#dmc subhuman

[prototypelq]

have a shitpost, free of charge

*p.s. yes everyone has their music taste and preferences and subhuman might not be to your musical liking but you can still appreciate the beauty of its lyrics and the amazing window it provides into dante's character, I am ready to fight anyone who thinks this song doesn't suit him, there will be no subhuman disrespect on my blog

[undefeatablesin]

Dealing with the tail end of another artblock by brainstorming feral Good Hunter Aloysha looks. Because she was not already feral enough for me I guess lmao ✨️

[arcanemadman]

How exactly is Subhuman lyrical character assassination for Dante?

Ok. I'm not looking forward to writing this but…

So you've probably seen that there are some mixed opinions on this particular song, so allow me to clarify. I would like to preface this by stating that Subhuman is one of the few things in the world that I feel genuine hatred toward, which is either amusing to think about or outright pathetic. I actually can't listen to any part of the song without feeling anxiety or anger. As such, I have avoided listening to the song again.

First of, lets talk about the original version of the song. The original was sung by suicide silence, who at one point a popular deathcore band until the death of their main vocalist, after which they spiraled into disaster and alienating their fan base. Their version on the song, without exaggeration, sounded like pigs squealing. High pitched, badly mixed music by a washed out band who's new main vocalist also happened to be a pedo. These factors culminated into the song, upon being released, getting over 13,000 dislikes before the video was deleted from YouTube. Seriously, when people first did listens like you do they were, at best, laughing.

So they replace the vocalist, problem solved right? No. This is actually the second attempt by composer cody matthew johnson at a theme for Dante, the first being a remix of Devils Never Cry for Marvel vs Capcom Infinite, and is largely considered the worst and only bad version of the song. And when advertising this song on his website, he advertised it as the theme of "the foul mouthed anti-hero" Dante, AKA reboot Dante.

In other words, he made it for the wrong character. Johnsons reaction to the backlash was to throw a tantrum and saying he's "happy to stir the pot", ignoring the fact that the original version was actually painful to listen to (this isn't hyperbole, seriously don't take my word for it and listen to the original version and you'll get what I mean) and the fact that it was sung by a pedophile. Recently he also related the backlash he got to the abuse targeted at actress Lily Gao for her performance in the Resident Evil 4 remake, which is deeply insulting considering she was subjected to racist abuse and harassed off social media.

And even then, the song itself good for what it's supposed to be. As a character theme, it's character regression for Dante. It's an angry, spiteful song that goes on about how Dante struggles with this evil inside him, how he hates all demonkind and how he's a rage filled monster that tears through everything in his way. But that's not Dante. At one point, Dante did have anger towards demons and hate that part of himself, but his character ark in Devil May Cry 3 was accepting that part of himself and growing as a person. DMC3 is a prequel, mind you. In universe, he got over those feelings over 25 years ago.

When faced with demons, he often offers to show them mercy even if they don't accept, because he knows that just as any human can do evil, any devil can do good. He spares Trish in DMC1, a demon created for the sole purpose of killing him, and in turn she becomes his trusted friend. In DMC2, he refuses to let Lucia kill herself because her fear of hurting humans proves she's not a monster to him. In the anime, he's hired to kill a demon called Brad and instead finds him in a bar, talks with him to figure out what his deal was, and then helped Brad protect his human girlfriend and kill his demonic master. In fact, he's far more merciful to demonic enemies than his human ones, who he kills without ever offering mercy, because at its core those that give up their humanity are worse than those that never had it to begin with.

That's mainly it. The thesis statement of the entire series is this - The human ability to care for others, to love someone, be it family, friend, or romance. If you care enough to cry, THAT is what makes you human. Dante is powerful not just because of the demonic power of his father, but because of the human heart of his mother. He is the son of both Sparda and Eva, and he's proud of that. But the very title of subhuman contradicts the entire point of the series. It implies he is less than human, but he's not more human or more demon, he's both, and that's the point of him as a character. Vergil rejected his humanity, while Dante embraced it. He's reached an equilibrium in his soul and grown as a person, embodying both worlds as a devil with ability to cry. Subhuman doesn't focus on Dante's humanity at all, it's all about how he's inhuman.

You remember how in Devils Never Cry the harder and softer lyrics are separate and initially clash, representing his demon and human halves, but in the end they come together into a singular song, representing Dante's acceptance of both sides of himself. There's none of that nuance in this song.

