• Title: Castlevania
• Episodes: Season 1 – 4 episodes; Season 2 – 8 episodes; Season 3 – 10 episodes; Season 4 – 10 episodes
• Where to Watch: Netflix
• Publisher: Powerhouse Animation Studios

I’ve been wanting to watch this and in all honesty, I did watch the first episode alone a while back. But I didn’t really get into it until I watched it with my partner. The series was an adaptation of a videogame of the same name, seasons 1 and 2 were based on Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, and Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, with Alucard’s backstory from Castlevania: Symphony of Night.

Yes I know, people (elitists) say that this is not an anime since this was not made and produced in Japan. However, I will continue to refer to this as an anime because technically this is still an animation.

This anime starts with Vlad’s human wife being burned at the stake after being accused of witchcraft. In return, Vlad declares to avenge his wife by declaring an all-out war against the people of Wallachia. I guess war is not really the word that I am looking for. The people of Wallachia have no chance of fighting the demons summoned by Vlad to overrun the country and slaughter all the people in it.

This anime introduced me to a favorite trio – one of my favorites anyway. Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Adrian “Alucard” Tepes. These three were balanced. Each had strengths. Each had weaknesses. And I loved them. Well, I love them still. I enjoyed their scenes together. I loved the banter exchanged between these characters. Their relationship naturally progressed to friendship. Usually, I would hate someone in a trio or at least there would be one that I least like. But with this one, I liked all three of them. Of course, my favorite is Alucard but that is a given.

Why do I love Adrian Tepes? I mean, why not? Of course, being a dhampir has nothing to do with it. Right. Well, he had a good character arc. Starting from being alone, opening himself up to two people, being in a self-imposed exile, being like his dad, and changing again. Granted, him being a dhampir has a lot to do with why I gravitated toward his character but it was also the depth. His loneliness that broke my heart over and over. And his willingness to open up to others after being burned by an incident that drove him to be like his dad.

The choices that Adrian made was commendable. Okay there might be some bias here. But the fact that he continued to open his heart regardless of the betrayals that he experienced was great. It would’ve been so easy to close off and just be a recluse like Vlad. I mean, I wouldn’t have blamed him if he did choose to be a closed off person.

Another character arc that my man and I enjoyed was Isaac’s. He was Dracula’s (Vlad’s) human general (along with Hector). He was a forger, the same as Hector. He started as very dark. Basically, he aligned his ideals with Vlad and followed him, and agreed to what Vlad wanted. He believed that all humans are evil. So when Vlad decided to annihilate the human race, he was all for it. But throughout the whole series, as he started to meet different people, he started to see that there was goodness in them. And his beliefs started to evolve. Hector’s arc was good too. I mean, he was like a kid and we saw him grow up in some aspects. But I loved Isaac’s part more.

And like any other anime, there was a character who I hated with a passion – Carmilla. She was just something else. She was the “brains” in the Council of Sisters. I put that in quotes because when it all comes down to it, she was a dreamer. She tells her “sisters” what she wants to happen and then it is the other three who did all the logistics and the planning. What kind of bullshit is that? I hated her scheming and manipulation. But then again, maybe that’s why she was a good villain. I just really do not like her. All she ever did was boss other vampires around. She thought she was above everyone else including her “sisters”. I kept on saying that I wanted her to die right off the bat. I wanted her to die in such an anti-climatic way!

I honestly preferred Lenore over Carmilla. Lenore got underestimated a lot. She seemed so fragile and soft compared to the other “sisters” but that made her so scary. She was a diplomat and she knew how to manipulate those around her to do her bidding by gaining their trust and friendship first.

Overall, this was a good animated series. I enjoyed it. Despite the violence and gore, despite some intense scenes, I enjoyed the story. I loved the action, I loved how fleshed out the characters were (yes, including the characters that I really did not care for). I mean, it was about vampires for crying out loud. It was no surprise that I would love this anime, regardless of the fact that vampires were the villains. Anyway, the spinoff is coming out this month, and I cannot wait to see it.