‘Castlevania: Nocturne' Season 1 Blu-Ray Review: Vive La Révolution

Forbes

5 days ago

One of the most beloved Castlevania games, Rondo of Blood, has received an amazing adaptation, and this Blu-ray release does not disappoint.
The first four seasons of the original Castlevania animated series were loosely inspired by Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. While the dropped one of the game's characters, Grant Danasty, it was still a thematically faithful version in animated form.
When it comes to Nocturne, again, it's loosely inspired by Castlevania: Rondo of Blood but goes its own way, and includes elements from the French Revolutionary Wars.
This is because Rondo of Blood was set very specifically in 1792, which Nocturne takes as its backdrop and fleshes it out further. Naturally, this all dovetails into events from Symphony of the Night, with the inclusion of Alucard, again voiced magnificently by James Callis.
Although the Symphony of the Night elements are more groundwork than anything else, I doubt we will see that really tackled for another few seasons. Although it does introduce Olrox, who was a boss in Symphony of the Night, as a vampire that Richter's mother faced when he was a child, it is a nice bit of narrative foreshadowing if you're familiar with the games.
In any case, Nocturne ups the ante in terms of the action and the animation. This is arguably one of the best-looking animated series that outshines most modern Japanese-made anime.
This is especially impressive considering that Rondo of Blood and the Castlevania series as a whole are staunchly Japanese in origin.
The first season for 'Castlevania: Nocturne' looks and sounds amazing on Blu-ray.
This time around, though, we have a new Belmont, by the name of Richter, as well as Maria Renard, who is also a magic user like Sypha was.
The first season is also pretty tightly paced and covers a lot of ground in terms of dealing with the new main villain, but if you're new to the animated adaptations of Castlevania, you can drop in without having seen the first four seasons of the previous show.
One standout character this time around, though, is Juste Belmont, originally from Harmony of Dissonance, which chronologically pre-dates the events of Rondo of Blood.
That means he's a more seasoned fellow here than in the game, and Iain Glen does a great job of depicting an older Belmont.
As for this Blu-ray release, apart from some storyboards, animatics, and galleries, it's pretty barebones. That said, the audio and visual quality are excellent. Naturally, the music by Trevor Morris is also amazing and worth mentioning, as it pays tribute to the original gaming musical scores, especially the epic Divine Bloodlines track from Rondo of Blood.
Considering this was originally streamed on Netflix, having Nocturne's first season available on Blu-ray only helps to show just how good the animation for this series really is.
Castlevania: Nocturne Season 1 is available on Blu-ray via Amazon for $16.99. You can also play Castlevania Requiem on PlayStation 4 for $19.99, which also contains both Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night.
Disclosure: Viz Media sent me this Blu-ray for the purposes of this review.
Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.