So, I watched Castlevania: Nocturne on Netflix since it just came out, and I wanted to get my vampire-killing kick before October came in full earnest. And, while I would like to break it down episode by episode for neat details and such, I don’t have the schedule free to do so. Meaning we’re going to have to do this as a Season Review.
Spoilers abound, so beware of them if you want to go in blind.
Overview
Castlevania: Nocturne is set more than 300 years after the first series, during the age of what would be Richter Belmont. In the original games, Dracula would be raised once more and he would seek a wife, with Tera and Annette being among them. Maria would be taken to be used as a servant thanks to her powers, but rescued and played as another character who can help Richter defeat Dracula in his place. However, because of all of the previous season changes, that can’t happen.
So, this adaptation basically takes place during the French Revolution, where Richter has been living with Tera and Maria after the death of his mother. Maria is a revolutionary and the daughter of Tera, whom she wasn’t related to in the original games, and Annette is a liberated slave who learned about the upcoming threat and came to help. The Revolution is opposed by the Vampires and Church, who have formed an alliance and brought back Night Creatures, who have gone extinct since Isaac and Hector were long dead by this point.
The Vampires seek to instill a messiah of their own, who will bring about an eternal night, so they no longer need to fear the sun. And they found one in the form of Elizabeth Bathory, who had at some point ingested the blood of a goddess and gained the power to do so. Thus, the main plot becomes stopping her from doing that.
And they fail as the season ends. Tera is turned. Elizabeth and the Abbot have an alliance, with the ability to produce more Night Creatures. The sun is blotted out. The only positive thing of note is the return of Alucard and the knowledge that there’s at least one more Belmont out there in the form of Juste, who was the protagonist of the Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance games, that can teach Richter what he might not know.
Setting & Themes
The setting of the animated Castlevania series is one where monsters roam and vampires are afforded a crapton of wealth and power. The Humans aren’t ignorant of their existence, they know about them, but can’t do much unless they’ve got either magic or some kind of training. They’re helpless, on top of being preyed upon by blue-blooded nobles, which makes the setting of the French Revolution more impactful as we get to the themes of slavery and freedom.
We saw in the first season that vampires covet power and hate being enslaved under another’s will, but will be happy to do the same to others: Carmella is the key example in that she was under someone’s thumb and eventually tried to bring the world under hers, only for Isaac to put her in her place. 300 years later, Elizabeth seeks to do the same and it seems Olrox has the intention of undoing her because he lived through his people being slaughtered in the name of an Empire, and a former lover of his died while seeking freedom.
Just as Elizabeth represents oppression and slavery, the heroes represent revolution as they try to break the shackles the vampires have on everyone. They’re not off to a great start, but they’ve got the spark and seek to ignite it into a fire. Hopefully, with Alucard giving them a hand they’ll have a chance because that final battle got one-sided quick.
Characters
Now, onto the characters. I’ll start by saying I actually liked all of them. They all stood out in their own way and became really interesting. So much so that I honestly felt my black heart move when Tera got caught and turned.
Richter was someone who harbored insecurities and fear, as opposed to Trevor who was cynical. But it’s understandable. He clearly had the talent as a child to have magic and wanted to keep to the tradition of hunting vampires, but in his brashness, he made a mistake that got his mother killed and so he was haunted by it. His magic was likely sealed because of it and, while he grew as a fighter, it was pretty clear that unlike Trevor he was heavily dependent on it. The difference in his fighting style when he had it versus when he didn’t and the confidence he had right up until the end make it clear this is who he is supposed to be, combining the pinnacle of martial and magical abilities into one.
Maria is a sweet girl who yearns for the Revolution. I don’t know what personally drives her, but her heart is in the right place. She’s charismatic and clearly cares for her family, which makes things complicated when she finds out her father is the Abbot opposing the Revolution and the Forgemaster making Night Creatures. She impulsively tries to reach out to him alone and gets caught for her troubles, which results in losing her mother.
Annette was a slave who suffered the indignities of that life and eventually won her freedom, but upon hearing about the vampire messiah came to deal with that. But her anger caused her to stand out while they were meant to be in hiding and she ended up drawing attention during a scouting mission, which got her best friend killed and then turned into a Night Creature. Her perspective as someone who has known hardship all her life becomes clear, but she herself still is deaf to things she needs to hear as her ancestors’ voices can’t reach her yet.
Tera was… honestly the biggest change from the source materials. Not only did she go from a damsel in distress to a Speaker, but she was made Maria’s mother and took the place of Annette in being turned into a vampire (in the bad ending of the games). This woman lived a hard life, having watched her people be slaughtered, having to stake her own sister, and basically taking in Richter when he had lost his mother while raising Maria on her own. Hearing that the Abbot took care of her, it didn’t surprise me to learn they both still loved each other but knew for a fact they couldn’t let that relationship get out. And in the end, she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for them all.
Olrox was… interesting. His grudge against Julia makes sense. His lover was killed and so he got revenge. But he’s opposed to Elizabeth on the grounds of her plan going against his own beliefs and the beliefs of the one he loved. That being said, he and that Paladin hooked up pretty fast for two people on opposite sides of the field.
The other characters were okay too. The reveal that Juste was alive and keeping an eye on Richter was a surprise, but seeing him a broken shell of a man due to losing his friend and wife was a bit of a sour experience. Alucard popping up was expected since I heard his voice in a trailer, but I have to question where has he been for 300 years to the point he was turned into a myth? In the games he slept to deal with the shame of killing his father, but wasn’t he living in the Belmont Hold with the castle on top and a village around it? What happened there?
Final Thoughts
My final thoughts are that I liked what we got and I want more of it, but at the same time, I do think that it had some areas it could be improved. The romance subplots felt rushed where they came up, with the only one that I can think of being rational being Tera and the Abbot due to them being older and having a daughter. Richter stumbling into his grandfather by happenstance when he was at his lowest was oddly convenient as well, and I think it would have been better if Juste sought him out instead.
But I really didn’t have any other complaints. The story was interesting, the characters didn’t bore me, and the fights were excellent. The ending being a bit of a downer didn’t bother me too much, since all the characters still have a chance to grow further unless they try a time skip of several years.
Whenever the second season comes out, I’ll be sure to watch it.
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