Castlevania: Nocturne

What I heavily enjoyed about the first Castlevania and its characters was regardless of ethnicities, it didn't detract from the identity of the series. The dungeon crawling grimdark fantasy vibes focusing on a band of adventurers coming together to cleanse the world of greater evils. It was bleak, it was fun, it was action packed, and it never detracted from staying on target. All the characters, even the villains, had their roles to play in this setup and it was executed perfectly. Each season had substantial plot progression and action, from the main cast getting acquainted to raiding Dracula's castle all by the end of the first season. It was an incredibly fun watch, that only continued to build up with the following 2 seasons.

Meanwhile Nocturne has turned the series into your typical political drama, pulled straight from the news networks of the modern day. No longer is every episode about venturing into some new bleak unknown territory of a grimdark fantastical world; instead, it's about corrupt political figures, slavery and the complacency of white people, the ethics of conquest etc. Every episode seems to have sacrificed the adventurous dungeon crawling aspects instead for monologue about the ethics of the listed talking points above. I didn't mind it at first, but when it dragged on the entire season I'd long since grown tired of it. Especially when you consider how much plot was covered in the first season by comparison, from meeting in a village plagued with demonic undead to storming Dracula's castle. Let's just say, the main cast barely accomplished anything by the end of this first season, one could argue they didn't actually accomplish anything at all.

Overall, the animation was beautiful, but the plot in itself dragged and didn't seem to accomplish anything substantial. It's obvious the creators have a new vision in mind when it comes to what they want this story to accomplish. Less adventure and action, more political talking points and debates about religions, race, conquest etc. 80% of this series is them monologuing about these topics while remained secluded in the same village throughout. What little action there is feels like meaningless filler that doesn't really progress the plot in any form outside of the last 1min of the season for spoiler reasons. However, the rest is meaningless. Definitely in no rush for a Season 2 and I "may" check it out, but overall, this series has pretty much killed my interest in following the plotline of Castlevania.

Having finished Season 2, I will say this, with no spoilers.

One: Every fight is won in anime style "The power of emotional friendship".

Childish, beginning to end.

Two: Whenever a big baddie must be powerful, something will always happen to rescue the "heroes".

Deus Ex Machina. Just watch it. You'll see.

Three: If you make it to the final episode (which I wonder, what kind of "person" gave it a 9) you will realize the streetfighter vibes.

I mean, just look at the IMDB picture. Trevor is basically Ryu... Also fights the same...seriously.

Other than those three points, the reactions of almost everyone make zero sense.

Just wait and see humans not reacting to the supernatural.

There are no consequences for idiocy and bad decisions.

Generally, they took the feeling of what made the first one great and shoved it in a superhero anime machine which serves nothing.

Not to mention the freaking forced messages that it tries to pass.

What is it with everyone these days... Sometimes the freaking bad guys are just the bad guys.

It's a game adaptation for crying out loud... Anyway, that is all.

Compared to the first one this one disappoints due to the writing. The animation is beautiful, the characters are interesting, but the plot just feels... lacking. Things happen a little too conveniently. The story doesn't feel natural, but rather like some things were thrown in to 'solve' plot problems. Some of the themes and tropes are a little too much modern Hollywood for my taste. It's too much about trauma and empowerment and such. The atmosphere is still stellar though and the world is well built. Also, once it get's going towards the end, it really gets going.

The first one was 10/10. This one is still worth watching, but with lowered expectations.

I share some of the sentiments with regard to the other reviewers. The visuals are great but the story is lacking.

But seeing as I don't know the castlevania storyline from the game, I don't care if the show is true to the game storyline.

My biggest gripe with this show is just how weak the monsters are. Vampires and night creatures are star wars storm trooper levels of useless. They are just fodder for the heroes to kill, so they have no intimidation factor.

The second gripe is related to the writing, stuff like how when one of the characters goes on a spying mission how they immediately find what they are looking for and are within hearing distance of important conversations. All this while the Vampires which are supposed to have heightened senses cannot detect that someone is following them and listening in on their conversations. That's just hack writing.

Its the ride of peak and nostalgia for any castlevania fans. Waited for years and get some thing brutally amazing. Amazing moment surely caught up and season interval was adore dramatic and brutish... Some lacklustre here but ok there's lot of things should get enjoyable. And last moment surly it's a treat for who watched Castlevania previous... But missed blody tears and dead like theme.. But got some better music top notch quality... Some Opera music has to be goosebumps but there's lacking also available... Overal enjoyable good memorable a English anime with making stylization surely got japanese.. And voice cast is exceptional.