Devilman Crybaby. I watched the whole thing in one sitting, so it kept my attention, at least, but the moment the final scene ended, I was left with absolutely nothing. The only thing that this story, which was clearly meant to be tragic, did was make me laugh my ass off.

It is glaringly obvious that this is not the way the series is meant to be consumed, so I can't really give it points for making me laugh at how poorly it executed its drama. That being said, I did make it through the whole thing without actively wanting to turn it off, so that does have to count for something.

Overall - 5 (Average)
Calling Devilman mid feels like a sin, but I really cannot in good faith call it anything else. The entire thing felt like a completely pointless waste of time. Some people like it, and more power to them, but to me, at least, there was absolutely no appeal. If you're reading this before watching Crybaby, do yourself a favor and just watch one of the 80s dub compilations instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qayq4esPWEg

Overview
Bungou Stray Dogs has to be one of the most incomprehensible, convoluted, nonsense series I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing. I have seen the anime three times and have been reading the manga monthly for around a year and I still could not tell you what the point of this series is. That being said, Bungou Stray Dogs is an incredibly fun read that leaves you thinking about it well after catching up. If you (understandably) don’t want to read this extensive review, my overall feeling on the series is that it’s worth giving a try (and it does not ‘get better,’ so ... if it isn’t your cup of tea it isn’t worth forcing yourself to read through the hundred or so chapters). Be prepared for weird pacing, inconsistent art, more characters than you can realistically keep track of, and potentially a very enjoyable time.


Story - 7 (Good)
There is no story. Seriously, Bungou Stray Dogs has no consistent throughline narrative. The closest thing to a goal introduced in the series isn’t even mentioned until the second season of the anime and doesn’t become relevant until much later chapters of the manga. If you asked someone that has only seen the anime where they think the ‘story’ is going, they would not have a clue. It really feels like Asagiri (the author) just wanted to write a series about bishie-fied authors and didn’t realize he needed a plot until he hit a roadblock with the Port Mafia arc. That being said, I would argue Asagiri’s confusion-fueled scramble to find the point of his own series becomes a part of the reader’s experience. It isn’t ‘good’, but it is enjoyable.


Characters - 6 (Fair)
[Details of the first arc touched on; mild spoilers]

There are too many characters in this damn series and Atsushi (the ‘protagonist’) is not the main character. Instead of finishing a single character’s arc, the writer just keeps introducing new characters until you suddenly realize that absolutely nothing has been resolved. For example, let’s start with the first arc of the series which focuses on the interactions between the organizations of the Armed Detective Agency and Port Mafia. More specifically, this arc is about Dazai’s relationships with the members of each organization. Its purpose should be to introduce the main cast, establish the Port Mafia as a threat, and give Atsushi motivation for whatever his goal will be for the rest of the series. It fails at all of those things.

Each member of the Armed Detective Agency gets an episode max for their introductions, which results in a group of extremely flat trope-based characters that you as an audience member really have no attachment to. Coming out of the first arc felt like listening to the first song of 'Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812' where they speed-run through the expansive cast of characters using simple adjectives to give you a basic idea of their personalities before they are further explored throughout the story. Bungou Stray Dogs rarely gets the chance to revisit these characters through its 100 chapter run because it’s too busy introducing new characters for the ‘main cast’ to have any level of depth.

The Port Mafia is the big bad of the first arc for… some reason? Nothing comes of this conflict and it is completely ignored for the rest of the series. Most of the time the Armed Detective Agency and Port Mafia are allied against whatever common enemy goes against them during the current arc. If it were just the Port Mafia, it might make an interesting dynamic, but I kid you not every group of ‘villains’ in this series end up in an alliance with the main cast. This is another issue with Asagiri– he is absolutely terrified of killing off his characters. This results in everyone just kind of sticking around and wearing out their welcome. Whenever he stumbles into writing an interesting character with real potential, they end up getting sidelined with the rest of the cast because there’s no time. Whenever a new conflict arises, it leaves you wondering, ‘couldn't X character just solve this problem with their ability?’ But Asagiri isn’t thinking about that, he’s thinking about how to make Fyodor Dostoyevsky sexy. The first arc spent all its energy on making the Port Mafia out to be the scary opposing organization only for them to become entirely irrelevant after the second arc.

