Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. We’ll guys, it’s the final week of Aniween and I think there’s only one way to end the month on a high note, Castlevania. Yes indeed, Castlevania has quickly become one of the most popular shows on Netflix. It took the lore of the games, expanded on them and created an enriching story with great characters to follow, fantastic animation, and cool fight scenes. After the second season many people assumed that was the end of the series, but nope, they came back for a third season earlier this year as there was a lot more story to tell. Let’s see how those stories unfold in Castlevania S3.
Episodes 1-5
The season starts with Alucard where a month has gone by (I think, according to Alucard) and we see he’s slowly losing his mind from loneliness (scene here: https://youtu.be/zn6UDFHZ47M. Yeah, maybe leaving the immortal half-vampire alone in a secluded location wasn’t the best idea. I mean the last time we did this we got Dracula and we all know how that turned out). We then cut to Sypha and Trevor who continue their travels and give us the first action scene of the series by fighting night creatures (who look like the Creature of the Black Lagoon and a werewolf). They defeat the creatures and take one of the bodies as a souvenir into town to earn some points with the townsfolks (scene here: https://youtu.be/KqZhU59P3VM). Meanwhile, Carmilla returns to her territory (looking more like hell then usual) with Hector as her prisoner. We get to meet her sisters and find out that after Dracula’s defeat things have gone to hell. Vampires are fighting each other over territory, humans are fighting back, and the night creatures are attacking them as well (how the mighty have fallen. Scene here: https://youtu.be/6BJC2TbZpMU). Returning back to Trevor and Sypha, the two arrive in Lindenfeld where they come across some monks who are sure to give them some trouble down the line and we get the hint that in this past month Trevor got to raid Sypha’s castle (scene here: https://youtu.be/CAfPF9Q8Mfw).
In episode 2 we start off by seeing Issac (probably the second most humane person in this show next to Dracula if you can believe it) arriving in a town with his army of night creatures (I knew he’d be fine on his own). He has the town scared but orders his creatures not to harm anyone (he’s a boss) and enters a shop where he asks the shopkeeper if he has a transmission mirror. Unfortunately, the shopkeeper says he sold that mirror years ago however he has the next best thing a distance mirror which allows Issac to see whatever he wants (Distance Mirror: You’ll refer to me as sir and nothing more. Is that clear! (Nitsuj): Sir! Yes sir). Issac uses this mirror to find Hector (for shits and giggles) and receives the mirror as a gift from the shopkeeper (scene here: https://youtu.be/G0b-rwcWPy0, this was a nice scene). Once Issac leaves the shop, he heads towards the pier to get a boat for Genora, but the guards won’t let him despite the fact that he and his creatures have done nothing (it’s because he’s black isn’t it? Actually, in all seriousness why the hell are you trying to start something with him? He hasn’t harmed anybody, his creatures are tamed, and his business here is done. Just let him leave peacefully and everything will be alright). Agitated by the rudeness of humans, Issac allows his creatures to go on a rampage through town killing everyone (scene here: https://youtu.be/Y1rgJOpb-kg) until he finally comes to the pier and talks to a captain (from Jamaica) in what I have to admit is one of my favorite interactions in the season. The captain knows that Issac could easily kill him and his crew and rather than fight Issac he instead befriends Issac promising to take him where he needs to go in exchange for his crew’s safety (scene here: https://youtu.be/yoaC3Cw6Qts. Back with Carmilla, she presents her grand plan to her sisters. She wants to take over a large corridor of land that was devastated by Dracula’s attack, close it off, and then use the people there as livestock forever all while using Hector to create night creatures to maintain control. The question is how will they get Hector to agree to help them (Corbin: I can think of a few ways)? We then go to Trevor where he meets Saint Germain an old friend of the Belmont family and wants Trevor’s help in dealing with something. Finally, we focus on Alucard in the last part of the episode where he has visitors from Japan named Sumi and Taka. These two were once slaves of the vampire Cho who died last season (via Sypha) and seek knowledge and training to defeat other vampires in their country. Alucard agrees to train them in the art of vampire killing (and because he is lonely and in desperate need of company).
