There's a gag which involves Dante trying to order strawberry sundae in establishments where it's not really served. In Episode 1, the bartender responds by saying the place is a bar, not a place for a kid, then Dante gets laughed at by the bar-goers. Dante makes the same request in Episode 7, only for the owner to tell him "We don't have treats for the kiddies here."
Dante's quirk of taking a nap with a magazine covering his face. It's shown in Episodes 3 and 8, with the latter one featuring it as the first thing the audience sees, until Morrison pulls the magazine to wake him up.
Mission 1: Devil May Cry
Initially, Dante doesn't want to take on the job of protecting Patty, as he describes it like "babysitting a brat". When Patty seems offended by being called a "brat", Dante comes up with The Jailbait Wait offer as a joke. Patty then quickly gives her own witty response.
Dante: Sorry young lady. Maybe in ten years or so, I'll ask you out on a date. Patty: Hmph! And I'll tell you "No" in ten seconds. Me? I'm only into younger guys.
The short Heads or Tails? game by Morrison to Dante, as the stakes are about either Dante accepting the job of escorting Patty (which he doesn't like), or Morrison paying Dante's pizza tab in full (which lets Dante order pizza again). Dante picks heads, Morrison grins, but the scene immediately cuts to the next scene of him walking out of his shop with Patty, which meant he lost the bet. The little girl subtly mocks him about it.
Patty: You're not much of a gambler, are you? Dante: Shut up.
When they get into Dante's car, Patty suggests him to buy a new car, simply because she can't see any "romance happening in this car"; it's dirty, stinky and falling apart. She then tries to give some love advice to Dante when it comes to driving.
Patty: Don't you know? When it comes to women, it's not where you take them that's important, it's how you get them there.
The end of the episode has Dante's Devil May Cry shop being filled with cutesy decorations and stuffed toys, courtesy of Patty. At first, it doesn't look like it concerns Dante, as he's was just coming out of the bathroom wanting to eat his strawberry sundae. To his surprise, the strawberry sundae is gone, recently eaten by Patty. Dante then rants about all the stuff Patty recently did.
Dante: Hey, that was mine! What the hell do you think you're doing? This is my place! Let's get this straight... My place, mine. Patty: It was totally filthy and dorky, so I cleaned it and did some cute decorating. Dante: "Cute" is a relative term... I'm more concerned about my goddamn dessert. Patty: That's what I charged for my work, thanks! It was the best sundae ever, eheheh!
Mission 2: Highway Star
Patty's cutesy decorating of Dante's Devil May Cry shop is still intact from the previous episode, so when Lady arrives, she immediately jokes about it:
Lady: Hm... It seems like your sense of style has improved a lot since we last met. Hasn't it Dante?
At the end of the episode, Dante is happily expecting to be paid with a huge wad of cash after helping to deal with the motorcycle demon. Lady calls him to say that she added the money's amount to his debt instead, because Dante destroyed a bridge while pursuing the demon. Upon realizing his situation, Patty (despite meeting Dante for only two episodes so far) calls him the unluckiest guy she ever met.
Mission 3: Not Love
Dante rants about Morrison being a "tight-fisted bastard", just in time for the latter to open the door and respond to it:
Morrison: Hey, who you callin' "tight-fisted"?
The Freeze-Frame Bonus moment where Mayor Mike Hagel's compilation of the serial killings is in a register book, but with the word "Scrap" scribbled over its cover's title.
Dante ordering pizza and specifically telling it not to contain olives... only for the bartender to give him a pizza with olives. What sells it however, is the bartender's response afterwards; either he didn't get the memo, or was trolling Dante.
Dante: Hey, there's olives on this thing. Bartender: Of course there are. Dante: (whispering) Pfft... dammit.
Mission 4: Rolling Thunder
Off-screen, Dante lost a game of cards against Patty, and it's mentioned as the reason why she visits Devil May Cry this time around; simply to make Dante buy her some clothes as he promised. Their next conversation then involves Dante replying that he never said he'd buy them immediately, to Patty being shocked that Dante used his last mission's payment to buy pizza and strawberry sundae.
