Devil May Cry [TV]
Based on the popular hack and slash video game by Capcom, Devil May Cry: The Animated Series is an anime series which aired on June 14, 2007 in Japan. Devil May Cry is a franchise which is roughly based on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, an epic poem from Italy. The animated series runs a total of 12 episodes, written by Toshiki Inoue and directed by Shin Itagaki with its production studio Madhouse. By September of 2010, Devil May Cry: The Animated Series made its way to North America with its own English dub.
The story in Devil May Cry: The Animated series is said to be based on its manga and novels which were under the timeline of the Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4 video games. In the animated series, Dante who is having some financial trouble while managing the Devil May Cry, a business involved in hunting devils. It showcases how Dante runs the Devil May Cry, meeting various friendly and not so friendly characters along the way.
The Devil May Plot
Devil May Cry: The Animated Series focuses on Dante as he embarks in his usual business of hunting devils. Dante takes no pick in where he hunts his prey, even eliminating them in unsuspecting bars. No matter where the place, he takes no hesitation in killing devils. This is evident in when he encounters Mr. Royal Straight Flush in a small bar and kills him right on the spot.
One day, Morrison pays Dante a visit, giving him a task of body guarding a young girl named Patty Lowell. Because of his arrogant attitude, Dante refuses the job of “babysitting” the young lady and joked about asking the girl out on a date after ten years. Unexpectedly, Patty is mature and returns the banter to Dante, telling him that she would reject him ten seconds from now.
Morrison again attempted to have Dante accept the job by introducing Patty as no ordinary girl. Rather, she is entitled “The Cinderella Girl” because she was the heiress of the prestigious Lowell Family Fortune. Dante immediately says that the girl did not look like it, referring to her as Cinderella when the magic faded away. This comment was negated by Morrison, saying that the magic had just begun. The head of Lowell family had just passed away, and on their will, it said that the illegitimate child, Patty Lowell, would inherit the Lowell family fortune.
After explaining Patty’s situation, Morrison then tells Dante that his job is to escort the young lady to the Lowell mansion by six in the evening the next day. Still not convinced, Dante rejects the job and says he is too busy eating his pizza. Morrison follows this up, revealing that he had contacted the pizza place where Dante usually orders and told them that they would not deliver pizza to Dante unless he would fully pay his tab.
Bargaining with Dante, Morrison offers he would pay Dante’s tab in full if he would win when flipping a coin. Dante, being not so lucky, lost and ends up bodyguarding Patty. Before departing, Morrison hands Dante his guitar case because he had a show to be on.
While Dante and Patty are in a vehicle heading to the Lowell family mansion, a conversation starts between the two regarding Dante’s “show” with the girl saying she would attend it since it is expected no one else would go. Dante, annoyed, rejects the idea because the show was for adults only. In reply to this, Patty asks Dante if the woman in the picture found in his place would attend his show. Dante falls silent to this.
Patty continues the conversation, explaining to Dante that women do not care about where one takes them, rather, they care about how one gets them there. These words make Dante freeze as he felt something tell him that the girl’s life was going to be his. Quickly, he draws his gun and shoots where there was a devil sticking on to the side of a truck in front of them. Patty, unaware of them devil that Dante had just killed, goes in a fit of anger because her life would have been in danger from Dante’s actions.
All the while that Patty is Dante, a family meeting occurs in the Lowell household regarding the inheritance of the family fortune. The head’s brothers discuss the details of the last will, finding it unbelievable that the family fortune would go to an illegitimate child, which they did not even know, in the will, it had stated that all the fortune would go to Patty Lowell if she would go to the family mansion within a week after the family head would die.
Now on going on their travel, Patty and Dante moved from Dante’s car to a public train. All the while, Patty reminiscences about her mother as she looks at her picture in her locket. Though she has her photo, she does not remember anything about her because her mother had died when she was a baby. Suddenly, a man enters their conversation and asks if he could sit beside Patty. Charmed by his politeness, she allows him to have a seat.
Dante, of course, does not agree with this and tells the guy that he would not live long. Out of nowhere, the guy falls down on the floor, blood coming out from his head. Shocked by the events, everyone inside the train gathers to the scene, suspecting Dante for the murder. Unfazed, Dante calmly explains what had happened to the man: a devil had killed him while the train passes through a tunnel. No one could see it because it was too dark. But before anyone else could get hurt, Dante had already killed the devil.
