Just when you thought Netflix’s Geeked Week couldn’t possibly get any more geeky, we’ve finally got a proper trailer for the long-in-development Devil May Cry anime from Capcom and producer Adi Shankar. Shankar previously had some involvement with Castlevania, a show I’m on record as being extremely into, but I don’t think DMC is making a great first impression.
Granted I’ve only got a scant minute to go on here, but I feel like Netflix’s adaptation of Devil May Cry doesn’t look cool enough—or, alternatively, stupid enough—to suit my fancy. Devil May Cry contains multitudes, fluctuating from moody gothic castles and otherworldly ruins to Dante’s bachelor pad where he slays demons while simultaneously playing pool. In DMC5 he does a Michael Jackson dance while wearing a magic cowboy hat.
I’m not going to declare either of those extremes is the “real” Devil May Cry, but nothing in this brief reveal trailer reminds me of how genuinely creepy-moody the old games could feel or how funny it could actually be. All we’ve got here is Dante saying “jackpot!” and then shooting a bullet out of his gun with the word jackpot written on it to kill some random demon in an alley.
That does happen to be a recurring line in the series, but I dunno, it feels like this is an unearned jackpot to me. I want to see Dante beat a big nasty boss before trotting that one out. Hopefully this is not just a show full of empty references to the Devil May Cry games minus all their creativity.
There’s a lot of generic action anime stuff in the trailer and a mix of demons with modern-day military, none of which makes me feel like this Devil May Cry adaptation is going to have a particularly strong identity as pure over-the-top, heart-on-its-sleeve goofery, or more moody immortal warrior adventuring. Maybe as soon as Vergil shows up it’ll all fall into place, though. At least we finally know when it’s coming out: April 2025.