Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. We are in the middle of Aniween and I can think of no better show to review this month then Castlevania. As I mentioned before Castlevania has become one of the best shows on Netflix and why wouldn’t it? Each season of the show has delivered and has been better than the previous season. With the fourth and final season coming out this year, fans were both sad and excited to see how the series would end. The third season really left everyone in uncertain spots on what they were going to do next and where they were going. Did this tie up all the loose ends and give everyone a satisfying ending? Well let’s see what goes bump in the night and find out. This is Castlevania S4.
Episodes 1-5
The season starts with Trevor and Sypha. In the weeks following the end of season 3, the two have been busy traveling around, getting into trouble, (banging to relieve some pent-up tension) and fighting night creatures who all seem to be worshipping Dracula and trying to resurrect him (why they would do that is beyond me? The guy is reunited with his love in the afterlife. Tearing him away from that would piss him off. Scene here: https://youtu.be/ZUWyiaOfm7M). Naturally, this busy and stressful schedule seems to be getting to the two. Especially Sypha who is starting to cuss now (scene here: https://youtu.be/rn40jVORaG4, is it wrong to say I find her more attractive now that she cusses?). In one of their latest exploits, they save a group of people who were about to be sacrificed to Death (or rather, the entity that feeds on death) in the hopes of it reaching into Hell and pulling out Dracula (he’s not a magician or some wish granting dragon. Scene here: https://youtu.be/T1t3VAdxQoM). We then cut to present time in Tragoviste the town where Dracula declared war on the world (aka the town that fucked up) where the two get done defeating two vampires who were looking for something (scene here: https://youtu.be/tOHWOZgwmb8). We see the vampires were agents of Varney a vampire from London who was loyal to Dracula and now seeks to resurrect him (by the way that’s Malcom McDowell voicing him. Always cool to see him voicing a villain character). Meanwhile, we see Alucard has become depressed and a drunkard (wow, he’s becoming more and more like Trevor. Again, it probably wasn’t the best idea to leave this guy alone with no one to talk to). After Alucard finishes watering the lawn, a horse arrives carrying an injured rider on its back. Ignoring his better judgement, Alucard goes to see the rider who has unfortunately died from his injuries but there was a note attached to him asking Alucard for help. It turns out a village 20 miles from the castle called Danesti is under attack by vampires and night creatures and they beg Alucard for help. After burying the body and feeding the horse, Alucard returns to the castle to wash his face where he realizes that he’s becoming Trevor (scene here: https://youtu.be/8rYg9c8p9l8, told you).
In episode 2 we get to see Hector again who seems to be doing surprisingly well despite being enslaved by a bunch of vampires (I’m just going assume he has Stockholm syndrome). We even see he still has a good relationship with Lenore (get a dungeon you two) who feels that her place amongst her sisters is becoming lost as they go to war and the time for diplomacy is no more. Unlike the others, Lenore detests war as she herself is a child of war and doesn’t want to experience it ever again (thus the reason why she takes on a more diplomatic role in the group). Anyway, Hector is trying to forge his hammer to make night creatures, but the stones that he keeps getting aren’t good and Carmilla is growing impatient (scene here: https://youtu.be/SJWC3IRkn18). Speaking of Carmilla, we do see how her past is dictating everything she does. Because of her past with her previous vampire lord, Carmilla grew an intense hatred for men and rather than move on with her life after killing him, she instead continues to be haunted by her past and destroy the world for it (I think these scenes right here perfectly encapsulate her character: https://youtu.be/fDKZJbOiEQ4 and https://youtu.be/LSnbb8e7UY0. These two scenes are a perfect look into Carmilla as it shows how broken she is. She’s a character who could be offered the world on a silver platter and yet she still wouldn’t be happy or satisfied. Why? Because in the end it still wouldn’t give her what she wants, peace). As Carmilla and Lenore talk, we see Hector gets done creating his hammer (hopefully this one is better than his previous one that Lenore tamed). In the second half of the episode we return to Trevor and Sypha who get attacked by Varney and his night creatures. We get a good fight where Trevor and Sypha get saved by some fighters from Targoviste and manage to defeat the night creatures (barely). We then get introduced to Zamfir, head guard of Targoviste’s Underground Court which houses the royal family who miraculously survived Dracula’s first attack (that’s impressive considering that the first attack was a straight up massacre and set the standards for what this series was going to show). Zamfir explains that there’s a nest of vampires attempting to ransack the Underground Court for treasures in the hopes of resurrecting Dracula. Trevor and Sypha offer their assistance, but they have to earn Zamfir’s trust first. While Zamfir heads outside, Trevor searches the body of one of the dead fighters and finds a gem inside which only means trouble for them.