And removing the character assassination, it's just not a good representation of Dante. As I said it feels angry and violent, but Dante is charming and stylish. Of course he does have some resentment to aspects of his life, at times wishing he could have a normal life, but he enjoys what he's got. With the other character themes, the lyrics feel like something the characters would say in battle; With Devil Trigger, I can see Nero smirking and shouting "Bang, bang, bang! Pull my devil trigger!" as he throttles his sword as his enemies charge at him. With Crimson Cloud, V talking in poetry all the time so "Saviour! Bloodstain! Hellfire! Shadow! Heaven on a landslide!" sounds like something he'd read out to himself as his demons tore up the battle. And with Bury the Light, Vergil would totally proclaim "I am the storm that is approaching!" before unleashing a devastating attack.

But with Dante, who taunts by throwing a rose at his enemies, laughing and pointing, and playfully beckoning at his enemies to keep trying their best, I can't see that person screaming at the top of their lungs in fury "YOU CANNOT KILL ME!" Dante isn't someone who feels the need to prove anything to himself or his enemies. It's part of his charm that powerful demons will fight him, expecting a respectful battle with the son of the legendary Sparda, but instead they get their ass beat by an idiot more interested in seeing what he can do with a hodgepodge of weapons than taking things seriously. And when he does get serious, it's more quite, closer to "you've got my attention and I'll make you regret it." It's too insecure. A better line would be something like "Just try to kill me!" but even then, it's still screaming. There's no subtlety here.

None of this is helped by the fact that the song is so plodding. The low BPM makes it feel plodding, and while I'm certainly no expert on music that sort of feeling hurts in a game as fast as DMC, especially for Dante, who while not as fast as Vergil is by far the most chaotic character to play as. Teleporting, swapping guns, swapping weapons, swapping styles, Dante has over 100 potential actions that can loop into each other freely. Subhuman doesn't capture how chaotic it feels to play as Dante. It's going for the power fantasy of Kratos, an unstoppable juggernaut as opposed to the power fantasy of a stylish showdown. You don't play as Dante to strike fear into demonkind, you play him to see just what bullshit you can get away with even in the most dire situations.

That is ultimately why Subhuman fails and betrays Dante as a character.

I'll admit, from my personal experience I tried everything to get myself to like the song. I listened to every edit trying to salvage it, every version that changed it up, all hoping that Dante would get the theme he deserved. But I think that's why I hate it so much now. I desperately wanted it to be good. But at it's core, the song is fundamentally flawed it what it sets out to do, represent Dante as a character, and it needed a full overhaul that was never realistic within the time frame of it being revealed to the public and the games release. Honestly, after what he did to Devils Never Cry they should never have given Dantes theme to someone as inexperienced as cody and his works before and since have been middling at best. But he was the real thing that killed subhuman for me. Anyone that listened to the original version knows it was BAD, but he acted like he was a visionary who was too smart for the rest of us and ignoring all criticism including, need I remind you, HIRING A PEDOPHILE. The recent thing with Lily Gao I find particularly infuriating because what she has been going through is unquestionably awful, yet he made it about himself. As if a white composer who complained about the whole thing on twitter suffered the same abuse as an asian woman who was chased off social media. That inability to self reflect on anything and blaming everyone that disagrees with you is just arrogance in the end.

I always get really angry whenever I think about this song. If I had the same passion for writing things I actually cared about I'd be an acclaimed author by now. I don't like how much I think about this song so much. As I said at the state hating a song this much is either amusing or pathetic. But Dante is a character that holds a certain importance for who I am so I care more than I should. I know not everyone had the same experience I have, or don't really care about the music so long as the game is fine, but the music in Devil May Cry has always been spectacular, and the character themes have been brilliant ways to prove who the characters are deep down. So for Dante, the face of the series, to be stuck with the worst one in the entire series in the grand return of the series until the next game comes around… it's fucking infuriating.

[fluffypichu876]

devils never cry my beloved

[quinttyz]

THIS SUDDEN FIXATION ON VERGIL DEVIL MAY CRY……

[thetruejerrycan]

the lyrics to subhuman in devil may cry 5 are awful

“YOU CANNOT KILL ME, I AM OMEGA”

no you’re dante, stupid

[under--pluto]

Why BVB never did a song for the Devil May Cry series is beyond me

[galaxofmuses]

"Ah! Shit! Stop booping the beak!"

"Ahh oooh uhhh sorry chicken legs! I ain't gonna stop that ride! Ah!" Now he's getting booped.

[basil-does-arttt]

so we all know how Bury The Light as a theme song represents Vergil and subsequently his story and themes within DMC 5??

