Netflix Castlevania Series!!

Lulcielid

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
The season 3 sinopsis from the Netflix trailer:

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Theozilla

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
Saw that some people are also speculating The Judge is going to be the show’s version of Zead/Death. Though others say Miranda might also be Death. Also wonder if the promo art is implying that Lenore will eventually turn against Carmilla to aid Hector? Maybe taking on aspects from Rosaly/Julia from Curse of Darkness? Hope that Saint Germain’s time travel powers are going to be kept for the show.

I also wonder if Alucard getting two apprentices from Japan is some form of long term setup for the Dawn/Aria of Sorrow games storylines, since they take place in Japan and Alucard has relocated there. Also wonder if “The Captain” character might be the show’s Grant Dynasty.



As for further far future spitballing, I'm guessing, with the assumption the show is not going to have infinite seasons, and thus not adapt every single Belmont/game era, that the Richter and Soma games/storylines will likely serve as the Acts 2 ands 3 of a thematic trilogy for the series. Saint Germain could also end up being another connecting thread along with Alucard if the time travel elements are kept. So at least Alucard won’t be lonely throughout the centuries.
 
Shademp

Shademp

420
Season 3​
The Psychedelic Horror season:​

This was the first line.

I’d written a short document. I printed it off and pasted the pages into a large Field Notes Dime Novel Edition notebook. And I went to a hotel room in London and didn’t come out until I’d broken down the whole season.

I remember clearly standing on the hotel balcony around 1 in the morning, looking down on East London, and suddenly realising the sound of Saint Germain. A few months later, Bill Nighy agreed to take the part of Saint Germain, which was good, because I would have been fucked if he’d said no, because he was that sound.

Also, seriously, how good is my life that I got to write for Bill Nighy?
Click to expand...

Source: https://warrenellis.ltd/work/how-castlevania-season-3-started/

The image url for the photo in the blog reads "phantomloop". I wonder if that has any sort of significance to the plot of season 3.



I wonder if they are going to do any spin on Dracula's curse (the "Curse of Darkness" as it were). Is the malignant "magic" (putting that in quotes since in the show Dracula is very anti-magic) of Dracula going to fester in the countryside and corrupt people's hearts? Are the remnants of Dracula instead going to be the cause for some of the new monsters arising? Or will there be no such thing as Dracula's curse?

In the game Curse of Darkness it was never made clear if Trevor Belmont was particularly murderous and douchey because of the curse or if that's just his default. One thing I can see the show doing though is that Trevor and Sypha find their hearts blackened by all the fighting, feeling themselves becoming monsters because of staring too long into the abyss. That'd be one possible take on Dracula's curse without actually involving neither Dracula nor the curse.

EDIT: This actually leads to one of my most confident predictions for the ending of season 3 when it comes to Trevor and Sypha.
Sypha will reveal that she is pregnant and this motivates the duo to take it just a little bit easier with their monster hunting so they can have time to raise their child in a good environment. Thus ends the story of this Belmont generation and season 4 will jump forwards in time by at least a few centuries.
As predictable as this is I'm kind of hoping for this route.
 
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Lulcielid

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
First review of season 3. Castlevania Season 3 is as Horny as it Gory.

Overall, Castlevania Season 3 throws a lot at the audience. With around five different stories being told in 10 episodes, it can get a bit confusing if you don’t pay attention. While this is a little frustrating, and ultimately keeps this season from being the best, outside of pacing, there isn’t much to fault the season for. There is a lot to love about this season of Castlevania Season 3. It’s sensual, violent, and filled with action and beautiful animation, all while growing its cast of characters. Now it’s time to keep our fingers crossed that it gets renewed for a fourth season, with as much as went into setting up future storylines, I hope it comes through.

8.5/10
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Theozilla

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
Finished Castlevania season 3 today. Largely enjoyed it, definitely understand why Warren Ellis refereed to it as his psychedelic horror season. Surprised by how much of the season could largely be seen as set up (I assume) for very loosely adapting Curse of Darkness’s climax for next season. Hector’s plot-line, while it was following the narrative logic it established, did get kinda gratuitous though. Decent concept, but faulty execution. One of my favorite moments was Isaac’s conversation with his insectoid/Greek night creature. The voice acting was really good, and a joy to take in. Season was definitely effective in leaving most of its protagonists sad/disturbed by its end.
 
Shademp

Shademp

420
The re-interpretation of the Infinite Corridor is one of the elements I am most happy about with season 3.

In Curse of Darkness, as you are about to enter the corridor, Hector asks "What lies beyond this point?", Trevor replies "Do not ask. If you knew your heart might waver."

