Weitere Reviews, die insgesamt positiv, jedoch durchaus differenziert sind:
Zitat:
REVIEW: Castlevania Season 2 (2018)
Virginia Kublawi
Yesterday, Netflix dropped season two of Castlevania. The series is based on the video game Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and season one premiered in July of 2017. I really enjoyed season one, though I found it a tad brief at four 22-minute episodes. Castlevania season 2 contains eight episodes and, beginning where season one left off, introduces a lot of new characters.
*Spoilers*
Castlevania season 2 begins with the newly united Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades and Adrian Tepes (Alucard) embarking on a mission to find and kill Dracula. Meanwhile, for his part, Dracula amasses an army of vampires from around the world, and his two human forgemasters bolster his forces by creating an army of the dead. The heroes make their way to Trevor’s ancestral home in search of information and tools to use against Dracula. Dracula’s general and fellow vampire Carmilla reluctantly arrives at the castle and begins manipulating him and his allies. Dracula’s human necromancers Isaac and Hector start to splinter, disagreeing about what city to invade. This, partnered with Carmilla’s scheming, leads to conflict and betrayal among Dracula’s court, as well as copious bloodshed. Sypha manages to trap Dracula’s magical castle, and Alucard faces his father, ending the three heroes’ mission and collaboration. Carmilla flees with Hector in tow. After being sent to the desert by Dracula to save his life, Isaac begins building his own horde of reanimated corpses.
Castlevania season 2
Castlevania has a gorgeous art style, and the quality is better than most animated TV series can offer. The character designs are appealing, backgrounds sport a surprising amount of detail, and buildings seem dimensional. Dracula’s castle, in particular, is imposing and creepy and has this grand, haunting air to it. Castlevania isn’t my very favorite Netflix animated series, but it is their best looking. The show’s gorgeous settings and thoughtful character animation were more than enough to cleanse my palate after Big Mouth. The music is also epic and beautiful, and at times communicates a sorrowful timbre. It goes perfectly with the visuals and story, and elevates emotional scenes as well as action sequences.
The voice acting in Castlevania season 2 is also excellent; they make a lot of unconventional casting choices that pay off tenfold. Trevor is voiced by Richard Armitage, known, of course, for the Hobbit trilogy, as well as Into the Storm and Alice: Through the Looking Glass. Trevor is unlike any character I’ve seen Armitage play before, but he does an excellent job; he pretends to be a dumb drunk at first, soon revealing himself to be an emotionally complex monster hunter. James Callis brings a truly distinct sound and attitude to Alucard. Graham McTavish, also known for The Hobbit, as well as Creed and Outlander, shines as Dracula. This is another actor in a role I wouldn’t have imagined, as I usually associate McTavish with a thick Scottish accent and surly disposition. He gives Dracula a smooth, unsettling voice with a proper English accent. While Trevor is at least recognizable as Armitage’s voice, I would have never guessed this was McTavish. Character actors are the best for animation because they just bury themselves in their roles, and the vocal performance simply becomes part of a living, breathing whole. Theo James and Adetokumboh M’Cormack portray forgemasters Hector and Isaac, and though they don’t get a ton of focus, they are nuanced performances. Alejandra Reynoso voices female lead Sypha, but all she really brings to the role is an enigmatic accent. Jamie Murray joins the cast in Castlevania season two as Carmilla, and she brings a devilish delight to the iconic figure. Murray portrayed a similar character in Stahma Tarr in Defiance, using her beauty and intelligence to control the men around her. As Carmilla, she sounds similar to Marina Sirtis as Demona in Gargoyles, and that’s just about the highest compliment I can give.
