DANTE (DEVIL MAY CRY)

'Dante' is the main protagonist of the '''Devil May Cry''' video game series, published by Capcom since 2001, currently consisting of three released games and a title under production. The character and ''Devil May Cry'' are one of Capcom's flagship game franchises, a franchise which has sold over five million copies worldwide to date as of 2007.^[1] Dante has been featured as the main protagonist in the first three games of the series, and he will have a supporting role in the fourth game. The character reprises this role in several ''Devil May Cry'' novels and manga volumes, and is featured in a 2007 anime.
The character is a mercenary dedicated to exterminating demons, a mission he follows in pursuit of those that killed his mother and corrupted his brother. He is the son of Sparda, a demon of great power that rebelled against the demon emperor and defeated his army. As a result of his demonic heritage he possesses numerous superhuman abilities which he uses in combination with a variety of weapons to accomplish his goal. The character was created to fit Hideki Kamiya's vision of a "cool and stylish" man, his personality was based on the titular character of manga series ''Cobra''. The character has been well received by gamers and has often been listed as one of video gaming's coolest characters.

Contents

Conception and creation

Characteristics

Appearances

''Devil May Cry'' video games

Appearances in other games

Appearances in other media

Cultural impact

References

External links

Conception and creation

Dante debuted in ''Devil May Cry'', a game originally intended to be a sequel of Capcom's ''Resident Evil'' franchise.^[2] Dante is confident in his encounters with opponents, and frequently taunts boss characters before battling them.^[3] In terms of gameplay, while survival horror players (and characters) must ration supplies like ammunition, solve challenging puzzles, and evade large groups of enemies to advance through the game, Dante has few of these restrictions. Dante's ammunition is unlimited, puzzles are simpler, and battling groups of enemies is the game's main focus.^[4]
Series' creator Hideki Kamiya has stated that the titular character from the manga series ''Cobra'' by Buichi Terasawa served as the basis for Dante's personality. Kamiya based his idea of Dante on what he perceived as "Stylish" -- with a long coat to make the character "showy", witty like a "British guy", and a non-smoker since Kamiya sees that as more cool. The character wears red because in Japan it is a traditional color for a heroic figure. Devil May Cry director Hideki Kamiya Interview: Translated from ''Devil May Cry: Graphic Edition'' PS2 News: CVG goes straight to hell with Devil May Cry director - ComputerAndVideoGames.com:

Characteristics

Dante's Devil Trigger forms from the third game

Dante is a mercenary who specializes in paranormal cases, prefering those that call for demon slaying.^[5] He is muscular, has whitish hair and is usually seen wearing red clothes. Dante's arsenal usually consists of firearms and melee weapons, including the twin handguns "Ebony and Ivory", as well as a variety of swords. He has supernatural powers, as a result of his half-demon heritage.^[6]

Ebony & Ivory

Dante is one of the twin sons of Sparda, a demonic knight who chose to side with humanity and drive back an invasion of the human world by demons.^[7] After Sparda's death, Dante and his brother Vergil were raised by their human mother, Eva. When Dante and Vergil were still children, the family was attacked by demons, resulting in Eva's death. This event lead to Dante's commitment to hunting demons in pursuit of those that killed his mother.^[8]
Dante also has the ability to enter a temporary transformation called "devil trigger". In this state, Dante possesses more speed, steady health regeneration, and further abilities with his equipped melee weapon.^[9]
Ebony and Ivory are Dante's handguns, and he never has to reload these or other firearms.^[10] They are hand-made with "For Tony Redgrave, By.45 Art Warks" written on them.^[11]


The 2007 anime series adds a number of personality quirks to the character including a fondness for strawberry sundaes, a dislike of olives, a large amount of outstanding debt, and bad luck at gambling.

