Thoughts about Visions of V

[Benny]

Would it be okay if I ask you guys to share what you think about VoV? Haven't seen anyone talking about the manga here.

For me, the art is okay. I thought Qliphoth looked ugly in game but I liked it better when it was drawn in manga, though I wasn't really fond with how the artist drew people. The artist, Tomio Ogata, did a fine job at creating V's inner world and character. V had some level of self-awareness when he was introspecting, he also was pretty reckless and acted on his emotions a lot of times despite Griffon's several warnings. I didn't like Griffon and V's dynamic. Griffon talked too much and V talked too little to him. It wasn't really interesting interaction to me. Does anyone play Genshin Impact? Because Griffon reminds me of that annoying mascot girl. I also found myself annoyed with how self-absorbed V was in manga. By "self-absorbed" I mean he didn't really spend much thought to think about Dante or his mother as person but as what related to his problems. I'm sorry but I just find it hard to believe V(ergil) really cared about his mother like many people in DMC fandom said. I wanted to see artist describe adult Vergil's thoughts after he merged back into... Vergil. But too bad manga ended right after he's done merging.

So uh, can those with demon heritage like the twins and Nero sense other living beings without seeing them? I find it strange that in manga, little Vergil came back to find his house burning in front of his eyes. Instead of enter the house to search for Eva and Dante, he just... cried a little then left. That means he assumed Eva already died inside the house, no point going inside to check so he left? But what about Dante, did Vergil assume Dante died with his mother in there too? Dante is half-demon like Vergil so he carried somewhat the same amount of endurance like his brother, Vergil shouldn't have thought his brother would die that easily. If Vergil was aware that Dante was still alive in the burning house, inhaling carbon monoxide all by himself, then it would be really petty of him to let his own brother along with his mother's corpse burned together.

 

[V's patron]

I read the early chapters and thought it was decent.

I lost interest once it caught up to the game.

It would've been better just covering the month in between the prologue.

 

[berto]

I'm actually reading it again. Started few days ago but I'm busy lately. It's not long so I'll have a better grasp after I'm done. It's not very long so it shouldn't take too much time.

One thing I can say is that I wish there was an official release. I'd like to read it on page and not on screen.

 

[Benny]

One thing I can say is that I wish there was an official release. I'd like to read it on page and not on screen.

I'm sure there's physical releas- oh nevermind it seems there's only Japanese version

 

[berto]

It wasn't bad but I remember when this came out. God, it was slow! We waited way too long for chapters to release and when they did a lot of them were Just. Too. Short. I think a lot of people quit because the lemon wasn't worth the squeeze. It was too much for too little. I think I tapped out when they found Dante. It wasn't a conscious choice. It was just taking too long and I forgot about it. If I saw an update, cool, if not, whatever.
Reading it again and trying to absorb it as a thing of its own, without the release pains, I am kinda middle of the road on it. On the one hand it's got great insight into the character. We get a real personal perspective into what V is really thinking, like the scene where the Knights show up on the stage that's falling down a hill and it reminds him of his own time in the armor; It tells us why he reacted the way he did. On the other, it is just the most rushed DMC5 thing around. The pace here is all over the place but, overall, it's just too much too quick. Because of the constant moving and covering of the parts of the game and the other parts the pace seems all over the place, but, ultimately, it needed to slow down and focus rather than trying to get everywhere so quickly. I also stopped liking the characterization of Dante in the most recent media and releases ages ago. He's just not the same. Unstoppable Dante is really not my favorite and his characterization here, both as an adult and child, don't impress nor did anything to change that.
Generally, it's ok. Like I said, it's not bad and there is worse DMC material out there but it's not my favorite thing out there, either. Nice art, good insights, occasionally decent but also lacking here and there. There is less bad than good so I'm glad it's there. After rereading it I can see why it only got a Japanese physical release. There's just not enough to get people interested in it and the time to make a release would've been around the time of a big release.

