#SYPHA CALLS HIM A TEENAGER IN AN ADULTS BODY | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

beevean · 1 year

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Season 2 was supposed to be peak. I was promised peak, before the torture fest that is Season 3 and “let’s fix everything ASAP” that is Season 4.

Well, fuck me if this is the best season.

We see more of the dynamic between the main trio, finally. Trevor lost most of his gruffness of Season 1 and is now more melancholic, perhaps because he spends most of the season cooped up in his old family home. I appreciated how they also tried to elaborated on the family lore, such as how the Belmonts originated from France but moved to Wallachia to hunt vampires. Sypha is still cute, nice and talented but a little spoiled and sheltered, compared to Trevor’s roughness. They finally start to build some chemistry in episode 4, where Sypha makes fun of Trevor’s name and calls him Treffy, and okay, they’re cute. By the end of the season, they put a smile on my face :)

And Alucard? For the first six episodes or so, Alucard is horrible. He’s nothing but smug and condescending (okay he may have an understandable distaste for the Belmonts, I get it, but you’re way more of an asshole than the supposed asshole Trevor), he calls Trevor “unreliable, emotionally damaged, drunk and self destructive” after a few days with him when Trevor did nothing around him to deserve these words (Sypha has seen more of his worse side than Alucard), he curses already, he says stuff like “Villagers, pitchforks and torches, that sort of thing” which is very much not how Alucard should sound... How am I supposed to take seriously the running gag of Trevor turning everyone around them into cussing assholes, when they start out that way already? (yeah we already know that literally everyone here swears like a sailor, even characters that really should not. I will get there.)

Yes, they handwave it by saying that Alucard is actually a teenager in an adult’s body. He’s still a jerk. And this only makes a Very Infamous Scene much worse.

Strangely enough, they say that he’s called by others Alucard, it’s apparently not the name that he chose for himself, although he adopts it. Weird way to deprive him of his agency? Ellis, darling, Alucard is a silly nickname no matter how you slice it, no need to change the lore :P

Anyway, he gets better at the end when he stops being an OOC jerkass, and he becomes more like his kind but self-loathing game counterpart. I guess I’m insisting on this because I genuinely didn’t expect to dislike him this much. Hopefully he gets better later on.

Well, the trio spends most of the season doing exposition and supposedly bonding. And I mean. A lot. Of Exposition.

At one point, Alucard takes 2 full minutes to explain the tragic nature of his father and another 2 to drive home how terrible it is that Dracula doesn’t want to “destroy the world”, he wants to kill humans, which will result in a sad, empty world. I get it, man. It is a genuinely harrowing description of how mad Dracula’s plans are, but it comes so out of nowhere and it adds nothing other than “we must stop him”.

Another weird detour is the one about Trevor’s name, which isn’t “local”. Get it, because Trevor’s name was changed by Konami of America and he’s actually Ralph in the original Japanese? The explanation is that he was named after a Celt who rode with Leon himself, and it should be spelled Trefor, which, a little random, but okay. Well, good luck trying to explain all the weird names in Castlevania :) I’ll especially wait if you’ll ever justify the Germanic Richter.

Sypha goes on another speech about how both Trevor and Alucard are sad, but Trevor is still there under his sadness, while Alucard is completely consumed by it. Very poignant, but I only see smugness from him so far, so thanks for telling me instead of showing me? Who talks like that anyway?

I did appreciate Sypha defending Trevor from Alucard’s assholery by pointing out that he didn’t get to grow up normally, something that Alucard should relate to. That was actually a normal conversation to have.

I also find odd how the Morning Star, supposedly a powered up version of the Vampire Killer, is found in a chest as a separate object - I’ve already seen a clip of Trevor double wielding them. Speaking of which, was the Vampire Killer named in Season 1? If it was, I missed it thanks to the sleep-inducing pacing.

Speaking of weird writing... Sypha. Darling. Baby. Why in the sheer fuck did you move Castlevania on top of the Belmont hold? Like, she doesn’t even try to explain herself, she’s just like “oopsie, my bad”. girl???????

Yes it gives us the genuinely awesome moment of Trevor leaving the Belmont hold in Alucard’s hands, which is one hell of a friendship offering if I’ve seen one... but still.

