The first season of Castlevania was okay. The first episode was exciting to watch because it started with an interesting plot. However, the consecutive episodes felt bogged down by introducing the other characters and setting up the rest of the plot. While the first episode focused on Dracula, the next episodes focus instead on the protagonists that are introduced. The end of Castlevania Season 1 was a short setup rather than an actual season in its own right. At the end of the season its Alucard, Trevor Belmont, and Sypha banding together to defeat Dracula.
Season 2 was much better. Castlevania Season One only had four episodes. Season 2 has twice as many with eight episodes. It picks up from where the last season left off and actually advances the plot. The promise of the series is Dracula versus the protagonists is actually met. The final fight is exciting and action-packed to watch.
Castlevania is not without its flaws. They could have slowed down Season 2 during key plot points and actually built up to the final conflict of Dracula between the heroes. While Castlevania was enjoyable to watch because the episodes and seasons are small, it would have been more worthwhile to have some of the events take more time if it meant that it would take longer for the heroes to triumph eventually.
Certain moments in the series feel rushed so the payoff is greatly lessened. Slowing down the series could have made a few plot points more interesting to watch. The series doesn’t give enough time to deeply examine some of the interesting aspects of the world itself. They introduce the religious leaders of Wallachia in the first Season, but they are barely mentioned in the season. Because there are only twelve episodes total for Castlevania it isn’t given the time to do these things, however, it might have been intriguing to continue establishing this world.
However, Castlevania Season 2 is much better than its first season. The animation behind this series is phenomenal. The story is simple and it’s an easy series to watch along because it doesn’t have a lot of episodes and the episodes are not very long. The final battle between Dracula is awesome to watch. They also do a good job balancing between Dracula and the heroes instead of how the first season treated the characters.
Castlevania Stars Richard Armitage as Trevor, Graham McTavish as Dracula, James Callis as Alucard. It is currently streaming on Netflix.