Appearances

''Devil May Cry'' video games

Dante's newest appearance

In the original ''Devil May Cry'', Dante is hired by Trish, a mysterious woman who looks similar to his deceased mother, to stop the return of the demon king Mundus.^[12] However, she is actually setting up events for Mundus' agents to kill Dante as he makes his way to Mundus himself. During the course of the game Dante is also reunited with his brother Vergil, who, under the control of Mundus, attempts to kill him.^[13] Trish eventually betrays Mundus to save Dante, and the pair work together to lock Mundus in the demon world. Afterwards, they become partners in Dante's demon slaying business, now re-named "Devil Never Cry".^[14]
After the success of the first game, Capcom immediately began development of its sequel, ''Devil May Cry 2''. Hideki Kamiya, who directed the first game, was not involved in the sequel's development and the new creative team took a different direction. The Kamiya Touch Dante's character was changed so that he spoke little, and his cocky attitude was largely absent.^[15] He also had a habit of flipping a coin to make his decisions.
Set some time after the first game, ''Devil May Cry 2'' focuses on aiding the character Lucia in defeating Arius, an international businessman who uses demonic power and seeks to conquer the world.^[16] At the end of the game, Dante must go into the demon world to stop a major demon from escaping, but the gate closes behind him and he is trapped. With no way back to the human world, Dante heads even deeper into the demon world on his motorcycle.^[17] There is an extra scene after the credits, in which Lucia is sitting in Dante's office when she hears a motorcycle outside and rushes out to see who it is.
The third game, '', serves as a prequel to the first game and features a younger and cockier Dante. While developed by the same team that did the second game, ''Devil May Cry 3'' was much better received than the previous installment for staying true to the original. Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Reviews He has considerably more dialog during cutscenes, and players can verbally taunt monsters during gameplay. In the story, Dante is drawn out by his brother Vergil, who is attempting to reopen the portal to the demon world in order to obtain the full power of Sparda, which remains on the other side contained within the sword Force Edge.^[18] Along the way, Dante encounters Lady, who is in pursuit of her father Arkham,^[19] who is working with Vergil but has plans of his own. In the end, Dante claims ownership of the Force Edge, while Vergil chooses to remain in the demon world.^[20] Dante matures considerably during the game and, inspired by Lady's courage and commitment to her own family, continues his demon hunting business with a greater sense of purpose. They become partners, and he decides to call his shop "Devil May Cry", after something Lady had said to comfort him.^[21][22]
The upcoming ''Devil May Cry 4'', produced by ''Resident Evil 4'' producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, will be the first game not to feature Dante as the primary playable character. Dante is seen as an antagonist or antihero, at least at first, by the game's lead character, Nero. In one of the trailers released, Dante literally crashes into a meeting of the ''Kyōdan Kishi'' (Order of the Sword) and kills their leader. This leads to a confrontation between Dante and Nero.^[23]

Appearances in other games

Dante's appearance in the second game, recreated in the Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne RPG

Dante was in PlayStation ports of two games in the ''Viewtiful Joe'' series, another game series that was also created by Hideki Kamiya. Dante is a playable character in the PS2 version of the first ''Viewtiful Joe'' and also appears in the PSP version of ''.
In a deal between Capcom and Atlus, ''Megami Tensei'' character designer Kazuma Kaneko did the designs for Dante's and Vergil's demonic forms in ''. In turn, Atlus included Dante (as he appeared ''Devil May Cry 2'') as a character in an enhanced release of '' titled ''Maniax'' in Japan. The later English localization of ''Nocturne'' was based on this ''Maniax'' edition of the game.
Dante was also included as a character card in ''SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter DS'' and makes a cameo appearance in ''Capcom Fighting Evolution'' at the end of Jedah Dohma's storyline.^[24]
Dante was set to appear in ''Soul Calibur III'', but did not make the roster.^[25]

