Is the animated series called the best adaptation of the game in history so good?
Screen versions of video games as a phenomenon have existed for about thirty years, and all this time they are considered almost a damned genre of cinema. There is a favorite among the people Mortal kombat Paul Anderson and himself “Resident Evil”, there is “Lara Croft” with angelina jolie and first “Silent Hill”in the end there are commercially successful Detective Pikachu and Sonic.
But let’s be honest, all these pictures stand out only against the background of other adaptations, miserable to varying degrees. Why is it so difficult for Hollywood to transfer history from one format to another? But the fact remains: most game adaptations are failing, a minority are digestible. But there is one project for which the reputation of an exception has entrenched – The Castle from Netflix. For several years she has been praised in every way, and someone even claims that she is in many ways superior to the original source. So why is this animated series so good, and does it keep the bar claimed by critics?
To answer these questions, you need to remember what is Castlevania from Konami. Despite the intricate chronology and ornate lore, the basis is classic horror films about Dracula, only through the eyes of the Japanese. In general, this part of the gaijin culture finds a special response in the land of the rising sun. The writer Hideyuki Kikuchi, after watching a movie studio Hammer, invented “D: Vampire Hunter” with its gothic post apocalypse. Mangaka Kota Hirano created the world under approximately the same influence. Hellsingwhere Dracula in the service of the British crown shoots Nazi cyborgs.
Well, the developers from Konami simply collected all the mythical creatures of the Earth, killed their own, settled them in a huge pseudo-European castle and sent a brave hunter there, so that he first defeated them, and then the supreme vampire was taken. Castle, critters, hunter, Dracula – these are four key components of Castlevania, and at least three of them are in each part of the series. If not, then you have some strange spin-offs. Over time, an established family saga involving many characters was wrapped around an established formula, but the basis remained unchanged.
In fact, the adaptation of Castlevania has been around for fifteen years – it’s “Van Helsing” with Hugh Jackman. In the film by Stephen Sommers, you can see the same mosaic from retro horror films based on Gothic literature, framed by action, gargantuan decorations and anime pathos. But Hollywood is very fond of milking IP with an accumulated fan base, and therefore talk about the official adaptation of the game series has been going on since the beginning of the zero.
The network writes that “Castvania” was supposed to be delivered by Paul Anderson, who had already shot Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil by that time. But something didn’t grow together somewhere, and as a result, instead of a studio blockbuster, it was decided to make a cartoon for the DVD release. It is noteworthy that for the implementation of this idea they drew a very unexpected person – comic book artist Warren Ellis. He had to write a script for an 80-minute cartoon, which could be both the beginning of the trilogy (if it burns out) and an independent work (if success is so-so).
It is noteworthy that Ellis, by his own admission, at that time only heard about Castlevania, but certainly was not a fan or connoisseur of the series. Why producers generally chose him is a mystery. But anyway, it was he who ultimately was responsible for the plot of both the unreleased full-length and the animated series that grew up on its wreckage ten years later.
So, the XV century. Principality of Wallachia. An overly progressive healer of her time, Lisa, was put to fire and anathema. Only now, unfortunately for the Inquisitors, the woman was not a simple witch, as they believed, but the wife of Dracula himself. Upon learning of the execution of his beloved wife, the count was so furious that he declared war on humanity until it was completely destroyed. First, the night creatures staged a massacre in one particular city, and after that, the highest vampires from all over the Earth gathered in the castle to plan full-scale genocide. Three involuntary allies try to stop the impending madness: the sorceress Seta, Trevor Belmont, the last of the evil hunters dynasty, and Alucard – the son of Dracula and the very executed Lisa.
Castlevania fans in synopsis alone recognize the plot elements of several games at once. Here and Dracula’s Curse, and a little bit Symphony of the night, and in the second and third seasons you can find the details are not so famous Curse of darkness. That is, the game ent is really taken into account and adapted by the creators, which already distinguishes the Netflix project from the vast majority of adaptations. Here the name is not stuck for hype – the series is faithful to the letter of the original source. But hardly true to his spirit – primarily because of the screenwriter.
Alucard from the game and Alucard from the series
Here it is worth explaining what kind of figure is this very Warren Ellis. On his account there is a hit Transmetropolitan, as well as not so hit Supergod, Black Summer and much more, but he is more likely a celebrity in the eyes of comic book enthusiasts. Moreover, the author’s handwriting is very recognizable, and in most scenarios you can trace the general leitmotif – misanthropy. In the Ellis comics, humanity as a whole is a bunch of stupid, aggressive and driven cattle, among which only a few stand out for the better, but they are not without sin. Even in the mainstream series from Marvel, he managed to smuggle his signature gloom, and even Castlevania inherited it in full.
