Sharpen your sword, ready your whip,
and grab your stake, because it's time to face the lord of the vampires this
season.
Castlevania was based on one of Konami’s most iconic videogame
series of the same name. It was written by Warren Ellis and was directed by Sam
Deats, Adam Deats, and Spencer Wan. It was produced by Frederator Studios, Powerhouse
Animation Studio, Shankar Animation, Project 51
Animations, and Mua Films. The show adapted the story
of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, as well as using some elements
from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania:
Curse of Darkness. All eight episodes of season two were released last
October 26 on Netflix.
Season 2 features the voices of Richard Armitage (Trevor Belmont), James Callis (Alucard / Adrian Tepes), Graham McTavish (Dracula / Vlad Tepes), Alejandra Reynoso (Sypha Belnades), Emily Swallow (Lisa Tepes), Theo James (Hector), Adetokumboh M'Cormack (Isaac), Jaime Murray (Carmilla), and Peter Stormare (Godbrand).
(SPOILER ALERT!!!)
(You’ve been warned!)
Following the events of the first
season, Trevor Belmont, together with his allies, Sypha Belnades and Alucard,
must find a way to locate and slay the powerful lord of the vampires, Dracula.
Meanwhile, Dracula rallies his war council to execute his plan in exterminating
the humanity from the world, but treacherous motives slithers the wall of
Castle Dracula.
Whether you're a fan of the videogame
series or not, you're going to appreciate how amazing the story was written. It
wasn't too complex but it was very much intriguing. The show gave us a unique
take on the character of Dracula, as we didn't just see him as a big bad guy
alone but also showed us that there were more into him than just the ultimate
evil. It also let us see more into the relationship between our three heroes,
and gave us another side of the story which centered the conflict inside the
war council. And this season had also written and shown enough for us to
understand the roles and motives of each and every main characters.
Dracula was still the main antagonist, still an intimidating and powerful figure. In Dracula's Curse, and many other games in the series, he was portrayed as the embodiment of evil and chaos, unleashing darkness upon the world, whereas in Symphony of the Night, they showed us his motive on why he hated humanity, but in the Netflix series, they would make us empathize with him, to understand his wrath and feel his pain, that after all his plot against all humanity, he was still a man who lost his love.
In some ways, I feel as if Dracula wasn't as powerful in terms of his army forces as his videogame counterpart was, although he was still pretty powerful and destructive in his own set of strength and abilities. His influence was crumbling as his war council constantly questions his every command the whole season, whereas in the game, his minions and subjects would do his every bidding without questions, heck, even Death himself is loyal to him. Also, in the games, the castle is stocked with endless creatures, variety of monsters and demons that will attack whoever set foot on the castle, but in the show, aside from the vampire army and the night creatures they keep sending out, the castle felt kinda empty. We didn't even get the chance to see Dracula in his true and much more terrifying form.
Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard. Love them
in season one, and I still love them here in season 2. The way they annoyed
each other and insulted each other were among my favorite parts of this season,
as well as seeing them work together in their battles. It's great that they can
be easily loved by the viewers.
The war council was a nice touch to the
series, a way to introduce a new set of characters to the show, such as
Carmilla, Hector, Isaac, and Godbrand, to add more spice and conflict to the
story. Carmilla, one of the oldest Castlevania characters ever
created, was a stunning and deceitful character in the show, just how we should
have expected her to be. On the other hand, Godbrand, another general of
Dracula, was a big mouthed viking vampire, I find him loud and annoying, but in
a good way, so that there is a character in Dracula's side that had a different
personality that contrasted the others, who are mostly quiet and composed, plus
I enjoyed his appearance very much, I just wish we could have seen him face
Trevor's group.
Hector and Isaac, were different as
compared to their videogame counterpart. Although, they were still forgemasters
and that Hector went against Dracula, their backstories and motives weren't the
same as it was in Curse of Darkness. Still, they made a greatly
positive impact to the story. And with Isaac's devotion and loyalty to Dracula,
he certainly is my favorite among the generals in Dracula's war council. Plus
his design and appearance had a huge change compared to the game, well, I
guess, that was all for the best. Oh and, Hector's dog, Cezar, looked really cute for an undead pet.
There are characters that I wish could
have made an appearance this season. One is Grant Danasty. It would really be nice
to see the complete Castlevania III party. And another one is
Death, Dracula's right hand man and probably the most loyal and powerful
servant in the game series, and basically his bff. It would be much more
thrilling if Trevor's gang faced the immortal Death in the series as well.
The night creatures were sent to ravage
towns and to hunt Trevor and his group. Frightening and sinister in appearance,
they gave the protagonists some moments to be busy, and the fans to have
something electrifying and exciting to see, especially when some of these
monsters were familiar faces that we had seen from the game, such as Slorga,
Gaibon, and Malphas.
Dracula's castle, aside from that it felt
empty because it wasn't being swarmed by monsters and demons, also felt
different. The castle should be a creature of chaos, and a link to symbol of
Dracula's power, and an inter-dimensional gateway to the netherworld. But in
the show, seemingly, its best power was that it was a moving and teleporting
castle. Castlevania did not even come crushing down after the death of its dark
lord... or maybe because Dracula isn't really destroyed yet. Still, the imagery of the castle was remarkably drawn and designed.
Every fight scene was badass,
especially when the three heroes work together. It was exciting to watch the
characters in action, and the animation was amazing. They gave us not just
intense action sequences but also gore as blood was spilled and
severed limbs flew around.
The climactic battle of Trevor, Sypha,
and Alucard against Dracula was a wow factor. Having them fight in a hallway
was a genius move by the writer, seeing that a long and narrow space kind of
gave that 2D side-scrolling effect, which made the team unite their strengths
to counter the Dark Inferno attack.
But it was at that moment when Dracula
realized what he was doing as he uttered, "My boy... I'm killing my
boy." when the mood shifted, delivering an emotional impact to the
viewers. I bet a lot of fans cried during that scene, Dracula regretting what
he had done, and the look on Alucard's face, burden and sadness on his eyes, as
he was piercing the heart of his father. And the final scene where Alucard was
alone in sorrow and loneliness. Never thought Dracula and Alucard would break
my heart this bad.
I did enjoy spotting tons of easter eggs all throughout the show. From the monsters that the protagonists fought, to the items and relics inside the Belmont's library, and many more that were scattered this season. Alucard's sword technique attack, the sword familiar which fights alongside him, and Dracula's Dark Inferno were obvious references to the games. And hearing that sweet videogame music during the battle scene in episode 7 truly triggered that nostalgic vibe. Plus the portrait and reference to Leon Belmont as the founder of the Belmont clan was a noteworthy easter egg.
For the next season, I'm guessing that they'll be basing it more on the Curse of Darkness game, so we'll probably be seeing more of Hector and Isaac again, with Hector trying to break free from Carmilla's enslavement and possibly switching to the good side, and Isaac plotting vengeance against who betrayed and those who destroyed his master while attempting to resurrect him. I feel like Trevor may still be part of next season's story. And if they're looking for the right opportunity to introduce Death, maybe the third season will be the best time as he could become someone who will aid Isaac in his quest. And also, Dracula would most likely return even more powerful and menacing.
With how the season 2 turned out, I appreciate what the team behind this show has done, for giving us a series that had a good balance of thrilling action, right amount of humor, stunning visuals and animation, great characters, heartbreaking play on emotions, and an intriguing storytelling. And even though, I wish that they could have put in some other elements from the game, this season, this whole show, was already amazing and spectacular.
Rating 9/10
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