Opening Song: D.M.C. (by Rungran)
Credits Song: I'll Be Your Home (by Rin Oikawa)
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis of each episode and my opinions at the very end.
Mission 01: Devil May Cry
In a dingy bar late one night, Dante shares rumors with the barkeep about a dive where someone can exchange money for a life. Growing increasingly annoyed by what they hear, two patrons reveal themselves to be demons in human guise. Dante dispatches the lot and exits the building. The next day, J.D. Morrison, a liaison and close friend of Dantes' arrives at the Devil May Cry office with a job offer. A young girl by the name of Patty Lowell has come into a large inheritance and requires an escort. Dante initially refuses the job for being too easy, but with a mountain of debt piling up (presumably from the repair costs after the DMC3 ending), he is reluctantly forced to accept the job.
On their way to claim the fortune, various demons try and fail to kill Patty. In a hotel room, Patty tells Dante that her mother was hunted and probably killed by demons, which is why she was put in an orphanage, to minimize the risk of also becoming a target. Seeing a poster on the wall for an opera staring a woman that looks remarkably like her mother, Patty decides to slip away in the night. Dante forces the hotel clerk, Sid (a lesser demon in human guise), to drive him to the opera. During the car ride Sid explains how the four most powerful demons in the underworld are currently vying for power, but claims to not know which one is after Patty.
I really like the little character details they added in, such as Dante doing his best to shield Patty from the ugly side of his work.
Dante saves Patty from another demon attack and safely transports her to
their final destination where they meet another woman named Lowell, who
turns out to be the real heir to the fortune; she just used Patty to
draw media attention away from herself. However, one of the Lowell
woman's three uncles, desiring the fortune for himself, transforms into a
demon and tries to assassinate all the potential heirs. Dante
dispatches the foe and Patty is compensated by the Lowell heir for
having been "exposed to the ugly world of adults."
Mission 02: Highway Star
Still very deep in debt and unable to pay his lender, Lady
(a fellow demon hunter), Dante is forced to assist her on a job. When
Dante finds out the job involves removing a human biker gang called the
"Devil's Nest", he tries walking away, reasoning that humans are more of
a pain to deal with than demons. Lady talks the gang leader, Vincent,
into racing Dante by suggesting a high-speed competition would lure out
the speed-demon "Red Eye", a mysterious biker. Vincent's brother
recently died while competing against "Red Eye" and now he is looking
for revenge. Red Eye appears during the race as expected, and reveals
its true demonic form when Dante takes the lead. With some help from
Lady the demon is destroyed and all the money (minus some to cover
property damage cased in the fight) goes toward paying off Dante's debt
to Lady.
Mission 03: Not Love
Morrison arrives at the office with another job for Dante which he eagerly accepts in order to get away from Patty who is upset over a broken TV. The client, a millionaire mayor, is convinced his daughter is dating a demon because he witnessed the boyfriend, Brad, using magic to revive a dead flower. There have also been a string of murders in the area so gruesome the killer had to have been "inhuman". Brad is aware of Dante, and knowing he could never defeat an opponent like him, surrenders. Brad informs Dante that the mayor's butler had summoned him to prepare the way for Belphegor, but that he does not wish for his master succeed because he loves the human world as it is. Dante finds and kills the demon responsible for the string of murders (another minion of Belphegor) and stops Belphegor at the door to the mortal plane. Dante informs the mayor that he wont be able to complete the job because he "only kills demons."
I was surprised to see at least one episode that touched on friendly demons (see Seere or Paymon), which isn't something that is typically brought up in media.
Mission 04: Rolling Thunder
Lady takes a contract job from a priest to hunt a lightning she-devil that has been burning the townspeople alive. While on another job, Lady has a run-in with the demon but is given the slip. Over the next couple of days the two spat with each other by throwing grenades, smoke screen, ruining clothes and hair. Their quarrel comes to a head in the church where the two battle it out until Dante arrives to break up the fight. The she-devil turns out to be Trish, Dante's ex-partner. Trish has been hunting a devil in the area, one disguised as a priest, but decided to have a little fun on the side by messing with Lady. The trio work together to take out the angelic-looking priest demon and then continue to meet up occasionally.
