Anime / Devil May Cry: The Animated Series

Keep Rockin', Baby!

Devil May Cry: The Animated Series is the anime of the Devil May Cry video game series created and owned by Capcom, and animated by Madhouse. It is a story that ran for twelve episodes and takes place between DMC1 and DMC2.

The series follows half-demon Dante as he runs his supernatural Detective Agency, Devil May Cry, as a justification for carrying out his war against the Demon World. In addition to Trish and Lady, characters from the video game that the series is based upon, two new characters make an appearance. These are Morrison and Patty Lowell; Dante's informant and temporary ward, respectively.

The Devil May Cry animated series follows the tradition of the original animated series of Hellsing in that it chronicles primarily self-contained adventures before bringing them to a linked final conclusion at the end of the season. The animated series favors animation, music, and other elements of style over detailed plots or characterization.

There are also two Drama CD volumes released on 2007 and 2008, which are voiced by the Japanese cast and narrate stories occurring during the same time as the anime.

The US release was originally handled by ADV Films in 2007, but the license was transferred over to Funimation in 2008 in light of ADV's financial troubles. In July 2015, the English dub started airing on U.S. cable network Chiller TV, a horror themed sister channel to Syfy, as part of their late night Anime Wednesdays block, along with other horror themed anime previously licensed and dubbed by Funimation.

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This anime contains examples of:

• 12-Episode Anime: The series has twelve episodes, referred to as "Missions".
• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: The card game in the aptly named "Death Poker" episode, in which the losers lose their lives. Dante even has this bet when it's only him and one other gambler remaining.
  Dante: Fine. So it's all or nothing... I accept, but I'm afraid I'm a little low on chips. If I lose, I pay the difference with my life.
• Acid Attack: The demonic genie mask in Episode 7 has a slime-like body that quickly melts what it swallows, but it primarily attacks by spraying acid from its mouth. Not only does it corrode inorganic substances, it is extremely lethal and gruesome when used against a living being, like what happened to Kerry's friend.
• Action Girl: Trish and Lady may not necessarily be as powerful as Dante, but they are no pushovers either.
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • In the games, Dante is a wisecracking wild man, who always fights like he's having the time of his life. The anime made him far more laid back, and took away most of his personality quirks in the process. He also gripes more about not getting paid for his work, whereas several lines in the first game indicate that he's not that concerned about money.
  • Lady is considerably more laid-back and sarcastic compared to her persona in the third game where she was an intense and focused Determinator driven by revenge. Justified, as that game saw her in the middle of a very personal conflict, but now that this conflict is resolved, she no longer needs to push herself so hard.
• Adaptational Superpower Change: A downplayed case with Ebony and Ivory. In the games, their main asset is their rate of fire but their damage is rather low, but the anime gives them the power of a Hand Cannon with the same rapid fire rate.
• Advertised Extra: Despite being featured in the opening credits, Trish only appears in four episodes (4, 10, 11 and 12), and she has fewer screentime than the rest of the Devil May Cry agency mainstays Dante, Lady, Patty and Morrison.
• The Alcatraz: The "Devil's Prison" in Episode 7 is lampshaded as an inescapable prison; according to Morrison, rumors say nobody's ever made it out of the Devil's Prison alive. It's later revealed why this was the case; the guards and the warden are actually demons who kill the inmates for a sadistic game of tag.
• All There in the Manual:
  • The anime itself serves as this for the games, explaining why Trish and Lady already know each other in Devil May Cry 4 despite never meeting each other in the games prior.
  • The Japanese-only Audio Drama CDs provide additional bits of lore to the anime, and to an extent, the Devil May Cry franchise in general. One notable tidbit is the Continuity Nod that aims to justify Dante's shop retaining its original "Devil May Cry" name as opposed to the "Devil Never Cry" rename that happened at the end of the first game.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Most of the demons that Dante fights are evil to the core, but there are exceptions to the rule, such as Trish, Brad and Modeus, who are either demon slayers themselves, or are pacifists who interact well with humans.
• And the Adventure Continues: The series ends with Dante, Trish, and Lady driving off to their next demon hunting mission.
• Ascended Demon: Brad, thanks to The Power of Love. Modeus is one as well, though for different reasons.
• Babysitting Episode: The first episode has Dante being saddled with the task of watching over Patty Lowell; a little girl who is the sole heir of a large fortune (which is actually a misdirection caused by the real heiress sharing her name), with other people seeking to use demons to kill her. Dante himself lampshades this situation as "babysitting a brat".
• Badass Biker: Dante and Lady have action scenes while riding motorcycles, as best shown in the second episode; Dante himself puts his driving skill to the test against a demonic bike, while Lady gets to fire her guns after letting go of both handles.
• Badass Longcoat:
  • Just like in the games, Dante wears a red one.
  • Modeus and Baul, the two apprentices of Sparda in Episode 10, wear these as well, and are also appropriately color-coded (black and white, respectively).
• Badass Normal:
  • Lady is the only normal human in the cast of demon hunters, the others being a half-demon (Dante) and full demon (Trish) respectively. She primarily makes up for this by using an extensive arsenal of firearms and her powerful rocket launcher Kalina Ann.
  • Subverted in Episode 8. Ernest has seemingly prepared himself to summon and defeat the demon that was responsible for burning his hometown in Morris Island, but he's just a Miles Gloriosus. Despite knowing some cryptic language that can open a door to the demon world, he's just a normal human and his only weapon is a mere hunting rifle. Dante repeatedly points out that Ernest is no match for his target, and it's proven true; Ernest is easily knocked unconcious when said demon appears (and can't move in its presence), forcing Dante to kill it in his stead.
  • Zig-zagged with Patty Lowell and her mom Nina Lowell, who are normal humans, but as later revealed in the final episodes, have magical pendants that allow them to repel low-level demons and open portals to the underworld. Patty is instrumental in waking up Dante when he's unconscious and pinned to a cross. By contrast however, Nina doesn't fear demons because she has a magic item (which is also stronger than Patty's). Both of them are descendants of Alan Lowell, an alchemist/sorcerer who used to employ several demons. However, their pendants can break and be rendered useless, like what happened to Nina's.
• Bad Guy Bar: Dante trashes one that's run by demons in the very first scene of the series.
• Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: After their Commonality Connection talk, Bradley closes his eyes and still expects Dante to shoot him (because Dante was hired to kill him). The camera focuses on Dante pulling the trigger and a gunshot is heard off-screen, but he spares Bradley and shoots the Monster of the Week above them instead.
• Batman Gambit: In "Wishes Come True", Dante needs to get into Devil's Prison in order to rescue someone who got thrown in there due to the machinations of the evil demon mask that serves as the Monster of the Week. He does this by first causing a disturbance in order to get himself thrown into the prison, and then assaulting the creepy warden when he gets a little too handsy with him in order to get thrown into the same cellblock as the guy he's trying to rescue. This also has the side benefit of placing him in a position to stop the sadistic "hunt" performed by the warden and his boys upon the inmates which has them taking on their true demonic forms.
• Battle in the Rain: The climax of Episode 10 has Dante and Baul dueling each other while it's raining in the park (and in front of Sparda's monument). Dante also quips about it.
  Dante: Let's settle this thing fast, before I catch a cold.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him:
  • In Episode 8, Dante "exorcises" Elena by throwing his Rebellion sword at her. The twist is, the demon that possessed Elena physically separates from her body at the last moment, yet the sword is still able to impale its throat. Elena is unharmed in the process as her body fell to the floor beforehand.
  • Episode 9 deals with a cursed pocket watch that possesses its victims in exchange for giving them immense luck. When Dante is acting out-of-character due to wearing it, Lady has to shoot him down. It's later revealed that this is their plan to snap him out of the curse, as Lady primarily aimed at the pocket watch, while Dante relied on his own Healing Factor. It's also implied to happen in the flashback; Patty wore the watch, got possessed by it as well, and suddenly picks up a gun. The camera pans away after Dante rushes towards her, but by the next scene, Patty is already unconscious.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Both episodes that focus on this aesop involved demons who messed with people.
  • The episode "Wishes Come True" is a prime example. The demonic "genie" mask could not grant any wish except for those involving killing people, which it does by means of spewing acidic hell-slime at its victim. It waited for Kerry to "wish" for his friend's death, and promptly granted it. This leaves Kerry regretting what he said, as he's also framed and imprisoned for the murder.
  • Elena Houston, the singer in the episode "Rock Queen", wanted folks to become intoxicated with her singing. She got obsessively intoxicated fans. The Monster of the Week even taunts her about it.
• BFS: Though the games have already established Dante's Rebellion to be such a huge and tall sword, a depiction of it in this anime takes it even further; the silhouette of Dante in the Devil May Cry shop has the Rebellion extending diagonally, which is way longer when compared to the height of his silhouette.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Dante has a trend of arriving just in the nick of time before rescuing someone, such as when Patty is almost killed by some demons in the theatre in Episode 1, or before the butler tries to kill Angelina in Episode 3.
  • At the beginning of Episode 4, Lady arrives just before a human victim got killed by some demons.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: A few episodes feature seemingly harmless or unconspicuous characters who actually have sinister motives. For example, the dutiful butler in Episode 3 turns out to be a serial killer and a demon worshipper, while the priest in Episode 4 and the female client in Episode 9 turn out to be demons themselves.
• Blade Across The Shoulder: One of Dante's favourite poses. He does it a lot in this anime adaptation, even in the opening sequence. An extended example also happens after he defeats Abigail/Sid; Dante takes some time to walk up a hill facing Sid, all while resting his Rebellion sword on his shoulder.
• Bloodier and Gorier: While there are scenes involving blood in the games, they were mostly sprayed out quickly and would disappear after a few moments, with some of the characters (such as Dante) not retaining injuries thanks to Healing Factor. Most demons also have Alien Blood (or other substances such as sand), so there's not much to say in terms of gore. The anime however, makes everything bleed red, even the demons. Near the end of Episode 1 alone, the demons slain by Dante in the theater causes a pool of red blood to slowly spill on the floor, and the camera even focuses on it. It gets bloodier from there, as the next fight scenes may involve High-Pressure Blood from inflicted wounds.
• Bloody Murder: In the final episode, the initial showdown between Dante and Sid in the underworld has a "Blood Horrors" variant of this trope. Dante blasts Sid's body to Ludicrous Gibs, creating a river and pool of blood in the process. Sid's blood creates a hand that grabs Dante on the leg, then the pool transforms into a giant version of himself which attempts to swallow Dante.
• Blob Monster: The wish-fullfilling demon is this, apart from his mask. Its body is amorphous and seemingly made out of strong acid. It can launch this acid as projectiles, either spitting them out its mask's mouth or just launching them out of his body, and it can also engulf its victims fully within its body.
