About

Devil May Cry is a 2025 anime-influenced animated adaptation of the Devil May Cry (DMC) action-adventure video game franchise. The first season of the series, created by Indian film producer Adi Shankar, premiered on Netflix on April 3rd, 2025. The adaptation drew some criticism from fans of the series due to the perceived mischaracterization of key characters, altering the relationship between the human and demon realms, and seemingly forced references to fandom memes such as I Am the Storm That Is Approaching.

History

In October 2018, Indian producer and showrunner Adi Shankar revealed that he was working on an adaptation of an "iconic Japanese video game series," later revealed to be Devil May Cry.^[1] In September 2024, it was announced that Johnny Yong Bosch, the voice actor for Nero in the games, would be voicing Dante, the main character of the series.

On September 19th, 2024, the official teaser trailer for Devil May Cry premiered, gaining nearly 2.6 million views in seven months.^[2]

On January 30th, 2025, the opening credits of the series, set to "Rollin'" by Limp Bizkit, premiered on YouTube,^[3] garnering over 3.8 million views in three months.

On April 3rd, 2025, season one of the series, consisting of eight episodes, premiered on Netflix.^[4]

Reception

Season one of the series garnered positive reviews from critics and audiences, although some fans expressed criticism over perceived mischaracterization of Dante and other characters, as well as the show humanizing demons and presenting them as victims in some scenes.

On Rotten Tomatoes,^[5] season one of the adaptation had a 95 percent critic approval rating based on 20 reviews and a 64 percent audience approval rating as of April 7th, 2025. On IMDb,^[6] the series had a 7.7 average user score.

Online Presence

In early April 2025, following the series premiere on April 3rd, Devil May Cry became a viral subject of discussion on social media, with its writing, themes and characterization of key characters drawing criticism from many.

For example, on April 3rd, 2025, X^[7] user @GWarning89 made a post about a scene in which the United States invades the Underworld and bombs the demon population, set to "American Idiot" by Green Day. The post (shown below) received over 1,800 reposts and 11,000 likes in four days.

Later on April 3rd, 2025, X^[8] user @ToastyHaymaker made a post critical of demons being humanized in the show. The post (shown below) gained over 930 reposts and 11,000 likes in four days.

Also on April 3rd, 2025, X^[9] user @DrakeVagabond compared the writing of Dante, the cocky and self-sure but extremely skilled protagonist of most games in the series, to that of Deadpool. The post (shown below) received over 6 million views, 4,100 reposts and 88,000 likes in four days.

Th… This is Deadpool. They wrote Deadpool instead of Dante. https://t.co/sr4nJOeUFR

— Drake JoJo 👁️ (@DrakeVagabond) April 4, 2025

Multiple users who were dissatisfied with the series put the blame on the series' showrunner, Adi Shankar, who also created the animated adaptation of Castlevania video game series (example post^[10] shown below).

On April 6th, X^[11] user @Octavius_DP posted a scene containing a seemingly out-of-character reference to the
I Am the Storm That Is Approaching meme, commenting, "Is Adi Shankar only exposure to DMC reddit and memes? This is embarrassing omg". The post (shown below) gained over 1,200 reposts and 20,000 likes in one day.

Is Adi Shankar only exposure to DMC reddit and memes? This is embarrassing omg https://t.co/4MQmz2ceOw

— Octavius_DP – COMMISSIONS OPEN (@Octavius_DP) April 6, 2025

Search Interest

External References