Series Title
Castlevania
Genre
Animation, Fantasy
Year
2017
I have never played the Konami game before but it is one of
those games that have a really strong following and reputation, which was
basically 1 of the reasons why it piqued my curiosity about the series by
Netflix (it's those upstarts AGAIN). Moreover, since it only had 4 25-minute
episodes in Season 1, my investment was pretty low.
Story
Ep 1 was of course the introduction and showing us how a
Vlad Dracula was made to wreak all kinds of hellish destruction to the world
because the church of the city of
Wallachia where
they lived had executed the human wife (Yup, you heard that right) of Dracula. They
claimed that she was practicing witchcraft (but was in fact science). Why was
Dracula not there to protect her? Well, it was at her behest that he had gone
to explore the world outside of
Wallachia as
a man.
Ep 2 was for me the weakest of the 4 episodes as it was the
slowest and least able to hold my attention. However, it was still an essential
episode as it introduced 1 of the key characters of the series - Trevor
Belmont, Monster Hunter.
Ep 3 shows us how a wandering Trevor Belmont had come across
this ravaged city community. The city is led by the "holy" men who
are dead set against a small group of pacifist called the Speakers (because
they adhere to the philosophy that all matters can be resolved by only
speaking). However, among the Speakers is
Sypha
Belnades, a Magic user (grand daughter of the Speaker's Elder).
She had been turned to stone and trapped underneath the catacombs of
Wallachia by
a giant Cyclops (with Medusa's powers apparently) as she was searching for the Sleeping
Soldier, who was prophesied to save the world. Trevor Belmont destroys the
Cyclops and saves Sypha.
The people have learnt that at every dusk, there will be
hellish creatures that descend from the skies to slaughter humans. The
"holy men" intend to kill all the Speakers before dusk, as they blame
the hellish attacks on the Speakers' presence.
Ep 4 Belmont had hidden the Speakers in the Cyclops'
catacombs. All hell breaks lose when night falls. In the midst of it,
Belmont was helping to
fight off the hellish creatures and the "holy men". Due to the
massive damage and destruction from all the mayhem, the ground beneath the city
crumbles. It is only then we learn how powerful Sypha's magics were. She &
Belmont discover a secret chamber down beneath the catacombs and we evetually
learn that the Sleeping Soldier is actually
Alucard, Dracula's son.
Alucard are at odds with his father and
wants to destroy Dracula as well. Thus the team is formed.
I am quite pleased and like the concept of a Monster Hunter,
a Magician and a Vampire on the same team to fight all kinds of evil monsters.
It's the same reason why I loved the Van Helsing movie. Sadly, there are no Van
Helsing sequels or reboots (yet).
I have to say that I quite enjoyed the series and I'm looking forward to more!
The artwork is amazing. Of course, that's because it was done by Japanese artists. Smart move by Netflix. One thing to note tho' is that this is NOT meant for kids. It can get pretty dark.
I would recommend it even for non-fans like me, it was
pretty entertaining and intriguing. As I said before, the investment is pretty
low, with 4 episodes clocking in at a little less than 2 hours. Give it a try
and let me know what you think.