Well obviously that means Subhuman is the same for Dante. So i did some thinking (wow big surprise there shocking i know)

The TLDR of this is my conclusion that Dante is reckless and overconfident because of his half-devil nature and as a result disregards his life and safety. Also, that Dante has mixed feelings about his demon side.

Specifically what got me to this thought was the line we all know if you've listened to subhuman:

"You cannot kill me, i am subhuman."

And,

I mean come on, the message couldn't have been written any clearer here. Because he's part demon, because he's - as Dante puts it, assumably the writing of this song is from his POV much like i assume Bury the Light is from Vergil's POV - sub-human, he believes he cant die. That whatever is thrown at him, no matter what or how dangerous the situation is, he naively believes he will come out the other end unscathed.

And to be honest, he kinda has reason to believe that thus far. If being stabbed at least 5 times throughout your life and brushing each one off as if it were a mere scratch wasn't enough to convince him, defeating so many different great demonic beasts including Mundus himself definitely would. I mean, who wouldnt? Whatever hell throws at Dante, surely cant be any worse than the actual fucking demon king or his own brother post-DMC 5. In a sense, he believes he is immortal.

But that way of thinking is shallow, its naive and leaves him open to danger because it makes him cocky. He thinks he's untouchable, and that way of thinking could get him seriously hurt or worse if he isnt careful. (As we see in the beginning of DMC 5 actually. He thinks "eh, ive fought worse, how bad could this actually be?" That "Its only Vergil, and ive fought him before." Only to have his shit kicked in and end up in a coma for a month. Imagine if that happened with a different demon that wasn't so merciful as to keep him alive for all that time, who would've jumped at the opportunity to rip him to shreds in an instant.)

I also want to go into how the song reflects Dante's (poor) mental health and his thoughts on being a half-demon.

Its kinda hard to catch unless you really think about it but the song is clearly negative in tone when it comes to describing Dante's own devil form. "As i call upon the dark gift to erupt" is one line that sticks out to me and i think is the best example of this. I also believe from the song that Dante views his DT as a seperate entity from himself; "I feel the devil in me, we're coming right for you".

"Funny how the mind tries to sink me deeper, as the evil tries to turn me around." The evil could be in reference to other demons, yes, but it also could be referencing his own "demon"; "i must not forget that i have bled, from no respect to the demons in my head". Wether that line means he's gotten himself hurt because of his own recklessness or self-harm i cant tell, and i wont assume one or the other specifically.

Throughout the song too, the lines "i cannot erupt, i must control, i cannot erupt, i must explode" to me also seems like Dante struggles with control of his DT, and is scared of losing himself when triggered. The whole tone of the song seems like a rampage of sorts too, its very aggresive and almost violent. "Something save me, put me out of my destiny, and drop me safely in this hell"; yet at the same time as his fears toward his own DT, it feels natural to him, this kind of "bloodlust" he feels in his triggered form is something he doesnt want but he knows he cant keep from happening entirely, so as a result the most comfortable place for him is in danger. He can let loose and he doesnt have to worry when all he's killing is demons. One last thing, "i see right past me, the eyes are flashing" to me sounds like Dante becomes almost dissociated when triggered, he's not really present in his mind and body and is acting on pure instinct alone.

All in all, Subhuman (like i said earlier) at first just sounded like an epic battle theme for Dante, but when i really listen to it, it becomes much sadder. Of course all of this could just be me bullshitting so id love to hear other's takes on this.

i also wanna analyze Bury the Light too. So i might do that later.

[meri-meri-mwah]

This is all just based on everyone's preference. Which song gave you a spiritual awakening? Which one hypes you up every time? Best instrumental? I'm curious. 👁️

[alicethenobody]

Was thinking about the lyrics to Subhuman and I started wondering what if in DMC 6 Dante just loses it after bottling everything up for so long? Like somehow he loses control of himself and he can’t stop and the only person who can bring him to his senses is Vergil?

Idk it’s just some late night thoughts lol.

