Netflix seems to get just as much praise as it does criticism for its anime adaptations, with the video game adaptations getting more positive attention than others. Castlevania was an earlier hit, widely praised as one of the best video game adaptations to date. Now, DOTA: Dragon's Blood has brought that same fanbase back to the table to enjoy another generous helping of supernatural gore.
There are several things that both series have in common besides the genre and a dedicated fanbase, like the high-quality animation and clever writing. Netflix has a formula here that seems to work, and they would be wise to stay with it. Dragon's Blood has taken its cues from Castlevania, to great success.
Spoiler alert for the new Season 3 of DOTA 2: Dragon's Blood
7 More Character Backstory
There's a lot of lore in the fan wiki, but one of the disadvantages of video games is that there isn't a lot of time to tell a story. Castlevania started as a side-scroller and DOTA was primarily an RTS game. Neither genre leaves much room for character development.
Castlevania fans raved about Richard Armitage as Trevor Belmont because of the humanity he brought to the role, and how he got to tell the Belmont backstory. The denizens of DOTA have a similar transformation. The Invoker is probably the best example. He has a lot of lore to back him up in the game, but it's the backstory in Dragon's Blood that makes him sympathetic, even likable.
6 Easter Eggs For Diehard Fans
Viewers who haven't played the games will understand the story, and it's not essential to understand DOTA 2 or Castlevania to understand these shows. On the other hand, the writers and artists of these shows still like to add in some fun Easter Eggs for players to find.
A side-scroller doesn't have much to work with, but Castlevania still has a few subtle ones all the same, such as the chest hidden in the wall. Dragon's Blood ups the ante with characters and items from the RPG, like the Secret Merchant and the Archronicus playing important roles in the overall plot.
5 Blood And Guts
There's a lot of gore in both of these shows. Luna, an adherent to the Dark Moon Goddess, goes off on a genocidal rampage to retrieve the lotuses in an early episode, and the trail of bodies she leaves in her wake would have made Dracula proud.
Any fights with dragons are equally savage. The first few times the audience sees Davion, he's covered in some monster's blood, and he's pretty casual about it. His attitude sets the tone for the rest of the show, which is that wading through dead monster goo is a common occurrence around here.
4 Smart Use Of CGI
The two shows are produced by different studios and production companies, but they both look fantastic. Dragon's Blood has the advantage of being more recent and having access to better technology, and it uses more than Castlevania does, but in either case, it's not overdone.
The CGI is used on the dragons in DOTA 2: Dragon's Blood along with the Invoker's Tower and the Forge, while regular two-dimensional animation still takes up most of the space. Some of the more breathtaking animation, like the shimmering lotuses, is also some CGI magic.
3 Open Endings
Although the Castlevania series has come to an end, it left a few dropped threads that could be picked up later, and there's talk of a spinoff series that uses the same storylines. It makes sense in the context of the video game franchise.
DOTA goes in the same direction and does it just as effectively, perhaps even more so, since the show is expected to continue for a fourth season. A few of the characters are dead, with Davion being the most obvious omission, but the show strongly hints at some new arrivals. The scene in the Secret Merchant at the very end of the last episode hints that Mirana is pregnant, and someone that looked a lot like Filomena was seen rebuilding the Invoker's Tower.
2 The Fantasy-Horror Genre
It's not just the slicing and dicing that makes a horror series. Characters like Isaac and Hector, with their chilling and unnatural powers, are one example of how this show fits within the genre. Although Dragon's Blood leans more toward fantasy than horror, it uses the same elements to shock and fascinate the audience.
DOTA's horrors include gods that have gone bad, rampaging demons, humans that turn into dragons, and some old-fashioned genocidal mania just for good measure. It's less bloody overall, but it's stiff competition for Isaac's minions or bloodthirsty loose-cannons like Godbrand.
1 Made For Adults
Todd MacFarlane was right about this more than 20 years ago when he got together with HBO and made Spawn. The age of animation for grown-ups is here; there's plenty of stuff for the kids already without making everything PG-13.
It's not just the fun stuff, such as the swearing and dirty jokes and sexual references, but the unapologetic social and political commentary. It's not for everyone, and that's the point. Davion or Trevor would explain it themselves if they weren't fighting or drunk, and that's a crossover we'd all like to see.