Review: Hell Hath No Bounds in CASTLEVANIA Season 3
Coming into the new season of Castlevania, I was worried about where Season 3 could possibly go without it feeling completely arbitrary or misguided after the ending of Season 2 with all its deaths. That being said, I was impressed by how amazing Season 3 was. In the previous seasons, I really only cared about Alucard, Trevor, Sypha, and Dracula. Some of the supporting characters started to get more interesting through Season 2, but I couldn’t care less about what happened to them overall. However, from the beginning to the end of Season 3, I was entranced by just about every character, their story, and their motivations.
Everything below in this review will contain spoilers for season 1 and 2, but we will be trying to avoid season 3 spoilers as much as possible.
The last two seasons had a pretty well-directed storyline – Dracula wanted to kill all humanity because of the death of his wife. The generals of his court were arguing with each other because some thought Dracula was mad. Trevor and Sypha were working with Alucard to defeat Dracula and save humanity. However, after the death of Dracula, the main group split up. A majority of the army of Dracula and his generals was wiped out to save his forge masters and Carmilla. This left everyone in different places, living life with pretty well-made endings at the end of Season 2. So, I was very worried about following disparate storylines that had nothing to really do with each other and were just lame reasons to continue the show. I was right about everyone being in different places with different storylines, however, each new storyline was extremely engaging, powerful, and well-done. Seriously, to have four separate plots through an entire season still end as well as it started is quite impressive from a writing standpoint.
Each of the stories took place in a variety of areas; deserts, snow-capped mountains, castles, lowly towns and more, each area looking incredible. No expense was spared here for the animation side of this show. The battles were vicious, the drama tangible, and the breadth of character design was impressive all around too. From mind-bending dreams to intense sexuality or brutal violence to subtle storytelling, this show is a visual feast; your eyes will never get bored.
Lastly, the voice acting was really strong all around. As I mentioned, there are a lot more characters, and it is partially their storylines that make them more relatable. But the voice acting for all these characters, who are from all around the world, really sell their character’s feelings and motivations. From subtle conversations about the philosophies of humanity to the angry screams of revenge, it was hard to not be totally engaged by their performances.
Season 3 of Castlevania not only proved that this series still has a reason to exist but leaves us wanting so much more. This show was already one of the best adaptations of a video game into a film or TV show, but this season threw the show into the stratosphere. Yes, there are some questionable things here or there, but it is so easy to look past them with the massive amount of “S Class” content. I didn’t even get to mention the hilarious nature of a lonely Alucard, Sypha’s amazing magical skills, or the forge masters and their great stories; there is just so much good content in this season, it is hard to cover it all. With great plot lines, pacing, acting, and fantastic animation, this season exceeds the other seasons and just about every other TV show or movie made from a video game.
