Castlevania

Really solid production from Netflix that knows its target audience and doesn't pull any punches. Make no mistake; this is animated fare strictly for adults. And that's perfectly fine.

The 2016 production of Berserk has sadly skimped on production values, leaving fans of the longtime manga series with a sour taste in their mouths. Castlevania, however, scratches much of that same itch. It's gratuitously violent, dark as pitch, and set in a medieval fantasy world. The writers go straight for the jugular and pull no punches, obviously inspired by Berserk and other series like it. It's refreshing considering that the original owners of the Castlevania IP, Konami, have taken an obvious downturn in the quality production of their various legendary properties recently in favor of instead developing pachinko and gambling machines and firing longtime creative leads such as Hideo Kojima. Fans of the series need not worry, plenty of the classic Castlevania feel is here, treated with proper reverence by the shows writers and directors.

The animation is very good, and the art in particular is superb. Animated features and series have been steadily improving since the dawn of the HD era, and Castlevania continue to represent them well. The English voice cast shines as well, with Armitage's performance standing out among the others. He does a fantastic job as Trevor Belmont.

My only complaint here is the brevity of the series. Four ~23 minute episodes is not that much content, and it makes me wonder whether Netflix wouldn't have been better served to put this "season" out as a feature-length prologue film instead in order to advertise a lengthier season 2. But all-in-all, it's worth the time, especially to those interested in the Castlevania series, but even to those unfamiliar with it and in search of a gritty, well-animated, well- acted piece of dark medieval fantasy.

You know, I never imagined Netflix's Castlevania would turn out to be such a solid series back when the first season came out. Season 2 was phenomenal and Season 3 might be even better.

Taking place not long after the events of the last season, Castlevania Season 3 starts off strong with a focus on dialogue and character development which continues on for the majority of the episodes in a slower pace than what we've been used to before but justified and interesting since now there are several new characters, the world and lore is expanding (amazing worldbuilding), and the characters we know already getting further development (well-written and voice acted). There's also a lot of politics and scheming, kinda giving you early Game of Thrones vibes, and all of it was intriguing.

And while that's great and all, we are also treated to some truly magnificent fight sequences where the animators flex like crazy. And since the story grows and flows properly, those sequences become even more enthralling and thrilling aptly personifying the world 'Climax'.

On a technical level, it's a straight-up bump across the board. The art, the animation, the sound design, the soundtrack, all of it has been improved and I loved it.

It's hard to say whether I prefer season 2 over season 3 or the other way around because my favourite character is Dracula. But what I can safely say is that if you've enjoyed the previous two seasons, Season 3 will surely blow your mind. There's so much in it I didn't even expect or imagine that I'm purposefully being vague in order to not spoil anything. Watch it asap, I highly recommend it. And if I were to rate Season 3, I'd give it a 9/10.

P.S Trevor and Sypha are so cute together. And BADASS!

When I fired this up, one of the most amazing things happened. I was 5 minutes in before I openly realized the characters were voiced in English and not Japanese! And really, really good voice acting! I know there have been good American animated shows and movies made, but to me, the last time I saw such great English voice acting paired with Japanese (style) animation was the Spawn animated series. I consider that series a classic and outsider... and now we may well have another!

There are obviously a number of quality pieces put into place to make this series - production, cast, writing. This is exactly the type of project a fan holds their breath and hopes, but does not have too high of expectations. Expectation shattered - this is high quality stuff! Very brutal content including horrific deaths of innocents, graphic violence, and no mercy shown... Hooray!!!

The villain, Dracula, is humanized immediately, which gives him cause and texture - not just a mindless slayer. The hero has a number of anti-hero qualities, which just makes him more interesting. Undoubtedly this series will unfold with a number of awesome battles and conversations that question morality, cause and purpose.

The content obviously will not be for everyone - wholesale slaughter of religions figures, women and children may prove to much for some, but for others? A true surprise and fun refreshing release.

