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Castlevania Season 2 Review

The second season of Castlevania is an improvement upon its predecessor. It is a longer, more sprawling season with excellent writing and world building.

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“Good night, tree“

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This season thankfully has a higher episode count. The first one was way too short at just four while this one is double that with eight episodes, most of them being outstanding. Clearly the first couple of episodes were just set-up, but that was important character and plot-building foundation that led to excellent conclusion later down the line.

I was quite surprised by a couple of developments here. For one, the humans are entirely sidelined this time around and they are so weak, in fact, that they have no proper army to counter the vampires’ attack whatsoever. But thankfully, that only led to better development of the vampires themselves and the villains being split into different groups was very interesting with the political intrigue full of betrayal and conflict brewing inside the castle being the highlight of the season.

And of course the biggest surprise for me came in the penultimate episode. In a move reminiscent to the death of Snoke in ‘The Last Jedi’ that genuinely caught me off guard, Alucard ended up killing Dracula. At first, I was a bit upset by that, but eventually I’d come to fully appreciate that bold move that made much sense as this man was pretty much on a suicide mission all along. His arc remains excellent and his final moments of humanity were emotionally very powerful.

The battle that led up to that death was absolutely impressive. In fact, it’s one of the best animated battles that I’ve seen in quite a while. The show is excellent at taking the best elements from anime, such as the fight choreography and use of powers, but discarding the baggage of too many speeches that plague many of those shows. The result is this incredible battle where the trio fought Dracula while giving it their all. It was quick, straightforward and undoubtedly epic.

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The animation accompanying the action is fantastic, though the characters’ movements aren’t as fluid all the time. But the background work remains incredibly detailed and frequently even astonishing to look at. The score and sound are also excellent while the voice acting is top-notch. The dialogue can be too on-the-nose as is the humor, but most of it really worked, especially the teasing and the fun dynamic between the main trio.

This season is also incredibly brutal. The gore definitely can become too silly and even ridiculous, but the stakes are definitely heightened due to that unrestrained graphic violence. I also loved the exploration of the Belmonts’ castle and how those scenes were both intimate and adventurous while their plan was also very intricately built. The script overall was surprisingly well crafted and complex.

The character development is the highlight of Castlevania. Trevor is so cool with his whip and his arc is incredibly sad. I love his fun dynamic with Alucard and his growing bond with Sypha. Alucard is tough, but also pleasantly playful. Sypha is just a wonderful soul and the three are endearing together.

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Hector and Isaac as these two humans who are traitors to their own race got a terrific storyline, but Hector was too dumb, resulting in him becoming a slave to Carmilla, a woman who is so ambitious, brutally cold and effortlessly competent that she will undoubtedly be the next big villain of the show. I am also looking forward to what will happen to Isaac now that he got his own army of re-animated dead.