Monday, October 13, 2025

Devil May Cry: The Animated Series Part 2 Episodes 5-8

For Dante, the life of a Devil Hunter is hardly dull.  But even the new jobs he’s taking on are becoming more and more surreal even for him.  From tortured souls to demon prisons to obsessed stalkers, everything and everyone seems to be hurling themselves into Dante’s path.  Thankfully Dante’s still as sharp as ever and is in desperate need of money for his endless string of debt.  All the while, someone seems to be pulling the strings from the darkness, someone with plans for Dante or maybe worse.

It should really be a crime to make Devil May Cry so dull and boring you don’t want to watch it.  I already had a bad enough feeling after the first four episodes that I was in trouble with this one.  But four more episodes in, it kind of clinches it.  I cant believe this series actually is part of the official cannon AND some of it was even written by the head series writer, Bingo Morihashi, himself.  And just how does Part 2 of this supposed DMC series somehow end up worse than Part 1?  Simple: They haven’t fixed a single thing and there’s no signs of that happening anytime soon.
 
It's hard to fathom just how Madhouse screwed things up from an animaton perspective.  Devil May Cry should be right up their alley but theyre not even putting their second or third best efforts into making this show look as sleek and stylish as fitting for Dante’s demon slaying escapades.  Then again, if the writing is lacking (and trust me we’ll talk about that), then perhaps that same unenthusiasm was fed to the production team as well.  Dante and Lady’s designs seem to be getting worse with each episode and the monsters they fight don’t have an ounce of creativity or terrifying menace to them either.  So in a way, I get it.  If Madhouse really knew how bad this project was from the scripts, no wonder they bothered to only give less than half an effort to it.
 
Then there’s the writing.  Zero excitement.  Zero fun.  And while I praised Reuben Langdon’s initial portrayal of Dante in the premiere, even Dante seems bored with the jobs he’s been saddled with.  Granted not everything has to revolve around the end of the world but it shouldn’t be this hard writing exciting tales of Dante’s exploits.  Part 2’s cases are even more boring than before, featuring a singer who made a deal with a Demon; a stalker who’s jealous of Dante in every way; and a man in such denial he cant take the hint that Dante isnt his old friend from way back when.  Heck, there’s even a prison run by Demons that could offer some true fun for Dante to have…but no.  It’s all about being as slow and somber as can be and continuing to deny viewers anything they love about Devil May Cry.  Cause you can bet once the action starts they’ll still cut away before anything interesting or exciting happens and have someone narrarate what’s happening off screen…cause that’s the best part of Devil May Cry apparently.
 
If there’s any hint of praise I can give this set of episodes, it’s one teeny little thing: the Demon Wish Granting Mask.  This thing was actually worth a couple of chuckles because of how picky it was with granting wishes, when all it really wanted to do was wait for a “kill” wish so it could spit acid at someone.  The scene where Lady finds it and teasingly tests its wish granting parameters was actually pretty good.  I especially loved Lady wanting eternal youth (her posing when she asked for it was hot as well).  Annnnd…yeah, that’s it.  Four episodes of sheer boredom and maybe 2 minutes or less of praise to dig out of it.
 
Devil May Cry: The Animated Series continues to waste the assignment of giving Devil May Cry a truly bad ass Anime adaptation.  It squanders potential setups and would rather spend time on slow burn sob stories rather than seeing Dante tear through Demons like tissue paper.  Ugh, four episodes left and if the law of adaptations like this do apply…it means Patty will be the main focus again, which means I have to listen to her complain some more and ARGH!!!  Gonna take a breather before marathoning this last set of episodes so I can get Devil May Cry: The Animated Series over with as quickly as possible.  See ya Next Monday for the possibly more than lackluster finale right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.

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