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

H

Host Samurai

Member
Watched a few minutes of it and like others have been saying, the first thing that popped in my mind was can Netflix please do Berserk?
 
O

orichalcos

Member
I saw today the complete first season.

It was awesome, but only 4 episodes?
When Alucard arrived, the season ended.
.. :( Season 2 in 2018... :(
 
X

Xe4

Banned
Yeah, the first episode for sure reminded me of Berserk. The others definitely were of a different tone. Still, I'd love for Netflix to give it a go.
 
D

duckroll

Member
Just finished it. I was kinda down on it after the first three episodes and I was so tired at the end of the week I dozed off after that. Finally finished the last episode after getting up, and overall I think I really liked it. There are definitely rough spots - the animation is inconsistent and some of it, especially the scenes of characters falling down in the final episode, are pretty bad. The humor isn't always great, lots of Ellis style tongue-in-cheek dialogue that can come off as just too tryhard or cheesy. But when it works it's pretty funny. The pacing feels pretty padded for what is basically the prologue of CV3. The voice direction kinda flat out sucks. It's not a problem with the casting, there just isn't much energy to it.

The good though? Pretty nice designs, the action and effects parts of the animation is ace, the opening is fantastic, and there's a lot of cool stuff when Trevor starts taking lead and just doing shit at the end instead of being a whining bum. Trevor vs Alucard in the final episode made the entire season worth watching lol. Can't wait for season two, goatfuckers!
 
W

wwm0nkey

Member
Razgriz-Specter said:
Hell after watching it i'd even rebuy
CastlevaniaHarmonyofDespair.png

if it was ported to PS4.
Click to expand...

It's a damn shame this isn't on current gen on PC. Great co-op Castlevania game
 
L

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion
Only watched the 1st episode so far, but it was interesting. I liked they put in some work on the fact that the Castle itself is special. Also like they have the "Dracula's Tower" designed onto it. His messages to the People of that town was also nicely done animation and design.
 
V

Volimar

Member
Anyone else laugh at all those candles in Dracula's castle? That's what I call keeping true to the source material.
 
I

InStrangerAeons

Member
I was upset at the abrupt ending but, you know what? It's a mark of a good piece of media if I crave more. I came in expecting a mediocre direct-to-video anime adaption in the vein of Halo Legends and Mass Effect: Paragon Lost but I was pleasantly surprised.

I also appreciate that they took the entire first episode to set up Dracula's motivation and making him sympathetic. Disappointed he didn't show up after that, though.
 
R

Rygar 8 Bit

Jaguar 64-bit
dont know why they went with weird generic bat monsters when they have a giant list of castlevania monsters they could of used they need to put a fleaman riding a harpy and at least one bone pillar somewhere to make up for it the only cool thing is they put in the cyclops boss from 3 although they changed him like crazy

also what the hell drop in some damn castleevania music in there what the hell is wrong with you


i still liked it
 
S

SpaceWolf

Banned
Volimar said:
Anyone else laugh at all those candles in Dracula's castle? That's what I call keeping true to the source material.
Click to expand...

Haha, I actually couldn't help but chuckle at the candles.

Does Dracula just go around, buying thousands of candles whilst planting them around the castle? Does he run around lighting them, only to inevitably repeat the process hours later when the candles eventually dissolve? Dude must really love his candles.
 
ACESmkII

ACESmkII

Member
Rygar 8 Bit said:
dont know why they went with weird generic bat monsters when they have a giant list of castlevania monsters they could of used they need to put a fleaman riding a harpy and at least one bone pillar somewhere to make up for it the only cool thing is they put in the cyclops boss from 3 although they changed him like crazy

also what the hell drop in some damn castleevania music in there what the hell is wrong with you


i still liked it
Click to expand...


This is really my only complaint as I thought it was very good but I really want to see some diversity in the enemies in season two. Skeletons, Mermen, Bone dragons, Axe Armors, Spear Knights, Medusa or at least her damn head flying around.

