Just a quick point about Carmilla.. Her motivations were loosely laid out throughout the series. She despised the world run by old men, starting with the one who turned her and ending with Dracula, who she felt were leading her to ruin. The motivations presented were pretty clearly about her gaining control for her sisters and herself, and ultimately being power hungry. It’s not nearly as strong of an emotional connection as with Dracula, and the take over the world plan is cliche, but it wasn’t exactly thrown in from left field. I honestly think seeing how her sisters react to her going off the deep-end with her plan is more interesting. Their slow realizations that what they’re doing, if even possible, leaves all of them unfulfilled is gripping, and it’s what I imagine the writers were trying to convey considering how Carmilla wasn’t the focus of the season.
I actually liked her as a villain overall. She hates being ruled and run by people who lose sight of focus and ideals. Which in the end she fell for herself. She went so mad being told what to do that she lost sight of her own goals and ambitions. Lenore actually points it out to Hector, Carmilla isn't satisfied. She doesn't want to have anyone be above her again in fear of them going mad, so she wants to take control of everything herself.
Carmilla ironically had a similar end to Dracula, where she went slowly insane and possibly also wishing for a grandiose suicide, while the people around her not knowing what is wrong with her and only seeing her from the surface and ultimately going their way, the same way that she didn't look at Dracula beyond the surface and was part of the many leaders that did not actually bother to see how Dracula is doing and instead undermining him.
I found it interesting that in season 2,Dracula and Isaac have a talk where Isaac suggests that Hector only ever wanted pets. So it seemed fitting that at the end of season 3, Lenore made Hector her pet.
Ha, here's the quote: S2E4, Isaac "I have respect for Hector, but he is a gentle soul. He is still a little boy...he really only wants pets, you see? He really only understands pets. That's how he perceives your war." I think this is actually a good contrast as to how vampires see pets though: S2E4, Carmilla: "Dracula has failed his own people. He believed he fell in love with a human woman. He took a pet" Hector: "I believed her loved her" Carmilla: "If you love something, you act to keep it as long as you can...instead, he allowed her to be killed by other humans" Hector: "He wasn't there" Carmilla: "He wasn't, no...not once did he move to protect her, not once did he consider making her a vampire and bringing her into our community...you would have protected her." So pets are viewed as 2nd class wards, not truly loved, and only become equals when turned.
@@Suijen86 YET Olrox shows the downside of turning your lover “to be by your side forever” … his lover probably wouldn’t have been killed by Julia Belmont if he was still a normal human… maybe he would’ve died of old age instead but at least they would’ve had a lifetime together instead of having it ended (perhaps he was even unhappy being turned and begged for death as a path to freedom, maybe he didn’t want to spend an eternity in the shadows together, Lisa didn’t want to abandon her human life even if it killed her she was happy to die helping ordinary people)
Personally, i did find some more meaning in the Trevor vs Death fight. Throughout his entire life, Trevor has been doing nothing but killing vampires, night creatures and evil people. He's done nothing but destroying things. The way Trevor talks about Death and himself and how their faces are briefly overlapped with each other shows how Trevor believes he can do nothing but kill things, and now he's come face to face with the biggest killer of them all, Death himself. Seasons three and four have shown that he's getting sick and tired of the constant fighting, so with the knowledge that Sypha is pregnant, literally carrying his future, and the biggest plot to resurrect Dracula foiled (as far as he knows) he had to get rid of the biggest threat to rebuilding what was lost even if he loses his life in the process. That's how i saw their fight. Plus it really helped that Death was present throughout the season in the form of Varney and the Alchemist. Sure it would've been nice to see his real form in episodes prior, but i don't think his plans would gotten so close to success if he had revealed himself early. So at least there was a reason for it.
“I don’t care. Killing you was the point. Living through it, was just a luxury”. With that in mind, and what you said, the fight makes perfect sense. Was just tryna secure his son’s future.
Just my opinion, but I started watching Castlevania after season 4 came out, and I found the pacing from season to season to be fine. For example, knowing that season 1 was basically the prelude to season 2 helped me manage my expectations of the pacing and what story arcs and themes were likely to come up as the seasons rolled on. When I view it as a whole story, like one big season of the same show, I feel like the show flows very naturally.
Honestly I liked the fact that Alucard went back to beeing "a Hero" after the Betrayal without that much of a struggle. Because it shows that is ISNT like his father, and still sees good in People like he know his Mother did, while beeing somewhat distrustful. It shows that even if he has some charakteristics of his Father, ultimately he has the kind soul of his Mom. Honestly just wished Taka and Sumi werent like that.. I liked their Charakters alot. Could have been a nice little "Hint" that the Games eventually go to Japan in the Future.
When Lenore said "I gave you what you always wanted, Hector! I made you my pet!", she wasn't lying. He had a submissive and lonely personality all along, craving companionship but finding only masters. Lenore's "gift" to him was twisted, but so truthful it hurt; that's why it actually hit me hard, and why their relations in S4 seemed fine - that's because they ultimately were.
i feel a good way to justify Alucard and Sypha not using their overpowered attacks too much is because they don't want to be predictable, if the other enemies see or hear about one big attack they use all the time, the can come up with strategies to counter it. If Alucard and Sypha change it up constantly, then they keep their enemies guessing and confused, allowing them to be more effective in combat.
Also I can imagine its quite straining aswell, so they rather preserve the all out attacks in case something bigger comes around that REALLY needs it..
9:17 In season 4 they clearly showed signs of fatigue making it so that especially Sypha couldnt just use any magic she wanted all the time. Trevor tho, kept powerful weapons hidden for no reason sometimes
But she used magic all the time ans was way too op in other seasons. Especially that electric spell which was never hinted at she could do. Literally ice and fire the whole time and only once used it when the plot needed her to.
@@sunnymiller4101 they're technically the same state of matter: plasma. However fire is a form that occurs much more easily in nature compared to electricity (most things that get too hot catch fire, but visible natural electricity is something you see in lightning and hardly anywhere else). Sypha's knowledge of magic comes from what she's heard, read and observed in the world around her. So it makes sense that she's aware electricity is a thing and she can use it as magic to a fault but she's not nearly as practiced with it as she is with fire. The one time she used that electric spell, there was electricity all around. It must have been relatively easy to channel that into a spell *in that specific occasion*, but it normally isn't.
To be fair to your point about death being kinda random at the end, he is an enemy in almost every game towards the end so it didnt feel as forced if you have played the castlevania games.
Makes sense, and I’ve played a couple of the games now too so I’ve seen it. I think it works as an homage to the games but I think it would’ve been even better if it was worked into the show more organically. Either way, still a fan overall and looking forward to the next castlevania series
So in my currently sleep deprived state, I will try to explain why I felt how they treated Alucard Season 3-4 was logical and important. Will I make a coherent argument? Idk, lets find out. So I felt it make sense as Alucard being a light mirror of Dracula. For me, it is thematically present even in his same. Alucard not being Dracula's opposite, but his reflection. The events of season 3 were there to create some level is disdain, or even hatred, for humans, to bring him close or to where Dracula was before meeting Lisa. He has secluded himself, like Dracula had before him. He goes to the village against his better judgement more out of grudging respect of the rider who delivered the message, not unlike Dracula's initial showing of that science room to Lisa before declaring he might like her, which I have always thought was out of respect for her fearlessness of him. He arrives, and finds rather quickly a woman, Greta, who he finds himself liking, perhaps even loving. It even comes the same way as Dracula and Lisa, apprehension, banter, then affection. The key difference here is that Dracula still after that point held contempt for mankind to some degree. If he had not, I suspect he would have directed is rage at annihilating the church, not mortals. Alucard chooses consciously or not, to not hold mankind accountable for those two. He doesn't just let himself find love and light again, but also lets himself relearn humanity from her. In essence, where Dracula learns from his love of Lisa that there is a valuable human, Alucard learns from his love of Greta that there is value in humans. And both learned these lessons from a place of disdain for humans, though I will admit perhaps not of equal intensity.
Thank you for this analysis, I think it finally makes his arc make sense to me. But my confusion lies in why he would even become pissed at humans when he has two good friends who are human and his mom is human, and his Dad tried to kill him. I don't see enough to push him to become much of a misanthrope from just Sumi/Taka.
@@Suijen86 That is a bit shakier from a storytelling perspective, but I think it is more then just those two. He has no doubt realized how fucked up humanity after the first couple seasons. I think its possible (and this is a stretch, i can think of nothing IN the series that shows this) that he already held mankind at a distance. The betrayal pushed him past the edge? Or, is very possible that, aside from the inherent mental harm such a betrayal would do to anyone, that is came with the first time he'd been, to our knowledge, that intimate with anyone, likely caused an even large shutdown.
@@hellianlunaris8464 Thank you for the explanation. I never understood his S3 arc because I didn't see the challenge or obstacle it provided in S4, but I like your explanation.
