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Castlevania |OT| A miserable little pile of episodes - Netflix 7/7

Creamium

shut uuuuuuuuuuuuuuup
Was pretty good for a prologue, good thing we already have confirmation of an actual full season next. Fourth ep was by far the best,
loved the fight with Alucard but also the demon ambush with some classic CV tools.
Then as things finally kick into gear, we have to wait.

The voice acting was okay overall, but I felt like some voices and even sounds lacked a lot of impact.
Like how Drac doesn't sound that imposing when he's appearing as a huge fireball. Same with Trevor and Sypha falling down and her screams sounding kinda feint.

Could use some gifs though, like
Trevor whipping the eye out
 

Triz

Member
Putting on episode one with my 10 and 8 year old girls in the room may not have been the best idea...

they have to see this kind of violence at some point.
 
Honestly, this felt like a solid B.

This was very pulpy and thematic, but the biggest thing I have to applaud is that all of the leads in this production seemed to care. I mean, you don't make something this faithful to the original material (and deviating where it makes sense to) by accident.

Surprised there wasn't more mention of the demons scene with the bishop in the beginning of Episode 4. The whole thing with "Lies in the House of God?" coming from a demon was so good.

But I want more, and while this was a bit short, I totally get why it was. They wanted to see if these people could deliver. Now that they can, they get more. Totally looking forward to Season 2.
 

Moff

Member
Was pretty good for a prologue, good thing we already have confirmation of an actual full season next. Fourth ep was by far the best,
loved the fight with Alucard but also the demon ambush with some classic CV tools.
Then as things finally kick into gear, we have to wait.

The voice acting was okay overall, but I felt like some voices and even sounds lacked a lot of impact.
Like how Drac doesn't sound that imposing when he's appearing as a huge fireball. Same with Trevor and Sypha falling down and her screams sounding kinda feint.

Could use some gifs though, like
Trevor whipping the eye out

dvkW7y1.gif
 

sackninja

Member
Watched it all today. As someone who has never played any castlevania games I wasn't sure going in but figured it was only 4 short episodes so I might aswell. I was pleasntly suprised, there was a scene or two where the animation was rough, but for the most part it was great. The show was really interesting even without any knowledge of the source material and left me wanting more which is a good sign. I'd say this is a really solid b tier show, not one of the highlights of netflix that must be watched but a nice bonus that pads out the selection for the better.
 

CheckMate

Member
Just finished watching all and thought it was pretty fantastic.

It also reminded me that Castlevania too good to be in Konami's hands. A huge waste tbh.
 

Socivol

Member
After the first episode those people got what they deserved. Dracula told them they had a year and instead of listening they stayed.
 

Vaporak

Member
Well this looks interesting, glad to see some mature western animation. Unfortunate it's only a few episodes, but hopefully they're well made. Time to give it a watch.
 

Alienous

Member
What a tease.

That was great. I've never played a Castlevania game, and I have barely any knowledge of the franchise outside of 'Simon Belmont, Dracula, Alucard, Whip' but that was really engaging. Warren Ellis did a good job.

Other than the amount of episodes my only real complain is Trevor Belmont's
outfit after removing the cape/shawl looking much like
something out of Assassin's Creed.
 

Epcott

Member
Loved how they had
Sypha in stone and masquerading as a boy lol. The bit of clocktower after she joins him was also well done for the limited time they had. Was hoping they'd fight Drac, and season 2 would focus on Simon but I guess 4 episodes wouldn't be enough to reach that point.

If there's one thing I'm disappointed in, it's the lack of arranged score from the game. Loved everything else.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
I would honestly say his acting here is terrible at best.

Yeah, I like him as an actor but not as a voice actor. Thought all of the voice acting in this was pretty terrible. Some really lifeless line reads. Dracula was alright, I guess.
 

LeonSPBR

Member
Loved this. It was a tease, but it was an amazing one. Can't wait for S2.

The opening of the show was great as well (only showed on episode 1). Need to find that.
 

