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Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 Review

The second season of Castlevania: Nocturne premiered on Netflix in 2025. It’s inferior to the first season, but it did end with a banger.

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“This power belongs to me“

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I was so excited for this season, and although I was a bit disappointed in it, I still found it to be satisfactory overall. My main issue with this season was the pacing. It was overly slow in its first half and way too rushed and frenetic in the final two episodes. Suddenly, a lot of stuff happened and the stakes were heightened to an extreme degree and it simply felt contrived and not as seamless as I’d like it to have been.

But what an ending that was! The final two episodes featured the show at its peak in terms of action set pieces. It was a pure spectacle, the likes of which you can often see only in anime. Every character was superpowered way too much, but that led to such an exciting exchange of powers, punches and epic showdowns. Everybody got a great end to their arcs and the show was clearly ending in a way as the creators were not sure if Netflix would renew it the second time, so the next season will continue with a blank slate, which is both strange and exciting.

Let’s talk about the characters. Richter Belmont was way too overpowered there toward the end, but his action scenes were super cool and fun. I liked his brooding and sarcastic personality and his friendship with Alucard is terrific. Alucard is as gentlemanly and gracious as ever, but what I appreciated about him in this season is his deep humanity that is even more impressive for someone who has lived for centuries like him. Some of his lines about history and humanity prevailing were so inspirational.

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As for Annette and Maria, both were underdeveloped once again, though Annette got a very cool mythological arc that worked even if some of it was overly prolonged and ambiguously painted in overly broad strokes. Maria getting to kill her own father was an interestingly dark development, but her arc felt a bit separate from the others in the cast.

I loved Olrox and Mizrak. Their romance was very well explored and it was interesting how they were initially coming from different sides of the impending war. But the eventual turn of Olrox to the good side and Mizrak becoming a vampire himself was a terrific development that I saw coming, but l loved nonetheless.

As for the villains, they were quite strong, but not as well developed as Camilla was in the previous show. Erzsebet was badass and menacing, but eventually it turns out her henchman Drolta is the biggest villain, which I also saw coming, but it undeniably worked. These two were genuinely powerful and evil, which was refreshing to see in this era of overly humanized villains.

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This season of Castlevania: Nocturne is very well animated. It’s not as artistic as the previous show, but still quite polished and detailed. The character designs were solid as well. The score and sound are good too. The dialogue is quite strong, the tone was memorably dark throughout, and I really appreciated the show’s tackling of its more modern themes without becoming too contemporary. The historical aspects were not as great with Paris looking more like a 19^th century than an 18^th century city.