Animated Castlevania Series on Netflix

[mikeszekely]

The previous Castlevania show fleshed out the (very simple) plot of Castlevania 3 rather imaginatively, but by and large it was faithful to the games; Trevor teams up with Alucard and Sypha (OK, so Grant's missing) to defeat Dracula.  Hector betraying Dracula and his subsequent rivalry with Isaac is also part of the plot for Castlevania: Curse of Darkness.

With Nocturne... what are they doing here?  It's like they want to tell a story about Richter, but this time they're avoiding the games.  There's no Shaft, no Dracula, in either the trailer nor the revealed cast.  Instead they're setting up Erzsebet Bathory as the "vampire messiah."  It's also clearly set during the French Revolution, which doesn't start until two years after Rondo.  Is it supposed to be between Rondo and Symphony?  Maria still looks pretty young.

I really liked the pervious Castlevania show so I'll give Nocturne the benefit of the doubt, but if it ignores the games completely I'll be upset.

[Mog]

As long as the story is solid and they give us interesting, multi-layered characters, I'm all for it.

Seriously, how they developed Isaac over the course of the series was unbelievable.  Even a minor character like Striga had some nice moments and a nicely planned story arc.

Gonna miss Trevor's world-weary a-hole sensibilities though.

And we gotta leave the original Tepeses alone.  Let 'em rest in peace after all the crap they went through.

[Old_Nash_II]

New trailer of Castle of Vania (Castelo da Vânia, brazilian joke with name)

 

[Mog]

I was like, “Hmm, I can see a ton of Belnades traits are showing up.”

. . . Then Rictor screams, “WHO’S F$&@IN’ NEXT?!”

There’s the animated Belmont traits we all know and love. 

[Bolt]

The animation looks really good. I enjoyed the previous installments. Will be checking this out for sure. 

[TheLoneWolf]

I loved the previous series, but I'm lowering my expectations with this one since Warren Ellis isn't involved.

I'm glad there appears to be a new antagonist this time around. Even Iga agreed that bringing back Dracula every time is a bad idea.

[sh9000]

First 7 minutes of Castlevania:  Nocturne.

[Mog]

Just finished the first ep.  Looks promising enough.  

Definitely want to know all the backstory for all the various characters, including the one that died (And I ain’t talking about musket dude).

[Mog]

Just got through Episode 6.  

They definitely did their work making these characters interesting and multi-layered.

Even the “bad guys” aren’t completely a-holes.

[Mog]

Welp,

Spoiler

looks like this is going for another season.

Looks like the characters need to level up.  Or better yet, learn how to utilize teamwork.  When Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard did that, they were unstoppable. . . Good thing they got one of those OG’s to teach them.

Give the writers massive props for fully knowing the story of Abraham and Isaac and not going with just a surface analogy.

Also, if I hadn’t read up on the Sekhmet Egyptian myths, I wouldn’t have understood why she turned into a lion’s face.

Should be interesting to see how Season 2 pans out.

 

[Bolt]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. 

Yes definitely a second season. What an entrance at the end, i was whooping for them , when that happened.

[mikeszekely]

Yeah... I thought it was mostly a letdown after the previous one.

See, I know that the Castlevania games have paper thin plots, but thin or not the lore is still there.  And what Ellis' Castlevania did extremely well was to take that plot and flesh it out, providing motivation for Dracula's attack beyond "vampire bad!" and linking the story with element of Symphony of the Night and Curse of Darkness.

Nocturne comes in with some interesting ideas that could have fleshed out Rondo of Blood, like exploring the backdrop of the French Revolution, how the de-Christianization of France during the Revolution caused the Church to side with the nobility, how the nobility were infiltrated with vampires, etc.  The problem, though, is Clive Bradley seemed to think that it's an interesting setting so he grabbed Richter, Maria, and Annette from Rondo but by and large abandoned the rest of the plot.  While we've got Maria and Annette, Tera and Iris have had no role.  There's no sign of Shaft.  They've replaced Dracula with a super vampire that looks like she should be on Thundercats. 

