Anime: Devil May Cry

Madhouse is the king of anime studios when it comes to tv series. Unfortunately it made the mistake of dealing with gaijins too much in a cheap attempt to cash in from the fans of western franchises. As a result produced lots of crappy anime-style shows with American heroes, none of which are remotely interesting past a few cameos and the name of the hero on the title. This is chronologically its first such treason and the first signs of how the formula doesn’t work in the least. Of course Madhouse was paid big bucks by Marvel to keep on making them regardless of quality and as such went on to create four more disasters in later years.

DMC (not to be confused with Detroit Metal City) is the anime adaptation of the homonymous action videogame series. The fans of the games were well aware that there wasn’t much of a plot there; just a generic story of the devil trying to take over the world and (blah blah) you skip the dialogues and start killing anything that moves. It was all poser action and that is what one would expect from the anime as well. Beyond that, it would be good to have the famous side characters as well; and we did… partially. They did have the chicks from the games having a cat fight, which was cool and sexy and all, but no Virgil. I mean, come on, he is the meat of all that mattered in the games. And no Nero either but I guess he would only get in the way and most of us dislike him anyway. As for the newly introduced characters? Some loli he keeps in his office to clean stuff and a generic weak demon in the finale. Oh such joy; did someone forgot that we expected COOL GAR UBER DUDES?

But you know what? Most of us didn’t think if the story mattered in the first place. I mean, each game had a generic story and objective; so why wouldn’t the anime have one too? And this is where it all fell apart actually; there wasn’t a story at all. It was just stand-alone episodes where Dante gets some mission from his office while sleeping or eating pizza, goes there, shots stuff, comes back and keeps… doing nothing until the next mission. What kind of a plot is this? He wasn’t having breaks in the games, nor were his missions easy enough to complete in 15 minutes. Plus, no real objective, like “get to the top of the tower and kill the devil” or something as simple as that.

In fact, there wasn’t a single threatening enemy in the entire show, so there is no excitement at all in all that. Hell man, even Alucard in Hellsing had moments you would think he would die. But here, that is not even a question; so why should you care? A god-level character can be good for only awhile without something more powerful or lethal standing in the way. And just like Kenshiro had Raoh, Dante has his Virgil; AND HE WAS ABSENT!

But beyond all that, if brain-dead action is all you want, chances are you will get it in spades, as Dante and the girls will typically shoot and slaughter anything that doesn’t appear human-looking enough. It has some cool action sequences in it with very good visuals and the soundtrack is powerful enough to excite you. Too bad there is very little animation in showing all that and it’s mostly still frames with flashes to replace motion. Another problem is how all the opponents are piss poor weak and there is no ongoing story to feel like there is some sort of progress or purpose in general in the direction of the anime. Plus, in Hokuto no Ken for example the hero there would have some really GAR moments even with weaklings by manipulating their bodies and asking them information before he makes sausages out of them. Here, there are no such cool moments. Dante is not looking for anything, nor he seeks information, nor he toys with his enemies. It is just shooting and slashing and blasting, and goddamn boring after awhile. Even brain-dead entertainment needs some variety, and I don’t mean the looks of the demons or if the background looks different on each episode.

This travesty of a story was expected, since the directing was given to an idiot called Itagaki Shin, who is talented only at making horrible shows. His roster consists of nothing else besides trash, such as Black Cat, Basquash, Mayoi Neko Overun and Ben-Tou. Who was dumb enough to give this ass a directing certificate?

So, is it a good anime? No it isn’t. The most minor cut scene from the games is more exciting than this entire anime, because it is ACTION WITH GAR and not a stand alone mission of 15 minutes with random stories and events that result to good old mayhem. A series is supposed to pack more plot, character development, mystery, and suspense than a videogame. The format allows it and we expect it to be as such. Yet look at this, it actually had less of all that than the games, believe it or not. Plus, instead of Virgil, all we had is this cute loli cleaning shelves. I mean WTF man, where is the GAR in this?

