REVIEW: ‘Devil May Cry’ Is a Millennial Fever Dream Of A Series

Netflix has kind of cornered the market, not just on good video game adaptations but also on adult animation. Whether it’s Powerhouse and Konami’s Castlevania (and its sequel Castlevania: Nocturne), studio Fortiche and Riot’s Arcane, or CD Projekt Red and studio TRIGGER’sCyberpunk: Edgerunners, Netflix has become the place where adult animation and video games meet. Studio Mir is looking to join the ranks with their adaptation of Capcom’s long-running series, Devil May Cry. 

Created by showrunner Adi Shankar (whose work with Netflix extends to the original Castlevania series and Captain Laserhawk), Devil May Cry is a bombastic take on the beloved series. It takes as many outlandish and weird swings as players have come to expect. It also embraces the edgy emo personality the visuals of 2013’s DmC: Devil May Cry embodied, and it’s better for it.

Devil May Cry on Netflix introduces audiences to orphaned demon-hunter-for-hire Dante (Johnny Yong Bosch) in a back alley, a cowboy president bowing to his religious zealot of a vice president who runs the demon-killing government agency Darkcom, and to Rabbit (Hoon Lee), the leader of a demon rebellion looking to take down humanity. The wacky confluence of storylines intersects through Mary, a woman with a past that made a hatred for the demonic bubble up so much that she’s dedicated her life to Darkcom and eliminating demons altogether.

Studio Mir has another hit on its hands with Netflix and Adi Shankar’s Devil May Cry.

As Rabbit and other sinister forces work to open a portal between the human and demon realm (aka Hell aka Makai), Dante finds that the key is around his neck, and his lineage as the son of Sparda puts him at the center of this world-ending plot. Only as both sides begin to exploit each other do the evil in humanity and the humanity in demons begin to add some credence to Rabbit’s rebellion.

With an Alice in Wonderland theme for part of the series and a love of nu metal, Devil May Cry is taking aim at every single Hot Topic-shopping millennial. And to be honest, it hits us pretty hard. While the script is the series’ biggest issue, the animation from Studio Mir is impeccable, at least when 3D isn’t the focus.

When it comes to animation, Studio Mir is easily the most recognizable Korean animation house. With recent work on X-Men 97, My Adventures with Superman, Star Wars: Visions, and the various Witcher animations, they’re on a bit of a hot streak when it comes to classic properties. For Devil May Cry, the studio puts its best foot forward where the action is concerned, constantly pushing each explosive battle larger and larger as everything develops. The animation is fantastic, Dante is gorgeous, and they somehow manage to capture the atmosphere of the early aughts perfectly with the end packages they put for each episode.

The only way the animation in Devil May Cry falters is with its 3D animated enemies. While they create a distinctive look for the demon enemies, it’s also jarring to see the clear separation between them and the environment. The disconnect does less to draw a clear difference to build tension and more to make me question if the animators were purposefully going for a smooth 3D rendering to call back to the time period. But that may be too forgiving.

The reality is that as much as Studio Mir’s 2D animation absolutely stands out when it comes to the characters on screen, Johnny Yong Bosch and Hoon Lee don’t just bring Dante and Rabbit but carry the entire series. Both characters work on opposite ends of vocal registers, and one moves to pull out laughs and the other to intimidate. The balance that the duo brings to the series through their performance is stellar and goes a long way when the script’s dialogue shows its weakness throughout the season.

Sadly, the bifurcated narrative, with one end following Dante and the other, Mary, suffers for both character arcs (with Mary’s falling far shorter). In fact, if not for the standout Episode 6 animated by Studio La Cachette of Genndy Tartakovsky’s creations fame, her character would feel like a husk. Mary is underdeveloped from the jump, a cool soldier with a traumatic past. She doesn’t stand out against her tropes nor does she fully lean in to them. That said, the empty feeling she leaves behind is corrected by the end of the season.

For Dante, his surface-level approach to life sometimes puts him closer to Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool than Capcom’s protagonist. The references to other Capcom properties may offer cool Easter Eggs for a listicle, but Dante is at times consumed by bits instead of being accented by them. But much like Mary, Dante’s character comes into his own and winds up being closer to the white-haired sad boy we know and love.

Devil May Cry oscillates between good and weird and winds up coming out on top.

Mary’s character arc is a good example of Devil May Cry as a series. Outside of the humor and violence, the series can’t seem to nail down a consistent tone or narrative message. At moments, Dante’s cringe one-liners land as intended, and at other moments, they don’t. It keeps moving back and forth between eye rolls and “this slaps” moments, and the whiplash continues right until the last three episodes.

Still, by the time the last needle drop of the season takes place with “American Idiot” in the background, I just forgot about any dialogue or narrative frustrations I had. Because, sequence after sequence, Studio Mir and Adi Shankar’s team deliver excellent television moments. The strength of the series’ gimmicks actually outweigh any flaws we see exposed in the storytelling.

Devil May Cry is a weird show for me. Is the story and writing fantastic? No. Should every 2D animation studio venture into 3D work? Definitely not. But the action animation is wicked, the needle drops are perfect with “Butterfly,” “American Idiot,” and “Last Resort” coming in as top moments, television needle drops easily, and finally, this feels like adult animation so perfectly curated for those of us who came of age in the early-aughts. From the music to the genuine Hot Topic aesthetic, this spectacle of a show with its over-the-top humor that never quite reaches camp is just good.

To put it simply, Devil May Cry is a vibe and a half, and it has me locked in and ready for a second season. While Adi Shankar’s vision may need an editor at times, it’s clear his reverence for the source material, which is just enough to make fun of it in the way that we all make fun of DmC: Devil May Cry. It may not be perfect, but it’s one hell of a time.

Devil May Cry Season 1 and Season 2 are streaming now, exclusively on Netflix.

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