So far, I’m very impressed with the series’ characters, particularly Trevor, Alucard and Dracula. In addition to having such a great vocal performance, Trevor is shaping up to be a very complicated and multi-faceted character, and he’s my favorite up to this point. I also really like Alucard, particularly whenever he discusses his past and his family. His is my favorite character design. Dracula was more interesting in season one than he is here, but that’s natural because he’s gone from sympathetic, tragic villain to nihilistic madman. Carmilla really replaced him as the main antagonist even before his demise. Unlike Dracula in season one, Carmilla isn’t sympathetic or pitiful at all. She’s pure evil, and every step she takes is calculated to best control those around her, even Dracula himself. After all is said and done, I don’t like Hector, but the way she treats him in the season two finale made me uncomfortable. The three heroes have dealt with Dracula, but I imagine they’ll find Carmilla to be an equal challenge, if not an even greater one. Castlevania season 2
Isaac and Hector interest me quite a lot, being that they’re humans who are willing to help Dracula – and later Carmilla, in Hector’s case. The justification is that Isaac has been beaten and abused by his fellow man, while Hector was treated like a freak for bringing dead things back to life. I think these are good enough motivations and backstories, but I would have liked a more in-depth exploration of these characters in Castlevania season 2. That being said, it appears that Isaac will be a major villain in coming seasons, with Hector a pawn for Carmilla, so there’s plenty of opportunity to do more with them. Of the main characters, my least favorite is easily Sypha. I like the idea of the Speakers and her abilities as one, but this is another character I’d like to see fleshed out more. She doesn’t have much in the way of personality, aside from basic things like being nice and smart. We don’t really see her struggle with her powers, and her exchanges with her male companions are generic. She arbitrarily goes from finding Trevor rude to hugging his arm and leaning on him to sleep. Her relationship with Alucard, meanwhile is nonexistent; all the focus seems to be on the animosity between the two men and the burgeoning romance (?) between Trevor and Sypha. Speaking of that, I’m not sure if those two are supposed to be in love, or if it’s just a genuine friendship. I haven’t played the games, but to me, their whole dynamic seems unclear on top of being somewhat rote. One other nitpick I have is that the heroes spend too much time at the Belmont family home. The Dracula/Carmilla storyline was always dynamic and interesting, but these three spend the better part of Castlevania season 2 at the ruins poring over texts. I can understand that this was done to show how much information is present and how much work it took to find the necessary spells, but personally, I’d have preferred a montage to speed things up and get more action in. This is especially true since, as I mentioned, a lot of the talking between Sypha and her comrades is rather stale.
Overall, Castlevania season 2 is everything I’d hoped it would be and more. The animation, voice acting and music are slightly better than in season one. The characters of Isaac, Hector and Carmilla are very interesting and despicable additions to the cast. The story this season is exciting and interesting, even if I’d have liked the heroes to explore more locales or arrive at the Belmont ruins later. I’d have taken some of that time to develop Sypha, as I think she’s the weakest of the three leads, and maybe to expand on Isaac and Hector’s stories. But otherwise, Castlevania season 2 is creepy, beautiful and extremely competently made. I’d recommend it for anyone who likes animation, vampires, or just wants something to watch for Halloween this week.
Castlevania Season 2
Plot - 8
Acting - 9
Progression - 8
Production Design - 10
Horror - 8.5
8.7
Great
Castlevania season 2 is everything I’d hoped it would be and more. The animation, voice acting and music are slightly better than in season one. The characters of Isaac, Hector and Carmilla are very interesting and despicable additions to the cast. The story this season is exciting and interesting, even if I’d have liked the heroes to explore more locales or arrive at the Belmont ruins later. I’d have taken some of that time to develop Sypha, as I think she’s the weakest of the three leads, and maybe to expand on Isaac and Hector’s stories. But otherwise, Castlevania season 2 is creepy, beautiful and extremely competently made.
https://www.geeksandgamers.com/review-castlevania-season-2-2018/Zitat:
‘Castlevania’ Season 2 | Netflix Original Series Review A real pain in the neck.
by Oliver Buckley
October 22, 2018
3.5
Summary
Castlevania is back for its second season as we follow Trevor Belmont, Sypha and Alucard on their journey to stop Dracula once and for all. Alongside the normal dose of demon fighting we get more than a nip of vampiric politicking.