30:35 Personally, I think it’s probably because Death was actively angling to resurrect Dracula, and Trevor KNEW that. It wasn’t just because he had the opportunity to put another metaphorical trophy on the wall of the Belmont hold. And Death was also an active threat to Sypha- and Alucard by extension, as he would 1000% protect her. It wasn’t really all that out of place, if you really think about it. Seasons 3 and 4 were mainly focused on preventing plots to resurrect Dracula. For this reason, I think while it might’ve been nice to get more scenes of Death, we got enough for the narrative to make sense.
I gotta disagree with how "Death came out of nowhere". Yes, he literally did, but I think that was the point. Trevor lived his life running away, and reacting. And now, he's found an opportunity to be proactive. He's not reacting to Death's villainy, he's being proactive and taking out this threat. I don't think that was about the hero beating the big baddy, but Trevor finally understanding what it means to be a Belmont. If you think of Death not as the big villain, but as Trevor's final fight, then it makes sense. Trevor went into that fight knowing it will be his last. Giving it his all to hopefully prevent another situation like Death wanting to feed on mass death. This was Trevor fighting for a different future, not stopping a baddy. I think that was Trevor's moment, not Death's.
Random thought that came to me when you were talking about Dracula's response to what the church does. It's interesting how we tend to say that we wouldn't go that far but when dealing with a character like Dracula, can we really say in his position that we wouldn't? What i mean to say is that we don't have the knowledge, capabilities that Dracula does so can we ignorant mortals really say we wouldn't do what he did? The guy has the power to destroy the ones who hurt the one he loves and he uses it. Whilst it's easy for us to say "Well, i wouldn't go that far." but we literally can't go that far even if we desperately wanted to. Maybe if we had the abilities, knowledge and even the experiences; We'd do the same thing. It's likely a nothing thought lacking some nuance but that's just something i thought about.
If I lost my wife and had the capability to burn the world for it, I'd seriously consider it, at the very least. I think most people in love would do the same, at least in the immediate aftermath.
@@spiraljumper74 And i don't blame you or anyone else in love. Cos attachments are a huge part of the human experience so taking that away especially one as deep as that? I'm more worried if there isn't hell to pay.
If you seriously want to, you can actually kill one or multiple persons. Cant understand why someone has to burn the whole world over a lost one. In Draculas case its understandable, for a human not so much
@@mario-k. It's an emotional response from an incredibly unstable standpoint, so not being able to understand it is fair enough. The pain of loss especially someone as close as Lisa was to Vlad can do some pretty fucked up things to anyone.
Hector's backstory was just not as interesting or fledged out as Isaac's. They just show him ressuracting pets, and then tell us that his parents didn't react well to an undead pet. i just didn't get how that made him turn on humanity really
This may be mentioned already. Season 3 and 4 are based on curse of darkness. The master antagonist of that game is Death trying to resurrect dracula. He does come out of left field but it's the same reveal.
You have to consider a important compound in all the build up is that the series is based on a famous video game franchise, this explains much about death in the end, because its a running gag of the franchise to put death as a second last boss directly before dracula (often in the clocktower of its castle). Making him the final villain in the series is a nice twist on this concept and that Death shows up is something a Fan of Castlevania would expect und would have expected before draculas defeat (but it was, how you pointed out, not fitting for the emotional fight and end they had planned between Alucard and Dracula so they put him as final villain with his usual task: With the Castlevania Games constantly revolving around different incarnations or resurrections of Dracula (or Tries to do so) it is appropriate for the series to take on this concept in season 3 and especially 4. I find Varney first very annoying but after knowing he was death the whole time I appreciated how they hint (in his dialogues and how his eyes are different) that he isn't a vampire and much older as the other vampires he is surrounded by.
8:50 Mana. Characters with magical abilities in the Castlevania universe can't use those abilities constantly, they run out of energy too quickly otherwise. Sypha in particular really needs to ration her spells because of how much they take out of her.
you can actually see her decline and fatigue in the beginning of season 4, how her powers aren't as strong as they were back in season 1 and 2, especially with the barn fight scene
Fun Fact:The reason Dracula was retconned to Matthias Cronqvist and Gabriel Belmont in the Games was because Konami asked the Romanian Government to use Wallachia as the setting and Vlad Tepes Dracula as the villain.(They agreed so long as it was clarified that the vampire was not the real Vlad whom they regarded as a national hero but a pretender to the name)The Netflix series, having no direct input from the Romanian Government, had no such restrictions.
Sorry, completely unstructured rant about your views on Trevor's acceptance of the call to adventure in season 1 incoming: The thing to remember about Trevor is that he was still raised as a Belmont, even if only until he was 12. I don't see him completely losing those values so easily. Trevor is, like every cinic, a disappointed optimist. His heroic nature was desperate to get out, but he had become very used to repressing it. Trevor actually says in season 4 that a lot of his training is beginning to come back to him, and we are shown throughout the show that Trevor was indeed well trained, even if only in basic theory and martial skills. My point here is that I think training as a Belmont will naturally instil their values. So all it took to reignite this nature in Trevor was a good opportunity to do some good for an aspect of the human world he hadn't totally lost faith in (the Speakers, as it turned out).I Hope that made some faint sense to anyone 😅😅😅
I can forgive the speeches,because it's so obvious that the show had no money. It's often gorgeous,but there's simply not the resources to show everything.
The reason Alucard can't "magic" his sword all the time, and Sypha can't cast crazy spells constantly, is because there is an MP cost to everything. Some techniques requiring more then others. Since Alucard isn't a pure magic caster, his skills are limited in duration, and Sypha can't cast level 99 spells constantly. ;)
Honestly I believe Season 3 was going through separate setups for the protagonist For Alucard story the season was trying to explore the fact that Alucard was a child in an adult's body And Trevor and Cipher story was reviewing how expectations turns into a feeling of betrayal when idealism and reality clash
The way I look at it is: Hector was fully expecting and planning to be murdered by Isaac. He was essentially committing suicide, literally leaning his head forward and exposing his neck to Isaac. However, in the end, Isaac helps free him from that guilt. Hector decides to live and create. He loses Lenore but to me, the tone felt positive overall, especially compared to where he was at the start of the season and how he was expecting things to go. Maybe “bittersweet” would be a better word for it!
I think you sorely misunderstood Hector and Lenore's relationship in season 3. In Season 2 Issac points out that Hector is a child. It's for this reason that he got used not once but twice, because he had no real convictions or direction in his life. He was just following whoever made nice sounding arguments or made him feel good (Which is why he so easily was manipulated by Lenore). Lenore asked him what he wanted and he didn't know; her insight is what lead to him becoming a slave; Hector needed someone to guide him and it was only when he actually got a healthy relationship and had a series of bad experiences being tricked that he finally grew up.
Your review of the show is honestly… way off. The great thing about castlevania is how much you learn each watch through, the show was very well done, and much deeper than you’re giving it credit for.
AlthoughI liked the review I don't think he understood that this show still had the 'videogame' feel. Like when he said Syhpa and Trevor 'found themselves' in certain situations. Well, that's because video games are known for side quests that will help them in the main quests. Like Trevor found different weapons during these side quests that helped him in the end.
Kinda disagree on season 3. I loved how stories were built. Hector, Alucard and Trevor/Sypha ended up in similar places for different reasons, it didn't matter if they won or lost, they were all emotionally damaged and hopeless. Loved the parallel. People like to play to "guess" how it's going to end and don't enjoy the journey. Without a doubt Isaac is the best thing of season 3, and maybe the whole series.
"Anime is geared for children" is the biggest mistake anyone can make. Sure, there are some Anime that are indeed geared for children, but a very large number are not and would traumatize children. Heck, some would traumitize even adults! Edit: As for Thanos, the 50% thing is stupid, all he would do is buy 1 generation's worth of time. That's it. If he really wanted to buy long-term time - he should have gone all in and only left 5% or 10%.
Have to point out you missed a bit of foreshadowing as to death being prominently in season 4 think back to the barn fight when trevor loses his whip What weapon does he use? A scyth and if you listen closely its got a little musical emphasis when he picks the scyth up Or think back to the conversations varney had with that one vampire the big warrior guy forget his name but varney said he likes hanging with him because of what he does and I quote "I smell the death in you" "It nurishes me"
YESS!! This overall review is really good, but as someone who's seen the show multiple times, there's so much foreshadowing and meaning in every season, and I think it can be easy to overlook with only watching it once. Castlevania is a hyper-fixation of mine, so I understand why most people wouldn't watch it a second time, but I believe it gives more meaning in ever scene when you do
08:30 I thought the exact same thing but more so for Belmont, he struggles to fight a wolf with his hands in the beginning of season 3 and by the end of it he’s doing a morning star supernova like where tf was this the whole time!?!
