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[muertodehambree-blog]

why keep living after this pandemic: devilman crybaby

I’m starting this post assuming the reader has watch “devilman crybaby” so, spoilers ahead.

Maybe it’s because i’m in isolation and stuck at home (just like many of you) that i wanted to see something new, a series, not a movie, not an anime, a series with people acting. So i went to netflix and after a while, like 20 minutes, it was clear that i didn’t know what to watch. In my failure to pick something new to watch, i went to the “watch it again” section, there was some good movies, series and animes that i wish i haven’t seen yet. In the final of the list was an anime that really got me deeply when i see it for the first time, it was Devilman Crybaby.

This anime treats many things about the human condition, manipulation, love, fear, among others that i can write another post about it (or not), but the reason of this post it's the similarities between the actual pandemic we are living and the revelation that the devils are real and can be anyone. The anime show us that in case of a global emergency, there are protocols, just like the close of the borders, and by fear (sort of isolation) the people won’t come out of their houses. It show us that we people are not trusty, we are susceptible to fear, fear to death, fear of lose the ones we love, fear to die alone. I read an article that a friend send me, it was by Paul B. Preciado and titles: “The losers conspiracy”, this article and my failure to pick something new to watch came around the firsts days of april, so i mixed it almost immediately. Also by that time i would say it was the peak of the conspiracy theories about the covid-19 that i'm aware because of my mother.

Just the way Preciado sees love for the people of his generation, that's doom and ended, the anime tell us in the very first seconds of animation and in the end of it, that love doesn’t exist and there’s no such thing as love for we people, humans, mortals. And this is highly related to the history of Devilman Crybaby, Akira was in love with Miki and after he turned into a devilman he wasn’t able to tell her, the same thing happened between Miko and the first rapper to die. The fact that we are in isolation and we can’t see our friends, we can’t feel the touch of a partner, we can’t even go to the park is very sad and gets me very depressed.

The manipulation of information and the lies of the reports from the government about the new sicks, are also a reason for overthink and find no peace in isolation. When Ryo makes an elaborate plan to show the people that devils exist showing a real one on TV, it’s just as violent as how recently the authorities told us they couldn’t foreseen this pandemic and just now we’re enter in total quarantine, at least in Santiago.

In the anime and now, the way of living that we had it’s not going to be the same. If they would survive the constant fear of a new devil would awake all the pasts fears and by how people react to that in the past, it would be the end for them. In real life it’s the same, we in isolation tend to overthink so much and it’s bad sometimes, what if i said it?, what if i don’t? Those questions had us in very sad or bad mood because we are stuck in home. We won’t be able to see friends or people in a long time, the things between us would be in stand by until we can see each other, but we don't know when. In october, we were stuck in space because the curfew but we still have no fear to take the streets. Now we are stuck in time and have fear of going outside. I really hope we could control this virus soon, so for everyone who’s reading: it’s true that the life as we know it would never be the same, but we have to discover how to live it, just like Ryo after the end of the Earth.

muertodehambre.

Some resources:

https://www.artforum.com/slant/paul-b-preciado-on-life-after-covid-19-82586

https://www.technologyreview.es/s/12034/aceptemoslo-el-estilo-de-vida-que-conociamos-no-va-volver-nunca

https://ciperchile.cl/2020/04/21/gobierno-y-datos-del-covid-19-secretismo-manipulacion-y-democracia/