After the brilliant but brief test run that was Season One, Season Two of Castlevania expands the scope of the story with bigger battles, bigger stakes and doubling down on the great character dialogue and exploration, basically improving just about everything in Season One…mostly. I wont say it’s perfect because there are some parts i didn’t enjoy or thought weren’t given enough of their due. But as far as sequels or continuations go, Season Two has enough goodness to warrant Castlevania becoming the best Video Game adaptation of any kind, Film or Anime.
With double the amount of episodes, Castlevania throws in a ton of new characters into the mix, each with their baggage and quirks…and occasional annoyances. Of the new cast there are four who get the most attention: Hector and Isaac, the only two Humans Dracula trusts who are also Forgemaster-Alchemists capable of reanimating the dead for their own purposes; Carmilla, a beautiful Vampire regent with her own obvious plans but we’ll come back to that; and Godbrand, a loud and obnoxious Vampire Viking who gets some of the best laughs of the season. As you’ll see, there a bunch of other new characters who are all Dracula’s esteemed Generals and members of his War Council. But beyond their cool character designs (in particular one who looks like a female Japanese Warlord), they get no exploration to their characters, they don’t even get a voice, which is a shame because i wanna know more about that gorgeous Japanese Warlord than listen to Carmilla prattle on about Braila like her single line of dialogue is “I Am Groot.”
I know I’m probably in a minority on this but screw it: I don’t like Carmilla. It’s not that she doesn’t have nearly as good a backstory as everyone else or actress Jaimie Murray gives a bad performance…I just think Carmilla is one note and annoying. Pretty much the second time she talked about moving Dracula’s Castle to Braila, you knew what her endgame was and it was all she was ever going to talk about endlessly. It kind of takes away her feeling like any kind of legit threat even if she is pummeling fools endlessly and giving of major Lady Dimestrscu vibes with how she walks and talks. On the flipside, Hector and Isaac are excellent additions to the Castlevania roster. Their complicated backstories rival that of Dracula’s complex and tragic character arc for the season and you can easily understand why two Humans who have suffered as they have would join Dracula’s plans for Humanities genocide. Godbrand is endlessly entertaining thanks to the ever reliable Peter Stomare hamming it up with again, some of the best jokes of the Season.
Back to our core trio, Trevor, Alucard and Sypha get plenty of time to bond as they spend half the season locked in the basement of Trevors ancestral home. On the one hand, yeah it might feel like the momentum on their quest takes a hit after we see them all in action together. On the other, i could listen to these three talk all day and I’d be satisfied with their story. From Trevor and Alucard’s profanity laden bro chatter to Sypha playing both Den Mom to both while also getting Trevor to soften up, this is as close to a perfect trio in Anime leads that we’ve had in a long time. They just play so well off of one another, invoking genuine feels and genuine laughs, especially from Trevor and Alucard trying to one up each others quips. In battle though, this is a nigh unstoppable team, able to go head to head with even the most elite of Dracula’s forces. And yes, we do get a match up with the D Man himself and it is everything you hoped it would be from the force and fury of the action to the heartbreaking conclusion that will make anyone shed a few tears.
Every aspect of Castlevania’s production feels improved in every department for Season Two. The animation feels so much grander once we get to explore Dracula’s Castle in greater detail and the greater carnage is definitely gonna make you wish you ate a light lunch before watching. The music is more operatic and darker for the villains, highlighting their malicious intent or just how far they’ve fallen that they don’t know what they want anymore. And the action? Whew, man you came to the right place. I get that their animated characters but I so wish I could wield weapons as well as anyone in this show. The choreography is nuts and draws on more than just medieval fighting. Trevor in particular feels like he’s somehow channeling a fighting style that’s a fusion of Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop and Mugen from Samurai Champloo, combining them into the ultimate form of bad ass that few can contend with. Alucard getting a one on one with Dracula was something we all knew was coming and this battle of two titans of the dark didn’t disappoint. Alucard certainly is tough but his Dad is freaking Dracula…the hits are gonna hit hard and you feel everyone of them, even if Alucard has skin and bones as tough as stone. My question now is: when will we get a next generation Castlevania game that will allow us to pull off these sick moves ourselves.
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