The gripe on Season 3 seems pointless when acknowledging that it is setup for season 4. Everything about it is setup. Trevor and Sypha accidentally walking in on Chaos was Setup for Season 4 when they say now we're going to do what we want, we're not gonna run into this stuff we're gonna find it. Same with Alucard in Season 3, it's meant to show Alucard coming to an understanding of why Dracula felt the way he did, Season 4 was the payoff showing Alucard while being able to sympathize with his Father, isn't his father he has more trust in the willingness to see things out before judgment.
Wasn't there going to be a 5th season but was cut short to 4 because of the sexual assult accusations towards the creator? I believe that's why season 4 felt rushed in some places (mainly Death as a character)
I think it’s important to point this out; he was never accused of sexual assault. Ellis was accused of emotional abuse, mostly because he lived a lifestyle of open relationships based on his “rockstar” type popularity as a writer. He was certainly unwise in how he handled relationships, but nobody has accused him of sexual assault. Other than that, you might be right. Prior to the accusations, there was no announced ending planned. Shortly after the accusations became big news, they announced there would only be one more season, followed by a spin-off that would have no connection to Ellis.
I never saw this as a traditional anime!! In my opinion it reminds me of American comic type of cartoon with hints of shonan when it comes to combat.. I know most of this stuff is subjective but calling it an anime for me is way off... Just cause it's animated doesn't mean it's an anime. N I'm sure a lot of people could at least agree with that
"you don't become a villain for rational reasons, you do it based on emotion reasons"--- @6:00 Idk, I'd like you to peal the onion which is Griffith from berserk and tell me the reasons you come up with. Personally it's 1997 anime or manga.. The other mediums basically don't exist. Also the show is better than tell makes sense, but you can be confused because of the same concept. Sypha is visibly tired and more often then not her attacks are extremely circumstance or timing based. As the series evolves her OP powers seem to also evolve.
i think if the series continues it’ll be from simon belmont or maybe they’ll go with symphony of night as i think alucard will definitely be staying around - not sure if he’ll stay as a hero tho
I think those are both good guesses. Especially around symphony of the night, that’d be a great way for them to retain a connection with the series by having Alucard prominently featured but still let them do something different. I’d be bummed to leave Trevor and Sypha behind but they reached some sort of conclusion to their arcs so I guess it’s time for something new!
@@OneTakeVids Id be interested in a prequel series involving leon belmont and mathias and the entirety of the origin of ‘vladd tepes’. I kinda hope we get a prequel of sorts and some sort of sequel. as long as there’s more i’ll take it
I loved Isaac for most of the story, but I learned to adore the madness of Carmilla. When her sisters reduced her grand master plans for global domination down to 'schemes that we make work despite her'. She represented the entirety of human cultures and history when women were subjugated and embodied those who wished to rise up and 'take everything' from those who did it to them. But she didn't personally have the mind, resources, skills to make it happen, she only had the big grand idea and no idea what to do with it if she succeeded- and she openly acknowledges that. Like Dracula and Isaac, she wanted revenge against a faceless and broad 'everyone' instead of having a focused and practical goal that she could attain which would actually satisfy her. Isaac changes, Dracula dies at the hands of others to stop him, but she takes her own life rather than giving anyone the satisfaction- especially a man.
I’ve recently started attack on titan and I’m waiting for the Witcher anime, Nightmare of the Wolf. I’m discovering I enjoy the western style anime as it feels more heavy and gritty as I would say.
@@thecritic860 Ohh AOT is possibly my favorite. And agreed, I prefer when anime stays away from some of the goofiness that is often sprinkled into anime. And Western-style like Castlevania usually does. My favorites from Japan are also usually more grounded (not in terms of plot, but animation style)... like Attack on Titan and Death Note.
Well you wrapped up the a good review man I’ve agree with many of the points you’ve mentioned and I’m eager to hear more about the new series Castlevania Nocturne. Overall I would love a novel adaptation of the Castlevania Netflix series that developed and flashed out even more the story and characters.
@@OneTakeVids Thanks for the replay, I’ve too had my moments with this animated series and I believe there are things that could been managed in a more suitable and organic way, but also I am of the idea that the series complements the original game/ game franchise which inspired it and viceversa, I’ve played the original Castlevania 3 Dracula’s Curse before watching the first season and continue to play games in conjunction with the series to have a better understanding of certain key elements and Easter Eggs I identify throughout episodes.
Your review was really good but I would also like to point out that what makes Dracula a fantastic antagonist in the first season is that he does not really want to kill all the human race, it is merely an excuse for him to keep on "living", it is to give him a goal in his life when there is nothing else anymore. His goals were to live with his wife and travel the world to understand the human (on his wife order) but now she is dead and there is no point in trying to understand the beings that killed his loved one. So he is left with nothing but death, death around him and ultimately his own death. As Godbrand said in S2E3, Dracula isn't fighting a war, he is planning his suicide, as if getting rid of all his source of food wasn't a hint already, and his lack of interest in the fight is proof furthermore, he doesn't care, he is dead, he just want to die.
@@Communistgun ok then, by the way I recommend, both games are fun enough and especially those of the og Nintendo console could be played in the Castlevania classic collection.
I liked season 3 a great deal. Perhaps the best. The episode where there are 2 sex scenes intercut was amusing as in one..the vampire was using sex to manipulate the human, in the other scene, it was the other way around. In other words...they're really much of a muchness. Which we'd had flagged to us before. The vampires were just as double dealing, overly emotional, and dumb as any of the humans. The final with Trevor facing down the death eating Thing was a proper denouement. Trevor had found love and was happy, but was willingly sacrificing his life for others. No one else, at least among the main character, had risen to that height. Alucard was willing to off Dad, which wasn't fun for him, but he didn't sacrifice his own life. He and Sypha RISKED their lives, but Trevor knew exactly what he was doing. The other part I liked about that ending was St Germain..seeing Trevor and Sypha, the people who had almost made him weep when he last saw them - because they had just been kind to him, for the sake of him and kindness. And it made St Germain take a final decision to do something, one thing, that might lead to something good, before he died. Overall: Tevor and Isaac were my favourite characters, just cause I liked them. It was also fun seeing Hector decide that if he was going to be treated like an untrustworthy magician, he might as well be one and do some sneaky magic things. Like Tyrion Lannister would say...own the names they call you. Hector's talks with his night creature were also great. And about time. Rather in the manner of the way the story of orcs in The Rings of Power...having Adar who is tired of seeing them killed, tortured and brutalised by "superior" beings...and wants to give them a safe homeland. The whole issue of orcs had always been a great big gaping flaw in Tolkien's writing, which he clearly saw...he could never settle on how they came about, or what their lives were, and what was to happen to them. Was exterminating a whole race something that "good guys" do? Were they going to stab little orclets? Crush the heads of Orcmothers? Wow, how heroic.
I personally loved Alucard’s season 3 arc because it showed that even though he has proven that he is not a monster, there will always be those who view him that way, sort of a twist on Isaac’s arc
i strongly believe the alucard arc in season 3 was wasted potential to set up the connection to japan like in the aria of sorrow series. but they had to go the dumb way cuz as u said they had no clue, personally i would have made it so they confronted him an dhe had no choice but to spill the beans o rat least explain why he cant say at the moment and then later they would go back to japan and set up the agency hes a part of in the future.
9:10 magic literally always has a prize, one thing i never understood was the fact that Trevor dont ever get tired even tho he keeps throwing that whip like hundreds of times in a row, and jumps around, throwing knifes, sword fighting and such. But if magic was real you would be able to just spam your most devastating attack 24/7 and sit far away back. Every spell takes stamina, focus, and little part of your soul. Because no magic comes freely.
I think your review had a lot of great points but I could tell you've never played the video game or you've never read the books death has always been a part of every castlevania that's ever come up. Carmela has always been there and basically every character in this Anime I have fought in the video games check amounts sometimes you'll see how the stories connect. Isaac is not actually black in the video game. Everything in this when they hit the nail right on the head. But I did enjoy your review.
Thanks for checking out the review! I have actually played the first Castlevania and a good bit of Symphony of the Night but either way, when I evaluate an adaptation, I usually do so on its own terms unless it directly ties into the original work’s continuity and that original work is required reading/viewing beforehand. Otherwise, if a show is trying to tell its own story (like I believe Castlevania was), the question I ask myself is “how well did it tell that story?”
Books ? You’d refer to the Japanese light novel adaptations and Inter sequels of the first games? The Belmont Legacy comic written by Marc Andreyko? Otherwise I’ve only know the audio dramas that cover certain holes in the timeline canon of the games
This was a very awesome and in depth review of the whole series, I found this show late 2017 when the trailer first dropped and I didn't know it was based of a video game till after season 1 but I feel thus kept getting better and better besides season 3 where it was more of a personal/build up season for bigger things in store for it's characters but yea glad to have stumbled upon this beautifully animated show💜💀🖤
i never really saw any of the season 3 plot twits coming like with the twins i could tell something was up and something was gonna happen but i never knew how or when and with hector i literally just though she was nice and the slave thing really threw me for a loop idk i really liked all of Castlevania like its not perfects but i never really had any problems with the either
If you haven't already, you should check out the Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust anime movie. The artwork is beautiful, has aged perfectly, the story is great, and the action is phenomenal!