I’ve got a bit of a strange relationship with Castlevania as a whole. I would consider some of the games to be among my favourite of all time; Symphony of the Night is nearly flawless in my eyes. However, despite having invested many, many hours into a reasonable selection of the games, I know next to nothing about the lore behind the series. In fact, most of my understanding of the Castlevania-verse comes from Simon Belmont on Captain N: The Games Master and a novelisation of Castlevania II that I had as a child.
The first season of the Netflix Original Series Castlevania was interesting but never quite strayed over into essential viewing. At only four episodes it felt unfinished – things had only just started to get going and then all of a sudden it was over (there’s definitely a cheap joke in here somewhere). The second season does a much better job of developing well-rounded characters and actually giving everything more of a sense of scale and some stakes (pun very much intended).
Castlevania Season 2 picks up almost immediately after the first season ended, with Alucard (the half-vampire/half-human son of Dracula, played by James Callis) teaming up with Trevor Belmont (the last of a long line of vampire hunters who enjoys nothing more than a good drink and a stake, played by Richard Armitage) and Sypha (a speaker with some fairly substantial magical abilities, played by Alejandra Reynoso). The unlikely trio is pooling their resources, somewhat reluctantly, to try and take down Dracula (Graham McTavish) once and for all.
One of my biggest issues with the first season was that despite consisting of only four episodes it moved very slowly. The same is true to a degree in Castlevania Season 2, although we are at least getting eight episodes this time around. I’ve really enjoyed the series being given space to let the characters develop, but I’m still not convinced that the plot has been driven forwards enough, or satisfyingly, quite yet. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve really enjoyed Castlevania and the introduction of new characters along with a deeper look at returning favourites, but I just wanted them to actually do a little more.
Perhaps the most interesting development in this series is the focus on Dracula and his court of vampires. Dracula himself is an interesting character in that he’s not played as an entirely evil, malevolent force. Instead, he arguably has more humanity than some of the mere mortals we saw in season one. He just happens to want to eradicate humanity entirely because they killed his wife – while genocide might seem like a harsh punishment, you can at least see where he’s coming from. This isn’t an evil scheme because of… reasons; this at least feels consistent.
I had always assumed that the big D (that’s Dracula to everyone else) was the undisputed vampire king, but if Castlevania Season 2 has taught me anything it’s that vampire politics and human politics aren’t so different. There’s always somebody who wants to stab you in the back and score some cheap points. The main antagonist here is Carmilla (Jaime Murray) who is determined to whip up some discontent in the Dracula household. We also get introduced to Hector (Theo James) and Isaac (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), Dracula’s two human generals. I never actually realised Dracula even had humans on his team, let alone in positions of power. The more I learn about Dracula and the workplace environment he’s created, the more I like him – his pioneering work as an inclusive employer seems to have got lost to history. I think it’s a testament to my lack of understanding of the Castlevania lore that I had never heard of Carmilla, Isaac or Hector despite (as I’ve just learned) I’ve spent hours playing video games where they were fairly integral characters.
While Team Dracula definitely gets more screen time in Castlevania Season 2, we do get to learn a little more about our trio of heroes. There is more scope to dig deeper, particularly with Alucard, as they’re just outside of what I would consider traditional archetypes and so could cover some fairly interesting new ground. I really like the dynamic of the central trio but I still feel like we’ve only just scratched the surface.
