BLOOD WORK: SUSPENDED ANIMATION: NETFLIX'S CASTLEVANIA SEASON ONE

Memories of an old timer

(you can skip this first paragraph if you want)

My obsession with Castlevania started pretty early in my life. I remember going to Drew Urban's house mornings before going to Kindergarten and playing Nintendo. Drew had a bunch of games and one of them was SIMON'S QUEST: CASTLEVANIA II. That was around 1989-1990. Later I was renting Castlevania games from Main Street Davisson Furniture for the Super Nintendo. Fast-forward to high school when I actually had money and could travel to a new store called "GAMERS" in Lincoln, Nebraska. There I started purchasing every Castlevania game I could get my hands on.

One of my other major interests in life is cinema, in particular, horror cinema. Ever since junior high I have wanted to see a Castlevania movie. I used to imagine what they would be like. I had a whole series of films planned out in my head beginning with an adaptation of Castlevania Legends for the first film and then an adaptation of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse for the second movie. There would be six movies in total, the middle two films would be about Simon Belmont, the fifth movie would be Dracula X, and the grand finale being Symphony of the Night. These movies would be hardcore, bloody, gory, action packed, and scary. And most importantly, they'd be faithful to the source material.

The filmmakers in charge of Netflix's Castlevania seemed to be on the same wavelength as me. I didn't imagine them as animated but I'm not complaining. I love a good anime! And this one qualifies.

I couldn't be happier with Netflix's Castlevania.

I mean, look at that! That's like the cover of the classic NES game! I LOVE IT!

THE PLOT

The year is 1476. The place is Romania. A Catholic priest burns a woman alive from being a witch. The woman was Lisa Tepes, wife of Vlad Dracula Tepes. Lisa was the only person Dracula cared for in all the world. In vengeance Dracula unleashes a horde of demons, ghouls, and monsters upon the land, covering the province of Wallachia in darkness and spreading further across Romania. Trevor Belmont, the last son of the House of Belmont, reluctantly steps forward to face the evil. Armed with weapons and fighting skills passed down from his ancestors, Trevor may not be enough to stand against Dracula. Who else has the courage to stare the hordes of Hell in the eyes and fight back?

WHAT I LIKED

(Spoiler Alert)

Everything. There were many elements that were important to me about the video game series that I wanted preserved in a film adaptation. Chief among them was being faithful to the video game lore. The Netflix series opens with a brief scene about Dracula meeting his wife Lisa and fast forwarding several decades to her death. This was straight from Symphony of the Night's plot. Later Trevor finds Sypha turned to stone by a cyclops. That is exactly how Trevor meets Sypha in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. Even the brief line about her dressed as a boy is right from the game. And then when they find Alucard in his coffin in the catacombs, again straight out of the old NES game. Even Trevor sporting the cape at first and then getting rid of it once he's decided to take on the quest is right out of the game!

I am so glad Warren Ellis adapted the original series instead of the Lord of Shadows reboot. And he did it very well.

The Look. The Castlevania video game series has a distinctive artistic style. Artist Ayami Kojima defined the look of Castlevania with Symphony of the Night and her artwork became a staple for every game afterwards. It's beautiful, elegeant, and frightening. The anime style employed isn't quite as gorgeous as Ayami Kojima's art (but really what else is?) but the design of her art and emotion is carried through. Her male characters were always slightly feminine and, at least for Alucard, that esthetic is maintained. Dracula's design too looks right out of Symphony of the Night. It's a stylized realism not uncommon with anime and reminds me a bit of the anime Berserk, which is a good thing.

Horror and Violence. There are some brutal moments in this show. The violence at times is at the level of animes like Berserk and Attack On Titan, two very well done shows. There are shocking scenes of giant bat-monsters carrying away infant children in this mouths. And then there's a scene with monsters entering a church that is completely horrifying. The language is just as graphic as the violence too, something I did not imagine when envisioning the games as movies, and it works for the most part. This is very much a rated R anime. All we haven't seen is nudity... yet. Bring on the Succubus!

I could seriously go on about all the things I enjoyed about this show and I want to because this show could've so easily been utter crap had certain mindsets ruled the filmmakers. As it stands I hope this tone and fidelity to the games continues as they make another season (I hope they make another season).

Lastly let me say how much I love Richard Armitage, Graham McTavish, Matt Frewer, James Callis, and Alejandra Reynoso. Their voices are nigh perfect for these characters.

NITPICKS

It's only four episodes long! Cutting out intros and outtros the show is less than 90 minutes altogether! It may as well be just an anime movie. And to top it off, by the end of it they only just begin the quest against Dracula. That's good though in that it doesn't feel severely truncated and nothing was sacrificed for time. But this should've been the 90 minute pilot episode that starts the show... and I guess it is or at least that's how I've chosen to view it.

But, if season two never gets made this will feel like the most agonizing tease of my nerd life.

Other than that I wish they had somehow incorporated some of Castlevania's classic music. I love Castlevania's music, especially the old Nintendo midi files. I like, really love, those themes. But I'm not gonna boycott the show because they aren't there.

THE VERDICT

Castlevania is a serious, violent, gruesome, and faithful adaptation of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. The voices of Richard Armitage and Graham McTavish are wonderful. And the animation, for the most part, is beautiful. Sadly, it's over with in a single sitting it seems. But if we are lucky enough to receive a second season of the same caliber it will all be worth it. My inner Castlevania fanboy is shouting with joy! I love this show! And I hope others do as well.

Overall Ranking: 8 out of 10

Nude-O-Meter: 0 out of 10