@@OneTakeVids it's one of my favorite anime movies out there. Got me to read/collect the manga and novels, and hoping that a full anime series is released someday. D is very similar to Alucard, and any Castlevania fan should at least watch the movie. I hope you enjoy it, dude!
Also the Trinity Blood series with alll the horror-genred CGI effects more than cell-based animation with that same art shadiness and gloomy realism of Castlevania and Bloodlust, and markedly similar to Berserk series . To see goth-inspired computer generated Vatican City and a set of characters that resemble the Castlevania cast with some moral and ethical premises based more on religious control and political intrigue and vampire hunting more than a destabilized or dystopian/tyranical systems of control for consumption or creatio. With plot twist that seem to justify all the action and gore that is so darrk-natured, violence-proned enough to do a speedrun on the mirrored cut-sene imagery and main battle scenes of their respective video games and fiend for more analytic comparison commentary. All this to get the logic over emotion epic struggle in human, or vamping, conditiions of being something onscreen to really get it for spor, if not something more spirited than a usual paradigm shift of character-developed turn of events backed by blockbuster movie scripting just outmatched by the artistic scenery aesthetic and voice-over talent. Cant wait for more narrative breakdowns on this brand of anime with much more matured darksided themes of epic proportion than expected. Its more than likely something nonrated but likely deserves all five stars than literally a black hole one anytime🌘
watching this show i got the feeling that it was written by people who were bad at writing but great at action scenes, but didnt have the budget to do the action enough, so had to resort to boring exposition dialogues, where they explain what they're doing all the time to progress the plot
5:30 about reasoning with Thanos due to his logical motivation. You're accurate. This is displayed in the Marvel What If series S01E02 where T'Challa Star Lord reasoned with Thanos that, "there is more than one way to reallocate the universe's resources", Thanos eventually admitting he was wrong.
I hated Sumi and Taka from the second they came on screen bc they felt like they were out of place. Castlevania games have never really dealt with Japanese lore, however Konami did have a series in the eighties, Getsu Fuumaden that was a Japanese style game in a similar vein. As a whole season three feels like a slow slow build up to the last two episodes rather than anything meaningful.
But Cho and the other Generals who weren't from Europe weren't out of place? And they weren't like changing the world, they looked out of place because they literally came all the way to Eastern Europe from Japan
The king and queen of Targoviste and how'd they acquired all the treasures, sacred weapons and magical instruments. The series could've dwelled into that more as a plot twist.
My read on it was that you’re right, he just feeds on death. But, in the world of Castlevania, when people refer to Death or the Grim Reaper, he is the entity they are referring to (essentially as a misnomer) so he’s sort of the closest you can get.
Not sure if it’s been said, but Death showing up wasn’t as random as it seems. It’s an actual plot point in the Castlevania video game series, so it’s more of an “Easter egg” to fans of the games that worked in the show too. I think it was just kept as somewhat of a surprise for the show
I'm generally curious how a misanthrope like Isaac and a manchild like Hector could run a kingdom which requires that you're constantly dealing with people and politics. I doubt they could even run a food truck.
PREACH! This is fucking fantastic review going in-depth on literally everything and I love it. I agree with you 100%, the good and the uninteresting. And about the Trevor vs death fight, as awesome as it was the entire time I was thinking "JUST RUN AWAY WITH SYPHA WHY DO YOU NEED TO FIGHT DEATH!" 😭
By that point, Trevor would never have run away as long as someone like Death was still around. Otherwise, he'd just get away and try to bring Dracula back again or something.
@@justhaku9240 It's like he said in the beginning of Season 4. He didn't sign up to spend the rest of his life stopping people from bringing back Dracula. And now, he doesn't have to.
They explained in the show regarding Death.. he isn't -THE- Grim Reaper.. he's an entity that 'feeds' on death. He just took the namesake for boasting purposes.
If you have played the video games, most of the things he is confused about actually makes more sense to the video game side of fans. But he's still not wrong storytelling can be confusing but knowing deep lore helps the fans
Castelvania got me in to anime, now i've seen original silver fang, the japanese version about his puppy ''weed'', also seen castelvania, castelvania nocturne, blood of zeus
I mean they did mention how tired they were during the weeks leading up to the final battle. Or Trevor noted how fatigued they were if I remember correctly and also how fights were getting harder since because of it.
Of course he had to kill death. Who benefits from Dracula being brought back most Death. He was trying to put a permanent end to people attempting to resurrect Dracula.
I feel like the Castlevania Netflix series is a great show and honestly I think it's a complete improvement from Castlevania 3 and curse of darkness I can't wait to see how Castlevania Nocturne ends!
Not going to lie im kinda pissed they made death the final boss anyone who has played castlevania can contest that you always fight him before Dracula except in lament of innocence and the fact that alucard acted likehe didnt know who death was to begin with. I feel they should've made Dracula battle the final episode.
we need to keep in mind while examining the show that it is a videogame adaptation and that people have a lot of understanding of the universe and hence the missing info as death being a being cuz it is in the games and wasnt randomly introduced tho i get where ur coming from
I feel like some of the points made were valid. But for instance Death popping up that's straight out of the games. In the games where he is the big bad(since he's not in all of them) they dint spell it out, uts suppose to ve a surprise. I feel this show can be watched by people who never played the game for sure, but it has probably a level of fan service for lovers of the game. My personal fav game was sympathy of the night, so I'm use to broody Alucard 🤣
About Thanos in the MCU, I think you're missing the point. He thinks he's justified because he has seen what over population n greed did to his own planet (n if I'm wrong tell me) but that's why he thinks taking half of all life in the universe will save everyone in it. I think the comics handled it well too but for the movies it just makes more sense for a broader audience
About "Why Trevor was the one that should have kill death" (min 30:30), is simple he was the only one witha dagger capable to do so!! Even if gave to the other would take time to explain how to use that.
Just a quick point about Carmilla..
Her motivations were loosely laid out throughout the series. She despised the world run by old men, starting with the one who turned her and ending with Dracula, who she felt were leading her to ruin.
The motivations presented were pretty clearly about her gaining control for her sisters and herself, and ultimately being power hungry.
It’s not nearly as strong of an emotional connection as with Dracula, and the take over the world plan is cliche, but it wasn’t exactly thrown in from left field.
I honestly think seeing how her sisters react to her going off the deep-end with her plan is more interesting. Their slow realizations that what they’re doing, if even possible, leaves all of them unfulfilled is gripping, and it’s what I imagine the writers were trying to convey considering how Carmilla wasn’t the focus of the season.
I actually liked her as a villain overall. She hates being ruled and run by people who lose sight of focus and ideals. Which in the end she fell for herself. She went so mad being told what to do that she lost sight of her own goals and ambitions. Lenore actually points it out to Hector, Carmilla isn't satisfied. She doesn't want to have anyone be above her again in fear of them going mad, so she wants to take control of everything herself.
Yes, they all saw the same thing with Carmilla's overreach.
@@jinxx8456 she hated weak stupid evil old men...... ended up dying a weak stupid evil old woman
Carmilla ironically had a similar end to Dracula, where she went slowly insane and possibly also wishing for a grandiose suicide, while the people around her not knowing what is wrong with her and only seeing her from the surface and ultimately going their way, the same way that she didn't look at Dracula beyond the surface and was part of the many leaders that did not actually bother to see how Dracula is doing and instead undermining him.
I found it interesting that in season 2,Dracula and Isaac have a talk where Isaac suggests that Hector only ever wanted pets. So it seemed fitting that at the end of season 3, Lenore made Hector her pet.
Ha, here's the quote: S2E4, Isaac "I have respect for Hector, but he is a gentle soul. He is still a little boy...he really only wants pets, you see? He really only understands pets. That's how he perceives your war."
I think this is actually a good contrast as to how vampires see pets though:
S2E4,
Carmilla: "Dracula has failed his own people. He believed he fell in love with a human woman. He took a pet"
Hector: "I believed her loved her"
Carmilla: "If you love something, you act to keep it as long as you can...instead, he allowed her to be killed by other humans"
Hector: "He wasn't there"
Carmilla: "He wasn't, no...not once did he move to protect her, not once did he consider making her a vampire and bringing her into our community...you would have protected her."
So pets are viewed as 2nd class wards, not truly loved, and only become equals when turned.
