The character range of Dante from Kamiya to Tameem

[Foxtrot94]

Well, Nero actually says some bad words from time to time and he does insult people: called Agnus "jackass" and "son of a b!tch", and in the first fight against Sanctus, when you beat him with a Buster grab, he says "Not interested in your bullsh!t!"
There might be other examples I don't remember. So yeah, he's foul mouthed.

As for his arrogance, well, he showed a pretty fair amount of that throughout the game. Especially with Dante (he was ready to enjoy his look when he would "kick his ass"... yeah, Nero, good luck with that xD), until he got to respect him after he got his ass kicked in Mission 10.

So, summarizing: cockiness? Check. Arrogance? Check. Insulting and foul mouthed? Check.

But I do think he and new Dante share a major difference, which is that point about Kyrie. Here I'm not trying to prove they're similar characters, just pointing out those things about Nero.

 

[AgentRedgrave]

Ahh So and so. Personally if I were to put Dante in order from my least favorite versions to my favorite (I'll try to keep each one short...ish). It would go

• DMC2 Dante: On one hand I think he has one of the coolest designs for the character....But he was to serious. Dante was kinda serious in DMC1...but he still trash talked and cracked jokes. To my memory (Only played DMC2 twice) DMC2 Dante makes one joke about giving Aurius (Totally spelled that wrong) a crown when he said he was suppose to be king of the world and shoots him....But everything he says is in such monotone., and he hardly talked at all.

• DmC Dante: Now, by no means is DmC Dante a bad character. I can totally see what they were going for by trying to make Dante more realistic (in attitude and design). But for me personally, that kinda takes a lot of the fun out of it. I kinda like him as his own character, I just don't like him for Dante I think he was just a little too angry and swears a bit too much (kinda being hypocritical on those points lol) now that being said though, I did laugh at a couple of his jokes and thought he had some bad@ss moments

Judging Dante in DMC1, 3, and 4, is actually a little difficult for me. The way I view Dante is as a bad@ass, fun loving dude who's only ever serious when he needs to be. And, in my opinion, Dante from all three these games fits that. But I think I got it covered (though I will admit, which of these games I like the most may have a bit of an influence)

• DMC4 Dante: Okay so someone said the anime was Dante's lazy days?.....That's how I look at DMC4. Like I said I personally view Dante as someone who's only serious when he needs to be, and in DMC4, he didn't need to be serious. Real world, cause he wasn't the main character. In-game, considering his last big job was defeating his world's devil, and Nero, confirmed weaker then Dante, can beat the demons, including the final boss. For Dante this was really just another day. He does have a couple serious moments though. Such as Credo's death and when he called out for Nero. Still he was only really there to entertain....which some would argue he did

• DMC1 Dante: Again, I think Dante's a guy who only gets serious when need be. And in DMC1 he was facing off against the Emperor of Hell and avenging his mother's death. Even then he's still a joker (mouths off to Phantom tells Griffin to "Flock Off" and calls him "Featherface")
  
  
• DMC3 Dante: No surprise, lotta people like him the best. DMC3 was the first game in the series I ever played, and at the time I had never seen a character like Dante. He was just a fun character to play as. I just loved his attitude, his cockiness. And in all honesty I felt really sad for this guy at the end of the game.

So that's how I feel about the character. Admittedly this isn't a series I play for the plot. Anyway, if you agree with me, thanks. If not, that's cool

 

[DragonMaster2010]

Well, Nero actually says some bad words from time to time and he does insult people: called Agnus "jackass" and "son of a b!tch", and in the first fight against Sanctus, when you beat him with a Buster grab, he says "Not interested in your bullsh!t!"
There might be other examples I don't remember. So yeah, he's foul mouthed.

As for his arrogance, well, he showed a pretty fair amount of that throughout the game. Especially with Dante (he was ready to enjoy his look when he would "kick his ass"... yeah, Nero, good luck with that xD), until he got to respect him after he got his ass kicked in Mission 10.

So, summarizing: cockiness? Check. Arrogance? Check. Insulting and foul mouthed? Check.

But I do think he and new Dante share a major difference, which is that point about Kyrie. Here I'm not trying to prove they're similar characters, just pointing out those things about Nero.

Nero never really struck me as a very rebellious kid. He was more of a loner and did things on his own. But he still followed orders, he still did what he was told in staying to deal with Dante and tracking Dante. Nero was just a loner with anger issues.
To me Capcom tried to make Nero an arrogant foul mouthed dude, but were confined to the shoujo male lead archetype whose character is just "don't let them know I care" attitude that Japan's so known for. Character's like Nero's are why I stopped watching anime all together. It's the same old shoujo/shonen character. That's also why I liked New Dante better; I hadn't been exposed to much western archetypes or punk and rebellion culture so I was attracted to the unknown of that.

