Trivia / DEVILMAN crybaby

• Breakthrough Hit:
  • For Masaaki Yuasa, a director with a cult following before hand but has made his impact in the west for the first time with this series.
  • While Netflix is obviously big, Crybaby established them as a legit producer of anime, whereas beforehand any "original" was merely licensed in Western countries and they were seen as a less anime-based platform compared to Hulu and Crunchyroll. This series has paved the way for more true Netflix Original anime to come.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Kōki Uchiyama originally auditioned for Ryo, although the director thought he was better suited for Akira.
• The Cast Showoff:
  • Wam and his gang members are all voiced by actual Japanese rappers, and they frequently get to show off their skills.
  • In the English dub, Keith Silverstein gets to show off his rap skills as Kukun.
  • Ayumu Murase is known to be fluent in English due to growing up in Los Angeles, and as one of the few male voice actors capable of sounding like a woman. He gets to show both skills in Crybaby.
• Children Voicing Children:
  • During flashbacks to their childhood, Akira and Ryo are voiced by actual children (Satoshi Yamazaki and Akira Fujimura, respectively).
  • Taro is also voiced by a child (José Luis Piedra) in the Latin American Spanish dub.
• Colbert Bump:
  • Devilman Crybaby is a MASSIVE one for the Devilman franchise, and Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga for the first time ever as a result. It also acts as a pretty major Colbert Bump for Go Nagai in the U.S.
  • If the memes are anything to go by, it's led to a lot more people watching the OVA adaptations from the 80s and 90s, and reading the original manga.
• Creator Cameo: Go Nagai voices a member of the lynch mob in Episode 9.
• Cross-Dressing Voices:
  • Psychogenie, despite being female, is voiced by Yasuhiro Takato. In the Latin American Spanish dub, she is voiced by Luis Fernando Orozco.
  • Satan is voiced by Ayumu Murase in the Japanese dub; though this is a zigzagged example since Satan is a hermaphrodite. Oddly averted in the Latin American Spanish dub, however, since Satan is voiced by a female voice actress there (Kerygma Flores), while Ryo is voiced by a male (Miguel Ángel Leal).
  • Averted with Taro in the Latin American Spanish dub, where he is voiced by an actual child (José Luis Piedra).
  • Xenon/Zennon, a male demon, is voiced by singer Avu-chan, who is a transgender woman.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": The Latin American Spanish dub is an interesting example: this series is the first one with a Latin Spanish dub, since the crossover movie with Cyborg 009 wasn't dubbed there, and previous animated adaptations and the manga itself weren't brought there as well.
• Newbie Boom:
  • This adaptation has garnered a lot of interest in the source material. It definitely helps that the manga has finally been translated into english.
  • With the rise in interest for the source material has come more interest in its author Go Nagai, who up until the release of Crybaby, wasn't as well known in the west.
  • Crybaby has also been something of a mainstream Breakthrough Hit for cult director Masaaki Yuasa. The enthusiasm of for Crybaby has led to Yuasa's earlier work also gaining more public traction.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Big time in the Latin American Spanish dub with Emilio Treviño (Akira Fudo/Devilman), as he is normally typecasted voicing kid characters, or the Nice Guy, his most very-well known roles being as Cabba, Charlie Brown and even Christopher Robin.
  • Ryo isn't the first villain that Ayumu Murase voiced, but this is the first character that had him use a completely different range that's unheard in any of his other roles. Not to mention, he's mostly known for playing energetic or sweet-hearted young boys.
• Promoted Fanboy: Yuasa was a known Devilman fan long before creating Crybaby and was even asked in an interview if making a Devilman anime was a long-harbored goal of his. It wasn't, but only because he considered actually getting the chance to direct a Devilman anime in the first place would be impossible.
  Yuasa: It had left a strong impression on me when I read it as a kid, but I loved it purely as a fan. I’d never have imagined animating it.
• Real-Life Relative: The English dub's ADR directors, Robert and Megan Buchholz, are father-and-daughter in real-life.
• Role Reprise:
  • Christina Vee reprises her role as Miki from Cyborg 009 vs. Devilman.
  • Atsuko Tanaka reprises her role as Sirene from the Devilman video game for the PS1.
• Sleeper Hit: While the Devilman franchise is already popular in Japan, it was more of a Cult Classic for American viewers. Another thing against it was it being a Netflix exclusive anime, which after Neo Yokio, sparked a lot of skepticism. However, not only was this a hit for Americans, it sparked a Newbie Boom for the other incarnations of the franchise, as well as Go Nagai's other works.
• Star-Making Role: This is shaping up to be this for Griffin Burns, who was a relative newcomer as of the show's release, as Akira.
• What Could Have Been: According to the official◊ artbook◊, Akira's Devilman form was planned to be red in color.

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