@@Suijen86 YET Olrox shows the downside of turning your lover “to be by your side forever” … his lover probably wouldn’t have been killed by Julia Belmont if he was still a normal human… maybe he would’ve died of old age instead but at least they would’ve had a lifetime together instead of having it ended (perhaps he was even unhappy being turned and begged for death as a path to freedom, maybe he didn’t want to spend an eternity in the shadows together, Lisa didn’t want to abandon her human life even if it killed her she was happy to die helping ordinary people)
Personally, i did find some more meaning in the Trevor vs Death fight. Throughout his entire life, Trevor has been doing nothing but killing vampires, night creatures and evil people. He's done nothing but destroying things. The way Trevor talks about Death and himself and how their faces are briefly overlapped with each other shows how Trevor believes he can do nothing but kill things, and now he's come face to face with the biggest killer of them all, Death himself.
Seasons three and four have shown that he's getting sick and tired of the constant fighting, so with the knowledge that Sypha is pregnant, literally carrying his future, and the biggest plot to resurrect Dracula foiled (as far as he knows) he had to get rid of the biggest threat to rebuilding what was lost even if he loses his life in the process. That's how i saw their fight.
Plus it really helped that Death was present throughout the season in the form of Varney and the Alchemist. Sure it would've been nice to see his real form in episodes prior, but i don't think his plans would gotten so close to success if he had revealed himself early. So at least there was a reason for it.
“I don’t care. Killing you was the point. Living through it, was just a luxury”. With that in mind, and what you said, the fight makes perfect sense. Was just tryna secure his son’s future.
Isaacs arc saved season 3 for me, it's what kept me so eager to see the next episode.
Just my opinion, but I started watching Castlevania after season 4 came out, and I found the pacing from season to season to be fine. For example, knowing that season 1 was basically the prelude to season 2 helped me manage my expectations of the pacing and what story arcs and themes were likely to come up as the seasons rolled on. When I view it as a whole story, like one big season of the same show, I feel like the show flows very naturally.
Honestly I liked the fact that Alucard went back to beeing "a Hero" after the Betrayal without that much of a struggle. Because it shows that is ISNT like his father, and still sees good in People like he know his Mother did, while beeing somewhat distrustful. It shows that even if he has some charakteristics of his Father, ultimately he has the kind soul of his Mom.
Honestly just wished Taka and Sumi werent like that.. I liked their Charakters alot. Could have been a nice little "Hint" that the Games eventually go to Japan in the Future.
The villains in Castlevania are fluid, which means the show explores what is evil and what is good.
The story is pretty good
Introducing death late in the series was best
He didn’t need to be explained
When Lenore said "I gave you what you always wanted, Hector! I made you my pet!", she wasn't lying. He had a submissive and lonely personality all along, craving companionship but finding only masters. Lenore's "gift" to him was twisted, but so truthful it hurt; that's why it actually hit me hard, and why their relations in S4 seemed fine - that's because they ultimately were.
i feel a good way to justify Alucard and Sypha not using their overpowered attacks too much is because they don't want to be predictable, if the other enemies see or hear about one big attack they use all the time, the can come up with strategies to counter it. If Alucard and Sypha change it up constantly, then they keep their enemies guessing and confused, allowing them to be more effective in combat.
Also I can imagine its quite straining aswell, so they rather preserve the all out attacks in case something bigger comes around that REALLY needs it..
9:17 In season 4 they clearly showed signs of fatigue making it so that especially Sypha couldnt just use any magic she wanted all the time. Trevor tho, kept powerful weapons hidden for no reason sometimes
But she used magic all the time ans was way too op in other seasons. Especially that electric spell which was never hinted at she could do. Literally ice and fire the whole time and only once used it when the plot needed her to.
@@mhiv466 True that
@@mhiv466 Fire to Electricity are not really far away, since electricity is like. . . A Really really hot fire
@@sunnymiller4101 they're technically the same state of matter: plasma. However fire is a form that occurs much more easily in nature compared to electricity (most things that get too hot catch fire, but visible natural electricity is something you see in lightning and hardly anywhere else).
Sypha's knowledge of magic comes from what she's heard, read and observed in the world around her. So it makes sense that she's aware electricity is a thing and she can use it as magic to a fault but she's not nearly as practiced with it as she is with fire. The one time she used that electric spell, there was electricity all around. It must have been relatively easy to channel that into a spell *in that specific occasion*, but it normally isn't.
To be fair to your point about death being kinda random at the end, he is an enemy in almost every game towards the end so it didnt feel as forced if you have played the castlevania games.
Makes sense, and I’ve played a couple of the games now too so I’ve seen it. I think it works as an homage to the games but I think it would’ve been even better if it was worked into the show more organically. Either way, still a fan overall and looking forward to the next castlevania series
@@OneTakeVids it could have been introduced suddley early on for sure
So in my currently sleep deprived state, I will try to explain why I felt how they treated Alucard Season 3-4 was logical and important. Will I make a coherent argument? Idk, lets find out.
So I felt it make sense as Alucard being a light mirror of Dracula. For me, it is thematically present even in his same. Alucard not being Dracula's opposite, but his reflection. The events of season 3 were there to create some level is disdain, or even hatred, for humans, to bring him close or to where Dracula was before meeting Lisa. He has secluded himself, like Dracula had before him. He goes to the village against his better judgement more out of grudging respect of the rider who delivered the message, not unlike Dracula's initial showing of that science room to Lisa before declaring he might like her, which I have always thought was out of respect for her fearlessness of him.
He arrives, and finds rather quickly a woman, Greta, who he finds himself liking, perhaps even loving. It even comes the same way as Dracula and Lisa, apprehension, banter, then affection. The key difference here is that Dracula still after that point held contempt for mankind to some degree. If he had not, I suspect he would have directed is rage at annihilating the church, not mortals. Alucard chooses consciously or not, to not hold mankind accountable for those two. He doesn't just let himself find love and light again, but also lets himself relearn humanity from her.
In essence, where Dracula learns from his love of Lisa that there is a valuable human, Alucard learns from his love of Greta that there is value in humans. And both learned these lessons from a place of disdain for humans, though I will admit perhaps not of equal intensity.
Thank you for this analysis, I think it finally makes his arc make sense to me. But my confusion lies in why he would even become pissed at humans when he has two good friends who are human and his mom is human, and his Dad tried to kill him. I don't see enough to push him to become much of a misanthrope from just Sumi/Taka.
@@Suijen86 That is a bit shakier from a storytelling perspective, but I think it is more then just those two. He has no doubt realized how fucked up humanity after the first couple seasons. I think its possible (and this is a stretch, i can think of nothing IN the series that shows this) that he already held mankind at a distance. The betrayal pushed him past the edge?
Or, is very possible that, aside from the inherent mental harm such a betrayal would do to anyone, that is came with the first time he'd been, to our knowledge, that intimate with anyone, likely caused an even large shutdown.
@@hellianlunaris8464 Thank you for the explanation. I never understood his S3 arc because I didn't see the challenge or obstacle it provided in S4, but I like your explanation.
30:35 Personally, I think it’s probably because Death was actively angling to resurrect Dracula, and Trevor KNEW that. It wasn’t just because he had the opportunity to put another metaphorical trophy on the wall of the Belmont hold. And Death was also an active threat to Sypha- and Alucard by extension, as he would 1000% protect her.
It wasn’t really all that out of place, if you really think about it. Seasons 3 and 4 were mainly focused on preventing plots to resurrect Dracula. For this reason, I think while it might’ve been nice to get more scenes of Death, we got enough for the narrative to make sense.
I gotta disagree with how "Death came out of nowhere".
Yes, he literally did, but I think that was the point. Trevor lived his life running away, and reacting. And now, he's found an opportunity to be proactive. He's not reacting to Death's villainy, he's being proactive and taking out this threat. I don't think that was about the hero beating the big baddy, but Trevor finally understanding what it means to be a Belmont.
If you think of Death not as the big villain, but as Trevor's final fight, then it makes sense. Trevor went into that fight knowing it will be his last. Giving it his all to hopefully prevent another situation like Death wanting to feed on mass death. This was Trevor fighting for a different future, not stopping a baddy. I think that was Trevor's moment, not Death's.
Random thought that came to me when you were talking about Dracula's response to what the church does.
It's interesting how we tend to say that we wouldn't go that far but when dealing with a character like Dracula, can we really say in his position that we wouldn't? What i mean to say is that we don't have the knowledge, capabilities that Dracula does so can we ignorant mortals really say we wouldn't do what he did?
The guy has the power to destroy the ones who hurt the one he loves and he uses it. Whilst it's easy for us to say "Well, i wouldn't go that far." but we literally can't go that far even if we desperately wanted to. Maybe if we had the abilities, knowledge and even the experiences; We'd do the same thing.
It's likely a nothing thought lacking some nuance but that's just something i thought about.
If I lost my wife and had the capability to burn the world for it, I'd seriously consider it, at the very least. I think most people in love would do the same, at least in the immediate aftermath.
@@spiraljumper74 And i don't blame you or anyone else in love. Cos attachments are a huge part of the human experience so taking that away especially one as deep as that? I'm more worried if there isn't hell to pay.
