Devil May Cry

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.

The Good: 1. DMC is finally brought to a bigger audience.

2. Dante's character is almost game accurate (80%) 3. Ocassionally, good soundtracks.

4. The animation and specially episode 6 was brilliant.

The Bad: 1. Multiple missed opportunities to add a good soundtrack.

2. Dante's demon form was introduced horribly. There was hardly any power-up (Rudra took his punches easily). Demon Trigger deserves more respect in my opinion.

The Ugly: 1. Lady's / Mary's character is badly visualised. She extremely edgy and lacks the charisma. Her edginess and ignorance became annoyance too soon and for too long. She is a great character in the game lore though, completely unlike the one portrayed in the show.

2. Why the excessive cuss words. Lady rarely has a dialogue without the F word. I am sure there are other better ways to depict trauma. Let's not be lazy.

It's feels like a sidestory of Devil May Cry or even a Devil May Cry in another universe, its just doesnt feels like devil may cry at all. Like how can you do Devil May Cry adaptation but dante feels like a side character.

Lady / Mary is the worst character here for me, constantly swear out of nowhere, twisted and weird logic, a weak character logicaly but pushing to be awesome.

But on the otherhand we got a downgraded dante that always lose to the main, a weird power level of the entirety.

The best one is the villain aka Rabbit, damn good character, back story, love everything about him.

The ending scene is good old catchprase and ost, i will watch it if it have ever s2 but wont expect much.

The series doesn't start or end with Dante, he is somewhere in the middle of more enjoyable characters with better back stories.

There are two main characters of the series being lady and the rabbit, and they get a separate episode explaining their back stories but Dante doesn't get the privilege of being the Dante from games, in the series yes easily outwitted and often defeated by the lead characters. Where these two lead characters get most of the screen time and meaty dialogues and scenes.

The series is enjoyable to watch, thought the episodes could be brought down to 20 minutes an episode, which most of the time exceed even 30 minutes, that doesn't make the episodes look chrisp. That takes away most of what was most enjoyable about the games, the series is not action driven or stunt driven. And really seems like its own thing but that is not what we usually expect with Devil May cry.

Action is okay and there was nothing new about it. It really doesn't feel like Devil May cry, is what is so off about the series.

The series introduces one of the most prominent characters of the games in the last scene, and again it wasn't about Dante at all.

The best part about the series is the antagonist.

Steal: the antagonist, his back story and his introductory scene is outstanding.

Hi there, I was absolutely awaiting this new "devil may cry" with eyes transfixed...

Someone has mistaken Dante for some kind of clown with jokes, stupid smiles and selfie positions. It s unbearable. (kind of marvel style with Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman.human torch in Fantastic Four, etc..etc..) The animation is amazing, incredible and some twists of action, like Lady using a truck as a ramp to throw herself to a building are unique.- The fights are more than correct but SURPRISINGLY there s no THAT much different with de 2007 Devil May Cry fights. The argument was predicibly "original"; no mind bending twists.

At the end of the day....amazing animation and hmph....