I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it, but apparently Netflix has announced plans for a Castlevania animated series that will be released later in 2017.
Too bad Simon Belmont has already been immortalized in animated form, since like 1989, on Captain N: The Game Master.
Okay, I just really wanted a reason to post a picture of Captain N Simon Belmont.
Anyway, I’m a little dubious about this idea, since video game-based animated series are almost always starting on an uphill battle, and the fact that Castlevania hasn’t really been relevant since like… Symphony of the Night, depending on one’s interpretation and dedication to the litany of Pokévania games that were released for various Game Boy platforms. A part of me thinks that the choice of Castlevania is like television producers wanting to do something, needing reputable source material, and someone in the room thinking “I know, I used to love Castlevania, the games were hard as shit, but I’m sure we could spin it into a story,” and then one or two people recognizing the name and concept and then an idea snowballs before everyone begins to blow each other.
On the other hand, a point for optimism is that it’s a Netflix original, and as far as original programming is concerned, Netflix has had an ungodly batting average in my opinion, at the shows they’re putting out. I was skeptical about several of the Marvel properties, thinking the heroes out of Hell’s Kitchen were kind of barrel bottom scraping, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m way more sold on Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage than I am with like the cinematic Thor, Hulk or Doctor Strange, and I’m already greatly looking forward to Iron Fist, despite the fact that I think he’s lame as fuck in the comics.
So who really knows what’s going to happen with a Castlevania animated series? I’m not thrilled about the arrogance of the producer in promising “the western world’s first good video game adaptation,” because that’s a bold claim, not to mention the fact that the bar is set about as high off the ground as speed bump, not to mention that it will be a tall order for anyone to beat the Friday-afternoon Legend of Zelda cartoon from the Super Mario Bros. Super Show in my opinion.
But being on Netflix will give show creators a lot of creative freedom and liberation from the censorship and regulations of regular network television, and hopefully they can capitalize and produce something gritty, epic and something worth binge watching and triggering the nostalgia button to make me want to go weed out an emulator to play some Castlevania I-IV.
