Back to Singolo's Profile Singolo's Profile

The first thing I asked myself after watching Devil May Cry was: "How hard is it to make a DMC anime?", I mean, the story of the games isn't really that complicated, it's basically about a badass Demon Hunter who enjoys eating pizza and some evil demons who wanna fuck around with him, and you don't even need to scratch your head too much to realize how you can adapt the gameplay into the animation, it's a hack 'n slash game for christ's sake, just make him fight some demons and be cool, maybe put some really crazy weapons into the mix, and some pumping ... awesome rock tracks, and you might just have a great action anime, but that's not the case with Devil May Cry, it can't even get the hack 'n slash part right.

About the plot, it is set between the events of DMC1 and DMC4, but it's not like that really matters. Most of the episodes (8 of them actually) are structured in an episodic format, basically showing Dante doing some type of contract for a costumer, be it a desperate wife or the brother of a biker that died during a race, which generally involve him killing some random demon that murdered someone important to this person. The episodes that are not individual stories focus around this weird demon guy named Sid and his plan to receive the powers of the demon lord Abigail, while also giving away some other details about the demon world and Sparda.

I didn't really mind that the episodes were mostly separate stories, but most of them are really boring and uninteresting, and I think the main reason for this is that the anime doesn't really have that much fighting in it. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that an anime can only be good if there's lots of fights in it, but, dude, this is DMC, if you're not going to put lots of fights and demon slashing in it (and why the hell wouldn't you?), than at least make the side characters and stories interesting.

Don't get me wrong, Dante is still as funny and badass as he used to be, the same goes for Trish and Lady, who also make an appearance in this show, I even like the new characters they introduced. Sure, Patty can be annoying sometimes, but it's aways great so see her bitching at Dante telling him to get his lazy ass off the chair and do some work, and Morrisson is just cool in general, I think it's because of the mustache. The problem with these characters is that, while they're pretty cool and likable when they're alone or interacting with each other, the same doesn't go for when they're interacting with the side characters or the enemies. None of these characters could make me feel interested in the story or what was going on, with a few exceptions here and there, and these were mainly because the plot lines were sort of interesting, and there is no tension to be had if the enemies you fight feel like soldiers from a Dynasty Warriors game.

Almost every single fight in this anime is resolved within 2-3 minutes or less, it depends if Dante decides to use his pistols or if Trish and Lady are there to help him. It just makes enemies look like they're no big deal, even when they're 4 times Dante's size.

It's just makes me feel so disappointed everytime the anime decides to show some fighting, because they're actually pretty cool. The animation is fluid and it looks great, and besides one or two fights that just involve Dante shooting demons 'till they explode, the choreography of the fights is really good, It's just a shame that there is so little of them in the anime.

The sound department is also good. The opening does a pretty good job of setting the mood for the rest of the episode, and the fact that it is also used in almost every fight in this anime is not a bad thing. Besides the opening the rest of the songs are ok, with the exception of "Future in my Hands", the main theme for the sixth episode, "Rock Queen", that really stands out from the rest of the tracks, possibly being the best song present in this anime's soundtrack.

Overall, I don't consider DMC to be a bad anime, it's just sort of misguided. They could have done so much more with what they had here and instead they lamed it out. There are some few moments of pure enjoyment here and there, but most of the time you'll only be mildly interested in what's going on in the screen at best.

OVERALL RECOMMENDATION: If you're a fan of the games, then give this a try, it's still fun to see Dante kicking some ass, but if you're not, well, you might wanna watch something else.

If anyone asked me what's my opinion about Sengoku Basara, I'd just tell 'em it is a pretty fun to watch anime, nothing more than that. Nothing really stands out, but that is not a bad thing if the product is consistent all throughout, and Sengoku Basara is pretty consistent.
There is nothing really spectacular about the plot and characters, it's another one of those shows that are set during the Sengoku Period in Japan (having Nobunaga Oda as the villain and all), having some of the actual generals and captains that were involved in those battles as characters in the story, but changing a ... lot of it to make it more "anime" and digestible to the public, and as far as the characters here go, they basically kept only their names and affiliations, but again, that's not a bad thing.
Sengoku Basara is the Dynasty Warriors anime that never came to life (maybe because the game it was based on plays so much like DW). Characters are one-dimensional war machines that can tear through waves of men as easily as they can shout their enemy's name or say "MY LORD!", and it's surely fun to see them interact.
For the most part they're just talking to each other in order to get some exposition about the plot out or just explain the characters motivations, but here and there you'll see some fight scenes, and in my opinion the show is at it's best during these fights. Every fight in this anime is comparable to the fight between Superman and Zod in the new Superman movie, as in they don't really give a fuck about logic or collateral damage, just throwing everything they have at each other hoping it kills whoever is fighting, and it is glorious.
Other than the fight scenes and the characters, the show has some pretty good animation, nothing that will make you impressed, but nothing as bad as the latest episodes of Naruto. The same goes to the sound section of the anime, none of the songs are really catchy or worth listening to in your free time, but you'll probably not skip 'em until the latter episodes.

OVERALL RECOMMENDATION: If you're a selective type of guy or just doesn't have that much time to watch anime, than skip this if you don't have anything better to watch, but, if you're willing to give it a try, you will not be disappointed.