Targoviste, Wallachia: 1475- Lisa Tepes of Lupu was burning on a stake, while men of religion furled crosses at her and called her a witch. Her sin? She was a woman of science.
I knew I was in for something massively different when Lisa Tepes of Lupu, while on her pyre, looked up at the skies and pleaded – “Don’t hurt them! They don’t understand! They don’t know what they are doing.”, like Jesus on his cross of punishment.
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Castlevania is rare in many ways, but mostly for its fresh take on the classic story of Vlad Tepes as Dracula, whose story also comes with blood, gore, death, and along with them the eternal quest of finding the man within the monster, a man capable of loving, grieving, revenging, one who wouldn’t stop till all humanity was wiped for taking away and celebrating the death of the only true love he had ever known.
This is where the story of Castlevania takes a leap. Adapted from a video game, Netflix released Castlevania anime on July 7, 2017 and its finale season 4 aired in May 2021. It ended as gloriously as it had started. Bram Stoker has set a certain theme for Dracula’s story, and Castlevania takes it a notch higher.
In many ways, Castlevania pokes at the established history by challenging gender roles, power dynamics, and racial atrocities through its character sketches and intellect distribution. Unlike the older stories, there are no damsels in distress in this realm. Women – vampires or otherwise, deny to be silenced, they speak their mind, their rage, their insights, their diplomacy, all of it, with panache.
“That was a dramatic entrance, Carmilla.” “It was not meant to disrespect you. It was intended to unsettle a room full of men. I prefer in such situations to arrive with as many advantages as possible.”
Women of Castlevania talk about books and knowledge, wisdom from old history, twist the favours of the courts, and play rough. They wield both magic and machinery, they scheme of building empires and of ruling by sisterhood. “
But imagine. Imagine. An empire ruled by four women.”
Women here, simply deny to be disrespected.
“I didn’t ask you to fight for me. I fight for myself.”
Shifting my attention to male characters, there is an eerie sense of declining moral arc with the men of church, and I have often wondered if the original intent was to offend via writing a fiction. The show doesn’t shy away from depicting crimes by the men of god, their lust for power, and other sins committed against women, men, and children which till today, continue to shake the belief of millions which are placed in the hands of a few old men.
Some male characters inspire respect, many of whom serve only a few chapters but leave a lasting impression. Vampire or human, their stories forged them.There are men who fall from glory and men who rise to it.
“History is a living thing. Paper is dead.”
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Castlevania stems from the classic story of Dracula but it doesn’t stay limited to the already established themes. The writers have played with elements of sci-fi and blended it so beautifully that the high-tech concepts go hand in hand with medieval-gothic storyline. It is a rare phenomenon to witness, and rarer still to be done well.
Coming to visuals, Castlevania anime is a stunner! Dracula’s castle is a sight to behold and the visual designers have left no stone unturned to make it a gothic epitome. There are many instances where it meets the viewers in all its glory. Viewers go through many countries, many characters, and through symbolism from religions, alchemy, and more, all of them done with attention to details.
In conclusion, there’s always an element of charm and class about the word – Dracula. Castlevania is a reminder that quality work takes time. It takes effort for the whole team to come together to give attention to each and every character they carve, write phenomenal dialogues, give depth to each story, and package the whole thing in an audio-visual extravaganza. There’s more to write about Castlevania anime. Issac and Morana have captured my attention like no other. There will be updates, but for now, the Castlevania review ends here. Do watch if you haven’t already.
