Castlevania

:

Season 1
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 7, 2017
Season #: 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 301 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 249 out of 301
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 301
  3. Negative: 26 out of 301
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User Reviews

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  1. Rhesyuzz
    Jul 24, 2017
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. We have been waiting for a Castlevania adaptation for a very long time. In addition, having a good art style, dubbing and Netflix’s logo, I would welcome it. However, it stops there; nothing else is in this series. Bland, shallow, stupid and pandering to political correctness.
    Let’s dig in
    In all four episodes, the hero kills just one monster. Yes, the hero spends 75 percent of the show’s runtime beating priests and common people. Just like in the game, isn’t it?
    Not mentioning, he does flee from entering Dracula’s castle all the time. Again, just like in the game, hum? Only that, in the games, the first stage is entering the castle.
    I could go on indefinitely. No inciting incident, the character does not show personality, none of them does. Church is evil for evil’s sake. No motivation whatsoever. No good supporting cast. Hero has no flaws. And on, and on.
    Do yourself a favor; stop hipping things. If you don’t press for quality in your entertainment, they won’t try to reach for it.    … Expand
  2. sprafen
    Aug 9, 2017
    3
    Can't understand how this show is getting a pass. Is very mediocre in every angle: Bad dialogues, bad writing (this is sad because Warren Ellis is a very good comicbook writer) and the animation es really poor. Is a wasted oportunity, but that worked I think because every video game adaption are bad.
  3. BabeRuthless38
    Sep 19, 2017
    0
    I remember playing the original game when I was a kid, and later playing a bunch of the series up through the masterpiece that was Symphony of the Night. This show perfectly captures what we all loved about the games:

    - The way Trevor spends most of the series brawling with inbred peasants and slaughtering Christian priests, instead of fighting monsters - The fact that Trevor never    I remember playing the original game when I was a kid, and later playing a bunch of the series up through the masterpiece that was Symphony of the Night. This show perfectly captures what we all loved about the games:

    - The way Trevor spends most of the series brawling with inbred peasants and slaughtering Christian priests, instead of fighting monsters
    - The fact that Trevor never meets Dracula, who is barely even in the series
    - The way we see almost nothing of Dracula's castle
    - The incessant gratuitous gore that would make Quentin Tarantino queasy
    - Trevor being a foulmouthed drunken vagabond instead of a selfless, aristocratic hero

    /sarcasm

    You get my point. Look, Warren Ellis: we get it. You hate Christianity and when you got the chance to write a story about a noble family that battles Count Dracula you instead made an ultraviolent fanfiction about corrupt, psychotic priests run amok and the scruffy Mary Sue drifter who kills them all with slurred wisecracking and whip-fu. I'm sure college sophomores will think that's, like, totally edgy, man, but anyone who just wanted to see a great series of games translated to the screen is in for a huge disappointment at this hacky, ham-handed caricature. It only shows any life once Alucard shows up, i.e. the last 5 minutes of a 100 minute series. Not worth your time.    … Expand
  4. dc127
    Jul 10, 2017
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I went into this show with mixed expectations. The trailer looked pretty good, but you never know with these sorts of things. After watching it I have very mixed impressions.

    The good: The animation is top notch and there are a number of very good action sequences. This is really why I am here to see the show. I want to see crazy fights between Belmont/Alucard and vampires. These animation is definitely rated R. In one episode it literally rains down monster fetuses covered in blood. Depending upon your view this over the top violence is either a good thing or a bad thing. The music score was also okay, not great, but decent.

    The bad: The show is crazy over the top anti-Catholic. Every single priest in the show is lazy, evil, and manipulative. I'm fine with there being corrupt priests, but this is just **** Dracula is turned into an emo, brooding person because the church burn his wife at the stake. They also ran the Belmonts out of power, don't care about the people, and on and on and on. There is no way this portrayal could ever occur if you replaced "Catholics" with Jews, Muslims, gays, blacks, or any minority group of any kind. There is no reason for the blanket, over generalization. You could have made them a nuanced villain, people doing something wrong that they think is right. Instead they are caricatures of villains. I mean the show goes out of the way to make Dracula sympathetic, and he is slaughtering literally thousands of humans over one death. I'm giving the show a negative rating because of this. Bravo writers, you are bigots.

    Further Cons: The four episode length is just unacceptable. By the end of episode 3 you are barely scratching the surface of the world the story is set in. A 10 episode season would have been ok, 4 is not enough. It is just weird.    … Expand
  5. Likan
    Jul 11, 2017
    3
    After reading some confident interviews from the staff and positive reactions from a part of the audience, I had meager hopes for this show. Alas, they were quickly doused.

    I won't elaborate on the plot, which is decent despite its slow progression, and drawing quality ranges from mediocre to alright. But pretty much everything else turned out sub-par imho. Apart from a few    After reading some confident interviews from the staff and positive reactions from a part of the audience, I had meager hopes for this show. Alas, they were quickly doused.

    I won't elaborate on the plot, which is decent despite its slow progression, and drawing quality ranges from mediocre to alright. But pretty much everything else turned out sub-par imho.

    Apart from a few characters (Belmont), voice-acting is poor, further accentuated by an abysmal sound design : most of the time, voices seem unaffected by the characters' surroundings, giving them a very unnatural feeling, almost like one is hearing the actors directly in the recording studio.

