-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Castlevania |OT| A miserable little pile of episodes - Netflix 7/7
- Thread starter GK86
- Start date
The Omega Man
Member
I am going to translate a post a friend of mine posted on his facebook.
Disclaimer: I haven't watched it yet so I just wanted to know if his claims/critiques hold some weight or if he is just delusional/too nick picky.
So, is my friend dead inside GAF?, should I still watch this show?
Disclaimer: I haven't watched it yet so I just wanted to know if his claims/critiques hold some weight or if he is just delusional/too nick picky.
So, is my friend dead inside GAF?, should I still watch this show?
Naah, with only 4 episodes they barely scratch the surface.
It felt like just a prologue
Seductivpancakes
Member
I would be lying if I said wasn't screaming "Where's Axe Knight?".
His criticisms have been stated in this thread already. The bland music and the generic demons/monsters. However, that didn't stop people from enjoying the series. Even from people that consider themselves to be huge fans of the show.
If you have a passing interesting in the series/anime/fantasy, watch it. At most, you lose an hour and twenty minutes of your time.
If you have a passing interesting in the series/anime/fantasy, watch it. At most, you lose an hour and twenty minutes of your time.
It's definitely worth a watch, despite what your friend has mentioned. To be honest, I'm glad that this show was pretty conservative for the fan-service. And even when it happened, it was done in moderation without ruining the pace for the show.
Some people want slavish recreations which I don't think would work for adapting games with minimal story and characterization. They filled in the blanks and while some people seem to not like the scenes in between all the gore and fighting I enjoyed them and thought it fleshed out the world and gave everything time to breath. I feel some people might get over it once the second season is out and we have the "entire" story as these first 4 episodes are basically the first third and set up for a larger arc.
they're saving all the axe knights for the corridor before Death, clearly
and that's all sort of nit picky, it was 4 episodes to establish backstory that prettymuch had nothing more than an opening crawl in a video game intro screen. i'm sure they will touch upon plenty of monsters when they're inside the castle
i thought it was a pretty cool way to introduce everyone. it was not perfect, some of the dialogue was a bit meh, it moved pretty fast but it did only have 4 episodes to basically get halfway through castlevania 3. i think it's great and super promising and i liked it a lot, can't wait to see more
will agree with music gripes, but i have high hopes
and that's all sort of nit picky, it was 4 episodes to establish backstory that prettymuch had nothing more than an opening crawl in a video game intro screen. i'm sure they will touch upon plenty of monsters when they're inside the castle
i thought it was a pretty cool way to introduce everyone. it was not perfect, some of the dialogue was a bit meh, it moved pretty fast but it did only have 4 episodes to basically get halfway through castlevania 3. i think it's great and super promising and i liked it a lot, can't wait to see more
will agree with music gripes, but i have high hopes
sounds like he was expecting "hey guys, remember castlevania? that was cool huh"
there's no fan service or callbacks, and wouldn't even say it's particularly for fans. it just uses the games as a broad strokes format to tell the story of a banished lineage, dracula wreaking havoc, ect... and it does it quite well IMO
I wouldn't say that. There were a ton of call backs to the games like the constant use of classic sub weapons like throwing holy water and daggers but from a variety of games like Lisa being mostly from Symphony of the Night.
All Possible Ways
Member
Damn this is so good. It had no right to be this good. Monsters explode and catch on fire when whipped, and I couldn't ask for more, but it has great animation and dialogue on top of it. Can't wait for the rest!
I would say he's just misguided, personally. Yes, the background music wasn't anything special but, to be honest, I don't think it would have necessarily been a great idea to just include all of the music from the games. That could have been too distracting and not always appropriate for the mood they were trying to establish. Even so, perhaps a small homage or two will show up in later episodes.
Regarding the monsters, I thought it was actually quite nice to see the cyclops this time around and we will likely see other creatures later on, but I can understand why the animation staff might have wanted to be conservative in this respect during an early part of the story. Not to mention that one or two of the new demon designs looked pretty cool.
Beyond that, I think the production still does a better job in terms of crafting an actual narrative, albeit an incomplete one thus far, than most of the games. There's multiple conflicts and themes going on that can be tied together in interesting ways while still touching on the main events of Castlevania III.
right. but that stuff's pretty functional in the story and worldbuilding.
i'm guessing there's a contingent who came in expecting trevor slashing candles to some heavy metal rendition of Bloody Tears or whatever. more on-the-nose easter eggy stuff
Well yeah. I'm glad he wasn't whipping candles for items but seeing at how crazy the whip tricks were I wouldn't mind if in the future Trevor grabbed a wall mounted candle holder with his whip, rips it off and smashes it into some demons face.
Astral Dog
Member
I fucking love Castlevania and i like this show.
Can only say this: its an adaption, that takes lots of liberties for the sake of the themes its trying to tell, would i have liked to see more demons and classic monsters? Of course, but what they do here is beyond what they do in any of the games: they are a constant threat and create tension.they speak, kill villagers and destroy churches.
And as an adaption to another medium Castlevania TV is fairly successful, no it doesn't copy paste music and monsters from the games without a porpuse.its clearly another vision from the classics and IGA games, but it works and is respectful to the source material, and thats what really matters for now, lets bring the next season.
KojiKnight
Member
A lot of the bishop stuff was wasted filler, and we really didn't need a ton of the reiteration on the plight of the Belmonts. Once was enough, twice was a little excessive... But there were no fewer than 5 times it's mentioned in 4 episodes.
Okay maybe I'll watch the second episode
I don't really agree on the Bishop. His role was not that subtle or original but I felt it easily fit into the idea of a world where the Vampires aren't really the worst thing out there and played off the excommunicated and not at all pious Trevor. That and of course his literal connection to the Dracula stuff.
Astral Dog
Member
I agree that bar scene was ridiculous
i know they don't have much to work from the games but hope next season somehow gets clever with the character motivations i fear Dracula will be too static as well (just like the games!).And yeah the bishop had his role to play, hope he comes back somehow
Lokimaru
Member
When Alucard showed up I felt like One Wing Angel should have started playing.
At first I thought the Bishop was going to turn out to be The Dark Priest Shaft but then he got
I agree that bar scene was ridiculous
And yeah the bishop had his role to play, hope he comes back somehow
At first I thought the Bishop was going to turn out to be The Dark Priest Shaft but then he got
munched on like a Wendy's burger.
I hope he makes the transformation into Shaft and his zealotry is then applied to a cult dedicated to resurrecting Dracula in a future season for another Belmont to face off with.
They seem to be going the Vampire Hunter D route where Vampires have been around for a very very long time, maybe even longer than humanity and have all kinds of incredibly magic and technology.
Lokimaru
Member
Well Satan literally mean The Adversary so...
Considering it was written as an English movie it's sorta funny to hear this being assorted with most dubs in a way.
Now for the show, I liked it, it did everything it needed too. I liked how it was done, I didn't find any language or blood to be too much, seemed rather apt. Only downsides was the music and we got to wait a year as people said.
Where Grant is concerned, eh we don't really need him. Or to speak in NES tones.....Trevor took a different route.
KojiKnight
Member
He's clearly a setup for season 2... But here's the thing, there was no guarantee of a second season and in just 4 episodes he really accomplished very little.
Remove the scene where he tells Trevor to leave town since it literally gives us no new information and feels very out of character for him anyways. Remove the sheep fucker scenes in the first episode. Condense the scenes with the seekers. Release the remaining as a single movie instead of a 4 part pilot series. You'd have a much better paced series, and you could still keep the Bishop with enough attention given that he wouldn't be a surprise when he's brought back in season 2 where he could really be fleshed out.
They are getting a season 2, its already announced. That said I enjoyed the fact the series gave itself some time to breath, I didn't find the pacing that slow and enjoyed the bar scene a lot more than others here. Its classic Ellis and I didn't mind it because it resulted in some funny lines and gave us a decent idea of who Trevor was.
I really liked how the Bishop and how the Church was portrayed. They were believers in what they taught and didn't back down, sadly like so many religions some people become devoted zealots to the point of not being reasonable. The Bishop was one of these people, he could never fault himself or the Church, he truly believed what he did and said was true.
That makes the best kind of villain.
That makes the best kind of villain.
Astral Dog
Member
Out of character? He is a power hungry zealot. The pope didn't seem too much of a nice person either.the point was establishing the next scene with the villagers coming to kill them and Trevor moving the oracles, the Bishop then was visited by the demons .
There was only the small scene were the demon dragged his corse ojt but then it was killed too so who knows.
Second season has been announced and it is even in the OP.
It's written by Warren Ellis, it's fantastic.
I imagine that's also why it's only 4 episodes. Warren Ellis is an amazing talent but he's *slow as fuck*, I wouldn't be surprised if they had 12 episodes planned and it took him this long just to get 4 done.
As someone who played Diablo 3 a lot I have no clue what you're talking about. Dracula wasn't ranting at Belmont through a floating head the entire game like he had nothing better to do and the writing was nowhere on the tier of that game.
wow rude
you cant just compare writers to chris metzen like that, that's not very nice
KojiKnight
Member
"there is a season 2"
There wasn't when they were producing the series. How long do you think animation takes to make?
Sorry, i wasn't being clear. It was out of character to have Belmont come to the church and tell him to just leave in the same breath he's talking about murdering the seekers. There is zero reason for him to try and make nice with Trevor.
They always established the villagers were coming for the seekers. Trevor already overheard the villagers were going after them at sundown, hence him telling the be seekers to leave the ENTIRE episode before hand.
There wasn't when they were producing the series. How long do you think animation takes to make?
Sorry, i wasn't being clear. It was out of character to have Belmont come to the church and tell him to just leave in the same breath he's talking about murdering the seekers. There is zero reason for him to try and make nice with Trevor.
They always established the villagers were coming for the seekers. Trevor already overheard the villagers were going after them at sundown, hence him telling the be seekers to leave the ENTIRE episode before hand.
It needs to be written first. Ellis tends to have quite a few things going on.
They talk about writing the story and the whole thing was mapped out beyond the initial 4 episodes. The first season is basically the first third of a larger story and I feel when the second season episodes release the entire thing will work much better as a whole. What we got was set up , charter basics, world building, exposition, etc. Its the build up for what will be the meat and potatoes of the story in the following 8 episodes.
KojiKnight
Member
But it comes at the cost of pacing when you don't know (again, at the original time of writing) if there will any more produced. It was a poor decision on the director's part. Too much ground was repeated, too much was drawn out. I'm not saying replace that time with action scenes, I'm talking simply removing redundant scenes to improve pacing.
By all means, hint at more for the Bishop... But don't force additional screentime on him repeating things we already know (Belmonts excommunicated, villagers going to attack the seekers by nightfall)
Before S2 was announced, this was planned as S1 part 1 (what we have now) and down the line S1 part 2.
Voice recordings were literally finished last week. Season 2 is a thing.
T
thepotatoman
Unconfirmed Member
For some reason I was envisioning a saturday morning cartoon when this was announced, not a dark and gritty anime.
Dark and gritty anime makes a lot more sense, and I like the first episode, but I still want to see what a saturday morning cartoon version would look like.
Dark and gritty anime makes a lot more sense, and I like the first episode, but I still want to see what a saturday morning cartoon version would look like.
Well I disagree with your take on the Bishop in general and enjoyed most scenes with his and thought the demon scene was one of the best in the show. I'm not even talking about him being used in the rest of this season but what he did in the first 4 episodes. Then again I had no major issues with the pacing in general.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
This was designed as 3 animated movies 10 years ago.
The moment the Netflix thing came up there was already a 2nd season confirmed.
Only real news was a bump from 4 to 8 episodes recently.