Hi, I’m actor Troy McClure. You might remember me from such PSAs as this one about Devil May Cry. And guess what? It’s time for another one.
The first season of Devil May Cry definitely…divided the fandom, for lack of a phrase. I myself was enjoying it immensely until the last few dystopian minutes of the finale. I don’t doubt that Adi Shankar genuinely over the games, but I will definitely call some of his creative decisions into question. That said, not everything in the show was bad as people who dislike it make it seem — there were actually some pretty good things about it.
Aside from being underpowered (which is still realistic as this was the youngest we’ve ever seen him), Dante was pretty spot-on. He was a massive goofball and didn’t try super hard to be edgy like the reboot games everyone hated. The show also expanded on Lady’s otherwise-unelaborated backstory and gave Arkham a more tragic motivation for becoming the monster he was. Enzo was an amazing addition to the narrative as a found family figure for Dante, and the show filled in the gaps for the White Rabbit when the DMC manga didn’t really get to do much with his origins. Not to mention no romantic subplots, which I think we can ALL be happy about as a forced romance between Dante and Lady would suck.
The actor performances (RIP Kevin Conroy) were amazing if nothing else, and it was great to hear JYB take Dante and run with him like he wanted to do way back when the first game came out. The animation was GORGEOUS and the fight scenes were straight hands with little dialogue. And the soundtrack? Absolutely stellar to the point where even my friends who don’t like Devil May Cry have Afterlife on repeat.
Looking back on the show several months later, I think if there were a few key changes made and the season ended on a much more hopeful note — specifically with Lady letting Dante go and starting to turn away from Darkcom — the first season might’ve had a better reception.
Now the second season’s trailer has been leaked and we are divided even further. Our fears appear to be confirmed as Dante willingly teams up with Darkcom to take down Vergil, potentially with a forced romance between him and Lady. Everyone I know who isn’t excited is pissed off to high heaven and low hell. But as much as I want to join in with the rage, I don’t think that’s the case.
Because if you pay attention to the dialogue in the trailer, it doesn’t seem like Dante is working with Darkcom out of the goodness of his heart at all. In fact, it sounds like it’s the opposite. His tone with Lady is bitter and cold. He’s spiteful with his words and asks, verbatim, “what’s the catch” for Lady insisting she wants to help him. The only time Dante doesn’t look insanely pissed in Lady’s presence is when he’s looking at his coat and testing out Ebony and Ivory — and he isn’t even looking at her. In fact, the only time Dante doesn’t seem pissed in general is when he’s killing demons and reuniting with Vergil. It feels like the only reason he’s going along with Lady in the first place is to find the brother he thought was dead.
Moreover, and this is just me, the entire “bring the family back together” plot reeks of Baines’s characteristic deception. If it turns out he is backing this and it’s not Lady going rogue (which I really hope she is) with other in-house dissenters, we shouldn’t be shocked that Darkcom wants to “help” Dante find Vergil. We saw how Vergil absolutely soloed that squad. He’s too much for Darkcom to handle on their own. If Baines and Arius are backing this reunion, they’re likely doing it to get rid of the Spardas in one fell swoop. Because Dante alone presents a MASSIVE threat to their operations, and this is far from the first instance where Big Amoral Business Inc and the shady federal government have teamed up to eliminate a mutual enemy. We all saw how quickly Baines turns on people who don’t blindly obey him and think for themselves.
It feels like I’m rambling and I am. But I want to remind everyone, in fact, I think it’s needed at this juncture. So here’s the TLDR.
We don’t know everything about Season 2 yet. We have one leaked trailer, and people are already upset. We shouldn’t get excited or pissed off until we see the full season next year and get the full story. Adi Shankar made it clear that he wants tell a multi-season story, and Season 1 was just the introduction to it. And look at his track record — he’s nothing if not consistent with the stories he’s told. Just ask Castlevania.
Once again, y’all feel free to have at it in reblogs and comments. I won’t be disabling either because censoring a discussion is just as bad as not speaking to begin with. Just please keep it civil and don’t send death threats like last time.
We don’t have to be optimistic. We don’t have to riot yet. We don’t even have to watch it if we don’t want to. We just have to be patient and ask ourselves “What if it all works out?” Because we don’t know. It might.
