I'm sorry for being kinda a letdown, but absolutely NO amount of "easter eggs" or pretty looking animation I think will save Season 4. Game of Thrones Vampire Edition may be Castlevania in style, but I don't think it will ever be in substance. Netflixvania is supposed to be “based on/inspired by the game”. Now, unless a series is in the public domain, the copyright holder has the rights to disagree on a portrayal of the characters or the plot - which was why IGA fervently refused the animated film written by Ellis in the late 2000s the first place (since most of the characterizations used in the game was fleshed out by IGA and is why Season 1 is the most Castlevaniaish). Unfortunately, due to the fact that IGA left Konami, they agreed to whatever Shankar wanted for that sweet cash. In this case Vampire Game of Thrones. When you deal with an established fiction, you will have to at least adhere to the true characterization of the characters - this is the bare minimum. No movie based on a true story that uses the REAL identities of the original persons change their characters. They may exaggerate their reaction and the events they faced, but never the base characters. Otherwise, why do you even call it “based on”? There is nothing you base on except visuals - that are not even entirely accurate since they nitpick the characters that they decided to translate into Netflixvania based on whatever the fuck they please (in this case they're all edgy, horny, sarcastic assholes who don't set a tone other than no one cares what's going on). All this and the fact that S3 was poorly-paced, with mediocre and linear plot aside from the "oh my gosh what a shock gimmick" at the last 2 episodes is what makes me think this season is gonna be worse.
Yeah I don't understand why so many people are quick to call the Netflix series the best video game adaptation of all time when the show hasn’t done a much better job at adapting its source material than anything that has come before it. I suppose if your only criteria for a good adaptation is that it's watchable you could call it that.
Personally I'm kind of hoping that when Netflix say they plan on making a new series in the same universe it's just them being clever and it's not even related to Castlevania. If you take the infinite corridor into consideration a new series set in the same universe could technically be any number of things.
My opinion precisely. If you copy only the visuals, then why even bother calling it by the name it is supposedly based on? At that point, if you adhere to so very little what made the thing good and unique in the first place, a completely new thing of your own creation would serve the purpose better.
My sentiments exactly. I've been sleeping on Netflixvania until I decided to watch it last year, and I wish I never watched it. In my opinion, this is the absolutely worst thing that happened to the franchise. Judgement was bad, Lords of Shadow was boring and disappointing and didn't feel like Castlevania, pachislot games I tolerated, but Netflixvania I hate with a passion.
First of all, the audio mastering was absolutely terrible, with voices being too quiet and sound effects being way too loud. I think this is the first time when I decided to watch something and changed the original English voiceover to a dub in another language just because of how bad the balancing of voices and SFX was. Also, speaking of sound, the music was very generic and not memorable.
The animation was fine, but nothing really made me surprised or excited. Design of some familiar characters from the games was okay (namely Trevor, Sypha, Alucard, Dracula, Lisa and Hector), but the monster design was forgettable; aside from Cyclops in Season 1 (and only because it's based on a moment from the game), I can't remember any monster design that stood out.
Season 1 was kinda good, if you ignore all the unnecessary vulgar jokes and swearing (which is simply unfitting for Castlevania). Some of the moments from the games were there (although somewhat altered), and they were pretty good. However, where's Grant? (Though in hindsight, I'm glad they didn't include him and ruin him like the others.)
One of the main problems with this series through all seasons is that most characters feel of the same personality type - everyone tries way too hard to be funny, vulgar and sarcastic; you just can't take this whole thing seriously. No character comes even close to their video game counterparts in terms of charisma, elegance or variety.
Season 2 was a boring GoT clone with lots and lots of talking and not much happening, with a bunch of unnecessary original characters with zero personality added to the mix. Many characters from the games didn't feel, act or talk like their selves, too (main trio, Hector, Isaac, Carmilla, etc). Also, more swearing, vulgarity and stupidity.
Dracula's character made a 180 degree turn, and since he does nothing just because, the conflict with Carmilla is basically concocted out of thin air just to be there (Carmilla, who always was loyal to Dracula in every mainline game she appeared in; and Dracula doesn't notice her machinations under his nose, how convenient). Why even have all those "generals" if you're not going to use them? (And none of them is Death, Elizabeth Bathory, Count Orlock or Gilles de Rais; what a missed opportunity.)
Also, Godbrand is the stupidest character I've seen in a while. A viking vampire, seriously? They couldn't find a way to add Grant, but this got a pass? And the fact that he was originally supposed to be named "Mathias Cronqvist" just because the writer liked the sounding of the name shows just how laughably bad Warren Ellis misunderstands the lore of the franchise. (Also, I remember Ellis saying how "Grant Danasty is a stupid name that cannot be taken seriously", but "Godbrand" isn't a stupid name? What a joke.)