• Body Horror: In "Wishes Come True", a demon makes his victims' bodies melt in gruesome fashion by means of hell-slime. This is the only "wish" that this particular demon can grant.
• Bond One-Liner: After Dante clears the bar out of demons in the beginning of Episode 1, he says "Next time you open up shop, don't forget to add strawberry sundaes to the menu", an Ironic Echo which references the earlier scene when he tries to order such sundaes before the fight, but was laughed at by the demon disguised as the bartender.
• Book Ends:
  • In Episode 2, Dante's first scene inside the Devil May Cry shop has Lady making a bet with him whether she could sink the 8-ball or not. Dante makes a similar bet with Vincent at the end of the episode.
  • Episodes 1 and 12 have an Unusual Euphemism of describing Dante's Demon Slaying job as "adults only" (meaning they are not safe to witness for children like Patty). The final episode has Patty soundly falling asleep after Dante returned from the underworld, allowing him to quip with a relevant version of the euphemism before fighting Abigail.
    Dante (in Episode 1): Sorry. My shows are "for adults only".
    Dante (in Episode 12): Ah, perfect timing. The rest of the show is "adults only".
  • In Episode 1, the first scene in the Devil May Cry agency has Patty entering, with Morrison introducing her to Dante. One final scene in Episode 12 shows Patty returning to Devil May Cry to clean it up.
• Bottomless Magazines: Just like in the games, Dante never has to reload his guns.
• Breaking the Bonds: As the Warden flirts with him in Episode 7, Dante responds by effortlessly breaking his handcuff chains, then choking and throwing the Warden away. This is a demonstration of Dante's Super-Strength, and he planned to provoke the Warden in order for himself to be thrown to the special cell block.
• Breath Weapon:
  • In Episode 7, the demonic genie mask's primary method of attack is spewing or spraying acid from its mouth. The attack's size and potency varies depending on just how much acid it releases.
  • The demon Abigail can fire off beams from its mouth, which turn into dome-shaped explosions upon contact.
• Brick Joke:
  • Earlier in Episode 1, Morrison and Dante say the latter's demon-slaying activities are "a show". The next scene makes it seem as though Patty is unaware that it's an Unusual Euphemism as she expresses eagerness in watching Dante's "show", but he warns her that his shows as "for adults only". By the end of the episode, after Dante has slain his last Monster of the Week, Patty says this line which references what Dante said before.
    Patty: I saw it all! The "adult-only" part.
  • In Episode 2, a man tries to flirt with Lady in the rain. He's ignored, but still follows her. Turns out she was leading him to a warehouse to kill him. When the man transforms into a demon, Lady smirks and says "I prefer you in this form", clearly a response to the earlier flirting.
• Briefcase Full of Money: In Episode 5, Morrison hands Dante a suitcase full of cash in order to set up and lure a bunch of demons disguised as the Mafia.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • After Dante tells Sid to "hit the road" in Episode 1, Sid flees the theatre in panic and is never seen again for the next five episodes. However, he returns near the end of Episode 7 (snatching the demon mask after it was just killed by Dante), and becomes more active behind-the-scenes to gain the power of the demon Abigail.
  • Trish went somewhere else after the events of Episode 4 (with Lady even sending her out to her destination), making her absent for most of the next episodes. However, she returns in the last three episodes; interrogating a demon for info about Baul, helping in the research about Alan's Tear, and in assisting Lady against the horde of demons summoned by Abigail.
• The Butler Did It: In the third episode, the one responsible for the murders Brad is being blamed for is the Mayor's butler, who wants to bring a powerful demon to earth by sacrificing his master and his daughter.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Dante, to some extent due to his constant running gags of losing gambles, or accumulating more debt when he's already in Perpetual Poverty. The latter is more prevalent, since not all of his demon-slaying jobs pay him enough (at the end of Episode 2, he's even charged for destroying a bridge), or Lady and Trish leave their shopping bills to him (as seen in Episode 4).
  • Episode 5 deals with Isaac stalking Dante in order to find out what Cindy likes in the latter, but Isaac ends up in a lot of comedic moments and misfortunes, such as getting caught in the girls' bathroom by a bouncer, being chased by Patty, falling into the sea, having to hide inside a dumpster, or getting his car wrecked.
• Call-Back:
  • There's a gag which involves Dante trying to order strawberry sundae in establishments where it's not really served, then when Dante leaves, he would suggest the owner to add strawberry sundaes to the menu. In Episode 1, he passes it off as a one-liner when he killed the demon disguised as a bartender, but when he repeats the same advice in Episode 7, he passes it as a "secret" that may attract more customers at the restaurant.
  • The speech Dante gives to Modeus after he killed his brother is an almost verbatim retelling of what he said to Vincent the Biker gang leader in Episode 2. However, this incident ends on a completely different note.
• Cassandra Truth: Not everyone in society believes in the existence of demons (despite the availability of a demon-hunting agency like Devil May Cry). This leads to Muggles being in a bind when they do encounter demons.
  • Out of all the Played for Laughs misunderstandings Isaac saw when spying on Dante, Cindy still doesn't believe it when Isaac said Dante killed a demon. It's one of the only things he perfectly witnessed without such misunderstanding.
  • Kerry swore that a demon was responsible for killing his friend, but nobody believed him, he was accused of being the murderer and got imprisoned for it instead. The efforts of Dante and Lady respectively got him out of prison, and flushed out the demon who actually did the murder.
  • 20 years ago, a fire engulfed Morris Island, leaving only a few survivors who insist that it was caused by a demon, yet nobody else believed them. Ernest is one of those survivors who still kept on investigating the incident. His "irrefutable evidence" involves trying to re-summon the demon in the ruins and kill it.
• Cat Scare: Played straight early on in the fourth episode, and again in the fifth, both with black cats distracting the characters from the real threats.
• Character Catchphrase: From Episode 5 alone, Isaac repeatedly says "What gives?" on separate instances, usually to express his bewilderment or confusion.
• Character Development: The biker gang leader Vincent undergoes through a change within the span of Episode 2. Initially, he thinks Dante is getting in the way of investigating his brother's death, acts rude towards him, and simply wants to win their motorcycle race. After Dante saves him from the Monster of the Week, Vincent personally visits Devil May Cry to express his gratitude, as he would've died if not for Dante's actions. He wishes to have another race with Dante, but it's in a much friendlier tone than before.
• Character Exaggeration: Dante is accused of being ridiculously over the top.
• Character in the Logo: As it was with the early Devil May Cry games' tradition, the official poster features a red silhouette of Dante beside the title art. It's also the Devil May Cry shop's In-Universe neon sign silhouette for this adaptation, unlike the rest of the series where it has a woman's silhouette instead.
• Chekhov's Gag: There's a recurring bit which involves a poker player having a Royal Straight Flush on hand, as seen in Episodes 1 and 6. Hilariously in the latter, Dante obviously cheated by having two cards glued together. However, this becomes more relevant in Episode 9 when Dante wins the Absurdly High-Stakes Game of "Death Poker" with a Royal Straight Flush.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Morrison gives Dante a guitar case after the latter accepted being a bodyguard for Patty, and cryptically mentions how Dante has a "show to play". What's inside isn't revealed for some time, but it's all an Unusual Euphemism for Dante having to slay demons; his Rebellion sword is inside the guitar case. Later on, Dante does bring out its contents. Several episodes onwards continue to show Dante carrying the same case.
  • The pocket watch in Episode 9 is initially presented as merely an invitation that lets Dante play with the rumored gambler "King" in the casino cruise ship. It's actually a cursed item that possesses the wearer in exchange for immense luck.
  • When Sid returns around the latter half of the series, he's suspiciously seen collecting some artifacts (such as the demon genie's mask in Episode 7). It's only until Episode 11 where it's revealed that he needed those to start a ceremony that lets him obtain the demon Abigail's power.
  • Patty Lowell's locket pendant isn't a mere accessory. As revealed in Episode 12, it contains a shard of Alan's Tear, capable of repelling low-level demons and opening a portal to the underworld. This allows her to reach Dante and wake him up when he's impaled to a life-sized cross.
• Childhood Friend Romance: The leader of the treasure hunters in Episode 6, Tim, admits that he was Elena Huston's childhood friend. He's been supportive of her dream as a rock artist and helped her grew a fanbase, popularity, or more gigs. He's also aware of how Elena suddenly changed, and recognizes her even if she was possessed by a demon. After Dante exorcised the demon out of Elena, she and Tim had a brief intimate moment, and an ending scene of the episode shows them living together.
• Climactic Battle Resurrection: The anime had Dante pulling this off. Normally, no one should be surprised in the least - Dante finds Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Crucified Hero Shots routine, and he's got a Healing Factor that lets him laugh at them. But the episode leading up to his reappearance does it's damnedest to make you think that the writers really killed him off for real, up to and including a pull-your-heartstrings-out plea speech from Patty set to a reprisal of the music box theme from the original game (the one that plays alongside the picture of Dante's dead mother and the pendant he inherited from his dead father and brother) that provokes no reaction from Dante's seemingly lifeless body at all. As a way to make the audience actually cheer when Dante does come back to make with the Curb-Stomp Battle victory, it succeeds.
• Close-Call Haircut: Played perfectly straight when Trish and Lady fight in the church. Trish fires on a temporarily helpless Lady, who feels no wound and pats herself down, to find strands of hair on her shoulder. Lady shouts "You bitch! You shot my hair!" and the fight turns to fisticuffs.
• Close to Home: Many situations that Dante has to deal with very closely parallel his own life. The first episode introduces Patty, an orphaned girl who misses her mother and carries her picture as a memento of her and who carries great power in her bloodline, the second episode features a man who is hellbent on avenging his brother, the third episode involves love between a human woman and a male demon and so on.
• Clothing Damage: A short gag in Episode 4 has Lady and Trish having to shop for new clothes after fighting each other on two separate instances. In the church, Lady manages to rip a part of Trish's shirt using her rocket launcher's bayonet, then jokes about it.
  Lady: Well, looks to me like your clothes have been ruined again.
• Combination Attack: Trish and Lady pull this off during the final episode when Lady fires a missile from her Kalina Ann and Trish rides it, empowering it further with her demonic energy and guiding it into the Big Bad. It still does nothing, as Sid, who is powered up by Abigail, just tanks it.
• Commonality Connection:
  • Dante has been contracted to kill Bradley, a demon who has fallen in love with a human, Angelina. When Dante encounters Brad in the alley, he asks Dante about his parent's relationship to validate the possibility of love in a demon. Dante spares him after hearing this and suggests that he live like a human being.
