So I just saw season 2 of the Netflix’s DMC anime. I wanna start by saying I don’t believe in hate watching things. If you don’t like something unless your purpose is to review it I don’t see any reason in subjecting yourself to it. I have nothing positive to say about the first season of that fuckass abomination and as such I wasn’t going to watch season 2 at all. But my best friend wanted to watch it and that ended up with four of us congregating to watch it. If it wasn’t a group thing I would’ve turned it off by episode 2

The following is a rant with spoilers for season 1 and 2 as well as the games and ancillary media canon to Devil May Cry. If you like the show I’m not going to try and take that away from you, this was just one of the worst fucking pieces of media I’ve ever interacted with. Up there with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and The last Jedi:

I HATE the advent of licensed music in movies and tv. Like omfg I don’t care that the music is actually good it takes me completely out of the show when I’m watching Vergil cut mfs down to “Let the bodies hit the floor”. Fucking Avril Levine? I like her music but...I guess bro. Like holy shit I see why the composers for the games didn’t wanna work on this shit but you’re Netflix you have money you can hire SOMEBODY to do an original score. Like YOU ALREADY FUCKING DID IT TWICE. See u in Hell and Afterlife are fucking amazing songs. But then again maybe it’s a good thing after that fucking Kidzbop cover of Bury the Light

And the music we do fucking have, can we pick a fucking theme? Mumble rap to pop to rock to metal. It’d be one thing if like maybe one genre was used for one character or to show some theme. But as it stands it feels like they just randomly picked whatever song was stuck in the showrunners’ heads that month

You wanna put rampant politicization in your shitty writing? Fine. But don’t tell me what to think. If anything show me why you believe it. It’s so fucking eye rolling inducing everytime the blatant propaganda piece comes up. Like how are you going to satirize pro war propaganda while shilling propaganda yourself. There’s nothing worse as an artist or man than someone without principles or worse hypocritical principles.

Lady’s name is still so fucking forced. I still have no idea why Dante called her that at the end of S1. And then for her to take it as her name and run with it for no reason. Her wanting to change her name as sort of way to symbolize changing allegiance is fine but she was already adamant people call her Lady before fully defecting.

Ebony and Ivory, Dante’s iconic dual pistols. He has them in every game. Even his sword is different from game to game but these shitty pea shooters are a constant. And story wise they’re important. They were made by Nel Goldstein (Nico from 5’s grandma) a woman who knew Dante as Tony Redgrave. This was a fake name he gave himself as his mom’s dying wish was for him to change his identity to keep himself safe. Nel engraved Tony Redgrave into the guns. The two formed a sort of mother and son bond. Eventually a demon was sent to kill her. She died in her burning gun shop in Dante’s arms finishing the pistols. They’re a sign that no matter what Dante does or where he goes the people he cares about will die as a consequence of his existence. In the show they’re just guns, and I’m fine with that. It’s an adaptation, things change. In a vacuum it’s okay. But saddled with all the other shit it’s just one of those things added to the pile that makes this adaptation awful.

And on that note it doesn’t get to get away with the “it’d be fine if it wasn’t a devil may cry adaptation bs” since it constantly throws little ohmages and ‘member berries. Without even having the decency to carry over anything real besides character names, designs and motivations. Where are the fucking Devil Arms? The worldbuilding that doesn’t just have us set in fucking New York like a goddamn MCU movie. It’s a hollow leech just latching onto an already existing property, else no one would watch this godawful original story.

“We’re the sons of Eva” what are we doing here bro 😭🙏

Said story is so far up its own ass. The pretentiousness makes me not want to pay it any favors, any benefit of the doubt because it’s so fucking conceited on being this moralistic guide for the masses when all it’s doing is regurgitating cynical folly and played out redditor tropes about “understanding the way the world works” all the while looking down on those who think differently.

And the Magnum fucking Opus of why this is such a massive fucking mistake of writing. I have been shipping those two characters passively in my mind for YEARS. The monkey’s paw has curled as I finally get my wish in the the worst bastardizing of these characters and a romantic relationship in general. I ship Dante and Lady in the game canon because the idea of Dante opening his heart and allowing himself to love is would make him more human and that’s sorta the crux of his character arc. Either running from the demonic side of him or embracing it and accepting it. I think it carries weight and the two have chemistry. These fuckers are just some horny teens and don’t even get me started on the character weight.

I didn’t even hate Lady that much in season 1 but she’s arguably the worst case of a pretentious up her own ass character. Besides the main villain. Like “some sins can’t be redeemed” after she betrayed a man and continued to be an obedient soldier to an obviously evil demon cultist. Her character arc is simultaneously rushed and dragged out and that takes talent.

Theres more I can go on about, problems still prevalent from season 1 like bs villain motivations. Moral bankruptcy. Generic magic system. And of course a shit ton of new ones. There’s no real point tho in me wasting more energy on ts though.

The fundamental misunderstanding of what Devil May Cry’s lessons are is the biggest issue for me. Like this isn’t the medium to do the “Demons good, humans bad” bullshit they pushed so hard in the first season. The morals are more focused on the choices you make from trauma. On blood ties and their values, family matters. And on how you choose to conduct yourself using a generic good vs evil as a simplistic backdrop. Devil May Cry doesn’t hide its storytelling, it’s not a hard series to understand if you actually try. There’s so much value hidden under the surface and I highly encourage you at least watch a youtube summary of it to see what I mean.