[prototypelq]

I wish all my fellow Subhuman enjoyers a very YOU ARE OMEGA day and a high-five

[but-a-humble-goon]

Imma say some nice things about the DMC reboot now. -I honestly didn't dislike this version of Dante. He's not Dante even remotely, if anything he acts more like some alternate version of Nero from the dirtbag dimension but as a character in his own right he's fine. He's a punk shitheel with a secret heart of gold. -all the stuff in Limbo is rad as hell. I loved all the creative visuals and constantly shifting surreal environment let to a lot of interesting and memorable set pieces. Plus the Limbo dimension itself talking to you and yelling rude things at you constantly is just funny. -this game's got a pretty solid cohesive artistic vision. It's not exactly to my taste but the grungy punk/graffiti aesthetic, the Combichrist soundtrack, the whole They Live by way of Rage Against the Machine thing it's got going on all works really well together to create the feel that game is going for. If anything the Screamo fit way better here than Subhuman did in DMC5. -I really liked how the weapon switching worked. It made mixing and matching weapons to build combos super fluent. I kind of wish that was something the Mainline games would have kept going forward. -the whole game is really fucking upfront and on the nose with its political allegory and I honestly found it refreshing. Game knows what it is and what it wants to say and thinks subtlety is for cowards. I respect it. -the Drekavac is seriously one of the coolest enemies in the whole franchise and I really wish they would bring it back. I'll take it over the Blitz or the Fury any day.

[arcanemadman]

Just found out a certain idiot on twitter named Cody Matthew Johnson felt the need to compare the awful treatment Lily Gao has had to endure for her portrayal of Ada Wong, to the point that she has removed herself from social media, to when people didn’t like his shitty ass song subhuman, WHICH I REMIND YOU WAS SUNG BY A PEDO, SOUNDS LIKE SHIT, AND IS LYRICAL CHARACTER ASSASINATION FOR DANTE.

DO NOT MAKE THIS ABOUT YOURSELF

What Lily Gao is going through is completely different from people disliking your crappy music. You didn’t get death threats. You didn’t get racist abuse. You didn’t get chased off social media, I can attest to that!

These videos expresses how I feel right now pretty well. Just play it on loop for like 5 hours.

That aside, please show support for Lily Gao. The abuse that has been sent her way is disgusting and I condemn it in its entirety. The main purpose for this post was to vent my anger regarding someone trying to hijack what she’s been going to for their own pity party. I’m not including what was said exactly mainly so I don’t have to look at it again but if you want to see it look for it yourself.

[invenblocker]

So a common talking point I see about DMC is that the true source of power for the half demons is humanity, and that's why Dante embracing his human half while Vergil shuns comes out on top at the end of DMC3.

Which does make sense. But I think there are two other important aspects. First of all, acceptance of self (self love?). At the start of DMC3 , they both view themselves as Demons, but while Vergil embraces this, Dante loathes it, which is why Vergil wins their first fight. Only in accepting himself does Dante become powerful enough to beat his brother, as with the element of self loathing being removed, Dante can gain his true power from embracing his humanity while Vergil's rejection of it leaves him behind.

And of course, as this has been pointed out countless times, the theme can also continue into DMC5, where Dante's SDT comes about when he uses what his father left him (Rebellion) with the manifastion of his father (Sparda), to fuse his human and demon halves. And with Vergil becoming the most powerful not by severing his human self from his demon self, but by fusing them back together (now with humanity as an undeniable part of his identity, forcibly reinserted after removal).

And this is all pretty common analysis that more or less any DMC fan can repeat verbatim, but I think another interesting angle can come in when we account for Nero.

Where Vergil rejects his humanity, Nero only accepts that part of himself, not caring for his demonic half (but not loathing it either) in the slightest. This is why in Nero's eyes, he needs Yamato. He doesn't think he has this power within himself and must get it from outside, which is why despite obviously having the toughness and regen factor required to get slapped around by demons and be fine, he can't regrow his arm after losing it.

But at the end of DMC5, Nero does not embrace humanity, he embraces that he is in fact a demon, and it is at that point he truly unlocks his Devil Trigger. And asides from regaining the powers of his Devil Bringer, he does also regain some of the powers he didn't unlock in DMC4 before obtaining Yamato, powers he didn't previously perceive as part of himself.

But if the person who viewed himself as human needed to accept his demon heritage, that indicates to me that what a demon-blooded human needs to embrace is not humanity, but rather the duality within them, the balance between demon and human. This reading coincidentally also works really well with Dante fusing his demon and human halves to create SDT, he already viewed himself as a demon (still doing so, if Subhuman is any indication) and already embraced his humanity, but only in fusing the two did he truly acknowledge their coexistence, a step Nero has yet to take, which is why I am looking forward to his journey in DMC6, which is definitely gonna get announced any second now, with great interest.

[thequantumranger]

Been vibing to DMC music for the past hour. I forgot how Subhuman sounded...