Lady and Trish billing Dante for their clothes was probably meant to be a harmless gag, but it comes off as very mean spirited.
Mission 05: In Private
The waiter at Dante's favorite diner, Cindy, is courted by a man named Issac, but Cindy insists she wont consider dating him until he becomes a "little more like Dante." Issac starts stalking Dante and comes to believe he is an assassin for hire, but Cindy doesn't buy it. Desperate for evidence, Issac breaks into Dante house and has a run-in with Sid. Sid gifts Issac a demon-summoning bell and shortly afterward witnesses Dante fighting a demon. When Dante comes into the diner the next day he sees Issac acting strange. Cindy tells Dante that Issac took something she said out of content and now he thinks Dante is a literal demon. Patty and Lady also mention how they have seen a strange man snooping around the Devil May Cry office. Issac tries skipping town but Dante catches up to him, and after destroying the bell plus a few demons, the two make amends.
The little details and quirks they added to Dante's character, such as liking strawberry sundaes, having terrible luck, and not locking his front door, were a nice touch.
Mission 06: Rock Queen
Morrison gives Dante a job as a treasure hunter's bodyguard in order to
get the cash needed to fix his broken jukebox. The treasure hunter, Tim,
plays his favorite song - Future in my Hands,
which lures in a siren-like demon. Tim recognizes the demon as Elena
Huston, his childhood friend and the singer of 'Future in my Hands'.
Elena always wanted to be a famous singer but struggled to find success.
Out of desperation she entered into a bargain with a demon, exchanging
her body for a spell-binding voice that assured her fame. Dante manages
to separate the demon from Elena and decapitate it, but not without
leaving a scar on Elena's neck. Elena survives and gives up her career
in music to marry Tim.
Mission 07: Wishes Come True
A woman arrives at the Devil May Cry office to request Dante's help in
proving her older brother's innocence, whom she claims has been falsely
charged with murder. Before Dante can refuse the woman vanishes, leaving
behind her ring as payment. Dante gets himself arrested and thrown in
Devil's Prison, landing in a cell next to Kerry, the woman's brother.
Kerry tells Dante he fished a mysterious mask out of the river and later
that day, after loosing a game of darts to his friend Claude, shouted "drop dead"
and the demon-mask granted his wish. Dante stages a jail break from the
demon run Devil's Prison and then meets up with Lady for a game of
cards. Lady tells Dante to "Go to Hell" after catching him
cheating, prompting the demon-mask to appear. The demon is slain and
Kerry is cleared of any wrongdoing. Dante also returns the ring he
received as payment to Kerry after hearing his sister died of an illness
just after his incarceration.
Mission 08: Once Upon a Time
A man named Earnest arrives at the Devil May Cry office claiming to be
Anthony's (aka Dante) childhood friend. Years ago a small port town on
Morris Island burned to the ground. Many of the residents say it was the
work of a demon and blamed Anthony's mother. Earnest claims to have
found evidence that will clear Dante's name, but Dante insists he isn't
Anthony and has never met Earnest before. Earnest's "evidence" turns out
be a Hell Gate - a doorway between the human and demon worlds. The
demon that steps through the door attacks Dante, believing the blood of
Sparda (Dante's father) will allow it to take over the demon world. Now
realizing the demons that razed the town to the ground were after Dante
all along, Earnest warns Dante to never return to Morris Island.
However, Sid insists that humans are foolish creatures and had Dante not
been there, Earnest's actions would have doomed the town for a second
time.