So in the first season much more attention is paid not to the battles of Trevor Belmont with evil spirits of all stripes, but to the lawlessness of the clergy. The most colorful and elaborate character is the bishop invented by Ellis – a hypocritical fanatic, intoxicated by power. First, he executes a woman who preached progress, and then because of his self-confidence and ignorance, hundreds of people become food for night creatures. However, the inhabitants of Wallachia are hardly exposed as innocent victims – this is a brainless herd, ready to expel or send to the stake anyone who is at least somewhat different.
Trevor, Sifa and Alucard are fighting with Dracula not so much to save the locals, but because the fate of the planet as a whole is at stake. Although the heroes often wonder whether the prince of vampires is wrong in his desire to cleanse the Earth of hairless monkeys. The same Belmont has enough reasons to dislike the people – it was not the ghouls and ghouls who plagued his entire dynasty, but the dark peasants. After all, as you know, only the one who is able to defeat him is worse than a monster, and it is not at all necessary to be a witcher to spit in your back. Alukard’s mother was burnt for no reason at all, and now he still has to unite with a man whose ancestors regularly arranged genocide of his kind. And only Seth does not hesitate in his desire to do a good deed. Well, for the time being.
If it’s not yet obvious, Castlevania is definitely not suitable for family viewing.
Such moral ambiguity makes the first one and a half seasons of Castlevania deeper and sharper than one would expect even with the most optimistic mood. But this can turn away from the series of fans of the game franchise. Indeed, in fact, Warren Ellis utilized the setting in order to once again raise topics close to him. Only here they have a rather weak relationship to the source.
On the one hand, Castlevania opens up a really wide scope for interpretation – the tonality in games is very conditional, at least a thriller, at least horror, at least drama. But on the other hand, the series was hardly ever cynical. Rather, romanticism is close to her – just take a look at the baroque works of Ayami Kojima, a permanent illustrator of Castlevania. Yes, the story of Ellis is deeper, and the characters are more humane than in games. But at the same time, sometimes doubts simply arise that we are faced with exactly those characters.
This primarily concerns Dracula. Of course, in the 123 years of its existence, the character went through all possible interpretations, including managing the tragic antihero more than once, but the version from Castlevania claims to be at least one of the three most depressed. Even Dracula-Belmont from a highly controversial dilogy Lords of shadow He didn’t look so sorry for the fact that he liked to poke.
Half of his screen time, the king of bloodsuckers sits in front of the fireplace, looks at the fire with empty eyes and repeats that humanity must die. As Alucard notes, his entire war is the longest death note in history. For the entire series there is only one scene in which Vlad is shown as a truly formidable night predator – and that flashback. Ellis ruthlessly deconstructs the main antagonist, deliberately shows him as a tired old man, and not as an operet villain, like he was in games. But was this move worth it to belittle the central figure in the entire Castlevania?
Sometimes Dracula is allowed to be cool. But only sometimes
However, the rest of the characters to monitor much nicer. Trevor, Sifa, Alucard, as well as Dracula’s assistants Isaac and Hector can boast a memorable design, clear motivation, and vivid characters. In many ways, the second and third seasons rest on the relationships of the heroes, their personal arches … Because there is nothing more.
As already mentioned, initially “Castlevania” was conceived as a full-length cartoon with the prospect of two sequels. And, judging by the miraculously surviving entries from the Ellis blog, the basis for the first season in an almost unchanged form lay the script of that very feature film, which explains its strange duration – four episodes of twenty-three minutes each. That is, the text was insisted and, most likely, polished by the author for about ten years. Perhaps there were notes for the sequel, but from some point on, Ellis clearly had to work in a much shorter time frame and in much larger volumes.
As a result, somewhere from the second third of the second season, the pace of the narration sharply slows down and goes at a snail’s pace right up to the final of the third. Conflicts and upcoming ups and downs are very clearly outlined, but they unwind two to three times longer than they should. The viewer understands perfectly well what should happen to the hero, but it still does not happen. Then you might think that Ellis again decided to deconstruct some kind of stamp and deceive expectations, but no – the main catch is that there is no catch.
But with all the scenario flaws, Castlevania remains an amazing show thanks to its visuals. You can make out as much as you like how Ellis re-edited the works of Konami authors, but it is just as important how the animators from several teams were able to revive the drawings of Ayami Kojima. Castling cannot formally be considered an anime, as it was created outside of Japan and was originally voiced by English-speaking actors. But if you forget about the formalities, the animated series from Netflix can easily do the majority of Japanese titles. Well, the action in it is simply enchanting – there is nothing to paint here, you just need to watch.
The series uses some characters as if for other purposes. So, the necromancer Hector has a tragic background and the potential to be a very deep character. But for the plot, it’s only important that he is a naive rag
So can you call “Castle” the best game adaptation? Well, she is definitely good on her own, regardless of being tied to the original franchise – this is already a huge achievement. But how many skepticism comic book fans look at The Joker Todd Phillips, and many fans of Castlevania, will surely take hostility in the animated series Warren Ellis. This, as they are called, is an author’s reading, moreover, very specific. Anything is better than the next brainless blockbuster of Paul Anderson with Mila Jovovich in the title role.
