Just a quickie update on the Devil May Cry series review, I am going a little outside of my realm because apparently there is a Devil May Cry anime...

And both ONOE and I will be teaming up and reviewing it for the Devil May Cry Series Review.

ONOE, most of you lurkers know, is our resident anime-head, so I asked if he would help give a less biased review to counter my own.

As for my share of the review, I honestly don't know what to tell all of you: I am a DMC fanboy but I can't stand a majority of the anime I have ever watched. Which way will my review swing?

Think of it as some incentive to actually read the forums now and again

Yup I guess I made a bigger splash here than I thought I would.
@Laughingman: Since we are both reviewing it and giving our opinions, how were we going to work this? I submit and you do a second opinion against mine, or vice-versa?

This pairing could be interesting. I want to see a fight erupt between reviewers

Devil May Cry Anime Review


Laughing Man sent me an email a short while ago, asking me if I had the pleasure of watching the Devil May Cry anime. Laughing Man currently has a running Devil May Cry series review (which is as extensive and thorough as it is a very funny and witty review).

I’ve only ever played Devil May Cry 4 on my Xbox 360 so I’m not that well versed in the mythology of the games, but I do get the basic gist.

The show was produced by the anime studio Madhouse and was directed by Shin Itagaki. Bingo Morihashi, one of the writers for the second, third and fourth games, was also on the writing staff. The series debuted on WOWOW television network on June 14, 2007 and ran for 12 episodes. American rights were transferred to Funimation Entertainment in 2008.

The theme is apparently about a man-demon named Dante who is a demon slayer for hire. He operates a small business, ironically named ‘Devil May Cry’, with an older gentleman named Morrison who acts as Dante’s agent and business partner. A consistent theme through the anime is that a client approaches Morrison with a personal dilemma, Morrison introduces the client to Dante, and Dante reluctantly takes the job but ends up genuinely wanting to help whomever is in trouble.



The first episode of the anime develops this concept as Dante must be a bodyguard to a little girl named Patty Rowell, an orphan girl who is destined to inherit a fortune if she can appear at her family member’s mansion by a specific date. It isn’t that easy, as one of the four potential heirs is summoning demons to attack her. After the episode we seemingly wave goodbye to Patty, however the inheritance is actually a scam and Patty wants to stay with her bodyguard Dante, thus making her a permanent character in the series. However, Patty’s purpose in the anime is quickly reduced to being the medium used to explain situations to the audience, usually Morrison explaining the setup for each episodes plot to Patty.



Also included in the series are the returning female leads, Lady and Trish.


Lady is a demon hunter, like Dante, who has an extremely large arsenal of military projectiles and is usually riding a motorcycle. She dresses in a fetish school girl outfit accessorized by ammunition packs across her belt. Lady has a very aggressive personality, and is always commenting that Dane ‘owes her money’ or has some debt to pay off - exactly what that debt is, it’s never explained.


Trish, who appears later in the series, is much more calm and collected like Dante, however she seems to be more of an intelligence gatherer and rumor chaser than an actual devil hunter. A sorceress of sorts, Trish has all of the acrobatic abilities of Dante and other demons, but she can cast thunderbolts from her hands. In the episode where Trish is finally introduced, she crosses swords with Lady, who not knowing who Trish is, believes her to be a demon and the main antagonist of the episode. Besides trading some fights with one another, the two also compete with each other on a more stereotypically feminine level, illustrated by their trying to out-fashion one another in a clothing store. Later in a fight against the real antagonist, Dante casually introduces Trish to Lady and they battle side by side.

Another reoccurring character is the mysterious Sid, a hunchback-like ‘minor demon’ who is less of an antagonist and more of a consistent nuisance to Dante and the others. Often appearing like a lackey to the antagonists of each episode, Sid seems to have some other agenda which rears its head in the final two episodes. Sid is very meager, and never fights directly against Dante until the end, however he does provoke Dante into accomplishing a few tasks for his own personal gain.

The animation, like nearly all of Madhouse’s work, is high quality. The lighting effects and the action sequences are great for a short-run series. While motion is noticeably more fluent than any other anime, the backdrops and the individual characters are fairly detailed. Scenes like the opening credits and the motorcycle races of “Highway Star” are very impressive. One con is that demons always seem to have a ‘foil’ look: the shiny texture like on special edition trading cards. Also, the majority of the demons feel relatively uninspired, but for as long as they usually last in an episode, you don’t have time to knock them. However each of the antagonist demons are as two-dimensional as a paper plate, and outside of ‘KILL DANTE!’ they have the combined personality of a wet carrot.

