Castlevania - Season 4

On the one hand, I think I am kind of happy it ended this way, it is so pleasantly satisfying. On the other hand, I wonder whether it is a little too "sunny" for a show about vampires. Of course, it was probably a well-deserved ending for some of the characters I have grown to like throughout the entire season (the three central characters), so I am thinking, why not? However, I am now thinking that some of the subplots could have been much more interesting. I guess I was expecting they would get a lot more out of Isaac, Hector, and Carmilla - and I just assumed it would all be messier after the previous two seasons being so complicated. Plus, up until that penultimate episode, I kept wondering whether it was going the way I wanted. However, in the final episode, the tension had really built-up, the final confrontation was suitably epic, even though it had crossed my mind again that it was quite over the top, albeit in that pleasantly amusing way, after all, Death is Death... I thought this season was probably the best-paced so far, everything was endearingly straightforward. There was always something going on all the time so it did not get boring, which was quite a surprise for me personally, because, in the second season, which some consider the best, I was really bored at times. I enjoyed this season even though I had different expectations, and I am more pleased than irritated with the ending itself, although there is still the question of whether the finale was too ordinary. On the whole, my feelings of satisfaction are more likely to prevail than those of disappointment, however, my mixed feelings do not cancel each other out, I feel both in certain respects. Also, the animation was good, but the soundtrack was nothing to write home about most of the time. I am awarding a divided 6.6/10 (15/05/2021)

Argh, this doesn't spark joy at all! If this series could have, or perhaps even should have ended the whole Castlevania thing, then it could be palatable, but what was that whole first half?! Looking back, I can't help but admit that the first 5-6 episodes or so were de facto pure filler. Familiar figures were spread out differently on the playing field and they were doing something, somewhere. Even if behind it all is the downright stupid idea of bringing Dracula to life (every character had a lesser or greater stake in it, for veeery weird reasons), the creators at least slightly learned from the past, decided not to put us to sleep with excessive babble, and indulged us in what they do best, without rival: fight choreography. The work with perspectives, angles, and the whole composition of the battles is playful, caressing the visual perception especially. And thankfully there's plenty of that here; almost too much, in fact, given that in order to show off newer and newer tricks, for example, they've already made the character of Sypha into a de facto Superman, who has the eternally cranky Belmont as a practically useless catchphrase. Yes, I've managed to watch the other storylines as well, but they're a) not interesting at all and b) pathetically inconclusive and sadly unnecessary in the overall context of the series (What was the point of the vampire family?). In fact, at some point Season 4 decides to make one giant teleport into the main plot, which for a while reminds me of endlessly spinning in circles (Yeah, I'm pointing at you and your decisions, you sanctimonious little prat!), so that we end up doing an epic highway dance. There's always something about those penultimate episodes of Castlevania – the playing of the main trump cards, be it fine banter or brilliant action, and the instinctive fingers crossed for the main badass trio. Alucard is as consistently stale as a 5-day-old beer, so it's mainly down to Sypha and Belmont, though a much stronger script would have helped the overall impression immensely. And that... that sunny ending somehow doesn't bother me, but isn't it considerably out of place for Castlevania? Sure, I accepted the prefinal minutes, but the hell with those last ones. Make those last 3-4 episodes an OVA, we'll have missed out on nothing; for the good of us all, no more series, please. (15/05/2021)

The American television show Castlevania has a strong British vibe due to the British actors providing the characters' voices. It also has a strong Japanese influence, thanks to the superb animation. This animated TV series is worth watching, and you are not going to get bored because of the especially good action scenes plus some great gory fight scenes. It really is good to see vampires portrayed as real badass guys again. (18/05/2021)