I enjoyed Castlevania Season 2 a lot; it’s a really interesting show in its own right, and I am living proof that you don’t need to know anything about the games to enjoy it. It’s a fairly slow burn of a series, but it’s worth persisting with, and I’ll be interested to see where it can go next, providing it gets picked up for a third season.
https://readysteadycut.com/2018/10/22/castlevania-season-2-review/Zitat:
Castlevania Season Two Review: Politics As Unusual in the Fight Against Dracula
October 21, 2018
I distinctly remember how the first season of Castlevania came to be on Netflix, dropping with little warning and hijacking my Saturday. As an unplanned viewing experience, I remember having already bought tickets to see Spider-Man: Homecoming on its weekend debut, but almost missing my movie because the curiosity of one episode of Castlevania quickly turned into four. And to be clear, four episodes was the entire first season. It was a drive-by onslaught of micro world building, myth-raising and incredible, gory action. In four quick episodes we got Dracula’s revenge on the humans for killing his wife and the introductions of our heroes fighting against him in Trevor Belmont of the almost extinct but expert monster killing Belmonts, Sypha, a magician and part of the legendary Speakers and Dracula’s own half human son Alucard. Season one was condensed between these characters and the corrupt church that set plans in motion, mostly confined to one town where the action takes place.
Season two is a very different animal. Given an eight episode run (for which we got to see the first six episodes of), the second season expands the series in predictable but mostly beneficial ways. The cast of characters that matter to the plot balloons significantly, exclusively on the Dracula side of things. We are entreated to Dracula’s war council: Vampires from all over the world, summoned by himself to help eradicate the humans of Wallachia. We only get a look at a couple of those vampire generals, who are drawn wonderfully as characters, but tend to be extremes in their personality, which doesn’t lend us to much nuance for the vampires as a whole. Included in Dracula’s employ are two humans with special skills and also a disdain for humanity itself. I appreciated that they both were given fully fleshed out backgrounds and motivations that both ran parallel and against each others. They both serve Dracula in different capacities and their personalities are consistently built towards their actions as the story progresses.
The biggest change between the seasons is what will separate the opinions of the show, mostly in that the action has been significantly diminished in its use to allow for a lot more political maneuvering and exposition. The heroic trio has a quest of finding the tools and means to defeat Dracula and still are involved in most of the season’s action through the first six episodes. But there is a lot more of the odd-grouping-going-on-an-adventure fare, with unease, discovery, conflict and ultimate trust in one another as the story progresses. This unfolds in pretty typical fashion, but is saved by the characters being interesting with the desire to see more of them, whether they are fighting or not. A lot more space is given to Sypha so far this season, which is welcome considering how testosterone driven the first season was.
Still, the action per minute quotient for this season compared to last is way down and makes it feel like a different show at times. Almost all of the time spent with Dracula and his court is spent on political machinations between the council for who agrees with Dracula’s quest and who don’t. There is some amazing writing around these situations with Ellis just killing it with dialogues and movement of these characters. But if the show drew you in because you fell in love with the athletic dueling of Trevor and Alucard or how Sypha could summon ice magic to crush hoards of the darkness, you’ll find this season sparse for those moments. While Game of Thrones wasn’t the first show to do it, it has become the very trend of showing higher politics and how they influence the front-line action, so now Castlevania is no different that respects. So much time is spent on alliances, betrayals and chess-like maneuvering, that you may significant periods without seeing a creature of the dark slashed to nothing by a morning star weapon.
This could’ve been balanced better for sure and considering where the sixth episodes leads off, I imagine the action will be fast and furious to end the season. But it takes a long time getting there which means the last act of the season will have to make the supplication of the politics worth it in hopefully surprising ways.
Castlevania is a hell of a series, the characters are written with an incredible depth and layering upon each other. Season two puts the sword too long and gives us a bit too much vampire congress getting a bill passed, throwing the balance of the show too far in the exposition at times. Overall, it still entreats us to some fantastic characters with fantastic abilities who are always fun to spend time with.
***All eight episodes of Castlevania Season 2 are available on Netflix on October 26th, 2018***
http://blacknerdproblems.com/castlevania-season-two-review/Zitat:
Castlevania's Second Season Is a Surprisingly Slow-Burning, Yet Compelling, Continuation
James Whitbrook
Friday 3:43pm
The first season of Netflix’s Castlevania took us all by surprise when it offered a short, sharp, and deliciously bloody animated take on Konami’s classic gaming franchise about eating meat hidden behind walls and whipping monsters to pixely bits. Its sophomore season is equally surprising—for very different reasons.
