Tonight we’re breaking down the final shot of #DevilmanCrybaby. Why are there two moons? What is their significance?

The answer lies in the beautiful symmetry with which the whole show is composed. To figure out the ending, we must go back to the beginning ...

(SPOILERS AHEAD)

A common characteristic of director Masaaki Yuasa’s work is that it rewards repeated viewing. The opening of #DevilmanCrybaby initially comes across as a series of nearly abstract evocative images. Conveying raw emotion, but narratively bewildering.

However, after watching the entire show and revisiting the first episode, everything becomes crystal clear. Although the show is called #DevilmanCrybaby, it begins and ends with Satan.

“Let there be light”

The first thing we see in #DevilmanCrybaby is white blinding light. Then a pair of hands outstretched desperately (a common motif in Yuasa’s work). The light is God. The hands belong to Satan.

We next see innumerable heavenly orbs descending. Upon second viewing, we now know these are all angels, as they look just like Satan. Now we can appreciate that this scene depicts when Satan was banished from heaven.
#DevilmanCrybaby

In The Bible, angels are described as unfathomable higher beings with multiple wings, sometimes appearing as burning wheels.
#DevilmanCrybaby

There are flashes of brilliant light. Dozens of large spheres of light float upward offscreen (God’s heavenly forces) as the camera tracks a tiny dot falling downwards (Satan)
#DevilmanCrybaby

Next is a tracking shot through the vast black amnesia of space. This is what Satan experiences as he’s flung across to the furthest reaches of the universe away from God’s light.

The camera flies over mars and eventually settles on earth.
#DevilmanCrybaby

We then fade into Satan’s eye, with earth overlaid on his pupil (remember this shot, there will be an important call-out to it later). Note that there is no moon yet.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

The camera slowly descends from the heavens into primordial earth. This is the insane world of demons! The original inhabitants of earth! Over time, he comes to feel affection towards them for their simple nature. Earth become’s Satan’s new home.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

The Bible says "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." Conversely, according to many branches of Christianity there is no love without God. The moment Satan begins to find love, God comes to take it away.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Satan's army of demons face off against God’s forces, but they are no match. All life on earth is obliterated. The earth is left a smouldering molten mess. Huge chunks of it drift off into space but get drawn back by its gravity forming a ring.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Over time these pieces of the destroyed earth, relics of Satan’s defeat and eternal torment, coalesce into the moon.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Now it’s worth noting, this (barring the epic battle between God and Satan) IS actually the prevailing scientific theory for how the moon was formed.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Quick aside. The giant celestial body that slammed into the earth creating the moon in it’s wake is named after the Greek Titan Theia, mother of SELENE, goddess of the Moon! Not quite #Silene but close! Coincidence??
#DEVILMANcrybaby

The moon has an inherently tragic romantic appeal to it. It is literally pieces of the earth that broke off during a traumatic clash. They drifted into space, but couldn’t quite break free and instead hang suspended, doomed to circle but never touch the earth.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Just want to reiterate. Left: Earth before Satan’s arrival. No moon. Right: Earth after God comes back to punish Satan. Moon.

Once the earth is healed and the moon formed, humans eventually appear. After aeons of darkness, Satan awakens again. He reaches out desperately, but there is no god. There is no light. But then … from the darkness, a hand reaches back.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

This next shot is breathtaking in it’s beauty and meaning.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

This shot is a call-out to the earlier shot of the earth filling Satan’s right eye. Akira fills his left eye drawing a parallel between the two. And remember what we just said about the moon? How it is doomed to circle the earth, but never touch it?
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Akira means the world to Satan. He loves him. But Satan will never fully grasp that until it’s too late. Satan’s love and his refusal to acknowledge it will doom Akira.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Side note: if you watch this shot carefully, you’ll see that Satan’s hand reaches out tremblingly, but stops just short of Akira. It’s Akira who reaches down and grabs Satan’s hand. Akira saves him, at least for a time.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

The next few sequences of Akira and Ryo during their childhood are a portent of what’s to come. Akira shielding the dying cat from Ryo is analogous to Devilman pleading with Satan to spare the human race.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

In this shot, Satan’s cold mind is reflected (literally) in the cold unfeeling blade. The stream of ants passing by underneath it reflect how little he cares for human lives. How little he cares for any lives other than Akira’s.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

In this shot we see the cat died anyways. Akira mourns its passing. Ryo just can’t seem to understand why Akira would “cry over spilt milk.” That’s just how little he cares for most life.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Notice the design on the box housing the dead cat, which portents the death of humanity. It’s a blue globe ie THE WORLD. Akira puts an umbrella over it, attempting to shield it from the elements instead of himself.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Satan puts his umbrella over Akira. He cares about Akira more than the world. The reason he had Amon combine with Akira was in hopes of having Akira survive the oncoming apocalypse
#DEVILMANcrybaby