I liked that they added Hector and Isaac at first, but I didn't recognize them as the same characters I know and love from Curse of Darkness. The way Hector got captured was so dumb. Also, why make Isaac black? If you wanted to add Isaac so much, just keep to the original design and story, and hire Liam O'Brien to make a comeback voiceover - that's how you win over the fans!
Bloody Tears and easter eggs were nice, but they can't save the whole thing. Also, Morning Star but not the Vampire Killer? Seriously?
Season 3 was not only boring and all over the place filler, but insulting in some ways. Even more swearing, vulgarity, stupidity and unnecessary sex scenes (though Trevor and Sypha would be an exception I'm okay with).
Alucard, a tragic character who becomes the guardian angel of mankind from his father in the mainline games, loses his mind in just a month, smashes his "back door" with some noname vampire hunters from Japan and then kills them, impaling their bodies at the castle entrance, basically following steps of his father. What? ("Because girls and gay men need fan service too"? Fuck off, Ellis.)
The way Hector got treated - nuff said.
A literally who named Lenore instead of Laura, an already established servant of Carmilla from the games. The amount of people simping for her just because "ooh so cute, sex with a hot vampire girl hu-huh" is sickening.
Isaac was the best part, but his dialog felt pretentious, and the moment with "ya'll so rude" was just laughable at how badly it's written and presented.
Saint Germain is another missed opportunity, and him saying "fuck" with a deadpan face literally made me facepalm.
Even more uninteresting original characters, etc.
It's funny and ironic how EROTIC VIOLENCE pachislot felt more like Castlevania and had more class than this mess.
The writing of Netflixvania is on the level of a bad fanfic written by an angsty teenager, but the irony is that it can't even be called a fanfic, as Warren Ellis isn't even a fan of Castlevania (his knowledge of the series is literally reading some Wikipedia articles and fan pages, and that's it). How talentless of a writer you have to be to not manage to include one of the main characters from the original cast, AND make jokes about him left and right just because you misunderstood him (Grant wasn't even a pirate in the Japanese original, keep trusting wiki pages more, where anyone can edit them and make shit up; btw, where's King Poltergeist in the Netflix series?). He didn't bother to properly research the source material back then in 2007, and he didn't do any homework 10 years later. Season 1 was good only because IGA forced Ellis to re-write it EIGHT times (that fact says a lot).
Fuck cancel culture, but in case of Ellis, this is a rare exception where I wish he got cancelled earlier (preferrably at the time of the release of the first season, as at that time, there at least was a chance to somehow salvage it). I just can't comprehend how he got the position of a writer for a Castlevania animated series, when he doesn't know anything about the franchise and doesn't care about it. Thanks a lot for bringing him back, Shankar, thanks a fucking lot.
I will probably watch Season 4, but I bet I will hate it too (the swearing is back, and there's already a bunch of original characters revealed I don't care about).
Even without Warren Ellis, I don't expect anything good to come after this. I hope the morning sun vanquishes this horrible night, and Netflix will trouble the soul Castlevania series no more.
This whole thing is a huge disappointment and a wasted opportunity. There were waaay too many unnecessary and badly presented liberties taken by people who are incompetent in terms of knowledge about the source material (which is a common problem with "reboots", "reimaginings" and such nowadays; just look at new Battletoads or Double Dragon Neon and River City Girls from Wayforward, it's awful).
Was it really that hard to make it simple and stick to what was happening in the games? Just introduce the characters in a couple of episodes, and make each episode after that a "stage" with the focus on each new outside/castle location and action scenes with familiar monster designs and bosses from the game at the end of each episode. (Or better yet, don't drag it through multiple seasons, and just make it a 3 movie-length OVA, as it was originally planned.) The castle itself always was a character on its own, with so many memorable locations and monsters in each game, and it's nothing like that in Netflixvania. Keep the dialog serious in a melodramatic tone (also, there's no need for extensive amounts of dialog; sometimes less is more) and keep the tone and aesthetics this game series is known for, while having arrangements of game music as the soundtrack. Maybe even snuck in some references to Hammer horror films or The Castle of Cagliostro, which inspired some of the stage backgrounds of the original Castlevania 3. But no, all these opportunities went right down the toilet.
No amount of easter eggs and fan service can save this thing, and I hope it dies as soon as possible. It boring, uninteresting, edgy, doesn't have the same class and tone the franchise is known for and strays way too far off from the source material. They should've just created an original IP instead. It's shocking how garbage like this managed to get so much praise. Best video game adaptation my ass.
I'm sorry if my rant was a bit harsh, but that's just how I feel. If anyone liked Netflixvania - that's fine, more power to you, but as a big fan of the mainline games, I don't consider it as Castlevania, I hate it and want to forget about it. The only redeeming factor I can think of is that maybe some of the newcomers whose introducton to the franchise was the Netflix series will show interest and play the original games, and because of that Konami might make a new good game, but who knows, time will tell.
I need to watch some Hellsing and Vampire Hunter D now.