Unlike the bite-sized, four-episode debut, Castlevania’s second season—out today on Netflix—is twice as long, making it feel almost epic-lengthed in comparison. While a lot of what made the first season so intriguing remains, that extra four episodes of adventuring for Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage) and his new best buds Sypha (Alejandra Reynoso) and Alucard (James Callis) isn’t necessarily utilized how fans of the first season might want it to be.
Instead of another eight episodes of high-octane animated hyperviolence, the vast majority of Castlevania season 2 is melancholic, atmospheric, character-driven tale. The brutality this season’s video game-inspired action comes in staccato strikes rather than ceaselessly gushing out like blood from some hapless medieval peasant trapped outside on a horrible night to have a curse.
Season 2 is set in the immediate aftermath of the first season—which concluded with Trevor and Sypha discovering the reclusive Alucard, the half-vampire son of Dracula (Graham McTavish), underneath the besieged town of Gresit, and agreeing to help him stop his father’s vengeful quest against humanity. Castlevania season two is less focused on the story of Trevor learning to be slightly less of a jerk and more focused on fleshing out its vastly expanded cast of characters, both heroes and villains alike.
Thes story given to our heroes is about on how this quirky mishmash team made up of a nomadic sorceress, a distant half-vampire, and a charmingly garrulous monster hunter will actually work together as a group to defeat Dracula once and for all. It’s surprisingly light at times given Castlevania’s grimly gothic overtones. Trevor and Alucard snipe at each other like teen boys and Sypha tries to make the pair get along, while they seek the knowledge they need from Trevor’s vampire-hunting family line to defeat Dracula’s hordes. But it is also surprisingly slight, which might annoy fans looking to see the trio mostly kicking ass and taking monster names—much of the heroes’ story this season is spent traveling and exploring rather than fighting. When there is a fight, it’s very fun to watch, but the action takes a backseat to the pleasure of watching these characters form an endearing bond with each other as they prepare to confront Dracula.
Trevor, Alucard, and Sypha’s story often feels more like the subplot of the season rather than its main thrust. Instead, much of Castlevania season 2's focus lies with its monstrous villains. We get to spend time with Dracula and the group of generals that lead his demon-filled armies. These generals, a mix of new characters to the show (including Peter Stormare’s Godbrand, an incredibly Peter Stormare-y vampiric Viking) and some other villains familiar to fans rooted in the intricate lore of the games—mainly Carmilla (Jamie Murray), Hector (Theo James), and Isaac (Adetokumboh M’Cormack)—form the backbone of the season’s primary drama, as all the prerequisite backstabbing and political intrigue needed of any fantastical Game of Thrones-ian court of characters comes to the fore, with each general vying for dominance and Dracula’s approval.
The backdrop to all that courtly drama, and a major presence throughout the show, is Dracula himself. But rather than the wroth-laden monster we saw tearing through peasants in the first episode of season 1, the Dracula we spend time with in season 2 is almost utterly consumed by the grief that remains of losing his wife Lisa Tepes—who was burnt at the stake for the crime of being a scientist in the show’s earliest moments. There is a melancholic sense of apathy to everything Dracula does in this season—or really, what he doesn’t, as he spends much of his time brooding alone, outside of a particularly gory flashback sequence, while his aforementioned generals squabble among themselves. It’s in equal parts an even bigger brake on the show’s already pretty tepid pace (especially combined with the quieter plotline of Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard), and a compelling character examination of just how utterly despondent and broken this version of Dracula has become, the further his wife’s loss passes deeper into time.
This slow-burning, character-driven pace and a loosened emphasis on the guts and gore of the first season might, at first, feel a bit disappointing to fans who embraced Castlevania’s kinetic, blood-curdling action. Although all that is still there, along with the show’s earnest, bordering-on-overboard, commitment to the gothic aesthetic of the games, it comes in moments few and far between these scenes of heady banter and introspective character work. And as dramatic and fun as that character work mostly is, a lot of it is ultimately inconsequential to driving Castlevania’s primary plot along.
