I never thought I would be commenting too much on this but sorry dood, did you really read it properly or you just saw the score?
Devil May Cry tv Review
Story & Characters
You are no expert gamer if you haven't heard the name of Devil May Cry, and you haven't watched enough anime if you didn't know it was made an anime series. I, however, haven't played the games, but have read the plot summary, have watched the anime and now reviewing it.
Expert demon hunter Dante runs his devil-hunting business, Devil May Cry, while struggling under constant financial debts. Living a laid-back life, Dante would like nothing more than to spend his days gambling and throwing back beer and strawberry sundaes even if he has a dangerous job once in a while. Life seems perfect for him until he is hired to be a bodyguard for bratty orphan Patty Lowell. While initially skeptical of his personality, Patty eventually grows attached to the demon hunter and often serves as Dante's feminine influence, much to his horror. Even though the show is set in sometime between "Devil May Cry" and "Devil May Cry 4," it's more of a side story, strictly follows "monster of the week" formula, and doesn't adapt an overarching plot until a forced climactic revelation in its last two episodes.
Time to review the characters, since I don't play Devil May Cry, I guess they were mostly game-based. Dante's characters are interesting even in the anime, it's no surprise why his reception are high. On the surface, he's a badass, while in reality, he enjoys stuffing his face with pizzas, ice-creams and has no luck with money and women. Trish and Lady are dangerous femme fatale, and at the same time, shopaholics who leaves Dante to deal with their bills. Patty, on the other hand, is a lonely girl with a brash exterior by story's end who was used to have a brother-sister relationship with Dante. It's pretty nice to see these two have a touching moment together that is actually enhanced by gushing blood, but since she became attached to him, the producers could have at least put her in later games.
Only one character I'm not satisfied with is the villain. Normally, the main antagonist has to be a cunning, charismatic - and most critical - dangerous figure. Now they decided to throw a weak, uninteresting, power-hungry coward. Eventually, he grows really big and spits energy beams willy-nilly. The silly goose. Doesn't he know that size doesn't matter?
From the bad execution to the enormous stack of hack-and-slash cliche, "lame and uncreative" are really the best words to describe this anime. Every episode is just a lame "mixture" of a monster-exterminating mission, a predictable demon revelation and battle, and concludes with a scene of Dante relaxing in his office. Some character developments MAY surmount this, but even regulars like Trish and Lady have less appearances than newcomer Patty, who's barely there to show Dante's soft side. Stubbornly episodic, the plot seriously goes nowhere and falls downright the path of absurdity, which leaves the series with nothing to make up but its action. Nothing happens here, the anime was just temporized for the new game to come out.
Rating:
Art
One thing makes the anime live up to the franchise canon is the artistry. The folks at MADHOUSE sure know how to turn this nonsense worth watching. You can tell Dante is bad because he wears lots of red leather, totes big demon-busting guns, and has a sword with a skull for a hilt. Trish and Lady look hot in anime arts. The demon designs are good as well with some even have "godly" looks. The characters are high gloss and meticulously detailed, MADHOUSE did a great job on this part.
Devil May Cry's art, particularly the backgrounds and CG works, is certainly the series' greatest strength. Richly detailed, densely lit, and oozing all the atmosphere of the original games, it's easier to get drawn into than whatever the monster of the week is doing. Plenty of footages of flashing swords, blazing guns and random geysers of blood, and it provides a gloomy environment expected from a notorious survival horror series. Unfortunately, it's such a big waste of talent that these fancy editing are the only thing good about this anime.
Rating:
Sound
I think the music score are high. The OP composed with highly rock beat sounds with dynamic action scenes, a good reminiscent of the games, while the ED sounds fairly monotonous, mostly variations on the same theme with a piano with a lonely Dante drinking in his office.
The voices were faithfully inherited from the games although the performances themselves are slightly different in two cases. Trish and Lady's voices sound catty and a bit charming. The two main leads, however, are good. Patty, most of the times, seems feisty, but Fukuen Misato's softer, wispier tone make her sound cute. In the original English-dubbed game, Dante sounds like a boastful, gruffish, funny character, Morikawa Toshiyuki's usual high-pitched, hoarse rendition makes him more likable than if he had been played straight bored badass.
Rating:
Presentation
"The anime won't be as good as the game," that was my first thought long before watching. How? Because I have experienced and know that most video game-adapted works often end up bad. Devil May Cry the anime, in a way, proves to be not much different than a "for the fans" show as most of its audience were gamers. It's IS because these types were adapted from video games (and hardcore action nonetheless), they usually don't have much of a great plot and depend too heavily on overused genre elements. Unless you're a real Devil May Cry fan, you may see otherwise.
In the end, Devil May Cry isn't a terrible show, just sad and plain boring. But even at that, it won't ruin
the reputation of the franchise and can still be considered a good entertainment after a few hours of demon-slashing.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Story: 2
Characters: 5
Art: 8
Animation: 8
Voice: 6
Music: 7
Overall: 4
Good:
+Cool main lead.
+Succeeds in term of artistry.
Bad:
+Ridiculousnesses repeat one another and only improve a little bit in the last moments.
+Mediocre action for its own genre.
+Thumbs-downed villain.
Rating:
Final Verdict
4.1667 (below average)
Reviewed by Weskalia, Dec 29, 2010
Comments
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Weskalia Feb 20, 2011
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SchRita Mar 20, 2011
Uh, is it really bad?
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angelxxuan Banned Member Apr 18, 2011
over all not bad, I thought the anime was more deserving than a 2 over all though, but that's what opinions are all about :) I adored his corny lines, but it could have been better, the games were more fun with a new game on the way. you did an excellent review and I have to admit it was fun to read it, you captured it quite nicely :)
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