Age Appropriate: Teen
Emotional Response: Barely any
Notable Features: demons and guns
Language: English
Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
Overall Recommendation: Okay, I guess
"Next time you open up shop, don't forget to add strawberry sundaes to the menu." - Dante
Dante is a demon/human half-breed private dick/bounty hunter type of character. Set in an alternate 1920's era, he takes odd jobs that always end up being some sort of battle against evil demons. He has a sword and two guns which he uses to take on any type of demon. In the first episode, the series introduces Patty Lowell, a young girl who is his first job in the series. She ends up sticking around after the job is over, and she becomes a mini-sidekick in the series. Dante has a series of friends/co-workers that he works with and often gets jobs from - both human and demon. Unfortunately, his huge debts per person often mean that he can't get the paycheck he has earned. The little money that he does retain from jobs goes to paying for pizzas (sometimes) and buying himself an endless stream of strawberry sundaes. Each episode adds a small part to the story, or to the character's character.
The series is actually a companion to the Devil May Cry video game series. According to my internet research, the storyline is set sometime between two of the games chronologically. It is important to note that without the game, there are some gaps in the story.
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Dante has this sort of private dick attitude. It really works when it works, but it definitely didn't work for him. Essentially, I just got the impression that he's a tool (for lack of a better adjective). He has redeeming qualities, like his seeming inability to not help people, and his desire to rid the world of demons (per job, of course), but the series casts him mostly as a cold-hearted jerk who takes financially worthless jobs, and wracks up debt from everyone - including the local pizza place. In one episode, he gets screwed out of his paycheck because the other person takes his share toward the huge debt he owes. Sucks to be him.
Yeah, so, I'm not a fan. It's not the worst anime I've ever seen, but it was a pretty hard struggle to get through it. It's only 12 episodes, but I had to adhere to a strict regiment of mandatory shows per day in order to make sure I got it done. Unfortunately, not in a fun way. I definitely recognize that the series would probably make a lot more sense if I had played any of the video games. I spent a lot of time confused about the plot, and ended up frustrated that there was no underlying story until episode 10. The last episode was okay, though. It could've used a little more oopmh. I can see a certain amount of guys liking this, though.
As much as I'd like to think I'm not that girly, this is a total guy anime. If you liked the games, I assume you'll like the series? It just wasn't for me.
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Bang!: Spice and Wolf
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