#castlevania nocture spoilers

[veilder]

My thoughts on Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2

Welllllllllllllll! I just watched all of this pretty much in one go and it was good! Quite good. But it still doesn't really measure up to the first show, lol. Look out, (very long) review incoming.

I have to say, the fight scenes really looked spectacular, especially in this season. For the most part, anyway. The animation through the whole show was a little bit hit or miss for me tbh, and definitely not as smooth as the first show, but it was passible at least in the jank bits. And when it looked good, it looked very good! In particular, I though the backgrounds and scenery almost always looked spectacular, they were very very pretty. The character designs too were very cool, though… I have to say, the main villain, Erzebet, looked very… strange. Not the biggest fan of that design tbh, but whatever. (Also still not sure why Alucard has white hair now instead of his canonical blond, that was never actually explained. I guess I'll just have to keep with my own headcanon about it, lol, but whatever, he's still very pretty. XD)

The story was… weird, lol. Although, it wasn't really atypical of a regular Castlevania game tbh, what with the French Revolution and Egyptian deities being the basis of the whole plot, omg. XD But it still was just oddly setup and paced imo, and had a lot of really… weird exchanges and back and forths between characters? Like, some of this definitely could've been more streamlined I think, particularly all the stuff with the Abbot and whatnot. And as much as I loved Olrox and Mizrak, basically all their scenes leading up to the finale were just Mizrak wanting to rush into something idiotic, Olrox saving his ass, and then Mizrak calling him a monster or saying he doesn't know how to love, lol. It did get a little repetitive after a few times, though I get they were trying to up the tension for the finale. And honestly, they remain my favorite part of the whole show, so I'm happy to give them a bit more leeway. (We love the toxic gays around here, lol.)

Shoutout to the composers for another great soundtrack, btw? I really loved how they used actual classical pieces a lot as sort of backdrop music for the aristocratic parties and, while I won't say I necessarily loved all of Edouard's opera pieces, there's no doubt that the singer is very very talented. Though, a particular standoud there was definitely that Creole war chant he sang during the big fight at the end. Loved how the beat of the music fit the action happening on screen. I also loved the one game OST they remixed for the show (I think it was only the one...), it went super hard! And also... I really loved the lullaby Annette's mother sang to her and how it's used as a leitmotif through the whole show when she's using her powers. Idk if that's an actual song or if it was written for the show, but it was lovely and the simple melody gets stuck in my head all the time.

Coming back around to the main cast, I really did like them all I think. Richter was, I think, a very interesting take on a Belmont "hero" and I really loved how he reacted to his trauma and overcame it as the show went on. He really came into his own by the end, it was amazing to see. And it was really cool to see how he used his magic once he regained it, love how it was implemented with his fighting style.

Maria was amazing, I loved her so much?! Her personality was great, she was so opinionated and stubborn and willing to do whatever she needed to to see something through. And I love her magic casting style, that was awesome! (And she gets bonus points for finally having the balls to kill that damn abbot, even if it did kind of send her down a mini dark arc, oof.)

Annette!!! Holy shit, I love Annette?!?! Like, her entire backstory was so fraught and visceral and I was so gd invested? And her magic and how it tied in to old African religions was one of the coolest things in either show imo, I absolutely loved how they explored all of that?! It's not something you see highlighted in Western media very much and it's a damn shame because everything about her absolutely fascinated me. And I'm so glad she actually survived at the end, even if I'm still not quite sure how. XD

Of course, Alucard is still the coolest dude around and he's only gotten cooler in 300 years, lol. I love how he presented himself in Nocturne though, how you could really feel the weight of him being alive for so long. Not that he was the most bombastic character in the first show or anything, but he's somehow even more mellow now, lol. Or rather... he's still. Still like he makes no unnecessary moves, like he's learned how to conserve all his energy for when he needs it. I love how he's integrated even more of his vampiric powers into his blade arts, too, and how he seems even more fluid with his fighting now than he used to. (And don't even get me started on when he went all blood rage mode and started teleporting and flinging around giant fireballs like his dad, omgggggggggg! I geeked out so hard when that happened, I literally shouted at the screen! XD) Only thing I wish we had more of was him getting to bond with Richter or Maria or the rest of the team. There was so little dialogue between them and very few moments to just settle. And the one really great bit of dialogue he and Richter had (the one where Alucard basically says he thinks of the Belmont's as family?!), Richter fuckin fell asleep for, omggggggg! He certainly didn't have the same dynamic with this crew as he did with Trevor and Sypha, but I guess 300 years alone will do that to a guy. But yeah, still love him, nothing will change that. XD

