This article contains SPOILERS for the first season of Netflix's Devil May Cry.
The first season of Devil May Cry is out now on Netflix, and it's a hell of a ride. Over the course of eight episodes, we follow the wise-cracking devil hunter Dante as he goes toe-to-toe with some of Hell's most dangerous residents — as well as human special forces which want nothing more than to wipe demons from the Earth. As a half-devil himself, Dante is included in that equation whether he likes it or not.
Devil May Cry is based on a long-running series of video games by Capcom; it's got legions of fans, so the anticipation was high to see how Captain Laserhawk creator Adi Shankar would handle this new anime adaptation. The results are a bit mixed. The show captures the spirit of the games really well at times, while at others it leans into a ham-fisted political allegory that feels totally out of place for the Devil May Cry universe.
Nowhere is this political commentary more cringeworthy than in the final minutes of the season, when the Vice President of the United States orders jets and bombs to be sent through a portal to hell, where they blow up a bunch of innocent demons who are just trying to escape the yoke of the demon lord Mundus, all while "American Idiot" by Green Day plays in the background. In the aftermath, the humans set up a detention center in Hell (called Makai by demons), which is run by a company named Uroboros. No, I am not kidding. While this might be compelling in another series, I cannot emphasize enough how at odds it is with the tone of the Devil May Cry franchise.
To top it all off, the Uroboros stinger at the end of the episode introduces a new villain who will presumably feature in the show's second season, if the show is renewed: none other than Arius, the megalomanical businessman sorcerer who served as the primary antagonist of Devil May Cry 2.
Who is Arius in Devil May Cry?
I'll give Shankar's Devil May Cry this: introducing Arius is a bold choice. Ask any fan of the game series which their least favorite entries are, and they'll almost universally cite Devil May Cry 2. The second game had a more tumultuous production cycle than the first, and while it made some advancements which would be perfected in later installments, it's a step down compared to the revolutionary first game, rock solid third game, or any of the subsequent sequels. (Unless we're counting the DmC reboot...but let's not go there today.)
Devil May Cry has a massive rogues gallery of villains, and the show makes ample use of it. White Rabbit is from a manga related to the third game, and his posse of lieutenants are all bosses drawn from various games in the series. But when it comes to main antagonists, few of them are lamer than Arius. The first game's villain Mundus is an omnipresent lord of Hell, and while he doesn't have the most personality in the world, he exerts a lot of power over Dante and the people in his life. The third game's villains, Arkham and Vergil, are both excellent, and Urizen and his related forms from Devil May Cry 5 are so powerful that not even Dante can beat them alone. The only other villain even remotely close to Arius is Sanctus from Devil May Cry 4, a withered old pope-like figure who has it out for Dante's nephew Nero.
Arius the businessman is certainly one of the worst villains in the entire franchise, as well as one of the most outright absurd. Don't take my word for it, watch the video above to hear his outrageous line-readings with a heavy german accent as he proclaims he was to be king of the world, before Dante blasts him into next Tuesday.
Despite being a lame game villain, Arius would work well for the Devil May Cry show
While I could gripe all day about my issues with Devil May Cry 2, I do think including Arius is actually a fairly interesting choice for the show to make. Given how much Shankar's take on the story focuses on the human element of the Devil May Cry world, Arius is a pretty good fit. We've already delved deeply into how the U.S. government is fighting against demons; it makes sense to get into the private sector's interests, and Arius is the main figure to represent that in the franchise. So despite my reservations, I am curious to see what the show does with him. They could even work in his interest in sorcery and bioengineering, as he experiments on the denizens of Hell until the greater conflict boils over.
There's no news yet about whether Devil May Cry will get a second season, but if it does, the pieces are in place for a showdown in Hell between Arius and the humans on the one hand and Mundus and his demon army on the other. And of course, Dante and his brother Vergil would end up caught in the middle. We'll see how it plays out if the show gets that far.
All eight episodes of Devil May Cry season 1 are streaming now on Netflix.
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