The voice acting for the Japanese version (the only version I have seen as of yet) is pretty good. Dante is voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa, renowned Japanese voice actor whose credits include Bleach, Black Lagoon, Naruto, and, most noticeably, as the Japanese voice actor of Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and the Final Fantasy video games. Trish is voiced by Atsuko Tanaka, infamous for her outstanding work in the Ghost in the Shell series as Major Motoko Kusanagi. Lady is voiced by Fumiko Orikasa, whose work off the top of my head is most noticeably the voice of Seras Victoria in the original Hellsing series and OVAs.

The music varies, but is pretty consistent in terms of quality. The opening theme, “D.M.C” is not as strong as “Time Has Come” from the Devil May Cry 4 soundtrack, but successfully sets the tone of the anime, and is one of the few title themes that is pleasurable for both Eastern and Western audiences, unlike most J-Pop opening themes that Funimation changes into corny rap songs or metal rifts. The ending track, “I’ll Be Your Home”, is a lot more solemn, and the animation of Dante, brooding alone over a glass of whisky is a shockingly and depressing melancholy ending to an episode.

Disappointingly, the individual episodes are just that: individual episodes. Save for reoccurring characters and the accumulating main plot involving Sid, every episode is stand alone without any tie-ins from one to another. Due to each episode being around 20 minutes long each, they are so tightly condensed that it’s underdeveloped at times. Though a few episodes do a good job at explaining a decent story, a lot of them are not nearly as flushed out as they should be in terms of plot and character development.

The action sequences… are mediocre. Sad to say it, the action is far between, usually involving only one fight at the end of each episode that lasts about thirty seconds. A usual fight starts with a demon saying he will kill Dante, and then it takes a few swipes before Dante either blasts it away in a hailstorm of bullets, or cuts it in half with his enormous broadsword. Originating from one of the biggest action games in history, it’s a disenchanting downturn.

My final verdict is that Devil May Cry will only appeal to the hardcore Devil May Cry fans, and few others. The plot is fairly ambiguous for those new to the series, and veterans would probably rather play the fast-paced games than watch what is, more or less, a Devil May Cry soap opera in comparison. Still, the series isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen, and I wouldn’t even say it is bad; it’s just not what people would expect.

An episode breakdown is as follows:
1. "Devil May Cry" – Dante must protect Patty as she journeys to inherit a fortune.
2. "Highway Star" – Lady and Dante participate in motorcycle street races to defeat the demon Red Eye.
3. "Not Love" - A wealthy man hires Dante to kill his daughter’s boyfriend, a demon.
4. "Rolling Thunder" – Lady meets Trish after being hired by a priest to kill demons.
5. "In Private" – Dante is the heartthrob of a local waitress and a jealous man begins to spy on him, but gets in deeper than expected.
6. "Rock Queen" – A demon possesses a rock singer whose music causes chaos.
7. "Wishes Come True" – A genie-like demon grants peoples most malevolent, and unintentional, wishes.
8. "Once Upon A Time" – Dante is mistaken as a young man named Tony, and must save a town he and his mother supposedly died in.
9. "Death Poker" – Dante takes part in a poker challenge on a cruise ship to defeat a demon who murders the losers.
10. "The Last Promise" – A story of two demon brothers that mirror’s Dante’s love/hate relationship with Virgil.
11. "Showtime!" – Patty’s mother surfaces with a magical amulet that seals away a great evil.
12. "Stylish!" – The power of Abigail is granted to Sid and it’s Hell on earth.

Here are a few more pictures I couldn't add through the forum and the intro video:

I posted my half of the Devil May Cry anime review here
I thought it wasn't a bad anime but it was light on plot and on action.

Nice. Now I can pick your review apart to make mine look better.
Joking.

Seriously though, you made a really fair and balanced review pointing out the good and the bad. I'm a pessimist so I'll just focus on the negative and turn it into a cynical review like everything else... Except Valkyria Chronicles.

Love love love that game now more than ever.

And I have posted my copy of the Devil May Cry Anime review live on the site:
http://www.cheshirecatstudios.com/reviews/devil-may-cry-anime/#laughingman

Hopefully it's enough to keep everyone entertained, though I'm not so sure it's all that funny. You be the judges.

Thanks for contributing again, ONOE!!

Nice review Laughing Man. I guess we are opposites in our review. I look for the positive and you enjoy ranting, but my review is so boring in comparison to yours.

Yes, Patty bothered me a lot, too. Always complaining and complaining about pizza boxes and garbage. If they had approached the story from your perspective it might have been a great anime.

Hahaha. This was a fun review! The contrast of the reviews was a good touch: Onoe was weighing the positive with the negative to make a solid review, and Laughing Man made a cynical rant as always.

Good work boys!