 

[Foxtrot94]

Nero never really struck me as a very rebellious kid. He was more of a loner and did things on his own. But he still followed orders, he still did what he was told in staying to deal with Dante and tracking Dante. Nero was just a loner with anger issues.
To me Capcom tried to make Nero an arrogant foul mouthed dude, but were confined to the shoujo male lead archetype whose character is just "don't let them know I care" attitude that Japan's so known for. Character's like Nero's are why I stopped watching anime all together. It's the same old shoujo/shonen character. That's also why I liked New Dante better; I hadn't been exposed to much western archetypes or punk and rebellion culture so I was attracted to the unknown of that.

Fair enough. Tastes are tastes. I won't go in an explanation why I like Nero, this is a Dante thread after all xD

Wait a second though. Did you say Nero is a "don't let them know I care" kind of guy or did I misunderstood? Cause everyone in the game knows that he cares like, a lot.

@AgentRedgrave I agree with what you said, man.

 

[DragonMaster2010]

Wait a second though. Did you say Nero is a "don't let them know I care" kind of guy or did I misunderstood? Cause everyone in the game knows that he cares like, a lot.

At the beginning, he acted like giving a gift to Kyrie was some sort of hastle when really he wanted to do it. Like I said; shoujo male lead who acts all tough and won't let his girl know how he feels.

 

[Foxtrot94]

At the beginning, he acted like giving a gift to Kyrie was some sort of hastle when really he wanted to do it. Like I said; shoujo male lead who acts all tough and won't let his girl know how he feels.

But LOL! That's one scene vs the whole game! Definitely not enough to define Nero as if he is like DMC2 Dante. Nero is far from "I act as if I don't care", man. There are not few moments when he lets his feelings drive him.

 

[TWOxACROSS]

Yeah, it's kinda accurate just not intentionally so.

The way people react to Nero in the game, if you ever notice, is not an appropriate reaction to what he says or does. Arrogant? Kind of a stretch. Cocky? Yeah, sure. Insulting? Foul mouth? No, not really, but everyone says he is. Why? He says 'hell hole' and Agnus loses his s**t. He says he's not big on frogs and the frog feels insulted. Meh. He is neither rude nor really that insulting and I've heard worse language out of a more polite game character. I think they wanted to make him arrogant and foul mouth but the makers were too shy to actually pull it off, either that or Japan in general wouldn't get behind showing the actions of what gives the reputation that without he wouldn't be as romantic.

I honestly think, though, that the Nero comparison comes mostly from the moves he inherited from him. Nero is too obsessed with Kirye, who's a little too Mary Sue, herself, to give new Dante anything in the way of edgy. He kinda revolves around her and her opinion carries far too much weight; Dante is too free spirited for him to have any Nero in him. But are they similar? Yeah, a bit. As a character Nero is supposed to be foul mouth so I guess they have that in common but not really. He is lippy and self sure, so it's not as though they're completely different but all the things that he shares with new Dante are traits they both inherited from the original Dante. The similarities are mostly physical rather than character specific since you could argue that what separates Nero from DMC3 Dante is the girlfriend.

I wonder if this might have something to do with Japanese sensibilities, because by default the Japanese language is about being polite and respectful, and saying the wrong thing seems to create a slightly larger upset than one would think. Sorta like how if someone asks you out on a date, just saying いいえ is tantamount to telling them to get lost. To politely decline you have to be all "Oh, no that's a little...(inconvenient)" literally saying ちょっと and not actually saying the word "inconvenient" at all. Similarly is probably applicable to the things Dante has said, especially in DMC3 - Dante cracks a joke about taking Cerberus out for a walk, and Cerberus acts as if he insulted his ancestors. The amount of perceived disrespect we see may just be because of that culture-enforced respectability.

A similar effect is probably going on in anime that we don't quite see when it's translated, the guy asks the girl out on a date, she declines in a more direct and disrespectful way than is transalted, and he's as devastated as if his entire family just died in a freak hot air balloon accident.

Also really great write-ups on the characters. Pretty much agree with all of it, although with DmC Dante, I came to understand that his d!ckish nature in the beginning of the game comes from that hedonistic lifestyle he was living. He certainly is rebellious against the establishment, because more often than not he's come to find out they're all a bunch of demons, and he sure does hate demons. However, the cruder and more raw side of his behavior isn't necessarily a product of that rebellious nature, but that hedonism he's seeped himself in. He figures he won't be around for very long, so why bother with niceties and respect for others? (That was actually something said by the devs, beeteedubs). He's certainly a twat in the beginning, and that's sorta the point, makes his transformation into that champion of humanity later on actually seem more impactful, y'know?