And please for the sake of the planet.. Please throw in some remixes of some of the classic music for the hardcore fans. Would love to hear some Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears or even an orchestral version of Poison Mind when fighting a major enemy would be excellent.
 
D

duckroll

Member
I liked the enemies in the first season. I mean, they're not even really in the castle-castle yet! Cyclops was really cool!
 
T

taco543

Member
just watched the first episode, and really enjoyed it. I'm actually quite surprised at the overall quality of it, and that english voice cast is actually really good.
 
K

kubev

Member
Razgriz-Specter said:
Hell after watching it i'd even rebuy
CastlevaniaHarmonyofDespair.png

if it was ported to PS4.
Click to expand...

Anyone else on here play this on PlayStation 3? I bought it a while back, but can't ever seem to find other players.

F0rneus said:
Hell. Yes. Reminds me I need to get Nova boots on PS3. Never got them there.
Click to expand...

Let me know if you're interested in playing online. All of my progress is on the Xbox 360 version, but I don't have an Xbox 360 anymore. I started playing the PlayStation 3 version from scratch recently.
 
R

Rygar 8 Bit

Jaguar 64-bit
duckroll said:
I liked the enemies in the first season. I mean, they're not even really in the castle-castle yet! Cyclops was really cool!
Click to expand...

when the castle rose from the city and the doors flung open man my hype meter would of exploded if castlevania monster came out ugh

ACESmkII said:
This is really my only complaint as I thought it was very good but I really want to see some diversity in the enemies in season two. Skeletons, Mermen, Bone dragons, Axe Armors, Spear Knights, Medusa or at least her damn head flying around.

And please for the sake of the planet.. Please throw in some remixes of some of the classic music for the hardcore fans. Would love to hear some Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears or even an orchestral version of Poison Mind when fighting a major enemy would be excellent.
Click to expand...

was listening to a poison mind remix as i was reading your post lol https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2godDTzp2k yeah they dropped the ball with the music
 
T

Tall4Life

Member
Just finished it... I'm not trolling here, I legitimately don't know what people see in this. Didn't like it all. Animation was poor, music was poor, story didn't really go anywhere besides just making fun of the Church. Pacing was absurdly slow, wasting an entire episode on
what was the prologue and then dragging out Trevor getting to Ghesti and acquiring his companions
. Fights were made worse by the poor animation, nothing terribly exciting for me there either.

Not a Castlevania fan at all so maybe this just isn't for me. I've only played/beaten Aria of Sorrow. Seemed like to me this was a
retelling of Castlevania 3
?

Either way I absolutely have no idea what you guys are seeing with this show. Even some of the more mediocre anime I've seen like Sailor Moon Crystal were more entertaining and better done than this.
 
H

higemaru

Member
Tall4Life said:
Just finished it... I'm not trolling here, I legitimately don't know what people see in this. Didn't like it all. Animation was poor, music was poor, story didn't really go anywhere besides just making fun of the Church. Pacing was absurdly slow, wasting an entire episode on what was the prologue and then dragging out Trevor getting to Ghesti and acquiring his companions. Fights were made worse by the poor animation, nothing terribly exciting for me there either.

Not a Castlevania fan at all so maybe this just isn't for me. I've only played/beaten Aria of Sorrow. Seemed like to me this was a retelling of Castlevania 3?

Either way I absolutely have no idea what you guys are seeing with this show. Even some of the more mediocre anime I've seen like Sailor Moon Crystal were more entertaining and better done than this.
Click to expand...
Yeah, this first season is a prologue that's basically made just for Castlevania fans. It's not prestige TV. I love Castlevania but even I was bored with it a little, I just didn't expect it to be as competent as it was. I'm eagerly awaiting the 2nd season though because I've been waiting for a Castlevania TV show/movie for like a decade nowm
 
K

kubev

Member
Tall4Life said:
Just finished it... I'm not trolling here, I legitimately don't know what people see in this. Didn't like it all. Animation was poor, music was poor, story didn't really go anywhere besides just making fun of the Church. Pacing was absurdly slow, wasting an entire episode on what was the prologue and then dragging out Trevor getting to Ghesti and acquiring his companions. Fights were made worse by the poor animation, nothing terribly exciting for me there either.