I don’t know how to feel about the decision to leave Alucard behind. In-universe, Alucard explained his reasons well, I don’t blame him. In a meta sense, it’s an odd decision to split the trio so early on, after they barely began to bond. And I know how it’s going to affect Season 3 :\

Onto the villain side! The war council gets introduced, and with this, Dracula’s portrayal takes a nosedive. While he was genuinely intimidating yet tragic in Season 1, here Dracula can’t even intimidate a room by yelling, and all the new OCs take turns into painting him as a dumbass who just wants to destroy himself with no logical thinking. Which is true, and an interesting thing to point at, but let’s just say that I’m very tired of OCs existing purely to make fun of the canon villain :\

Basically, Dracula is clinically depressed and getting worse. By the second half of the season, his modus operandi is “fuck it, I don’t care”. And I do feel sorry for him, I do, Graham McTavish is perfect in conveying his tiredness, and there is an excellent payoff at the end, but I only see a forced reason for the OC villains to be right and surpass him. I think I’m biased at this point :\

As for the OCs, you have Godbrand who keeps insisting that he doesn’t want to fight this war, that it has no order, why does Dracula trust two humans over his other generals, and most smartly, if Dracula manages to kill all humans, how will the vampires feed? Dracula doesn’t have an answer for that other than “welp i have stored blood”, which is not a good solution for immortal creatures. I don’t have much to say about Godbrand on his own, he wants to be funny but insightful at the same time but I just felt that he hogged too much screentime for someone meant to last 4 episodes.

Then you have Carmilla who can march to Dracula and ask him why hadn’t he turned Lisa, did he really want to keep a pet, and Dracula for some reason doesn’t turn her into a smear on the floor. This is hard to go through. And it gets worse.

Oh, Carmilla. You wonderful radfem #girlboss, you. You are the Starline of this show, without any of the cute shipteasing. It’s really funny to compare her to her game counterpart, who not only looked more frilly, but was one of the many Dracula simps of the series.

Here her design is more generically sexy (really, no skull motif? Boring) and, well, her personality is #girlboss. She’s a smug snake, she constantly speaks in a fake sweet voice, always with a hand on her hip, she #slays in her pretty dress and high heels, takes no shit from no man, her introduction is all about intimidating men, and no wonder fans love her, she has no depth other than “man bad” :^) (the implication that she and Godbrand have a sexual relationship is... uhhh interesting ig?)

The way her backstory is told is so forced too. She kicks Godbrand down the stairs to subdue him, and then rants about the Stupid Old Man who kept her prisoner. We don’t see how she was “bound” to her master, but we see her in her #girlboss moment as he murders him with a smug smirk on her face. God forbid we see her in a more vulnerable moment of her life. I feel nothing for her. I don’t even know if I’m supposed to feel nothing for her. I only know that at this point the mere sound of her clicking Girlboss Heels pisses me off and I want to use them to stab her in her obnoxious smirk.

Carmilla is the Mephiles of Castlevania. The show tries so hard to paint her as a Machiavellian mastermind, pulling everyone’s strings to get what he wants... but realistically, who is she dealing with? Dracula, who is depressed and doesn’t have the strength or will to fight her; Godbrand, who has only one braincell and it’s boat-shaped; Isaac, who agrees with her plan while knowing that it doesn’t benefit them simply to make her shut up (not that I blame him); and Hector. I am not impressed, I’m just constantly rolling my eyes because everyone is such a dumbass!

We have here another instance of weird writing, the running water rant, which is basically Carmilla, Godbrand, Hector and Isaac arguing about the validity of the superstition and what counts as current water. This smacks to me as Ellis trying to use logic to explain old vampire lore, although at least it’s not as stupid as the cross explanation in Season 4. Yes, vampires can’t touch running water because it was seen as purifying, much like garlic, and this is present in the games sometimes: Alucard in SoTN needs a relic to go underwater, and Joachim was imprisoned in the Dark Palace of Waterfalls, much like Carmilla mentions the ancient practice of burying vampires on small islands to trap them. So... I guess this is supposed to flesh out the lore? But it comes out of nowhere and, unless I’m proven wrong later on, it leads to nowhere. It’s a big filibuster that takes time from things like showing stuff.

“oh but these conversations make the show more realistic, it’s like how real people talk!” unpopular opinion then but I’m getting tired of all this pointless exposition, it’s not even that entertaining. All these people do nothing but talking, and I don’t feel a damn thing! And I adore dialogue, characters interacting is usually my favorite part of every story! Here, I’m not sad, I’m not amused, I’m not intimidated, I just want them to shut up. Godbrand is the only one who is mildly entertaining, but of course he doesn’t last long.

Oh, and people have already pointed out the inherent contradiction of a cursed zombie bishop being able to bless the waters. By all logic it shouldn’t happen - hello, the magic is called Devil Forging for a reason, maybe you shouldn’t drop it! But hey, everything to make Carmilla look as smart and powerful as possible, look at her, destroying Dracula’s forces like a total #girlboss! Or to yell that CHURCH BAD, in case we missed it the last 4383532 times.