 

[Benny]

I agree with the pacing issue. Volume 1 of manga was fine, and then things just went faster around the chapter when V met Dante. I know VoV followed V's perspective but exploring one dude's mindset through the other dude (or 1/2 of the former technically) feels... well it's not a decision I agree with DMC5, though I still enjoyed the manga.

I also stopped liking the characterization of Dante in the most recent media and releases. He's just not the same. Unstoppable Dante is really not my favorite and his characterization here, both as an adult and child, don't impress.

I'm also not a fan with how Dante's like nowadays. "A bit" off topic, it feels like everyone, both fans and writers, all subconsciously give up on Dante. Writers felt reluctant to develop his character into something positive. Fans who like Dante from my observations, either they expressed pity for Dante's "depression" and happy that Dante got his family back so he is not "depressed" anymore, or they see Dante as a clown (wacky woohoo pizza blah blah) Rarely I see one actually judged the sht out of Dante's current state. Barely anyone thought Dante can move further with his development, even more than just his family problem. But strangely people seem to be more hopeful when it comes to Vergil, despite many villainous actions of his. Vergil has potential to grow, while Dante is whatever.

 

[V's patron]

Do the summons get more to do?

Them being Vergil's nightmares are interesting but poorly handled in the game proper.

 

[Benny]

@V's patron why you keep delete your comments?

The summons of V unfortunately didn't really get focus in manga, even when Griffon was the most talkative of them. I remember the whole volume 1 was just V making contracts with 3/4 of them. V regained Vergil's nightmares when he tattooed them on his body, that's it.

Although they are all manifestations of Vergil's nightmares, somehow their intelligence is different. Griffon and Phantom can talk like human, Shadow is just an animal, and Nightmare is a mindless but powerful blob. They're Vergil's, not Mundus's pawns, I still don't get why this one can communicate but other can't even speak, like their counterparts in DMC1. Since V killed off Phantom in manga with no consequence, it seems those creatures weren't that essential for Vergil. I mean the remaining 3 of them died anyway after Dante's fight with them, not like it affected Vergil badly or he gave a sht about that.

 

[V's patron]

@V's patron why you keep delete your comments?

The summons of V unfortunately didn't really get focus in manga, even when Griffon was the most talkative of them. I remember the whole volume 1 was just V making contracts with 3/4 of them. V regained Vergil's nightmares when he tattooed them on his body, that's it.

Although they are all manifestations of Vergil's nightmares, somehow their intelligence is different. Griffon and Phantom can talk like human, Shadow is just an animal, and Nightmare is a mindless but powerful blob. They're Vergil's, not Mundus's, I still don't get why this one can communicate but other can't even speak. Since V killed off Phantom in manga with no consequence, it seems those creatures weren't that essential for Vergil. I mean the remaining 3 of them died anyway after Dante's fight with them, not like Vergil gave a sht about that.

Second thoughts or they don't fit the thread.

The summons are a cool idea. Bummer they don't get more to do.

 

[Benny]

So uh, can those with demon heritage like the twins and Nero sense other living beings without seeing them? I find it strange that in manga, little Vergil came back to find his house burning in front of his eyes. Instead of enter the house to search for Eva and Dante, he just... cried a little then left. That means he assumed Eva already died inside the house, no point going inside to check so he left? But what about Dante, did Vergil assume Dante died with his mother in there too? Dante is half-demon like Vergil so he carried somewhat the same amount of endurance like his brother, Vergil shouldn't have thought his brother would die that easily. If Vergil was aware that Dante was still alive in the burning house, inhaling carbon monoxide all by himself, then it would be really petty of him to let his own brother along with his mother's corpse burned together.

So at some point, I brought this to another dmc group but changed the question to "why Vergil didn't try to enter the house to find Dante or Eva that time but just left even though he could do it?" The answers I got were... disappointing.