You enter the place, readying yourself for unspeakable horrors, and then...

cod_infinite-corridor.png

...it's nowhere near as frightening as Trevor suggested. It's a bunch of floating platforms in an endless void. Enemies are at times slightly more powerful than what you've encountered earlier but not overwhelmingly so. The place is, at most, somewhat creepy. There is almost no lore about the Infinite Corridor, aside from it containing a seal to prevent Dracula's Castle from re-emerging.

For these reasons I have long wanted to see the Infinite Corridor expanded or re-imagined. The choice in the Netflix show to make it an access point to all(?) of time and space, including a portal to Hell, is clever and appropriate. This way they are also able to weave it in with an origin story for Saint Germain. Going by the ending of season 3, perhaps Saint Germain will eventually gain some mastery over the Infinite Corridor and become the time-travelling Saint Germain we know from the games.

There is huge potential for the Infinite Corridor being re-used in future seasons. I hope we'll learn what the deal was with that Central- South American pyramid, and the people running towards the pyramid, that Saint Germain glimpsed.
 
X-SOLDIER

X-SOLDIER

Harbinger O Great Justice
AKA
X
All of the messaging about loneliness in this season was particularly poignant for me.

I thought it was super interesting how it's taking things for the main characters and shifting their experiences to the point where all the main characters are being lead to understand Dracula hitting his breaking point with humanity. Meanwhile Hector is faced with seeing what the fate of being cared for like a pet is like, since he didn't want to totally wipe out humanity like Isaac did but he didn't understand what it would be like not being treated as an equal. Isaac is seeing more and more of humanity that's worth saving that's shifting his perspectives, while also bringing him up against different evils entirely. Then we have someone like Saint Germain who's genuinely forgotten what it's like for someone to just help him out of kindness, and it makes a huge difference for him.

I feel like this setup is SUPER important in order to get the stakes raised for a later season when we start to have more of those characters clashing against one another, but also when their ideologies start to clash that we understand where they're coming from. All of these choices are going to have long-term effects, and I'm INCREDIBLY curious how it's gonna play out.

Also, I really like that a series that's been able to go all out on animated violence also gets to do the same for sex & nudity now that they're well-established with an audience. The only other animated Netflix thing that I've seen that's done that is Love, Death, & Robots. I'm glad that it's something that's easier to do with streaming services as compared to any other types of media distribution.



X :neo:
 
Theozilla

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
Well, it seems that's mostly due to Netflix not having given them a green light for a season 4 yet. And even if Ellis and the team are passionate about the series they aren't going to start work on a potential season 4 without being guaranteed pay/income, even if it's just outlines/concepts.
 
Prism

Prism

Pro Adventurer
AKA
pikpixelart
During all of this quarantine stuff, I watched the whole series! The series as a whole felt the most like Castlevania at the end of Season 2, and while I do wish it felt more like Castlevania in some ways (mainly enemy design), I appreciate the show’s ability to successfully keep moving in new ways.
In Season 2, the enemy character motivations and differences in opinion were touched upon, but they were still all under the wing of Dracula. In season 3, that bloomed into something really complex; in the vacuum left with Dracula dead, all of the villains branched out with goals that don’t quite meet up anymore. Isaac building an army to get back at Camilla and Hector, the emotional abuse of Hector by the girls (Lenore got him to think of basic human standards as benevolence, and his slow seduction into letting his guard down..), Hector’s desire for freedom, and so on. That’s all interesting on its own.

I always love self-contained stories, and the mystery of the cultists in Trevor and Sypha’s arc fits that. It was tense and intriguing - yet all it dealt with was a small town. There was nothing grand about it until the end realization, which is what I thought was particularly well done. They managed to make the problems of one little town into this tense, engrossing mystery. Saint Germain slowly becoming more complex as his character motivations became apparent was good, too. The initial uncertainty of what he was up to was really nice. It was clear he wasn’t a villain, but his exact motivations were still mysterious.

The cultists’ twisted ideology also made sense. Their core belief structure never really changed - it was merely the parts they had faith in that did. It was totally believable.

But you know what wasn’t? Alucard’s arc, oh god. I would’ve rather have his role in the whole season been about him living on his own, living in nature, and coping with loneliness. Taka and Sumi weren’t....awful characters, at first. I put up with them. But their betrayal was just awful! To pull off a successful betrayal, a story has to get you to like the characters first, and I don’t think they ever got to that point for me. Their discontent was also foreshadowed only by a simple conversation that seemed like a minor annoyance at most. On top of that, seeing these characters rape one of the beloved characters in video game history is pretty bad for a number of reasons. “Pretty bad” is an understatement on that one...
 
Theozilla

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
Though I don’t think it’s accurate/appropriate to say that
Alucard was raped by Sumi and Taka. His sexual encounter with them, in of itself, was consensual. The sex immediately ceased after they betrayed them. Now this isn’t to imply the betrayal Alucard went through wasn’t traumatizing/tragic to him, but I think it’s an important distinction to be accurate in describing said events properly.
 
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