The series was originally planned as a direct-to-video movie back in 2007, but entered development hell until around 2015, when it was picked up by the streaming service Netflix. Over the years the script had morphed from a movie to a trilogy and a proposed live-action production. Netflix allowed the writers to keep the original 2007 script and the team worked closely with Konami, who helped to identify continuity issues. The show drew visual inspiration from Ayami Kojima's artwork, particularly Symphony of the Night, and used a production staff consisting of members with experience in the Japanese animation industry.
Opening Song: Main Theme (by Trevor Morris)
Credits Song: Let Me Kiss You (by Trevor Morris)
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis of each episode and my opinions at the very end.
Episode 1: Witchbottle
Set in Wallachia during the year 1455, a woman approaches a castle in a scene clearly meant to pay homage to the real life Vlad the Impaler. The woman introduces herself as Lisa to the master of the castle, a vampire named Count Dracula Vlad Ţepeş, and asks that he teach her how to become a doctor. Lisa insists that she wants nothing to do with the herbalists and witches of her village because she wants to learn science and real medicine. In return, she offers to restore Dracula's trust in humans. Intrigued, Dracula accepts her offer.
"They wont live such short, scared lives if they have real medicine. They won't be so superstitious if they learn how the world really works. Start with me." -Lisa
Twenty years later, Dracula travels to the Lupu village to visit Lisa (now his wife) at her home, but finds the residence burned to the ground. A single mourner informs him that Lisa was accused of witchcraft by the Bishop (possibly inspired by Edmund Bonner) and burned at the stake. Lisa had pleaded for Dracula to "be better than them" as she burned, but her death only reignited Dracula's hatred for humanity. He manifests before the crowd and gives them one year to make peace with themselves before he takes "everything they love".
"I saw them with my own eyes. Glass thin as paper. Lightning. Strange tools and weeds. She couldn't see that it was all given to her by Satan." -Bishop
Alucard, the son of Dracula and Lisa, tries to stop his father by suggesting he find the person responsible for her death instead of committing genocide. However, Dracula insists that all of humanity is to blame because not one person tried to stop it.
"If you loose an army of the night on Wallachia, you cannot undo it, and many thousands of people just as innocent as her will suffer and die." -Alucard
One year later, the faithful gather to hear the archbishop's encouragement and opinion that the love of God is as strong with them as ever; the "Devil's works are nothing but illusions" and "his words hold nothing but lies". As the speech goes on, blood starts to rain from the sky and the creatures of Hell spill out from the doors and windows of houses, quickly filling the streets of Wallachia with the viscera of its former residents. The horde then moves elsewhere, intent on wiping out all of humanity.
The demons in this episode resemble the lesser demons from the games.
Episode 2: Necropolis
News of the slaughter reaches a remote tavern where it is overheard by Trevor Belmont,
the last surviving member of a clan of vampire hunters. The Belmont
clan was accused of working with monsters and using dark magic, which
led to the seizure of their land and excommunication from the church.
Trevor leaves for the recently besieged city of Gresit, where the
residents try to preserve a modicum of normalcy despite the daily
cleanup of bodies and entrails. The people of Gresit express great faith
in their Bishop while also blaming a tribe of Codrii Speakers (a group
of nomadic scholars) for their misfortunes.
Trevor catches two armed priests threatening an elderly Speaker and intervenes. He is then invited to meet with the Speaker's people who, despite being hated by the residents of Gresit, wish to aid them however they can. Trevor warns the Speakers of talk in the marketplace to lynch them, but the Speakers refuse to leave without first recovering the body of a member who went in search of the "Sleeping Soldier" - a legendary hero said to remain dormant until there is darkness upon the land.
"It is not dying that frightens us. It is leaving without ever having done our best." -Speaker Elder
Episode 3: Labyrinth
Trevor enters the crypt in search of the missing Speaker and discovers a room with metal piping, electric lighting, and human statues. He is confronted by a cyclops that uses its eye beam to turn people into stone. Killing the cyclops reverses the stony affliction on its victims.
Trevor returns the missing Speaker, Sypha Belnades, to her people and shortly afterward is summoned to the church. Even though he is excommunicated, an exception is made so that the Bishop (the same one that ordered the burning of Lisa) can tell Trevor and the "heretics" to leave by sundown or never see the sunrise. Come night, Trevor hides the Speakers away in the crypt and draws the mob's ire towards himself.
Trevor drops the heavy coat he has been wearing up to this point, now openly displaying the Belmont family crest.
Episode 4: Monument
The Bishop is visited that night by the demon Blue Fangs, and killed. Meanwhile, Trevor with assistance from the magician Sypha, engage the mob. Trevor calls out the armed priests and their attempts to beat an old man; the fact their bishop had a woman murdered and is trying to lay the blame on someone else, as the real cause for the Hell everyone now finds themselves in. This causes the mob to turn their attention to the Hell-beasts in the streets, with Trevor taking command. He orders the fighters to coat their blades in salt and a properly ordained priest to fetch holy water so that Sypha can create a funnel of ice leading to the pikemen.
"Your God's love is not unconditional. He does not love us... and he does not love you. But we love you. We couldn't be here without you." -Blue Fangs
Sypha and Trevor defeat Blue Fangs in battle before falling into the crypt from earlier. Amidst turning gears and electric lighting, they uncover the slumbering warrior - Alucard, recovering from wounds inflicted by his father. The vampire and vampire hunter battle to a draw, before calling a truce. All three then set out to destroy Dracula together.
Left: Alucard's teleporting is reminiscent of the game version. Right: The "Vampire Killer" whip is convincingly portrayed as a useful tool in and out of combat.
Final Thoughts
I think it was smart of them to adapt the games starting from the chronological beginning (excluding Leon Belmont),
and they even managed to insert lore and explanations of magical items
for those unfamiliar with the franchise without it feeling too out of
place. The Castlevania anime is not a one-for-one copy of the game, but
the references to the source material are obvious, with many of the
changes only serving to elevate the rather bare-bones narrative of the
games. Dracula, typically an evil-for-evils-sake villain, is setup as a
sympathetic figure by delving into why he hates humans and what it was
that finally sent him over the edge. The way in which this event is then
connected to the main trio (originally four - Grant Danasty was excluded from the adaptation)
is far more personal and intriguing as a result, whereas in the video
game, they just kinda stumbled into each other at the castle. A ragtag
group of persecuted people working together to save a world that may not
deserve it also ties really well into the over-arching themes of
family, religion, forgiveness, and redemption.
The Netflix Castlevania series is
considered one of the best video game adaptations of all time for a
reason. The world is portrayed as shockingly bleak but not devoid of
color or humor. It is also beautifully gory and brutally violent but in a
way that serves the story. It is action packed, well paced, and well
written. The backgrounds are quite detailed with good lighting at times,
and the animation is generally good but can look stiff or off on
occasion. My biggest complaint with the series so far is that there is
not enough of it. It ends with a clear mission and goal for the future
just as things start getting good. I suspect this was Netflix testing
the waters with what is essentially a prologue or mini-series; it easily
could've been an hour and a half long pilot movie.
Have you seen Castlevania the anime or played the video games it is based on? What were your thoughts?
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