Castlevania: Nocturne

Castlevania: Nocturne fires on just about every cylinder it needs to. Action, horror, and period-specific turmoil coalesce in a sequel series of comparable quality to the first season of Castlevania.

Despite its non-ending, this series eclipses its predecessor to deliver one of the best installments in vampire fiction in some time.

Castlevania: Nocturne is an exemplary way to take a popular game series and turn it into one of the most exciting animated adaptations yet. It remains to be seen the heights that animated Richter Belmont will reach, but we’re confident we’ll be left impressed.

Despite some nagging feelings, Castlevania: Nocturne sets a strong foundation for a new chapter in this series.

My only beef about this intricately plotted season is that its eighth episode lacks a true ending, making us gnash our teeth for another season.

Castlevania Nocturne's sophomore season grasps for greatness in far too many places, leaving in its wake a mess of underwritten characters, abandoned emotional arcs, and empty action that saps the sequel of its power and its promise. Luckily, its voice performances – especially Iain Glen’s turn as Juste Belmont – help make up for the superficial writing.

The most interesting parts of the show come toward the back half of the season, when characters like Erzebet are introduced or long-lost family members make an appearance — but leading up to that, the team is rather aimless at times.

The original Castlevania animation is one of my favorite videogame adaptations, and I'm happy to say Nocturne follows this trend with great animation and likeable characters it is shaping to be another fantastic animated series.

The upgrade in the animation is to praise and the direction of Sam Deats and the other directors have improved considerably, I can't say the same for the writing, its story and its characters. The dialogue was really lame, kinda looked like Clive Bradley was trying to copy Warren Ellis style, cracking little jokes that are not at all funny or trying to make his characters look cool and.witty by just causing cringe. I know that every writter has their own style but it's funny, Warren Ellis in just 4 episodes manage to.devolp his characters and villians while Bradley looks like an amateur. If it gets a 2nd season hope it gets better because there is a lot of good potencial. Score: 5,8

Castlevania: Nocturne ventures further into the animated universe based on the games of the same name. Picking up centuries after the first show, its setting of France during the French Revolution is a perfect backdrop for a story revolving around vampires and vampire hunters. Sadly, most of what this show tries to do are left falling short of the mark. Richter Belmont proves to be a more relatable character than the protagonist of the first show, and his sidekick, Maria probably has the best story in the short season. The most glaring issue is the use of Richters trauma to prop up the daring women of the show, which leaves the main character feeling weak and dishonourable, something all too common in the modern era of film and television. Annette is a good character at times, but feels truly obnoxious throughout most of the show. Overall it misses the magic that made the first series so special, but still is a solid take on the universe, even with its unfaithfulness to the source material.

YIkes. I gave Castlevania a rare 9, but this gets the score lowered by more than half - and that's pretty generous. There's nothing original or satisfying about it, though some of the fights are almost ok. And, hey, if you're going to have someone sing incredible pieces of countertenor... for the love of GOD... hire someone who can actually sing it. Please do not *BUTCHER* Mozart and Purcell. Just disgusting, terrible, *shameful* treatment of classical music that just reinforces most people's perceived dislike of it.

The writing, characters and plot are just so inferior to the previous series. Its so generic and non intersting at all.