Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Producer and writer Adi Shankar is the best kind of fanboy. He’s the kind that makes his concepts reality. He started off with fan-made movie versions of fan favourite characters with shorts like The Punisher: Dirty Laundry and Power/Rangers. He then spun-off the positive responses to his work into bigger budget releases like Dredd and The Grey. But it’s his work on Netflix’s Castlevania and Castlevania: Nocturne, that has led to the latest video game adaptation to take audiences by storm in the form of Capcom’s Devil May Cry.
Based off the highly successful video game, the story follows Dante, a smart-ass suave and superhuman demon hunter who enjoys his job immensely. Dante is quickly pulled into chaos when a mysterious villain called White Rabbit (Hoon Lee) sets out to open a gateway between Hell and Earth, unleashing an apocalyptic war. But as secrets are revealed Dante (voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch) as well as a no-nonsense soldier named Mary (Scout Taylor-Compton) learn the lines between who’s good and who’s evil may not be as black and white as it seems.
Shankar and his team bring a great balance of old and new to Devil May Cry, by which I mean this is a series which viewers who have never played the game can easily follow while OG fans can shout and holler gleefully at every Capcom Easter egg that gets thrown at them.
The animation is smooth and fits perfectly into the world of DMC, similar to the art style found in Castlevania but highly reminiscent of the game itself, with action sequencesthat are *chef’s kiss* good! No exaggeration when I say this, as Episode Six (The First Circle) — an episode with zero dialogue — is so beautifully drawn and paced, it stands out as one of the best in this first season. The story is also well structured, dramatic and funny in all the right places while also straightforward, not wasting anyone’s energy by being unnecessarily complicated.
The voice actors are in top form too. Johnny Yong Bosch is probably most well-known from the TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo and Power Rangers Turbo, but he’s also quite experienced with voice acting, having appeared in anime series like Trigun and Bleach and video games like Persona 4. Same goes for Scout Taylor-Compton. Hoon Lee of Banshee fame is excellent as White Rabbit and the late Kevin “Batman” Conroy voices Vice President Baines in one of his last roles before he passed away. Truly all the voice actors, even the ones in smaller roles like Chris Coppola as Dante’s frenemy Enzo, deliver top notch performances that make their characters memorable.
In other words, Devil May Cry is a banger of an animated series. Excellent in its execution, it leaves you absolutely clamouring for more and with one hell (pun intended) of a cliffhanger, I can’t wait to see what the next season has in store for fans, old and new alike.
Sommer’s Score: 9 out of 10
Have you checked out Devil May Cry? What did you think of it? And you can check out more Netflix animated video game adaptations below:
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge-Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever, and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes. Double Tap Baby! Read More