If you seriously want to, you can actually kill one or multiple persons. Cant understand why someone has to burn the whole world over a lost one. In Draculas case its understandable, for a human not so much
@@mario-k. It's an emotional response from an incredibly unstable standpoint, so not being able to understand it is fair enough. The pain of loss especially someone as close as Lisa was to Vlad can do some pretty fucked up things to anyone.
Well Death has acted as a final boss before in Lament of Innocence and there wasn't any build up to him in that either.
Hector's backstory was just not as interesting or fledged out as Isaac's. They just show him ressuracting pets, and then tell us that his parents didn't react well to an undead pet. i just didn't get how that made him turn on humanity really
Very competant and fair review of this wonderful series. Cheers
Thanks Will!
Thanos trying to smash Death is not a better motivation than he had in the movies 😂
This may be mentioned already. Season 3 and 4 are based on curse of darkness. The master antagonist of that game is Death trying to resurrect dracula. He does come out of left field but it's the same reveal.
You have to consider a important compound in all the build up is that the series is based on a famous video game franchise, this explains much about death in the end, because its a running gag of the franchise to put death as a second last boss directly before dracula (often in the clocktower of its castle). Making him the final villain in the series is a nice twist on this concept and that Death shows up is something a Fan of Castlevania would expect und would have expected before draculas defeat (but it was, how you pointed out, not fitting for the emotional fight and end they had planned between Alucard and Dracula so they put him as final villain with his usual task: With the Castlevania Games constantly revolving around different incarnations or resurrections of Dracula (or Tries to do so) it is appropriate for the series to take on this concept in season 3 and especially 4. I find Varney first very annoying but after knowing he was death the whole time I appreciated how they hint (in his dialogues and how his eyes are different) that he isn't a vampire and much older as the other vampires he is surrounded by.
Yay! You're back!!! Welcome back, Gil. :)
Thanks SilverScale!!
8:50 Mana. Characters with magical abilities in the Castlevania universe can't use those abilities constantly, they run out of energy too quickly otherwise. Sypha in particular really needs to ration her spells because of how much they take out of her.
you can actually see her decline and fatigue in the beginning of season 4, how her powers aren't as strong as they were back in season 1 and 2, especially with the barn fight scene
You may want to explore Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Death Note, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Code Geass, etc.
Fun Fact:The reason Dracula was retconned to Matthias Cronqvist and Gabriel Belmont in the Games was because Konami asked the Romanian Government to use Wallachia as the setting and Vlad Tepes Dracula as the villain.(They agreed so long as it was clarified that the vampire was not the real Vlad whom they regarded as a national hero but a pretender to the name)The Netflix series, having no direct input from the Romanian Government, had no such restrictions.
That is a fun fact! Haha thanks for sharing!
@@OneTakeVids No prob,also I am a descendant of the real Vlad!
@@AspieMediaBobby are you apart of house draculesti?
Sorry, completely unstructured rant about your views on Trevor's acceptance of the call to adventure in season 1 incoming:
The thing to remember about Trevor is that he was still raised as a Belmont, even if only until he was 12. I don't see him completely losing those values so easily. Trevor is, like every cinic, a disappointed optimist. His heroic nature was desperate to get out, but he had become very used to repressing it. Trevor actually says in season 4 that a lot of his training is beginning to come back to him, and we are shown throughout the show that Trevor was indeed well trained, even if only in basic theory and martial skills. My point here is that I think training as a Belmont will naturally instil their values. So all it took to reignite this nature in Trevor was a good opportunity to do some good for an aspect of the human world he hadn't totally lost faith in (the Speakers, as it turned out).I
Hope that made some faint sense to anyone 😅😅😅
I can forgive the speeches,because it's so obvious that the show had no money. It's often gorgeous,but there's simply not the resources to show everything.
The reason Alucard can't "magic" his sword all the time, and Sypha can't cast crazy spells constantly, is because there is an MP cost to everything. Some techniques requiring more then others. Since Alucard isn't a pure magic caster, his skills are limited in duration, and Sypha can't cast level 99 spells constantly. ;)
Honestly I believe Season 3 was going through separate setups for the protagonist
For Alucard story the season was trying to explore the fact that Alucard was a child in an adult's body
And Trevor and Cipher story was reviewing how expectations turns into a feeling of betrayal when idealism and reality clash
Hector writes a book...a good ending? The guy was physically and mentally abused and didn't even get his wish: being with Lenore...
The way I look at it is: Hector was fully expecting and planning to be murdered by Isaac. He was essentially committing suicide, literally leaning his head forward and exposing his neck to Isaac. However, in the end, Isaac helps free him from that guilt. Hector decides to live and create. He loses Lenore but to me, the tone felt positive overall, especially compared to where he was at the start of the season and how he was expecting things to go. Maybe “bittersweet” would be a better word for it!
Lenore chose death rather than being with Hector lol
Don't forget, he has full blown Stockholm syndrome. Lenore was a murdering rapist. Hector needed her to die to be happy.
Did we watch the same series? Lenore, who, mind you, literally turned Hector into her pet???
@@ursulapangilinan5392 How is that different from any normal relationship? 😂
I think you sorely misunderstood Hector and Lenore's relationship in season 3. In Season 2 Issac points out that Hector is a child. It's for this reason that he got used not once but twice, because he had no real convictions or direction in his life. He was just following whoever made nice sounding arguments or made him feel good (Which is why he so easily was manipulated by Lenore). Lenore asked him what he wanted and he didn't know; her insight is what lead to him becoming a slave; Hector needed someone to guide him and it was only when he actually got a healthy relationship and had a series of bad experiences being tricked that he finally grew up.
A castlevania analysis without discussing the Bishop? The Bishop was fantastic, he diserved discussion
and Saint Germaine 😢
Your review of the show is honestly… way off. The great thing about castlevania is how much you learn each watch through, the show was very well done, and much deeper than you’re giving it credit for.
AlthoughI liked the review I don't think he understood that this show still had the 'videogame' feel. Like when he said Syhpa and Trevor 'found themselves' in certain situations. Well, that's because video games are known for side quests that will help them in the main quests. Like Trevor found different weapons during these side quests that helped him in the end.
Kinda disagree on season 3. I loved how stories were built. Hector, Alucard and Trevor/Sypha ended up in similar places for different reasons, it didn't matter if they won or lost, they were all emotionally damaged and hopeless. Loved the parallel. People like to play to "guess" how it's going to end and don't enjoy the journey. Without a doubt Isaac is the best thing of season 3, and maybe the whole series.
"Anime is geared for children" is the biggest mistake anyone can make. Sure, there are some Anime that are indeed geared for children, but a very large number are not and would traumatize children. Heck, some would traumitize even adults!
Edit: As for Thanos, the 50% thing is stupid, all he would do is buy 1 generation's worth of time. That's it. If he really wanted to buy long-term time - he should have gone all in and only left 5% or 10%.
And, I've been binging your "Dark" recaps!
Have to point out you missed a bit of foreshadowing as to death being prominently in season 4 think back to the barn fight when trevor loses his whip
What weapon does he use?
A scyth and if you listen closely its got a little musical emphasis when he picks the scyth up
Or think back to the conversations varney had with that one vampire the big warrior guy forget his name but varney said he likes hanging with him because of what he does and
I quote
"I smell the death in you"
"It nurishes me"
YESS!! This overall review is really good, but as someone who's seen the show multiple times, there's so much foreshadowing and meaning in every season, and I think it can be easy to overlook with only watching it once.
Castlevania is a hyper-fixation of mine, so I understand why most people wouldn't watch it a second time, but I believe it gives more meaning in ever scene when you do
I'm so excited you're back!
Good to see you Donna! And good to be back :)
08:30 I thought the exact same thing but more so for Belmont,
he struggles to fight a wolf with his hands in the beginning of season 3 and by the end of it he’s doing a morning star supernova like where tf was this the whole time!?!
Practice my dude, also the morning Star kicked ass
@@DavidRamirez-se2yt its about why he didnt use it more
If you’re willing to give reading manga a try, I’d 100% give a recommendation for the Berserk manga. I feel like that would be right up your alley.
I am definitely down to try reading some manga! Been meaning to. Will start with Berserk!
It’s funny to me that for a lot of Americans it’s americana that gets us into anime. Mine was avatar.
The gripe on Season 3 seems pointless when acknowledging that it is setup for season 4. Everything about it is setup. Trevor and Sypha accidentally walking in on Chaos was Setup for Season 4 when they say now we're going to do what we want, we're not gonna run into this stuff we're gonna find it. Same with Alucard in Season 3, it's meant to show Alucard coming to an understanding of why Dracula felt the way he did, Season 4 was the payoff showing Alucard while being able to sympathize with his Father, isn't his father he has more trust in the willingness to see things out before judgment.
Wasn't there going to be a 5th season but was cut short to 4 because of the sexual assult accusations towards the creator? I believe that's why season 4 felt rushed in some places (mainly Death as a character)
Damn :(
I think it’s important to point this out; he was never accused of sexual assault. Ellis was accused of emotional abuse, mostly because he lived a lifestyle of open relationships based on his “rockstar” type popularity as a writer. He was certainly unwise in how he handled relationships, but nobody has accused him of sexual assault.