Not a Castlevania fan at all so maybe this just isn't for me. I've only played/beaten Aria of Sorrow. Seemed like to me this was a retelling of Castlevania 3?

Either way I absolutely have no idea what you guys are seeing with this show. Even some of the more mediocre anime I've seen like Sailor Moon Crystal were more entertaining and better done than this.
Click to expand...

I think it's surprisingly good for Castlevania content that isn't a video game. I remember reading some Castlevania comics years ago, and those were terrible. I'd actually kind of like to see more of a focus on creature designs in a Castlevania TV series. I've tried watching stuff like Everyday Life with Monster Girls and even Monster High, as I always like to see the monster designs, but man...what a waste of what I think could otherwise be interesting monsters and characters. I always find it interesting to read about various enemies in Castlevania games and what their origins are.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Just watched the first episode and I thought it was solid - but is the origin story retconned or part of contiguous canon?

I liked the idea of making
Tepes sympathetic but his wife literally walked through a vast forest of his anally impaled victims to ask for help learning antiseptic. So his "goodness" is highly questionable.

Best origin story for Drac is still the twist in Dracula 2000. Mind you I even took some enjoyment in Dracula Untold and really liked the 80s one with the evil dead Mina.


Edit: John Badham 1979 with Frank Langella as Dracula.
 
T

Tall4Life

Member
higemaru said:
Yeah, this first season is a prologue that's basically made just for Castlevania fans. It's not prestige TV. I love Castlevania but even I was bored with it a little, I just didn't expect it to be as competent as it was. I'm eagerly awaiting the 2nd season though because I've been waiting for a Castlevania TV show/movie for like a decade nowm
Click to expand...
That's fair. If the show becomes more complex in other facets like the story, character designs, enemies, etc. I might be more interested.

And I can definitely understand that it's good seeing at least something decent from your favorite franchise, lol
 
N

Narpas Sword0

Member
duckroll said:
Just finished it. I was kinda down on it after the first three episodes and I was so tired at the end of the week I dozed off after that. Finally finished the last episode after getting up, and overall I think I really liked it. There are definitely rough spots - the animation is inconsistent and some of it, especially the scenes of characters falling down in the final episode, are pretty bad. The humor isn't always great, lots of Ellis style tongue-in-cheek dialogue that can come off as just too tryhard or cheesy. But when it works it's pretty funny. The pacing feels pretty padded for what is basically the prologue of CV3. The voice direction kinda flat out sucks. It's not a problem with the casting, there just isn't much energy to it.

The good though? Pretty nice designs, the action and effects parts of the animation is ace, the opening is fantastic, and there's a lot of cool stuff when Trevor starts taking lead and just doing shit at the end instead of being a whining bum.
Trevor vs Alucard in the final episode made the entire season worth watching lol.
Can't wait for season two, goatfuckers!
Click to expand...

I came into this topic because the OP said that all spoilers were be marked. Guess I should have known better.

(I added the tags myself in the quote)
 
M

Miles Quaritch

Member
duckroll said:
Just finished it. I was kinda down on it after the first three episodes and I was so tired at the end of the week I dozed off after that. Finally finished the last episode after getting up, and overall I think I really liked it. There are definitely rough spots - the animation is inconsistent and some of it, especially the scenes of characters falling down in the final episode, are pretty bad. The humor isn't always great, lots of Ellis style tongue-in-cheek dialogue that can come off as just too tryhard or cheesy. But when it works it's pretty funny. The pacing feels pretty padded for what is basically the prologue of CV3. The voice direction kinda flat out sucks. It's not a problem with the casting, there just isn't much energy to it.

