From the beginning, the accounts did not come out. In just ten episodes of less than half an hour it was impossible for the fourth and final season from the animated adaptation of Castlevania shaped the highly hinted plots of Symphony of the Night Y Curse of Darkness. And that the Netflix series left wonderful and very convenient loose ends in its more than thirty previous episodes. A missed opportunity? Quite the opposite.
The ten episodes that make up this epic finale of the journey of Trevor Belmont, which we started with just four chapters in 2017, is all that fans of the video game, those passionate about dark fantasy, and those who have simply enjoyed the animated series can hope for. Castlevania Despite its flaws, there are. And that is already an achievement in itself.
Because to the enormous viscerality to which Powerhouse Animation Studios It has gotten us used to it, and there is a lot to this intense batch of episodes, we must add the greater weight of characters who have found their own maturity and who, in the process, face threats on a much larger scale. Taking the viewer alongside Trevor, Sypha and at the very Alucard, towards a spectacular outcome that, after the halfway point of the season, already begins to leave some great sensations and an intentionally marked farewell tone.
In a way, laying down and laying the foundations facing all those animated projects that Netflix is currently in production. Establishing, in the same movement, the trail to follow of the next adaptations of the video game to the small screen.
The fourth season of Castlevania consists of ten intense episodes in which the devotion of its creators to the most celebrated installments of the cult saga is palpable and, in the process, channels its contents and strong brushstrokes of the original material to a story that, despite being a very worthy and legitimate adaptation of Castlevania and his universe, ends up finding his own identity.
In other words: the Castlevania Netflix knows when and how to deviate from Konami’s legacy and is right when it comes to taking its own licenses, but it is also fully aware of what the most picky fans want to see on screen. A double challenge that, as we will see, the producer of Adi shankar passes with note.
Action, emotions and gushing blood for a tremendous final act
Even after the defeat of the very Dracula, the armies of the great vampire houses and the creatures of the night continue to plague all of Europe. And despite the fact that in these dark times some have still not lost hope, fatigue is increasingly marked on the faces of the unorthodox hero. Trevor Belmont and the scholar Sypha Belnades.
For weeks, the vampire slaying couple have had to deal with all manner of beasts and abominations as they continued their increasingly intense purge across the old continent: there are more and more signs that the dark forces are trying to bring into the world of the living. to the Lord of Evil. Behind him, a huge trail of viscera, mutilated limbs and blood of creatures of the night and sympathizers of evil. However, the Dracula legacy is not the only threat that threatens in these increasingly dark times.
In one of the highest rooms of Styria Castle, Hector is shaping his new hammer. Under the direct orders of the noble vampire Lenore, the master smith creates the tool with which he will provide the emergent Carmilla clan of an army of creatures emerged from beyond life. The goal: to quench his ever-growing thirst for conquest and domination. Expand your domains throughout the known world.
Meanwhile, in the twisted and increasingly withered Dracula’s castle, the half vampire and rightful heir to the vampire lord Alucard, who seemed condemned to live a thousand lives in solitude, receives an unexpected message: not far from his fortress, a small town is being besieged by creatures of the night. Its inhabitants, desperate, ask for help from the lord of the castle.
Alucard’s human half bows to helping those in need. His other nature, the one that will truly be decisive in containing the forces of evil, sees an even greater threat taking shape. In either case, Dracula’s son will take part in the conflict carrying his shield and keeping his other hand close to his deadly sword.
As in the three previous seasons, the final arc of the animated series of Castlevania it is well watered with action with very explicit violence. Its designs and aesthetics, blatantly influenced by Japanese anime and illustrations by Ayami Kojima, they marry very well with the dark fantasy tone that radiates each chapter.
In this regard, everything that shone with success in the 22 previous episodes of Castlevania is present in this fourth season, although there is a new nuance in the equation: despite the fact that all the characters, heroes, villains and even the new additions, they give off a certain gloomy or melancholic air, as each plot and loose end is channeled towards its end. It gives off a certain positivism. Curiously, far from breaking with the general trend, that suits the ensemble especially well.
Although, as we commented at the beginning, we will not see the events of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the small screen or Héctor will not have his great moment of prominence as we saw in Curse of Darkness, the Netflix series knows how to generously intersperse moments, very specific animations, more than obvious details and subtle winks that show that these games (and many others, such as Rondo of Blood) they are part of the DNA of the project.
Which is not at odds with the creation of new characters for the occasion and the consequent succession of events that are not limited to shaping and making the protagonists and antagonists evolve, but rather successfully cement each and every one of the many plot licenses. from Castlevania as an animated series until it becomes a unique and, at the same time, legitimate version within the enormous lore produced by Konami for decades.
Because what began as a very worthy adaptation of Castlevania III, one of the unquestionably best video games of the entire Konami saga, has resulted in a story with its own weight. With his own version of the character of Alucard, Saint Germain or Dracula himself. And, in the process, blurring the viewer’s eyes the concepts of light, darkness, heroism and redemption.
Of course, violence, blood, deformations and mutilations on account of nightmares have their deserved prominence in the first nine episodes of this final arc, with Shankar’s producer reserving one last episode in the form of an epilogue with which close up all the loose ends And, as a tip, he manages to steal more than one smile from the viewer by giving each main actor his just and deserved destiny.
Castlevania, one of the best video game adaptations ever made for the small screen
We could debate at length about whether the animation of Castlevania It is the one that Konami’s cult saga deserved, but the truth is that it falters when it comes to giving weight to the plot and knows how to shine when circumstances and action require it: in this fourth season Powerhouse Animation Studios is still known to give intensity to the most intense sequences and, in the process, manages to give the viewer a climax and an epilogue at the height of the series as a whole.
It is true that many of the paths opened throughout the third season are channeled and closed based on accommodate to the last ten episodes of just over twenty minutes. Shankar’s producer is fully aware of this and takes the trouble to give Isaac Y Saint Germain, characters with enormous potential, the minutes necessary to justify their decisions and the future of their own destinies. In fairness, this is something the series of Castlevania has done very well.
On the other hand, and as a counterpoint to the above, all the great protagonists and antagonists of history have lots of moments to show off in a big way. Not only through action scenes in very well-chosen environments to stay true to the aesthetics of the original games, but also through dialogues and pretensions that manifest on screen the long emotional journey they have gone through from the first two seasons.
In this aspect, Castlevania, the animated series, is completely right to reimagine the universe of video games and, from devotion to them, sweep home and spin an interesting story with characters with their own voices and motivations in a decadent and dark fantasy time. Evoking anime sensations without being anime and without brazenly falling into the clichés of the shonen, although many of these become more or less unavoidable during the final bars.
As a result, Castlevania doesn’t need a fifth season or a spin-off starring those who can still contribute a lot to this animated universe. A dark fantasy world that constantly moves between what is known through video games and what is custom-built for video game fans. Not for Netflix, nor for merchandising.
Which, on the other hand, makes us have high hopes with all that is yet to come on the platform Video on Demand. At least by Shankar Animation and Project 51 Productions. Because of Dragon’s Dogma, it is definitely another matter.
For now, what began with four episodes and became a free adaptation of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, with countless elements taken with some impudence from different installments of the saga, it ended up forging in a totally essential series for fans of the Belmont and the conflicting lineage of the Tepes.
A) Yes, Castlevania, the animated series, she consecrates herself as a true love letter to a video game saga. Divided into four seasons and 32 episodes, some better than others, which evoke and retain the essence of a series of games that – despite the very long period since the last published installment – not only resist being forgotten, but also are remembered with a special devotion. More or less, like the one that Dracula himself awakens.
