Devil May Cry
Hey everyone and welcome, today we will talk about season one of the show Devil May Cry so ya know spoilers ahead. Fun Fact: This is Kevin Conroy’s first posthumous role that isn't Batman since his passing in 2022. This show came out in 2025 and stars Johnny Yong Bosch, Scout Taylor Compton, and Hoon Lee and was created by Adi Shankar. So without further ado, let's get right into it.
Devil May Cry follows Dante an excellent demon hunter who has lost his family and the only thing he has left to remember them by is this amulet. The White Rabbit steals the Force Edge, the sword of the demon knight Sparda to open the gate between the worlds and bring chaos but he is missing one thing, Dantes amulet. When the government gets involved they make things worse and the White Rabbit gets the amulet so Dante must partner with the government agency Darkcom to get the amulet back and save the world.
Devil May Cry is an action fantasy show. It has similar vibes to DOTA: Dragons Blood, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, or Hellboy
Prior to this show, I had never heard of this game, but the trailer was full of action, and they released a song with Evanescence that caught my attention. The show is American anime which I know sometimes gets mixed reviews from people who love Japanese anime but I thought they did a good job. The show mixes supernatural elements with political and religious elements that were interesting to see how would the government react to this. I love a show where none of the sides are right or wrong because you can't really group them together and then you have Dante who is not on either side.
Dante is voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch, who has a lot of roles under his belt but when I saw who he was I immediately remembered he was the Black Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The strawberry sundae-loving Dante is very arrogant and I was wondering why he was acting like that but then I saw him fight and he deserves to act that way. He fights really well and I chucked it up to the anime style because I see often in anime they can do feats that a normal human can’t do but after seeing him heal quickly I knew something was different. We learn that he is actually half demon from his dad's side which he denies for a long time and eventually, he embraces it and becomes even stronger. He's honest which I enjoyed because there were so many people who weren't in this show and it kind of balanced his arrogance. No matter what he is going to fight and if you think he is giving his all, he has more to give. Lady aka Mary betrays him in the end so I'm interested to see how he gets out.
Dante’s mentor Enzo was a funny addition to the cast. He is in charge of hiring the help to kill these demons and has weirdly become one of Dantes's friends in a weird way. He is the reason that Dante gets into this mess with the government but he also is very aware that Dante can handle himself. it was sad in the finale when he tries to kill a demon and gets killed before he can help out.
Mary Aka Lady was traumatized by her dad when she was younger who seems to have turned himself into a demon and killed her mother. She has dedicated herself to becoming the ultimate demon hunter and what she lacks in power or fighting ability she makes up for with technology. She has a narrow view of the world which bugged me and oftentimes would not take a second to realize what she thought she knew was wrong. I love that through Dante she starts to unpack the stuff of her past and realize that she might not know the whole truth and that just because the government told her something doesn't mean it's right. The biggest character growth for her is coming to terms with the fact that not all demons are bad, just like humans they have their bad seeds. She makes some good points throughout the season but she's a puppet of the government so the way she handles stuff is not the best. In the end, I thought they really made progress and I saw her and Dante becoming friends but she betrayed him which made me sad because he seemed happy to be on a first-name basis with her. I think she can redeem herself but she may have to separate herself from Darkcom.
The show offers a critical take on governments, more specifically the USA and their involvement in wars which seems to be an allegory that is shown with this war on demons which mirrors the war on terrorism but I'm sure you can argue it mirrors older wars like Vietnam and WW2 as well. In the first episode the White Rabbit Says “Americans, the most dependable of your species. Anything that doesn’t fit your narrow understanding, you shoot, bomb, or burn without hesitation”. You might not think much of it then but it is shown throughout the season. The government labels all these demons as bad and constantly uses religion to justify why things need to be done and why sacrifices need to be made but in reality, it's not all that great. We find out from Mary that some of the demons are refugees who have escaped an unlivable land. The Vice president orders them to be killed simply because they are demons after Mary says not to kill them. Later the US sends bombs through a portal that they know goes to the demon world which kills lots of other demons who are not involved in this war and just want to survive. They shoot first, ask questions later, and manipulate the answers. It was interesting to see because we see the lack of trying to understand what's going on, understand that some are victims, and how you can create a monster. On both sides there are good and bad and the circular nature of fighting where one side attacks the other which just repeats eventually leads to so many innocent people dead. I think some might say this might be too political in a show like this but I like the take because it seems a bit more grounded because the government will definitely try to eradicate them first to ensure human life survives but the issue is that no matter what there will be innocent lives lost.
The show has some cool fight scenes that they paired with some awesome music. From the scene in the first episode when the White Rabbit gets the sword, I just knew it was going to be intense. This is something I think anime shows do so well, making these fight scenes intense, but fun, and making you question if people are human or something else. It just further solidified why animation is important for everyone not just kids because I don't think something like this could be replicated in live-action and be as cool as the show. The show also doesn't hold back on gore which ups the intensity because you see how these characters are fighting for their lives.
My favorite part of this season is finding out that Mary and The White Rabbit's stories are very similar, how they have crossed paths, and how Mary is the reason for The White Rabbit becoming a threat. The animation is different as well which is a cool thing they can do in a show like this. The White Rabbit grows up fearing humans after being in foster care or with an abusive family while Mary fears demons after almost being attacked by one and her dad experimenting and becoming one and then he kills her mom. Mary leans on humans to learn how to stop demons that ruined her family and The White Rabbit finds a sense of belonging with these demons who are just trying to survive but the world they're in is making them sick so he makes a way to get them to earth so they can survive. Their stories cross when The White Rabbit is leading some refugees to safety after getting chased by a big monster. Mary catches some demons who point her to where the group crosses over and Mary is waiting for them. The group with the White Rabbit is not armed and even surrenders but Mary insists on killing them all when the demon comes through the gate that was chasing them. We see how so many innocents are killed and the White Rabbit is injured. The White Rabbit then vows to break the barrier because he has constantly seen how humans can be evil and has lost faith in them. It's a moment when I realized that while I think the actions of the rabbit are extreme, he's only doing it because of these events that have led to this moment and he has a special hate for Darkcom and Mary. It was shocking to find out that he is actually not a demon. It's interesting because it reminds me of how so often the survivor becomes what many see as the villain but doesn't want to acknowledge their own part in making this villain. I just thought it was so interesting that their story was intertwined and that Mary's rash decisions are the reason why they are in this mess and how people only can endure so much before they snap. It's one of those moments where you're like I don't agree with the villain but I see where they are coming from.
Devil May Cry was a show that surprised me and had me invested to see how it goes. I do hope it gets more seasons because I have so many questions like Who is Sparda? Is he alive? How did Dante’s Brother survive? Will his brother be the new villain? just to name a few.