The good though? Pretty nice designs, the action and effects parts of the animation is ace, the opening is fantastic, and there's a lot of cool stuff when Trevor starts taking lead and just doing shit at the end instead of being a whining bum. Trevor vs Alucard in the final episode made the entire season worth watching lol. Can't wait for season two, goatfuckers!
Click to expand...

Would you recommend it to someone who has only a passing interest in all things Castlevania?

That's an open question, so please do let me know your thoughts. I know it's only 2hrs, but that's two hours I could spend watching something else.
 
S

SpaceWolf

Banned
Miles Quaritch said:
Would you recommend it to someone who has only a passing interest in all things Castlevania?

That's an open question, so please do let me know your thoughts. I know it's only 2hrs, but that's two hours I could spend watching something else.
Click to expand...

I had no interest in Castlevania at all (never played the games) and I loved this.
 
M

McNum

Member
Miles Quaritch said:
Would you recommend it to someone who has only a passing interest in all things Castlevania?

That's an open question, so please do let me know your thoughts. I know it's only 2hrs, but that's two hours I could spend watching something else.
Click to expand...
I only have a passing interest in Castlevania. Played some Symphony of the Night and thought "Neat, but not my kind of game, I guess..." about it. And I enjoyed these four episodes.

So I say go for it. If you after having watched the first episode don't really feel it, you probably won't like the rest. But if you do like the first, binge away!
 
G

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Narpas Sword0 said:
I came into this topic because the OP said that all spoilers were be marked. Guess I should have known better.

(I added the tags myself in the quote)
Click to expand...

I mean, I can't control what people post. :p


Just watched the first episode and I liked it.
 
A

Ahasverus

Member
I have some doubts.
I didn't really get why Alucard was in slumber. They said he was such for 100 years but her mother only died last year and he talked with Dracula just after.

Edit: Just had to wait 5 more minutes.
 
P

PuppetSlave

Member
Well the final episode was a quite a bit better then the first three but I basically forced myself watching the whole thing. Did not really feel it.

Still, the whole thing felt like an intro. Maybe the second season will have better pacing.
 
S

SpaceWolf

Banned
Ahasverus said:
I have some doubts.
I didn't really get why Alucard was in slumber. They said he was such for 100 years but her mother only died last year and he talked with Dracula just after.
Click to expand...

He explained this: he needed to heal after Dracula cut through him like butter.
 
R

Rygar 8 Bit

Jaguar 64-bit
Ahasverus said:
I have some doubts.
I didn't really get why Alucard was in slumber. They said he was such for 100 years but her mother only died last year and he talked with Dracula just after.
Click to expand...

they asked him how long he was asleep for when they woke him up and he said about 1 year
 
S

Slater

Banned
Ahasverus said:
I have some doubts.
I didn't really get why Alucard was in slumber. They said he was such for 100 years but her mother only died last year and he talked with Dracula just after.
Click to expand...
Uh what?
Alucard literally says he was only sleeping for a year? To recover from the wounds Drac gave him. How on earth did you miss that?
 
M

Maiar_m

Member
Damn when Netflix told me "Next episode: Season Finale" I thought there was a glitch.

There wasn't.

SUCH. A. TEASE.
 
M

Miles Quaritch

Member
Razgriz-Specter said:
I definitely would.
Click to expand...

SpaceWolf said:
I had no interest in Castlevania at all (never played the games) and I loved this.
Click to expand...

McNum said:
I only have a passing interest in Castlevania. Played some Symphony of the Night and thought "Neat, but not my kind of game, I guess..." about it. And I enjoyed these four episodes.

So I say go for it. If you after having watched the first episode don't really feel it, you probably won't like the rest. But if you do like the first, binge away!
Click to expand...

That's part of my evening sorted.

Cheers for the responses.
 
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