Devil May Cry: The Animated Series

Devil May Cry (Japanese: デビル メイ クライ) is an anime series based on the video game series by Capcom, in turn very loosely based on the Italian epic poem Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. It is set sometime between Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4. It debuted on the WOWOW TV network in Japan on June 14, 2007 and ran 12 episodes.^[1][2][3]

The show was produced by the anime studio Madhouse and was directed by Shin Itagaki. Bingo Morihashi, one of the writers for the second, third and fourth games, was also on the writing staff.

A teaser-trailer, released on the show's official site, featured pre-production artwork of Dante, the primary protagonist and playable character of the video games, and confirmed him as the show's protagonist.

A second trailer released at the 2007 Tokyo International Anime Fair showed actual animation from the show and included a character and cast list, featuring both new characters and other characters from the games.

The first episode aired in Japan on June 14, 2007.

On June 30, 2007, at Anime Expo 07, it was announced that ADV Films had licensed the show. However, in 2008, it became one of more than 30 titles that were transferred to Funimation Entertainment.^[4]

The series made its North American television debut on the FUNimation Channel in September 2010^[5][6][7] and it began airing on Chiller's Anime Wednesdays block on July 15, 2015. Chiller abruptly ended its "Anime Wednesday" block.

Plot

The series is set sometime between Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4. It is based on the manga and novel volumes, and sees the return of series regulars, Trish and Lady.^[8]

In the show, Dante runs his devil-hunting business, Devil May Cry, while struggling under constant financial debt. There are also two new regular characters—Dante's agent Morrison, who visits frequently, and Patty Lowell, a young orphan girl he saved in the first episode, who also visits frequently and shares a father-daughter-like relationship with Dante.

While the show's stories were mostly self-contained, a season-long plot was introduced in the first episode and came to the forefront in episodes 10–12.

Characters

Dante (ダンテ)

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese), Reuben Langdon (credited as Justin Cause) (English)

A half-demon son of Sparda the Legendary Dark Knight (a demon) and Eva (a human), Dante operates as a private investigator, mostly accepting jobs involving the supernatural. When he accepts a job, he diligently finishes it to the point of gaining a reputation of infallibility; he is strong enough to face a small army of lesser demons with his bare hands. Known for his cocky banter when on a job, he is fond of strawberry sundaes and pizza without olives. His weapons of choice are a pair of Caliber .45 pistols known as Ebony (for its dark color) and Ivory (for its silver color). He also carries his sentient faithful sword, Rebellion in a guitar case. A source of a running gag in the series is his apparent lack of gambling skill and his indebtedness, often being short of money. According to Dante, this is because people who hire him usually leave him a bill instead of paying him (due to destruction he causes during the job, such as destroying a bridge). His lack of money is also attributed to Lady, to whom he owes an unspecified sum of money. Lady often takes his payment as part of his debt. When Dante earns some money it is usually squandered.^[9]

Trish (トリッシュ, Torisshu)

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese), Luci Christian (English)

A demon created by Lord Mundus in the image of Dante's mother (face wise) and given demonic powers such as electricity, strength and quick healing. She joined Dante after Mundus' defeat and became his partner. Though it didn't take long for them to agree on separate ways due to certain conflicts in interest. Doing jobs on her own, she wanders mostly outside of Dante's usual hunting stops. However Dante did remind her at one point that she can come back at any time, though not wanting to admit he simply gets lonely in his less than inspiring office.

Trish generally criticized Dante's lifestyle and eating habits. Unlike Dante or Lady, Trish doesn't take jobs to track down demons, she just goes from place to place following rumors as a freelance hunter. Trish appears to enjoy shopping for clothes and sometimes sticks Dante with the bill. Trish initially has a few violent scrapes with Lady which notoriously seemed almost planned out by Dante in advance, but the two become good friends shortly after. They both enjoy amusing themselves on their abilities to torment and manipulate Dante.

Lady (レディ, Redi)

Voiced by: Fumiko Orikasa (Japanese), Melissa Davis (English)

A human devil hunteress, descended from the priestess whose blood Sparda used to seal the gate between the human and demon worlds. Dante seems to be in constant debt to her. She sometimes brings Dante work, but usually must con him into accepting the jobs and generally takes his pay claiming them as part of the debt he owes her. Lady spends more time at Devil May Cry than Trish but still not as much as Patty. She is Patty's primary female role model.Though human she is a skilled acrobat, also has immense skill in billiards and is a weapons expert.

Patty Lowell (パティ・ローエル, Pati Rōeru)

Voiced by: Misato Fukuen (Japanese), Hilary Haag (English)

A young girl who Dante met after she supposedly came into a large inheritance. This turned out to be a scam, and she has since been spending a lot of time with Dante, whether he likes it or not. She turned out to be a descendant of a powerful magician who sealed the devil Abigail. Patty is very girly and loves cute things, sometimes decorating Dante's otherwise gloomy office with ribbons and plush toys. She loves romantic TV shows and serves as Dante's only source of feminine influence in the absence of Trish and Lady.

J.D. Morisson (J・D・モリソン, J. D. Morison)

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Rob Mungle (English)

Dante's liaison. He finds Dante jobs and sometimes helps out with repairs around the office.

Sid (シド, Shido)

Voiced by: Nachi Nozawa (Japanese), Christopher Ayres (English)

A weak demon who first appears in episode one, and has recurring appearances throughout the series. Initially seeming to be an insignificant danger and minor nuisance, Dante shows mercy towards Sid and restrains from killing him when given the opportunity. Unfortunately, Sid's ambitions prove to be far more dangerous than Dante possibly imagined.

References

External links

• Official Funimation Devil May Cry Website
• Devil May Cry Japanese website (Japanese)
• Wowow's Devil May Cry Japanese webpage (Japanese)
• Devil May Cry (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia