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

So was this just some animated movie that netflix picked up later and is now making it into a series? The episode count and quick renewal seems to indicate this was not planned out from the start as a show
 
So was this just some animated movie that netflix picked up later and is now making it into a series? The episode count and quick renewal seems to indicate this was not planned out from the start as a show
There wasn't a quick renewal. The original announcement was for season 1 and 2, they have been working on Season 2 for a while now.
 

Drake

Member
Just finished it. Absolutely LOVED it. The only complaint I have is the music. Netflix really needs to get on Konami to secure the rights the all the classic Castlevania songs. Image some of those fight scenes with Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, or Simon's Theme playing.
 
So was this just some animated movie that netflix picked up later and is now making it into a series? The episode count and quick renewal seems to indicate this was not planned out from the start as a show
Did we see the same show? Did you see how it ended? There's no way this wasn't planned to have another season.
 
Just finished it. Absolutely LOVED it. The only complaint I have is the music. Netflix really needs to get on Konami to secure the rights the all the classic Castlevania songs. Image some of those fight scenes with Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, or Simon's Theme playing.

Yeah I was really hoping to hear at least one on the final episode. I'm sure they'll go for it since it seems like it's performed well enough.
 

LowParry

Member
Just finished the last episode. Dear lord. I need me more. This is really really good. Only complain is some of the lines that come out are spoken too soft or at times, out of place. But overall, really really good.
 

Alucard

Banned
The idea for this series apparently goes back to like 2005.

Also, I love the moral complexity of pretty much every character in the series. There are a lot of intriguing and very human polarizations:

-belief in humanity vs. belief in individuality (Dracula)
-science vs. religion/mysticism (Lisa)
-duty vs. freedom (Trevor)
-power/arrogance vs. humility (bishop)
-justice vs. gamily loyalty (Alucard)

Ellis knows the secrets of storytelling and the importance of having polar opposite views clash to make for engaging storytelling.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
There wasn't a quick renewal. The original announcement was for season 1 and 2, they have been working on Season 2 for a while now.

Actually, the original announcement was S1 part 1 and S1 part 2. They took part 2 and turned it into S2.
 

Fury451

Banned
LIked this, but being in series format with only four 23 minute episodes or so was a weird choice.

It would've worked better as a short pilot movie. ALso the budget clearly was low and what was there at least went to the action more than anything. The rest was a bit iffy to say the least.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
The entire concept is like 10+ years old.

Which makes sense. There is like no act structure in the episodes. Stuff just happens. You can immediately tell it was written as a longer story and cut into pieces. Like Ep 4 Spoiler:
When Alucard chastises Trevor for the nut shot, saying "This isn't a bar fight." Perfectly acceptable callback in a movie, but really weird for a show to reference a small moment like that from two episodes ago.

I think that's why I had a more negative response to this, the pacing was a constant irritant for me. It took 80 mins for a setup that could've been done in half that time. It's a nice little taste test, but hopefully the next seasons' structure fits the format.
 

Alucard

Banned
So.... who is dusting off the Vita to play some SotN?

PS2 for me. And listening to a lot of CV music today.

Also finally started playing Dawn of Sorrow for the DS. Never played it and had it sitting on my shelf for at least seven years now. Also intend to replay Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia.
 
Loved it, watched it all in one sitting, which I hate doing as I like to take my time and look forward to the next ep (planned one a night). Great set up to season 2 as well. My only exposure was the 360 title (called lord of shadow I think), and never git to play the 2nd outside a demo. Made me want to go back and try one. What's a good one to try on either ps4,Vita or 3ds?
 

thefro

Member
Pretty great, but I'd like some more hints at Castlevania tunes in the OST (there was a little from SCIV in the first episode).

Finished the season; the Ellis-isms were strong but it was fun and super solid.

#BringBackGrant
#GrantDanastyLives

Agreed, hopefully they meet him along the way.
 

IronRinn

Member
I don't know if I never knew or just forgot that Adi Shankar was involved but I shouldn't have been surprised. Seems like his kind of joint.

I liked it and wish there had been more. Looking forward to a second season.

Was waiting for Grant to show up. Maybe next season?
 
Trevor Belmont is such a Warren Ellis character that I was half hoping he would start shooting heroin into his eyeballs at some point.

Loved this. I hope Ellis sticks around.
 

caliph95

Member
Which makes sense. There is like no act structure in the episodes. Stuff just happens. You can immediately tell it was written as a longer story and cut into pieces. Like Ep 4 Spoiler:
When Alucard chastises Trevor for the nut shot, saying "This isn't a bar fight." Perfectly acceptable callback in a movie, but really weird for a show to reference a small moment like that from two episodes ago.

I think that's why I had a more negative response to this, the pacing was a constant irritant for me. It took 80 mins for a setup that could've been done in half that time. It's a nice little taste test, but hopefully the next seasons' structure fits the format.
I agree the pace of the show could have been alot faster like some one said it feels like it was supposed to be a movie that was changed into a pilot
 

Shredderi

Member
I can't be the only one who got kind of Berserk vibes from this at times with all the gore and everything. Just made me want properly made Berserk anime even more.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
I hope this series opens the door for more video game adaptations.

A gore-ific take on Contra would be entertaining. I can just imagine all the badass weapon switching and all the glorious visuals of aliens being blown apart.
 
That was very enjoyable, but what a way to end this season...

When can we expect season 2?

Some slight criticisms, I felt they could have told this story in just two episodes, lots of needless padding. They also could have focused more on Dracula and his relationship, that aspect felt really rushed with how much time they waste on other, less relevant stuff.
 

JCG

Member
Like others here, I was quite pleasantly surprised by this production. I've never been a hardcore Castlevania fan, just a casual one, but I felt this captured the right mood for the story. My only real complaints would be that either the voice direction or the audio mixing could have been tweaked in certain scenes. They did a good job in terms of combining material from the games with new connecting tissue without attempting to be a slavish adaptation.

Speaking of which...it's interesting to look back at what Warren Ellis himself was saying about this project several years ago.

The film is, of course, set in Wallachia in 1476. We've worked with Koji Igarashi to get the film solidly inside the Castlevania timeline, and he's approved everything I came up with, including some new embroidering to the timeline. To make it work as a film, I had to introduce new backstory, and I went through five drafts of the premise and three of the full outline to get the material where IGA wanted it. He remains absolutely passionate about Castlevania. After eight rewrites of pre-production material, I remain absolutely passionate about beating the crap out of IGA in a dark alleyway one day.

So what, in real terms, does an 80-minute runtime mean? It's a third of THE GODFATHER II. Half a SPIDER-MAN 3. The shortest cut of Woo's THE KILLER is still a hundred minutes or so. It's a hair under two episodes of a standard American network tv drama.

That's not a whole hell of a lot. And while I could have gone balls-out and crammed the beats of the source material into the film, going from introducing Trevor to beating Dracula inside 80 minutes... I don't think it would have made a very good film. In fact, what I found was that stopping a third of the way in, while obviously not telling the entire story within the source material, actually made a better film. Trevor to Sypha to Alucard carries a solid classical three-act structure, in fact, with actual resolution at the end. It's a self-contained film. The film obviously has the intention of a sequel, but doesn't require it to be a whole thing: it resolves its own plots and themes.

As I said before, all the changes and new stuff (including new characters like the Bishop of Gresit) have been approved by IGA. This also covers a new background for Sypha. I knew going in that I wanted to weave a richer backdrop for the story, essential for verisimilitude if you're writing something set in a near-Dark Ages feudal society, which is also defined by its clans, tribes, houses and peoples.

There's more available here:

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/0...is-wrote-castlevania-animation-ten-years-ago/
 

Wallach

Member
It has some pretty overt signs of being a "test run" type of project, but overall I thought it was a decent watch and would definitely be interested in some more episodes that had more time to better build a proper narrative. The voice acting in particular I thought was pretty good and a big step up from the traditional anime English dub garbage.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
I hope this series opens the door for more video game adaptations.

A gore-ific take on Contra would be entertaining. I can just imagine all the badass weapon switching and all the glorious visuals of aliens being blown apart.

They are turning Assassin’s Creed into an animated series.
 
I can't be the only one who got kind of Berserk vibes from this at times with all the gore and everything. Just made me want properly made Berserk anime even more.

The backgrounds, atmosphere and gorey scenes do invoke a bit of Berserk. The more brutal scenes wouldn't have surprised me if Guts was hanging around in the background.
Ugh, if only Netflix could greenlight a Berserk show. I'd take 3 well polished episodes a year than what is currently available.
 

Fury451

Banned
Going off the first episode, the dialogue is horrible

Maybe it improves in the later episodes

I mean dialogue in the games isn't exactly poetry either. It's clunky and ham-fisted and melodramatic, which is perfectly in line.

That said,there's a few clunkers even then.
 

Shredderi

Member
The backgrounds, atmosphere and gorey scenes do invoke a bit of Berserk. The more brutal scenes wouldn't have surprised me if Guts was hanging around in the background.
Ugh, if only Netflix could greenlight a Berserk show. I'd take 3 well polished episodes a year than what is currently available.

Make that fucking one episode a year and you'd still have a deal. The new show is absolute garbage.
 

JCG

Member
I mean dialogue in the games isn't exactly poetry either. It's clunky and ham-fisted and melodramatic, which is perfectly in line.

That said,there's a few clunkers even then.

It's not the sort of dialogue that would earn an Emmy award or anything, but I think it worked for these characters and matches the whole "dark medieval world yet also kind of campy horror" vibe of the games. I did occasionally chuckle at some lines, for what it's worth, so that's a plus.
 

bionic77

Member
Is this the best adaption of a videogame to film or tv?

Felt like it.

It was the only one that I have seen that felt like it was true to the games that inspired it.
 

cj_iwakura

Member
PS2 for me. And listening to a lot of CV music today.

Also finally started playing Dawn of Sorrow for the DS. Never played it and had it sitting on my shelf for at least seven years now. Also intend to replay Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia.
PS3 here. I still need to finish Ecclesia...
 

Eumi

Member
Just finished it. That's a pretty damn good Castlevania animated show.

It's very different tonally, but it works. Castlevania with a hard edge is actually a really interesting story it turns out.

I especially like Trevor's portrayal as a tired edgelord. The show is self aware enough to know that he's kinda this awkward loser but still indulges in the anti-hero badass persona when it can get a good scene out of it.

The action scenes were slick, and felt very Castlevania. You can see the moments where they're incorporating the sub weapons but it always felt natural. That last fight was especially fun, and really makes me excited for the inevitable Dracula fight. The creative uses of each character's powers bode well.

Only thing that really bothered me (aside from problems arising from its shorter length) was the voice acting being a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of minor characters weren't really doing it for me, but that's balanced out somewhat by one our two very good scenes. The voice acting was oddly strong at having characters sound natural, like they were real people talking. They could (and I really expected they would) have hammed it up but they actually went for very subdued delivery for a lot of scenes. The bishop was especially notable here, with how he almost whispers a lot of lines. It stuck out to me at least. Of course, on the other end of the spectrum more frantic scenes were lacking. Trevor especially just couldn't seem to get panicked down right, he was always just grunting when he really should be yelling.

Overall though a really damn promising start. I hope the show remains set in the wider world, as I'd love to see this cast travel around, but it'd be way too easy to just coop them up in dracs castle for the next season or two, so I guess we'll have to wait and see where this goes.
 

Xe4

Banned
Is this the best adaption of a videogame to film or tv?

Felt like it.

It was the only one that I have seen that felt like it was true to the games that inspired it.

That's my opinion as well. At least, I can't think of anything that's better. As you said, respecting the source material goes a long way.
 
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