Castlevania Season 1 (2017)
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Castlevania Season 1 Review
Castlevania is a Netflix animated dark fantasy action series that premiered its first season in 2017. It was too short, but sweet.
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“Kill for the endless lifetime of hate before me“
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I am a big fan of the Castlevania game series, so of course I was immensely excited to see this show. And it did not disappoint. This is a terrific game adaptation that for once doesn’t ruin the games, but builds upon them in many excellent ways. It is based solely on ‘Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse’, the best of the original games, and it does the characters justice while making them deeper and better developed.
Trevor Belmont is fantastic. I did not expect him to be this interesting of a protagonist. He is powerful, but unwilling to fight and that made him unique and also quite funny. His drunkenness is also a great source of humor for this first season. His appearance is very memorable with that expensive-looking coat while his whip is done justice in this adaptation as it’s both powerful and very agile.
Dracula is incredible, but also sidelined in the later episodes. My problem with this season is that it is ridiculously short. The first episode is absolutely marvelous and I loved it so much that the rest just failed to compare to it in terms of the narrative. The love story of Dracula is so well told and that being the catalyst for hid hatred toward humans was understandable as was his attitude toward the church of the period. The show isn’t anti-religion, but it does make a point that all these religious leaders did more harm than good to the society of the Middle Ages.
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Speaking of the period, I found its depiction here full of inaccuracies. Of course it’s not hugely important, but it would have been nice from the creators to have depicted the clothes and the aesthetic of the towns properly. It all looks too modern to me. The depiction of Romania as Catholic instead of Orthodox is also problematic.
But the animation is still undoubtedly gorgeous and the show has that excellent anime quality to its look. Everything is very distinctly visualized, especially the characters that all look splendid. Some of the imagery is also strong and the powers were meticulously realized. The action that we got here was in short supply, but it was still thrilling, making me excited to see more.
Sypha is this super cool sorceress and the elemental magic that she does was so well utilized here. The whole subplot with the Speakers was somewhat rushed, but the mythology still worked on this show that deepens the game franchise in exciting new ways. As for Alucard, I found him to be ridiculously sexy and overly modern in his look, but still a whole lot of fun. The fight between him and Trevor is among the highlights of this season and I can’t wait to see more of their dynamic.
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Castlevania is also powerfully scored, very well edited and directed while also benefiting from solid dialogue and great humor. The show is also tremendously dark and brutal with the kills being immensely graphic, but that made its horror atmosphere more mature and striking. I just wish that this first season didn’t have only four episodes. This was a ridiculous choice that did not work at all.
Overall, I loved the first season of Castlevania. Although too short, the anime-inspired animation is terrific and so is the excellent, fun action while the characterization is top-notch. The story is also interesting, but clearly only the beginning. The world building is another highlight.
Worst Episode: Monument.
Best Episode: Witchbottle.