Episode 3 gives us our first look at Isaac (he was the breakout star of season 3, so I’m excited to continue his story). We see him still in the city with his night creatures slowly rebuilding the city and burying the dead. We get a good conversation between Isaac and the talking night creature who wants to know why they’re still there and how Isaac is making them go against their original nature. Isaac answers the first question saying he just wants to rebuild the city and see life return to it (hoping something good will come from it). As for the night creatures, he wants them to see that they have other uses then just killing (you can use a knife to kill but you can also use it to cut up some food. Scene here: https://youtu.be/7r08LF2zp6M). As Isaac takes his leave, the night creature notices how Isaac has changed and he notices it to. In the past he always saw himself as the knife doing what the hand commanded, but now he feels like the hand, free to do whatever he wants and have purpose in the world. He then receives a call from Varney who wants his assistance in resurrecting Dracula, but Isaac says he’s too busy with his own mission to be bothered with Varney (can’t resurrect now. Developing character. Scene here: https://youtu.be/MgnxteF1eoU). After this, we focus on Miranda and Striga who are in the middle of surveying the territory that they’ll be controlling where Miranda starts to realize that this whole plan, it cray-cray (and a serious hazard to their relationship). As they talk, they get attacked during the day where Striga forces Miranda into a trunk (scene here: https://youtu.be/-xLRboiB6vc) and then heads out to fight while wearing what’s known as day armor that completely protects her from the sun (and is a plea from the studio saying: please let us make the next Berserk anime. Scene here: https://youtu.be/hPhXqKCrGN0). After the fight, Striga sees what Miranda was talking about earlier. These people aren’t going to just lie down and let them take over, they’re going to fight and they won’t just be trained soldiers fighting. It’s going to be regular people fighting them and them just fighting to keep their hold on the territory (doesn’t sound all that bad at first but try doing it forever and ever and it gets boring real fast). In the end, Striga would be out and about fighting forever to quell any rebellions that would start up while Miranda would be stuck in the castle keeping supply lines in check (the two would be constantly working and away from each other. It’s like a personal Hell on Earth). As they talk, Carmilla calls them back saying that Hector has finished his hammer (already made the joke, insert your own here) and can now make night creatures (scene here: https://youtu.be/dno5-vO5iTc). Meanwhile, Trevor and Sypha return to Targoviste where they’re hesitant to trust Zamfir and Trevor discovers a secret to the gem and magic dagger he got in episode 1.
Episode 4 returns us to Alucard who makes one hell of an entrance at Danesti (scene here: https://youtu.be/MGbARQcNSHk). He then meets the leader of the village, Greta who introduces him to a familiar face, Germain (hey~, you came back). After returning to the Infinite Corridor, Germain looked for his love only to find out that she moved to another sphere within the corridor and there’s no way of knowing where she’s at. The alchemist there told him the only way to find her is to gain control of the corridor and in order to gain control, Germain must control Dracula and he’ll have to sacrifice everything in order to do it. After returning from the corridor, Germain got busy gathering the materials he needed and slowly going insane in his pursuit (it’s quite sad really. Scene here: https://youtu.be/HzUhqqMKSuI). The final piece is Dracula’s castle, but since nobody knows where it’s at he’s hit a roadblock until he was soon called upon by Varney who knows about his plan and offers to help him return Dracula to life. Teaming up with another vampire named Dragan (and giving us easily the funniest moment in this season. Scene here: https://youtu.be/vQWIdmK39B0?t=140, he pimp slapped a vampire like it was nothing), Dragan attacks the surrounding villages and burns them to the ground only letting a handful of people escape and seek refuge in Danesti. Once there, Germain manipulates Alucard into moving the people to the castle as that will serve as a safer location (please don’t be frightened by the dead bodies on stakes. Just think of them as lawn ornaments. It’ll be a thing in the centuries to come).