    Characters themselves are chlichéd (special mention to the one-dimensional Dracula), the setting is as generici as they get, there's plenty of gore which is fine by me unless it's totally gratuitious like it is here (a cheap attempt to turn the show into something more mature than it really is). But the nail in the coffin (see what I did there ?) is the animation : apart from a few action sequences, the animation is just terrible, some movements look like they are rendered with two frames, faces occasionnaly twist and deform, reminding me of Dragon Ball Super (although not quite as bad, to be fair). How is it possible with today's techniques and decent budget, in 2017, to air an anime show with such a lack of fluidity ? After the surprisingly satisfying BLAME!, I don't understand how Netflix could let that pass.

    It's really one of those times where I find that the public's standards have gotten very low, to dish out positive reviews for this such a mediocre (at best) production. For all amateurs of dystopian Castlevania-esque vampire animation, do yourselves a treat, and go (re-)watch Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust. Which is leagues ahead of Castlevania in every department, despite being 17 years older...    … Expand
  6. euu
    Jul 15, 2017
    1
    I guess now I know how Berserk 2016 would have looked like if it had decent animation but bad writting.

    There is really nothing about the plot that hasn't been done before. It feels like it was written by some fedora tipping, white knight atheist redittor who thaught he is being clever and edgy by making the Church the main antagonist of the series. That's right, Dracula is not the main    I guess now I know how Berserk 2016 would have looked like if it had decent animation but bad writting.

    There is really nothing about the plot that hasn't been done before. It feels like it was written by some fedora tipping, white knight atheist redittor who thaught he is being clever and edgy by making the Church the main antagonist of the series. That's right, Dracula is not the main villain of Castlevania, he is just some bland romantic vampire who is angry the ebil christians killed his wife because she **** loved science. It seems they are making Dracula worse and worse with each interpretation, not to mention that it's implied his powers are not the result of a curse or a pact with dark forces, but instead they are a result of... SCIENCE! The main villain is some bishop and his army of ninja priests who kill people because they are evil religious bigots. It's boring, cliched and has been done to death, and a lot better than it was done here.

    The same thing goes for the main character: he is the selfish, sarcastic rogue that acts like a jerk for the first half but then decides to fight the good fight just because some pagan hippies hold some generic speech about hope and crap.

    The only thing that's serviceable is the animation, but I think it could have been a lot better, especially since it's Netflix and the show has only 4 episodes.

    This is pretty much what happens when you try to add depth to a series that was cocieved for kids. They could have had a series about a muscular dude fighting monsters with a whip, it would have been just as cliched, but at least it would have been fun.    … Expand
  7. raporgi
    Dec 22, 2017
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Lame. Castlevania lacks the spooky, mysterious atmosphere and just plain creepy fun. Instead we get a long winded rant againt Christianity. Warren Ellis is a hack.… Expand
  8. Trece
    Jul 9, 2017
    3
    Bad animation that drags a weak story with bad writing and bad voice acting. So sad this hyped prologue OVA partitioned in four end like this, has a good premise but nothing more, poorly executed.
    If the series doesn't have the Castlevania mark would be canceled.
  9. aslanmane
    Jul 14, 2017
    0
    The voice acting is exceedingly lazy and incompetent. The dialogue is so hamfisted, corny, cliche and unnatural. And the soundtrack as well, is just woefully sad. How could netflix allow this to be released? Jesus Christ would weep.
  10. marlinspike
    Aug 19, 2018
    2
    I watched them and there were only 4 episodes. I was ready to see the series finale an then it was over. what was that about?
  11. kjatafoxhound
    Oct 28, 2017
    2
    Bad experiment. Looks like a gothic tale of hatred against religion and farmers. All are topics and a confused message. The protagonist is horrible and stupid.
  12. YoloDuckTV
    Jan 1, 2019
    0
    Castlevania for the NES is the worst god damn game in the animal kingdom. This game is so god damn hard, that when I tried to stab the box that contains the god forsaken game. The knife i was using **** broke in half. Even the box is as hard as my pee pee when I watch A Madea Christmas. The challenge is gay as **** too, they just spawn a bunch of enemies, and knock you back a god damnCastlevania for the NES is the worst god damn game in the animal kingdom. This game is so god damn hard, that when I tried to stab the box that contains the god forsaken game. The knife i was using **** broke in half. Even the box is as hard as my pee pee when I watch A Madea Christmas. The challenge is gay as **** too, they just spawn a bunch of enemies, and knock you back a god damn mile. **** THIS GAME!!!… Expand

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Matt Gerardi
    Jul 10, 2017
    75
    While the animation and writing in this first “season” occasionally stumble along the way, the series’ creators have gone above and beyond to wring a resonant story from a game that never really had or needed one. It’s a promising start, and while this isn’t saying much, that alone makes it one of the most successful video game adaptations to date.
    Read full review
  2. We Got This Covered
    Reviewed by: Will Ashton
    Jul 10, 2017
    60
    Bleak, bold, blackhearted, brutal and very, very bloody, Netflix’s Castlevania is an uneven, weirdly paced but vividly realized and often captivating anime adaptation, one that propels the video game genre to newfound heights and a promising, if very short, glimpse at the show’s potential.
    Read full review
  3. Collider
    Reviewed by: Dave Trumbore
    Jul 10, 2017
    80
    This definitely isn’t kid friendly. And yet the violence and gore serves the story, one that’s not about a simple action-packed adventure of a trio of heroes wandering the Wallachian countryside, but the very real battle of complex heroes fighting for what’s right and protecting the innocent from darkness, death, and ignorance.
    Read full review
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