Devil May Cry
Netflix brings another stellar Capcom animated adaptation, taking us to a world of demons, post 9/11 and full of nu metal, the 00s.
Netflix brings yet another animated adaptation of a Capcom game today, after Castlevania, with Devil May Cry, the Divine Comedy-inspired urban fantasy action-game adventure franchise created by Hideki Kamiya launched in 2001.
The series revolves around the demon hunter Dante, like the Divine Comedy author Dante Alighieri, whose passion for crossover, nu metal, carefree and layback attitude is as central as his prodigious combat skills, talent in slaying demons and the dark past which haunts him, with the memory of his mother and brother.
Adi Shankar, who also developed Castlevania for Netflix and South Korean animated studio Studio Mir (with credits for US shows like the fourth season of The Boondocks, The Legend of Korra, My adventures with Superman, X Men 97’) bring the vision for the world surrounding Dante, or rather the worlds, between Hell and the early 2000s US, with post 9/11 and War on Terror echoes impossible to miss, and of course the soundtrack of the time.
To my knowledge, the series may be one of the first attempts to embrace the early 2000s nostalgia especially from a musical point of view. The show features the Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’ in its opening credits (I remember listening to Limp Bizkit’s Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water in loop during a school trip to Southern Italy back in the early 00s decade) , then there is also a remix (by Boris Harizanov) of Papa Roach’s My life into pieces (way better than the original) and, moving into the crossover genre’s territory, the epic Guerrilla Radio by Rage Against the Machine is central in a memorable combat scene.
The central characters alongside Dante are Mary/Lady, a tough-as-nails demon hunter with a painful past, US Vice President Baines (whose similarities with Vice President Dick Cheney can be seen in his demeanour, power and ruthlessness), Enzo, a guy who may offer you a job but is not trustworthy and the sinister White Rabbit.
Mary is the Beatrice of the story, in the Divine Comedy parallels and beyond her determination she hides a past as painful as Dante’s, something that will define their interactions.
The voice cast matches these characters, with Johnny Yong Bosch as Dante (known for his role as Nero in Devil May Cry games, in Akira and Bleach), Scout Taylor-Compton as Mary/Lady, Chris Coppola as Enzo and Hoon Lee (See, The Monkey King as the White Rabbit).
The first season then also features the late great Kevin Conroy as VP Baines. The legendary Batman animated voice actor brings all his charisma to the VP role, while Lee builds a compelling villain, with brain and brawn.
There is action, there is discovery, there is a search for identity and belonging and demons, so many of them and it is a blast for millennials with a passion for games, fantasy, action movies of the 2000s and the soundtrack of that time. Devil May Cry is the full package.
Last but not least, Evanescence recorded a song for the season, and it could not be more fitting. Enjoy, but be wary of the rabbit hole. The newsletter will be back next week, stay tuned!
Devil May Cry is available on Netflix from today.