Well, I’ve ranted enough. Positivity time! This won’t be long :P

The fighting scenes are still top quality (although admittedly the general animation has its dips), and I really liked the fight in the Belmont house. I have the smallest of nitpicks, which is that I would have preferred if Trevor stuck to the Vampire Killer/Morning Star instead of having a sword as well, but it’s no big deal. I also appreciated the more precise references to the games: while Slogra and Gaibon are a little “obvious”, I genuinely liked the inclusion of Malphas and the presence of four Save Room statues, that’s more deep cut. The sequence of Castlevania moving around Breila, being flooded with blessed water, and Carmilla jumping around with Hector in tow to avoid it is also actually original and cool. (it also has the only instance of “fuck” that made me genuinely laugh)

And of course, I can’t not mention episode 7, which feels like it was written by completely different people for a completely different show. First of all, Bloody Tears.

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Chills. I love this track despite being used to death: I can only imagine how long time fans felt at the time.

I’ve watched the fight scene plenty of times, and it never gets old. Animation on point, good choreography, excellent use of every character’s abilities, this is the real peak of the show and I’m finally feeling something! It’s so good :D

Speakin of feeling. God, Dracula.

When I saw the scene of Dracula sending Isaac in the desert, I thought that it was a nice way to show how much he cared about his friend, but that it was also much dumber compared to how the manga justified Dracula being left defenseless (why are you sending away your best fighter?). But it was not about protecting Isaac at all: it was to ensure that he’d die in peace without Isaac laying his life for him. And, well, it got me. Finally, some good telling instead of showing!

(although sending Isaac in the middle of the desert with no help whatsoever is kind of cruel)

The ensuing fight is also awesome. After a whole season of moping around, we get a good reminder that no, Dracula is not to be fucked with. He shrugs off every attack, even the OP Sypha can barely scratch him. (and alright, him recognizing Trevor as a Belmont from his ineffectual punches is funny)

By the second half, it becomes more of a Dracula vs. Alucard fight (and tbf, the other two were clearly outmatched, although I liked the moment where Trevor supported Sypha with his back to allow her to push Dark Inferno away - yay, battle couple!); this is, of course, to fully explore the family tragedy, how much Lisa’s death wrecked both of them, and how Dracula is so lost in his grief that he’s beating his own son to death. Which leads to the absolutely best moment in the show, which still makes me tear up: “Lisa, I’m killing our boy” :(

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This fucking sequence makes me cry almost as much as Lee’s death goddammnit I can’t handle this

if only this was the last episode. But no.

So, that was Season 2. Much meatier than Season 1, although still rather slow for most of its run, but I really thought I would have enjoyed it more, especially since I know the hell that it’s awaiting me. The core of this season was Carmilla setting up the stage to replace main villain Dracula, which I can’t say I found entertaining. Well, episode 7 was a masterpiece, but it took so long to get there, and episode 8 had to shit all over me.

... speaking of which...

I had to split my thoughts into two parts. Because now, I get to talk about the Devil Forgemasters. And it’s going to be fun :)

#castlevania #beev watches netflixvania #anti netflixvania

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symphonyofthewrite · 3 years

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Saw your post, getting stuff off your chest, I just wanted to say that I haven't seen the thing with the kids mentioned by anyone and it really stood out to me, I feel what you mean to some extent, because for me it was a stronger reaction, albeit you probably won't feel the same and that's, obviously, perfectly fine. I have an instant recoil these days whenever a character is around kids for like one second and everyone instantly goes "THEY LITERALLY ADOPTED THEM/THAT'S THEIR CHILD/THEY'RE A PARENT"... genuinely sick of it, and I went white as a sheet when I heard it, I wanted to pluck my eyes out. I don't know if it's an American thing but English speaking fandoms (well, those teeming with fancops that is) seem like they cannot process adult looking characters being in any near proximity to childlike characters without automatically imposing parenthood and family dynamics and it's becoming distressing to me. I feel like Alucard needed to process his trauma and learn to trust and be whole again, he's young himself too, why he needed to be a "father figure" all of a sudden is beyond me.

Thank you so much for the ask!! I don’t get many asks so it makes me happy when I can talk meta with people 💛💛 (Sorry I’m a bit late in answering.)

Funnily enough I actually do agree with you. I didn’t have quite so strong a reaction, but I definitely had a very similar one when I first hear it.

My feelings were and are a bit mixed. I was saying in my other post that I would have preferred that I got to actually see this interaction; see the kids run by him and call him father, and him smile when no ones looking. I still think that would have been a better, more touching way to do the scene, and would have had more chance of me liking it (though I probably still would have felt very weird about it). (I think it especially would have been better because it would show that Alucard himself liked it, not that Greta was forcing the role on him.) I know that it was meant to be something touching, and pretty much everyone seems to like it (and I have seen some cute posts about it), so I just tried to like it too, and focus on the fact that all they were really trying to say was he was having a nice relationship with the kids, and that was indeed sweet.

But yeah, when I heard Greta say “I heard some of them calling you father” for me it was less a reaction of horror, and more a “HUH??!!”moment. When I heard it I was like “Alucard...you agree with this???!! This is how you see yourself??!!” I almost expected Alucard to refute it and say he didn’t see himself as a father to them. Like I seriously do not see Alucard as anything remotely close to a father figure, and it felt weird and wrong to me.