Episode 3 opens up on a cute moment between Trevor and Sypha (for once he’s not being an asshole and disgusting her). Trevor thinks they should start hitting the road soon as this place is starting to get creepy because apparently the monks worship Dracula according to the town’s leader Judge (he is the law~). The Judge takes them back to his house where he explains that one night the village got attacked by a bunch of night creatures with one entering the priory (yeah, they dead). Rather than the creature killing them, it instead spoke to them in discotheque colors (party is the priory! (Andrew WK): Party! Party! Party! I wanna have party. Scene here: https://youtu.be/VsPvZ37bz4M). The next morning the creature was gone and the monks were crying nonstop. Sometime later, a member of the church showed up covered in blood and was taken into the priory followed by more people who were in disarray over something. Judge wants Trevor and Sypha to infiltrate the priory and find out what happened that night and what they’re planning (scene here: https://youtu.be/m2ltVkI5c54). We then go to Issac where once again we get a great conversation between him and the captain about wanting revenge, humanity (with both sides making good points), and the captain giving Issac an alternative to killing humans such as leading them and teaching them kindness (scenes here: https://youtu.be/Rz-d6OL7s_0 and https://youtu.be/QsnkIVsFkFU). We end the episode with Hector as Lenore approaches him (and don’t let the pretty face to fool you. She might just be the most sadistic of the bunch). She tries to befriend Hector as a means to lower his defenses and Hector tries to get the jump on her only to fail and gets his ass kicked (and so it begins).
We start episode 4 with a good backstory about Cho (oh thank God. Next to Godbrand and Carmilla, she was the one vampire that seemed the most interesting. She had a unique design from the other vampires and I was bummed that we didn’t learn that much about her in the last season). Sumi and Taka talk about how Cho kept them as slaves and would even allow warriors to get past her guards just so she could fight them herself for her own amusement and have her slaves watch the fight to send a warning to them (scene here: https://youtu.be/rBXo9IkSEHI. This scene is great and tells us so much about her. She’s a twisted individual who looks down on humans and considered herself superior to them. So much so that when a human did come to face her, she didn’t fight she just dances gracefully with them. Showing off her beauty, power, and filling everyone with fear to crush their spirits. It’s twisted, psychological, and I love it). When Cho finally left for Dracula’s war council, they used this chance to escape, but with the fear of Cho returning or another vampire rising up to take her throne they felt that they would never be free. After this, not much really happens in the episode. We see Lenore continue to work her mind games on Hector, Trevor and Sypha snoop around the priory where Sypha can sense the use of magic (they’re trying to open a portal to Hell). Germain manages to gain access into the priory after telling them about the Belmonts and Dracula, and gains access to their small collection of books. Issac finally arrives in Genora where once again the rudeness of humans stops him from moving on peacefully (idiots! You deserve to die. Scene here: https://youtu.be/C3yQGdCDGZw).
So episode 5 surprisingly focuses on the plot of Trevor and Sypha for a majority of the episode. We start with Trevor realizing that he’s in love with Sypha and receiving a surprise visit from Judge (scene here: https://youtu.be/TQ2P55R3ZFk). Germain tries to go deeper into the priory only to get caught and makes a tactical retreat (stage left). He runs into Sypha where they talk and it gets revealed that he’s a magician. The two also discover alchemic signs carved into the buildings throughout the village (scene here: https://youtu.be/vtFcCSIdx1Q). Trevor comes and drags Germain to the pub so that they can talk in private (and hopefully not slit his throat or light him on fire). Germain tells the two about the Infinite Corridor a portal that’s said to lead to infinite worlds and how he lost someone important to him to it and is now trying desperately to save them (and I’m just gonna take a wild guess and say it’s his wife). Germain says the monks have a portal to the Infinite Corridor beneath the priory and wants them to stay out of his way. However, Trevor and Sypha reveal to him that if the portal is beneath the priory and a night creature vanished when it entered the priory what are the chances that the creature never left (oh yeah, I just blew your mind?). We also get this sweet scene between Alucard and his new students/friends (scene here: https://youtu.be/cI6Cs3tEVJU. This is nice, but why do I get the feeling something bad is going to happen?).
Episodes 6-10
In episode 6 Hector finally gets some clothes to wear (thank God), gets to go out for a walk with Lenore, and gets a new cell (Hector whatever you do, don’t think with your dick). Back in Lindenfeld we get to see Germain’s nightmare where sure enough he lost his wife in the Infinite Corridor. Back with Issac, he chats with one of the night creatures wanting to know what his life was like before he died and why he was sent to Hell. The night creature doesn’t remember his life fully, but he remembers being a philosopher in Athens and being persecuted for his ideas that clashed against Christian ideology despite being a believer in Christianity himself. Issac is confused as to why a man such as him was sent to Hell and the creatures says it’s because he sinned in court. He ratted out others in exchange for his life and when he finally went to Hell he discovered something about sin, he liked it (scenes here: https://youtu.be/Hwc8L0LslmA and https://youtu.be/jELeqNXKWfg).