  • In Episode 10, part of the reason why Dante and Modeus aren't hostile with each other from the beginning is their shared fondness for strawberry sundaes. Hilariously, both are kicked out of the restaurant for saying the dessert at that time is too sweet and needs less sugar. Patty is likewise amazed at the both of them liking strawberry sundaes.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Dante's outfit in this anime series is the one he wore from the first Devil May Cry game, which makes sense because this series chronologically takes place after DMC1.
  • The fact that Dante owes Lady a massive sum of cash is brought up numerous times. This debt is, of course, due to his wrecking of Lady's bike in Devil May Cry 3. There's even a bonus image in that game of Dante shrugging while Lady stares in shock to the only part left of her beloved bike.
  • In Episode 2, a Highway Department agent brings up the fact that Lady has a real name, but she interrupts him right before he could say it. This references the plot point in Devil May Cry 3 where Lady chose to discard her real name, Mary.
  • The scar on Lady's right leg (best shown in Episode 11) also came from Devil May Cry 3, when her father stabbed her in the leg with her own bayonet.
  • The first volume of the audio drama CD references the plot point in Devil May Cry 1 wherein Dante's shop was renamed from "Devil May Cry" to "Devil Never Cry". However, Trish asked Dante to revert his shop's name back to the original "Devil May Cry" prior to her meeting Lady in Episode 4 of the anime because Trish wanted to travel around the world by herself, and "Devil Never Cry" would've meant that they owned the shop together. This also establishes a Call-Forward to the later installments, wherein Dante's shop would be consistently named "Devil May Cry" going forward.
  • At the end of Episode 3, the preview segment for the next episode (which features Trish and Lady) has Dante recalling his bad luck with women, specifically when he got a sword stuck in his stomach, and when he got shot in the forehead. These reference what Trish and Lady did to him in Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, respectively.
  • Sparda's rebellion against the demonkind from two thousand years ago (a recurring backstory mentioned in the games) is recalled by Modeus as he looks at the monument dedicated to Sparda.
  • The last two episodes are titled "Showtime!" and "Stylish!", referencing the SS and SSS Style Ranks in Devil May Cry 3 ("SShowtime!!" and "SSStylish!!!").
• Cool Bike: The show is full of them, including the ones owned by Dante and Lady.
• Cool Car: Morrison's classic car. Dante's red convertible also counts, though Patty doesn't seem to think so.
• Convection, Schmonvection: It's funny how Patty and her mom can have a heartfelt reconciliation in a burning hotel without, y'know... roasting to death or dying of smoke inhalation.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Dante is pinned to a life-sized cross by his own sword at the end of the penultimate episode, following the Once an Episode routine of the games. As anyone who knows Dante knows, he gets better.
• Cruise Episode: Episode 9 takes place in a casino cruise ship, as Dante is invited by the rumored gambler "King" to play poker. Dante's allies (Morrison, Lady, and Patty) tagged along because it's also a part of an investigation requested by a client of Devil May Cry.
• Cue the Sun:
  • Near the end of Episode 5, the sun rises in the horizon immediately after Dante kills the last Monster of the Week. The following scene involving Dante, Isaac and Cindy is then purely heartwarming.
  • The final battle between Dante and Sid happens at nighttime, but as soon as Dante emerges victorious, it immediately turns into daytime, with sunrise approaching behind Dante as he delivers a speech to Sid.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: A lot of Dante's fight scenes are like this, usually ending in one single strike from him. It got to the point where he expresses disappointment over them.
• Cutlass Between the Teeth: Dante in the first episode has Ivory, one of his guns, in his mouth. Justified, as one hand was shooting with Ebony (his other gun), the other hand was filleting with his sword, and he's half-devil. And during the second episode he actually does it with Rebellion - catching it with his teeth as Lady tosses it to him.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: As it turns out, Patty's mother gave her away because she had to protect and watch over a certain amulet that made her a target for demons, and she left Patty at an orphanage to keep her from harm. By the end of the series, they reunite and stay together now that the demonic threat after them is eliminated.
• Dead All Along: The sister of the imprisoned guy who hires Dante in Episode 7 is actually a ghost. This is hinted at through her sudden vanishing into thin air once she gives Dante the ring, and at the end of the episode, her brother reveals that she, being already sickly, died due to stress soon after his imprisonment.
• Deal with the Devil: Discussed in Episode 4. Elena wished to have a "spellbounding voice". A female demon granted just that, and sought to possess Elena's body in exchange. When Elena is horrified at what's happening, the demon says this allusion:
  Demon: If you want something, you have to give something. It's what we say in the business a "trade-off".
• Death Glare: Dante gives this to Sid in Episode 1 when he's serious about asking where Patty is. Sid was so terrified, he admitted he was a hired grunt for the Lowell family members who wanted to get rid of Patty, and so he escorted Dante to the theater.
• Defeat Equals Explosion: The demon "Red Eye" explodes after Lady kills it.
• Dem Bones: In Episode 12, the demons that attack Patty, Nina and Morrison appear as hooded, red-eyed skeletons.
• Demonic Possession: A common problem in the series, which is featured most prominently in "Rock Queen" and "Death Poker", both of which involve a malevolent possessor preying on people. The latter isn't even one of the gamblers, but a demon who possesses people through means of a pocket watch on the victim's person.
• Depraved Homosexual: The warden of Devil's Prison.
• Destructive Saviour: Part of the reason Dante is so poor all the time is because he racks up a lot of repair bills during his demon battles.
• Designated Girl Fight: Lady vs. Trish in Episode 4, which turned out to have been instigated by a priest who's actually a demon in disguise.
• Detective Drama: This series has a flair of mystery and detective drama in general, as a recurring pattern has Dante being hired by someone to investigate an incident or gather some info about a person before the episodic plots focus on the Demon Slaying part. Episode 7, however, relies on this trope the most – The client Lynn outright describes the Devil May Cry establishment as a "detective agency", she wants Dante to prove the innocence of her brother Kerry (who was accused of murder) and set him free, while the bar owner (who gets asked for information) even wonders if Dante is a detective or a cop. This episode is also an "open" variant; the actual culprit is a demon, so the focus is on how Dante would save Kerry out from prison.
• Diegetic Switch: Tim plays a record of Elena to eliminate the boring atmosphere in the abandoned building. It attracts Possessed Elena Huston in the area, along with several demons under her control. Tim would've turned off the music, but Dante insists to keep it on, saying "You gotta have music if you wanna party". The background music of the following fight scene then becomes a clearer version of what's heard in the record.
• Discontinuity Nod:
  • Dante's love of strawberry sundaes is a reference to the first light novel that served as a prequel to the original game (until the third game went and kicked it out of canon). It is now officially canon once again after DMC5 features Dante enjoying the treat again.
  • The name "Tony Redgrave" inscribed on Ebony & Ivory is used as a plot point in episode 8 "Once Upon a Time". As with above, this is re-canonised in Devil May Cry 5.
• Divinely Appearing Demons: The Villain of the Week in "Rolling Thunder" is a demon with white, glowing skin, red eyes, a blue toga and feathery wings. For bonus points, he disguised himself as a priest before revealing himself to the heroes.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": In Episode 2, Lady cuts off the Highway Department agents when they're about to call her by her real name.
• Dramatic Spotlight: When Patty visits the theatre, there's a spotlight on both a demon disguised as her mom on the stage, and Patty herself when she's running towards the stage. And when Dante arrives, a spotlight also follows him walking down after he just shot some demons. The dramatic spotlight appears one last time as Sid flees the theatre in panic.
• Dramatic Thunder: The "Thunderous Underline" variant is used twice in this anime, both flashing in dark or dimly-lit rooms to mark an important event.
  • The first happens in Episode 8 where the thunder signals Sid's sudden appearance inside the dark room where Dante is waiting.
  • The next happens in Episode 10 wherein Dante's last question to Modeus seemed to have triggered the latter enough for him to turn into his demon form as soon as the thunder illuminates the Devil May Cry shop.
• Due to the Dead: By the end of Episode 10, Dante places the corpses of Baul and Modeus on a boulder near the park, along with planting their weapons to at least honor their deaths. In contrast, Sid arrives with a shovel to desecrate what Dante did, starting by knocking off one of the twins' corpses. The next episode reveals Sid used their corpses in his plan and ritual of obtaining Abigail's power.
• Dynamic Entry:
  • In Episode 3, Dante saves Angelina by shooting through the door (hitting the butler), then knocking the door down.
  • In Episode 4, Trish arrives at the church where Lady and the priest are by crashing down from the roof.
• Eldritch Abomination: Belphegor from Episode 3 appears as a giant four-eyed, tentacled demon whose head splits open in fours to reveal its mouth and teeth. And despite all the build-up about how he'll devour the entire city, Dante beats him in about five seconds.
• The End of the World as We Know It: In the final two episodes, Nina Lowell lampshades this situation when the demon Abigail is about to arrive in the human world through a portal in the hotel tower. The opening of Episode 12 is essentially just recapping the ending of Episode 11, although Nina's statements somehow differ slightly. It's ultimately subverted thanks to Dante defeating Abigail before the latter's influence spreads further into the globe.
  Nina (in Episode 11): My god... It's over. The world as we know it is coming to an end.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Dante and Lady are immediately shown to be capable demon hunters in their respective introductory scenes from the first two episodes by drawing the attention of the demon(s) they are about to hunt (Dante entering a Bad Guy Bar, and Lady luring a suspicious man), then killing those with ease.
  • In Episode 3, Bradley heals Angelina's sprained ankle to hint from the get-go that he's a genuinely good individual, specifically a good-natured demon with healing powers.
  • In Episode 11, the blonde woman, Nina Lowell, walks out of the bar as she attracts the attention of a drunkard who followed her, then that drunkard gets killed by a demon, then her pendant glows bright and kills that demon. These events immediately show Nina being stalked by demons who seek her pendant (Alan's Tear) for a reason, and yet that pendant repels demons, which in turn causes her not to fear them.
• Exact Eavesdropping: In Episode 3, just as Angelina is heading to the washroom, she overhears her father hiring Dante to kill her lover Bradley.
• Expecting Someone Taller: In the episode "Once Upon A Time", the demon of the week comments that Dante is a lot smaller and less impressive-looking than he expected for a Son of Sparda.
• Expressive Mask: The mask of the wish-fulfilling demon can actually change its expression, which can be seen a few times during their fight or just before Dante kills it.
• Fading Away: By the end of Episode 7, it's been made clear that Lynn has been Dead All Along. As she appears to Dante for the last time, bowing to thank him for saving her brother Kerry, she then slowly fades away.
• Famed In-Story:
  • The anime reveals that the demons who are capable of intellect and speech are aware of who Dante is, to the point where he become infamous in the demon world. In the road, the "truck demon" says Dante's name via some telepathy when it's about to attack. In the hotel, Sid, who pretended to be a hotel receptionist, even discusses this with Dante for a bit.
