The Horror Geek presents: New Clip from Dante's Inferno: The Animated Epic

I apologize to anyone who is looking forward to this, but why would anyone want to take a piece of excellent classic literature and turn it into anime? This type of defilement is just counterintuitive and silly. What about a true preservation of the classics? What about the enlightenment? The real sad thing about this situation is that for those individuals who haven't read any of Dante will automatically associate the words "Dante's Inferno" with a videogame and anime, rather than a great literary classic. These are questions we should ask ourselves.

Quite simply: Because it just might be a good GAME (although I seriously doubt it).

Adaptations come in varying degrees of fidelity. Sometimes, it's just the spirit of the thing that comes across, and in this case, it's barely that. So I take the name and setting with a grain of salt and try to appreciate the game on its own merits. If you intend to maintain your sanity as other classic texts, films, songs, and childhood loves become fodder for "re-envisioning" projects, you might want to follow suit. Nothing is sacred in the world of commercialism. Might as well take what gets shot out on its own terms.

I'm right in the middle on this issue. On the one hand, I know where Anonymous is coming from--and in a perfect world, people wouldn't think of a game and anime when Dante's Inferno was mentioned.

However, since we don't live in anything even remotely resembling a perfect world, I try to keep Matt's attitude about things. I fail often (I'm cynical and bitter by nature. :p) but I try.

And I think we all succumb to that feeling of, "Oh, the book was soo much better!" when watching a movie, etc. But I also think disparate media deserve to be taken on their own terms. I completely agree that the game probably shouldn't pretend to be in any way related to the famed poetry... but it does. If anything, the game does itself a disservice by invoking a comparison to such lofty material. I don't think it will tarnish the reputation of Dante's Inferno in the minds of literary scholars.

No argument from me on any of those points.

I think it's challenging to take disparate media on its own terms at times, but I try to do it. I completely agree that this will do nothing to tarnish the literary reputation of Dante's Inferno as well.

I agree with all of you in that this is really not an uncommon occurrence in our culture. I guess what's really bunching up my panties is that this anime/videogame might be the only exposure some people have to Dante's Inferno. If this does come to pass, I guess my complaint should really be directed at the educational system. If the educational system was not at fault, then people would know the origin of the game/anime and be able to judge it for what its worth. This is a purely hypothetical situation, but I believe that it is definitely plausible.

While we're at it, let's have a little fun: which piece of classical literature would make the best videogame?

A. Beowulf
Oh, wait...already happened; we all know how that turned out

B. Moby Dick
You've never seen dialogue and deliberation like this...spend a fun 20 hours navigating the high seas...that's it...really...oh wait, did I forget to mention you can use a harpoon?

C. Crime and Punishment
In this delicious rendition of student turned murderer turned psycho, you constantly battle guilty conscience by repeatedly tapping the "A" button over and over while pursuing you inordinate love for a poor girl.

D. The Grapes of Wrath
Burnout Paradise??? More like Lame Paradise. Look out great depression. Make your way from Oklahoma to California in this all-out driving adventure. Don't forget to collect as many peaches as possible once you arrive. Online leaderboards available.

E. Great Expectations
Pip. Nuff said.