Castlevania is an animated dark fantasy series on netflix, based on the hit game series of the same name. It is generally considered that film and television adaptations of games rarely live up to their original source material (or be at the very least half decent), but with Castlevania boasting an epic art style, as well as a cast of well known and talented voice actors, along with a bloody and brutal trailer that got my interest immediately peaked, let's see how it measure up.
Now, unfortunately I have never played the game series. It was a big hit in the 1990s, so not really my generation. I'm judging the show purely on its own merits, and won't be able to compare it to its source material in the way in which characters and battles are presented.
Here's the setup; Dracula has waged war on humanity. The church found his wife practicing with science and medicine years ahead of her time, and out of both superstition and hunger for power, they accused her of witchcraft and burnt her at the stake, incurring Dracula's wrath. With an army of night creatures at his disposal and a castle that he can transport at a whim, his slaughter of humanity is ruthless and unyielding. It is up to Trevor Belmont, a disgraced vampire hunter from an ancient, persecuted line, Sypha Belnades, a speaker magician with the power of the elements, and Alucard, Dracula's half-human son, to kill Dracula and put an end to his destruction.
This is the initial story, but it is really just the tip of the iceberg, as vampire sects, demons and killers of every kind all come into the fray, making the show a gory feast for the eyes.
What the show does perhaps best of all is the combination of plot and battle, with one complementing the other. If, for example, an episode is slower and more exposition heavy, that is because it is laying out a fantastic battle coming just around the corner, which in turn has ramifications that stretch into the story instead of just being cool to look at. It is incredibly well thought out as a result, and makes both calm, reflective moments and the heat of terrible battle all the more impactful as a result.
What bolsters this is the awesome cast of characters, along with their unique personalities and fighting styles. Even one-off villains don't have to utter a single word for them to stick out to the viewer, something that only an incredible level of animation and character design can accomplish. Every character action is understandable, motivated and purposeful, with each of them growing, whether they rise to heroism, descend into villainy, find their freedom or submit to subjugation.
Live, or die.
Another reason to watch this show is the quality of the animation. It is immensely detailed, expressive and shows off movement in such a natural way that I can't say I've seen many other places before, especially from western animation. It just flows so well from one movement to another, especially in the fights, that you can really lose yourself in the spectacle of it all.
What I will say on the critical side of it is that there are definitely some pacing issues in the middle seasons, with some plotlines taking a while to pick up. When it does pick up, it is explosive and awesome, but it could have been nicer to have a few other breaks from the ongoing story to add a little variety and release of tension. Maybe that is just me, and it really is used to provide a break from the formula in of itself, so I can understand why it was done.
Would I recommend Castlevania? Yes. Yes I would. It was a great ride from start to finish, making for a viewing that is somehow fun, tense, dark, bloody and fantastic. You don't have to be a fan of the games to enjoy it. You don't have to be a fan of animation. But, it's a pretty safe bet that you'll be a fan of this show. 9/10
SPOILER SECTION
Season 1: Season 1 is very enjoyable for what it is, and that is essentially a preview of the future of the show. Being only four episodes long, it plays out more like a movie, made to be watched in one sitting. Most of it happens over a single night. It gives us Dracula's wrath, the corruption of the church, the characters and stories of Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades and Alucard. It does these things very well, with an air of mystery below ground underlying the chaos of the night creatures above. It would have been interesting to carry on some of these threads like the church, but I like their one-off use as a way to make the beginning of the series distinct.
Season 2: This season ramps things up a lot, with the mission to kill Dracula coming into play by the protagonists. Sadly, I believe they were slightly overshadowed by Dracula's court and the conflicts within it, who felt like they got more screen-time, or at least had more to do prior to the fated conclusion. The fight in Dracula's court, followed by the brutal smackdown with Dracula himself. I like both of these fights for many reasons. One, it is incredibly creative with how each character uses their weapons and abilities, finding clever ways to apply them. Take the Japanese vampire with the power to dissolve into smoke and reform. She proved to be undefeatable for Alucard, so Sypha froze and shattered her so he could get back up and continue fighting the others.
The fight with Dracula was, quite brilliantly, more restrained. He was a gigantic force with nothing to live for, and tossed all of them around quite hard, pushing them to their limits. Only when he snapped out of his blood-rage and realized what he was doing to Alucard, his own son, did he give up and let them take him out. I'll always remember the fantastic delivery of the line "I'm killing our boy.", showing us the Dracula before the start of the show, and the honourable man he might have been if things were different.
Other characters, like Carmilla, Isaac, and Hector, weren't quite well established by this point, so I won't go in depth on them for season 2, just that the two forge-masters, both very different people, start their journeys here, Isaac vengeful and wanting to wipe out humanity that had mistreated him, and Hector, naively thinking he could subjugate humanity and contain it, which fittingly became his fate.
Season 3: Season 3 is an interesting one, and marked a turning point in the story. Really, it was a point of brooding and loss for most of the characters, following the happiness and fulfilment of stopping Dracula. Kind of Castlevania's "Empire Strikes Back" moment. And while I like this, it took far too long for the pace to pick up to reach this point. Trevor and Sypha spent what felt like eons in the village, gaining insight to what was going on in the monastery at a snails pace. Likewise, Hector goes from being imprisoned to enslaved, but took his time to reach such a point. The same with Alucard being let down by his new friends and becoming ruthless like his father.
The main saving grace of this season is Isaac, who goes on a spiritual journey, learning the value of humanity and how to live his life with goals other than pure vengeance. This culminates in perhaps the best fight in this season, if not the whole show, where he has to take out a mad wizard who has enslaved thousands of people, turning them into zombies. He has to use his army of night creatures to punch his way through, then climbs the tower alone as the bodies pour through the windows. If anything is a visual spectacle in the show, this is it, and it is badass. I genuinely couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Season four is the one I would say is the most consistently good. The pacing is significantly better with smaller fights spread throughout, and entire episodes dedicated to climactic battles. Isaac, Hector, Carmilla and Lenore's stories all culminate at about the same time in episode 6, concluding their arcs and leaving the final episodes to mainly focus on three main characters of Trevor, Sypha and Alucard, who now actually has something to do instead of waste time in the castle. Saint Germain's new villainy was unexpected but not unwelcome with Bill Nighy's epic performance, and the final assault on Dracula's castle upped the spectacle of the one at the end of season 2, with more creatures and tougher vampires.
It was at this point that the show embodied the awesome nature of a video game boss fight in the best sort of way, translating the rush of a tense battle that you experience to one you view. Be this the three against the vampire general, and then Trevor Belmont versus Death itself. It was certainly unexpected, but a great conclusion. Plus, it was fun to see Death as foul-mouthed as everyone else on the show!
There were a lot of plot conveniences, like Belmont actually surviving the fight (which felt kind of like the secret best ending, with him scavenging pieces of the weapon), and Dracula and Lisa Tepes brought back normally (and not fused together), although the Whitby reference was a clever nod to the original Dracula novel. Lenore's suicide was fitting, not willing or able to endure the same captivity that Hector did. Carmilla's death, with her becoming the same sort of person she wanted to spite and rathering to end herself than allow her to be beat fair and square, and Sypha's pregnancy concluded the show in a natural and fitting way, which is very comforting for one so well made and entertaining.
UP NEXT
For once, I'm not really sure. I have a few lined up, so expect Attack on Titan seasons 1-3 soon, along with my first exclusively multiplayer review, Rainbow Six Siege. See you then!
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