- Several generic "bruh bruh bruh he was a child with trauma" responses, even when it showed in the same chapter the "child with trauma" easily slayed demons when he got daddy's sword. But helping his family members somehow is too much for said child
- Some attempted to give explanations that contradicted infos were shown in manga, sometimes game lore even. Which led to my suspicion some of them probably didn't read VoV. Haha but that can't be true, can it? Who would defend something they have never read before?
- One dude associated Vergil's resentment towards Dante with PTSD
- Other dude blamed Eva and Dante instead

Eventually I felt bored with repeating my points many times so I stopped responding to newer comments

 

[V's patron]

So at some point, I brought this to another dmc group but changed the question to "why Vergil didn't try to enter the house to find Dante or Eva that time but just left even though he could do it?" The answers I got were... disappointing.

- Several generic "bruh bruh bruh he was a child with trauma" responses, even when it showed in the same chapter the "child with trauma" easily slayed demons when he got daddy's sword. But helping his family members somehow is too much for said child
- Some attempted to give explanations that contradicted infos were shown in manga, sometimes game lore even. Which led to my suspicion some of them probably didn't read VoV. Haha but that can't be true, can it? Who would defend something they have never read before?
- One dude associated Vergil's resentment towards Dante with PTSD
- Other dude blamed Eva and Dante instead

Eventually I felt bored with repeating my points many times so I stopped responding to newer comments

Did he know he could sense Dante or was that something he learned later on in life?

 

[Benny]

@V's patron I don't know, that's why I asked. I think the idea Vergil didn't bother to search for Eva and Dante is poorly written, considered what character can do and was supposed to know in universe. Even if Vergil was a child, he already had greater endurance more than an adult human. In chapter 25.2, he got stabbed multiple times by demons yet those demons couldn't kill him, he even killed all of them with Yamato with not much struggle. Looking from his pov, Eva and Dante were still stuck inside the house on fire. Because of his demon blood, Vergil should have been capable of withstanding the fire for awhile if he chose to get into his house to find them. Why the hell he didn't do that?! Even more ridiculous, there's NO PANEL in manga showed Vergil assuming Eva and Dante already died, he just left. It's like the artist told Vergil the script beforehand or something. I don't buy the "trauma" reason. What kind of trauma makes you give up on your family that easily? And I don't think the person who drew VoV intended to portray child Vergil as some psychotic kid who would not help his family when they were in life or death situation.

And Dante too. Vergil was supposed to know his brother is just as tough as him. If many demons attacked Vergil yet still couldn't finish him off, surely the chance Dante was still alive would be higher than Eva, giving Vergil another reason he really should have checked inside. But again, he didn't.

 

[V's patron]

@V's patron I don't know, that's why I asked. I think the idea Vergil didn't bother to search for Eva and Dante is poorly written, considered what character can do and was supposed to know in universe. Even if Vergil was a child, he already had greater endurance more than an adult human. In chapter 25.2, he got stabbed multiple times by demons yet those demons couldn't kill him, he even killed all of them with Yamato with not much struggle. Looking from his pov, Eva and Dante were still stuck inside the house on fire. Because of his demon blood, Vergil should have been capable of withstanding the fire for awhile if he chose to get into his house to find them. Why the hell he didn't do that?! Even more ridiculous, there's NO PANEL in manga showed Vergil assuming Eva and Dante already died, he just left. It's like the artist told Vergil the script beforehand or something. I don't buy the "trauma" reason. What kind of trauma makes you give up on your family that easily? And I don't think the person who drew VoV intended to portray child Vergil as some psychotic kid who would not help his family when they were in life or death situation.

And Dante too. Vergil was supposed to know his brother is just as tough as him. If many demons attacked Vergil yet still couldn't finish him off, surely the chance Dante was still alive would be higher than Eva, giving Vergil another reason he really should have checked inside. But again, he didn't.

That scene makes more sense if he couldn't but even if he couldn't, he should've entered the house or attempted to. If he failed because the fire was too strong and he passed out etc, that would be more believable.