The Netflix anime adaptation of the Devil May Cry games struggles to live up to its source material, with mixed results in action, character handling, and story. One significant change is the absence of overt political commentary in Season 2, but even with that, it still lacks the emotional depth and meaningful relationships found in the games.
Warning: Contains spoilers for Devil May Cry season 2. As much of a success as Netflix ’s Devil May Cry might have been, many people, myself included, saw it as little more than a travesty.
As much as the series prided itself on stylish action and an aggressive, heavy metal soundtrack straight from the 90s and 2000s, the show was incredibly hard to watch because of bad comedy, forced political commentary, and a nonsensical handling of characters old and new. At its core, the series was a terrible adaptation of the Devil May Cry games, and even when treated as its own thing, it was just passable at best.
Netflix’s Devil May Cry was one of the most disappointing shows to come out in 2025, yet despite all of that, I was still optimistic about season 2; as middling a show as season 1 was, some things about it worked, and hopefully, the people in charge would find a way to build on what worked for season 2 while abandoning what didn’t. Unfortunately, that was far too optimistic a hope, as Devil May Cry season 2 is finally out, and it’s somehow even worse than season 1.
What Did Devil May Cry Season 2 Get Right? While Devil May Cry season 2 didn’t work overall, that doesn’t mean it had nothing going for it. For starters, the action feels far more expressive than it did in Devil May Cry season 1, which was only just generically good, with many action scenes featuring genuinely gorgeous animation and choreography, most notably Dante and Vergil’s fight.
It still isn’t perfect at capturing the games’ aesthetic, but it’s a definite step in the right direction. Season 2 also did a good job with some of its characters. Dante, for example, has a much better balance of seriousness and goofiness compared to season 1, and the show did a genuinely good job of exploring how hurt he was by everything that happened with Vergil.
As for the villains, Arius and Argosax both excelled as threatening and delightfully malicious antagonists, and considering how universally maligned Devil May Cry 2 was, it’s an amazing feat that the anime could get something good out of them. The last part of Devil May Cry season 2 worth praising, of course, is the handling of its political commentary.
One of my major issues with season 1 was the lazily hamfisted way it turned Devil May Cry’s story into an allegory for the war on terror, but surprisingly, those elements are virtually nonexistent in season 2, and the story is a much more straightforward adaptation of the games. It’s unknown if that was always the plan, but it was great to see season 1’s worst story element essentially a non-factor in season 2.
Devil May Cry Season 2 Doesn't Know How To Write A Story There were some things I liked about Devil May Cry season 2, but unfortunately, that doesn’t make up for how much was horrible. The overall writing, in addition to having too much exposition and telling instead of showing, is tonally confused, as genuinely emotional moments will almost always be undercut by a bad joke or a poorly timed music sequence.
The games might be known for having goofy moments, but like with season 1, the show lacks the sincerity to make it work, and cheap fanservice like game quotes and referencing the iconic chair meme don’t change that. The characters, unfortunately, are still a major problem, as well.
For the original characters, Baines is as painfully one-note as ever and is only saved by finally being killed off, and for some reason, the show introduces not only a rookie DARKCOM soldier for Lady to look after, but a little kid who, as a walking cliche, only exists to be cute, cause trouble by getting into danger, and serve as an easy means of helping move their character arcs along. The original characters were the worst part of season 1, and they only got worse in season 2.
The main pair of Dante and Lady doesn’t fare better, either. While Dante is written far better than he was in season 1, it’s meaningless when he has so little agency in the story, as the story just feels blatantly uninterested in him most of the time.
Worse than Dante, though, is Lady, as while season 2 tries to give her a redemption arc, it doesn’t work because of how long it takes and how frustratingly hypocritical she continues being for half of season 2, all with the same incessant swearing that made her hated in season 1. All of that comes together for Devil May Cry’s worst decision yet: making Dante and Lady a couple.
While Dante and Lady are a popular pairing in the Devil May Cry fanbase, not only does the anime lack all the context behind it, but with how much time Lady has spent assaulting and manipulating Dante in the anime, their relationship feels outright toxic, yet the show pushes for it incredibly hard and revolves around it so much in season 2. It’s an utterly baffling decision, and it’s all but indefensible.
Devil May Cry's Anime Ruins The Game's Best Character If there’s any area where Devil May Cry season 2 failed the most, however, it would be with its handling of Vergil. After the season 1 finale and the season 2 trailer, many people feared the anime would make it so Vergil was a willing servant of Mundus after years of brainwashing, and sure enough, the show did exactly that and played it completely straight.
The twist essentially absolves Vergil of any guilt for his actions by making his villainy stem from Mundus instead of his own choices, and that makes for a far weaker character in every regard. Naturally, that makes the way Vergil is written a pale imitation of the game, as well.
Vergil was someone who became obsessed with power solely for his own sake because he believed he failed to protect his mother, but in the anime, not only is it more in service to Mundus and Makai than himself, but Vergil goes from loving his mother deep down to resenting her for her weakness. Despite hating his human half, Vergil never extended that to his mother, so this feels like a blatant misunderstanding of the character.
It all reaches its peak in the Devil May Cry season 2 finale in the worst of ways. While Vergil does turn against Mundus after learning the truth, not only does he still believe Mundus when he badmouths Sparda, but he casts Dante aside to fight Mundus alone so he can be the ruler of Makai and take over Earth.
That shows the same misunderstanding of Vergil’s character as before, and while there’s an attempt at having Vergil empathize with Dante, like at the end of Devil May Cry 5, the rushed nature of it all makes it completely unearned. Related Devil May Cry's Original Creator Demolishes Netflix Series Backlash With 5 Words One of Netflix's boldest new animated projects came under fire by fans of its game source material, with Devil May Cry's first director responding.
Posts 1 By J.R. Waugh Vergil is a deceptively complicated character underneath his obsession with power, and that’s a big part of why he’s been one of the most popular characters in the franchise for decades. Unfortunately, the Devil May Cry anime removes all his subtlety while also making some utterly nonsensical changes to his character, and it all comes together for a version of Vergil who lacks everything that made the original so iconic.
There Is Zero Hope For The Devil May Cry Anime Any hopes I might have had for the Devil May Cry anime were completely destroyed by season 2. Whether it’s through hamfisted allegories for real-world problems, terrible mischaracterizations of the source material, or just having a boring narrative from start to finish, the anime just has far too much working against it to be worth watching, and no amount of flashy fight scenes or random callbacks to the games or memes will ever change that.
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Series creator Adi Shankar once said that he hated Devil May Cry 5’s success because it meant that he couldn’t be known as the one responsible for reviving the IP, and that says a lot about why the show is a failure.
Netflix’s Devil May Cry is, at its core, a show designed to be as flashy for mainstream viewers as possible with only the bare minimum of substance, but that has only made it far more hollow than the original games, and with how bad season 2 got, there’s no reason to be excited about the idea of more. 35 7.5/10 6/10 Devil May Cry 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed TV-MA Animation Action & Adventure Sci-Fi & Fantasy Release Date April 3, 2025 Network Netflix Showrunner Adi Shankar Directors Park So Young Writers Alex Larsen 8 Images Close Cast See All In this Netflix series inspired by Capcom's long-running video game franchise, a demon-hunting mercenary with a cocky attitude and supernatural heritage runs a small agency dedicated to eliminating threats from the underworld.
Creator Alex Larsen, Adi Shankar Main Genre Animation Executive Producer Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Hideaki Itsuno, Adi Shankar Seasons 2 Powered by Expand Collapse
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