So in episode 5 Alucard leads the people of Danesti and the refugees to his castle for safety. Along the way they get attacked by night creatures, so we get to see Alucard show off his moves (which is always cool because they have a lot more freedom with his moveset as opposed to Trevor and Sypha who operate within the confines of a human). We cut away from Alucard (being Alucard) and go back to Hector and Lenore where they take a break from the flirting (just have sex again and get it over with) and talk about Carmilla and how she lied to Lenore (scene here: https://youtu.be/oQjwfFzw3UI, are you that surprised woman? She’s crazy). Returning back to Alucard, we see him and Greta seem to be getting along quite well (it almost reminds me of Dracula and Lisa when they met in the first season. Greta isn’t afraid of Alucard. She just finds him weird in a good way which given his upbringing and lifestyle makes sense. Alucard also finds her weird, but at the same time charming and an inspiring leader). In the end, they finally reach the castle safely. Meanwhile, Sypha and Trevor get to work getting Tragoviste back on their feet since the place is literally leaderless and they have no idea what they’re doing (reminds me of Trump’s presidency). Isaac finally makes his move and prepares to attack Carmilla’s stronghold (is he going to kill Hector while he’s at it? Who knows? Let’s leave it to the hand of Isaac).
Episodes 6-10
In episode 6 Isaac attacks Carmilla’s castle leaving bodies everywhere (gotta love the camerawork here). The fight soon enters the castle with even Carmilla getting in on the action (and she is pissed. Scene here: https://youtu.be/Wn-P4IJtF40). Lenore goes to get Hector to safety only for Hector to trap her in a magic cage (how the tables have turned). It then gets revealed that he’s been helping Germain try and bring back Dracula in secret and has also been planting magic marbles in and around the castle for his escape when the time would come (well someone’s been busy). Isaac soon walks in where in one of the most intimidating scenes in the show, he uses his knife to bend the bars and enter the cage to kill Lenore and you can just see the fear in her eyes (like despite being a vampire and superior to him in every single way possible, it means absolutely nothing to him. To Isaac, Lenore might as well just be a frightened child staring down death). Hector stops Isaac telling him that if he’s going to kill anyone kill him and leave Lenore alone (Isaac: Oh shit, you slept with her didn’t you?). Isaac leaves Lenore alone and says he hasn’t come to kill Hector (bros for life). He says that acts of revenge are childish and that it’s time for both of them to grow up and become adults. Isaac just came to get Hector to stop his night creatures, but it’s impossible thanks to the magic ring. Hector does a bold move and cuts off his ring finger to disrupt Carmilla’s control of the night creatures and then leaves the rest to Isaac (scenes here: https://youtu.be/jnYt_4srN2s and https://youtu.be/PT2pAQ-WJJo). In one of my favorite scenes, as Issac is leaving he cuts through Lenore’s cage again and despite shaking in the cage and scared for her life she actually tries to show her superiority only to fail as Isaac just walks off (scene here: https://youtu.be/kMtLSBbPNgY, this is great. He didn’t even have to cut through the cage, he just did that to put her in her place. This was a power move). After that sweet moment (when compared to everything else in this series), Isaac and his night creatures go to face Carmilla where we see her mad, exhausted, beautiful, and badass (yeah, I’m not gonna lie, Carmilla looks like a total boss here. She’s surrounded and outnumbered, but still fighting and holding on to her ambitions). The fight between Isaac and Carmilla begins where Isaac fights smartly. Despite Carmilla’s best efforts the numbers and exhaustion are getting to her and she finds herself losing (it is impressive that Isaac can keep up with her movements). When it’s clear as day that Isaac is going to win, Carmilla decides to not give him the satisfaction of victory and goes out on her own terms (scenes here: https://youtu.be/xeEYhcXfSDQ and https://youtu.be/K4gn0t5tTXs). Miranda and Striga arrive where they sense Carmilla’s dead and believe Lenore is dead as well (thanks for the vote of confidence you two). Rather than try and reclaim the castle, they decide to just head west and start up a new life together (with no war or conquering. Just living out their eternity together with each other and nothing else. Honestly, that doesn’t sound bad). We get a final scene between Isaac and Hector where Hector thinks they’re going to ride and join in the efforts to revive Dracula, but Isaac says no. He wants to let Dracula rest and move on with his life to become something more than just angry kids who want to see the world punished. Hector decides he wants to spend his future with Lenore (because Stockholm syndrome) and as for Isaac, he just wants to live (scenes here: https://youtu.be/9aEYmIc15Ag and https://youtu.be/4ZYrODrBsm4).