Like when I saw him interacting with the kids the first time, I didn’t think “oh he’s a father figure to them.” I just thought “yay, Alucard’s playing with some kids, and getting out of his bubble!!” I didn’t have any thoughts as to what his relationship role was with them, I just thought that first interaction was lovely.

And if I saw him interacting with the kids again, I still wouldn’t go “father figure” I’d just be like “yay, Alucard’s playing with the kids again, how sweet!!”

Sometimes the relationship doesn’t need a role or a label, ya know?

And I thought it was especially strange because…he literally just met them?? Like how can they possibly start calling him father when he’s played with them once or twice? Regardless of Alucard’s side or things, what group of kids would randomly call a nice man they just met ‘father’? Is...Is this a normal thing??

Anyways, back to Alucard’s side of things, Sypha’s line about Alucard being a teenager trapped an adults body has always been something that stuck with me and shaped how I view Alucard. I definitely view him as internally much younger than he looks. No matter how much I might hate them for what they did to him, I think Sumi and Take are about the age he actually is, and their relationship with him made sense to me. He’s still a kid—or at least young—he still needs his parents in his life, really. (That’s part of why I didn’t like that Drac and Lisa don’t go to him at the end. I personally don’t think Alucard really got closure, and in my mind I think he still very much needed them, and that would have been the perfect ending to his story in my mind, where everything comes full circle; He was forced to lose his parents and grow up too early, and only when he’s started to truly grow up does he get them back.) So yeah, I really don’t see him like a father at all. One of my main focuses in my Castlevania fanfiction is his relationship with Dracula, so I very much see him as the son, not as the dad, even when Drac isn’t around.

(Sidenote, come to think of it, I think this is another reason why Greta x Alucard is a nope from me. She’s very much an adult, so I just see a discrepancy between them that makes me feel weird about them being in a romantic relationship. If we need a label I feel like she fits as an older sister for him, guiding him and giving him support. Him unloading all his problems on her within just meeting her makes more sense if he’s like a younger brother who needs to cry to his sister. I felt weird about it in a romantic context when it was so fast. I mean I know he was desperate to talk to someone, and I probably would have done the same, but still).

“I feel like Alucard needed to process his trauma and learn to trust and be whole again, he's young himself too, why he needed to be a "father figure" all of a sudden is beyond me”

^^ THIS. EXACTLY THIS.

I was honestly really hoping they’d go in depth into him dealing with his trauma, and how he’s still hurting from the wounds of it, and how he needs to heal. I thought that’s what his S4 arc would be about. I don’t think they gave him the chance to really process and work through everything that happened. (Again, I don’t think him just unloading all his problems on a nice stranger is truly working through his trauma. I would have much rather watched him struggle to trust her, and him telling her about his trauma happen later, and be difficult for him, and a deep, heartfelt moment).

Like I was saying in my other post, I think if they framed his arc in how he dealt with the town collectively, I think that would have fit better, and been more touching and satisfying. I would have liked to see him struggling to trust humans, and then see as time progressed how several different people in the town liked him and meant him no harm, and how he realized he could trust them, and that he liked them too. It wasn’t that he had a bad romantic partner and needed a new one. He believed he needed to be punished for killing his father, and in his deep loneliness he let these kids into his house and heart, and they turned on him because he was half vampire. That’s something pretty deeply ingrained, and not something a new romance just fixes by existing. He needed to work through that in a much deeper way.

I know this is gonna be a very unpopular opinion, and it's totally cool if you disagree, but in a weird way... I sort of disliked Alucard’s ending. Don’t get me wrong, Im glad he’s happy, and I’d certainly prefer it to him just getting more trauma like last season (*shudders*), and I don’t think him opening up his castle (and his heart) to humanity is a bad way to end his story, certainly not. I think that fits. And my heart did melt a bit at the "I'm weirdly happy" scene. But, where everyone else is like “*sobbing* happy endings for all our faves” ...I see the creators of the show trying to wrap everything up in a neat little bow, and while that’s certainly not all bad, I don’t love every aspect of that. Theres a time and place for that, but a show based on video games, for which there’s more content in these storylines isn’t one of them in my mind.

Sometimes some of the sadness needs to linger. At the very least, let it linger at the beginning of the season so you can work through it in a powerful way, you know? It may have been tough to see Alucard be more closed off, but I think it would have been more satisfying to see him open up his heart and go back to his old self if we saw his trauma leave lingering effects at the beginning.

