Devil May Cry is a video game franchise that centers Dante, a demon hunter and paranormal mercenary, as he dedicates himself to killing demons and other supernatural creatures. The first game came out in 2001 and has been met with great success throughout the past 20 years. Dante and his brother Vergil have appeared in various games as skins, playable characters, and rewards.
Not the First Animated Series
This isn’t the first time a studio has taken a stab at animating the series. The first animated series aired in 2007. While it was created by the animation giant Madhouse, the series had some mixed reviews. The anime’s choice of making the series episodic and focusing more on Dante’s day-to-day instead of the gory action and main plot from the game divided fans.
New Take on the Series
Most people would expect an animated series for a video game to be faithful to the source material. However, this Devil May Cry series has taken some liberties with character designs and potential plot points.
At Lightbox 2024, Adi Shankar hosted a panel where he showed bits of what he and his team were doing for the series. This included a peek at Lady, another demon hunter, in a mech suit, which is nothing like her usual look. He did show Lady in her iconic outfit, but we need to wait and see what direction the team is taking with her.
Based on the trailer, this adaptation takes place before the events of Devil May Cry 3. It takes inspiration from the Devil May Cry 3 manga that takes place before the events of the third game. However, it doesn’t seem to be a faithful adaptation. While the trailer features White Rabbit, a character that appears exclusively in the Devil May Cry 3 manga, it also shows Dante activating his Devil Trigger. Dante is not able to do that until the events of the third game. This raises questions as to how much of this show will be faithful to the source material. Based on what I’ve seen so far, it’s more likely that it will be an alternate story full of creative liberties while staying true to the spirit of the canon story.
A creative liberty the team took was to replace Reuben Langdon, Dante’s long-time voice actor, with Johnny Yong Bosch. While Bosch voices Dante’s nephew, Nero in Devil May Cry 4 and 5, it is an odd choice to replace Langdon. Perhaps Dante and Nero swapped bodies? It could also be a way to portray a younger version of Dante. If the show continues, hopefully Langdon will be brought in to voice a mature Dante.
Expect the Unexpected
When I clicked the opening credit video, I was not expecting Rollin’ by Limp Bizkit to play. It’s the most 2000’s thing ever, but it’s a great nod to the era where this game gained popularity. Throughout the video, there are references to the many Devil Arms used by Dante and Vergil. There are also nods to various characters and enemies that appear throughout the entire franchise.
In a sneak peek trailer, we see Dante go one on three against some demons terrorizing a woman. While he starts mouthing off his enemies with a line from Marvel vs. Capcom 3, he immediately turns into a dork when he thinks too hard about being cool.
Based on the trailers released so far, it seems that this eight episode season will be an origin story that will set up multiple seasons. Well, if Netflix doesn’t cancel it at some point.
Devil May Cry will stream on Netflix starting April 3, 2025.