    Dante: Bastard. What the hell are you?
    Sid: Hehehe. Speaking of "Hell", you should know I know all about you.
  • Lady has gotten a fame for herself as a devil hunter, as best discussed in Episode 2 after she kills her first demon of the episode. She's described as someone "who takes out any adversary without fail".
  • Elena Huston is known as the legendary rock queen. However as her representative (and later on, lover) Tim explains, she withdrew from her original band the moment she started gaining more recognition.
  • The anime provides another context for Sparda's fame, both in the human world and the demon world. In Episode 10, the public park has a monument of Sparda, depicting him as a horned demon riding a horse. Modeus also describes Sparda as "the best swordsman in the demon world".
• Fat Bastard: The warden of Devil's Prison.
• Fighting Fingerprint: In Episode 4, Lady correctly suspects that Trish (whom she's just met and whose name she doesn't even know) is somehow connected to Dante just from the fact that Trish also uses a pair of pistols just like him.
• Fight Unscene: Some fights, like the demon in the third episode and the final clash against the Big Bad, are underwhelming.
• Finger-Tenting: In Episode 9, "Death Poker", the gambler in the white suit does this pose, especially when he narrates the rumor of the infamous gambler "King", and right before he attempts to flip a card to his advantage.
• Fishing for Sole: Zig-zagged at the beginning of Episode 7. Kerry caught a fish, but that fish also has a demonic genie mask biting its tail.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing:
  • Episode 6 doesn't hide the fact that the female demon is the rockstar Elena Huston. When she wakes up after the treasure hunters play a record of Elena, the demon says "I can hear it. I can hear it. That's... mine." Soon enough, even Tim recognizes the demon and calls her "Elena".
  • In Episode 7, Kerry immediately warns Dante that they would be killed "any minute now", hinting at the Warden's sadistic game of tag. Minus the flashback scene, it does happen a few minutes later, though Dante successfully manages to save himself and Kerry by defeating the demons there instead.
  • Before he even reveals his last card, you'll know Dante wins the Absurdly High-Stakes Game of poker in Episode 9 because Patty smiles after she looked at his card.
  • Episode 11 doesn't stray too far from the fact that the client Nina is Patty's mom. As Nina leaves the Devil May Cry agency, the next scene immediately shows her being the woman in Patty's photo locket. Then after a Slow-Motion Pass-By, Patty recognizes Nina as her mommy, then chases after her.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Earlier in Episode 1, Dante comments that Patty doesn't look like an heiress, so Morrison explains that's because she's been living as an orphan downtown. Dante's hunch is right; as revealed near the end of the episode, this young Patty is in fact, not the real heiress.
  • In Episode 7, notice how the female client Lynn suddenly disappears out of Devil May Cry after she gave her ring to Dante. It's suspicious that there are no indications nor a sound of her exiting the building. This hints to her actually being a ghost all along, which is revealed at the end of the episode.
  • In Episode 8, when Elise mentions the story of Ernest and Anthony hiding a treasure box somewhere as their childhood secret, Dante hints that it's probably hidden "right in front of [her] eyes". Just before that, she was looking at a view with a tree on the side. The camera also slowly zooms in on said tree's roots. What Dante said isn't a metaphor, and the zoom-in made it obvious – the rain at the end of the episode caused the treasure box to resurface from under the tree.
• Four Is Death: In Episode 7, Kerry made three wishes (wealth, power, and women) to the demonic mask posing as a genie. Said mask is actually a Jackass Genie who rejects all of those, and the only "wish" that it could grant is literally wishing someone to die. It stalked Kerry, waited for him to wish his friend's death, and promptly killed the other person. In a sense, it granted Kerry's fourth wish.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Episode 3, Mayor Mike Hagel has compiled the news articles related to the city's serial killings in a register book, but the title in the book's cover is scribbled over with the word "Scrap" instead. It's mostly noticeable on a paused viewing due to how fast the book is opened.
• Gangsta Style: Dante's default firing pose, as well Trish.
• Get into Jail Free: Dante assaults some street punks and causes property damage in the process to get sent to prison in order to rescue a man who had been framed by an evil "wish granting" demon mask for murder. The prison turns out to be run by demons, but even without his weapons, that's no problem for Dante.
• Gilded Cage: In Episode 3, Mayor Mike Hagel forbids Angelina from seeing Bradley again and decides to lock her in her room, while giving the door key to the butler. At least, the maid delivers Angelina's meals and she's still given the freedom to use the distant restroom of the mansion, but what she really wanted is to see her lover again. In fact, her free visit to the restroom caused Angelina to overhear her father's plan to assassinate Bradley, which gave her the idea to temporarily escape their mansion unnoticed to warn her lover about it.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Some demons in this anime (such as those that Dante killed in the prologue) have glowing red eyes.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: Dante tends to get stabbed, shot and impaled with alarming frequency. In fact, Dante relies on this in order to destroy the pocket watch that possesses gamblers in the episode "Death Poker". Specifically, he allows himself to be possessed and then has Lady shoot him in the heart, right where the pocket watch is. Thanks to his healing factor and Lady's incredible aim, he survives and successfully manages to destroy the pocket watch.
• The Gunslinger: Dante's main form of combat usually involves a pair of stylish pistols called Ebony and Ivory. Lady and Trish use guns as well, though Lady is more into More Dakka than Dante and Trish's Gun Fu.
• Guns Akimbo: Both Dante and Trish specialize in this style.
• Guns Are Worthless: Averted. Unlike the games where Devil Arms are more powerful when dealing with enemies, Dante finishes most of his foes, including the Big Bad, with either Ebony or Ivory. He doesn't even need to charge his blasts.
• Half-Breed Discrimination: This is blatantly stated by Bradley to Dante. This is highly uncommon because demons tend to enjoy tormenting and killing humans. However, Dante's father was a demon who rebelled against the demon emperor and sided with humans. Afterwards, he ruled the human world and had twin sons, Dante and Vergil, before disappearing.
• Hand Cannon:
  • Dante's pair of custom Colt M1911 handguns, Ebony & Ivory, deal heavy damage to his foes, at one point even capable of blasting Sid to Ludicrous Gibs near the finale. There are also instances where the camera shows the guns being huge in proportion to Dante's hands, such as in Episode 5 when he's about to shoot The Mafia demons.
  • Trish's Luce & Ombra are essentially her own versions of Dante's above mentioned custom pistols
• Harmful to Minors: Dante usually attempts to shield Patty from the gruesome battles he has with demons, even calling them as "adults only" to prevent her from being curious. He occasionally fails, though, as Patty either ends up being targeted by demons, or has admitted witnessing Dante's fights as early as Episode 1.
• Heads or Tails?: In Episode 1, Morrison gives Dante a game of guessing heads or tails; if Dante wins, Morrison will pay Dante's pizza tab in full (allowing the local pizza restaurant to deliver pizza to Dante again, which is doubly manipulative as it was Morrison who convinced them not to give Dante any pizza due to the latter not paying the tab), but if he loses, he'll accept the job of escorting Patty. It's implied that Morrison has a habit of making Dante do this game, based on Dante's reaction. Hilariously, Dante lost, as the game cuts to the next scene, with him heading out alongside Patty.
• Healing Factor: Dante and Trish, by dint of their demonic heritages. A scene in Episode 4 even focuses on the latter's hip wound recovering nigh-instantaneously.
• Healing Hands: Bradley's Establishing Character Moment in Episode 3 shows him healing Angelina's sprained ankle by putting his hand over it. This is an early hint that he's not actually a human, but a demon. Later on, he also restores a wilted rose with his hand.
• Helicopter Parents: Angelina's father in Episode 3 is very controlling of her. He hires Dante to kill the man his daughter starts to date, and while it's somewhat justified by Brad being a demon, it is implied her father is very strict with Angelina even beyond this situation. However, he goes as far only because he cares for her after the death of her mother and he does go around on this a bit by the end of the episode.
• Hero Insurance:
  • Subverted in Episode 2. Dante wrecks a bridge to defeat a demon. By the end, he's even expecting to be paid for the mission with no issues, but Lady informs him that he has to pay for it out of the reward he got for killing the demon. Lady is implied to have paid the charges on his stead, as she has adjusted the amount of debt Dante owes her.
    Lady: Of course, you and I got paid for taking care of ol' "Red Eye", but there might've been a few other charges, like repairing that city bridge you tore up...
  • Played straight in most other cases, however. Dante wrecks a bar, Trish destroys the roof of a church, and so on, but the consequences of these demon-slaying acts to such properties are no longer brought up.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: How does Dante appear to the regular joe? Well, as a rocker.
• High-Class Glass: Angelina's father Mike wears a monocle on his left eye. He's the head of a wealthy family, and is the Mayor of Capulet City.
• High-Pressure Blood: Whenever the combatants suffer heavy injuries during fights, there's a lot of blood scattered around. This usually happens to demons sliced by the Rebellion. In the final episode, Dante bleeds a lot when Patty tries to remove Rebellion that was impaling him, and when Sid skewers him with spikes.
• Hitman with a Heart: Dante is a demon hunter for hire, but this anime has shown that he may also spare some demons depending on the circumstances. In Episode 3, he was hired by the mayor to kill the demon Bradley (who was suspected as a serial killer), but Dante didn't go through it after realizing that Bradley is a genuinely good demon and that the serial killer was someone else. In Sid's case however, this gets deconstructed – Dante spares him for being a weak demon who's initially Not Worth Killing, but he became a bigger threat after gaining power, so by the finale, Dante decides to kill him after all to avoid going through the same mistake twice.
• Hit Stop: The very first action scene in Episode 1 has Dante shooting his handgun against a suspicious man attacking him from behind, and it's played in dramatic slow-motion; so slow that the man's body and the blood coming out of his wound stay afloat in mid-air for a while. The action only shifts back to "real-time" when that man transforms into a demon (still in mid-air, before falling to the ground) and attacks Dante again.
• Hostage for MacGuffin: Despite seeking it, Sid couldn't actually handle touching the demon-repelling pendant, Alan's Tear, so he gambled on the plan of making Nina Lowell hostage in exchange for the pendant. To his surprise, Nina's daughter Patty arrived at the scene, holding Alan's Tear out of her own volition. Sid then forces Patty to complete the summoning ceremony on his behalf, lest her mother dies.
• Hot as Hell: In Episode 5, a disco bar hostess seduces a male human victim using some kind of magic. Dante arrives, takes her in the girls' bathroom, then kills her there. Considering Dante's a demon hunter, it's safe to say she's yet another demon disguised as a human. The would-be male victim is then confirmed to be in a trance, as he can't remember what happened after the seductress whispered in his ear.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Discussed. While Dante avoids killing them, he still notes on multiple occasions that "humans are often worse than demons."
