Netflix's Devil May Cry should've been an easy win. Take Dante, one of the most badass and effortlessly cool characters in fiction and throw him into an action anime with fun writing, then let the mayhem speak for itself. The first two episodes are mostly just this, outside of some lame marvel jokes but man this show quickly forgets what makes DMC work which is pure badass action where demons are monsters, not misunderstood victims, and where Dante sure as hell doesn't need backup to handle the job and is the most charismatic character possible every second he's on screen.
I'll give credit where it's due, they (mostly) nailed Dante. He has been my favorite character ever since I was a kid and to me, his personality here is intact outside of the few aforementioned cringey marvel jokes. The animation, while nothing mind-blowing is very good most of the time and the action sequences in the show are always good, though they would've been much better if they used some of the moves from the games, they are still plenty badass and entertaining. The voice cast is fine too. JYB as Dante grew on me quickly but I hope they recast Dan back as Vergil because he is simply irreplaceable. I like the rest of the cast, not much else to say here.
I should mention that there's also a lot of fanservice here, for Capcom fans in general, not just DMC fans and it's all implemented very well, and as a lifelong fan I can't help but like it.
So, Dante is fine, and the animation is appealing enough... and then there's Lady. She should be a highlight, she gets numerous awesome action scenes, just as many as Dante if I were to guess. But the second she opens her mouth it destroys everything. It's like the writers forgot how to make a woman sound tough without drowning her in gratuitous, edgy swearing. It doesn't make her cool. It makes her sound like an immature teenager's idea of a badass and it drags down every scene she's in.
Another glaring flaw is how they nerfed everybody, Dante is somehow even significantly weaker here than his teenage DMC3 self and the demons are no different. They should be a threat but they are so weak and rarely pose any real danger.
But the show's biggest misstep is how it tries to make the viewer sympathize with the demons. Giving them tragic backstories and pushing the dreadful "humans are the real monsters" narrative cliche completely misses what makes Devil May Cry work. These are supposed to be forces of evil that Dante mows down with flair, not misunderstood victims. Suddenly we're getting sob stories about how Sparda did the weaker demons injustice and how not all demons are bad, how they don't all serve Mundus or seek chaos, blah blah blah. We already knew from the games that some demons aren't evil but what's going on here is an embarrassingly failed attempt at depth and symbolism that ends up being very unfaithful to the original canon. This, no jokes, feels like tumblr or reddit tier writing.
Also, why the hell is this set in the USA instead of DMC's signature gothic-industrial locales? Why not a new city similar to Fortuna or Red grave? But no, we get Adi Shankar's trademark "let's force in half-baked political parallels" approach again, just like with Castlevania. This dude needs to get over his hate for christianity, it seeps into everything he touches. Suddenly, demons are less "apocalyptic forces of hell" and are more oppressed victims of Sparda and the selfish human, there's a plot "twist" that the awful sixth episode leads into that further pushes the braindead "humans are the real monsters" cliche. This strips away all the franchise's stylized identity and the result is a world that feels as bland as the forced "depth" in the writing.
Furthermore, they attempt to explain the demon world and its connection to the human one with quantum physics and they also add some lore involving DNA that I won't spoil but what I will say is, all of it is awful and falls completely flat.
Overall, it's fine. The action and Dante's personality were the standout highlights that saved the show for me. However, the awful changes to the lore and characters really detract from what makes DMC work so well. 7/10.
