Castlevania Animated Series - Season 4 -Final- May 13, 2021

[arus2001]

I think what worried me most about that quote was the satirical part, and I didn't really get that vibe from what was put out. It may have been an intent at first, but editing and all that probably trimmed some potential over-the-top stuff. In the end, I think it was spoken somewhat to be a counter-point to the Twilight culture of the time where people were more about romanticizing vampires than accepting they were monsters.

Approaching the plot pragmatically, what we've seen isn't really "new" in the grand scheme of things. SotN treated us to a flashback to Alucard's mother's death via the dream with the succubus. This just added some more context to it by outlining how she met Dracula. Overall, I'm glad they portrayed the church as the assholes they were, since it succeeded in part to making Drac a sympathetic villain by having him go John Wick on Christianity. Come the start, it seemed like he was intent with just keeping to himself as let on by the line about giving up on impaling people. When it came to the Belmonts, we obviously knew they were a thing, with the church's dickishness and their exile just being a natural progression even if something I never specifically recall of game lore. Stuff with Sypha's clan is new, but at the same time, it's not like she really got a lot of storytelling in III. Conspicuously absent in this was Grant, if III was the primary source material. Of course, there's still room to write him in with future stuff.

One of the more interesting aspects, I felt, was Dracula seemingly took advantage of his immortality for the pursuit of knowledge. I think there was a line about his castle literally being mobile, but in general, he also seemed to have an understanding of technology way beyond the rest of the world. Stuff like the clock tower or lab stages always seemed a bit out of place in the games depending on how far back in time you went, but this seemed to be a quiet nod in acknowledging their presence. I'm kinda hoping we get some backstory on how he turned, be it some kind of Faustian deal or even by accident. Though I can understand not everyone might get behind that since the games have attempted it in their own ways in the past.

Either way, even when this leg of the plot finishes, we could get even more seasons with future Belmont generations, or even dabbling into stuff with Soma or Shanoa.

[EternityEnd]

I'll preface this by saying I haven't played any of the Castlevania series (for some reason). I thought the series was just okay. People all over the internet are hailing it as the best video game adaptation of all time, and that makes me raise my eyebrows a little bit.

Whatever its comparison to other video game adaptations, I think it was fairly lacking when compared to other animated series. It's definitely a really cool premise and has a lot of potential -- loved the mage girl in particular -- but ultimately its 1.5hr run did it a disservice, in my eyes as a newcomer. It was barely a prologue.

[Thoronas]

Really liked the show. Great use of the characters from Castlevania 3. Curious if we'll see the pirate character you could play in the game in the show too. Can't wait for season 2.

[arus2001]

I'll preface this by saying I haven't played any of the Castlevania series (for some reason). I thought the series was just okay. People all over the internet are hailing it as the best video game adaptation of all time, and that makes me raise my eyebrows a little bit.

Whatever its comparison to other video game adaptations, I think it was fairly lacking when compared to other animated series. It's definitely a really cool premise and has a lot of potential -- loved the mage girl in particular -- but ultimately its 1.5hr run did it a disservice, in my eyes as a newcomer. It was barely a prologue.

Well, you've got the abortion that's the Super Mario Bros. movie, the billion Resident Evil films, a few Mortal Kombats, Prince of Persia, Doom, Double Dragon, and a few others I'm forgetting just trying to go off the top of my head. I'd argue that being live action probably didn't do many any favors, but the usual critique is that they tend to stray too far from their source material or change things that didn't need to be changed because Hollywood or whatever.

Admittedly, this is in a unique position where the early titles weren't really lore heavy, instead leaving players to use their imagination while the game play ideally carried one's interest. In that vein, I go back to my earlier post where we didn't get much "new" with this prologue, but at the same time, what was added worked (outside of the bar scene dragging). As a cartoon, it also doesn't hold back on the violence, which is something usually reserved more for anime than western titles, even within comic universes. I actually wouldn't be surprised if there are some christians out there boycotting it precisely because of how the church wound up being depicted. Nonetheless, I also see it capitalizing on the success of things like Game of Thrones because of such willingness to be dark and potentially controversial. Whether or not an S2 sustains that is another matter.

If you're looking at this as a reason to get you to play Castlevania games, I'd probably say that's not the point. Otherwise, it's a love letter to the fans in a way few adaptations succeed at.

[macross]

only 4 eps but i liked it. the voice acting and stuff wsa pretty bad tho.

[Karbuncle]

I just finished watching it myself and I really enjoyed it, can't say there was any part I have fault with. I can't wait for them to release more.

[ronin sparthos]

For what essentially was a giant prologue, I was pretty intrigued to see more myself.

[Wulfgang]

Watched this on a whim while scrolling through Netflix; thought it was fantastic overall. The nice thing about native english "anime" is that the dialogue scripting just feels better overall (assuming comparable overall production budget); less things lost in translation and more humorous idioms, etc. hit home well. Felt that was the case here, particularly with the pseudo-nihilist Trevor early on and his later banter with Sypha/speaker granddaughter.

[Koul]

I enjoyed it and the animation was really good but at the same time it just seemed... off... in some way. Like frames were missing or something like that

[Ayn]

As a longtime Castlevania fan..

Watched it, loved it, can't wait for more.

"Please, this isn't a bar fight" got me.

[Salodin]

The animation of the clothes sucked, but everything else was pgood

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[Odesseiron]

I enjoyed the episodes for what they were. At the end of them I was like "Okay I'm ready for Castlevania" and that's it. Glad it was renewed for double the amount of episodes. If they can keep this going they can do Castlevania 3 and then SotN if they chose to do so and as long as people watched it. Wouldn't mind seeing that at all.

[Tokitoki]

I watched the first 2.5 episodes on the train on Wednesday. I thought they were pretty good, and they had some funny parts to lighten the mood a bit. Want to finish the last 1.5 this weekend at some point.

[Zealot]

Really enjoyed it! 4 episodes was definitely enough to leave me wanting more.

[Jefe]

I love Vampire Hunter D and Bloodlust, will I like this?

[Gryffes]

I love Vampire Hunter D and Bloodlust, will I like this?

Yeah it's ok. I think Season 2 will be better.

[Xno Kappa]

I love Vampire Hunter D and Bloodlust, will I like this?

Are you legitimately asking? Or just prepping for your usual and inevitable contrarian schtick?

To answer your question, yes. As a matter of fact, after we finished the episodes me and the wifey followed it up with those exact two movies.

[Zealot]

I really enjoyed how they snuck in all the sub weapons.

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[arus2001]

Watched this on a whim while scrolling through Netflix; thought it was fantastic overall. The nice thing about native english "anime" is that the dialogue scripting just feels better overall (assuming comparable overall production budget); less things lost in translation and more humorous idioms, etc. hit home well. Felt that was the case here, particularly with the pseudo-nihilist Trevor early on and his later banter with Sypha/speaker granddaughter.

Mouth flaps are pretty much the nightmare of any foreign language adaptation. It's why some VOs love characters that wear masks or have dialogue where their face isn't in view or prominent. But even then, sometimes you're stuck with trying to jam a sentence into 2-3 flaps.

[Alvinho]

This was pretty good...if it evolves into SotN, oh man.