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The sadistic game that the warden and his men play with the inmates of Devil's Prison, involving setting prisoners free and sending them running. Any inmate they catch, they kill. It doesn't go too well for them when Dante gets involved.
• Hybrid Power: Sid wonders why Dante was stronger than he was, despite Sid having absorbed Abigail's power before being defeated. It pretty much boils down that while Dante has the power of demons, it's also because he has the soul of a human that makes him more powerful. Director Hideki Kamiya of 1 has tweeted that it's because humans have heart, which demons lack, as well that Dante chooses to live as a human.
  Dante: "It's about souls. ... Basically, here's the story, Sid. Someone like you who's let a soul rot can't measure up by just getting some power, not to someone with a real soul. That's not how it works down here."
• I Call It "Vera": Dante's pistols "Ebony & Ivory," Lady's rocket launcher "Kalina Ann," and "Luce & Ombra" for Trish's pistols.
• Ignored Vital News Reports: In Episode 3, there's a loose serial killer around Capulet City and Morrison lampshades this trope, but Dante couldn't be up-to-date with it because his TV is broken. Mayor Mike Hagel had to present Dante a compilation of murder reports to help him catch up, especially because the mayor assumes Bradley is the serial killer, and wants Dante to kill him to resolve the "issue".
  Morrison: ...It's been all over the news, had your head under a rock or something?
• I'm Melting!: The wish-granting demon in "Wishes Come True" does a particularly nasty version of this to its victims via spewing acid. Kerry's friend quickly melted to the bone as a result.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
  • In the penultimate episode, Dante gets impaled with the Rebellion in a life-sized cross, complete with a Crucified Hero Shot. Patty makes a risky attempt of waking Dante in the midst of the chaos by trying to pull off the Rebellion. Fortunately, Dante recovers, as this is already another instance of the series' Running Gag.
  • In the final battle, Sid impales Dante with several spikes, although he just laughs the attack off and mocks Sid in return.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The episodes are called "Missions" instead of "Episodes", and the last two are named "Showtime!" and "Stylish!" in reference to the last two Style Ranks of Devil May Cry 3.
• Idiot Ball: The world would have come a lot less closer to destruction if Dante had just killed Sid, the demon he encountered in the first episode.
• Immune to Bullets: Dante can easily shrug off a lot of injuries that would kill a normal person, bullets are just one of many that don't phase him.
• Imposter Forgot One Detail: Previously, Simon touched the demon-repelling pendant (trying to snatch it from Dante), which burned his hand. The next day, Nina notices Simon's bandaged hand. Simon says he just spilled some coffee, but Nina recalls Simon not liking coffee. There's a tense silence and a cut to another scene... so when the story shifts back to the hotel, Simon reveals that he's actually the demon Sid in disguise.
• Informed Attractiveness: In Episode 7, the Warden describes Dante as someone who "looks cute", "talks cute", and Dante's body as "firm" and "delicious".
• In Medias Res:
  • Episode 4 begins with Lady saving a human from a demon. When Trish appears, there's a flashback to a priest recruiting Lady to hunt a demon with lightning powers (Trish).
  • Episode 7 has separate flashbacks in the middle detailing how Kerry tried to make wishes with the demonic genie, and how his friend was actually murdered by that demon.
  • Episode 9 begins with Dante, Lady, Morrison and Patty aboard the casino ship, the next few scenes cycle between flashbacks in Devil May Cry (showing a client requested them to save her husband from gambling, or explaining how they get invited to the cruise ship) then back to Dante playing poker with the other gamblers in the casino ship. The near-end of the episode presents one last flashback showing Patty possessed by the pocket watch, which helped the others figure out the mystery of the gambler "King".
• In-Series Nickname:
  • In Episode 1, Dante calls the first demon who attacked him as "Mr. Royal Flush", given that it disguised itself as a human bar-goer who had a Royal Straight Flush in a game of poker.
  • The Monster of the Week in Episode 2 is a demon dubbed "Red Eye" by the gang leader Vincent and Lady.
  • Angelina affectionately calls Bradley as "Brad". On the other hand, her father is dismissive of him and calls him "Brad-guy". Dante also begins calling him "Brad" after realizing he's a good person.
  • In Episode 9, three of the gamblers Dante plays with have their own monikers; "Gold-arm Joe", "Lucky Amanda", and "Santa Claus". There's also a gambler named "King" who's rumored to be from hell and takes the lives of his opponents.
  • Baul is known in rumors as the "White Demon".
  • Cindy calls Patty "Shorty", as mentioned in Episode 11.
• Instrumental Theme Tune: "d.m.c." by rungan. Not to be confused with Run–D.M.C..
• Interquel: This anime occurs after Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening and the first Devil May Cry, but before Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 4, according to Word of God and some Continuity Nods. ^note Dante is in his DMC1 attire instead of his DMC3 version. Interactions depicted in DMC4 also show Lady and Trish talking to each other as acquaintances, and the fourth episode of the anime is centered around the two meeting for the first time
• Internal Reveal:
  • Episode 5 mostly focuses on Isaac figuring out that Dante is a demon slayer, a fact that's already obvious for the audience and fans of the series. A similar situation happens in Episode 8 as Ernest learns that Dante is indeed a demon hunter when the latter can stand against the giant Monster of the Week.
  • Initially in Episode 11, Dante is under the assumption that those who are after Nina Lowell's pendant are mere jewellery thieves. The audience already knows that demons are after Nina because it was shown earlier at the start of the episode. Dante only realizes this after a demon suddenly attacked him, and it's looking for the pendant.
• Interspecies Romance: Episode 3 revolves around the demon Bradley and the human Angelina falling in love. Bradley even discusses the possiblity of this trope happening, as it was shown with Dante's parents, Sparda and Eva (the first example of it in the series).
• Invincible Hero: Dante dispatches most demons with a bullet to the head or a single sword swing. The ones that are meant to be huge threats generally only last a little bit longer and don't even deal significant damage to him due to his Healing Factor. Likewise, getting knocked unconscious and impaled to a life-sized cross in the last two episodes is not enough to defeat Dante.
• It's All My Fault: In Episode 7, Kerry keeps muttering "It's all my fault" after witnessing his friend being melted by acid right in front of him. It's due to the demonic genie mask taking advantage of Kerry saying his friend should "drop dead". Near the end of the episode, Kerry still feels responsible for that incident and he also blames himself for the death of his sister Lynn. Though for that latter part, Dante reassures that Lynn never hated her brother for it, because Lynn, despite already being a ghost, was the one who requested Dante to rescue Kerry in the first place.
• Jackass Genie: In the episode, "Wishes Come True", there was a "genie" that inhabited a creepy-looking mask who offered to grant your wish, but he would not grant your wish to be rich or beautiful, because "it's impossible" or "I don't like the idea." Instead, he would stalk you and wait until you said to someone: "I wish you would die", at which point he'd melt the person alive with hell-slime. This is because the "genie" was really a demon, and killing people was the only "wish" that it could grant.
• The Jailbait Wait: In the first episode, Dante mentions this joke to Patty, who is obviously way younger than him:
  Dante: In about 10 years or so, I'll ask you out on a date.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Dante, as standoffish as he can be, won't kill actual humans for any reason, but it doesn't mean he has to like them though. In Episode 2, he initially refuses the job because he claims humans are "more a pain-in-the-ass to deal with than real demons", but despite this, he still saves the human Vincent from the Monster of the Week. And despite being in Perpetual Poverty, he also does missions for the principle of them and rarely expects payment from poor clients, as shown in Episode 7 where he isn't rewarded for saving Kerry in the end, but still smiles back when the client Lynn thanks him. In Episode 11, he also tries to apologize to Patty when he realized his quip (about Patty's parents) hurt her.
• Keep the Reward: In a few cases Dante refuses the payment he was promised or given.
• Killed Offscreen:
  • The demon-in-disguise seductress in Episode 5. Dante lures her to the bar's bathroom and shoots her there, albeit offscreen (as the scene is shown from Isaac's perspective). Isaac enters the bathroom, but the body is no longer there (and the audience doesn't get to see what her actual demon form looks like, either).
  • In Episode 10, the camera shifts away just before Dante and Modeus clash, as Dante is preparing a stance with his sword for a strike that the audience doesn't get to see making contact with the opponent. It's only until the next day where it's shown that Dante has indeed killed Modeus and made him a Weapon Tombstone alongside his brother Baul's corpse.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Dante is at his most cynical in this anime. Episodes 2 and 8 reveal that he finds it more difficult to deal with humans than slaying demons, he points out the futility of mere humans like Ernest trying to fight a strong demon, and that his presence may put the lives of people in danger due to some demons specifically seeking him. Despite this, he still keeps his job as a mercenary-for-hire demon slayer who saves humans no matter what some of them think of him.
• Lame Pun Reaction: In Episode 11, immediately after seeing a necklace on Dante's table, Lady asks what's the deal with that thing. Dante then jokes about it with a lame pun that Lady mocks in response.
  Dante: I'm its bodyguard... No, "necklaceguard" I guess.
  Lady: Dante, that wasn't funny.
• Lecherous Licking: The Prison Warden hits on Dante in one scene and licks his lips.
• Loser Protagonist: This is the series that introduced this element to Dante's character. He's the ultimate badass when it comes to hunting demons but his luck is absolutely rotten with everything else, and even his close friends treat him like a Butt-Monkey most of the time.
• Lost Food Grievance: This is used twice in Episode 1, both involving Dante:
  • Morrison is able to coax Dante into doing a job after he convinces Dante's favorite pizza place to stop delivering to him until he can pay his tab.
  • Near the end, Dante gets especially frustrated at Patty, not over her re-decoration of his shop, but over her eating his strawberry sundae.
    Dante: Hey, that was mine! What the hell do you think you're doing? This is my place! Let's get this straight... My place, mine.
    Patty: It was totally filthy and dorky, so I cleaned it and did some cute decorating.
    Dante: "Cute" is a relative term... I'm more concerned about my goddamn dessert.
    Patty: That's what I charged for my work, thanks! It was the best sundae ever, eheheh!
• Lotus-Eater Machine: There's one in the final episode that is not seen by the audience. Dante is impaled and crucified and seems to actually die, even though he's normally able to shrug off these kinds of injuries. Patty tearfully begs him to Please Wake Up, but it doesn't seem to work. Later, when Dante revives and frees himself, he explains to his friends that the reason why he was unresponsive was because he was trapped in a very convincing dream world, but Patty's words reached him and helped him wake up.
