Castlevania
You reap what you sow.
That was my first thought as I finished watching season 1 episode 1.
In this series, the antagonist isn’t exactly a villain. The reason being is that the hell breaks loose only because humans burnt a woman they claimed to be a witch alive who happened to be a wife of a very powerful dracula.
The dracula, Vlad Țepeș, becomes absolutely furious that his wife was burnt alive while he was absent. In his own words, he tolerated humans only because he deeply loved his wife. With that connection now gone or burnt away literally, he vows to annihilate mankind. He gives them a year to repent.
In the end, humans instead celebrate the day a year later. The dracula launches a demon invasion onto mankind, rightfully so.
Humans, on the other hand, are adamant that the dracula is the bad one, blissfully forgetting the fact that they started it.
This is how this series unfolds.
The main characters of this series include Vlad Țepeș’s son who is a dhampir, which means a half vampire. He firmly believes that his father has gone insane due to grief and, therefore, he needs to be put down.
There are two other characters who are a mage and a vampire hunter.
This animation is overall really dark. There are a lot of blood, gore, and sex, and thus it is not recommended for children.
If the title of this animation sounds familiar to you, that is because there are games that goes by the exactly same name. In fact, this series has been going on since 1986. Each iteration has had the same concept, kill the dracula.
The animation follows the same concept as well, except they had to come up with a full story instead of heavily fragmented stories that the games had. I say they’ve done a good job on the story department. I just would like to remind you that the dracula, at least in this animation, is not the bad guy. Humans are. After all, they started it.
There are several things I do like about this animation.
One; characters wear what they should be wearing. What I am saying is that mages wear robes, including one of the main characters, and fighters wear armors. I realize that is just the way it is, but some animations impose the well and tried “More skin exposure = Better armor” for females, and males often wearing virtually no armor but merely cool clothes.
Two; The plot has stages. It’s not a straightforward plot. What I am saying is that, when the main characters set out for their adventure, it does not end in one-go. Once they reach a milestone, there is a time break which advances things around them, one of which is relationships.
Three; Well, it has a clear and proper ending which you think you’d normally get. But, nope, a clear and proper ending is a rare thing in animations.
Overall, not a bad animation. It is rated for adults, and it sure is. It’s not just gore and violence. There are casual conversations about sex, and there are intercourse scenes. So, it really is rated for adult.
