After what feels like forever the lords of content have delivered the gift of gifts, Castlevania is back in the building! Nocturne: Season 2 returns with the goods and all the pieces needed to craft a beautiful season of animation. We still haven’t recovered from the tsunami that was the Arcane, and Netflix serves up another brilliant season of cartoon gold. Nocturne feels different this time like all the pieces have come together perfectly, in unison, like an orchestra. Pared down, lean, and mean as always, but does it have everything that made the first season so great?
Nocturne S1 Ending Recap [Aria]
Yes, yes it does. Proven, by taking us right where we left off. Things are not so great, city vamps up ten. Erzebet is in full effect with the eclipse-making abilities of a god. The Abbot Emmanuel has this reluctant Forgemaster thing on lock. Tera has been turned into a vampire, Maria is out cold, Richter and Annette got run out of the city. Not much is going right, Alucard popped out last second with a three from the logo and took resident bad biddie Drolta off the board.
This down-on-our-luck, plucky underdogs story is what makes the Castlevania series great. Even from its’ source material, that feeling that the odds are insurmountable but you have no choice but to take on an army of evil, one versus one million. Clive Bradley, Samuel and Adam Deats, Testament, Zodwa Nyoni, and Temi Oh are firing on all cylinders as a creative team. You can tell because the idea that the villains might win is just as present as the feeling that maybe the heroes aren’t ready. There’s a balance that keeps this show going, and it never lets up on the viewer.

Performances [Harmony]
As animation continues to ramp up in acceptance by mainstream media outlets, all of the different art styles used to make up the genre continue to grow and be accepted as well. So much of what is paid attention to is the look and feel. What Castlevania has always done is bring top-tier voice acting to the table. Nocturne season 2 continues that tradition.
Edward Bluemel’s Richter is a Belmont through and through. That playfully cocky affect with righteous vengeance undertones is so key to keeping our band of heroes focused on the fight but still human. A hero is rarely this relatable. Bluemel’s Richter is like Peter Parker: overpowered yet witty enough to joke about it but will also put the beats on you if there’s a life to defend.
Thuso Mbedu absolutely shines as the runaway slave and Haitian revolutionary, Annette. Make no mistake, this character is no throwaway or afterthought. Despite being a character race swapped from the source material, it feels like this is who Annette was meant to be. Mbedu is no stranger to playing fierce women, she brings a steadiness to Annette that makes her feel more like the main character this season.
Everyone brought their A-game to the booth. Zahn McClarnon’s trademark silky and airy voice embodies what makes Olrox so intriguing. Franka Potente is HER as Erzebet Bathory, rightfully proud and regal but also ruthlessly evil and selfish. Potente and Nastassja Kinski (another Film/TV veteran) leaning into the regional accents of their characters added so much authenticity to their performances. Not that fake British voice people do, nah. The cast brings to life the idea that this fight is for the sake of the whole world. No misses across the board.

Character Development [Symphony]
Nocturne season one took place three-hundred years after the events of Castlevania. How do you consider the changes a family can go through in that time? You write that shit out. The deepening of the Belmont legacy was always a tough task for the medium of video games. The team behind Nocturne nailed it in such simple ways. Series favorite Drolta Tzuentes (Ms. Tzuentes if you’re nasty) was all that we needed in the first season, but we were left never knowing how she came to be the sultry vampire baddie of legend. We get that backstory this season. They gave it to us in the most streamlined way possible, and it began a pattern of falling dominoes that spiraled into a wonderfully dizzying tapestry of interconnected storylines.
I’ve watched quite a few pieces of media in my time. The patience shown in revealing Drolta’s history and allowing her’s to lead to learning more about everyone else’s? Masterful. There are no questions about the motivations and desires of any given character, in a story that spans the globe, over thousands of years. Each layer and every nuance comes to life, and it’s ‘all killer, no filler’. Such a streamlined season of animation, so impressive that it harkens back to OG animated features like Vampire Hunter D and Robot Hunter. But this is a streaming TV show! With a budget one-fifteenth of what an episode of Arcane costs to make. How does a team flesh a world like that out? With authenticity.
Cultural Competency [Rondo]
The true greatness of watching this series over all these years (Castlevania premiered on Netflix in 2017!) is being able to vet the show’s consistent attempts to honor the culture it borrows. The series begins in the far eastern European reaches of Wallachia, Romania and eight years later manages to include the story of the Haitian revolt from French occupation. The scope is one thing, but the Old Man Coyote is in the details, right?
Olrox is an Aztec vampire who hails from central Mexico. When he shifts form, it’s not into a dragon – it’s the form of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl. And he rocks the gold jewelry that Spaniards traveled to steal from his people. He be in Europe looking down on everybody, like, “Really? You backward fools took my people out?!” How he’s so hands-off as if to display his disgust for the continent that brought pestilence to his. Love to see it. Feels real.

Annette freed herself from slavery in Haiti, comes from the Yoruba people, and practices Yoruba religions. She’s the descendant of Ogun, an Orisha of the Yoruba pantheon. Yes, she can fight, but tapped into Ogun she is also an earth and metal magic user! And she communes with the dead via Papa Legba the Orisha of the crossroads. As a Haitian, it gave me so much life to see this practiced, championed even. Not explained in a joke, but to be walked through the sacred and spiritual understanding of this woman and her people. Her culture, being grounded in it, made her mighty. It’s a bit of justice in animated form. Annette’s spiritual journey is the most profound event that will ever take place in this series.
This will always be what sets this series apart from others; it feels so real even though we’re talking vampires, magic, and such. A special touch for me is the way the intro title card tells you who was the lead writer on a given episode. So in the episodes where Annette, Drolta, or Erzebet are center stage, you find Testament, Zodwa Nyoni, and Temi Oh named for writing their cultural competency into the development of the Black and Brown characters of this world. It doesn’t feel like a white world featuring some elements of color. It feels like we are seeing the world as it truly exists, with everyone represented naturally (or supernaturally).
Knucketh If Thou Bucketh [Portrait]
Another thing that makes this series stand out is the action choreography. It’s expected in most anime-styled shows. A bunch of skirmishes that range from the street fight to the mythical battle for the soul of the world. What I’ve always enjoyed about Castlevania is the way Powerhouse Animation uses everything in the room. Ain’t no “Chekov’s gun” in here. If you see it, it’s getting used to whoop ass. Practicality is just another way that the series adds authenticity to the end product. Welcome to another edition of ‘Fantastic Hands and Where To Catch Them’.

Richter doesn’t just use his ice as a blast, it’s also a defensive shell, a blade, and a conductor for his lightning, to heal his burns, and to cool down Annette. On and on. Not limited to Richter of course, because the standout fighter of this season is Maria ‘Bring Em Out’ Renard (voiced by Pixie Davies)! She brought a hell dragon out the portal and had that thing on a string! Like puppet jutsu! Pantomiming combos like she was shadowboxing and had Erzebet on the ropes! The imagination to design different fighting styles and ground them in the world is something that Castlevania does well and that is made into a sweet science in Nocturne’s second season.
Brass Tacks [Lament]
Castlevania: Nocturne season two is phenomenal and brilliant in its understanding of the complexities of history and relationships. If that’s not your bag, then the beautiful animation and consistently high-quality fight scenes got you. This is a must-see season of a must-see series. It premieres on Netflix on January 16th.
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