After leaving the train, Patty reveals the truth behind her mother. She had overheard the orphanage director saying that her mother was being hunted by devils and did not want Patty to be in danger, thus, leaving her in the orphanage. She then comes to the conclusion that she was going to be hunted by devils as well.
Deciding that it was already late, the two checks in a cheap hotel where Patty sees a poster with a woman that looked like her mother. Dante quickly denies her assumption that it is her mother. The two then go to sleep. Patty, wondering if the woman in the poster was really her mother, wakes up and leaves the hotel in search for her. Finally waking up, Dante realizes Patty was gone and discovers that the poster was fake and that the owner of the hotel was a devil.
Patty, blinded by her desire to meet her mother, heads over to the theater where her mother was, only to find out that it wasn’t her mother at all. Rather, it was a devil set out to kill her. Fortunately for her, Dante comes in the nick of time and saves Patty.
By six in the evening the next day, an adult woman appears in the Lowell family mansion explaining that she is the real Patty Lowell. She had intentionally searched for a young girl with the same name so that all attention was going to be on the little girl instead of her. Angered by this, one of the brothers revealed his real identity as a devil. The devil kills off one of the brothers, and nearly attacked the woman who claims to be the real Patty Lowell.
Dante comes at just the right time to knock the devil out temporarily. He realizes that it was the woman who requested the job for him and tells her that she is much worse than the devils. Because she is only a human, he could not do anything to hurt her. So to vent off his anger towards her, he focuses on killing the devil. After defeating it, the adult Patty Lowell asks Dante if she could take care of the girl in amends to the horrible thing she had done. The young Patty refuses this, and instead, takes a share of the fortune.
After this, Patty decides to live with Dante at the Devil May Cry, decorating it with pink and girly things while eating the strawberry sundae which Dante ordered. From then on, she assists Dante as he continues running his business, taking on jobs and hunting devils.
Devil May Cry Characters
Dante (Japanese voice actor: Toshiyuki Morikawa, English voice actor: Reuben Langdon) is the protagonist of the Devil May Cry series. He works as a mercenary and investigator who mostly does work involving the paranormal and supernatural. When working, Dante is rigorous and makes sure that the job gets done well. Because of this attitude, many believe that he cannot fail at all. But along with this reputation, Dante is also known for leaving cocky remarks while on the job. Dante, however, is not all words and no action. In fact, he is powerful enough to destroy a group of lesser demons using only his hands.
On his jobs, Dante carries specific weapons: Two pistols which have different colors. He calls the silver colored pistol Ivory, and the darker colored one Ebony. Along with his guns, Dante also brings a large sword named Rebellion which he mostly keeps inside a guitar case.
Being a half-demon, Dante is no ordinary human. He is the son of a demon, Sparda the legendary Dark Knight, and Eva, a human. Even though he is part demon, Dante also has a human side to him, enjoying food such as his favorites, strawberry sundaes, and pizzas which do not have olives.
Patty Lowell (Japanese voice actor: Misato Fukuen, English voice actor: Hilary Haag) is a young girl which Dante encountered during a job where he would escort her to a mansion which she would claim the inheritance. After discovering that she was only a decoy, she then decides to live in the Devil May Cry to assist Dante while bringing a share of the inheritance.
J.D. Morrison (Japanese voice actor: Akio Otsuka, English voice actor: Rob Mungle) is a slightly aged man who acts as Dante’s agent. He is a close friend of Dante’s who gives him jobs.
Trish (Japanese voice actor: Atsuko Tanaka, English voice actor: Luci Christian) is Dante’s former partner in Devil May Cry. She is a demon based on the image of Dante’s mother and was made by Mundus, a demon lord. Just like her creator, Trish is a devil. After leaving the Devil May Cry, Trish takes on jobs on her own but only accepts them if she felt like it.
Lady (Japanese voice actor: Fumiko Orikasa, English voice actor: Melissa Davis), unlike Trish and Dante, is a full human. Although she is a human with no special demonic powers, she hunts devils skilfully using her great acrobatic and physical ability. Sometimes she gives jobs to Dante whom she has to trick in order to accept them.