Episode 7 focuses on the plots of Issac and Lindenfeld. In Issac’s story he comes across an abandoned village and meets Miranda an old forgemaster just like him (I think you two will vibe nicely). Miranda tells him a magician took all the residents of the village to be his slaves. Since the magician has no need for her and because she’s strong enough to defend herself, she’s left alone to her own devices. She does however inform Issac that the magician has the transmission mirror (and that means we have a new destination. Scene here: https://youtu.be/9uajQpHXQrc). Back in Lindenfeld, Trevor interrogates one of the monks and gives us possibly the best fight scene in the season (scene here: https://youtu.be/HxxdE-4WfSc. Yeah, it’s not flashy or contains a lot of violence and gore, but what makes it standout is the animation, the choreography, and how they make each hit count). Germain comes across a forgemaster book (that seems to be the theme this episode. Forgemasters) where some of the pages have been torn out. Germain talks to Sala the leader of the monks about this, but he plays dumb and gives Germain the run around (like a cable company). This forces Germain to get answers himself, so he sneaks down into the lower levels of the priory and finds the night creature who invaded the town crucified and still alive (scene here: https://youtu.be/8GbD8BMuv14). As for Alucard, he shows Sumi and Taka the Belmont Hold (scene here: https://youtu.be/VEQUvQ7cSd8).
In episode 8 Germain leaves the priory (as would anyone after seeing what was in the basement. Scene here: https://youtu.be/qWfAGPg-Zfo) and goes to warn the others about what he saw which stirs the Judge to action and he gets his men in place. We also find out that the night creature was created by Issac and taught the monks magic, so they could conduct a ritual to bring back Dracula from Hell (you should have called Kratos, that guy’s an expert at getting out of Hell). Meanwhile, Lenore pretty much has Hector right where she wants him and all she needs to do is push him a little more (scene here: https://youtu.be/0x8nrfcXvhQ, he’s starting to think with his dick. Don’t do it man). Back in Lindenfeld, everyone marches to the priory but it might already be too late as the ritual has begun (scene here: https://youtu.be/3neFGnYwLNk).
The action begins in episode 9. It starts with the townsfolk being used as sacrifices and a fight to the death outside of the priory as the Infinite Corridor gets opened and demons pop out (scene here: https://youtu.be/w8lO6pjMEmc). Trevor, Sypha, and Germain make it down into the basement of the priory where we get a peek inside the Infinite Corridor and see Dracula. Elsewhere, Issac invades the town of the magician where he and his night creatures fight through the legions of slaves to reach the magician. The fight gets pretty insane as the magician uses his slaves to create a giant ball, Issac creates a colossal night creature, and Issac fights his way through slaves in the tower to reach the magician. Issac finally reaches the magician where the magician tries to take over his mind, but Issac manages to fight back and deliver the killing blow as it begins to rain humans (scenes here: https://youtu.be/wyyoUCm4mu4 and https://youtu.be/AjRJSaI32Jc). In more secluded areas, Hector and Alucard also go through their own battles (just in the more perverted nature). Hector thinks with his dick and has sex with Lenore (oh wow, they’re actually allowed to show nudity in this season) where she tricks him into becoming her obedient slave by putting a ring on him (it’s not a marriage ring). Alucard’s time doesn’t go much better. Sumi and Taka have sex with Alucard (I’m just going to assume they didn’t know Alucard’s preference so they both decided to sleep with him) where they betray him out of nowhere because they believe he was keeping secrets from them and tricking them just like everyone else they encountered on their travels. They now plan to kill him and take control of the castle, but Alucard kills them first (scene here: https://youtu.be/YYE90Yo5tPI, dumb kids).
