Castlevania on Netflix

[Beagleman]

Anyone been watching the Castlevania anime that dropped a few days ago? I thought it was rather decent even if it felt like just a pilot broken into four episodes (an 8 episode season two is already ordered). The animation can be a bit choppy at times but the voice work is pretty good (episode 4 has James Callis).

 

[CorporalClegg]

Castlevania is easily my favorite game franchise, and I absolutely loved it.

I thought the writing was excellent, but I agree the animation was a little uneven. But I think that's been a problem with all the animesque Netflix shows. Sometimes the animation is outstanding; sometimes not so much.

I thought the casting was very good, though. Frewer gave the best performance once you got past his volume. And I thought casting Callis as Alucard was inspired.

I think the only disappointment I had was how they forgot to bring Da Nasty.

 

[Skellington]

(episode 4 has James Callis).

Sold!

 

[Starbreaker]

I watched the first episode. It's not really for me, I guess.

 

[YLu]

I think the only disappointment I had was how they forgot to bring Da Nasty.

Warren Ellis, who wrote the episodes, used to keep a development blog for his work on the series (though back then it was still meant to be a trilogy of films). It seems to have been swallowed up by the internet void since, but he wrote that he didn't use DaNasty because A) he didn't see the point of a pirate in a story in a landlocked region, and B) he thought Grant DaNasty was a dumb name.

 

[Xerxes82]

Just finished this. For what it was, a tiny handful of episodes covering more of prequel to the real story than the story itself, it was quite good. I love that they used Dracula's Curse as the basis for this, it's probably my second favorite Castlevania game ever (after Symphony of the Night, a masterpiece of videogaming).

The animation could definitely be better. Compare this to say, Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender and you can clearly see this isn't up to the same level. But holy hell is the voice cast amazing. Richard Armitage, always a favorite of mine, brings Trevor to life wonderfully. He's weary, beaten, angry and yet ultimately heroic. And James Callis does absolutely right by my favorite Castlevania character.

I'm already looking forward to the second season. Heard it will have 8 episodes instead of four. Hopefully that means we get a bit more story next time out.

 

[Kytee]

First I want to say thank you to the OP. I didn't even know this was a thing until I saw the thread.
Loved the video games ; Really loved the cartoon.

My biggest disappointment was the fact that it was only four episodes, I just hit play on the main screen of netflix so I didn't know until it ended . Is season 2 a go for sure ? I would love to see more of this.

I agree completely with @Xerxes82 regarding how well the voice acting for Trevor comes accross. So much is conveyed through tone and timing of his lines, bitterness, frustration, but ultimately heroic
I also like that they humanized Dracula a bit , as much as he is the big bad who must be stopped, we understand how he got there.
Cant wait for season 2.

 

[Booji]

Thanks to the OP for the heads up on this show. I absolutely loved it. The voice acting is fantastic. Well written with a good mix of action and humor. The bar room fight had me in tears. Really good set up for next season. Can't wait to see more of this.

 

[Captain Craig]

Castlevania was by far my favorite video game series on Nintendo. I almost bought the next Sega console(whatever it was) cause Castlevania IV was going to be exclusive to it. I got into college and other things absorbed my time/money....but I digress.

Four episodes at 22 min each is not what I'd call a season, even though they do, despite cable and summer network shows brining our expectations down over the years to accept 7-12 episodes as a season. Watching all 4 simultaneously is akin to watching a DDVD cartoon movie, its done inside 1.5hrs.

I enjoyed that they state Dracula has been Dracula before he falls in love and "walks like a man" for 50yrs. After his love is destroyed we met Trevor Belmont who I think was in Castlevania III. What this means is that flashbacks or a spinoff could include Simon Belmont from the earlier first games. Overall I was very pleased with this and look forward to the next 8, season 2.

This property has been ripe for a live action film/franchise for a number of reasons. The easiest and strongest is that Hollywood is usually always cycling through vampire ideas. I guess being a video game adaption though and their lack of box office success has made them shy to move forward. Perhaps now though....

 

[DBR]

I enjoyed it, but was super bummed when I realized there were only four episodes. Like how some shows roll out on Netflix, I assumed we'd be getting new episodes weekly or something.

 

[Xerxes82]

I enjoyed that they state Dracula has been Dracula before he falls in love and "walks like a man" for 50yrs. After his love is destroyed we met Trevor Belmont who I think was in Castlevania III. What this means is that flashbacks or a spinoff could include Simon Belmont from the earlier first games. Overall I was very pleased with this and look forward to the next 8, season 2.

More like a flashforward in that case. Simon comes 200 years after Trevor. Been out of the loop on Castlevania for a long time, and I know they've since rebooted the franchise (making Dracula a Belmont, because why not?), but I believe the chronology used to be Trevor (3 aka Dracula's Curse)>Christopher (from the Game Boy titles)>Simon (1 and 2, possibly 4?)>Richter battling Vlad from the late 1400's through the early 1800's. Because Caslevania reappears every 100 years for some reason I never understood.

 

[Booji]

Season 3 is being released March 5th. 10 episodes this season. Here's the poster...

https://collider.com/castlevania-season-3-release-date-netflix/