SO CASTLEVANIA S2 IS OUT AND I’M A BIT OVERWHELMED
First off, I want to shout from the top of my lungs I LOVE HECTOR
(also, total spoilers for Castlevania S2)
Moving on... goddamn, this is an absolutely phenomenal series. The action is stellar; the animation is consistently great; the characters are all interesting, developed, (mostly) endearing, and emotionally compelling; the narrative is so well structured. Honestly, my only gripe is the gore; as much I'm totally fine with it, it's frustrating that it'll put off a lot of people from what you could otherwise recommend as an all-time great animated series.
I was so excited when they announced Hector would be in this (Curse of Darkness is hella underrated), but going in I was expecting him to be a minor character with maybe a simple redemption arc. I was not expecting him to be a major character and a wonderful, pure, gentle boi who I absolutely love. I also love his undead pets, especially Cezar, who I am now depending on to keep Alucard from getting too depressed.
This version of Isaac is also vastly better than CoD's, and between him, Hector, Lisa (RIP best character), Dracula being an actually fleshed-out and sympathetic character, and the way they made their whole side understandable and even relatable, I was kinda on Team Dracula. Not fully, but more than enough to care about the antagonists.
(also I low-key ship Hector and Isaac, a pairing I'm calling Hectaac; "Is this where we kiss?" yes Isaac, yes it is, dammit)
(addendum: the notion of Alucard and Hector being together has been presented to me, and not only would these two kind, quiet, reserved, beautiful boys be much, much better for each other, they’re also both in desperate need of companionship; not to mention, Hector needs to come home to his undead pets, and if there’s any one (half-)human he could come to trust and appreciate it’s gonna be Adrian “so emotionally withdrawn he waits ‘till his friends are all gone to weep with grief” Tepes; this ship shall hereby be known as Aluctor, though AluHec is an acceptable alternative)
Sypha is tied with Hector for my favorite character. Absolute badass. Cauterized herself with her flame magic while fighting Dracula. Her magic is so cool, and her general demeanor (the confidence, the decisiveness, the optimism) make her so likable. And her romance with Trevor feels so natural and sweet. I adore that she’s literally like “This whole ordeal has been incredible, I want more adventures, and you’re a sexy danger magnet who I’ve grown to like, now let’s go, sidekick!”
Also, although Sypha and Carmilla are the only female characters aside from Lisa, mad props to the show's creators for 1) not sexualizing either of them, and 2) making them both fantastic, compelling, central, powerful characters.
(on a side note, it’s really entertaining to see the general take on Carmilla seems to be “Carmilla is an incredible, fantastic, badass character and I love her! Also she’s the absolute worst person ever and I hate her!”)
My biggest gripe (other than the overly-severe gore) is wasting the other Master Vampires. I mean, come on, you give us amazing-looking Japanese and Indian vampire women and then do nothing with them? I get that any story has limits and can’t give full focus to every single character, and Godbrand (who I found utterly insufferable, despite adoring both vikings and vampires) got more focus because it made his death more significant, but I wish we’d gotten any personality from them. Especially that Japanese vampire who could turn to mist. I love the vampire-turning-to-mist ability, it’s so underused in media and it’s so cool. It’s a shame we didn’t get more of her.
And of course HOLY SHIT THE BLOODY TEARS FIGHT OH MY GOD four solid minutes of stunningly animated, incredibly intense action set to the most iconic Castlevania song. They really waited to use any music from the games, but fuck did they make good on it when they did.
And also, the animation all throughout is exceptional. Every fight scene is so kinetic and fluid and fierce, and every time Trevor does his thing with the whip (which is so, so cool in its own right), I'm floored all over again.
Dracula's end was genuinely sad and emotional and poignant, and so was the way the last episode ended. His and Alucard's fight was fantastic, it really felt like a battle between immensely powerful supernatural beings (the whole fight between Dracula and Team Belmont was excellent, really), and yet they're also two of the most heartfelt characters in the show. For an action/horror, medieval fantasy series based on video games, this show's got a really strong emotional core. Fucking superb series. I can't wait for more.
(I also can't wait for that emotional, fitting death to be subverted by Dracula's inevitable resurrection, likely with his white hair, and subsequent association with Death.)