And finally, my biggest complaint toward this series' characters– Atsushi Nakajima. Atsushi is supposed to be the protagonist of the series. He’s largely the viewpoint the readers follow throughout the series, he always lands the final hit on the antagonist of the arc, and simply embodies everything expected of a shounen protagonist. I would argue, however, that Dazai is actually the main character of Bungou Stray Dogs. For one thing, if Atsushi was removed from the story entirely, would anything actually change? Sure, he used his OP powers to fight the dragon in Dead Apple, but let’s suppose the battles won by Atsushi were fought by any number of other characters. What would be missing from the series? In my opinion, nothing of consequence. This isn’t a jab at Atsushi as a character, he’s fine, but he has no motivation, no significant relationships with other characters, and has no character arc. Dazai, on the other hand, is central to the entire course of events throughout the series. His motivation is revealed in the Dark Era, he has interesting and significant relationships with a wide variety of characters (Chuuya, Fyodor, Atsushi, Akutagawa, Kunikida, Mori, etc.), his character arc is about finding his place in the world (which can be tracked from the '15' arc all the way to the current arc). I don’t like Dazai that much, but he is the closest this series has to an actual main character. It feels like Asagiri wanted Dazai to be the most important character but still wanted him to have a level of mystery that couldn’t be achieved as the main character. It’s actually super lame that Atsushi is clearly Asagiri’s least favorite.


Art - 8 (Very Good)
This is a loose “Very Good.” The art in this series is generally consistently inconsistent in a way that I find pretty charming. While essentially every panel is off-model anatomically, it isn’t something that impedes enjoyment of the series. Its somewhat strange art style makes the series stand out in a way I respect and it has its moments of looking especially good. The panel composition is also generally interesting and I was engaged throughout the series.

I will say that some of the recent chapters have seen a change in the way characters are drawn. I’m not sure if this is because the artist hired new assistants that are taking over more of the process or if he just decided he wanted to change some things up, but characters like Dazai and Fyodor look pretty different in the most recent several chapters.


Enjoyment - 10 (Outstanding)
I made it clear at the beginning of this review, but I really love this series. The issues I have with it are all things that bother me because I care about the series. Reading this absolute trainwreck of a series every month is extremely enjoyable and I love being able to discuss the future of the series with friends familiar with it. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I think this series is definitely worth giving a try!


Overall - 8 (Very Good)
My opinions on the story and character are really only weighed down by a few things and I generally place my enjoyment of a series above the ‘objective quality’ when rating.

This manga's sense of humor is exactly the same as my sense of humor. I went into this thinking that it was going to be pretty lame, but I like reading Evangelion spin-off manga, so I figured it would be worth checking out. Reviews on other sites lead me to believe that this was a failure of a comedy manga, but I laughed out loud at least once a chapter.

Some of my favorite bits include: NERV stands for National gamER coVenant, Shinji writes a haiku about using Asuka's toothbrush, Kaworu happily sleeps in a locker, and Rei receives a comical amount of favoritism. A lot ... of people don't like this manga, and I do understand why, but I personally thought it was hilarious.

I'd recommend this to anyone who likes Evangelion, doesn't take the franchise too seriously, and finds dumb comedy funny.

What Promare lacks in story it makes up exponentially through its gorgeous visuals. This is one of the best looking animated films I have seen in years. Actions scenes are tight, character designs are unique and distinct, and color palette and shape are consistently used to further the story and create atmosphere in subtle yet important ways. Most of the characters fit into well-established tropes, but there were still enough interesting elements to keep my attention.

The first major action scene of the film was somewhat hard to watch for me-- nearly 20 minutes of non-stop rapid-fire mech fights made me concerned about how the ... rest of the movie would handle its action. Luckily, the rest of the movie provides enough breaks that by the final fight scene I was interested the whole way through.

I must say that Promare’s story is most definitely its weakest point. It seems somewhat confused in message and is downright ridiculous at moments. The film appears to be aware of this fact, as in the final fight there are a few indirect acknowledgments of just how absurd things have gotten.

(This is completely unrelated to my review of the film, but I feel like it’s hard to talk about Promare without bringing up the kiss scene. Many people who watched the film interpret this scene as being non-romantic, which I think is completely fine, everyone is entitled to their own understanding of art and its meaning. I do think it’s important to say that insulting people for viewing that scene as romantic is not cool. Let people celebrate a near-cannon LGBT couple in a high-budget mech anime. Even if you watch the movie and think they were just friends, it’s pretty messed up to insult people for simply seeing themselves in art.)

In short, Promare is a fun, visually stunning mech-action movie that’s great if you can ignore the borderline nonsensical story.