That is, until the final two episodes, in which things finally kick into gear as both Dracula’s cohorts and our band of adventuring heroes make their moves. These two episodes have more of the first season’s grandiose action—and a few extremely great moments for fans of the games—managing to triumphantly escalate the conflict simmering across the entire season, while also setting the stage for future battles and adventures. But the highs delivered in these climactic episodes only reach so high because of the methodical-to-a-fault pacing of the rest of the show. It might take a while to get going, but when it does, Castlevania proves it still really knows its way around a twirling whip or two.
Beyond the what the back half sets up for Castlevania’s future, overall this second season marks a big evolution for the series—not in tone or style, but in scope and pacing. It’s more measured and, at times, frustratingly slow. But in slowing down a bit, the show gives us an intriguing chance to learn more—and ultimately care more—about Castlevania’s world and characters, beyond just Trevor Belmont’s simple quest to be less of a lone wolf asshole and maybe defeat some monsters (and also not get his testicles kicked in). In both Alucard and Dracula’s shared story of familial grief, and the intrigue and machinations of Dracula’s generals developed this season, Castlevania finds a surprising amount of heart in its supernaturally monstrous figures.
It comes at the cost of so strongly focusing the action and brutality that made the first season a kickass delight, but honestly, that’s a small price to pay to set up a world and characters we can actually give a damn about when the blood starts spilling all over again—and we can’t wait to see where it will go next.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/castlevanias-second-season-is-a-surprisingly-slow-burni-1829980250Zitat:
What We Absolutely Loved About Castlevania Season Two
Heather Alexandra and Mike Fahey
Today 3:00pm
The first season of Netflix’s Castlevania animated series was pretty good, if a bit rushed due to a four-episode length. The second season expands with more episodes, more characters, and some amazing fight scenes. Staff writer Heather Alexandra and senior reporter Mike Fahey sat down to talk about how much they loved the new season.
Heather Alexandra: Mike! We are here today to talk about the latest season of Netflix’s Castlevania. I think it’s safe to say that we both enjoyed last season, even if I was disappointed with how short it was. We have double the episodes this time and a lot more characters. For my part, I really liked this season and found it a huge step up. What’s your immediate reaction to season two?
Mike Fahey: The first season was certainly short and very focused on a small group of characters. Now that I’ve watched season two, that first set of episodes feels like a prologue, or the opening band. We’ve tested the waters, now we’re diving.
Alexandra: Yeah, the first season took a lot of time introducing us to the core cast: Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard. Season two really expands outwards; there’s the world of the vampires, tons more history about the Belmonts, some romance, and a lot more time on Dracula himself. But because it’s not crunched into a handful of episodes, it never feels rushed. I wanted to ask about those first folks. How about those vampires, eh? GODBRAND!
Fahey: Wait, there were more vampires than GODBRAND!? I feel like we have to capitalize his name whenever possible. Which elder vampire looked at this hard-drinking, screwing, boat-building viking and thought, “Yeah, he’d be a good addition to the fam.” They used “fam” back then. He’s one of my favorite things about the new season, even if he’s not as important as Carmilla, the femme fatale who always left me craving caramel and chocolate.
Alexandra: They’re a good balance to each other. One is this loud and wild dude who just wants to drink blood, and the other plays the political game. It’s two sides of the vampire coin. We get some bloody decapitations but we also get subtle manipulations. You know what surprised me? They have Hector and Isaac in this! Two characters from the Playstation 2 games!
Fahey: Curse of Darkness, right? Threw me for a loop there, they did. I figured we’d see maybe one of them in a cameo or something, but we got both of the forgemasters in very significant roles. In fact, none of the newly-introduced characters—not counting the vampire council fodder—were wasted here.