Mission 09: Death Poker
A gambler from hell that takes the lives of his opponents, known only as
"King", sends Dante an invitation to a poker game aboard a luxury
cruise ship. During the first game against four pro players, one of the
men collapses dead but the game continues. Another man dies during the
second game. The only female player dies during the third and the last
man in the fourth, leaving just Dante as the sole survivor. Dante then
pulls a gun on Lady, insisting they continue to bet with their lives.
Lady is forced to shoot Dante, at which point the demon pulling the
strings appears. Anyone that held an item enchanted by the demon was
"king" and overcome with a competitive desire. With the demon's
confession out of the way, Dante stops playing dead and defeats the
demon in a game of cards.
Mission 10: The Last Promise
Two disciples of Sparda, Lord Modeus (a black demon) and his twin brother Baul (a white demon) start hanging around the area. Baul is convinced that Sparda is dead and only by taking Dante's life will he gain Sparda's power. Modeus thinks otherwise and tries to mediate, unsuccessfully, between Baul and Dante. The two duel in the park. Dante kills Baul and Modeus shortly afterward.
Mission 11: Showtime!
Dante is given a job protecting a necklace from jewel thieves, only to discover it is actually demons that are after the necklace. Overcome with guilt the client, a woman named Nina, agrees to retrieve the necklace the next day. Patty, believing Nina looks just like her mother, sneaks off to her hotel room with the necklace. When Patty arrives at the hotel room she finds the floor covered in runes and parts from the demons Dante has killed over the course of the show. Sid, who literally wore human skin to get close to Nina, confirms that Nina is indeed Patty's mother and threatens to kill her unless Patty places the amulet on an alter at the center of the room. Patty does as instructed, which opens a door to hell. Both Sid and Dante jump through the portal while Morrison evacuates the hotel.
Mission 12: Stylish!
Lady and Trish arrive from the library where they had been researching the amulet. There they discovered it contained a magic stone called "Allen's Tear" that came into being when a powerful sorcerer, Allen Lowell - the ancestor of Patty and Nina, sealed away the demon Abigail; a demon said to be on par with Sparda. With the seals now broken, Sid has absorbed Abigail's power and begun to destroy the human world. Patty uses a portal that opens briefly to gain access to hell and find Dante. Just as she does, however, Sid pulls her back into the human world to thank her for making his rise to power possible.
Dante arrives and defeats Abigail using his devil trigger (demonic form). He then puts down Sid for good. The city is rebuilt and Dante, Trish, and Lady continue to hunt demons. Patty goes on to live with her mother but still stops by the Devil May Cry office on occasion to visit Dante.
Final Thoughts
Something about this series just clicks with me. The chill vibes, the
atmosphere, the character's interactions with each other and the mundane
drama makes me content to leave the stylish combos to the games. I like
that they didn't try to adapt the video games plot and instead explored
the world on a smaller scale, the day-to-day life of Dante and how he
interacts with normal people; something the games never really delved
into. Fans already know how powerful Dante is, that he will always win,
and the show gave us something different while remaining faithful to the
look and personality of Dante, which can't be said about some of the video games (*cough* DMC *cough*).
It was nice to see how Lady and Trish first met, how demons effect the
lives of everyday people, and how Dante is getting on after the (second)
death of his brother.
Of course this means that everything moves at a slower pace than the
video games because Dante is fighting weaker demons most of the time and
not the world-ending monsters of the video games. But with only
twelve-episodes and a TV budget, it is probably for the best that they
kept the story light and the action scenes to a minimum.
As an
extension of a video game franchise the DMC Animated Series serves its
purpose and was decently animated for a budget series. It's a simple-fun
bit of side media about the contracts Dante gets when he isn't saving
the world. It won't blow your mind or reveal anything special about the
characters, but if you have some spare time to kill and like DMC, it may
be worth a watch. You might even like the show better if you know
nothing about DMC. I have several friends and family members that really
like the series despite not being into video games.
Have you seen the DMC Animated Series? What were your thoughts on the anime? If you haven't seen it, do you plan to?
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