Appearances in other media

Two ''Devil May Cry'' light novels written by Shinya Goikeda have been published, first in Japan in 2002 and later translated and released in the U.S. in 2006. The first, entitled ''Devil May Cry'' on its cover and "Devil May Cry Volume 1" inside, was published in Japan in conjunction with the release of the first title, and depicts Dante in an adventure set before the events of the game. The second novel (entitled ''Devil May Cry 2'' in the U.S.) was published in Japan to coincide with the release of the second game, and takes place after the events of ''Devil May Cry''. Publisher TokyoPop released the books in the U.S. in June and November of 2006, respectively.^[26][27]
Two volumes of a planned 3-part ''Devil May Cry 3'' manga series have been published in Japan and the U.S. Taking place about a year before the events of ''Devil May Cry 3'', the manga explains how the characters are related to the incidents in the game. Dante discovers that his brother Vergil, who he thought died in the incident that killed their mother is alive. It also shows Dante witnessing the fatal demon attack in a flashback, and portrays this event as the catalyst for Dante and Vergil parting ways.^[28][29]
A comic adaptation of the first game was published by Canadian publisher Dreamwave Productions, but was left unfinished when the company went bankrupt in 2005.^[30]
An anime series entitled ''Devil May Cry'' featuring Dante debuted on the WOWOW TV network in Japan in June of 2007. The series is scheduled for 12 episodes.^[31][32] The show is being produced by the anime studio Madhouse and is being directed by Shin Itagaki. Bingo Morihashi, one of the writers for the third and fourth games, is on the writing staff. In the anime, Dante wears his garb from the first game and wields the Rebellion sword (which wasn't seen in that game, and first appeared in the second), as well as Ebony and Ivory.

Cultural impact

''Devil May Cry'' has been cited as the beginning of a sub-genre of action games called "Extreme Combat", which focus on powerful heroes fighting hordes of foes with a focus on stylish action.^[33] The game has also been described as being the first game that "successfully captured the twitch-based, relentlessly free-flowing gameplay style of so many classic 2D action games".^[34] The series has become the game against which other 3D action games are measured, with comparisons in reviews of games including ''God of War'',^[35][36] ''Chaos Legion'',^[37] and ''Blood Will Tell''.^[38]
Dante's confident and fearless attitude have gained him widespread popularity. He was ranked third among the "Top ten coolest video game characters" list of ''Screwattack''.^[39] His design and personality received praise from numerous reviews, including this quote from IGN: "a dark anti-hero kind of guy you [''sic''] that even a down-in-the-dumps, disgruntled teenager would love".^[40] The popularity of the ''Devil May Cry'' series lead to a line of ''Devil May Cry'' action figures produced by Toycom.^[41] Japanese company Kaiyodo produced a similar line for ''Devil May Cry 2'' and a ''Devil May Cry 3'' Dante action figure.^[42][43]

