France, 1792. On
the eve of Revolution, the Vampires are gathering. They whisper about a
“Messiah” that is coming to bring about the end of the Age of Man and cast the
world into an eternal darkness. From
across the world, Hunters, Magicians, Sages, and Warriors gather to prevent
this oncoming apocalypse. Among them is
Richter Belmont, descendant of Trever Belmont and Sypha Belnades, who has a
personal score to settle with on particular Vampire walking the streets. On the eve of Revolution, the streets will
run red with the blood of Humans and Vampires as a new war for the night
begins.
The prospect of a sequel to Netflix’s Animated
Castlevania series is a tricky one.
Save
for a few misteps during it’s Second Season, I was pretty much ready to give
the original series a perfect 10/10 when I looked at it back in October
2021.
Complex and tragic characters,
fascinating and well written dialogue and action that just seemed to get better
and bloodier with each new episode, the show is damn near perfect.
So yeah, Nocturne really needed to make an
impression right out the gate somehow.
The premiere does so in its own way, helping it stand out and doing what
it needs to do: get viewers attention right back into the world of Vampire and
those who kick their asses nightly.
And
while I think I need a couple more episodes to properly adjust to the new
status quo, Holy Crap is it good to be back in this universe.
We’ve made a pretty substantial jump from Castlevania to
Castlevania: Nocturne, 200 years to be precise.
Setting a Vampire slaying epic during the French Revolution, one of the
bloodiest periods in history, feels like a no brainer.
With the nation on the verge of an all out bloodbath,
it’s pretty much an all you can eat buffet for all manner of night creatures.
Much like the previous series, the premiere
of Nocturne uses its setting to its advantage, utilizing fog, shadow and very
cramped alleys for scares.
But then you
also have the huge banquet at a Chateau where elitist Vampires are dining
pretty much in the open like they don’t care if theyre seen or not.
Given the mystery behind this “Vampire
Messiah”, there’s a chance they really don’t care about discression if victory
against mankind is looking likely.
Unlike Season One of Castlevania, Nocturne doesn’t waste
anytime assembling its cast of bad ass fighters against the darkness.
Richter is certainly the spitting image of
Trevor and I like his more brighter colors to help him stand out.
Maria seems to be his Sypha but given that
her Mom kind of looks like Sypha…maybe I’m reading too much into things and
she’s probably just a descendant from another of Sypha’s troupe of
Speakers.
The biggest stand out
character is one who sadly serves as the revenge motivation for Richter: his
mother Julia.
OMFG what a woman.
In her final battle, Julia demonstrates that
this franchise has not lost its touch when it comes to action.
The way she dances with the Belmont whip
while also seamlessly firing elemental magic a la Sypha, she’s def a descendant
of two of our three original heroes and I seriously want a prequel adventure
with her (or at least a flashback episode, that’d work too).
Castlevania is back and Nocturne is already teed off for
an even bloodier time with its new setting and the promise of a new apocalyptic
fight for survival.
A whole lot is
introduced right off the bat with relentless action and character intros, a far
cry from the incredibly told slow burn history of Dracula and his motivations
for wanting to end Humanity.
Still, more
Castlevania is never a bad thing.
Can it
match the heights of a near perfect 10 Video Game Adaptation?
Whatever happens, let the mayhem commence.
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