Other than that, you might be right. Prior to the accusations, there was no announced ending planned. Shortly after the accusations became big news, they announced there would only be one more season, followed by a spin-off that would have no connection to Ellis.
I never saw this as a traditional anime!! In my opinion it reminds me of American comic type of cartoon with hints of shonan when it comes to combat.. I know most of this stuff is subjective but calling it an anime for me is way off... Just cause it's animated doesn't mean it's an anime. N I'm sure a lot of people could at least agree with that
Easily my favorite show of all time
Yeah same as well, pretty much the biggest series I've watched on Netflix
"you don't become a villain for rational reasons, you do it based on emotion reasons"--- @6:00
Idk, I'd like you to peal the onion which is Griffith from berserk and tell me the reasons you come up with. Personally it's 1997 anime or manga.. The other mediums basically don't exist.
Also the show is better than tell makes sense, but you can be confused because of the same concept. Sypha is visibly tired and more often then not her attacks are extremely circumstance or timing based. As the series evolves her OP powers seem to also evolve.
i think if the series continues it’ll be from simon belmont or maybe they’ll go with symphony of night as i think alucard will definitely be staying around - not sure if he’ll stay as a hero tho
I think those are both good guesses. Especially around symphony of the night, that’d be a great way for them to retain a connection with the series by having Alucard prominently featured but still let them do something different. I’d be bummed to leave Trevor and Sypha behind but they reached some sort of conclusion to their arcs so I guess it’s time for something new!
@@OneTakeVids Id be interested in a prequel series involving leon belmont and mathias and the entirety of the origin of ‘vladd tepes’. I kinda hope we get a prequel of sorts and some sort of sequel. as long as there’s more i’ll take it
Well, rondo of blood time.
I loved Isaac for most of the story, but I learned to adore the madness of Carmilla. When her sisters reduced her grand master plans for global domination down to 'schemes that we make work despite her'. She represented the entirety of human cultures and history when women were subjugated and embodied those who wished to rise up and 'take everything' from those who did it to them. But she didn't personally have the mind, resources, skills to make it happen, she only had the big grand idea and no idea what to do with it if she succeeded- and she openly acknowledges that. Like Dracula and Isaac, she wanted revenge against a faceless and broad 'everyone' instead of having a focused and practical goal that she could attain which would actually satisfy her.
Isaac changes, Dracula dies at the hands of others to stop him, but she takes her own life rather than giving anyone the satisfaction- especially a man.
Same here, Castlevania was my gateway to anime, and I’m so happy I watched it now
That's awesome. What are some of your favorite anime you've watched post-Castlevania?? Always on the lookout for recommendations.
I’ve recently started attack on titan and I’m waiting for the Witcher anime, Nightmare of the Wolf. I’m discovering I enjoy the western style anime as it feels more heavy and gritty as I would say.
@@thecritic860 Ohh AOT is possibly my favorite. And agreed, I prefer when anime stays away from some of the goofiness that is often sprinkled into anime. And Western-style like Castlevania usually does. My favorites from Japan are also usually more grounded (not in terms of plot, but animation style)... like Attack on Titan and Death Note.
Couldn’t agree more, it’s not that goofiness makes the others bad, but it’s just not my thing.
Yeah 100%
Well you wrapped up the a good review man I’ve agree with many of the points you’ve mentioned and I’m eager to hear more about the new series Castlevania Nocturne.
Overall I would love a novel adaptation of the Castlevania Netflix series that developed and flashed out even more the story and characters.
Thanks man! And same here, can’t wait to see more from Nocturne
@@OneTakeVids Thanks for the replay, I’ve too had my moments with this animated series and I believe there are things that could been managed in a more suitable and organic way, but also I am of the idea that the series complements the original game/ game franchise which inspired it and viceversa, I’ve played the original Castlevania 3 Dracula’s Curse before watching the first season and continue to play games in conjunction with the series to have a better understanding of certain key elements and Easter Eggs I identify throughout episodes.
Your review was really good but I would also like to point out that what makes Dracula a fantastic antagonist in the first season is that he does not really want to kill all the human race, it is merely an excuse for him to keep on "living", it is to give him a goal in his life when there is nothing else anymore. His goals were to live with his wife and travel the world to understand the human (on his wife order) but now she is dead and there is no point in trying to understand the beings that killed his loved one. So he is left with nothing but death, death around him and ultimately his own death. As Godbrand said in S2E3, Dracula isn't fighting a war, he is planning his suicide, as if getting rid of all his source of food wasn't a hint already, and his lack of interest in the fight is proof furthermore, he doesn't care, he is dead, he just want to die.
This show is so great they should make a video game for it!
It already exists, matter of fact it was a video game what inspired the show: 1990 Castlevania III Drácula’s Curse for the NES.
Also there’s Castlevania Curse of Darkness for the PlayStation 2
@@josefranciscovazquezbaeza4143 It was a joke lil bro
@@Communistgun ok then, by the way I recommend, both games are fun enough and especially those of the og Nintendo console could be played in the Castlevania classic collection.
Disagree with season 3. That season 3 had the best writing in the series.
If you get the chance check out Hellsing Ultimate. It and Sailor Moon were my gateways into Anime.
The cool this about this series is that they incorporated the monsters that you would fought in the nes games
I liked season 3 a great deal. Perhaps the best.
The episode where there are 2 sex scenes intercut was amusing as in one..the vampire was using sex to manipulate the human, in the other scene, it was the other way around.
In other words...they're really much of a muchness. Which we'd had flagged to us before.
The vampires were just as double dealing, overly emotional, and dumb as any of the humans.
The final with Trevor facing down the death eating Thing was a proper denouement. Trevor had found love and was happy, but was willingly sacrificing his life for others. No one else, at least among the main character, had risen to that height.
Alucard was willing to off Dad, which wasn't fun for him, but he didn't sacrifice his own life.
He and Sypha RISKED their lives, but Trevor knew exactly what he was doing.
The other part I liked about that ending was St Germain..seeing Trevor and Sypha, the people who had almost made him weep when he last saw them - because they had just been kind to him, for the sake of him and kindness. And it made St Germain take a final decision to do something, one thing, that might lead to something good, before he died.
Overall: Tevor and Isaac were my favourite characters, just cause I liked them.
It was also fun seeing Hector decide that if he was going to be treated like an untrustworthy magician, he might as well be one and do some sneaky magic things. Like Tyrion Lannister would say...own the names they call you.
Hector's talks with his night creature were also great. And about time. Rather in the manner of the way the story of orcs in The Rings of Power...having Adar who is tired of seeing them killed, tortured and brutalised by "superior" beings...and wants to give them a safe homeland. The whole issue of orcs had always been a great big gaping flaw in Tolkien's writing, which he clearly saw...he could never settle on how they came about, or what their lives were, and what was to happen to them. Was exterminating a whole race something that "good guys" do? Were they going to stab little orclets? Crush the heads of Orcmothers? Wow, how heroic.
I personally loved Alucard’s season 3 arc because it showed that even though he has proven that he is not a monster, there will always be those who view him that way, sort of a twist on Isaac’s arc
ALukecard vs Dracula's Wrath. What a great take on the iconic Star wars scene.
i strongly believe the alucard arc in season 3 was wasted potential to set up the connection to japan like in the aria of sorrow series. but they had to go the dumb way cuz as u said they had no clue, personally i would have made it so they confronted him an dhe had no choice but to spill the beans o rat least explain why he cant say at the moment and then later they would go back to japan and set up the agency hes a part of in the future.
9:10 magic literally always has a prize, one thing i never understood was the fact that Trevor dont ever get tired even tho he keeps throwing that whip like hundreds of times in a row, and jumps around, throwing knifes, sword fighting and such. But if magic was real you would be able to just spam your most devastating attack 24/7 and sit far away back. Every spell takes stamina, focus, and little part of your soul. Because no magic comes freely.
I think your review had a lot of great points but I could tell you've never played the video game or you've never read the books death has always been a part of every castlevania that's ever come up. Carmela has always been there and basically every character in this Anime I have fought in the video games check amounts sometimes you'll see how the stories connect. Isaac is not actually black in the video game. Everything in this when they hit the nail right on the head. But I did enjoy your review.
Thanks for checking out the review! I have actually played the first Castlevania and a good bit of Symphony of the Night but either way, when I evaluate an adaptation, I usually do so on its own terms unless it directly ties into the original work’s continuity and that original work is required reading/viewing beforehand. Otherwise, if a show is trying to tell its own story (like I believe Castlevania was), the question I ask myself is “how well did it tell that story?”
Books ? You’d refer to the Japanese light novel adaptations and Inter sequels of the first games? The Belmont Legacy comic written by Marc Andreyko?