References

1. Platinum Titles
2. E3 2001 Interview with Shinji Mikami
3. Devil May Cry review Reiner, Andrew
4. Retro-Active Hideki Kamiya-The Okami Family tree Mielke, James
5. 'Trish:'"So, you must be the handyman who'll take any dirty job, am I correct?" 'Dante:' Almost. .. I only take special jobs, if. .. you know what I mean (''Devil May Cry'') Capcom, 2001
6. 'Dante:' Even as a child I had powers, there is demonic blood in me. (''Devil May Cry'') Capcom, 2001
7. 'Narrator:'Two millenniums ago there was a war, between the human world and the other, the under world, but somebody from the underworld woke up to justice, and stood up against this legion, alone. His name was Sparda. later he quietly reigned the human world, and continued to preserve harmony until his death. He became a legend the legendary dark knight, Sparda (''Devil May Cry'') Capcom, 2001
8. 'Trish:' You're the man who lost a mother and a brother to evil twenty years ago, the son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, Mr. Dante. 'Dante:' Well the way I figure it, in this business a lot of your kind come along, and if I kill each one that comes, eventually I should hit the jackpot sooner or later. (''Devil May Cry'') Capcom, 2001
9. Devil May Cry Instruction Booklet, , , , Capcom, ,
10. IGN review of ''Devil May Cry'' Perry, Doug
11. Shinya Goikeda, ''Devil May Cry Volume 1'', TokyoPop, 2006
12. 'Trish:'It seems that way, but I'm not your enemy. My name is Trish. I came here to seek your help. To put an end to the Underworld. 'Dante:'What? (''Devil May Cry'') Capcom, 2001
13. 'Mundus:' Trish, Vergil has been defeated. You know what you must do. Now go. 'Trish:' Yes, master. (''Devil May Cry'') Capcom, 2001
14. 'Trish:' (on the telephone) Devil Never Cry? Yes. . OK, great! Where's the place? We'll be right there! This one has the password. Sounds heavy. .. 'Dante:' Okay! Let's get over there within 10 minutes and don't let one of those suckers live. (''Devil May Cry'') Capcom, 2001
15. Devil May Cry 2 review
16. 'Matier:'Oh yes. .. We are the guardians of. .. this land, Vie de Marii. .. Out clan once fought against the demons with Sparda. Son of Sparda, we must ask this favor of you. You see, there's a man who's transformed out land into a demon's paradise. .. His name is Arius. And Although he is the president of an international public corporation. He uses his the demon power, please deal with Arius and his master for us? 'Dante:'Looks like it's your lucky day. (''Devil May Cry 2'') Capcom, 2003
17. 'Dante:'Yeah, let's go all the way to hell! (''Devil May Cry 2'') Capcom, 2003
18. 'Arkham:' No use! Regardless of how strong you are, you are nothing but a half breed. You cannot defeat a pure demon, the real Sparda! Who's this? Damn you! 'Vergil:'I've come to retrieve my power. You can't handle it. (''Devil May Cry 3'') Capcom, 2005
19. 'Dante:' Responsible? Does it bother you that much? 'Lady:' He's my father. Besides, who else can undo what he's done? A demon like you, wouldn't understand. 'Dante:' Father and family huh? Well I'll go too. But you better worry if you don't want me to take all the credit. (''Devil May Cry 3'') Capcom, 2005
20. 'Vergil:' It would be fun to fight with the Prince of Darkness. If my father did it, I should be able to do it too! (''Devil May Cry 3'') Capcom, 2005
21. 'Lady:' Are you crying? 'Dante:' It's only the rain. 'Lady:' The rain already stopped. 'Dante:' Devils never cry. 'Lady:' I see. Maybe somewhere out there even devil may cry when he loses a loved one. Don't you think? 'Dante:' Maybe. (''Devil May Cry 3'') Capcom, 2005
22. 'Lady:' Oh, speaking of a kind devil, he finally decided on a name for his shop. It took him quite awhile to pick one. Want to know the name? Devil May Cry. (''Devil May Cry 3'') Capcom, 2005
23. Devil May Cry 4 official U.S. site
24. Fighting Evolution- JEDAH by
★ UdonCrew
25. Joystiq's report on Dante's inclusion on the Soul Calibur III roster James Ransom-Wiley
26. Amazon.com Listing for Devil May Cry Volume 1
27. Amazon.com Listing for Devil May Cry Volume 2
28. Amazon.com Listing for Devil May Cry 3 Code 1: Dante
29. Amazon.com Listing for Devil May Cry 3 Code 2: Vergil
30. Dreamwave Productions closes up shop
31. ActiveAnime:Devil May Cry Anime and Pre Site Opening
32. Devil May Cry anime official site (in Japanese)
33. 21st Century Game Design, , Chris, Bateman, Charles River Media, ,
34. Gamespot Devil May Cry review
35. God of War
36. God of War Review
37. Chaos Legion review
38. Blood Will Tell review
39. Top ten coolest games
40. Devil May Cry review
41. Devil May Cry Action Figures review Borst, Brian
42. Amazon.com Listing for Devil May Cry 2 Action Figures
43. Amazon.com Listing for Devil May Cry 3 Dante Revoltech action figure

External links

★ The original ''Devil May Cry'' at Capcom Japan