Devil May Cry Season 1 Review

Devil May Cry does not reach the heights of the best Netflix video game shows like Castlevania or Cyberpunk Edgerunners. But if the entirety of its first season were like its second half – which contains some kinetic action, an episode that’s an early frontrunner for one of the best animated projects of 2025, and an absolutely bonkers finale – it would. Thanks to these episodes, any skepticism toward Devil May Cry based on its lackluster opening chapters morphs, demon-like, into complete enthusiasm for its future.

Taking elements not just from the Capcom video game series of the same name but also the manga and other supplementary material it inspired, the new DMC animated show – developed by Castlevania’s Adi Shankar and his Captain Laserhawk collaborator Alex Larsen – makes enough changes to characters and lore to be a fresh experience for newcomers and veterans alike. Johnny Yong Bosch stars as Dante, a demon hunter who finds himself at the center of a country-wide hunt and a plot to destroy the veil that separates the Earth from the demon realm. Bosch gives Dante a boyish charm while still often letting slip the pain he hides beneath it. Though the humor of the first couple of episodes feels out of place – Dante initially acts and talks like a Deadpool knock-off – Bosch’s performance grounds the character as the story gets more and more fantastical and the silly humor gives way to Dante having a full-blown identity crisis.

It’s great to hear the late Batman: The Animated Series star Kevin Conroy again, his unmistakable voice giving life to Devil May Cry’s Vice President Baines, a religious fanatic with a savior complex working for a literal cowboy president . Baines is both a compelling onscreen presence and a terrifyingly timely character, but the clear standout of this season is the primary villain: the White Rabbit (Hoon Lee). Though the White Rabbit’s motivations are a bit superficial and predictable, Lee’s performance sells the character’s unbreakable conviction and resolve in a way no other character on Devil May Cry can match.

The games share some similarities with the ideas and themes of the classic demon-fighting manga and anime Devilman, and this show is no different, with its (at times) textbook portrayals of humanity’s bigotry and prejudice. But when Shankar and Larsen filter those subjects are filtered through the lens of 2000s nostalgia, what comes out the other end is a hilariously unsubtle yet bold indictment of how the United States conducted itself, at home and abroad, during the decade. This is most evident in the song that soundtracks the season’s climactic montage, a 2004 hit that puts an exclamation point on these eight episodes. Even with all the changes it makes, the show captures the essence of the games where it matters most – like its use of music to accompany the action.

After their work on The Legend of Korra and X-Men ’97, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the artists at Studio Mir know how to bring bone-crushing action to Devil May Cry. The fights are thrilling and well-staged – the only problem is the use of CG for the demons. It looks bad – even if you could argue it helps in making the demons seem even more otherworldly – and hurts the action.

And yet, little of that matters once you get to episode 6. Studio La Cachette (who handled Genndy Tartakovsky’s spectacular Primal and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal) temporarily alters Devil May Cry’s visual palette to tell the story of the White Rabbit in a gorgeously animated and told episode that’s almost devoid of dialogue. This radical departure is a rising tide that lifts the rest of the season’s boats with its slower, more meditative script, and marks a change in tone and pace for the grand finale. It’s not just the best episode of the season – it could be some of the best animation you’ll see all year. Even if the whole season can’t look like this, the hope that Devil May Cry can break its own mold (when it suits the story) is enough to stoke anticipation for a second season.