Castlevania: The Animated Series

[Arfguy]

It took one night, but I watched all of it and now I am so eager for season 2. It was pretty awesome.

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Just what to say I love this series and can't wait for season 2.

[Arfguy]

The saying "always leave them wanting more" is very applicable to this show. I hope it's not too long before season 2 is released.

[Kusanagi]

four episodes is such a tease, but I'm looking forward to season 2

[Deathscythe]

Couldn't get past the sympathetic Dracula. I'm beyond sick and tired of the romantic, humanized vampire.

[Cyke]

Couldn't get past the sympathetic Dracula. I'm beyond sick and tired of the romantic, humanized vampire.

This incarnation takes its source from Bram Stoker's Dracula (aristocratic, worldly, scholarly, gentlemanly, mysteriously charming, and attractive), Coppola's Dracula (origins), and Symphony of the Night.

Stoker's Dracula was indeed a romantic, albeit a deadly one. Coppola's Dracula's motivation for turning to evil was more or less the same beats. The movie showed that Dracula's wife Elisabeta was tricked into thinking her husband died, committed suicide out of grief, and unable to enter Heaven because the Church damned her for committing suicide. In the show, the Church burns her at the stake for heresy, damning her in the process. In both cases, Dracula wants revenge because the Church had committed heinous evil on the love of his life.

So, a sympathetic, or at least attractive, Dracula isn't anything new, and this version draws on several sources, including the video games themselves.

[Deathscythe]

This incarnation takes its source from Bram Stoker's Dracula (aristocratic, worldly, scholarly, gentlemanly, mysteriously charming, and attractive), Coppola's Dracula (origins), and Symphony of the Night.

Stoker's Dracula was indeed a romantic, albeit a deadly one. Coppola's Dracula's motivation for turning to evil was more or less the same beats. The movie showed that Dracula's wife Elisabeta was tricked into thinking her husband died, committed suicide out of grief, and unable to enter Heaven because the Church damned her for committing suicide. In the show, the Church burns her at the stake for heresy, damning her in the process. In both cases, Dracula wants revenge because the Church had committed heinous evil on the love of his life.

So, a sympathetic, or at least attractive, Dracula isn't anything new, and this version draws on several sources, including the video games themselves.

I've studied Stoker's book for decades; Count Dracula is not romantic in the least. He employed human affect left over from his life as a means of tormenting the living, who he saw as nothing more than cattle. Stoker based his vampires on the folkloric vampires of Eastern Europe, where it was believed that the undead was the reanimated body of the living possessed by a demonic entity. Hence Van Helsing often referring to the Count with the phrase "in life" and Van Helsing telling Lucy's suitors that they must free her body so that she would have peace. The body/spirit was seen through the Christian lens, and was a union; thus the soul would not truly be at peace until the body was.

The Count did, however, possess all the traits you list, but they were overshadowed by the reality of his undeath. He was a monster in the form of a man, a "wanderer in the outer darkness," not in love with either his brides, Lucy, or Mina. One such as him cannot love, though it can mimic and remember the emotion.

As for Coppola's movie, it would be my favorite Dracula and vampire film of all were it not for James Hart's insistence on all but ripping off Langela's Dracula by making the character a tortured creature mourning the loss of his now-reincarnated love. The true horror of the novel comes from the vampires themselves and Dracula's hideous plan for London and then the world. The true story that filmmakers continue to miss is the familial love between the young characters, with Van Helsing as a sort of father figure.

[JBatmanFan05]

I've studied Stoker's book for decades; Count Dracula is not romantic in the least.

Tis true and the romance is a big flaw of most adaptations. 1818 Frankenstein, the best version IMHO of Mary Shelley's novel, is also vastly different from its adaptations. Lovecraft never gets adapted correctly due to romance (Lovecraft hardly had women in his stories really).

I've just given up on Stoker's book ever getting a true adaptation. Frankenstein seems more possible if someone really keys in on the romanticism and nature themes, does a really restrained quiet take on it, almost or basically The Revenant style.


To be on topic: I really enjoyed CV so far. I was surprised. Dark, good animation and writing.

[ZeroBG82]

Couldn't get past the sympathetic Dracula. I'm beyond sick and tired of the romantic, humanized vampire.

In fairness to Castlevania, they literally only go there for the first episode to put him back on the path of being a genocidal monster. There's no redemptive angle in play here. Dracula's evil was contained briefly through loving Lisa. Now it has been magnified and unleashed in full.

[MikeP]

They are just staying true to the Dracula as he was presented in the Castlevania series. He fell in love with two women, but was more or less a complete monster.

Hell, he is even worse than Bram Stoker's original incarnation. The original Dracula was cruel, but not genocidal. (if only because he wasn't nearly as powerful)

[Cyke]

They are just staying true to the Dracula as he was presented in the Castlevania series. He fell in love with two women, but was more or less a complete monster.

This is the simplest answer, really. He's romantic in the show because he was romantic in the games.

I do, however, like that Bloodlines tried to steer the franchise closer to the book, hence why Quincy Morris is mentioned as connected to the Belmonts. The games previous to that only used the classic cinematic versions, bordering on cartoonish. Bloodlines tried to get to classic lore, and Symphony of the Night built upon that connection even further.

[AdamFTF]

Couldn't get past the sympathetic Dracula. I'm beyond sick and tired of the romantic, humanized vampire.

I allow for it to some extent. Largely because I'm such a big Universal Horror fan and Universal Monsters are known for having sympathetic traits. But even then, it only boiled down to one line when it came to Dracula: "To truly die would be wonderful" or something to that effect. Just a suggestion that he hates his state of unlife on some level.

I have a bigger problem with the severely overpowered Dracula. But that's standard Castlevania as well. It's normal for them to depict Dracula as some kind of demonic god who's so powerful that he commands a legion of demons and Death itself is basically his sidekick. It's a far cry from Stoker's Dracula who was a monster living in a dilapidated castle doing his best to go through the motions of being a nobleman to the point of pretending to be the coachman and the cook to trick Johnathan Harker.

[Spiritualcramp]

Adi Shankar had a meltdown or was trolling the IGN guy in an interview today, lol

[Immortal Weapon]

Warren Ellis confirms season 2 is coming this Summer
https://twitter.com/warrenellis/stat...60793814376448

[Sacred Knight]

Nice. And double the episodes. Bring on more Alucard. Though the entire cast is boss.