A half demon, half human whose father is the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda and who is twin brother to Vergil (his mother's name was Eva and her picture stands atop his desk in memory), Dante operates as a private investigator, mostly accepting jobs involving the supernatural, though more often than not he is left short of money.

According to him this is because people who hire him usually leave him a bill rather than pay him (due to destruction he causes during the job). His lack of money is also attributed to a certain couple of ladies, who leave him to pay for their clothes; as well as one of them taking his pay and cutting it from the debt he owes her. Also, when he makes a fair bit of money it's usually squandered, due to him having to pay a bet he lost previously, as well as to him being too lazy to work more than once a week. Nevertheless, when he does accept a job he diligently finishes it to the point of gaining a reputation of infallibility; he is strong enough to take out a small army of lesser Devils with only his hands.

Known for his cocky banter when on a job, which covers for his sometimes grumpy and miserable demeanor, he has in fact a fondness for strawberry sundaes and pizza (without olives) which are his only diet (according to him, his record for eating a large pizza is 5 minutes), along with an array of alcoholic beverages from which he leaves the bottles scattered about his office.

A source of comic relief in the series is his indebtedness and apparent lack of gambling skill due to his bad luck. His weapons of choice are a pair of over-sized custom 45's, one black (named Ebony) and one silver (named Ivory), the occasional sawed-off shotgun, and his faithful sword, Rebellion (given to him by his father), which he carries in public in a guitar case.

A young girl who Dante met after she supposedly came into a large inheritance. This turned out to be a scam, and she has since been spending a lot of time with Dante, whether he likes it or not. She turned out to be a descendant of a powerful magician who sealed the devil Abigail. Patty is very girly and loves cute things, sometimes decorating Dante's otherwise gloomy office with ribbons and plush toys. She loves romantic TV shows and serves as Dante's only source of feminine influence in the absence of Trish and Lady.

Dante's liaison. He finds Dante jobs and sometimes helps out with repairs around the office.

A weak demon who first appears in episode one, and has recurring appearances throughout the series. Initially seeming to be an insignificant danger and minor nuisance, Dante shows mercy towards Sid and restrains from killing him when given the opportunity. Unfortunately, Sid's ambitions prove to be far more dangerous than Dante possibly imagined.

A human devil hunteress, descended from the priestess whose blood Sparda used to seal the gate between the human and demon worlds. Dante seems to be in constant debt to her. She sometimes brings Dante work, but usually must con him into accepting the jobs and generally takes his pay claiming them as part of the debt he owes her. Lady spends more time at Devil May Cry than Trish but still not as much as Patty. She is Patty's primary female role model.Though human she is a skilled acrobat, also has immense skill in billiards and is a weapons expert.

A demon created by Lord Mundus in the image of Dante's mother (face wise) and given demonic powers such as electricity, strength and quick healing. She joined Dante after Mundus' defeat and became his partner. Though it didn't take long for them to agree on separate ways due to certain conflicts in interest. Doing jobs on her own, she wanders mostly outside of Dante's usual hunting stops. However Dante did remind her at one point that she can come back at any time, though not wanting to admit he simply gets lonely in his less than inspiring office.

Trish generally criticized Dante's lifestyle and eating habits. Unlike Dante or Lady, Trish doesn't take jobs to track down demons, she just goes from place to place following rumours as a freelance hunter. Trish appears to enjoy shopping for clothes and sometimes sticks Dante with the bill. Trish initially has a few violent scrapes with Lady which notoriously seemed almost planned out by Dante in advance, but the two become good friends shortly after. They both enjoy amusing themselves on their abilities to torment and manipulate Dante.