Netflix’s Devil May Cry is back for Season 2, and there is a lot to take in with this series. Picking up where Season 1 ended, the series improves in many ways and offers a better look at the lore of the universe. It also gives a stronger sense of Dante, Virgil and Lady, along with more of the demon world, while delivering some fantastic animation in the process. On the other hand, the pacing, the soundtrack and some of the main story beats feel muddled, making what could have been an outstanding look at the Devil May Cry universe feel mixed and leaving me wanting more.
Devil May Cry Season 2 picks up shortly after the events of Season 1, with Dante incarcerated by DARKCOM, Lady working on a covert mission, and the new world order offering a better look at how the U.S. is dealing with the existence of a hell dimension, with troops flowing in to try to strike back at the demons. When DARKCOM gets its hands on an ancient artifact with the power to strike at Mundus, the ruler of the demon world, Virgil goes to the human world to strike back.
First things first, I liked seeing some of the iconic characters from the Devil May Cry universe come to life this season. Season 1 had some strong points, and I genuinely loved the White Rabbit as a villain, one of the best parts of the first season. This time around, the show feels much more rooted in the Devil May Cry lore and a bit truer to the characters.
The lore of these games is a bit obtuse, and depending on which entry you are playing, the writing can range from ridiculous to complex and profound. The balance of characters, emotion and depth feels much better realized this time around. The main cast also feels much less flat, adding depth to the shallow characters that detracted from what was otherwise a solid concept.
Devil May Cry Season 2 also seems much less mixed in its messaging this time around, making the statements it is trying to make feel more impactful. As I mentioned, the White Rabbit was a solid character, and the show took time to explore what drove him to become what we see when the series opens, but his plan did not really make much sense (I will spare you a random rant about the writing). This time around, we get a relatively simple villain who wants power, and that is kind of okay.
I love a complex villain, but if you cannot deliver on it properly, give me a moustache-twirling madman any day and take more time to explore the main characters, and that is exactly what Devil May Cry Season 2 chose to do with Arius, and Graham McTavish’s performance brought that to life in the best possible way.
STUDIO MIR brought this season to life with some truly fantastic set pieces and very fluid animated moments. Much like we saw in Devil May Cry Season 1, there is a mix of CGI and traditional animation, but it feels better blended this time around. I still am not a fan of how the CGI looks, but at least it is less overt and feels more like a part of the overall production.
STUDIO MIR has brought many animated works to the screen, including The Legend of Korra, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood and Star Wars: Visions, so the studio clearly knows what it is doing. It also seems to have been given enough time to cook this season, producing some truly striking visual moments that help bring this world to life in an engaging and impressive way.
“This time around, the show feels much more rooted in the Devil May Cry lore and a bit truer to the characters.”
The moments of pathos and the overall pacing of Devil May Cry Season 2 feel much better this time around. We are given time to explore character moments and get a better sense of where the characters are coming from. They feel much less edgy for the sake of being edgy, and the overall feel of the universe is much more fleshed out. I wish this were the care and attention we got in Season 1, but I am very happy to see it brought to the screen in Devil May Cry Season 2.
I will note that VP Baines, the role Kevin Conroy brought to life in Season 1, felt very reduced this time around, and that makes sense. The voice actor brought in to fill his shoes does a fantastic job, but it was a good choice not to make the character front and centre this time around, giving other characters in the cast time to shine in their more fleshed-out roles.
From the way I am describing everything, it sounds like Devil May Cry Season 2 is a triumph compared with Season 1, and I would agree, for the most part, at least when it is not standing in its own way with awkward moments or pacing issues. The soundtrack, which has some really solid early 2000s songs, does get a bit grating at times. I love Papa Roach, Drowning Pool, Evanescence and Limp Bizkit as much as anyone, but I do not think any show needs a full, uninterrupted use of a song in every episode, especially when it can feel a bit shoehorned in.
Do not get me wrong, it works at times and does add to some of the more intense action moments, but a full song does not need to play every time just to drive home the intensity of what we are seeing. As with anything, less is more. Use these songs sparingly, and they will have more impact. When it feels like that is happening at least once per episode, it can take away from those moments and become a bit much.
I could also nitpick many of the ways the writers have pushed characters in certain directions, and how that plays out, but then we would be here all day. Devil May Cry Season 2 is far from perfect, but it builds on what was laid down in Season 1, making it feel more like a part of this universe and giving it a better place to move forward.
The biggest thing for me is that Devil May Cry Season 2 captures the essence of the characters much better this time around. While the story still borrows moments from the games and builds its own version of things, the main focus of who these people are works and captures the essence of the source material in a way that can be appreciated by both new and longtime fans.
There are still plenty of moments that simply do not work, and some story beats feel added only to set up a cool action sequence without feeling well integrated into the overall plot, but the main throughline feels, for the most part, organic, and the writing feels much more consistent this time around. I am excited to see where Devil May Cry goes from here, and if it can keep up this trend, I am optimistic. There is a lot to work with in this franchise, and if the showrunners build on the foundation they currently have, I am excited to see what comes next.
