Devil's Kitchen

DAlil | 30+ | Mx. | minors/antis DNI | freelance artist | DO NOT REPOST/USE my art work. | No AI training.

[dalilcyber]

What makes Dante from Devil May Cry such a compelling character?

He constantly cracks jokes and throws around sarcasm, but that’s merely a persona he puts on. It is not who he truly is. Throughout the entire series, what gradually becomes clear is that Dante is actually a thoughtful, disciplined, and deeply grounded man beneath the facade.

He may appear emotional on the surface, yet he is never truly ruled by impulse. Despite possessing overwhelming power, he constantly thinks about how that power should be used. Ever since witnessing his mother’s death with his own eyes, he has understood what the blood of Sparda can bring into other people’s lives. That is precisely why he keeps the people he cares about at a distance. Simply being close to him can be enough to drag someone into demonic tragedy.

In the DMC1 novel, during the time he lived under the name Tony Redgrave, Dante had people he became close to. His partner Grue, and the gunsmith woman who cared for him almost like a mother, Nell Goldstein. Yet they too were ultimately caught in demonic incidents simply because they were close to Dante, and they lost their lives because of it.

The games themselves do not dwell on it, but Dante continues to anonymously support Grue’s surviving daughters afterward. He is not the kind of man who simply forgets the people who entered his life. Even while joking and smiling, he continues carrying their lives and deaths with him.

The reason he never settled down with anyone, even into his forties, is not because he is careless or incapable of commitment. If he were to truly bond with someone and have a child, that person and that child might one day suffer the same pain he did. He does not want anyone to experience that.

And Dante himself is not someone meant for a quiet, peaceful life. The demonic blood within him runs deep, and battle is inseparable from his existence. That is why he never allows ordinary people too deeply into his world. Beneath his carefree attitude is a quiet resignation, a line he deliberately refuses to cross.

That is how I interpret his character.

And… the version of Dante from Netflix feels like a character with every single one of the qualities I love about Dante stripped away… lol

It’s honestly horrifying. I genuinely don’t understand how anyone could take such an incredible character and turn him into something that awful.

And I’ll say this even if it’s unpopular: people who are perfectly fine with that version of Dante probably were never interested in who Dante truly is beneath the surface to begin with. To me, it feels like they only care about his appearance and the shallow image of him acting crazy, going “woohoo,” and firing guns everywhere. They don’t really care about the deeper parts of his character at all, i think 🙄

[dalilcyber]

One of the things I like about Dante and Vergil is that their personalities don’t actually match their appearances.

At first glance, Vergil seems quiet, cold, and completely unshakable. But in reality, he fires back at Dante’s jokes with jokes of his own, and he talks more than people assume. He is also intensely singleminded, and that conviction can drive him into reckless actions.

On the other hand Dante appears flashy, careless, and not very bright. Yet in truth he thinks ahead, pays close attention to those around him, exercises restraint, and shows sound judgment.

Sometimes I find myself thinking this... perhaps they originally did have personalities that matched how they looked. Perhaps Vergil was the calm and rational one, and Dante was the impulsive one who acted on emotion.

But after they were separated, maybe they unconsciously began taking in the parts the other had lost. By internalizing the twin they had lost, they may have tried to preserve their own sense of balance. As a result, they became what they are now figures whose outward image and inner nature seem somehow reversed.

However, that compensation was not a healthy integration. Their attempt to take each other in did not bring them closer. Instead, it created distortion and ultimately pushed them further into conflict.

In other words, by losing each other, they unconsciously tried to become each other.

But that process led not to reconciliation, but to confrontation.

(that my personal interpretation~~)

[dalilcyber]

One of the things I find most abhorrent as an artist is the act of obsessively studying a single individual and reproducing nearly every defining element of that person’s art style with extreme fidelity.

We spend years struggling with our own work, fighting to establish a style that is uniquely our own.

And yet someone comes along, copies your style from head to toe, and then behaves as if it were something they themselves created.

Faced with that, it is impossible not to feel profound contempt.

If such a person were at least openly promoting the original creator or had obtained their permission, there might still be some room for tolerance. However, when they do none of those things, one cannot help but arrive at a certain conclusion.

Is it not because, somewhere deep down, they are aware of the guilt that comes with secretly stealing what belongs to someone else?

For me personally, the deliberate imitation of another artist’s style within the same fandom triggers an especially strong sense of rejection. I believe this is something that should never be done.

Even when justified under the guise of “studying,” copying or imitating the work of an artist within the same fan community is an act of extreme disrespect that undermines their dignity.

If someone truly holds such deep admiration for an artist that they feel compelled to reference that style, then at the very least they should clearly and explicitly express their respect, actively promote the original artist, and obtain explicit permission.

What makes this behavior truly reprehensible is not merely the act of imitation or tracing itself, but the intent that so clearly shows through it.

In the end, it reveals an attempt to appropriate the achievements of artists who have already earned recognition, hoping to claim them, even partially, as one’s own. That is precisely why I cannot help but feel such intense disgust toward it.

I would like to offer a piece of advice to those who are hoping to become artists from this point forward.

Do not try to “borrow” someone else’s work simply because you want to be recognized more quickly.

Attention gained through imitation is shallow and fleeting. It will disappear quickly, and it will never truly belong to you.

Choose the slower path instead. Experiment, fail, and repeatedly question your own work.

Do not focus on copying a single artist. Study many different artists instead, and use what you learn to develop your own work, not to replicate someone else’s style.

A style built through patience and self-reflection may take time to fully take shape. But what you build through that time will become entirely your own, and no one will be able to take it from you.

And remember this as well. Being noticed online is not necessarily beneficial to you. Especially when that attention is gained by treating someone else’s work as if it were your own, it holds no real value for you at all.

Keep that in your heart, and please never again do anything that tramples on the trust of a friend.

Farewell, from someone who genuinely wishes that your life will become better.