I have also read the various manga and comic books that were made based on the franchise. All of them were dropped and cancelled in a few chapters for the plain and easy to understand reason that THEY LACK AN INTERESTING PLOT! Plus, how will you offer all those cool battles in a comic book format? So as you can see, some things are simply impossible to adapt to other formats just because they have nothing of interest to show in them. And the anime is like that as well; got too boring if I don’t get to control Dante myself and killing all those demons with my skills. Sitting on a chair and looking at him eating pizza is sure not what I call enjoyment… It did make me hungry though.

Devil May Cry was a game before being an anime. I've never played the game so maybe my point of view will be different from someone who actually played it and already knows about the story. Please just keep this in mind while reading.[br][br]Animation[br][br]Man, this was good. Even awesome. The fights are amazing, the animation is flawless and really beautiful. This goes very fast, sometimes it's almost hard to really figure out who was killed how because of all this blood on the screen. But yes, without a doubt the very strongest point of this anime.[br][br]I have seen some scenes of the video game, and I think they did a pretty good job adapting it to an anime series. The same insanely huge monsters, the bullets flying at super high speed and Dante smiling while killing, all of this results in a very impressive visual show.[br][br]Sound[br][br]Pretty good. Usually, I only notice the music if the tracks are really good, and this doesn't happen to often, at least according to my tastes. Here (although not ALL tracks are great), I really enjoyed the OST. The tracks going with the fighting scenes are particularly good and fit the devilish atmosphere very well. [br][br]Story[br][br]Ouch. Things are getting a bit more difficult here. Story? Well... it's about a Devils Hunter, so he gets a new mission in each episode and has to kill some devils before the episode is over. That's it. It doesn't go any further. [br][br]I know it's not easy to have a real, deep story for a 12 episodes anime. But still. Here, there is really nothing. You don't know anything about the characters and you (almost) don't learn anything about them either. There are many lame scenes where Dante (the main character, see below) eats Strawberry Sundaes or is just doing nothing at home, waiting for work to come.[br][br]So, an anime which is about a devil killing other devils may not need a FMA-like storyline. Yet, this is a really, really poor plot.[br][br]Character[br][br]Dante, the main character, is just awesome. Strong, confident, funny, reckless... he's got everything. There is also his ex partner Trish, and a human hunting devils as well, Lady. These two girls are great as well, pretty sexy but with strong fighting skills.[br][br]Apart from that, only boring side characters. The devils are pretty much all the same, except for the final big boss if I can say so. This is really one of this anime evolving around a single, central, strong character. The other ones seem to be here because you can't make an anime with only one character.[br][br]Value[br][br]I'd still recommend this anime, and I may rewatch it in the future. Despite its weak points, it's a good anime, and as it is short, you don't have enough time to get really bored or annoyed by the few negative points I mentioned.[br][br]Enjoyment[br][br]I had a good time watching this anime. From what I read, people who played and loved the game were disappointed because they had really high expectations. I didn't, so it was 4 very pleasant hours for me.[br][br][br]

Origin[br]Devil May Cry is an anime series based on a 3rd-person hack-and-slash action game. Chronologically, it's between the first and fourth games.[br][br]Introduction[br]The Human world is connected to the Demon world, from which demons cross over. Dante is a demon hunter. He runs an establisment called Devil May Cry which functions as his office and residence.[br][br]Summary[br]The story is fragmented with every episode having its own little plot. There is zero continuity and character develpent. The characters are shallow and one-dimensional. It's mostly about Dante and bountyhunting pals fighting the demon of the day. Towards the end, some of the seemingly disconnected events are put together to create a prelude for the final fight.[br][br]Execution[br]The visual representation is certainly one of the series' good points. The visuals have a dark and gloomy feel about them. The characters are realisticly drawn with emphasis on detail. They don't develop huge sweatdrops or exaggerated expressions. The various demons (mostly taken from the games) are drawn quite well. The fluidity of the animation drops somewhat towards the end of the series. [br][br]The soundtrack is diferent from most anime. In stead of the typical J-Rock, featuring 'English' lyrics, there are no lyrics and mostly instrumental music. This is a major plus in my book. The voice acting and ambient sounds are OK. Nothing extraordinary.[br][br]THE FIGHTS[br]This type of anime is all about fights. Unfortunately, Devil May Cry only performs above-average in this department. There was the potential for something better. The pretty design of Badass Dante, the mean looking demons, and the nice soundtrack all combined would have been enough. This potential was thrown away in a misguided attemt at staying true to the game the series was based on.[br]A fight in the series looks exactly like one in the game. Dante kills hordes of demons in a matter of seconds. A couple of bullets from his guns and they burst as if he fired a cannon at them. A bit of uncertainty, suspense and anticipation would have done wonders but there is none. The focus is more on how cool and 'stylish' the bounty hunter looks when he/she slaughters the pathetic demons. The peak moment is fixing his/her hair afterwards. (in the game you get style points for hitting repeatedly without getting hit) The fights are too fast-paced, and generally not enough to compensate for the other shortcomings, which makes the series look watered down.[br][br]The padding[br]When not fighting, Dante is a loitering in his office, in a local bar, or somewhere in between. Padding is what you're looking at 80% of the time. It's like sake. It's weak and it's sour, it ain't good for a party, but it's great for a funeral.[br][br]Conclusion[br]This is what happens when you try to be true to the original. Reminds me of the movie based on ID's Doom. I expected much more and it was a disappointment but if you watch it with low expectations you might end up liking the series. [br]

