With the fourth season out, that’s a wrap for the Castlevania anime. Since Konami stopped making games in a larger capacity, this is all fans of the franchise have had to enjoy regarding the beloved series of games. For the most part, it was a pretty faithful adaptation even with the liberties taken.
The games really didn’t have much story to play off of, so the show had plenty of freedom to take advantage of. Not everything was perfect, but the developers did an admirable job overall. Let’s see how they managed to stay true to the material and where they faltered. Caution: this will include some spoilers for the whole series.
10 Best: Comedy/Gore Balance
Two things that were striking in the first season of the anime. The first was the gore. While there were some grotesque things in the games, the game series was nowhere near as violent as it the anime. It would have been too much if not for the humor to balance it out. It wasn’t typical over the top anime wackiness either but a more refined dry sense of humor which worked for the setting.
9 Worst: Swearing Just To Swear
The one thing that was off putting about the humor at times, or dialogue in general, was the swearing. Sometimes it seems like TV series, be it anime or live action, want to push boundaries if they are not on a cable network just to prove that they have that freedom. HBO is a great example. While there are definitely times where the swearing works, like when Sypha lost her cool in season four, many times it felt unneeded and too sophomoric.
8 Best: Voice Cast
When it comes to anime dubbing, there are some absolute legends out there that make shows better. It’s very rare that a Hollywood actor will take an anime, but Netflix likes to throw its power around to prove it can create theater level anime as it were. In this case it actually worked. Every season with each new addition of characters to the anime made the cast sound better and better.
7 Worst: Music
On a sound level, the one piece of its design that was lacking was the music. First of all, there was no real introduction with a musical theme. That is often the best part of an anime. Those that want to skip an intro can, but it helps set the mood. Castlevania did have an opening but it eventually got dropped and even when there was one, it wasn’t epically catchy.
More importantly though, while the original score was not bad, fans would have liked to hear a little more classical tunes from the games. The highest peak it reached was in season two when they played “Bloody Tears” from Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, which in hindsight, was a weird choice. “Beginning” is the theme of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse which this anime draws heavily from.
6 Best: Character And Lore Nods
This anime did a great job of not flooding the series with too many characters. At its core it was about two games. As previously mentioned, the major one was Castlevania III on the NES as that’s where Trevor, Alucard, and Sypha started. The other inspiration taken was from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness on the PS2 and Xbox which introduced Isaac and Hector among others. There could have been more, but again, the balance of new and old was well mixed.
5 Worst: Season One
If one were to rank all four seasons, the first would be dead last. It was a four episode anime but it was more like a cut apart movie. It was a proof of concept that worked to get fans and Netflix on board to want more. That’s great as it worked, but looking back on it now, it was such a departure from the games and barely was what could be considered Castlevania.
4 Best: Classic Monsters
Like the characters, each season introduced more and more monsters from the games. The anime series was more into its own original designs which is fine. Getting to see classic creatures pop up like the Hunchbacks, Golems, and Gergoth in season four was a treat though. For that matter, the vampire designs, while not calling back to any games, also worked in homage to them.
3 Worst: Dracula’s Backstory
One of the weirdest things about this anime series is how it tries to humanize Dracula. That’s a key thing to anime. It likes to show how villains became crazed so, on the one hand, it was interesting to see Dracula start out as not a pure madman. Yet, as a fan of the games, not seeing him be an absolute monster was a letdown at the same time.
2 Best: Action Roots
Even on the NES, Castlevania began as an action series first. The action in these games may not look harrowing today but that’s why this anime’s choreography is great.
It ties the whole thing together to what fans thought in their head while playing these classics. There is only so much an 8-bit sprite can show without one’s imagination along for the ride. Again, the gore helped too.
1 Worst: Alucard Is Constantly Sad
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is seen as one of the best games in the series, and, in turn the star, Alucard, is a fan favorite. That’s why it was weird to see him turn into an anime sad boy. He is three steps away from becoming Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. That may be extreme but he has major issues with his father and talking to people because of that isn’t easy. He has cool, very cool in fact, moments in the anime, but both he and Dracula are too mopey as compared to their versions in the games.