To me it didn’t feel like a satisfying arc, it felt like the fairytale ending of “oh look he’s not apprehensive about humanity even after what happened! Oh look he got the girl! And the Castle’s a happy place now! Look he’s not sad anymore! He’s even a father figure to these kids! He’s totally moved on!” And all those things can be awesome when done properly, and when they have depth to them. But they didn’t work through the trauma to get there, so it felt surface level to me, and too fast. I really liked that first episode, and how we saw the two sides of him—one that's become more closed off, and the other that still buries the human despite his comments—and I also really liked the first interaction with the kids, and thought that was one of the few interactions that had depth to it and fit with his arc well. Having it go beyond “they’re helping him learn to like and trust humanity again, and displaying who he really is inside” ended up detracting from the power of his relationship with them in my mind.

Having played SOTN, I think an ingrained loneliness and sadness are, in a way, a key part of Alucard’s character. That sounds really sad and awful out loud but…there are some people that just have a sadness or a loneliness to them, and that's not entirely bad. Here’s the thing…it can make them that much more beautiful. The fact that they still fight for good, even when they see all the dark, those moments when they find true friends, despite how alone they are, those moments when they are happy, are so much more powerful. They just are always a bit…separate from other people. One of my favorite lines in anything is the line "We are connected by our darkness, not by our light" in Pandora Hearts. I think it's a line that fits Alucard well, and it’s always something that’s drawn me personally to him. Don't get me wrong, I don’t think Alucard’s all dark and sad and lonely, he’s definitely got a bright side to him too, of course he does. But I also don't think he ever is able to fully accept the vampire side of himself, and I find that interesting, and worth exploring. Personally I was honestly hoping for the show makers to come up with a bittersweet reason for why he went to sleep for 300 years, (and I thought that's why they set things up with Sumi and Taka that he’d have something against his vampire nature). Personally it felt like they were trying to say “oh he’s all better now, he’ll never be sad or lonely again” and while that’s nice I suppose…for me it sort of…stops feeling like Alucard, in a way? I don't know if I'm explaining it right, or if that sounds terrible...😅

Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I do agree that’s very common of fandom that people are like “boom! Just add water! Instant father figure!” and I don’t love it either. Sometimes it can be cute if it truly fits, but it doesn’t fit every relationship between an adult-looking character and a kid character, and shouldn't be the first place people go to. In the same way every relationship doesn’t have to be romantic, not every relationship has to be parental/familial either. Sometimes it feels like fandom culture isn't really okay to have some characters just be good friends. A good friendship can be more wonderful than a romance sometimes.

If we have to put a label on it, I think he seemed like a nice older brother figure to them? I think that fits who he is in my mind. But father? Nope. Not for me. And again, I don’t think it needs a label.

Thanks again for sending me this ask!! It was nice to get the chance to work through some more of my feelings here too. Sorry if I went too overboard. And I hope I don’t sound too terribly negative, it really was a great season, and I definitely liked some parts of his arc, just not all of it.

If you or anyone else reading would like to discuss with me more, be my guest!! 💕

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maki-ryota · 3 years

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why does the castlevania fandom have so many people who

1) take sypha’s comment about alucard being a teenager in an adults body way too seriously, to the point of calling him an actual child. he’s 20. he has an adults body and mature mind. he may be innocent in some regards...but all that makes him is an innocent 20 year old. he isn’t a child.

2) think taka and sumi were twins. sam deats said himself that they aren’t twins/siblings. i didn’t get that vibe, i thought they were very close friends or a couple from the start.

#people creating outrage in their head #i've seen people be like OMG IM PUKING. ALUCARD IS A LITERAL CHILD YOU GUYS. HOW COULD YOU

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zer0pm · 5 years

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Imagine snickering when overhearing Sypha calling Alucard an angry teenager and he catches on.

Alucard: “And dare I ask what is it that you find so funny?”

You: “Nothing, nothing!”

He was unconvinced as he sees you cover your hand over your mouth, failing miserably not to laugh. You knew too and saw no point in denying it, your chuckle fills the dusty air of the forgotten archives.

You: “An angry teenager trapped in an adult’s body! Ahh, wait until Belmont hears about this.”

Alucard: “Is that what you think of me?”

You: “Aww, loosen the buttons on those tight bottoms of yours, Alucard. I was only teasing you.”

Alucard: “Hm, teasing me.”

The tone of his voice somehow drops deeper than you have ever heard, his eyes closed. For a moment he is silent, but he does not exude the usual icy air about him. For a moment, you really thought you had offended him.

Alucard: “Teasing implies that in your humor you find some amount of truth in the Speaker’s words. Well, rest assured...”

A gloved hand reaches out suddenly, hitting flat against the bookcase you leaned against. So quickly were his movements that you were paralyzed in place. He took advantage of your shock to lean closer to you, his head bent slightly so that his bright, golden eyes lock yours in his gaze.

Alucard: “The only truth in what was said stands before you right now. That without a doubt, what you see...is a man’s body.”

Good god, if Dracula doesn’t kill you, this moment alone may do the trick. You found any thought of a response hung dry although your mouth waters at his words. Where was this coming from? And how would you even respond to this? As if reading your thoughts, Alucard compels you to him, pulling you from your reverie.

