A few years ago, Castlevania fans got a continuation to the critically acclaimed Netflix series with “Castlevania: Nocturne” – which is set many years after the original show and follows the exploits of Richter Belmont and his group of allies as they take on vampires and night creatures during the onset of the French Revolution. Ending in a cliffhanger where one of the original protagonists of the first series returns in Dracula’s own son Alucard, the highly anticipated Season 2 arrived this January to deliver a powerful and satisfying conclusion to the current story arc of the series – one that has definitely earned the praise and admiration of viewers who have followed this show since the beginning and are hungry for more to follow.
Now it’s been a few weeks since the entire second season dropped on Netflix, and now is a perfect time as any to analyze, reflect, and review what this season has given to faithful viewers like myself. Personally I enjoyed it and hope there’s more, but it’s far from perfect too and there were certainly story threads in the series that could have benefitted from more episodes being added in to the season. Naturally, SPOILER WARNING to those who are reading this article – so watch first if you have to and read at your own risk.
Created and written by British screenwriter Clive Bradley and featuring the return of the first series’ directors Sam Deats and Adam Deats, Nocturne primarily adapts elements from the popular Castlevania games “Rondo of Blood” and “Symphony of the Night”, while weaving together its own tale that features recognizable characters seen from other Castlevania games and material. Season 2 follows Richter, his adoptive sister Maria, the former slave turned magic fighter Maria, and Alucard as they regroup and devise a way to defeat the powerful vampire Erzebet Bathory from plunging the world into total darkness and ascension.
Running for a total of 8 episodes, Season 2 gives some much needed resolution to the Richter and Erzebet Bathory storylines while also focusing on the other supporting characters whose motivations weren’t fully explored in the first season. Chief among these is Drolta Tzuentes – the loyal companion and advisor of Erzebet whose origin story is explored in the beginning of the first few episodes with prologue segments that flesh out her Egyptian heritage and role in trying to resurrect the goddess Sekhmet over the centuries. It’s this exposition that breathes new life and lore to the Netflix adaptation while also expanding on character development and history since this takes place centuries after the time of Trevor Belmont and Sypha Belnades. The Belmont line and vampire hunting tradition continues with Richter Belmont as well as his grandfather Juste Belmont – who finally leaves the sidelines in order to take a more active approach and fight alongside his grandson to take on the forces of evil head on.
The other characters that get more time to shine are the lady protagonist themselves in Maria and Annette. The former and youngest member of the group is dealing with a lot of traumatic events – including her own mother Tera sacrificing herself to become a vampire and her own father Abbot Emmanuel had a part in it. As a result, the young speaker magician is full of hatred and her powers evolve to the point of summoning creatures from the darkness that are almost uncontrollable. Annette on the other hand is trying to understand her role and powers that she has inherited from her Vodou ancestors – something that holds the key to defeating Erzebet and vanquishing the dark forces once and for all.
Of course it wouldn’t be a Castlevania animated series without some powerful animated moments and fight scenes – and Nocturne season 2 is chalk full of that and some awesome fan service for longtime Castlevania fans who have played the games and love how certain characters were written and portrayed in the animated series. With Alucard’s return we get to see more of Dracula’s son perform some of his signature moves seen from Symphony of the Night, as well as show off more of his dry humor and the years of experience he picked up from his travels around the world over the centuries. Adrian Vlad Tepes is undeniably the glue that holds and connects both the past and present shows together, and it’s both sad and fun to see him interact with the descendants of his first real friends and comrades who have long since passed from this world. If you loved Alucard in the first series then you’ll adore him even more in Nocturne and will frankly want to see more of that play out if there are future installments ahead.
If there’s anything that’s gotten less attention and feel like a downgrade in season 2 it’s Olrox – the ancient Aztec vampire who became an adversary of Richter after killing his mother and reluctantly works alongside Erzebet and Drolta to see the rise of the vampire messiah. He appears sparingly in this season and it’s only when he needs to aid and talk with his lover Mizrak that he makes his move. While the vendetta between him and Richter takes a backseat, hopefully this means it’ll be revisited in future seasons – as well as the mysterious shadowy figure that’s called “Old Man Coyote” and his looming presence in the latter part of the season that promises more imminent danger and threats to come for Richter, Maria, and the rest of the other players in Nocturne. If you watched this sequel series and may have noticed, Dracula and Castlevania have not made an appearance since the end of the original series – and that could possibly change if a Season 3 or new spin-off gets the greenlight from Netflix. Only time will tell, but the future of the Castlevania franchise is looking bright with these shows brought together by Adi Shankar, Powerhouse Animation Studios, and the rest of the showrunners. We definitely need more and they’ve done a good job thus far.
Both seasons of Castlevania Nocturne are now streaming on Netflix.
