Castlevania: Nocturne Season 1 & 2 REVIEW

This is the first review specific piece to come from The Artech, where we specifically focus on art and technology’s intersections. In recent years it’s been a good time to be a fan of vampire specific movies/shows because they have really been bringing it. Castlevania Nocturne is the latest installation in this genre that I would consider a standout. 

I didn’t realize how vital it was for me, the viewer to have the power to decide what language I set my content to and what I select gives me a well cast and performed rendition in said language. How this pertains to Castlevania Nocturne is that the backdrop of the series is the French Revolution. With that in mind, I find it to be the most creatively consistent to what I’m watching to set the language to French and with English subtitles. 

The way that Belmont is said, the way various lines are delivered by all characters, the way that Alucard’s voice actor performs. It’s just perfect in French. This kind of care for various languages and diversity in Netflix’s consumer base allows me to have such a better time watching what I want to watch. Compared to Roger Eggers Nosferatu which is set in Germany but nearly everyone is British, and I’m stuck with this glaring inconsistency for 2+ hours. 

American animation studios that create works that stylistically resemble anime often receive blowback from dedicated anime fans for reasons that can best be compared to owning a pizza place in Bangladesh and specialize in Chicago deep dish. Not that the business model is automatically set to fail, but simply that any errors or glaring shortcuts that are observed by consumers will be magnified if the art is not to their liking. With that in mind, a friend of mind who is a diehard anime fan himself wanted me to be sure I know which studio animated Castlevania Nocturne. Yup. This Konami adapted work that strikes a firm resemblance to the works that inspired it was made in the US proper. 

I never took in any other Castlevania works before this series, as Netflix was kind enough to send me a review copy of the latest season of Nocturne before the premiere date. I can clearly see the direction they are going to go for Season 3 and I am mostly on-board. There’s a little bit of padding the writers set up for themselves on the final episode of S2 that I didn’t vibe with, but the pros outweigh the cons with this solid Netflix original. In my personal art consuming life, I have become jaded by many things, but I can confidently report that if you haven’t seen Castlevania Nocturne and wonder if Crunchyroll has any competition, how you spend your time after reading this review should become quite clear…