Alucard: “Perhaps, you require a more solid proof?”

#alucard #alucard imagine #castlevania imagine #adrian tepes #adrian fahrenheit tepes #alucard x you #my writing #alucard x reader #welp #my ardyn is showing #in the form of a beautiful sulky half vampire bastard #could have easily written this for the chancellor #but that particular scene between al and sypha got to me so it was only appropriate #sypha belnades #sypha #hope yall enjoy this #dhampir

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mangamara · 5 years

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The Men in Castlevania

I got a kick out of the contrasting views we get of the men. All of them--Dracula, Trevor, Alucard, Hector, Issac, and Godbrand--look like typical masculine men. They have impressive physiques and skills. They are all good at fighting and don't shy away from gore. They all seem like an ideal man at some point of other during the series. However, the writers make it clear that even though the men look the part, they are not actually men. They are immature and unfit to lead. They are not the ideal and need to be fixed/improved in some way.

Dracula is the most obvious one. When he and Lisa first meet, she talks about teaching him manners. She encourages him to travel like a man and improve himself. When he finds out about her death, he flies into a rage and basically throws an epic temper tantrum. I mean, I understand his grief, but vowing to exterminate all human life is a little much. This is a very different Dracula than the one we see in S2E5, where he only kills those who have personally wronged him. In the flashback, he leaves the rest of the townsfolk alone and stakes the bodies of his victims as a reminder to not cross him. The present day Dracula is a fallen shell, a person who blames all for the wrongs of a few and who is so exhausted by his anger and grief that he participates in his war as little as possible. He "no longer [has] the strength for petty decisions" (S2E5). Lisa was the one "turning" Dracula, and without her, his transformation is incomplete, leaving him an incomplete child who free-falls toward his own demise (S2E2).

Hector, one of Dracula's human war generals, is repeatedly shown to be immature. Sure, he has the power to bring the dead back to life and create monsters, but he is, as Carmilla calls him, a "man-child" and a "puppy." He's something between an innocent child and a dumb animal. He's someone who can't face reality and take control of a situation. He has the mind of a child in a man's body and doesn't understand the machinations of those around him. Although he knew Carmilla is a manipulative backstabber, he is still surprised when she turns on him in S2E5. He just doesn't seem to get that they are not partners; they are master and puppet. When Carmilla's plan to overthrow Dracula really gets going in S2E6, she says, "My god. You're still the baby who's had his woodland animal corpses taken away...Dracula is destroying the world in a tantrum because someone killed his pet breeder. You'e all nothing but man-children." Hector may be able to reanimate the dead and coordinate war efforts, but he still has a long way to go before he's a "man."

Not even the good guys escape this critical view. In the Belmont library, Alucard and Trevor discuss their childhoods with Sypha (S2E5). We learn that Alucard had a very short childhood; his body grew very fast and his mind hasn't caught up. Trevor lost his home and family around age 13 and has been on his own ever since. The scene shows these two characters for what they really are: not cool, capable men but rather stunted and confused teenagers. They don't really know how to properly express their emotions. They rely on Sypha for that. Once Dracula is dead, the boys don't know what to do with themselves. She is the one offering comforting touches and gestures (S2E7). However, unlike Hector, who refuses to see the reality in front of him, Trevor and Alucard genuinely don't know how to behave and relate to others in a mature way.

The show draws an interesting parallel between men who are capable of growing and changing and those that are not. Trevor and Alucard do change; Trevor and Alucard form close relationships with each other and Sypha. Heck, season two ends with Alucard expressing deep, raw sorrow for what he's lost and what could have been. Dracula never changes. He never comes to terms with his emotions and ends up dying because of his stagnation. Hector doesn't grow as a person and is enslaved by Carmilla.

It's safe to say that, according to the writers, being a real man is more than just an adult body. A man can be the best fighter, the person with the most determination or bravery or smarts, but a real man is one that copes with his emotions, learns from them, and becomes all the better for them.

#castlevania #castlevania spoilers #netflix #seinen #anime #castlevania hector #dracula #trevor belmont #alucard #castlevania carmilla

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exmachinus · 5 years

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the sheer amount of offended on alucard’s face when sypha calls him an angry teenager in an adult’s body— nerds in love. ft their jock sword-wielding bf

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wits-writing · 6 years

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Castlevania Season 2 (TV Review)

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[Season 1 Review Here]

Netflix’s animated series Castlevania comes back to round out the story of Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage), Sypha Belnades ( Alejandra Reynoso) and Alucard (James Callis) work together to find a way to bring down Dracula (Graham McTavish) in his mission to wipe out humanity.

