I'm talking about Castlevania, of course! The second season dropped recently, and I've already binged my way through it to give you an unbiased review... ha, no, I just love the show, so fuck unbiased.
SPOILER ALERT FOR SEASON ONE AFTER THE JUMP
Obviously I can't review two seasons of the show without spoiling the first one, right? So to start off, here's the quick recap: idiot humans kill Dracula's wife and the Lord of the Undead is pissed off, declaring genocide against the tiny country of Wallachia, followed by the world. It's up to down-on-his-luck monster hunter Trevor Belmont, mage Sypha Belnades, and Dracula's own son Alucard to stop the lunatic vampire before he kills everyone.
Things I Liked
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| Stupid sexy Alucard. |
The Art: This show looks absolutely gorgeous and really captures the spirit of Castlevania, at least in its later iterations, drawing a lot from Symphony of the Night and its successor titles. It's not anime, strictly speaking, but it brings to mind cartoons like Aeon Flux and Reign: the Conqueror, except... better.
The Writing: The show is written by Warren Ellis, who mostly works in comics but also wrote a really nice G.I. Joe miniseries a few years back. And his craft only improves when he's allowed to swear. The plot of Castlevania is never going to be complex ("Look, it's Dracula, kill him in his home."), but the dialogue does a hell of a lot to flesh out the characters and make them entertaining to watch. Aside from some heartfelt and heart-wrenching emotional notes, watching Trevor and Alucard casually snipe at each other is always a treat.
Also, did not expect season two to go down that way. And I'm really impressed it did.
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| Stupid sexy Carmilla. |
The Vampires: Season two introduces a whole bunch of them to serve as Dracula's posse, and they're all a delight. Carmilla and Godbrand (a vampire Viking) are the obvious standouts, but even the lesser crew are enjoyable to look at from a design perspective. Also a special mention to Isaac, who is human but not to be messed with.
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| HELLO |
Dracula: Oh my Lord you giant hunk of vampire awesomeness. Let me comfort you. No, Dracula only wants his wife, or total human genocide. Which is what you'll get if you make him mad. Holy shit.
IT'S FUCKING CASTLEVANIA: Seriously, the last time a Belmont appeared in animation was back in Captain N, when Alucard was a little brat in sunglasses on a skateboard. Seeing an actual faithful adaptation of Castlevania to any medium is fantastic, and getting a high-quality, well-written adaptation to boot is more than anyone could have bargained for. Bravo, everyone.
Things I Didn't Like So Much
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| Excuse me? |
The Animation: I said the art looks great and I stand by that, but the animation quality takes some hits here and there as a bit of a trade-off. You can occasionally see where the studio just completely blew it off (an overhead shot of a covered wagon springs to mind), but mostly it's in the lack of expression most characters have. Trevor and Alucard are pretty much all-mopey all the time, and for two main characters it starts to wear. Nothing wrong with Dracula and Sypha tho.
The Voice Acting: This is a mixed bag and I don't think it's the actors' fault, to be clear. Graham McTavish and Peter Stormare are freaking fantastic, and I can't complain about anyone else. It's just that there's a certain flatness to everything, most of the time, and I'm not sure if it's the sound mixing or the direction or what. I've seen some complaints that the actual voice volume is a problem, but I watched everything with subtitles so I didn't notice.
No Grant: Okay, he's kind of in season one and I get why they didn't include him properly, but he's the only character in the game I was able to recruit consistently as a kid and I'm bummed he got missed out.
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| Who's a good boy?! |
Hector: Screw that guy. I liked him to start with (puppy!), but he didn't live up to expectations at all over the second season and I'm annoyed about it. Granted, not every character gets to have a moment of awesomeness! And maybe Hector will get a chance to shine later (season three confirrrmed), but right now I'm not sure he deserves it. Stupid boy.
The Verdict
Do you have Netflix? Go watch Castlevania. And if you want some more vampires I've written a story or two about one here.
-Lea
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