Now. Olrox. Whooooooooooooo boy, where do I even start?! Bruh, in a show where I really liked all the characters, there is something to be said for him still easily turning out to be my favorite? Because there was no contest. Like... What a cool fuckin character, right? The very first scene introduces him as this horrible villain who kills Richter's mother right in front of him. But then you see more and more of him as the story progresses, see him scheming, see him forming a relationship with Mizrak, see him helping Richter and co. to try and defeat Erzebet? You find out that okay, maybe he actually... had a legitimate reason for killing Julia Belmont? That he's an Aztec who witnessed the Europeans slaughter his people. That maybe he's a far more sympathetic character than you could've conceived at the start? But it's not just that he's interesting in concept, it's that he has a legitimate character arc over the story? What starts off as merely scheming against an adversary leads to him developing feelings for Mizrak. When he sees that defeating Erzebet is out of the question and decides to run, he asks him to join him. And... when he finds that he can't bear to actually abandon the man he won't admit he's in love with, he makes a heroic turn and decides to fight, coming in at a critical moment to turn the tide of the battle. It was... an exceptional character arc that, all the while, still managed to leave him available as an antagonist for later. Like, his story with Mizrak runs parallel to his story with Richter, where he is a villain who needs to be destroyed, and they manage to retain both in the end?! It's really quite something, I love that he's still not really a good person at all when things wrap up. But gdi, he has his lover with him and they're together now and I'm really actually rooting for them a whole lot. Sorry Richter, I know he killed your mom, but... He's just a much more complex character than you, RIP. 😅

And of course, shoutouts to Tera and Juste and Edourd for also being very interesting and good characters, but the last person I'd like to really shout out in the cast is... Drolta. Because oh my fucking God, what a character?! Like, holy hell, she was really something else, wow! She was horrendously evil and enjoyed the suffering she caused so much and I was just riveted, omg. Like, gd, evil vampire Cardi B sure does have a fuckin presence on stage, holy shit. I loved every moment she was on screen, which I get might be a hot take, lol, but she was just so delightfully, wantonly evil and she was the real standout villain in the show for me. And like... the way season 2 elaborated on her character and her backstory just made it better imo? The way they crafted her origin so that her turn to evil was understandable was really inspired and like... at the very end, when Sekhmet is calling her out for desecrating her temple and housing her soul in a monster, you can see just how much that breaks what's left of her mind. The way she was crying out that she thought this was what her goddess wanted was really affecting, like a child hoping not to be punished. I really liked all the character work they put into her over both seasons and I love how her whole character turned out. (I also liked all her little outfits, too, and she is, of course, hot as hell, but that's besides the point. XD) Really great villain imo, I loved her.

Honestly, I really enjoyed Nocturne! I know some Castlevania fans were disappointed by it or whatever, but I'm not one of them. And, while it definitely didn't measure up to the first show for me, it was still good in it's own right! I think I'd rate it a solid 6/10. The story was weird and the pacing was off and some decisions just baffled me, but there was definitely enough good in it that I'll watch it again. In fact, I rewatched season 1 in preparation for today and I enjoyed it just as much the second go around! Now, the only thing I'm left wondering is if there will be a season 3 going forward. Because they definitely left some hanging threads there they could tug on if they wanted. And I'd like to see more of this cast, too. (Especially if they go in a SotN direction for it eventually, omg. 👀) So yeah, those are my thoughts. Adieu!

[dancingunderagatheringstorm]

The sheer audacity of Castlevania: Nocturne giving me Julia Belmont, an incredible vampire hunter, the highly skilled descendent of Sypha Belnades and Trevor Belmont, and killing her off less than 10 minutes into the first episode?! First Lisa Ţepeş gets murdered by the Church in the first episode of the first season to motivate Dracula's rampage, now Julia Belmont gets murdered to kick off her son's future arc. I get that Castlevania's world is bloody, and murder is very common, but this isn't a fun pattern.

(I'm only 20 minutes into the show, and based on the previous show, I'm willing to bet we'll get some great female characters later. I'm just very grumpy not to get this one.)

[roz-ani]

BRO I CAN'T- XDDDDDDDD