This anime really had me thinking that they were pulling something interesting in the middle, but, alas, I was misled. Honestly, it isn't a bad show, it just isn't worth watching. There were some solid characters in there who were genuinely likable, but overall the writing was not great. I think the best way to watch this show is with a friend that you can make fun of it with-- it's how I watched it and is really the only way I was able to get any enjoyment out of it. Also, fair warning because this show has No Warning, you probably shouldn't watch this ... if you're already depressed and are looking for a light-hearted show. It mostly keeps up a fun tone, but there are a few moments that are pretty dark (not enough so to make it an especially interesting watch, sadly). The last scene of the last episode was enough to lower my overall score by a full point.

Overall, it's a fine show. I can't say I recommend it, but it has the potential to be a fun watch under the right circumstances.

How is it possible for a series with such a promising first season to fail so horribly in its second? It's easy to say that the issues stem from the changes to the material from the manga, but I believe that it goes a level deeper than that. The staff made the utterly bewildering decision to remove volumes worth of worldbuilding while still include those elements without proper explanation, not to mention the complete disregard for character development.

The art in the second season is entirely passable for the most part. It does the job, nothing more. There are more than a few occasions where anatomy ... is completely ignored (ex. Peter Ratri's face all the time) but for the most part, it just looks like any unimpressive average anime. The thing that really made it disappointing, however, was the sheer drop in quality from the first to the second season. There were moments in the first season that genuinely shocked me by their sheer quality and creativity. The lighting was brilliant, the shot composition was amazing. Apparently, the two seasons were worked on by the same director, which makes the change all the more baffling. The art also felt especially sub-par in comparison to Posuka Demizu's work in the manga. Obviously, more detail can be added in single panels than on a fully animated character, but they really dropped the ball on the demons. The way the demons look when they are first introduced vs any scene with a demon in the second season will illustrate the quality drop perfectly. By removing so much detail, the grotesque nature of the demons is basically eliminated, which almost makes me glad that they never adapted the arcs that involved major demon characters and fights.


**This next part is about the series' handling of specific plot points and character arcs, so there are spoilers ahead (though I did try to keep it to a minimum)!**


When Norman first appears in the anime with his group of older escapees, there is very little explanation as to what Norman has been doing or how he has obtained the knowledge and materials he now possesses (ex. his demon degeneration concoction). His move to wipe out the population of this small town of demons seems to come out of nowhere-- this would be out of character for the Norman of the first season, which even Emma and Ray acknowledge, but there is never any proper reasoning given for his change in outlook. In the manga, however, Norman's meeting with the main cast is prefaced by various scenes of an unidentified character (who is clearly Norman) saving many children from the farms in violent attacks and giving a speech to an auditorium full of children who look to him like he is a god. This makes Norman's actions feel like they have a purpose-- while he does not want to kill the demons, he feels that he has to in order to live up to the expectations that he's created for himself as the leader of this group of escapees. Norman's actions are not justified and he does eventually see the errors of his ways, but it is still possible as a reader to empathize with the situation that led him to commit these atrocities. The same, however, cannot be said for the anime's Norman, who just comes across as indecisive and like he hates Emma, Ray, Gilda, and Don.

Another example of a butchered character arch, and in my opinion the worst, is Ray. Toward the end of the first season, Ray plots to burn down Grace Field House with him inside in order to distract Isabella from stopping the escapees. He also reasons that by killing himself, he will be depriving the demons of a meal years in the making. Emma and the others end up saving him, but that moment of intended self-sacrifice and vengefulness is something that goes on to define Ray's journey for the rest of the series. After surviving, he works even harder than before alongside Emma to save their family. He slowly becomes less reckless with his own life, though throughout the series he makes it clear that he would do whatever it takes to save his family (ex. Andrew's return and Ray's willingness to take his life so the others wouldn't need to despite his own morals). Through the series, Ray is able to find purpose in his life in working alongside Emma to save their family. All of this comes to a head when they reunite with Norman, Ray crying and declaring that he is happy he lived. In the anime, essentially all of this is removed. To be as straightforward as possible here, Ray does so little to further the plot or act independently that the season would legitimately be no different if he died at Grace Field House and never showed up again. He also has essentially no reaction to any significant character moments other than when Peter Ratri dies. Seriously! Go back and watch the scene where Norman has just almost committed a mass genocide and then the scene when Peter dies. Ray just stands there awkwardly while Emma hugs Norman in the first, but in the second rushes over to Peter's side with Emma and looks genuinely distraught. It just makes no sense!


Final Thoughts (tl;dr)

Bad season! Objectively bad season! I don't even know how it's possible to screw up writing that badly when the anime literally had a pre-written story to go off of from the beginning (the manga)! The art was disappointing not only in comparison to the first season but also to the manga! If you haven't read the manga and are considering watching the second season of the anime (or have already seen the second season of the anime), JUST READ THE MANGA!