Ranked #1954

Devil May Cry

Devil May Cry is a strange anime. It does one thing rather nice but utterly fails in another. I have no idea why or how that happened.

Story? Well, you might as well forget it, since you won't get any for about 9 episodes in a row. Yes, it's almost a slice-of-life series about Dante being cool. That's right, it has pretty much less of a story than the series of video games the setting is actually based on! Furthermore, at several points, you get an impression that some general plot will emerge (it eventually does, but already after you lose all hope for it), but in the very next moment you have your expectations shattered without any back thought. You could probably even watch episodes 2—9 out of order and not notice any substantial difference. For that exact reason, you may not worry about spoilers when discussing this anime, it's impossible to spoil either what is already being obvious from the start, or something that doesn't exist. "4" is a generous mark here, much thanks to the universe created by the game series.

Oh yeah, Dante. As I said before, everything in this show is about Dante and the process of him being cool. He's so cool he transcends the meaning of the word "cool", like the epitome of coolness never seen since the cool came to cool town. He acts cool, he dresses cool, he eats only cool food (pizza, strawberry sundae, beer, nothing else), he has cool overpowered weapons, and even his name is cool. Unsurprisingly, every time he's up for the job, he always manages to do it, usually single-handedly — be it a bike race, gambling, or killing a several-stories-tall demon in a matter of seconds without even appearing to have taken effort in the process. Yet he always fails to complete his primary objective, usually because of some righteous reason. How impossibly cool! And even during that, he appears to be bored by stuff happening around him. Sounds like an excellent mascot for boys and girls raised on MTV and related lifestyle values, hmm? ;)

Even Alucard, who is about the closest character to Dante in both the setting and appearance, has deeper reasons for stuff he is doing (not to mention the existance of character development, which was simply thrown out of the window in DMC). Though I'm not sure, but I think the whole DMC TV series is done as a parody on the Hellsing TV series aired a few years ago. Even the episode names suggest some not-really-hidden self-irony (Showtime!, Stylish!, get the idea?).

The other characters are mainly there to support Dante by contrasting with him or showing how terribly they fail in comparison.
There is Morrison, who is old-fashioned, intelligent and an exemplary gentleman, almost fully opposite to Dante.
There is Patty, who is a cute loli girl whose only sensible role in the series is to provide brief sequences of comic relief, despite the screenplay writer struggling to show her significance. The writer inevitably fails — so hard that I want to pity them.
There is Lady, who is almost as cool as Dante, but still not so; which, however, doesn't prevent her from having more success at making money. But hey, if Dante doesn't do it, it must not be very cool, right?
Also, there is Trish, who is between Lady and Dante on the scale on coolness but is seen much rarely than either.
Lastly, there is that typical small fry demon who looks like a character significant for the plot, although you wouldn't want him to be. Well, he still is. You have to be a man and brace yourself. Or, if you're a woman, become a man and brace yourself too.

I can't say much about picture and sound. They both seem to be fitting and high quality in general, but as for animation, some scenes could have definitely be animated better (better as in actually animated — you'll see what I mean after you watch a few episodes), and the music lacks variety somewhat (almost all of it is mere variations on the three dominant themes). Oh, and if you decide to watch it, get the HD version if possible — it's worth it, if anything.

All in all, DMC is that kind of stuff you would want to watch when you have nothing else to, and you don't want to concern yourself with anything deep at the moment, either. And don't expect anything beyond that, otherwise you'll be disappointed in no time at all. Just get your beverage of choice, a pack of suitable snacks, and turn on your TV/software player. Alternatively, go play Quake 3 deathmatch, which has about the same amount of plot with ten times the amount of action and thrill. read more

Story (6) - Well, to avaluate devil may cry in this aspect is a bit hard..if we look at the anime it has almost no relation between episodes, and thats a negative point. Well, there are some connections, but the way the story goes is not directly connected, it is like each episode has is own story. By the story of all anime i give a 3. But i think each episode story is well made, so i give a 8 as an average of each episode story.
(3+8)/2=5,5=6. If you like anime with good story, from the first episode to the last one, this is not your kind of anime. I personally dont mind, and im opening for different kind of stories.

Art (7) - Art is good, but nothing special in my opinion. Sometime it could be better, but is fine anyways, this is neither the strongest point neather the weakest.

Sound (10) - When i watched Dmc the first thing that got my attention was the opening..i liked it. Besides, character voices are good, the ending is also something great, background music is also nice. I have nothing negative to say about this aspect, so 10.

Character (8) - Dante is great, and his personality is well made. Some other suportt characters are also nice, but there are some that are not good at all. I think besides dante and 1 or 2 more, the rest is not anything special.

Enjoyment (9) - I will only say this. i watched the first episode, and became interested in watching, and this is always a good aspect. I saw all the episodes really fast, and believe me, that is rare for me, because if it is nothing special i take more time to see all the episodes.

Overall (8) - I agree when people says that devil may cry is nothing special, i already saw much better, but i cant say it is horrible, because it isnt. Its a fine and entretaining show, not the best, but good enough to be worth of watching. read more