The Devil May Cry animated series, created by Adi Shankar and Alex Larsen, was surrounded by a strange aura even before its premiere. On the one hand, Shankar is open about his love for the original franchise and is known for his passion for experimenting with pop culture through the lens of social satire. On the other, it’s still Netflix.
Let’s start with the main point: This adaptation is not canon for the game series. No, the creators didn’t make any statements about it. Yes, it becomes clear after one or two episodes.
Unholy Trinity
The Devil May Cry series really started to take shape with the third instalment. The protagonist’s obliviousness, giant bosses that could be stomped on like kings, a charismatic villain, insane acrobatics with John Woo-style production values, and excellent gameplay – the sequel instantly gained cult status. The game didn’t take itself seriously, but that didn’t stop it from telling a story with interesting characters and plenty of unexpected (for better or worse) twists.
That’s not quite the case with the new anime. The publicity campaign has done its best to convey that it’s the same kind of light-hearted, adrenaline-charged action movie, full of jokes and charismatic characters. It’s not that we’ve been cruelly lied to – the updated Dante is cheeky, a bit of an underdog, and also speaks in Vanliner through sentences. But he only gets a third of the screen time, the rest being taken up by the drama involving other characters. The soundtrack illustrates this situation well: the splash screen plays Limp Bizkit’s “Rollin’ Rollin’”, but in general, the tone of the action echoes Evanescence’s dramatic song, written especially for the cartoon.
Unlike the games, the action is not set in the fictional town of Redgrave, but in New York City. The plot revolves around Dante’s amulet, which was given to him by his mother when he was a child. It’s basically all that’s left of her, so the young demon hunter doesn’t want to give it to either the mysterious hell rabbit or the government forces. In fact, he doesn’t give a damn about anything and is only interested in pizza, Dance Dance Revolution (which he plays badly) and high-paying contracts with a middleman.
The story begins with a terrorist attack on the Vatican, organised by a demon called the White Rabbit. He steals the legendary sword “Fringe of Power”, which is necessary to destroy the veil between the human world and hell.
I must say that the charisma of the antagonist is such that he outshines the other characters every time he appears on screen, from the first to the last series. And as we get deeper into the story, the range of emotions he evokes goes from admiration to disgust.
As well as the sword, he needs a few other “ingredients” to open the portal, such as an amulet and the blood of the demon hunter Dante, the son of Sparda himself. The same demon who once built a wall between the worlds to protect humanity from evil.
And there is one more nuance that can turn the usual idea of the universe on its head. But more on that later. For now, let’s get back to Dante.
The legendary demon hunter is still a young orphan, having lost his mother and brother and knowing absolutely nothing about his father. So when the U.S. government sends him mercenaries from all over the world, along with a special unit called “Darkcom” created to fight demons, Dante finds himself caught between two fires, not understanding why everyone suddenly needs an ordinary amulet from his mother, who once promised to keep it – and intends to keep her word.
As the story unfolds, Dante must learn the truth about himself, gain strength, and experience an identity crisis, for he is a stranger to both demons and humans.
Although he is not the brutal trickster that fans in their third decade are used to, but a younger version of him, his style still oozes from him, and his sarcastic phrases remain a weapon no less sharp than the rebel sword. Yes, he sometimes lapses into platitudes about “mothers”, but it works in the dynamics of the scenes and provides the necessary contrast during the spectacular “slicing” of demons to the music.
Completing the triangle of central characters is Lady, aka Mary Arkham – the character whose story has taken the most twists and turns in this series. Here she commands the Darkcom Squad, fanatically hates demons, and sees Dante as a potential threat.
With the help of gadgets, Lady can hold her own against the inexperienced Dante on the battlefield. And she’s not bad at throwing barbs, especially at the White Rabbit. And in one of the scenes, she tries on the image of Judge Dredd – from the 2012 remake that Shankar also had time to work on.
The series makes active use of flashbacks to reveal the characters – showing fragments of Dante and Lady’s childhood, White Rabbit’s backstory, and at the same time introducing the basics of Devil May Cry lore to those unfamiliar with it.
The information is given in bits and pieces, but it is also very generous, spiced up with a new ‘scientific’ interpretation of the demonic world through the prism of quantum physics. For new viewers, this is a good move, but for “old timers,” this approach may seem excessive.
Devilish Style
A particular treat are the perfectly staged action sequences, which thrive on the abundance of supernatural acrobatics, the skilful use of slo-mo, the work with the frame and, of course, the spectacular demons and the iconic soundtrack.
The White Rabbit chase alone, in which Dante fights demons using a motorcycle as a weapon, is reminiscent of Papa Roach’s – Last Resort. But even a chamber fight in a room proves spectacular, especially when Dante pirouettes to Rage Against the Machine’s Guerrilla Radio.
There’s also some moderate violence and dismemberment, and old fans will see familiar demons – Cavaliere Angelo from DMC5, Echidna from DMC4 and DMC2, Agni and Rudra from DMC3, Plasma from the original DMC, and many more.
