OVA
Description
Dante Alighieri is a Crusader knight returning to Florence after the Third Crusade. His troubled childhood featured his father Alighiero physically abusing his mother Bella and stealing from the poor. Betrothed to Beatrice, he departed for the Crusades carrying her gifted cross after swearing fidelity.
During the war, a fraudulent bishop offered preemptive absolution, enabling Dante to rationalize atrocities like slaughtering prisoners during a ration dispute. He also broke his vow to Beatrice, trading false promises of freedom for a sexual encounter with a Muslim woman. This act proved catastrophic: her husband later murdered Dante's family and Beatrice in vengeance. Dante sewed a crimson cross-shaped tapestry onto his chest in penance.
His descent into Hell begins upon witnessing Beatrice's murder and her soul's abduction by Lucifer. Guided by Virgil, Dante journeys through the nine circles to rescue her. Armed with a scythe taken after defeating Death, he battles entities embodying each circle's sins—defeating King Minos in Limbo, destroying Cerberus in Gluttony, and fighting his avaricious father Alighiero, transformed into a monster, in Greed.
Dante evolves from denial to profound remorse. In Limbo, he learns Beatrice suffered a pregnancy and miscarriage. Within Violence (suicides), he confronts his mother Bella, discovering she hanged herself to escape Alighiero's abuse—not dying of fever as he believed—and absolves her soul. In Fraud, he accepts responsibility for letting Beatrice's brother Francesco take the blame for his wartime massacre, leading to Francesco's execution. This admission culminates when Beatrice, corrupted into a demon after witnessing his sins, attacks him; returning her cross restores her angelic form.
In Treachery's circle, Dante confronts Lucifer. After initial defeat, he renounces self-reliance, pleads for divine aid, and sacrifices himself to contain Lucifer. A beam of light freezes Lucifer, allowing Dante to escape toward Purgatory to reunite with Beatrice. His appearance typically features light armor, a chainmail coif, and the sewn crimson cross.
During the war, a fraudulent bishop offered preemptive absolution, enabling Dante to rationalize atrocities like slaughtering prisoners during a ration dispute. He also broke his vow to Beatrice, trading false promises of freedom for a sexual encounter with a Muslim woman. This act proved catastrophic: her husband later murdered Dante's family and Beatrice in vengeance. Dante sewed a crimson cross-shaped tapestry onto his chest in penance.
His descent into Hell begins upon witnessing Beatrice's murder and her soul's abduction by Lucifer. Guided by Virgil, Dante journeys through the nine circles to rescue her. Armed with a scythe taken after defeating Death, he battles entities embodying each circle's sins—defeating King Minos in Limbo, destroying Cerberus in Gluttony, and fighting his avaricious father Alighiero, transformed into a monster, in Greed.
Dante evolves from denial to profound remorse. In Limbo, he learns Beatrice suffered a pregnancy and miscarriage. Within Violence (suicides), he confronts his mother Bella, discovering she hanged herself to escape Alighiero's abuse—not dying of fever as he believed—and absolves her soul. In Fraud, he accepts responsibility for letting Beatrice's brother Francesco take the blame for his wartime massacre, leading to Francesco's execution. This admission culminates when Beatrice, corrupted into a demon after witnessing his sins, attacks him; returning her cross restores her angelic form.
In Treachery's circle, Dante confronts Lucifer. After initial defeat, he renounces self-reliance, pleads for divine aid, and sacrifices himself to contain Lucifer. A beam of light freezes Lucifer, allowing Dante to escape toward Purgatory to reunite with Beatrice. His appearance typically features light armor, a chainmail coif, and the sewn crimson cross.