Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Devil May Cry’ on Netflix, A Humans-Fight-Demons Adult Animation Series Born From Video Game DNA 

With nods toward classical literature, video game culture, and fantasy-horror, Devil May Cry hits Netflix with sass, splatter, and a quest to save the world. Created by Adi Shankar, animated by Studio Mir, and starring the voices of Johnny Yong Bosch, Scout Taylor-Compton, Hoon Lee, and the late Kevin Conroy, the eight-episode Devil May Cry is based on the Capcom-produced video game series of the same name. So cue “Rollin’ (Air Raid Vehicle)” by Limp Bizkit, and let’s enter an animated world that is sort of like our own, but is also beset by freaks unleashed.    

DEVIL MAY CRY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: Vatican City, and St. Peter’s Basilica at night. Suddenly the serenity is shattered by heisters who blow a hole in the holy walls. Turns out Swiss Guard armor plate doesn’t stop bullets. 

The Gist: A bunch of guys in tactical gear violently robbing the Holy See would be bad enough. But world news outlets, hot take chat shows, podcasters, and the highest echelons of the US government are all shocked to learn that the Vatican City attack wasn’t actually orchestrated by humans at all. Instead it’s a powerful, taunting demon known as White Rabbit (Lee) who is the culprit. 

Now we’re talking demons? Yep. “Mythology exists to explain reality,” Dr. Fisher (Zeke Alton) imparts to the president (who is voiced by White Lotus co-star Jon Gries). Fisher works for DARKOM – Dark Realm Command – a private sector outfit with financial and ideological ties to Vice President Baines (Conroy), who definitely seems more clued-in on the demonic threat than the actual president.  And in the reality of Devil May Cry, the beings we call demons derive from a DNA branch off humanity, and have for eons existed in a parallel universe to our own. A place we might colloquially call Hell. 

A happy-go-lucky young guy named Dante (Bosch) knows most of this backstory; he makes a living taking out demons who stray into our world, usually with a flurry of pirouettes and smart-aleck comments and special-power bullets fired from his dual automatics inscribed with his “Jackpot!” catchphrase. But there might be even more to Dante than even he knows. Like his trusty glimmering amulet, an item with a storied history that ties right back to the White Rabbit and the bunny-eared, lizard-eyed, violent-minded demon’s confrontation with our civilization.

As the Rabbit draws Dante in, our hero’s gonna need some help, which is where Mary Arkham (Taylor-Compton) comes in. Mary, another fan-favorite character from the Devil May Cry game series, isn’t just a formidable demon hunter in her own right. She could also be key to making Dante see what he’s truly made of.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Devil May Cry game series has been around for a minute, and the material has been adapted before. But in this version, creator Adi Shankar envisions crossover possibilities with those other Netflix animated series/video game adaptations, Castlevania and Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix. Also, keep in mind that Devil May Cry is not Devil May Care.

Our Take: The world-building of Devil May Cry is interesting, crossing ’80s references – boom boxes, Skeletor – with modern-day tech and a certain pessimism that feels generated straight out of our society’s obsession with ignorance and shouting. The animation, via Studio Mir, is fluid and expressive. (Recently, Mir also gave Harley Quinn a great look, as well the animated battle action in The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep.) And in its realization of video-game heroes Dante and Mary Arkham, Devil May Cry is making playable characters followable for anybody – given how powerful a demon like the White Rabbit seems to be, it’s nice that the civilization the series imagines has a few shoot-first, questions-later types around to rely on. As the DARKOM eggheads say, what’s at stake is no less than the barrier between realities, and the threat of a “demon who makes other demons wake up in a cold sweat.”

We’re also intrigued with the reality Devil May Cry is creating for itself, apart from its gaming origins, a place with crossover potential from the deeply-imagined Castlevania and the funny, furiously-violent Laserhawk. Devil already feels like it’s drawing on those same vibes; Dante is as quick with a one-liner as he is effortlessly acrobatic with his killshots. All hope abandon, ye who enter here? More like let us in, this place seems funny and unpredictable and dripping with the blood of bad guy demons who Dante just owned. 

Sex and Skin: No skin, besides the exploding kind. Lotsa gore throughout Devil.

Parting Shot: The cartoon realization of a character from a video game, playing the video game Dance Dance Revolution? Devil May Cry’s self-awareness is as cheeky as Dante himself is unconcerned. He closes DDR and takes a snooze as the amulet around his neck begins to glow.   

Sleeper Star: We like Benjamin Abiola as Anders in the early going of Devil May Cry, but the energy and swagger of Johnny Yong Bosch as Dante will be a series-length treat.

Most Pilot-y Line: “This was a strike against God himself, carried out by a sophisticated network of terrorist demons.” Terrorist demons? That’s a good wrinkle. Too bad Netflix gave Warrior Nun the boot; Ava Silva’s fighting skills could really help Dante out. 

Our Call: Stream It! Devil May Cry has a fun bullets-flying energy that matches well with its fanciful takes on inter-dimensional rifts, quantum interference, and human belief systems being blown apart by demonic forces with an ax to grind. Obviously the series will be of interest to anyone familiar with the playable characters. But we feel like this Devil will work just as well for those who’ve never played the video game on which it’s based.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.