Alexandra: Also, Isaac isn’t wearing his leather daddy pants. But yeah, it was interesting to see them added to the cast and nice that they were treated like people with actual motivations beyond being evil. It changes a bit—Hector’s a flat-out hero in the games—but it adds some complexity to the cast. Plus, we get cute undead puppies thanks to Hector’s forgemaster skills.
Fahey: Where is my undead puppy plush? Was it me, or did we spend much more time with the vampires than we did Trevor, Sypha and pouty teen goth boy this time around?
Alexandra: I think we might have, but the trio gets some fun stuff too. Trevor and Sypha are flirty, Alucard gets to brood but also act a bit like a teenager by snipping at Trevor. In the first season, it was all “Go here! Do this!” There’s still some of that, but there’s extra time for them to goof off.
Sypha wanting to call Trevor “Treffy” is the most adorable thing. And we never would have gotten that in season one.
Fahey: I suppose sitting the three of them in a library to do research for what, five of the eight episodes, did allow time for some character development. The sniping between Alucard and Trevor got a bit much in later episodes, but the first couple of swipes were perfect. “Eat shit and die.” “Yes, fuck you.” And the delivery of the lines ... just brilliant.
Alexandra: I think the library stuff pays off between those small moments and the big, blood beatdown that Trevor gives all the monsters that arrive. Because, damn, the fight scenes are great. They always were, but I feel like they’re even better this time.
Fahey: Trevor’s battles were outstanding, but for my money the best beatdown of the season was Sypha using her ice against that one biter during the final showdown. That was inspired magical battle choreography.
Alexandra: I straight up got chill when they started playing “Bloody Tears” before that fight.
Fahey: I teared up a little. This is an adaptation that really knows its stuff. The characters, the setting, the music. It gets us.
Alexandra: There’s a ton of detail in that fight but it’s also creative. You mention Sypha’s ice magic—they could have just made her chuck icicles but she’s using them to deflect attacks, making that big sheet and then using it to slice that dude. I’ve been thinking a lot about Alucard leaping in and punching folks while his sword zips around.
Fahey: It’s just so casual and effortless. There goes Alucard. There goes his sword. People dying. And while we’re talking about spoiler alerts, they managed to make Alucard’s fight against the rabble look easy; they turned around and made it feel like he was really struggling against his father. The base in my sound system went nuts with every hit between those two.
Alexandra: That fight is brutal. In general, this season does a really good job with Dracula. Both as a character but also as, I guess, the big, final boss.
Fahey: But the true star of Castlevania is the castle. Leaping violently from street to river, decimating entire armies via blessed tsunami, proving what an absolute magical powerhouse Sypha is. I love that castle so much.
Alexandra: castle big
Fahey: To quote Carmilla, “What the fuck just happened?”
Alexandra: So we get all that fighting. “Bloody Tears,” giant castle, Carmilla betraying everyone, Alucard vs. Dracula, and badass magic. It feels like the season could have ended there, but it gives us an entire epilogue episode that I was really grateful for.
Fahey: Wasn’t that lovely? We don’t get enough epilogues these days. It’s almost like a “Next season on Castlevania,” only an entire 28 minutes. Plus I am pretty sure we got Gideon Emery, voice of my Destiny 2 boyfriend Devrim Kay, as the leader of the bandits harassing Isaac.
Alexandra: Bandits that Isaac truly and utterly fucks up before starting to create his own undead army. And yet! The season ends quietly. Alucard, all alone, weeping after everything that’s happened. Not what I was expecting, but it makes sense.
Fahey: Oh, he’ll be better next season. Trevor and Sypha will pop by and he’ll be quipping with the best of them. I have high hopes.
Alexandra: I’m curious to see what happens. I think another series might time-jump ahead to give us a riff on Simon’s Quest but I’m not sure. But overall, this was really great and I want to see more. My one nitpick is that it wasn’t as funny as the first season, but it rounded out everything else that felt rush before. Fantastic stuff!
Fahey: I just hope they give the castle more lines next time around. Otherwise, excellent.
https://kotaku.com/what-we-absolutely-loved-about-castlevania-season-two-1830104105