120v

Member
man... if a 15 year old me saw this my head would blow off. castlevania, badass fighting sequences, cursing, shitting on christianity, quality animation, true to source material. i'm honestly kind of shocked
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Yeah, I like him as an actor but not as a voice actor. Thought all of the voice acting in this was pretty terrible. Some really lifeless line reads. Dracula was alright, I guess.

Dracula came across as the worst to me. Said earlier, but while his animation is pure anger and brimstone swirling and sucking out the frame, his voice is but a limp whisper.

Better direction on that front was necessary.
 

Busaiku

Member
This was definitely underwhelming.
I thought the actors were fine, but the direction was terrible. This was the worst in the 4th episode.
The animation was also pretty bad, as was the choreography for the most part.

It was still ok, but I'm not eager to rewatch it.
 
That was incredible. I thought the voice acting was strong across the board. My only real complaint (besides 4 episodes) was there was a few moments of janky animation but the show sucked me in hard. I'm hoping this is a big hit and we can see more seasons that adapt the later games in the saga.
 
I really liked it. I felt it started off a bit rough, but by Ep 3 it was really getting into a groove. And Ep 4 is the strongest episode of the 4. Which is a real good sign. And I can't help but love that Ellis cynical snark for Trevor. Can't wait for more. Can't wait for more. And this series shows how good the castlevania universe can be if people just dig into it and show it in different ways.

And after watching this I now have an urge to play castlevania.....or a Souls game....or read Berserk
 
I chose this over fishing..... And I don't regret it lol. On episode 4 right now, half-way through the episode. Enjoying it so far tbh.
 

Sheroking

Member
Dracula came across as the worst to me. Said earlier, but while his animation is pure anger and brimstone swirling and sucking out the frame, his voice is but a limp whisper.

Better direction on that front was necessary.

It's clearly the direction that's off here.

I see that they're going for a more subtle approach, but every actor needs to a bit bigger here. Except Callis; I thought his Alucard was on point.
 

kogasu

Member
Just got finished watching it and I really enjoyed it. Lol had a bit of a Twitter explosion about it too haha.
https://twitter.com/Kogasu/status/883442535015829506

I basically say it was very unexpected how some of this was adapted, but it was still well done, and that there *are* some weaker areas, such as a bit of animation cheapness and some of the character development but that doesn't detract too much because it could be fixed in the future.

I was so hype watching the action scenes and seeing some of my favorite characters do "The cool guy/girl thing" too.
 

gun_haver

Member
Just watched this. I'm not an anime fan or a Castlevania fan but I've got a passing interest in both. This is my first Castlevania anything. I liked it! Got some questions and comments.

- Are the games similar in tone, atmosphere and/or story then? Cos this is my kind of thing, I always assumed Castlevania was way more goofy and arcadey in presentation.

- I like all of the characters so far, and I like the grim atmosphere and suggestion of a wider world than what we've seen. Feels like there could be a lot of stories in this world, although I suppose they are following the games apparently?

- Some people don't like the gore - I love it. This is a brutal story so it should be brutally presented and it is.

- I don't know why people are saying the voice acting is bad, I suppose it's a product of serving an established fanbase. The voice acting is clearly not bad, and some parts are actually quite good like the Demon talking to the Bishop. All the characters felt very distinct to me, too.

- I like how the whole first episode is about Dracula and his wife. I didn't know what to expect so I thought Dracula was the protagonist at first. I like how he's got his reason for hating humanity. Judging by what of humanity we have seen in these 4 episodes, I can see how somebody would.

- One thing I don't like is the comedy. Not that this shouldn't have some comic relief now and then, but I don't like the Buffy-style 'cut the dramatic tension with a one liner' stuff. It's outdated and embarrassing, and would be even if the lines were good, but most of them are clunkers as well. So I hope they tone that down OR come up with a better way to implmenet comic relief. Trevor being sarcastic is fine as a character trait, I just think they could express that better.

- Agreed that the music is kind of bland, although I wouldn't have thought about this if people hadn't pointed it out here. It is servicable but a good soundtrack would push this up another level so hopefully they either get a new composer for the next season or give this one a kick up the ass.
 
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