Honest question. What makes you confident that the creators intended for Lady and Dantes relationship to be interpreted the way we do? Because official statements would suggest the opposite.
Thank you for an interesting question, anon! You've given me a wonderful opportunity to comment on three well-known proofs commonly used to debunk Danlady. Looking ahead: yes, they don't play into our ship's favor, but I think it's important to look at such statements in their original context, which significantly reduces the perceived damage.
Itsuno said Dante and Lady share a sibling bond
Honestly, this statement struck me as very odd for a long time. Every time someone brought it up, they claimed it was Itsuno's own words, but no source was ever given. I even thought it was just another fandom myth, but fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, a kind soul helped me track down the origins of this take.
Let's get back to 2015. A dmc4 SE stream with Itsuno. And one of the question touched the topic of the current relationship status between Dante and Lady.
Itsuno paused and then said that at first in dmc3 Dante saw Lady as his little sister (imouto). But he wondered himself how Dante sees her now.
After an even longer pause, Itsuno concluded that, in general, he prefers to leave the choice between two beautiful women with such different personalities (Lady and Trish) open.
So yeahhh... Itsuno didn't deny anything. In fact, he confirmed Dante's possible change of views. And basically said: well, dear player, it's up to you, which girl do you ship with Dante, the one he saw as a little sister or the one who looks exactly like his late mother. The choice is yours.
The way Dante treats his imouto, though... too bad, once again dmc isn't beating incest allegations.
Itsuno confirmed that Dante and Lady were never a thing
The next blow to the DanLady nation came during the dmc5 promo campaign. This was especially cruel bc the community was thriving when Reuben showed up to a Tokyo Game Show panel 2018 in a red coat, accompanied by his beautiful wife Sui Yumeshima, who cosplayed as Lady.
But then the same panel crushed any hopes when Matt Walker, one of dmc5 producers, posted this:
So what happened? And why did Itsuno suddenly abandon his former love of ambiguity and decide to deny everything so bluntly?
It's easier to understand when you read the transcript of the panel's recording.
So yeah, as you might guessed, Reuben's way to not so subtly support the ship he's clearly one of us during the big promo event forced Itsuno to take damage control measures. Because, as we know, dmc5 wasn't really generous when it comes to danlady moments, so you can say Itsuno just fought a "false advertisement", denying the idea of potential marriage or anything else.
The bane of danlady existence, a sacred artifact that always comes in handy when someone decides to remind that the ship is, in fact, not canon. Yep, let's address it, too.
It's important to remember that Morrison's letters, just like Nico's reports, present us the information from the characters' perspective. Both of them even mention that they don't get the full picture bc some individuals aren't very talkative. So, the relationship status of DanLady is Morrison's take based on his own observations, and he even notes how secretive this duo tends to be.
I'd say that in the Japanese version of the letter, Morrison further emphasizes the core of danlady relationship. In his opinion it's not a banal romantic nonsense (implying more a sexual, carnal connection), but an understanding of the pain in each other's heart (心の痛み). Basically, he is dismissive of romance but notices and values highly a deeper connection that goes beyond it.
So yeah, dear anon, I'm confident that the creators wanted to leave everything up to interpretation. DanLady as a ship was just unlucky enough to be widely recognized. Players wanted them together, directly asking about their relationship update, Dante's actor had a soft spot for them (just look at the scrapped mocap recordings, poor Reuben never knew that he was flirting with his imouto lol). But Capcom did everything to "even" the chances.
No wonder that DanLady was thriving in the side-projects the most. The cd-drama to 2007 anime confirmed Lady's feelings for Dante, the stage play The Live Hacker revealed her jealousy and allowed Dante to gift her his precious amulet, in the crossover RPG Project x Zone Lady confessed that she doesn't care about money if she can be by his side. Not to mention the full-fledged AUs like Peak of combat or NDMC. Funnily enough, the only currently active dmc projects clearly favour the ship and continue sponsoring us with delicious crumbs.
In the end, it's hard to say what the official DanLady interpretation is anymore. I prefer to enjoy what I'm given, and for now, I'm quite happy with it, haha.
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