Judging from the feedback, this has to be the most-watched and most-disappointed watch in recent memory. So, I appreciate your feedback, and ask to please give me a rating if your read this. This review is based on the DVDs and is considered fair and final.[br][br]Quick Take: Sure she's pretty, but can she carry on a conversation?   Devil May Cry is like that pretty girl at a dance who is so attractive, until you discover after an hour that she can't carry on a conversation. You want to like her because she's so darn pretty, but you end up talking to the gal near the water fountain because she is has some depth. DMC is too episodic to have a story to tell, and without any character development, it feels like you didn't go anywhere. Nothing upstairs, it's all in the wrapping. But, still pretty to look at. [br][br]Animation: The animation, directed by Shin Itagaki (Black Cat, Desert Punk) is quite fluid and even pretty, if pretty dark. Lots of good  fighting action, good backgrounds, no cinematics (lens flares, false perspective) but lots of good 2D work. There's not much true 3D, but there are scenes where it feels like it. However, the is nothing groundbreaking, just good solid 2D cel-shading computer animation, the current standard in the anime industry. The best part about the series was that the animation by Madhouse Studios stayed strong throughout. 8 [br][br]Sound, in 5.1, was very good. But not great.   OP/ED are non-vocal synth tracks; points deducted for imagination/creativity.  Opening Theme of "d.m.c" by rungran was a driving electrosynth blood-pumper to a montage, and the Ending Theme "I'll be your home" by Rin Oikawa is also a good ride. The BGM (background music) is also provided by rungran, and is mostly effective.[br]Expansive and directional soundstage, good foley, outstanding ambient noises, and the seiyuu were fine, and even excellent in parts. No glaring weaknesses; 8 [br][br][br]Story: episodic and demon-filled aimlessness.   It's a story about a demon-hunter named Dante, fighting the demon of the week. So each week a new demon, and there isn't much of a story arc. This could be because they used four different writers and didn't have a manga for reference, just a computer game. In short series, tating the story is really all about the "book," and there wasn't one.[br][br]For example, we're introduced to Patty in ep1, and nothing much happens to advance her story until the end. There is no real "boss" demon introduced in the first episodes, and the one we get in the last episode seems like a "final boss" in a game. No real side story, though Patty gets a backstory in the end. Episodic storylines without at least some character development gets, at best, a 7 from me, and the writers were evidently working at some distance from each other. 5[br][br]Character: who are those side characters anyway?  Dante is the lead character, voiced commandingly by an honest-to-goodness 40-yr-old seiyuu, Toshiyuki Morikawa (with over 300 credits to his name, one of the most distinguished of male seiyuu). Dante is laconic, lazy around the office, with a lust for ice cream sundaes; just how cool is that? The character design by Hisashi Abe is incredibly good, as you would expect from the character creator of Gunslinger Girls, Vampire Hunter D, and Chobits.[br][br]The story is what lets us down. Normally, with 12 episodes to develop character, the standard routine is 3-4 eps for main character development, 2 for backstory, 2 for sidestory, and at least one central conflict for the character to resolve, but here, it's all about the action. Shoot, chase, slash. Not much plot development, not much character development, just action. Big mistake, forgetting that action does not make a plot, and coolness isn't character development. If you were hoping to learn something about his character in a game, forget it, it isn't happening. And he has such cool side-characters, too, like Morrison, Trish and Patty! If you create a real cool character, at least give them some character development, or a relationship issue to resolve, so that we want to keep watching them to find out how it turns out. 6 [br][br]Value and Enjoyment:   Rewatch value is limited, as there isn't much there, but I might just do so because it's pretty and the action parts are thrilling. However, though it was nice dance, thank you, there has to be someone here I can talk to. 6 on value, and 7.5 on enjoyment just because I liked the action bits. [br][br]Conclusion:  You can enjoy yourself at 10 cents per dance. Nothing of much substance, but very pretty indeed.