Otherwise I’ve only know the audio dramas that cover certain holes in the timeline canon of the games
This was a very awesome and in depth review of the whole series, I found this show late 2017 when the trailer first dropped and I didn't know it was based of a video game till after season 1 but I feel thus kept getting better and better besides season 3 where it was more of a personal/build up season for bigger things in store for it's characters but yea glad to have stumbled upon this beautifully animated show💜💀🖤
i never really saw any of the season 3 plot twits coming
like with the twins i could tell something was up and something was gonna happen but i never knew how or when
and with hector i literally just though she was nice and the slave thing really threw me for a loop
idk i really liked all of Castlevania like its not perfects but i never really had any problems with the either
If you haven't already, you should check out the Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust anime movie. The artwork is beautiful, has aged perfectly, the story is great, and the action is phenomenal!
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve been interested in it but your comment just moved it to the top of my list, will definitely check it out.
@@OneTakeVids it's one of my favorite anime movies out there. Got me to read/collect the manga and novels, and hoping that a full anime series is released someday. D is very similar to Alucard, and any Castlevania fan should at least watch the movie. I hope you enjoy it, dude!
Also the Trinity Blood series with alll the horror-genred CGI effects more than cell-based animation with that same art shadiness and gloomy realism of Castlevania and Bloodlust, and markedly similar to Berserk series . To see goth-inspired computer generated Vatican City and a set of characters that resemble the Castlevania cast with some moral and ethical premises based more on religious control and political intrigue and vampire hunting more than a destabilized or dystopian/tyranical systems of control for consumption or creatio. With plot twist that seem to justify all the action and gore that is so darrk-natured, violence-proned enough to do a speedrun on the mirrored cut-sene imagery and main battle scenes of their respective video games and fiend for more analytic comparison commentary. All this to get the logic over emotion epic struggle in human, or vamping, conditiions of being something onscreen to really get it for spor, if not something more spirited than a usual paradigm shift of character-developed turn of events backed by blockbuster movie scripting just outmatched by the artistic scenery aesthetic and voice-over talent. Cant wait for more narrative breakdowns on this brand of anime with much more matured darksided themes of epic proportion than expected. Its more than likely something nonrated but likely deserves all five stars than literally a black hole one anytime🌘
Dud I can listen to you all day...this one video got me hooked...keep up the awesomeness work.
watching this show i got the feeling that it was written by people who were bad at writing but great at action scenes, but didnt have the budget to do the action enough, so had to resort to boring exposition dialogues, where they explain what they're doing all the time to progress the plot
5:30 about reasoning with Thanos due to his logical motivation. You're accurate.
This is displayed in the Marvel What If series S01E02 where T'Challa Star Lord reasoned with Thanos that, "there is more than one way to reallocate the universe's resources", Thanos eventually admitting he was wrong.
I hated Sumi and Taka from the second they came on screen bc they felt like they were out of place. Castlevania games have never really dealt with Japanese lore, however Konami did have a series in the eighties, Getsu Fuumaden that was a Japanese style game in a similar vein. As a whole season three feels like a slow slow build up to the last two episodes rather than anything meaningful.
What about Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow?
But Cho and the other Generals who weren't from Europe weren't out of place? And they weren't like changing the world, they looked out of place because they literally came all the way to Eastern Europe from Japan
@@pepethelastsamurai3480 I agree. They are not out of place in the Castlevania universe, but their narratives were...not really so good.
The king and queen of Targoviste and how'd they acquired all the treasures, sacred weapons and magical instruments. The series could've dwelled into that more as a plot twist.
Yeah it felt rushed I wanted to learn about the world and the witches and vampires
He wasn't actually death, he fed off the energy of death.
My read on it was that you’re right, he just feeds on death. But, in the world of Castlevania, when people refer to Death or the Grim Reaper, he is the entity they are referring to (essentially as a misnomer) so he’s sort of the closest you can get.
@OneTake u right
Sort of a grim reaper if you will
Isaac's arc was the best I've seen
if you liked this, check out anyu Kawajiri directed anime. it most likely influenced this one.
Not sure if it’s been said, but Death showing up wasn’t as random as it seems. It’s an actual plot point in the Castlevania video game series, so it’s more of an “Easter egg” to fans of the games that worked in the show too.
I think it was just kept as somewhat of a surprise for the show
Try playing the game you will understand why the equipment or magic or alucard delay his magic….
26:00-33:43 red pool 🏊♀️ of blood 🩸 ❤😂😢😮😅!
Lenore killing herself instead of choosing Hector and the new kingdom was not a "masterful ending" to her arc. Most disappointing aspect of season 4.
I'm generally curious how a misanthrope like Isaac and a manchild like Hector could run a kingdom which requires that you're constantly dealing with people and politics. I doubt they could even run a food truck.
So little to say about Sypha?
PREACH! This is fucking fantastic review going in-depth on literally everything and I love it. I agree with you 100%, the good and the uninteresting.
And about the Trevor vs death fight, as awesome as it was the entire time I was thinking "JUST RUN AWAY WITH SYPHA WHY DO YOU NEED TO FIGHT DEATH!" 😭
Thank you for the kind words!! And sounds like we had the exact same reaction when watching the fight with Death haha
By that point, Trevor would never have run away as long as someone like Death was still around. Otherwise, he'd just get away and try to bring Dracula back again or something.
@@crowravencorvenrow Yeah that's a valid point, I honestly didn't consider that but I should have
@@justhaku9240 It's like he said in the beginning of Season 4. He didn't sign up to spend the rest of his life stopping people from bringing back Dracula. And now, he doesn't have to.
They explained in the show regarding Death.. he isn't -THE- Grim Reaper.. he's an entity that 'feeds' on death. He just took the namesake for boasting purposes.
Welcome Back!
Thank you JB!
Stop it Thanos was an Amazing Villain 🤨
For me it was phenomenal up until S4. The last season felt so rushed...
Was palpatine and emotional villain or rational villain. I'm not seeing the emotion with him. Someone please clarify.
If you have played the video games, most of the things he is confused about actually makes more sense to the video game side of fans. But he's still not wrong storytelling can be confusing but knowing deep lore helps the fans
Castelvania got me in to anime, now i've seen original silver fang, the japanese version about his puppy ''weed'', also seen castelvania, castelvania nocturne, blood of zeus
I think the planed on working on the sequel series called "Castlevania Nocturn" where Richter Belmont will be focused on
10:01 that was my 'issue" with Syhpa.. she seemed to have infinite energy. Like she didn't show fatigue, unless I missed it.
I mean they did mention how tired they were during the weeks leading up to the final battle. Or Trevor noted how fatigued they were if I remember correctly and also how fights were getting harder since because of it.
Of course he had to kill death. Who benefits from Dracula being brought back most Death. He was trying to put a permanent end to people attempting to resurrect Dracula.
I feel like the Castlevania Netflix series is a great show and honestly I think it's a complete improvement from Castlevania 3 and curse of darkness I can't wait to see how Castlevania Nocturne ends!
Magic works like if the magic wielders had a mana bar.
Hey bro I just wanted to tell you I had the exact same experience with anime right down to being introduced to it by DBZ (shout out to Akira too)
So since sonya belmont is no Canon anymore, i guess the next belmont will be Simon but im excited who will be the next villain
I mean technically we got Christopher Belmont next
@@trysten9198 no they said it will be Richter and the Rondo of blood Arc is next
Not going to lie im kinda pissed they made death the final boss anyone who has played castlevania can contest that you always fight him before Dracula except in lament of innocence and the fact that alucard acted likehe didnt know who death was to begin with. I feel they should've made Dracula battle the final episode.
we need to keep in mind while examining the show that it is a videogame adaptation and that people have a lot of understanding of the universe and hence the missing info as death being a being cuz it is in the games and wasnt randomly introduced
tho i get where ur coming from
I feel like some of the points made were valid. But for instance Death popping up that's straight out of the games. In the games where he is the big bad(since he's not in all of them) they dint spell it out, uts suppose to ve a surprise. I feel this show can be watched by people who never played the game for sure, but it has probably a level of fan service for lovers of the game. My personal fav game was sympathy of the night, so I'm use to broody Alucard 🤣
loved to hear your weeb origin story
Won’t lie, had to Google the term but... yep, sounds accurate lol
@@OneTakeVids 130858
the true key to weebhood
About Thanos in the MCU, I think you're missing the point. He thinks he's justified because he has seen what over population n greed did to his own planet (n if I'm wrong tell me) but that's why he thinks taking half of all life in the universe will save everyone in it. I think the comics handled it well too but for the movies it just makes more sense for a broader audience
Forgot Vampiric culture, Goth, too, Cant lose with Vampires, let alone, Castlevania, the ultimate game franchise to so many.
About "Why Trevor was the one that should have kill death" (min 30:30), is simple he was the only one witha dagger capable to do so!! Even if gave to the other would take time to explain how to use that.