In the final episode we start with Issac finding the transmission mirror and claiming it as his own (please say he has to call it sir?). He decides to leave the city standing believing it’ll become a monument or be occupied by other people (who will be smarter and hopefully you won’t have to kill them. Scene here: https://youtu.be/qdplXqscJn8). Back in Lindenfeld we get the climatic battle as Trevor and Sypha take on the demons from Hell while Germain tries to close the portal all while being pissed off that the person they were trying to bring back was Dracula (said the man who was trying to bring back his wife). Germain can’t close the portal but the demon can control it. He has the demon show him the world where his wife is at and jumps in telling Trevor to kill the demon. Trevor kills the demon and Germain closes the portal on the other side (scenes here: https://youtu.be/p3DzNzuw1Aw and https://youtu.be/-43wmSEpK3c). Trevor and Sypha escape the priory before it collapses and finds the Judge where he got stabbed by Sala and dying. Before he takes his final breath, he says he killed Sala by a tree and tells Sypha to burn down his house. Trevor and Sypha find the body of Sala at the bottom of a pit filled with spikes (damn, that’s some Mortal Kombat shit right there) and then go to the Judge’s house where they discover his dark secret, he’s been killing people to pass the time (scene here: https://youtu.be/vchE5i4Q4aQ). Hector gets the bad ending to his story as he gets presented as Lenore’s pet and will be forging night creatures for her and the others all while being Lenore’s new sex slave (see what happens when you think with your dick?). Trevor and Sypha leave Lindenfeld (or what’s left of it) disheartened by this experience, none more than Sypha (you wanted a life of adventure, well you got it. It has highs but also lows). We end the season with Alucard adopting a method from his dad, leaving dead bodies on the lawn for everyone to see (scene here: https://youtu.be/fNvx4DTA6bI, that’ll keep the Jehovah Witnesses away).
Final Thoughts
Wow. This season delivers. This season is easily the darkest of the bunch and has the most plots and stories put into it with all of them having the right amount of time shown and leading to conclusions that changes them entirely. The best plot this season had to be Issac’s story. His talks with the shopkeeper and the captain are great. He’s a guy who hates humanity but still has hope for them. He wants to believe that humanity has some sense of sanity and goodness within them, but every time he is disappointed and you can’t help but side with him. The darkest story of the bunch goes to Trevor and Sypha’s story. It’s nice to see these two become a couple and how they work off each other. Trevor has begun to show shades of a legit vampire hunter while still maintaining his witty charm and character that we all love. He’s not as vulgar or alone as he once was, he has someone he cares about and can rely on. Sypha has also changed, she’s become more adventurous, confident and alive. Up until Lindenfeld her adventures have been great and rewarding, but this adventure wasn’t rewarding as she bore witness to the darkness of humanity and just how twisted humans can be. The Judge’s secret was well hidden and a shocking twist. The saddest of these stories goes to Alucard. You really do feel bad for the guy, he’s lonely and seeks companionship. When he finally gets it he gets betrayed for no reason and has to kill people. While his story is probably the shortest of the bunch it’s definitely going to have some repercussions on his character moving forward as he slowly starts to become like his dad. I also did enjoy Cho’s backstory, it gave us good insight into who she was and how she ran her territory. My second favorite story was Hector and Lenore’s story. This is what everyone wanted Dracula’s war council to be like. Carmilla and her sisters all have personalities that are different from each other, stand as equals, and each play a part in the grand scheme of things. Lenore is easily the most dangerous of the bunch. With Carmilla and the others, their objectives and goals are easy to figure out, but with Lenore you have no idea what she’s planning and she knows how you get inside your mind without force or torture. The way she was able to play Hector was nothing short of brilliant and shows us that even though Hector may have the body of a man he has the mind of a child who can’t truly think for himself.
Once again the animation and soundtrack are phenomenal and the action scenes are breathtaking. The final battle in particular had me on the edge of my seat and Trevor’s fight against the monks was well-choreographed and reminded me that not all the fights have to be explosive or big. They can be simple and basic with good animation and characters being clever and strategic in their fights. While there’s not that many comedic moments here as in the previous seasons, I didn’t really mind all that much and was happy to see the series be more serious and philosophical with its characters, what they’re going through, and will continue to go through moving forward.
Final Score
The final score for Castlevania S3 is a 9/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. A good follow up to season 2 which gives us good insight into what happened to everyone at the end of the season and manages to balance out all of their stories effectively. It’s obvious that a 4th season will come out and the build for what’s to come has me excited. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj. MUHAHAHAHAHA-
*Nitsuj gets hit in the face with a bean bag and falls to the ground in pain*
(Isis): Sorry. Just testing out the range of my new rifle.
(Nitsuj): AHH~, now it feels like Aniween.
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