The Rise and Fall of the Castlevania 2017 Anime

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When the Castlevania video game franchise became more popular, it made sense for the video games to have an anime adaptation dedicated to them. It is now the go-to anime series to watch, not just for video game fans but for anyone wanting action, fantasy, great writing, and a hilarious main cast. The Castlevania animated series was made in 2017, and the audience and fans loved it so much that Castlevania Nocturne was created and released in 2023. Unfortunately, not every fan believes Castlevania Nocturne lived up to the said hype.

Castlevania 2017

When Lisa, an innocent doctor, was accused of witchcraft by the corrupt, her execution led to Dracula finally deciding to eradicate humanity. From night creatures created by two forge masters to vampire generals gathered together, every human civilization has become desperate for help. Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Adrian Tepes team up despite their differences to fight through all of these to get to Dracula's castle and stop him from wiping out humanity.

The character backstories were well-integrated and didn't feel forced. They were mentioned or told naturally, like recalling a memory of real-life trauma. The show effectively portrayed important lessons about the corruption of power, with good representations and satisfying resolutions. It also depicted sexism without being overly blatant, and the female characters were smart, powerful, or both. Additionally, the plot twist near the end of season four, revealing that one of the vampires was Death himself, led to fans rewatching previous scenes and piecing together the clues.

Castlevania 2017 had no cliches, poorly written characters, plot holes, events that were too condensed and short, events dragged out for too long, and no excessive powers. Instead, there were realistic fight scenes, realistic strengths and weaknesses, logical points about fighting monsters, demons, and vampires, amazing writing and dialogue, and alterations to some characters compared to the game.

The Focused Characters

There is so much to unpack about Castlevania 2017 that just the main characters alone are enough to make fans want to rewatch the entire show again for their teamwork chemistry. However, the show makes it clear that the main characters aren't the only capable people in the show, as the writers did a great job of showing that other characters had the same great qualities as the main trio.

Belnades was a magic user who didn't fall into the stereotype of only a support mage. She acted as support but also a long-range and close combat fighter. Tepes had the most inhuman strength and could fly, but he wasn't leading the group during attacks because his strength and powers didn't make him a leader by default, which is better than what happens in real life. Belmont was the most experienced monster hunter, so he was the one strategizing while fighting, and what he lacked in magic or birth powers, he made up for in fighting prowess.

There are other characters like them, such as a man named Isaac, who has a separate journey in the series. He was the one who defeated the second-maddest villain who wished to enslave the world. Speaking of the villains, the writers didn't just write them out to be senselessly evil. Some were simply mad or traumatized. Others eventually changed their minds and decided not to take over the world or had a change of heart about humanity. Some examples of well-developed, former villains are a stoic man named Isaac, two vampire queens named Morgana and Striga, and even Dracula.

Castlevania Nocturne

Set in the 1700s, during the French Revolution, a new order of Vampires plans to take over the world by creating eternal darkness so Vampires can thrive and hunt freely without fear of the sun. Led by a vampire who is believed to be a goddess, especially considering how clearly powerful she is, to say that the main cast of new heroes may need more training is an understatement.

The new series started strong, with the same feeling of tragedy from the start, just like Castlevania 2017, except for the issues where it felt like they took cliches from other Japanese anime. Unlike Castlevania 2017, where the heroes were already traveling at the start of season one, our heroes in this new season had a home base. The writers did their best to give off the same quality as Castlevania 2017, and the fight scenes are excellent, but there were some cliches and cheesy scenes that could've been presented better.

Richter had issues with using his magic due to trauma and regained his ability to use it when it mattered most. It was exciting to watch, but it felt like a cliche. When it was revealed that the corrupted Abbot was the father of one of the characters, it wasn't all that surprising, especially given how the mother tried to get her child to get along with him. Each time a character talked about their back story, it didn't feel natural, like the writers were trying to quickly establish the story of each character before moving on with the rest of the plot.

The Nocturne Cast

There's the most recent descendant, Richter Belmont, who watched his mother get killed in front of him. He lives with Maria and her mother, a former speaker, who is both experienced in magic and weapons. The next two characters are Annette, who can manipulate iron and earth, and her partner Edouard, a singer who helped her join a rebellion. African descendants and former slaves traveled from the island plantation to Europe after Annette's teacher had a vision. Finally, Mizrak, the knight who once worked for the Abbot, soon joins them in the last episode, followed by an older and seemingly jaded Alucard.

While Castlevania 2017 had a trio for the first two seasons before splitting up and coming back together near the end of the fourth season, Nocturne has a different dynamic written out for the cast. The main cast for Castlevania 2017 were all adults or at least more mature than the Nocturne cast. Despite being twenty or in their early twenties, already competent and experienced, there were fewer scenes of them learning how to deal with complex emotions, aside from Adrian. However, that isn't a fair comparison to make for the Nocturne cast since most of them are traumatized teenagers who all lost their parents, making them orphans technically.

While Castlevania 2017 had a romance and third-wheel dynamic, Nocturne had more of a family dynamic, with Richter and Maria who are like siblings, Annette who may end up becoming Richter's love interest, and Mizrak as the only adult in the group of teenagers. Mizrak joined late, but Adrian joins in the last few seconds of the final episode of season one, now around three-hundred-thirty-six years old, since he was twenty at the end of Castlevania 2017, which took place in the 1400s.

Castlevania 2017 VS Nocturne

It is difficult to live up to the perfect action-fantasy anime that is Castlevania 2017, so it's understandable why we shouldn't be too hard on the Nocturne series. Perhaps the writer and directors were rushed and didn't have as much energy or inspiration as they or the former workers did for Castlevania 2017 since the fans were so excited for a new continuation series from Castlevania 2017.

There are more valid reasons why season one of Castlevania Nocturne failed to live up to the standards of even season one of Castlevania 2017, unfortunately, due to the writing and pacing. Some might say that the only reason Castlevania Nocturne was so disliked compared to Castlevania 2017 is because of how already sad season one was, especially for some characters. Edouard dies and gets turned into a creature from Hell, and Maria's mother gets turned into a vampire in the last episode. Erzebet Bathory too easily succeeds in creating permanent darkness, and Mizrak breaks things off with his potential partner.

Others might say that there were missed opportunities, such as when Drolta, the loyal servant of Erzebet, gets killed for the sake of Adrien's entrance. Many fans were hoping and discussing how she could've lived longer and been a stepping-stone for the young heroes after they finished their training arc to show how much progress they made after it was made clear how weak they were compared to the true antagonist. There was so much failed potential that the writers missed out on that many fans ended up creating a lot of fan fiction where those opportunities were used.

Conclusion

The entire lore about the inspirations, character designs, and differences between the games Castlevania 2017 and Castlevania Nocturne is capable of having one go on and on about both series. Both are great in their own way, however, there are too many missed opportunities and failed potential in season one of Nocturne, enough to cause fans to create their own versions of the sequel. The animation is still top-notch, and every fight scene is still of good quality. Even the writing of the teenage characters is realistic, so while it has disappointed many fans from Castlevania 2017, there may still be hope for next season's potential.

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Originally written by Ashley Yin