Lady and Trish spend most of the episode having animosity towards each other (because this is their first meeting, yet Lady was hired, or specifically manipulated by the priest to kill Trish). When Dante arrives in the church to interrupt their fight, he and Trish have a friendly banter, leaving Lady confused for a while.
Dante: ... And it looks like you were having some fun with that little misunderstanding.
Lady interrupts the friendly conversation of Dante and Trish, so Trish assumes Lady is jealous. Lady approaches them and rants that Dante is not her type.
Lady: Jealous? You think I'm jealous!? This bastard's a strawberry sundae freak. He eats pizza every day and never pays back the money he borrows from me, or anybody else. How exactly am I supposed to fall for him?
Trish lectures Dante to stop eating too much pizza. Dante's response is "Please don't talk to me like you're my mom". It's hilariously ironic how he's saying that to the woman who sounds like, and looks exactly like his mother Eva.
The episode ends with Dante being charged a bill for Lady and Trish's clothes shopping. Cut to the two girls laughing from the distance, and then Patty returning in Devil May Cry after she also bought some new clothes.
Mission 5: In Private
The simplicity of Dante ordering a strawberry sundae at the beginning of the episode. He sits at the counter, only says "Get it", the owner (Fredi) quickly giving him one without saying any word, then Dante replying with "That was fast". All these imply Dante ordering strawberry sundae so frequently in the past, there was never any doubt he's going to do it again.
All the slapstick misfortunes Isaac went through while spying on Dante, from getting caught in the girls' bathroom by a bouncer, being chased by Patty, falling into the sea (as he's not looking at where he's stepping), falling from a building, etc.
Isaac answering his own question when he wondered if Dante would fight The Mafia.
Isaac: No way. He's gonna take on the mafia? (Dante starts shooting the mafia) Isaac: Holy shit, he really did!
Dante having a sad look in his face for a split-second as he eats his strawberry sundae near the end of the episode. It's just there for one frame (before Isaac arrived at the table), yet it did not go unnoticed by viewers, until it became a fandom meme. More than a decade later, Capcom would acknowledge the memetic frame by recreating it in Devil May Cry 5.
Mission 7: Wishes Come True
The series has a Running Gag of Dante losing every single bet or game he's in. When he declares victory with a Royal Straight Flush against Lady, she's not even surprised, as she lifts one of Dante's cards to reveal that it's actually two cards layered together.
Lady: Are you holding one too many cards there, cowboy? Dante: Yeah, I threw in an extra as a bonus. Lady: Knock it off, you fucking cheater!
Mission 9: Death Poker
When Patty arrives (but just before she substitutes for Dante), she immediately comments on how Dante is losing, "just as [they] predicted". By that point, it's been made clear that the other characters are aware of Dante's losing streak in gambling, they've gotten used to it with much disappointment, and Patty even calls him "hopeless" for it.
Mission 10: The Last Promise
Even though it's brief, Trish actually juggles the skinny demon in mid-air using her guns. It's funny how they managed to put one of the many physics-defying Rule of Cool tricks from the games into this anime.
Patty suddenly startling Modeus from behind while he's looking at Sparda's monument. In a friendly conversation, she's also amused that Modeus and Dante both love strawberry sundaes even if they're grown-ups.
Mission 11: Showtime!
Dante clearly regrets upsetting Patty earlier, so when he's back at Restaurant Fredi to order his usual strawberry sundae treat, Lady arrives and assumes he's grumbling into his sundae dish.
Mission 12: Stylish!
Though it's an epic moment for Dante to return after being impaled to a life-sized cross, it's still hilarious to note that his sword Rebellion is still stuck in his chest after saving Patty from the demons, as if it was an afterthough. He promptly pulls out his sword later.
The last scene shows Patty returning to Devil May Cry to clean the place. Hilariously, she hanged a "Now Cleaning" sign (with a chibi drawing of herself in a maid outfit) before closing the door.
