Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
“Seven Mortal Sins, also known as Sin: The 7 Deadly Sins (sin 七つの大罪, Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai), is a Japanese anime television series animated by Artland and TNK that aired from April 14, 2017, to July 29, 2017. It is an adaptation of Hobby Japan’s media franchise The 7 Deadly Sins (七つの大罪, Nanatsu no Taizai), which primarily consists of a series of fantasy figures.” —Ururihi, “Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai,” Wikipedia (retrieved January 24, 2024)
Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki’s new movie The Boy and the Heron, which has premiered in theaters on December 8, 2023, under the production of Studio Ghibli, tells the story of a young boy named Mahito following the loss of his mother during the Pacific War as he discovers a ruined tower. This movie has also won a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture in 2024.
In the words of contributor Dario Galassini, “Guided by a peculiar grey heron, Mahito enters and explores the tower – from the inside, it looks somewhat between an old ruin, an immense library, and a magician’s sanctuary. The portal leading to the library bears the inscription ‘fecemi la divina potestate,’ a Dantean quote from the inscription over the gate of Hell (Inf. III, 5), implying that the tower was not built by men but rather by the divine. Through this portal, the adventures of Mahito unfold as he later accesses an underworld of sorts.”
For more information about the film, see the reviews on Letterboxd and Metacritic.
Contributed by Dario Galassini.
“Eagle-eyed viewers of Code Geass R2‘s first episode may have spotted that Lelouch is reading Dante’s Divina Commedia while Rollo gives him a lift. (As a child, I never loved anyone enough to give them my last Rolo.)
Slightly more obsessive viewers will have discovered that he is in fact reading the Purgatorio Canto XXII.” –Thaliarchus, Animanachronism, April 9, 2008
Learn more about Sunrise’s 2006 anime Code Geass here.
“Dante (ダンテ, Dante) is the central antagonist of the Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 anime series, first introduced in Episode 32. She is a heartless elderly woman and a formidable alchemist herself. Posing as the master and the benefactor of the Homunculi, Dante is responsible for setting in motion the events of the series and the challenges its protagonists must face along the way, and orchestrates her agenda within the shadows of the Amestrian government and military.
[. . .]
She may be named after the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, famous for writing the Divine Comedy, a three-part poem with the first chapter, Inferno, taking place in the Nine Circles of Hell. In fact in the Italian dub of the episode title ‘Dante of the Deep Forest’ was translated to ‘Dante Della Selva Oscura’ (lit. ‘Dante of Dark Forest’ [sic]), a reference to the beginning of Alighieri’s poem.” —Fullmetal Alchemist Wiki, February 24, 2020
Learn more about the Fullmetal Alchemist series here.
Contributed by Andrea Beauvais (Luther College)
Originally posted January 26, 2010. Post updated September 4, 2020.
Contributor Savannah Mikus comments, “Dante’s Inferno – The Game. An anime style visual novel game. This game was created by ‘LIAR’ a group of four students: Vee, Lightneng, Saphire, and R. The game was posted online on Ren’Py Games for the public on June 3, 2015.”
The creators describe their game as follows: “Based off the classic, Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri, a group of four classmates created a visual novel in a modern setting for the story to provide easier understanding of the book. It is for-fun adventure we did for class, but since we put so much work into it, we decided to post it to the public too!” — Ren’Py Games
See Ren’Py Games for more information and/or to download the game.
Contributed by Savannah Mikus (Florida State University BA ’20, MA ’22)
All submissions will be considered for posting. Bibliographic references and scholarly essays are also welcome for consideration.
Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.
