wofai

[wofai]

<3

[wofai]

Alucard + being a tired old man

[wofai]

"I learned that family is not only made by blood. Ancestors and their offspring are linked together by a shared bond. For centuries, I've been fighting to save humanity with a Belmont by my side. Isn't that a family too?"

[wofai]

You often talk about not being a fan of misery porn, extra gorey scenes or grimdark stuff but you're also a big fan of Netflix Castlevania. Do you think that show lacks these aspects or are they done in a way that doesn't put you off?

It's weird. I didn't expect to like it, for all the reasons you stated. But Castlevania pulled off Dark Fantasy in a way I wasn't expecting, and I think what made it work was the protagonists.

Trevor is a standard-issue dark fantasy miseryguts on first appearance, but the crucial detail is he starts the story at his emotional darkest hour and goes up from there. He's drunk and broke and miserable and he kind of hates everybody - but, and this is critical, he still does the right thing. He makes a perfect foil to Dracula, who experienced very similar heartbreak and decided to work out his grief by burning the world down. Trevor's family and legacy was destroyed by the church and the ignorance of scared, normal people, just like Lisa Tepes was. Trevor being worn down to the bone, miserable and isolated, and still at his core being unable to abandon innocents to die, is not a grimdark concept. It's sneakily a very hopeful one, and, crucially, the story rewards him for trying.

This, of course, leads to Sypha entering the story when Trevor rescues her from the cyclops, and Sypha is a complete breath of fresh air in the story so far. She's unburdened by the angst and tragedy that weighs on Trevor - which is why he, at one point, describes her as a hero while he is not. Sypha and Trevor do equally heroic activities, but Sypha has the hero attitude while Trevor just does it as a job (and a bone-deep sense of justice he refuses to admit is there). Sypha is cheerful, curious and more than willing to crack jokes at Trevor's expense, while still seeming grounded and sensible enough to avoid feeling like a manic pixie dream girl. As we learn more about her, it becomes clear that part of the reason she feels so much less miserable than everyone around her is because of her ludicrously powerful magic that means she doesn't need to worry so much about the rains of hellspawn and nightmare chimeras in the woods and stuff. Sypha also works as a mirror to Lisa, in that they are both educated women who understand the importance of community-maintenance and use their knowledge to help people around them, even at the cost of being seen as a witch. Even though she goes through some heavy stuff, she also retains her hopeful and heroic demeanor and goes beyond just saving people's lives - she actively works to help them rebuild so they can do more than just survive. This is, again, antithetical to the supposed grimdark of the setting.

Alucard is kind of in a story of his own and plays the tragic hero tropes a lot more straight, but that's why he's not the only protagonist. Trevor and Sypha foil off him, mostly by taking the piss and allowing him to lighten up a bit. Alucard probably has the bleakest worldview of the trio, feeling utterly isolated by his half-vampire nature and really only saving humanity on the principle that "Lisa would not approve of genocide in her name." The story makes it clear that his Lone Tragic Hero thing is actively deeply unhealthy and also very unsexy, and he's at his happiest (and sexiest) when he has friends and loved ones around to support him and make sure he showers.

Over and over again the story drives home that saving lives is necessary heroism, but so is saving knowledge and teaching people how to live better lives, because the ultimate goal of the story is to fulfill Lisa's dream of a better world - where people won't be sick and scared all the time. That concept is anti-grimdark. And the rules of the story reward this endeavor over and over again. Not everyone they try to save survives, and not every heroic attempt ends in victory - Lisa died trying to fulfill that dream, after all - but the dream is bigger than any one person, and every attempt has tangible lasting consequences that make the world just a bit better and inspire other people to carry the dream forward. Hidden in this dark, bloody, "everyone says fuck now" fantasy story is an unbelievably hopeful message about how one can actually go about saving the world.

And what really clinched it for me was how the show ended. It goes out of its way to bend logic and luck to reward all of our heroes for trying so hard to save the world when it would have been legitimately easier to end on a bittersweet note. This show essentially proves that it's possible to take the aesthetic of grimdark too-cool-for-school fantasy and then use it to tell an actually hopeful story where the main characters act like real people who aren't selfish assholes. Because while "realism = everyone is a selfish, petty asshole" is a tempting trope, it's more accurate to say that "realism = some people are selfish, petty assholes". It's ridiculous to act like the real world has no selfless, kind people in it.

So yea, highly recommend. Even Season 3, the comparative weak link and overall darkest point, is well worth watching.

[wofai]

i‘ve been watching castlevania nocturne

[wofai]

big boobs ⁉⁉

[wofai]

I'm sorry but I could never take this bitch seriously, she looks like an onion, perhaps even a turnip

[wofai]

bro not now she has to commune with the dead

[wofai]

lazy olrox thingy i made i’ve been thinkin about him a little bit…,,,,,,,,, giggles

NO IM NOT GONNA FINISH IT UGH

[wofai]

Sypha&Belmont: 👻🧛‍👻

Annette: 💀❓

[wofai]

[wofai]

YOU TELL IT LIKE IT IS MIYO 👏👏

[wofai]

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon S2 | Ep3 | Miyo! I’m glad you’re safe. Yes. You too, Sir.

[wofai]

Watashi no Shiawase na Kekkon S2 | Ep2 | I’ll watch over you quietly.

[wofai]

THEY KISSED

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Children of blood and bone casting just ruined the rest of my month

[wofai]

Wicked (2024) dir. Jon M. Chu // Nosferatu (2024) dir. Robert Eggers