South Korean Studio Mir is responsible for Devil May Cry’s animation, and this is, without exaggeration, one of the brightest projects in their portfolio. Yes, it’s still a typical Netflix mainstream drawing with two-dimensional characters in a three-dimensional environment, but the studio is clearly gaining experience, and the quality of the animation is improving, especially in the detail and emotion of the characters in close-up.
While Studio Mir still has some way to go in its use of CGI, it’s worth noting that most of the artists have previously worked on DOTA: Dragon’s Blood, and against that backdrop, the progress is particularly striking.
Of particular note is the sixth episode, in which the visual style and mood change dramatically to give the viewer a break before the finale. Using parallel editing, the writers show the backstory of White Rabbit and Lady, almost without words, through images and music, including the magnificent Afterlife performed by Evanescence.
The differences in the animation deliberately emphasise the contrast between the demon and human worlds. The French studio La Cachette was invited to create this episode, which is not just a spectacular interlude, but a full-fledged audiovisual statement, following the golden rule of cinematography: “show, not tell”. Not only does it make a strong emotional impact, but it also makes us look at everything that has gone before in a new way, leaving us in a state of slight inner turmoil at the end.
Despite all the love for Devil May Cry, the last thing I want to talk about in this series is Dante. Yes, he’s still “our Dante” – a brash, charming demon hunter, only younger.
At times he reminds us of Nero from Devil May Cry 4, and this feeling is reinforced by the voice of Johnny Yong Bosch, the actor who voiced Nero in the games and did a brilliant job as Dante in the anime.
Why not a word about Virgil, even though he was in the trailer? It’s simple: his time hasn’t come yet. Mr “I am the approaching storm” will still make his appearance – but later. In the first season, he is as much bait for the audience as Dante himself.
But the real revelation for me was Lady and the White Rabbit. Lady, who at first seems like a typical “strong female character” with a hint of Bruce Wayne-esque “origins” (Arkham!), at one point jokes about it herself, anticipating the viewer’s reaction.
Though her real-life story turns out to be a little different, the image of a strong woman is organic here, because that’s what she was in the games. And closer to the finale, as Shankar suggested, the lady reveals herself in an unexpected way.
There will be some spoilers below – they will help to explain my position better. Everything that will be discussed is revealed already in the first half of the series, and I will leave the final twists out of it.
The series shows that even the devil can cry, taking the franchise title to a new semantic level. It literally shows the suffering of the lesser demons fleeing hell from the Mundus regime. Running with families. With children. Not because they want to take over Earth, but because it has become physically impossible for them to live where they were born. They are refugees. The same refugees from the Middle East who, after 9/11, became ‘unwanted guests’ in the eyes of the Western world.
Shankar has openly said that he created the series as a reflection on America before and after 9/11. And if you think Devil May Cry has nothing to do with that, the legendary Ebony and Ivory Pistols took their name from the Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder single of the same name. The white and black musicians sang about how two opposites can not only coexist in harmony, but create something greater together. This idea is reflected in the show.
In the very first scene, White Rabbit states that “Americans prefer to shoot, bomb or burn anything that doesn’t fit into their world view”. This idea becomes the basis for the first season’s conflict.
There are villains among both humans and demons – the show idealises no one. Vice President Baines, voiced by the late Kevin Conroy, is portrayed as a religious fanatic who believes America must wage a holy war in the name of God to solve the “demonic question”.
In doing so, Shankar added depth to the Devil May Cry universe, which had previously been stitched together with white threads, and his own vision of what the phrase “The Devil May Cry” meant. It ticked all the boxes necessary to get funding – strong women, refugees, segregation – but used them on its own terms, delivering a spectacular spanking to its own customer. At least it was graphic.
Diagnosis
If you’re an orthodox Devil May Cry fan for whom the slightest deviation from the canon is a crime, it’s better to pass. However, I am convinced that it is acceptable to break the canon for the sake of a deeper and more complete story, within reasonable limits. And this is such a case.
The authors have tried to create a multi-layered universe based not on a banal series of missions, as in the original 2007 anime, but on a full-blown global conflict. In doing so, they’ve given this world a context that it has long lacked. In games, the human world exists in a kind of vacuum – it seems to be there, but it’s always somewhere out there, not here.
Here, there is a strong script, spectacular battle scenes, and a killer soundtrack that make watching the game a real ride of emotions and nostalgia. The drama is expertly diluted with action, jokes, and banter, generously seasoned with references to Capcom franchises and more.
At the same time, the satirical overtones do not prevent the show from being perceived as a purely entertaining product – unless you want to ‘dive’ deeper.
If you still have any doubts about whether this is an anime you should be spending your time with, then you should. Make sure you watch it. It may evoke different emotions, but it will leave no one indifferent because even the devil can cry.
Pros
- Dante and his antics
- A charismatic antagonist
- A killer soundtrack
- Lots of game series references
Cons
- Dante has little screen time. The focus is on the secondary characters.
- The authors are more interested in criticizing the US than in demonic chopping.
- The action is much less than you’d expect from a DMC anime.
- A powerful cliffhanger at the end and an unabashed plan for a sequel
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