The animators are careful to actually animate the shadow of Ryo’s lunar blue colored umbrella passing over Akira’s sunny yellow umbrella. Akira tells Satan “you’re crying too.” It won’t be until the final episode that we truly understand what this means.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Fast foward to the final episode. Remember the umbrellas? Remember the layers of meaning already established about the moon? They figure deeply into this scene where Ryo and Akira watch an eclipse.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

In the world of Devilman, the moon is a monument to Satan’s suffering, which is so great that it can blot out the sun. Satan, as Ryo, shares this intimate moment with Akira.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Akira asks Satan why the spots of light dancing in the shadows are shaped so strangely. This is a real phenomenon by the way. Ryo explains the pinhole theory, where light passing through the small openings in the leaves form an inverted image of the light source.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

INVERTED. Like the narrative structure of this entire series.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

INVERTED. Like all the people in this story, their relationships, their emotions, their hopes and dreams, the very core of their beings!
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Light and Dark. Love and hate. Good and Evil. Human and Demon. They are all inversions of one another.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

They are easy to separate as concepts. But in the slurry of life, everything gets mixed up and messy. Up becomes down. Love becomes hate. Humans become demons.

As the series draws to its conclusion, we find out what Akira meant by “you are crying too.” Satan perpetually carries his sorrow buried deep down inside where he can’t consciously see it. But Akira can.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Satan is doomed to live without love. He tries to tell himself there is no such thing, to save himself from the pain of loving, losing and longing. But you can’t hide from your feelings forever. They will eventually break free. Often when it’s already too late
#DEVILMANcrybaby

The series is called #DevilmanCrybaby. At first glance, it is about Akira, who becomes Devilman but retains his human heart. Kind Akira who cries for others.

Mamoru Oshii once said "We weep for the blood of a bird, but not for the blood of a fish." But Akira cries for both!

#DEVILMANcrybaby MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

By the end of the series we realise the other true (inverted) crybaby is Ryo/Satan. It’s only after he’s destroyed the thing he loves most, after Akira’s tears have all dried up that he learns to cry for another.

#DEVILMANcrybaby MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

As his tears fall, as love once again flows from his heart through his eyes and slips through his fingers, God comes back to earth to wipe everything out all over again.

#DEVILMANcrybaby MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

Notice, in the first episode (LEFT) there were black and white spheres of destruction. There was a struggle. This time there is no resistance. This destruction is a one sided affair (RIGHT)
#DEVILMANcrybaby

Roll Credits.

#DEVILMANcrybaby MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD

But wait! After the credits, once again we see the molten aftermath of Satan’s attempt at both rebellion and (doomed) love. From these ashes … rises a new moon.

THIS IS DEVILMAN.

This is the heart of #DEVILMANcrybaby. BUT, IT’S ALSO THE STORY OF DEVILMAN ITSELF.

The cycle of death and rebirth has incredible meaning within the context of the show. But in real life, this is also the cycle that Devilman goes through.
#DEVILMANcrybaby

This tragic tale has been playing out for ages. Passed down from generation to generation. #DEVILMANcrybaby is just the latest cycle. It’s happened before, and it will happen again.

#DEVILMANcrybaby SPOILERS AHEAD

THIS IS THE POWER OF DEVILMAN. At its molten core, it’s such a great, iconic story that the best and brightest of every generation will step up to do their take on it.

There have been many official retellings …
#DEVILMANcrybaby

And SO MANY unofficial retellings of #Devilman as well! (SOOOO MANY)

#Devilman persists throughout the ages, because it provides a beautiful skeleton to hang the human experience on. The core themes and images are so expansive, so iconic that they can merge with just about anything an author can bring to the table!

#DEVILMANcrybaby SPOILERS AHEAD

Aaaaaand, I’m just going to stop here. I’m only scratching the surface. There’s so much more to this series. Like all Yuasa shows it’s absolutely JAM PACKED with layers of meaning. I hope this thread will open your eyes to some of them.

#DEVILMANcrybaby SPOILERS AHEAD

Look for the repeated motifs. Look for how they connect separate shots. Figure out their symbolic meaning. Enjoy the visual poetry that they spell out.

I love Yuasa shows. I seriously get as much (or MORE) out of them as I get from reading Joyce, Rimbaud, Murakami, Salinger, Nabokov ... well you get the idea.

In fact, Yuasa’s just one of many anime directors working with this hyper layered approach.

I’ll post more about them in future threads!

If you’ve read this far, thank you. I hope you enjoyed this thread. Please follow me if you want to see more stuff like this on Twitter. As a fallible human being I enjoy all the likes and follows lol. I’ll do my best to illuminate this part of the web for you. Goodnight!

Oh also! If you haven't already, please check out my previous breakdown of the INCREDIBLY LAYERED opening to Devilman Crybaby! https://twitter.com/Richmond_Lee/status/950809277253349376

Ah this is embarrassing! It's been pointed out to me that I didn't directly credit the legendary Go Nagai for creating this incredible story and these timeless characters in the first place. He's one of the greatest, most influential comics artists of all time! PLS Read his work!