• Lower-Deck Episode: Episode 5 focuses mostly on Isaac, his perspective, and his stalking of Dante, even if the central characters have shorter screentimes than usual. It shows how one ordinary person views Dante without realizing much that he's a demon hunter.
• Ludicrous Gibs: Ebony and Ivory can do so much damage to demons, especially compared to the games when they mostly deal weak damage instead. Here, a single shot may open a massive hole in the target's body. However, the most straightforward example happens when Dante repeatedly blasts Sid as they're in the demon world; aside from creating a pool of blood, Sid's body and face get torn into parts and scattered on the ground.
• MacGuffin: In the last two episodes, Alan's Tear is a mysterious heirloom that's been passed down across generations in the Lowell family. Patty's mom Nina has been safeguarding it for a long time, and she uses it to repel low-level demons. As Dante was put in charge of protecting it, it's revealed that demons are actively seeking it to gain power. Alan's Tear is also the final object that Sid needed to undo the seal on the demon Abigail.
• The Mafia: A short confrontation in Episode 5 has Dante luring some mafia members (complete with their classy hats, coats, guns, and they even arrive via a limo) before killing them. Isaac, who was stalking Dante from behind, is even surprised about it. However, these mafia are actually demons disguised as humans, just like what many demons do in this anime series.
  Isaac: No way. He's gonna take on the mafia?
• The Magic Poker Equation: In the episode "Death Poker", it's magic that's influencing the players' "luck" on getting the winning cards Lady (masquerading as a dealer) doles out. Specifically, Dante won the Absurdly High-Stakes Game of poker with a Royal Straight Flush, thanks the cursed pocket watch he wore to gain immense luck.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Dante is rarely fazed by even the most grievous injuries. A definite, yet hilarious example happens in the finale where his Rebellion sword is still stuck to his chest after he regained consciousness, but his response to Patty worrying about that injury is "Oh... this".
• Manipulative Bastard: In Episode 4, the priest hires Lady to eliminate a blond demon terrorizing the local town, which eventually led to her fighting Trish, the demon in question. It turns out the "priest" lied about the details because he himself is actually a demon being hunted by Trish.
• Marriage of Convenience: Discussed in Episode 4. Dante jokingly suggests Patty finding a rich guy to marry if she wants to wear expensive clothes.
• Mind over Matter: The demons in the beginning of Episode 4 demonstrate a variant of this superpower; any object in the distance will be teleported to their mouths before biting.
• Mirror Monster: In Episode 6, a distraught Elena looks at the reflection of herself in the mirror, only for her reflection to morph into a mermaid/banshee demon instead. This is when the demon toys around with Elena before possessing her, with the scene itself playing tricks like making the demon appear behind Elena as well.
• Mistaken for Murderer: In Episode 7, Kerry was arrested and sent to the Devil's Prison on false charges of murder. Although Kerry did wish his friend to die, the actual killer was the demonic genie mask that "granted" Kerry's wish by puking acid at the other guy. It just happens that the witness who saw Kerry with the corpse wasn't aware of the supernatural being involved. Kerry himself deeply regretted what he said, while his sister sought Devil May Cry to rescue him out of prison.
• Monster of the Week: Dante would battle a demon each episode, although most are much weaker than the bosses in the games, often being killed with standard gunshots, which barely do any damage even to the games' mooks. In the first episode, he spared a demon he considered too weak. This comes back to bite him once said demon becomes the last opponent in the final episode.
• Mood Whiplash:
  • After accepting the job in Episode 1, Dante and Patty's interaction has the little girl criticizing Dante's car and tries to give him some love advice when it comes to driving with women. It's Played for Laughs on one part; Dante looks uninterested with what she's saying, but then the environment temporarily shifts into a bloody red background as Dante hears a demon's voice. The scene rears into action as he brings out his Ebony handgun to shoot at the demon clinging from an oncoming truck.
  • Zig-zagged in Episode 11. Patty complains about Dante still not cleaning the shop by himself, as she always had to do it instead. It's Played for Laughs, as Patty ends up repeatedly beating Dante with her mop. Dante stands up and asks if Patty's parents taught her to respect any elders. The scene then immediately switches to an emotional tone, as Patty suddenly drops her mop and replies that she doesn't have any parents. Dante admits that he might've hit a senstive topic and tries to apologize. Patty then throws objects at Dante's face and runs off, but later scenes reveal Patty is still upset about it, while Dante still regrets asking it.
    Dante: No... That's not what I meant by that.
• More Dakka: Lady's massive arsenal of firearms. Dante as well with his Ebony&Ivory - he never shoots a target once if he can shoot it five times. Or fifty times.
• Mundane Made Awesome:
  • In the briefing scene of Episode 1, Dante makes the act of ending a telephone call look cool by tossing over the phone and making it land perfectly on its stand.
  • Death Poker in Episode 9; an Absurdly High-Stakes Game of poker where the loser dies. There's even a dramatic orchestral music playing when there are already three gamblers left (after the other two died).
• Myth Arc: Most episodes are presented as primarily self-contained adventures, each with their own episode-specific Monster of the Week and supporting characters. However, Sid has been working behind-the-scenes and regularly re-appears in later episodes to collect artifacts that would give him the power of the demon Abigail. There's also the related subplot involving the reason why Patty was seemingly abandoned by her mom. Both of these arcs are interconnected in the final two episodes where Sid's plan has reached its conclusion (making him the last villain Dante has to defeat on-screen)... simply because one of the artifacts he needed was the magical amulet kept by Patty's mom.
• Nitro Boost: In Episode 2, Dante faces a biker gang leader named Vincent in a motorcycle race. Vincent cheats with a nitro boost that causes him to pull ahead, but this attracts a biker demon called Red Eye that attacks him and causes him to crash.
• Noble Demon: Baul. According to his brother, he does not care about the power plays in hell, and instead lives for the purpose of fighting someone strong. He challenges Dante not because of hatred or any infernal agenda, but to prove his worth against his mentor Sparda, even if it meant surpassing the latter. He seeks Dante only because without Sparda around, Sparda's son Dante is the next best thing. He also cares for his brother even if he's not in a hurry to display it.
• No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Discussed and Genderflipped. Isaac is a dogged manly man who incessantly tries to woo Cindy, a waitress in the cafe Dante frequents. Jealousy ensues when she continually spurns his advances while hinting he should be more like Dante. It's eventually revealed that she in fact IS attracted by the guy, but is put off because she wants to be the one to do the chasing. It's notable that unlike most male examples of this trope, the guy in question is depicted as merely persistent, and not creepy. In the end, Dante sets him straight.
• Not Good with Rejection: The Prison Warden, who has an obvious and creepy crush on Dante. After Dante rejects his advances and kicks his ass, he has a temper tantrum and orders Dante to be thrown in the special cell. Just as Dante planned — the guy he's been hired to rescue is in the same block.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Sid, the petty demon who gets treated as a joke by Dante. By the end of the series, he absorbs the power of another, much stronger demon, and wreaks enough devastation to rival even what we see in the games.
• Not Worth Killing: Dante encounters a demon mook named Sid, who is so weak and pathetic that Dante simply tells him to get lost instead of killing him. This comes back to bite him when Sid later acquires artifacts that increase his power to be a legitimate threat.
• Objectshifting:
  • A moth demon in Episode 1 turned itself into a poster in a wall of the hotel where Dante and Patty stayed for the night. The poster featured Patty's mom, luring the little girl into the theatre. Dante quickly realized the poster is fake, as he immediately shoots it (reverting it to its default moth form) when Patty went missing.
  • "Red Eye" from Episode 2 is a demon that shapeshifted into a motorcycle rider to lure bikers to their deaths. Its main body is the motorcycle itself, and it only revealed its true form after Dante overtook it in the race. The "rider" dissolves into a black goo after the main "motorcycle" body is killed.
• Offhand Backhand: Dante's first action scene in Episode 1 has him shooting his Ebony handgun against a demon (disguised as a human) who tries to attack him from behind, and he doesn't even look back.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • Two of Dante's fight scenes in the Devil's Prison happen offscreen due to the episode immediately cutting forward to the alternate subplot with the demon mask as Dante begins the fights, so when the scenes hop back to the prison, Dante has already defeated his enemies.
  • In the final episode, Dante finally pulls out his Devil Trigger... offscreen. He's grappling with the Big Bad, the camera zooms in on his face, he starts glowing, his eyes widen and his voice deepens. The camera cuts back to show an explosion on the roof they are fighting on. When it comes back to them, the fight's already over (though this also holds the implication that he may have used Devil Trigger explosion and killed the demon instantly with that).
• Offscreen Teleportation: Dante somehow suddenly appears ahead in front of Isaac and his car even if he was last shown in Isaac's apartment.
• Ominous Clouds: In Episode 8, the previously-bright sky suddenly gets covered by dark clouds when Ernest tries to re-summon the Monster of the Week.
• One-Steve Limit: This is actually a plot point in the first episode. Patty Lowell is believed to be the heir to the Lowell family fortune but the real heir is actually a woman who also has the name Patty Lowell. The older Patty tricked her rivals into thinking the younger Patty was the true heir so they'd focus all their efforts on killing the girl while the woman could claim her fortune unopposed.
• Our Demons Are Different: Lesser demons are Always Chaotic Evil, but some devils like Trish, Bradley, and Sparda's disciples are Noble Demons, or just not evil to begin with. Bradley, despite being a demon, even has the power to heal injuries. One of Sparda's disciples (Baul) is too much of a Proud Warrior Race Guy to pass up a chance to fight Dante, and the nicer one (Modeus) is a pacifist who was just compelled to avenge his brother's death.
• Our Hero Is Dead: The anime plays this trope, like many others, as absolutely straight as possible. Dante is shown brutally impaled in a Crucified Hero Shot as the credits roll silently over the end of the penultimate episode. However, it continues to invoke it all the way through to the last third of the final episode, even unto having Patty deliver a truly heartwrenching plea to Dante's apparently lifeless body, set to a reprisal of the music box theme from the first game that damn near makes you wonder if he died... Of course, the audience is fully aware that she's completely right.
  Patty: "Dante! Wake up, run away! No way you'd die from a little wound like this, right? Please wake up and take down the demons like you always do!... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry!.."
• Overused Running Gag: Throughout this anime, there's a Running Gag where Dante constantly loses in games and gambling. While other characters often comment or lampshade it, Episode 9 has Patty mentioning (before she substitutes for him) that Dante is losing "just as [they] predicted", indicating that his allies have already gotten used to his losing streak, and she even calls him "hopeless" for it. Though Dante wins the deadly game of poker this time using a magical pendant, the end of the episode shows Dante losing again if there are no tricks.