Series writer Warren Ellis and director Sam Deats return to deliver paralleling narratives between the heroes and villains as the self-destructive nature of Dracula’s vengeance on the world becomes evermore clear. The technical compliments I gave to the series in its first season, stellar fight animation and overall design reminiscent of the most iconic entries in the game series, remain consistent here and are even further improved on. Outside of covering where I feel those technical improvements helped the most, this review will mainly cover the character journeys from throughout the season in as spoiler-free a manner as possible.

[Full Review Under the Cut]

Back when I covered season 1, I discussed how I was disappointed in the lack of varied monster designs. Season 2 rectifies that by pulling more monsters in from the games to fill out Dracula’s hordes. Monster variety feeds into variety within the monster fights. Trevor defending the Belmont Hold shows a lot to how this works to the fight scenes’ advantage. Each monster has different sizes, strengths and abilities that he needs to account for in addition to shifting circumstances of what items he can use. I took greater notice on my second viewing of the season how the visuals communicated Trevor taking notice and working around the defenses of each monster in succession during this sequence, whether he used the Morningstar, his sword or a stick. The design work also adds to the vampire generals working for Dracula. Each design calls upon different cultures and their folklore about vampires, showing how far Dracula’s influence reaches in the world of monsters. On principle of design alone, the monsters and vampires are clear mark ups from the previous season.

A minor note where it could be said they fall flatter than last time, the monsters are more purely bestial this time around. No moments like the church scene from season 1 this time around, where a monster will stop to taunt its victim before tearing into them. It also applies to most of the vampire generals not backing up their dynamic designs with powerful personality. Why this element lacks in these examples comes down to this season having more characters in antagonistic roles, so there’s less need for some random creature to go through a speech like the church scene.

Among the notable villains this season is the boorish Viking vampire, Godbrand (Peter Stormare). He’s the first example we’re shown of dissent within Dracula’s court. Stormare gives Godbrand a boisterous thrill from hunting for humans on its own, shown off in a flashback where he shouts out his own name in triumph during a slaughter. Keeping that side of the character’s personality from becoming too one-note comes back to how he’s quick to call out the holes in the pretense of Dracula’s plan to wipe out their “livestock.” His presence adds humor to what could otherwise be sullen moments in Castle Dracula. Godbrand’s role in the grand scheme of the season is minor, but he’s memorable for the time he’s given.

Operating less in dissent than subterfuge among Dracula’s court, Carmilla (Jaime Murray) arrives in the season’s second episode with her own plans in mind to seize control of the vampire community for herself. It all begins with a simple but cutting question for Dracula asked in front of the entire court, why he never turned Lisa into a vampire. She continues prodding the Lord of Vampires by questioning how much he truly loved Lisa, referring to her as his “pet” and “prize breeder” at different points. Her machinations provide the narrative thrust for the vampiric half of the season’s story. She knows the right way to get under the skin of everyone she needs to manipulate. As she works to get all the pieces where she needs them, there’s an underlying anger to her. It’s an attitude driven by how smallminded she finds everyone else’s motives, seeing the other’s in Castle Dracula as overgrown children rather than peers.

Central to Carmilla’s manipulations is one of Dracula’s human servants, Hector (Theo James.) He works in the castle as one of two Devil Forgemasters, bringing the dead back to life and transforming them through alchemy to add to monsters of the night hordes. Hector’s skill at forging comes from the art of the act itself, seen in how he keeps a large array of revived animals for himself outside of the tasks set for him. There’s a bizarre semi-detached outlook to how he views living creatures. While he sees no problem with the desecration of innocent victims’ corpses to create monsters, he still believes in the inherent value of life. His abilities as a Forgemaster letting him make life from death adding to his view that he has a deeper understanding of the true nature of life. Others seeing through this outlook to the man who simply wants to put his skills to use can manipulate him by playing on his beliefs. Dracula convinces him to go along with the crusade to wipe out humanity by lying about it’s true nature, saying the end goal is to cull humanity into a manageable size then “mercifully” treat them as livestock. Carmilla gets him on her side by saying she needs someone Dracula will hear out. She even gives him a surface level amount of respect until the moment she already has what she needs from him.

Less open to manipulation is Dracula’s other Forgemaster, Isaac (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), as his loyalty to the Vampire Lord runs deep in his soul. He’s the one person in the castle who was given the full truth of the war against humanity before it began and still dedicate himself to it. There’s no affection left in his heart for humanity after years of suffering at the hands of others, even those who should have protected him. While he denounces even the idea of love and ponders the futility of loyalty, his dedication to Dracula is unrivaled by any other alliance in this show. He doesn’t exempt himself from the “plague” of humanity, as we see him self-flagellate in order to “purify” his body and focus his mind. In contrast to Hector, Isaac’s cynicism about other people makes it near impossible to manipulate him. When he begins to see the likes of Godbrand and Carmilla question or scheme against Dracula’s goals, he sees his worldview proven correct as even vampires are susceptible to the “corruption” that plagues humanity.