It started off with lots of hope and potential but... I never played the game so I didn't know much about this series before I started watching but if the story in the game is anything like this anime I would never want to touch it. In other words this anime was rather disappointing. The first episode was a rather nice introduction of the series. It showed the main character taking on a "job" then pretty much performing it. In this case his jobs are hunting devils or cases that end up being him killing devils. The other main character is also introduced in the first episode whereas the rest come as the series progresses. The problem is that the entire series never gets past devil or devils of the day mode. Its cool for the first few but then once the same pattern comes you really don't know what the whole point is. The series also didn't go on for long so the ending was definitely slapped together on the go. I THINK they were trying to be smart and linking small things together but it really had no impact or logic at all. Your in the dark about what the whole point is till basically the last episode. Even when they tell you what the point is its fairly unsatisfactory. But enough ranting.

Animation
Parts of it were done well then others weren't soo good. In the beginning everything looked much better but as you watched more you caught the laziness alot more. I found that the fights scenes in the beginning looked more real and nice then later ones. Even then most of it didn't look that great. In numerous occasions you find cheesy limb and weapon movements. I think they also used more projectiles like guns to cover up the poor animated sword and melee fights. So you get lots of explosions and destruction that really doesn't make much sense. I guess none of that is worth complaining about but the main point is you won't find anything exceptional about the animation in this anime. I would say average or even below average in some parts of it.

Sound
I think this is the only part of the series I liked. The sound had its moments and also made a mark when it had to. The opening and ending lead the anime in and out so I can't complain. I think for me what stood out most was fighting music which complemented the scenes. I remember one episode where they specially introduced a "theme" song and actually played it in the animation while they were fighting. The voice acting was ok I'm not sure if they used the same VA's as the game but I doubt it.

Story
This was bad. I already mentioned how the anime was episode based thus you really found no story whatsoever. I had no idea where this anime was going and when I found out it was only 12 episodes I immediately deleted it. I mean by then I was on episode 10 and I still couldn't find a trace of a main story. Well there was ONE thing but I won't say anything about it. In any case it was weak. I was hoping for much more since it WAS based off of a game and I would of thought that the game had some sort of complete plot. I'm not sure if they are making another season or not but this series was more like an introduction then a series. I don't think anything really changed from the beginning to the end so :S.

Character
Sometimes animes that don't have stories can still develop and have good characters. This was not the case. The characters were very stereotypical. You had the cool and reserved lead Dante who would always solve the problem. The annoying girl that follows the main character around and complains about him but secretly likes him "Patty". Then other random characters they added when they needed. The only character that gets any developing is Patty and even then its not much. Shes still the same whiny and annoying girl at the end. You could actually say that the side characters from random stories get more work and change then the main characters. Aside from the characters not changing they just weren't very appealing either.

Value and Enjoyment
I'm not sure what I could take from this if anything. It had some weak themes that most anime have but nothing that would require much thinking. The rewatch value is zero since I didn't find much in it to begin with. I didn't hate the anime it was entertaining to watch. It was easy to watch because it had no real purpose. I also wanted to believe that something different was going to happen but it didn't. I'm not sure if I would want to recommend this anime but if you really want to watch it, it is for fans of fantasy and action fans. You get to see lots of fights with devils and monsters. Although my advice is stay far away from this anime. So choose wisely and have fun :)