Enjoyed like a fine wine 9/10

edit: finally got to the 2nd season, and while I won't change my score, the 2nd season is a disappointment. Everything is in place for success, production wise, but the content (by comparison to the first season) is restrained, common, Boring. the charm of the first season was how refreshing the content was, which included exciting, entertaining, sinister content. The first scene in season 2 attempts this, but does so in a completely anti-entertainment manner! All the fun of the first season is absolutely smashed right to begin with, then the viewer gets 2-4 episodes of dialog, with very little action, and when thing finally do get going? Not that interesting! What happened? It's like the main creative force behind the first season was intentionally fired, and someone more PC was hired to make a generic, boring (albeit well produced) sequel! I doubt this is what happened, and likely good intentions just led to an average product. But damn! I expected a way better follow up to what I considered an instant classic first season.

I went in expecting a fun romp, perhaps with a nice homage or two. What did I get? Video Games answer to Game of Thrones.

I am not too heavily invested in the original Castlevania series. My first and really, only game that I played was "Symphony of the Night". Truly a work of art, a masterpiece but I didn't play the games prior and only saw the games after on YouTube walkthroughs. Though I learned a bit about the rather rich lore.

When I heard this was being made, I didn't know what to make of it. There are way too many bad movies and TV shows based on video games (which is sadly nearly all of them) and some of them had NO RIGHT to be bad. Max Payne, Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed immediately come to mind in that regard. Even the Final Fantasy movie, Spirits Within was rather lackluster and it was directed by the series creator and visionary, Hironobu Sakaguchi (Though I think there were production issues and "too many chefs in the kitchen" during that time)! I had just given up on VG to screen adaptations.

Then after many friends told me to watch these few episodes, I was curious at most... but then it grabbed my attention when I heard that after the series premiered and got critical acclaim; a second season was confirmed and announced IMMEDIATELY after it was released. So I made time for it... and I am so sorry I didn't watch it earlier. It is nothing short of spectacular!

It opens up with a scene which was heavily inspired by Symphony of the Night (I won't dare spoil it) and it shows WHY Dracula is the world's enemy... and it's really friggin' heart breaking! Then we're introduced to Trevor Belmont in a way that is both epic and hilarious!

I think that's where I should stop because I don't want to spoil even the slightest detail. The characters are great, the voice acting is absolutely brilliant! Kudos to Armitage, Reynoso, McTavish, Frewer and ESPECIALLY Callis! I did not expect that voice to come from James Callis, so low and rich and he's surprisingly intimidating when he wants to be.

The score is great too, but it's Trevor Morris. I've come to expect good work from him. Seriously, I don't get why he hasn't composed a score for something like a Marvel movie yet he really knows how to work the scenes.

The writing is outstanding. Warren Ellis is a very solid writer, his work on the 2011 X-Men animated series is truly something to admire. The animation is BEAUTIFUL! Absolutely stunning! Anime inspired styles done by a Western is something I do have a soft spot for, even the ones which are a bit "standard" !but this is just gorgeous-and where, WHERE did they find Sam Deats!? What an incredible debut! Apparently, this is the first thing he has ever worked on as a director... That is hard to believe. This is definitely a love project, you could FEEL the respect that was being put into this!

It goes to show that when creative freedom is given to the right people, you really can make artistic magic with ANYTHING! Right here is proof that video game to screen adaptations can work. It took nearly two score and twain, but they finally did it!

Kudos to Sam Deats and the entire cast and crew for this masterpiece! Also, expect a few Annies to go to this series. I'm expecting Callis to get the award for voice performance as Alucard.

I think the show is fantastic both first and second season, but I am disappointed in the way that there is simply too little, like the Warcraft movie, if you are gonna do it do whole heartedly, why not start at the beginning with Leon Belmont and how Dracula came to be, and workout a series of good seasons based on one of the best game storylines ever created?

I'm done with season 2 and I just want more, and I really hope too see some lord of the shadows spin off down the line. I'm just hoping Netflix will continue their work on this series because GOD I think it's good with potential to be completely amazing!