I finished this series a few days ago and am extremely pleased to say the least.
When anyone says there is going to be an adaptation of a video game into a format that isn't a video game it usually ends up as absolute garbage. If you go back you have things like the Mario Brothers movie, anything made by Uwe Boll (Bloodrayne, Alone In The Dark, etc), Michael Fassbender couldn't even save Assassin's Creed and he's an amazing actor. Sure that's live action so when I found out this series was animated I still had no hopes because the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. Supershow also proved that games to cartoons were garbage as well.
Yet, they did it, they not only produced a high quality game to animated feature adaptation they did it in such a way that if you know nothing about Castlevania in the first place you can still jump right in and enjoy it without that attitude ruining it for the die-hard Castlevania fans. Of which I consider myself in that category. Now, for anyone that doesn't know the show is based off of the Castlevania franchise of games made by Konami first for the NES and then other systems in the future, specifically this is the story of Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse for the NES.
The story told is two-fold as we learn more about Dracula in this series than in any Castlevania game except the "not cannon" Lords of Shadow games. The first story starts when Dracula's wife is burned at the stake for "witchcraft" and that kind of pisses off Dracula. He gives the town and country one year before he destroys them with armies from hell. The other story is one of Trevor Belmont, a layabout do nothing that cares about no one but himself, yet is also the last member of the Belmont family a clan of warriors whose purpose in life was to keep Dracula and his demon armies under control. That was until Christianity decided that wasn't what THEY wanted anyway.
Despite not being a caring person, even though he secretly does, Trevor Belmont understands being persecuted which is why when he discovers that there are a group of Seekers in a town he visits he agrees to find their leaders grandchild with the agreement they will leave town if he does as they will be killed if they don't leave. He finds the grandchild, a girl named Sypha, a magic user who is able to control fire and ice. She helps Belmont deal with the townspeople who come to kill the Seekers, rather than kill them they together teach the townspeople to survive demonic attacks before falling into a hole in the ground. No big deal, except that hole in the ground happens to lead the two of them to a secret room in Dracula's castle. A room with a coffin and inside a blonde vampire named Alucard, Dracula's son. He is disappointed in his father's decision as he feels it isn't what his mother would have wanted.
Together the three of them plan to stop Dracula going forward, I am looking forward to the next several episodes whenever they come out. My simple description doesn't do this show justice, it's gory and gruesome, it is funny and sarcastic, it is serious, the characters stay true to their Castlevania counterparts, whether you are a fan of the game series or not I highly suggest watching this show. My only complaint is that it is only 4 episodes at 25 minutes each so if combined it's like a small movie; I would have preferred they waited to get more episodes but this was done to test the waters and see if there was interest and oh was there ever. Castlvania has already been renewed for a 2nd season. I'm looking forward to the continued story of Trevor Belmont and also how well they stay true to Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse and where they decide to make it different.
When anyone says there is going to be an adaptation of a video game into a format that isn't a video game it usually ends up as absolute garbage. If you go back you have things like the Mario Brothers movie, anything made by Uwe Boll (Bloodrayne, Alone In The Dark, etc), Michael Fassbender couldn't even save Assassin's Creed and he's an amazing actor. Sure that's live action so when I found out this series was animated I still had no hopes because the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. Supershow also proved that games to cartoons were garbage as well.
Yet, they did it, they not only produced a high quality game to animated feature adaptation they did it in such a way that if you know nothing about Castlevania in the first place you can still jump right in and enjoy it without that attitude ruining it for the die-hard Castlevania fans. Of which I consider myself in that category. Now, for anyone that doesn't know the show is based off of the Castlevania franchise of games made by Konami first for the NES and then other systems in the future, specifically this is the story of Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse for the NES.
The story told is two-fold as we learn more about Dracula in this series than in any Castlevania game except the "not cannon" Lords of Shadow games. The first story starts when Dracula's wife is burned at the stake for "witchcraft" and that kind of pisses off Dracula. He gives the town and country one year before he destroys them with armies from hell. The other story is one of Trevor Belmont, a layabout do nothing that cares about no one but himself, yet is also the last member of the Belmont family a clan of warriors whose purpose in life was to keep Dracula and his demon armies under control. That was until Christianity decided that wasn't what THEY wanted anyway.
Despite not being a caring person, even though he secretly does, Trevor Belmont understands being persecuted which is why when he discovers that there are a group of Seekers in a town he visits he agrees to find their leaders grandchild with the agreement they will leave town if he does as they will be killed if they don't leave. He finds the grandchild, a girl named Sypha, a magic user who is able to control fire and ice. She helps Belmont deal with the townspeople who come to kill the Seekers, rather than kill them they together teach the townspeople to survive demonic attacks before falling into a hole in the ground. No big deal, except that hole in the ground happens to lead the two of them to a secret room in Dracula's castle. A room with a coffin and inside a blonde vampire named Alucard, Dracula's son. He is disappointed in his father's decision as he feels it isn't what his mother would have wanted.
Together the three of them plan to stop Dracula going forward, I am looking forward to the next several episodes whenever they come out. My simple description doesn't do this show justice, it's gory and gruesome, it is funny and sarcastic, it is serious, the characters stay true to their Castlevania counterparts, whether you are a fan of the game series or not I highly suggest watching this show. My only complaint is that it is only 4 episodes at 25 minutes each so if combined it's like a small movie; I would have preferred they waited to get more episodes but this was done to test the waters and see if there was interest and oh was there ever. Castlvania has already been renewed for a 2nd season. I'm looking forward to the continued story of Trevor Belmont and also how well they stay true to Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse and where they decide to make it different.