Devil May Cry: Debiru mei kurai

Franchise- it ruins a lot of things...

So I was recently shown this by a friend- having been a fan of Dante since the first Devil May Cry game I was deeply intrigued. I've been holding my breath for a movie for over a year now and I have to admit I am a little bit of a sucker for the franchise- so I am biased. But I must say all and all the anime is not that bad- not at all actually.

The only problem I can see with it is that it is attached to such a large franchise and a lot of people go in with very different and very definite views on how the characters should be portrayed and what they should act like. Also this seems to be set after the first DMC movie, rather than the third- which I think throws a lot of people as well. The third game happens to be a prequel to the first and portrays Dante as being very cocky and sarcastic (think demonic teenager). The first sets Dante a more of a brooding protagonist and the anime has him as an odd mixture of the two.

Now although its not anything groundbreaking, I think people need to except it for what it is- a beautiful addition in the franchise and a fun way to spend a few hours. If you want something deep and meaningful, there are many other anime titles to choose from- also as far as anime titles go you can also do a lot worse... Ninja Resurrection for one...

Coming hot off the trail of watching the new Netflix Devil May Cry series I watched the original Anime series from 2007 and it is truly a night and day comparison. I do not know what they were thinking but the 2007 one dwarfs the 2025 one. It's night and day for the most part. First off they got the original voice actor for Dante in the 2007 series that's in the games from DMC3 onwards. Next each episode starts off by saying "Mission" and the number next to it for each episode which simply out the gate makes you feel a direct correlation to the games. Then there's the way Dante talks and acts. He's a suave dude and cool as a cucumber and pretty passive. The Netflix version in comparison made him into this quip machine that would have made Spider-Man jealous and then there was the sub characters like Lady and Trish who just simply felt and looked like their gaming counterparts whereas in the Netflix series Lady was some kind of war veteran with a full body armored suit for some reason and whiffing of girl boss emasculating all of her male colleagues on the field of battle. Lastly the 2007 series felt more like DMC because of how each episode was structured. Every episode started off with a job being called in or brought to Dante's attention to take on as a contract so his broke ass could get some money for his pizza addiction. Then it progressively gets deeper as the series goes on and culminates to a huge 2 part finale. Overall if anyone is a fan of the games then this is the series for you as the Netflix one is all flash and no substance for the most part with only a mere mild understanding of the characters and reworking a little too much for the liking.

Before I say anything else about this series I will point out that this is my introduction to 'Devil May Cry'; I've not played the games so had no preconceived ideas about what the characters should be like or the tone of the show.

This anime series is centred on Dante, a half-human/half-demon who runs an agency called 'Devil May Cry'. His jobs typically involve killing devils; a task he is highly skilled at thanks to his abilities with swords and guns. Unfortunately the pay isn't great so he is usually in debt. After the events of the first episode he ends up effectively adopting a girl. Other key characters are JD Morrison, a friend who finds jobs for Dante; Trish and Lady, who are also demon hunters and a Demon named Sid who may be more dangerous than he initially appears. Over the course of the series Dante takes on a number of demons in a number of locations.

Watching this I wouldn't have guessed it was based on a fighting game... there is a decent amount of action but far more time is given to interaction between the characters. I thought the character development throughout the series was pretty good and the central characters were likable. Most episodes feature stand-alone stories but plot lines introduced at the start of the series resurface in the final two episodes. The action scenes are suitably exciting and are a bit bloody but not excessively so. The character designs are distinctive and the animation is of a good quality. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of the genre; I certainly enjoyed it more than I expected.

The Anime of Devil May Cry gains value by showing a different point of view of the life of our favorite demon hunter, since the first game we have in view a completely badass character, who does not care about much besides a good fight and make jokes of his opponents. Of course, in specific parts of his journey we have exciting and even sad moments, such as when he thinks he let Trish die, as if he had failed his mother again, moments where he talks to his brother or his childhood, leading the character even to cry (hence the name of the franchise is obvious), but overall what we have is a buck , stylish and a joke.

Already here we have a tired Dante, sad with his life, the anime in chronological terms takes place right after "Devil May Cry (2001)" ie, his brother was supposedly dead, his revenge against the one who took the life of his mother had already been realized and his partners were no longer present, so there was nothing that gave meaning in his life , he was moved only by the jobs morrison delivered him and the goal of protecting the weak, but that was just a hobby. Interestingly the few moments when we see Dante smiling and having fun is when he fights, since in these hours the character went out all his internal problems, the anime also makes it clear that the protagonist spent every day feeding on pizza and ice cream, just as another escape from his anguish, and in his ending it is implied that alcohol was also part of his routine.

Just for these examples is already valid to say that this anime is a pearl in the midst of the whole franchise, but things get better because we have a counterpoint to all this that was mentioned before, "Patty Lowell" is the typical child that even young is mature and seems to understand a lot of life and how people feel, and even if dante's main mission is to defend her and escort her , for the most part it is she who takes care of his feelings and supports him, creating a relationship almost between brothers. Of course there are times where one teaches the other about different aspects of life, but it is Patty who gives Dante a reason to live, either through his scolding or his sympathy that seemed to be missing in the protagonist's life for a long time.

Another point at which the series hits is not only on the main mission but finally showing Dante and the others acting as genuine demon hunters, things that are mentioned in all games in the franchise but never shown, of course they still act as protectors of humanity, but finally is shown the mercenary side, which accepts the works for money , the research side is of paramount importance in these moments, showing that Dante is not only a fighting machine without any strategy or intelligence, the relationships that the existence of demons causes in humanity is also portrayed, another positive point since in most games this is left aside.

The action scenes are also decent, as much as Dante solves most of his cases with extreme ease makes perfect sense, since at this point in the story the character is completely invincible.

The anime also brings cool curiosities such as dante's way of doing his work through his partner Morrison, as Trish and Lady recognized each other and began their rivalry, never-before-explored ties of Sparda and other demons that followed his ideology, among other interesting moments. Anyway, this anime is a treat for any fan of the franchise and a pastime for a casual audience.

Let me first say that the Devil May Cry Anime did not come out how I expected, though that is not necessarily a bad thing. I started out with VERY high hopes and they took a severe blow when I saw the preview episode. Like most fans who had been waiting for something like this I was worried that Dante had turned into your typical stock type protagonist. I disliked the addition of new characters which I initially found incredibly annoying and I felt that they had chosen wrong when finding a voice actor. (I think I am one of the few who was not perturbed by the lack of fight scenes).

All I can say is that I was wrong. The first few episodes followed a similar pattern, but a main plot began to emerge towards the second half of the series and the character development was nice. It was wonderful to see the return of old characters and interesting to see how Dante would interact with humans (the guitar case as a sheath for Rebellion was a nice touch).

Tha animation was beautiful and I loved the character design. The OST is awesome and the characters who I loathed in the first episode grew on me as did Dante's new personality.

My advice is if you're a die-hard fan you have to take the anime with a pinch of salt. Yes it's not perfect and there are many things they could have done to make it better, but it also has so many good qualities which you will over-look pointing out the bad things. Watch it with an open mind and be prepared for a light-hearted (though it does have its dark points) piece of good entertainment staring your favourite Demon Slayer.