Spoiler

They brought back Alucard, who isn't supposed to meet Maria for another four years.

So, feel free to disagree, but in my opinion of you want to tell an original story, even one in the Castlevania universe, then use original characters.  If you want to tell Richter's story, though, then it should at least kind of follow Rondo of Blood.

[sh9000]

Season 2.

[Mog]

They were always going to take a different spin from the video games.

Dracula and Lisa deserve a peaceful ending.  And we already had the “idiots trying to resurrect Dracula” plot from Season 4.  No need to rehash it here.

I actually don’t mind that they’re cribbing a little from Egyptian mythology and Vodoo mythology.

I know the show didn’t follow Hector and Isaac’s story exactly from the video game.  But the characters actually turned out better because of it.

They’ve set up some interesting characters this first season, so let’s see where the story takes us.

[Swann]

The series is top of the line great.

[sh9000]

Season 2 Date Announcement.

 

[sh9000]

Official Trailer.

 

[Big s]

6 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Official Trailer.

 

While I don’t like nocturne as Miss the first series, I’m still gonna look forward to it

[Mog]

Guess Maria decided to summon Bahamut.

[Bolt]

I've enjoyed Castlevania. I'll be checking it out. 

[Old_Nash_II]

Next Thursday

[Bolt]

1 hour ago, Old_Nash_II said:

Next Thursday

Yup. Looking forward to it. Looks like uncle( or grandfather, i forget) Bellmont gets heavily into it this time also. 

[Mog]

Looks like Grampa Belmont (Juste, I believe) has a throw-down with Rictor’s Speaker Auntie

Spoiler

(who got turned into a vampire last season).

 

[Mog]

So, just tore through Season 2.

It kinda reminds me of Season 2 of the first series, in that it drags a bit in the beginning then ramps up the closer we get to the end.

But yeah, they know how to do the combo fights at this point.  And they’re so deliciously good!

Spoiler

Busting out the double ice-crosses and having one boomerang back was an awesome callback.

Watching Alucard bust out dear-old dad’s hellfire ball was cool to see.

And I’m still calling Maria’s summoned dragon Bahamut.

They did devote the intro’s for the first four or five episodes delving into backstories of the two main villains.  It makes sense given the twist at the end, but seemed a bit excessive during the initial watch-through.

You kinda knew Drolta would be back based on the trailers.  But didn’t think she’d be the final boss.  Was kinda fun seeing Richter curb stomp her at the end.

They could definitely take the story to a Season 3.  The beginnings of Maria and Alucard are there, along with the question of whether Maria will slip to the dark side.

Don’t know which side Olrox and Mizrak will fall.  But kinda wish one of them had let Mizrak die in peace, saying that Mizrak had repented and stood up against evil.

I don’t know what to make of Tera and “Old Man Coyote.”  One review article speculates it’s Death, but the Devil seems more scary to me.

I secretly hope Richter and Annette get to keep that happy ending.

So considering that the original Castlevania series just took it to another level with Seasons 3 and 4, I hope we still get a Nocturne Season 3.

 

 

Edited Friday at 07:18 AM by Mog

[Bolt]

Binge watched it. Loved it. The action was awesome. Looking forward to more. 

[kajnrig]

While the flash and glitz and glamor of the fights is still as top notch as ever,

Spoiler

I find I'm getting bored with how arbitrary they otherwise mostly are. Everyone's as strong or as weak as the plot says they are at any given time, so I don't feel particularly invested until major turns of phrase happen.

I'm also tired of the acting direction. There's so much whispering, so much hushed voices and repressed emotion. They'll be walking through the open air of Paris, and they'll still sound like they're mumbling voice lines in a closet. Maria confronts her father and she's clearly reasonably upset with him, but you don't get the sense that her emotions are steadily overriding her ability/desire to control them.

But that aside, still a good watch, still having fun, still interested in what comes next.