Dracula values that perspective on both vampires and humanity from his Forgemasters. He values their loyalty above others as the only members of his court “not driven by thirst.” The vampire generals in the castle don’t see any values in humanity, not even the negative ones Dracula focuses on. He needs Isaac and Hector to confer with, so he has their understanding of humanity as thinking creatures, rather than as prey, livestock or pets. Graham McTavish’s performance this time around focuses in on how Dracula is past the rage that spurred his quest to get vengeance on humanity for what happened to Lisa. He’s softer spoken and sullen. His overall demeanor communicates how above everything, he’s just waiting for the end. Dracula has quick reassurances ready for those like Godbrand, worried about what the food supply will be like once the war is done, saying that they will be looked after. While Carmilla’s remarks about how never turning his wife into a vampire proves he didn’t truly love her brings out his fury. His crusade is referred to on multiple occasions as a prolonged suicide, one where he intends to take everyone else down with him. How much love and loss have changed the Vampire Lord’s outlook is shown as his present self gets contrasted with a flashback as Dracula remembers how he used to savor the detail of destruction and death. In the present, he’s willing to play right into Carmilla’s treacherous hands “as long as it brings silence.”

The other half of season 2’s story details how Trevor, Sypha and Alucard begin to grow into more of an alliance as they go to what remains of the Belmont estate to find a way to track and entrap the evermoving Castle Dracula. Alucard easily gets the most expansion in characterization this season, since he didn’t fully appear until the end of season 1’s last episode. He’s set on what he must do, even if the notion, “Honoring my mother by killing my father” as he puts it, leaves him uneasy. Carrying the weight of this mission is likely part of why he constantly goes at Trevor in their back and forth of snarky remarks. Another part of his unease around Trevor comes from how the Belmonts are vampire hunters and he’s half-vampire. When the trio makes it to the Belmont Hold, Alucard mainly sees it as a museum dedicated to the extermination of his species. By the end, his relationship with his father is what gets put up front and center during the climactic battle in Castle Dracula. Some of his angst may also be a product of him being “an angry teenager in an adult’s body”, as Sypha puts it when she learns Alucard aged rapidly growing up.

Among the trio of heroes, Sypha’s characterization this season is more of a mixed bag in terms of what I liked about it. A lot of what doesn’t work about her character this time comes down to her being placed in the role of rolling her eyes as Trevor and Alucard go through their back and forth of verbal jabs. Her getting some jabs of her own in on them both and vice versa provides some good material, on average I’d say the banter between the three of them is one of the best parts of the show, but she’s usually stuck playing the straight-man for jokes to bounce off. Sypha’s best material this season comes from her reacting to the experiences life outside of the Speakers has provided her in such a short period of time. She marvels at the Belmont family’s collection of ancient recorded knowledge, impressed enough to denounce her people’s dedication to only obtaining and passing down knowledge through memorization and oral history. Her magic makes her the main player in the plan to ensnare Castle Dracula and she finds exhilaration in her ability to accomplish that. Her more intimate, personal moments with Trevor and Alucard provide some further insights into their characters, as she tends to see right through them.

While I found Sypha’s material this season to be a mixed bag, the problem with Trevor’s characterization is that he doesn’t grow much beyond where we ended with him in season 1. There he ended with a new resolve to carry on the Belmont family legacy as monster hunters protecting the innocent from the terrors lurking in the night. He’s still dedicated to that cause now, but the way it manifests this time is the story using him as a delivery system for exposition about the history of the Belmonts as the trio spends most of the season within his family’s underground library. He’s not totally informed on everything about his family’s history, since they were driven out of their home when he was twelve, a bit of his nostalgia for happier days shines through as they approach the estate. If there are major developments for Trevor this time, one of them comes in the form of him stepping up to determine strategy during combat and other moments of peril. Another comes from his relationship with Sypha starting to show the potential to become something more, as the man with no family and the woman with no home become closer over the nights leading up to the attack on the castle. His interactions with Alucard are very action-adventure story style guys who piss each other off but ultimately earn each other’s respect in the end.

In case this amount of analysis on each major player in Castlevania season 2 wasn’t enough of an indication, this season has a lot more going on in it than season 1 did. If I wasn’t pausing to take notes as often as I did upon my second go through of the season, I know there would’ve been plenty I had missed and not all of it gets the screen time to fully develop. There are plenty of paralleling moments, themes and character beats between the stories in Castle Dracula and the Belmont Hold. The importance and power of collected knowledge is a major one and ends up tying back into an overall theme of family legacy that ties together Trevor, Sypha and Alucard as they become more of a team. The way these themes resolve in the final battle with Dracula managed to get me emotional on both watches. Castlevania on Netflix has firmly placed itself as my favorite original animated show on the platform with this season and I look forward to seeing how the threads left at the end of this one lead into season 3.

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