"Killing you was the point. Living through it is just a luxury."

TV Review 039

Castlevania

 KONAMI  x NETFLIX

[July 7th]

over 80%  despite the bareness of the plot, the bloody action makes up for it!

a case for the short but sweet debut of a solid game adaptation:

Netflix has been making their own original contents for awhile now and has been increasing the quantity as well as quantity year after year. Following up on a successful reboot of Voltron with Legendary Defender, the streaming platform took a calculated risk by diving into the toxic world of game adaptation with a collaboration with producer Adi Shankar of Power/Rangers Unauthorized fame and famed comic book writer Warren Ellis, the end result proven to be a risk well taken.

Going in knowing that it is a short four episodes with the duration under 25 minutes each, I could deduce that this is more or less a trial run to gauge the audience's feedback to their current trajectory and my final conclusion is I am definitely hooked and would love to see how their journey together would go after this. Regarding the show itself, playing in that small and restricted timeframe is a tricky situation to be in but mostly they did a tremendous job in bringing the world of 15th century Wallachia to life albeit with the clouds of Castlevania hanging over every inch of the region. With the architecture of the grand church (its specific name eluded me) and the small houses and villages definitely added to the authenticity, how the citizens look and act play a vital part in letting you believe in the world and their particular viewpoint that proved to be the catalyst of the event that start this apocalypse on the earth.

Inspired by the concept arts for Symphony of the Night game, the show is heavily stylized for the better and would not look out of place in the current climate of anime in the Land of the Rising Sun but despite the heavy influence of that particular style of animation, the voice overs with authentic and realistic accents provide the best accompaniment for the rich visuals especially the standout Richard Armitage leading the series as the reluctant hero Trevor Belmont. The blood and gore is synonymous with the franchise and was brought to 'life' in all its red glory but some might view them as unwarranted because of how the story is told as a whole.

By only skimming on the surface without delving into the lore or learning more of the characters and their motivations, just letting the scenes breathe and letting the audiences filling in the blanks themselves have its own pros and cons. If you couldn't get into the rhythm right away, you might feel when Dracula turned against the people's uneducated action in the opening of the season (I would try not to spoil as best as I can) that it's too sudden and unearned but I believe the attention given to other parts of the storyline was justified in the end. Focusing on the destination instead of the journey, the show showcases the effects of his wrath upon the land and its inhabitants and it's all the better for it.

Despite the aforementioned shortcomings, the people behind the project certainly know the property inside and out since there a lot of instances and traits from the original series being surprisingly recreated and represented i.e. boss fight and platforming. The character progression is slow and steady but when push comes to shove, the protagonist's abilities shines through each wonderful action scenes against plethora of enemies that would make us looking forward to see how the team up would look like as they work together to fight through the Dracula's castle, hopefully in the eight (doubled!) episode of the second season.

 Watch the series for an adept game adaptation full of mysticism and magic but be mindful of the violence since this is more adult-oriented that other animations. With Assassin's Creed is next on the line for the studio to tackle on, I hope there would be more substance than just style such as last year's glossy but empty live action adaptation.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night concept artwork, the inspiration for the show's anime style.

+ Highlights +

beautifully animated with anime styling and great voice overs, the emotional downtime interspersed with action sequences full of magic and mysticism,

~

a step in the right direction for a game to movie or television show adaption!

? Main contention ?

having only laying down the foundation, they could now follow through the main storyline of Castlevania III with the main members all in position to face the ultimate foe, Dracula.

- Lowlights -

way too short of a season, leaving us wanting more!

~

focus on different parts of the storyline & not delving that much into the main antagonist's backstory.

- Synopsis -

A vampire hunter fights to save a besieged city from an army of otherworldly creatures controlled by Dracula.

- IMDb - wiki - wikia -

Cast

Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont, James Callis as Alucard, Alejandra Reynoso as Sypha Belnades ...

(Producer - Adi Shankar [Dirty Laundry, Power/Rangers U.], Genre - Action, Adventure, Dracula, Fantasy)

source: arstechnica & Collider

- x -