With Isaac and Hector’s stories done, we go back to Trevor and Sypha’s story in episode 7. It starts with Varney and his lackey Ratko discovering the location of the Underground Court. As Varney praises himself for a job well done, Ratko tells him to check himself (scene here: https://youtu.be/D3lBGTMj6Fo). After this, Trevor and Sypha finally get taken to the Underground Court where they see the royal family is dead (oh fuck you, Zamfir). Not only that, but they killed all the priests as well (oh fuck you to next year, Zamfir. How the hell we gonna make holy water?). So yeah, Zamfir is crazy and all this time has been letting the good people (no I can’t say that because they fucked up royally in the past. I do apologize for the language, but I am just absolutely livid because of the sheer stupidity of Zamfir. That just shows you how invested I am in this show) suffer and die all while protecting two dead bodies that she believes will resurrect themselves because they are magicians (why are we still letting this dumbass talk? Knock her out). The only good thing that comes from all of this is Trevor finding a new dagger weapon which fans have theorized is the cross weapon from the game (hands down the best sub-weapon). Sypha says they have to abandon the Underground Court before the place gets invaded by Varney and Ratko (in Soviet Russia, vampires invade your house). Back with Alucard, the refugees settle in nicely and just in time because Germain has given Dragan the greenlight to attack.
Episode 8 are two big battles. The first is Alucard and the refugees defending the castle (scene here: https://youtu.be/Ix-LXuIj0Yw) where they discover Germain’s plot to not only bring back Dracula but Lisa as well. He plans to fuse them into one body (are you seriously telling me their end goal throughout this season was to create a hermaphrodite? (Corbin): I don’t approve of this, but at the same time, I’m somewhat aroused) and use that to control the corridor and find his lover. However, he needs to open a portal to hell, so he decides to use the souls of those who have died to open the portal. Alucard tries to stop him, but the magic field is too strong and the night creatures have breached the castle doors. The other fight is in Targoviste where Trevor takes on Ratko and manages to win (scene here: https://youtu.be/0rPIyLnQt2w), Zamfir manages to redeem her crazy self a little by sacrificing herself to protect some people, and Varney finds a big magic mirror (just how many of these things are there in the world?) which he uses to make it to Dracula’s castle and assist Germain with the resurrection of Dracula and Lisa. Trevor and Sypha also use the mirror and head towards Dracula’s castle to end the episode.
The action continues in episode 9 as the Belmont Experience reunites and cleans house (scene here: https://youtu.be/fgF1bdliFKs). They continue through the castle killing night creatures and even taking down Dragan in spectacular fashion (scene here: https://youtu.be/8s6pu6QvkxY). As this is all going on, we get the biggest twist in the series with Varney as he reveals himself to be Death (wow, that crazy moment when the least important character in the season is the final boss. It’s like that Jar Jar sith theory. It sounds ridiculous, but when you read it, it makes all the sense in the world that it’s scary). So why does Death want Dracula back? He’s hungry. Dracula was going to unleash Hell on Earth the likes of which no one has ever seen (and then he died). Because Death is a spirit (or as he puts it, a function of the world) he can’t just go around killing people left and right, it has to occur naturally or through the stupidity and violence of humans. He can’t bring back Dracula by himself because he’s not human, so he influenced humans to bring Dracula back themselves so that he can feed on the death that Dracula will unleash (scene here: https://youtu.be/-DSVz06NdoI. Just gonna put this out there, but I love the way Death talks. It’s such a departure from previous Deaths who speak with such class, horror, and elegance. This Death speaks with a cocky attitude and has zero fucks to give). Germain continues the ritual where he successfully opens a portal to Hell and brings back Dracula and Lisa and puts them in the hermaphrodite body. Luckily, the Belmont Express is able to destroy the body with holy water and the cross weapon. Once the explosion settles we see Germain got pierced in the chest and is slowly dying (consider that punishment for trying to screw us over you idiot) and Death is pissed that his meal ticket is gone. Trevor confesses his love for Sypha and then goes to face Death (and if you thought this fight was going to be a cake walk like in Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest, then I’ve got bad news for you). Trevor takes a hard hit but is able to get back up and beat Death with a knife (the worst weapon in the games. That has to be a troll move from the creators. Scenes here: https://youtu.be/a0LhJY3XRwg and https://youtu.be/xY7fF4fbnps).
