Overview:
Based on the games, this is a four episode anime available on Netflix. After Dracula’s human wife is burned as a witch he curses the country. Trevor Belmont, a hunter from an out of favour family is just trying to get by but finds himself dragged in to the fight.
Review:
I’m going to be honest and point out I’ve never played the Castlevania games. I’ve seen them, watched reviews about them, I know the gist of what the games are about, but I’ve never actually played one. Despite that, I was kind of excited when I heard Castlevania was getting an anime adaptation mostly because the basic story and style seemed like it would work well in an adaptation. And for what it is worth, that is true. These four episodes show case how epically a vampire/demon hunter story that includes decent fight sequences, chase scenes, and obvious adapted platforming sequences can translate into an anime.
What these four episodes don’t do is actually give us a series to review. I mean, they can call it a series if they like, but what that doesn’t change that all this really just wants to test the waters and to see whether or not there’s a market for it. Basically, I asked you into my restaurant, asked you to try out our new sandwich and then gave you the crust and said the rest might come later depending on your reaction.
Let’s be honest: no matter how good that crust was you are still going to be disappointed.
The story here ends just as the team for future story is finally assembled and all are actually on board for hunting down a vengeful Dracula. This was a cool introduction into a story that while there are rumours it will come out and possibly next year, it doesn’t yet exist. That makes reviewing this kind of difficult because if nothing more ever comes out, then this is entirely skippable. There’s nothing revolutionary here and it isn’t amazing enough that you should watch an unfinished story. However, if the promised continuation occurs, and you happen to like horror, gore and action with a bit of off-colour and slightly earthy humour thrown in from time to time, this is actually a pretty good watch.
The first episode gives us a pretty decent set up and motivation for the villain of the piece. Though calling Dracula the villain seems kind of wrong given he was minding his own business when the church set his wife on fire. However, I somehow doubt that justifies the mass slaughter of the population of an entire kingdom so maybe Dracula needs to get some anger management lessons and learn how to appropriately direct his anger at the individuals who actually deserve it.
After that, we switch pretty much entirely to following Trevor, our plucky hero who is selflessly dashing into the fray… okay, not quite. He’s a sour drunk who is over the slurs the church and the peasants hurl at his family for doing their job of demon hunting and basically he’s pretty happy is Dracula wants to burn the whole kingdom down as long as he can get a drink. Through various circumstances he ends up getting dragged into the conflict but while he’s fine with stopping Dracula he isn’t making friends with the church any time soon. There’s nothing particularly amazing about this kind of slovenly protagonist who is actually an amazing fighter if given the right trigger but his presentation works and some of his lines are actually pretty hilarious.
However, that’s the end of positives for characterisation. The church and peasants suffer from incredible stereotyping and are mostly just around to be hated. Yes, we hate the priests and most of the peasants more than the genocidal vampire we’re supposed to see as the eventual villain (wait, remind me why we want Dracula stopped). Eventually we do meet a priest and some peasants that aren’t entirely unlikable and they even assist in the final fight in the city before a falling sequence that really should have left both the main characters dead, but it really isn’t enough to excuse the vilification of all the extras for the entire three episodes prior.
Visually, this works as a horror. It has an older style look, which helps it fit in a bit more with the games, and the colour scheme works perfectly well for gothic horror. The music is also suitable for what it is trying to do though hardly noteworthy.
Basically, this could be great, if they get around to finishing the story. As it is, unless you are a die hard Castlevania fan or you are just curious, there’s not a lot of reason to jump into it.
Thanks for reading.
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Thanks,
Karandi James.
Nice review. A fair assessment of ‘the series’ .
Series is a little too grandiose a term for four episodes. They really needed to either do a full season or label this one as a taster.
It’s coming, apparently. Obviously testing the response!
Welcome to the Netflix family 😁
I feel like they really rushed that show because they were on a tight budget (which is what it looks like) and it really disappointed me. I am a fan of the Castlevania games and I really was hoping to see more of Dracula and his Wife.
Maybe we’ll get a flashback later?
I guess it really depends what you went in expecting. I kind of watched it expecting it to be another dreadful game adaptation and got a reasonably entertaining story so was pretty happy with it.
Basically like an OVA prequel. 8 episodes slated for 2018 though 🙂
Watched this last night and it was pretty great but totally agree that it leaves you wanting more. Thanks for the review.
Let’s hope we get those 8 episodes and next time lets hope they just give us a full season from the beginning because taste tests are only fun when the main dish is already waiting to be served.
True story. I hear those eight episodes are a full year out, loooong wait.
It certainly is hard to give a full opinion on this piece since the “season” is too short to feel like a season but rather a taste test. And that analogy with the restaurant was the creme de la creme. I think though compared to so many other video game adaptations that this one is probably one of the best ones to give a dive into. It’s kind of funny how limited Castlevania is in this first “season” that it still manages to be better than practically all of the other video game adaptations…
That’s probably because of the subject matter. It really was a game that could easily be adapted and keep what made the game interesting while adjusting to the new medium.
I have played one of the newer Castlevania games on Xbox, and I think I played one on my gameboy as well. But otherwise I’m pretty much a noob when it comes to these games as well. I really liked the review you wrote, especially the comparison to eating a sandwich and ging us only the crust. That was well thought of. I haven’t yet found the time to watch this, but seeing as it’s only for episodes, I might give this a try soon. Excellent post 😊
I’d be interested in your thoughts on it when you get the chance to watch it.
“Dracula needs to get some anger management lessons and learn how to appropriately direct his anger at the individuals who actually deserve it.”
This cracked me up. Solid logic though.
I’m really curious about this, especially since I’ve been seeing it around everywhere. Not sure if I want to eat just the sandwich crumbs though.
It’s definitely fun while it lasts. Literally, my only major complaint is it stops. While it isn’t perfect by any means, it is good solid fun (provided you aren’t sensitive to blood, guts or off colour jokes).
My favorite obviously lifted from game area is when Trevor is wandering through town talking to all the NPCs and eating his dried meat which is a nod to the game (it’s a health item).
I mean just walking through town talking to everyone cuz u totally do that in real life.
But yeah, agree with you, liked the series, way too short. Would have really liked more characterization for people who aren’t the main characters, but at the same time really like what they did with the main characters. Just wish we got a full season because like you said it’s length made it instantly disappointing.
There were definitely a few moments that were very much included because they were in the game version but I think that kind of added to the charm overall.
I’ve heard about this one but I assumed you had to know at least a bit of the games in order to understand it (I haven’t played them).Perhaps someone that played them finds it more enjoyable?.
Nevertheless 4 episodes sounds to little for s series, if they make more I think i’ll give it a go.
I don’t think any preknowledge of the games is required here. THey do a good job with explanations and world building so even if you didn’t know this was a game, it should be watchable. However, 4 eps is too little.
Could that priest be shaft??
I’m totally confused.
There’s a dark priest that pratically worships Dracula, at every turn he tries to bring him (dracula) back from the dead.