#this was gonna be richter and annette appreciation

[droltatzuentes]

Annette and Richter + hands

bonus!

[comicaurora]

thoughts on Castlevania: Nocturne?

HO BOY WHAT A RIDE

ok to start off, the short list of things I wasn't a huge fan of

The dialogue was a little bit wack in places; Richter's extremely badass "there's something you've forgotten about belmonts, I'd forgotten it too" line fizzling out into "ok I was gonna do a one-liner but eh fuck it" was a pretty representative example. Kinda snapped me out of the scene when I was otherwise hella invested

Erzsebet's dumb onion haircut

this is a nitpick but solar eclipses are only visible from very small areas of the earth because the moon's shadow is much smaller than the earth so even if Erzsebet is magically holding the moon in place it'll only produce eternal night in like a third of france

castlevania let even one mom survive a season challenge 2k23

On to the good stuff!

Every character, even the nastiest antagonists, being clearly and consistently motivated by core traits that sometimes lead to them switching between opposing and helping Team Good Guy, I lost it when Olrox smoked his way into Casa Good Guy to give them a plot device in the most unnecessarily threatening way possible

Love that Richter's brand of snark is a blend of Trevor and Sypha's, he's just as sassy as Trevor but all his quips show Sypha's chipperness. Also love that he copes with the Belmont Trauma by constantly deflecting and light-heartedly downplaying The Horrors until he finally cracks

Maria's cute lil pokemon

Richter getting his magic back!! What a beautiful scene, what good animation, what powerful shots

Richter's unique fighting style! As soon as his magic comes back it's All Throwing Hands All The Time and I really appreciate how anime protagonist he is about it

ALUCARD'S RETURN

Edouard's singing being so good it keeps giving people their souls back, also one of the most gorgeous night creature designs ever put to paper

Annette's entire deal is so profoundly powerful and I love how they're using her ancestral magic to expand on the ramifications of Castlevania's "all legends are true" undercurrents

This show feels extremely focused on the specific political landscape of the historical period it takes place in unlike Castlevania's more loose historical setting

The THEMES of colonialism and vampirism being one and the same

Olrox being like "oh you want to make a new world empire of absolute conquest? heard that one before" and somehow none of the other bad guys pick up on the subtext of "and it was FUCKING BAD"

Sekhmet-Erzsebet's cape shoulder-halo thing being the Egyptian sun-on-a-boat symbol is subtle and it slaps

"who's dracula" lmao

[theredqueenandthebloodwyrm]

Episode 4 Castlevania Nocturne

Spoilers + Emotions + minor theorizing

Yknow I'm sure someone out there could give an indepth analysis on how Edouard, a free black man, being turned into a monster and used as a tool for a white man in power (the Abbott), effectively a slave of sorts. I mean it isn't gonna be me but I'm waiting for those super long analysis videos and essays on themes and arcs and stuff.

Hahahha I was totally on the bullseye, Mizrak and Olrox slept togetherrrr- they be fucking 😂.

I can't figure out Olrox's angle? Like he killed Julia Belmont so he's not like...good? But he seems to be opposing the Vampire Messiah, and trying to 'help' humanity? Or at least give them something to think about? I'm wondering who Julia Belmont killed tbh.

I don't think I fully appreciated Edouard's singing until this episode. Like on some level I was aware it was beautiful, but it didn't hit until this episode. Such a lovely voice.

Ow my fucking heart, who needs a heart anyways. Annette going to save Edouard and being like "I can give you a quick and painless death" and Edouard being utterly fucking terrified because he's still there in mind and heart, and he doesn't want to die and probably thinks Annette is utterly terrifying and probably came to kill him.

Then Olrox revealing himself and Richter bolting out of fear instead of fighting (tbh I wouldn't want to fight Olrox either, dude's terrifying) which I like and feels realistic. Oh cool, Olrox is Aztec? Neat, I should probably pop open a history book on the Aztecs then. Bro what is your endgame Olrox??? Thought you didn't like the Messiah? Maybe he's trying to resurrect whoever Julia killed (probably another vampire?).