In the final episode we get the conclusions of everyone’s stories. First up is Hector and Lenore. After a philosophical talk about vampires, Lenore decides to end it all. She refuses to be locked in a cage by Isaac (I’m pretty sure he would have let you go if you asked him) and goes into the sun (scenes here: https://youtu.be/1FCwjzBe6lQ and https://youtu.be/7wFoP-DL6QI, still a better love story than Twilight. There, I finally used that Twilight joke in these reviews. I’m surprised it took me this long). Back with the Belmont Experience, Trevor is still alive thanks to Germain. Using the last of his energy, he opened the corridor and sent Trevor in to keep him alive where he was soon spat out. It gets revealed that Sypha is pregnant (and it’s Alucard’s child. No, I’m kidding. That’d be some Maury shit right there) with Trevor’s child (wow, you’re telling me she did all of this amazing crap throughout the season all while she was pregnant. That baby is going to come out kicking and punching like a mad man). As for Alucard, he has decided to start up a village (that’ll cure his loneliness) and is weirdly happy (scenes here: https://youtu.be/RWtPLTXHgoM and https://youtu.be/sj6hvsZLeOs). We get one more ending in the form of Dracula and Lisa. The two are both alive and have decided to stay away from the castle and Alucard for the time being. Instead, they’re going to travel to London and live life to the fullest with their second chance (scenes here: https://youtu.be/h_oe5WrYjPk).
Final Thoughts
Man, what a ride. Season 4 of Castlevania is not only a masterpiece but gives a satisfying end to all the stories it started in the first season and introduced along the way. The series MVP is Isaac. His character development was the best by far. He goes from being a vengeful man to somewhat of a humanitarian who wants to live and is happy with himself and his life. For the first time in his life he is deciding his path instead of having others decide the path for him. It’s great and it shows how the interactions of people no matter how small or big can have an impact on our lives. I don’t know where Isaac’s path goes from here, but I think he’ll be happy no matter what path he chooses. Probably the saddest story has to go to Hector and Lenore. Despite all the lies and deceit, the two did have strong feelings for one another and could have been happy together. This is why their ending is so tragic. They could have been happy, they deserve to happy, but sadly it ended. Out of all the vampires I wanted to see live, she was the one I was rooting for. Speaking of tragedy, there’s also Carmilla. In her quest for power we see her go down the same route as Dracula. She’s ruled by the past and wants to take things just to say she has them and no one else does. She could have been content ruling over her own domain and lived a good life with her sisters, but her desire and obsession to take from others led to her downfall. I did like how they let her go out like a badass though. Her death was fitting for her character and made her look strong. The final story with the Belmont Experience is where we get the most action in the season. Next to Isaac, Trevor had the most character development. In the first season we saw him as a drunkard and in the fourth season we see him live up to the Belmont name and then some. He was a man who had no purpose to live, but soon found one and became a better person because of it. It’s also great to see Alucard get a weirdly happy ending where he’s no longer alone and even has his own little romance going on in the back. I wish we’d gotten to see more scenes of him interacting with the villagers as the ones we do see are great and show a more human side to his character. Sypha is the one character who probably had the least amount of character growth, but to be fair she was already a great character and didn’t really need to change all that much. If I had to name the weakest character it would be Germain. Seeing him go down the dark path was a bit rushed but handled well for the most part. I did like how he played a victim saying he’s trying to do the right thing and bring back his love while everyone around him refuses to help thus justifying everything he does in his eyes (and when you start playing the victim, everything you do seems right no matter how horrific it is). Death as the villain was great. Like I said, I like this interpretation of Death and Malcolm McDowell had me laughing with his lines. His reveal was a good twist and totally unexpected.
The animation and music are great as always and I will say the camerawork was phenomenal this season. I haven’t seen camerawork done this well since Attack on Titan. The action scenes for this season are the best. None of them disappoint. They’re action packed, gory, and feature great visuals. I really have no complaints for this season. Many might say Dracula and Lisa living in the end may have been corny, but I don’t mind it and I’m happy to see them have a second chance to be happy together.
Final Score
The final score for Castlevania S4 is a 10/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. This was the finale this series deserved. It’s satisfying, it ties up all the stories, and gives the characters closure. It’s already been announced that there’s going to be a spin-off and I can’t wait to see who they’ll be focusing on. In the end, we can all agree that Castlevania was a great series and serves as the new standard for videogame adaptations. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj as we take a look at Kimetsu no Yaiba as Aniween continues. MUHAHAHAHA!
*Nitsuj gets up only to have a rake pole slap him in the face*
(Nitsuj): *Grumbles*
*Nitsuj walks passed the rake only to get smacked by another rake pole*
(Nitsuj): *Grumbles*