• Percussive Maintenance: At the start of Episode 6, Dante kicks his jukebox. Subverted because when he tries it, he actually ends up thrashing it rather than somehow making it work, inverting the situation in the beginning of the third game.
• Perpetual Poverty: Dante has problems staying financially afloat because of the collateral damage he racks up during his Demon Slaying jobs. It doesn't help that he's also in debt to various people, or that Trish and Lady like to stick him with their shopping bills.
• Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: The photo of Dante's mother, Eva, has her eyes perfectly flared out in Episode 1, but this only becomes plot-relevant later in Episode 4. Initially, Dante is indifferent when Lady asked if he knew a "she-devil" who has lightning powers and wields guns in each hand, but when he looked at the portrait of his mother Eva, he smirks and remembers Trish. This is all a nod to Trish being a lookalike of Eva.
• Pocket Protector: Dante gets possessed by a cursed pocket watch he was wearing as a necklace. Lady shoots him and he falls, but when the demon who set this up shows up to gloat, Dante gets up and reveals Lady's bullet destroyed the pocket watch and snapped him out of it. Slightly subverted because Dante points out the bullet actually penetrated the pocket watch and hit his heart anyway, but the bullet was slowed down enough that it just bruised his heart (which really hurt) instead of penetrating it. A simple matter for his Healing Factor to fix.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Dante is full of these. For example in Episode 2, after successfully overtaking the motorcycle fiend Red Eye and causing it to reveal its demon form, Dante quips "Haven't you learned that speeding causes accident?"
• Pretend to Be Brainwashed: Zigzagged and lampshaded in Episode 9. After the mystery behind the cursed pocket watch is revealed, the Monster of the Week is surprised that Dante is still alive and has broken free of the demonic possession. She then asks if Dante was merely "pretending" to be possessed, but Dante admits that he really was possessed; he trusted Lady to shoot the pocket watch he was wearing to let him snap out of its possession.
• Prison Episode: The episode "Wishes Come True" has a guy being sent to prison due to the machinations of an evil "wish-granting" demon mask, and Dante not only has to bust him out, but deal with the demonic security staff and the demon mask behind this mess.
• The Promise: After meeting him in the park and having a friendly conversation, Patty wanted Modeus to promise visiting the Devil May Cry establishment the next day, as she wants to make him a strawberry sundae. Modeus would be unable to fulfill this, as he would die fighting Dante later that night.
• Protective Charm: Alan's Tear is a magic stone in a pendant that drives away and harms demons, though its strength is proportional to factors such as the size of the stone, or the attacking demon's own strength. As shown in the last two episodes, one giant demon that's about to attack Nina Lowell gets burned to death, but Sid (in Simon's body) only gets his hand burned from touching it, because as Sid himself says, he's a very weak demon with no powers. Patty Lowell's own pendant also contains a shard of Alan's Tear, and although it is said to be weaker than the original, its power is still enough to protect her from several demons, especially when she dived down the underworld.
• Quick Draw: Near the end of Episode 9, Dante goads Lady into playing this game. While it's out of character for him, Lady wins by shooting first. The plan actually relied on Lady destroying the pocket watch that possessed Dante, so that both of them could catch the real culprit by surprise.
  Dante: The rules are simple. Whoever puts a bullet through the other's heart first, wins.
• Rags to Riches: Patty after the first episode. After getting used as a patsy by the other Patty Lowell, she wrings so much money out of her as a compensation (because Dante saved the older Patty's life from a demon). Young Patty then shows up in a new set of clothes per episode for the rest of the series, but after she donated a large part of it to her orphanage.
• Recurring Riff: The intro theme, "d.m.c.", has alternate versions such as an acoustic one when Dante fights Episode 3's Monster of the Week in the alley, a piano rendition during Elena and Tim's flashback scenes in Episode 6, and a slower piano rendition (titled "Pain") in the tear-jerking moment of Episode 12 when Patty pleads an unconscious Dante to wake up.
• Red Herring:
  • The huge twist at the end of Episode 1 reveals the young Patty Lowell is not the heiress, even though the audience and several characters In-Universe (Dante, Morrison, Sid, and the other Lowell family members) were made to believe she was the real deal. The real heiress is an older woman who's also named Patty Lowell. She took advantage of their completely similar name so that the girl will be hunted instead of her.
  • Bradley is suspected as the "demon-like" serial killer in Episode 3, as Mayor Mike and his investigation claims that murders started happening the moment Bradley showed up in the city. While it's true that Bradley is a demon, he's not the serial killer; it's a different demon that Dante slays as a Monster of the Week.
• Red Right Hand: Zigzagged. Many demons still have some hints of their inhuman nature even when they take on human shape. Brad and Modeus have unusual ear shapes, Baul's face looks a bit distorted and Sid's is even more twisted with crooked teeth and a huge mark around his left eye. There's also a degree of Beauty Equals Goodness here, as kind-natured Brad and Modeus are bishonens, the antagonistic and bellicose but also honorable and noble Baul looks rather odd but still has strong features and an imposing stature, while the fully villaionus Sid is almost The Grotesque with his ugly mug and a slouched posture. However, all of that applies only to important named characters - no-name demons like the guy Lady kills at the beginning of Episode 2 or the wardens in the Devil's Prison look perfectly normal.
• Relatively Flimsy Excuse: In Episode 1, Dante says Patty is his "daughter" when he finds her missing from the hotel and begins suspecting Sid (who pretended to be the receptionist) about it. Sid doubts the cover-up himself because he's a hired grunt who's out to kill Patty.
  Dante: Hey! Where's my daughter?
  Sid: Daughter?
• Rewatch Bonus:
  • By the end of Episode 1, young Patty Lowell has received a lot of new clothes as a consolation from the real Patty Lowell. It's not directly mentioned later on, but each of the next episodes does show her wearing something new.
  • Episode 9 relies on the In Medias Res trope a lot, as its story cycles between the present time in the casino cruise ship, and the flashback in the Devil May Cry establishment providing additional context to the former. Notably in the end, the Monster of the Week explains how the rumored "King" operates, while the last flashback shows Patty being possessed by the pocket watch. Both recontextualize a lot of the earlier scenes if you rewatch this episode. Because Dante and company already knew the pocket watch is actually a cursed item that brings immense luck to the wearer and tied to the gambler known as "King", it makes sense that Morrison handed over the watch's box to Dante (to help him win). Dante also jokingly claimed he might be the rumored "King" earlier on (as he's already wearing the pocket watch). Lastly, there's also The Reveal about the female client actually being the Monster of the Week.
• Right Makes Might: The low level demon grunt Sid manages a ritual to grant him the power of the demon lord Abigail. Though he curb-stomps Dante the first time they fight, Dante defeats him in a rematch. When Sid asks how he could have possibly been defeated, Dante claims a rotten soul like Sid's can never truly defeat a virtuous soul, no matter how much power he gets.
• Rocket Ride: In order to try reaching Abigail atop the hotel tower, Lady fires a rocket for Trish to ride on. Trish then charges the rocket with her lightning powers before leaping off. It had no effect on Abigail.
• Rule of Cool: This anime, like the games that it's based on, is almost made of it.
• Rule of Three: Episode 7 features a three-eyed demonic mask being a Jackass Genie, boasting that it could grant a person their wishes. The person (i.e. Kerry and Lady) tests the demon "genie" by mentioning three wishes, but the demon rejects them; each time it does, one of its three eyes open and glow, with the final eye being the red one on its forehead.
• Running Gag:
  • Dante frequently being stuck with the bill for jobs he does and expenses incurred by Lady and Trish, when he's already in Perpetual Poverty.
  • Dante having bad luck and losing at games and gambles offered by the other characters, such as a Heads or Tails? by Morrison in Episode 1, a billiard bet by Lady in Episode 2, or an offscreen game of cards with Patty in Episode 4. It eventually became an Overused Running Gag in Episode 9 when Patty expresses disappointment towards Dante being "hopeless" (at games).
  • Lady constantly reminding Dante of the debt he owes her. Sometimes, she uses this fact to "convince" him to accept a job he would otherwise decline (such as the biker gang case in Episode 2). It became known enough that in Episode 10, Patty just casually tells Modeus about Dante's debt to Lady.
• Safety Gear Is Cowardly: In Episode 2, Vincent, the leader of a biker club challenges Dante to a motorcycle race. When seeing that Dante has chosen not to wear a helmet (due to being a half-demon with regenerative abilities), Vincent decides that he will not wear any protective gear as well. This comes back to bite him, as he suffers injuries when his bike crashes. Fortunately, they're not severe.
• Sarcastic Clapping: After Lady shoots Dante in the heart, the female client walks up the stage, clapping and saying "Congratulations!", thinking that she won. Not only does this reveal her as the Monster of the Week demon for Episode 9, Dante is still alive (thanks to his Healing Factor) and proceeds to kill her afterwards.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted in Episode 2. Dante thinks Lady is fooling around hiring him to investigate a biker gang, saying "To hell with this, I'm going home." before explaining he doesn't want to use his weapons against humans. Eventually, Dante agreed with Lady's plans because she brought up his financial debt towards her.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Everything Sid does in this series is for the sake of releasing and taking the power of a very powerful demon, Abigail.
• Senseless Violins: Dante often carries his sword in a cello case.
• Series Continuity Error: Trish's lightning powers are always yellow in the games, but this anime adaptation gave her blue lightning instead. This series being chronologically sandwiched in between the games made it look like the color of her lightning temporarily changed.
• Shadow Discretion Shot: Done intentionally by Dante in the first episode with a theatre backdrop to prevent Patty from directly witnessing the violent combat against the demons trying to kill her.
  Dante: Sorry, honey, but this show isn't for kids.
• Shirtless Scene: Dante gets this too every so often, but the first example is in the first episode — at the end, Dante comes out of the back wearing nothing but pants, toweling his hair off and dripping water. The fangirls rejoiced.
• Skyward Scream: In Episode 2, Vincent emotionally yells out "Brother!" after seeing the corpse of "Red Eye" shift from a human-looking rider to a demon blob. Makes sense considering the demon's powers were implied to make Vincent hallucinate seeing his dead brother Michel in front of him when he was chasing Red Eye.
• Shout-Out:
  • Episode 2 is titled "Highway Star".
  • Episode 3 takes place in "Capulet City".
  • Episode 6 starts with Patty reading The Little Mermaid.
• Showy Invincible Hero: The series is set after the first game where Dante defeated the ruler of hell Mundus, so nothing Dante faces in the episodes poses even the slightest challenge to him and the show doesn't try to pretend otherwise. Even when Sid gets the better of him in the ultimate episodes it's more due to the element of surprise - once Dante recovers and gets his round two he trounces Sid within seconds in spite of Sid having the power to rival a demon king then.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Dante has quite a few of these.
