Devil May Cry season 2 review: Finally, the adaptation this video game franchise deserves

Netflix fantasy series Devil May Cry divided fans as much as any video game-based series potentially could have when it launched last year. As season two lands, it feels like a make or break moment.

With fan favourite Vergil properly entering the new take on Capcom’s legacy franchise, season two of creator and producer Adi Shankar’s show thankfully, despite a slow start, hits the notes that DMC gamers were hoping for.

There's more fun this time around, too. After the ending of season one, this new chapter not only immediately sets new stakes by opening up on the gripping ultra-violent carnage we’d expect from one of Castlevania’s producers and showrunners, but also gets us up to speed on Vergil while expanding on this timeline’s new lore around Hell and its ruler, Mundus.

This is where Shankar’s devotion the franchise shines the most and works best in this Netflix adaptation: where this alternate timeline’s twist on the games' original story still sticks to the key points, but expands to new places. It's propped up by a peak noughties era emo soundtrack including Evanescence’s My Immortal, Avril Lavigne with Sk8er Boi, and Papa Roach & Humankind’s collab, See U in Hell.

Vergil is still slick, cool, deadly and angsty as he’s always been, with actor Robbie Daymond (Jujutsu Kaisen, Persona 5 and Sailor Moon) doing an incredible job of bringing him to life.

Meanwhile, in contrast to Dante — who spent season one coming to terms with his demon origins — Sparda’s lost son is going through an arc as he figures out the truth and rethinks his allegiances.

A lot of this season’s initial sluggishness in its early chapters merely comes from getting its new and returning players on the board and repositioning them to where they need to be — specifically, who is aligned with or against each villain. Still, those new villains (compared to the White Rabbit, the best element of season one), are even more fun to see.

Darkcom's returning founder Arius — despite originally being the antagonist of Devil May Cry 2, the worst game in the whole series — works great as a scheming 'over-the-top evil overlord' and is voiced brilliantly by Graham McTavish. By comparison, the demon King Mundus is still intimidatingly stoic as ever, but given some surprising depth with some new backstory and the voice performance of the very talented Ray Chase.

Dante and Mary ‘Lady’ Arkham are where season two’s biggest and most delightful surprise comes. Season one often stumbled by prioritising Lady, and making Dante feel like a side character in his own show, but despite Vergil being factored in making for a Castlevania-esque trio, season two’s dynamic feels much more evened out. They are much closer to their video game counterparts this time. Not that it’s a be-all and end-all requirement for every gaming adaptation, but it does work far better for the story when it comes to franchises such as this.

With the lessons she’s learnt from the first season, and with the show’s Darkcom-element of her persona chipped away at, Lady is a much more tempered, fleshed out, and likeable character.

By comparison, Dante, propelled forward by the reunion with his long-lost brother, finally comes into his own. Devil May Cry 3 fans will particularly adore the big fights that follow Dante and Vergil’s reunion with fantastic fight choreography and exquisite animation.

As for our favourite red coat-wearing demon hunter, Dante gets put through the wringer in a good way. Whilst re-learning about brotherhood with his estranged twin, his arc this time deftly deals with processing and accepting pain as part of being human as well as a demon — with his perfect voicing by DMC veteran Johnny Yong Bosch keeping up the balance with the wild, eccentric side we love him for.

The last two episodes culminate into a mega finale that not only triumphs in story and character, but also in stunning scenes that are absolutely peak Devil May Cry.

Although season one had some issues that held it back from being a great show, Shankar and his team have honed, refined and ironed out these wrinkles. Now, season two focuses in on its existing strengths to become an amazing adaptation; wonderfully balancing heart, stylish action, and a well-written emotional narrative. It's what this incredible gaming franchise deserved.

Devil May Cry is available to stream on Netflix now.

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