• Sinister Scythe: A scythe-wielding demon appears after Isaac rang the demonic bell given to him by Sid in Episode 5. Dante lampshades how it looks stronger than a regular demon, but then promptly kills it with one slash.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Baul is a Blood Knight whose primary reason for living is to duel somebody strong, such as their master Sparda, the "best swordsman in the demon realm". Unfortunately, Sparda is nowhere to be found two thousand years after he betrayed demonkind to side with humanity. Baul's motivation is then to defeat Sparda's son, Dante, hoping to obtain Sparda's power and surpass him. Modeus discusses this with Baul, trying to reason out to him.
  Baul: I waited two thousand years, but Sparda did not appear!
  Modeus: And so you're going after Sparda's son, Dante?
  Baul: That's right. If I get his soul, I'll also get the Dark Knight Sparda's power.
• Slow-Motion Pass-By: In Episode 11, Patty and Nina pass by each other from the opposite ends of the street; after a slow-mo, Patty notices her mom enough to look back, but Nina is already gone. Patty still chases after her, and they eventually meet.
• Speak in Unison: Dante, Trish and Lady simultaneously say "Jokes on you pal!" before they shoot the demon priest, and in response to the latter's "Enough with your jokes!"
• Stage Names: Reuben Langdon is credited as "Justin Cause" here for his role as Dante's English voice actor.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Defied in Episode 3. Bradley and Angelina are lovers, but Angelina's father Mike has ordered to lock her in her room and forbid her from seeing Bradley due to his (correct) suspicions that Bradley is a demon. Despite this, a series of events that led to Bradley saving Mike's life convinced the latter enough, that by the end of the episode, he gave his approval over Bradley and Angelina's relationship. Dante has a hand in this, as he also suggested the idea that Bradley could just live as a human.
• Statuesque Stunner: Trish, even without the heels is still a tall and beautiful woman.
• Sticks to the Back: Dante stows Rebellion this way when he's not stowing it in a cello case.
• Strictly Formula: Most episodes are formulaic. Dante usually gets hired by Morrison, Lady or another client to take on a request or job involving demons, there's some air of mystery or Detective Drama added in, with Dante (and company) visiting a place or interacting with some individual(s) or object(s) to investigate, the Monster of the Week appears, and Dante does some Demon Slaying. The aftermath of the episodic incident is then shown or discussed (usually inside Dante's Devil May Cry shop). Some episodes play around this by focusing on one aspect more than the other. For example, Dante has way more demon kills in Episode 1 than in Episode 2, while Episode 7 leans the most on the Detective Drama aspect.
• Stripperiffic: Most of the show's female characters, to varying degrees.
• Summoning Artifact: In Episode 5, Sid gives Isaac a suspicious-looking bell which when rung, opens up portals that can summon demons to the human world. Dante destroys it at the end of the episode, but only after he rung it enough to summon a huge demon (which serves as the Monster of the Week) then killing that demon.
• Summoning Ritual: Though demons in this series can disguise themselves as humans to blend within society, the larger (and stronger) "demon kings" have to be summoned via rituals. This is shown in Episodes 3 and 11, both of which involve large magic circles being drawn in the floor (serving as the portals). In Episode 3, the butler tied the mayor down and used some blood to summon Belphegor. In Episode 11, Sid needed several artifacts and someone placing the Alan's Tear pendant on the central pedestal to open a portal to the underworld that would give him Abigail's power.
• Summon to Hand:
  • Dante can do this with Rebellion, as he demonstrates during the opening fight of the first episode.
  • Baul and Modeus also have their swords spring out of the ground and jump right into their hands.
• Super-Scream: Possessed Elena Huston primarily attacks by screaming out sonic booms. It's justified given the demon's likeness to a mix of mermaid and banshee. Fittingly, Dante kills the demon and exorcises it out of Elena's body by throwing his sword at its throat.
• Swipe Your Blade Off: Dante occasionally swings Rebellion to clean it after slaying a demon. Other times, the blood just sort of magically vanishes off his sword. It's also exaggerated near the end of Episode 1 where the blood splatter makes a loud impact upon hitting the wall.
• Sword and Gun: This anime gives more shots and scenes of Dante using Rebellion in tandem with Ebony & Ivory, such as in the promotional covers, in the final act of Episode 1 (where he shoots the giant demon and then slashes it, ending with him holding Rebellion on one hand, Ebony on the other hand, and Ivory on his mouth), and during his short fight against Belphegor in Episode 3.
• Sword Plant: Dante briefly plants Rebellion on the ground as he uses the demonic bell to summon the strongest Monster of the Week in Episode 5.
• Sword Sparks: Dante and Baul's swords produce sparks whenever they clash.
• Tears of Blood: Dante cries tears of blood in the intro sequence, and they fall into Eva's portrait right before it transitions into Trish.
• Theme Music Power-Up: The anime has a pretty cool theme song, which plays during the final episode when Dante activates his Devil Trigger to finish off the Big Bad. We don't see the full Devil Trigger and the fight is over in a few seconds, but the music makes the scene an odd combination of anticlimax and moment of awesome.
• Third Party Stops Attack:
  • Lady saves a human victim in the beginning of Episode 4 by ramming her bike's wheel at the attacking demon's head.
  • At the start of Episode 10, Baul crosses his two swords like a pair of scissors and corners Dante, but Lady interrupts him by firing her rocket launcher from afar.
• Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: In Episode 8, a man named Ernest and an old woman named Margaret mistake Dante for Ernest's childhood friend Anthony, and they won't believe Dante's constant insistence that he never heard of them.
• Threat Backfire: In Episode 1, Sid points a revolver point blank behind Dante, but the demon hunter isn't fazed at all, saying it's not enough to kill him.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Dante throws his sword around a few times. One such instance happened in the "Rock Queen" episode where he impaled a mermaid-demon through the neck against a wall without harming the possessed human victim.
• Throw the Dog a Bone:
  • As early as the first episode, Patty repeatedly laments on the fact that her mom abandoned her and left her at an orphanage. Nina did so because demons were after her magical amulet. When the amulet was destroyed near the finale and Abigal has been dealt with by Dante, the demonic threat after them is gone, so Patty finally lives with her mom again by the end.
  • Angelina is locked up by her father Mike Hagel due to her lover Bradley being a demon. Thanks to Dante and Bradley's efforts proving the latter as a genuinely good person despite being a demon, the end of Episode 3 reveals Mike gave permission for the two lovers to be with each other.
  • Isaac spends most of Episode 5 being a Butt-Monkey, up until he suffers injuries trying to find out what Cindy likes in Dante, while also trying to prove Dante being a demon hunter. Fortunately in the end, Dante convinces him to go after Cindy, especially since she actually likes Isaac.
  • Elena was possessed by a demon then turned into a hideous-looking monster as a result, and was implied to have isolated herself from society. After she was exorcised by Dante, she reunites with her childhood friend Tim, and the two have been living together by the end of Episode 6.
• Title Drop:
  • As with the games, Dante has moments in Episode 4 and Episode 11 where he says "Devil May Cry" upon answering a phone call.
  • In Episode 10, Sid asks if Baul would visit the "Devil May Cry agency". Patty similarly name-drops the titular agency to invite Modeus for a visit.
• Title Drop Chapter: Episode 1 is titled "Devil May Cry".
• Token Mini-Moe: Patty, the only child among the otherwise predominantly adult cast. Outside of episodes focused on her, she is mostly there to provide some cuteness and to snark at Dante.
• Toplessness from the Back: Lady in the change room.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Dante with strawberry sundaes and pizzas with no olives (and possibly garlic potatoes).
• Tragic Keepsake: Lynn's ring in Episode 7 became one in the end; she doesn't have the money to pay for Devil May Cry's services, so she just gives her ring as a "payment" to Dante instead. When her brother Kerry is rescued out of prison, and Dante learns that Lynn is actually a ghost all along, he gave the ring to Kerry as the latter weeps.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: Episode 7 has two subplots in the midpoint that it switches back-and-forth to. One has Dante rescuing Kerry out of prison, while the other has Lady finding the demonic "genie" mask that caused Kerry to be imprisoned in the first place. They intersect in the end; as Dante escaped, he and Lady lure out the demon mask again so that he can finish it off.
• Unusual Euphemism: Dante's demon-slaying activities are alluded by Morrison as a "show to play", as he hands Dante a guitar case (which contains Rebellion inside). Patty, being a child, thinks of it like a music show and expresses eagerness to attend it. Dante warns her that his shows are "for adults only".
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: People generally tend to find little, if anything out of the ordinary about the tall, white-haired guy in the long red coat with a big-ass sword slung across his back.
• Unwitting Pawn: Dante after sparing Sid at the beginning, as well Lady when Sid steals the mask from both of them in "Wishes Come True".
• Verbal Backspace: When Morrison formally introduces young Patty Lowell to Dante in Episode 1, he corrects himself by calling Patty a "young lady" instead of a "kid".
  Morrison: Listen Dante, she may be a kid but... Oh I'm sorry, my apologies... but the young lady standing before you is not just any girl. She's Patty Lowell, a cinderella girl who's heiress to the Lowell family's fortune.
• Visual Title Drop: Coupled with Title Drop Chapter in Episode 1, the camera slowly pans over the "Devil May Cry" neon sign on Dante's shop.
• Weaponized Teleportation: In Episode 3, the demon in the alley can phase through walls, but it can also create portals where it stretches its arm into, only for the arm to appear far ahead from other portals to grab or attack Dante by surprise.
• Weapon Tombstone: After Dante kills the demon swordsmen Baul and Modeus, who were former apprentices of his father Sparda, he honors them by planting their swords into a nearby boulder.
• Wham Shot: In Episode 11, Simon attempts to snatch the demon-repelling pendant from Dante's hand. While he never managed to do so due to Dante looking back, the next shot shows Simon's hand burning, revealing that he at least touched the pendant, and he's a demon in disguise.
• What the Hell Are You?: Isaac asks Dante a variant of this question after witnessing him kill the last Monster of the Week in Episode 5.
  Isaac: Dante. What are you? I mean, who are you?
  Dante: Who knows? Maybe you should try asking God or someone.
• Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Just like the games' fictional settings, it's difficult to pinpoint the locations of Capulet City and Morris Island, the respective named settings of Episodes 3 and 8 in TAS. Although, being named after Romeo and Juliet from the British Author William Shakespeare hints that the former has British influences.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: The priest demon in "Rolling Thunder" has glowing white skin and red eyes.
• Would Hurt a Child: Sid almost cuts Patty's throat in the first episode. The other Patty Lowell is also this, indirectly, as she didn't seem that disturbed by using a child as a live bait for demonic assassins even if she had gotten her a bodyguard.

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