Castlevania

Tür: Yetişkin, Korku

Yayımlanma Tarihi: 07.07.2017

Kaynak: Oyun (Konami)

Yönetmen: Sam Deats

Senarist: Warren Ellis

Besteci: Trevor Morris

Stüdyo: Frederator Studios, Powerhouse Animation Studios, Shankar Animation, Project 51 Productions, Mua Film

Yayımcı: Netflix

Castlevania’nın ilk sezonunun sadece 4 bölümden oluştuğunu gördükten sonra ister istemez bi “meh” dedim içimden (Kısa serilere karşı bir antipatim var). Bu dört 25’er dakikalık bölümü bir demlik çay eşliğinde tükettikten sonra ne yalan söyleyeyim ilk intibamda haklı çıktığımı fark ettim; Ey Netflix, nerede bu animenin kalanı?

Netflix’in Castlevania uyarlamasını izledikten sonra en son söylemem gerekenleri en başta söyleyerek ne yalan söyleyeyim biraz daha rahatlamış hissediyorum yazının geri kalanı için. Hazırsanız ufaktan konuya giriş yapıyorum.

İlk bölüm Dracula’nın Lisa ile tanışmasını bize gösterdikten sonra filmi 20 yıl sonrasına sararak Kilise’nin Lisa’yı büyücülük suçuyla yakarak halt yemesi ile devam ediyor. Tabii bu arada Dracula Lisa’nın huyuna gitmiş, iyi adam olmuş fakat tam da o gün evine geri dönüyor ve evini küller içerisinde buluyor. “Aklı başında bir insanın delirmesi için kötü bir gün yeterli” sözü misali, Dracula deliriyor ve şehirdekilere 1 yıl veriyor. 1 yıl sonra Dracula Eflaklıların hala aynı haltı yediğini görünce cehennem yaratıklarından oluşan ordusunu halkın üstüne salıyor ve hikayemiz başlıyor.

Netflix’in Castlevania uyarlamasının hikayesi ağırlıklı olarak 1989’da NES platformuna çıkan Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse‘e dayansa da farklılıklar gösteriyor. Örneğin oyunda Dracula bütün Avrupa’yı tehdit ederken, animede sadece Eflak’ı tehdit etmesi ayrıntılardan bir tanesi. Ancak Castlevania’yı izlemeniz için oyunu oynamış olmanıza gerek yok. Prolog görevi gören bu 4 bölüm hikayeyi gayet güzel aktarıyor bizlere. Hikaye demişken, senaryo ne kadar hoş olursa olsun aynı şeyleri replikler için diyemeyeceğim. Zaman zaman klişe kalıplar duysak da ağırlıklı olarak başrol Trevor’un one-liner repliklerini dinliyoruz. Ciddi havayı öldürmese de daha iyi olabilirdi. Seslendirmeler ise on numara. Japoncasını az çok tahmin edebilirsiniz ancak bence İngilizce dublajı da gayet başarılı idi.

Görselliğe gelecek olursak, şahsen bayıldığımı söylemek durumundayım. İnternette bununla ilgili olumsuz yorumlar olsa da özellikle tarzının tek bildiğim ve çok sevdiğim Sympony of the Night‘ı andırması da ayrıca bir artı oldu benim için. Yalnız şiddete karşı bir hassasiyetiniz varsa dikkatli olmanızı öneriyorum zira Castlevania gayet kan ve vahşet dolu. Örneğin yaratıkların insanlara saldırdığı sahneler “iğrenç” olabiliyor (Uzuvlar kopuyor, organlar dağılıyor yani). Böyle yapımlarda bir dikkat ettiğim konu da bildiğiniz üzere koreografi. Bu konuda uzunca bir süredir izleyiciler olarak zaten kan ağlıyoruz, doğru dürüst kavga bile göremiyoruz çoğu seride ancak Castlevania’nın kavga sahneleri göz dolduruyor. Özellikle son bölümün finalindeki kavga sekansı şu güne kadar izlediğim en iyi anime dövüşü olabilir.

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Castlevania

Genre : Adult, Horor, Tension

Releasing Date : 07.07.2017

Original Creator : Konami

Director : Sam Deats

Writer : Warren Ellis

Composer : Trevor Morris

Studio : Frederator Studios, Powerhouse Animation Studios, Shankar Animation, Project 51 Productions, Mua Film

Streaming : Netflix

Castlevania immediately starts off on the right foot by focusing not on the Belmont family, but Dracula himself. The series opens with a fateful encounter between the reclusive vampire king and an aspiring scientist named Lisa (The Mentalist's Emily Swallow). That opening scene nicely sets the tone for the series, establishing Dracula's tenuous connection to the human world and giving him real motivations for menacing the land of Wallachia. While Dracula has little overt presence in the series after the first episode, it's satisfying to see Ellis treat his main villain with depth and nuance. Dracula has at least a shred of tragedy about him in any incarnation, but that angle is really played up here.

In addition to casting Dracula as a sympathetic villain, the early scenes help establish the general themes that dominate all four episodes. This is as much a story about the clash between fear and reason as it is man and monster. Both Dracula and those charged with hunting him are forced to choose whether they believe humanity can rise above Dark Age superstitions. Trevor is the last-surviving son of a disgraced family, one who's sorely tempted to simply sit back and let those who wronged his family suffer their just fate. And Alucard, naturally, is torn between his family heritage and his human side. There's a welcome depth to both sides, with none of the main characters but the squeaky-clean Sypha really falling into the good or evil camps.

I only wish the same were true for the various clergy characters. The Church is is pretty uniformly sinister force in this series. With Dracula serving mostly as a background figure at this stage in the series, a character known only as "The Bishop" (Max Headroom's Matt Frewer) emerges as the main antagonist in these four episodes. The Bishop is pretty much your typical medieval priest villain, one prone to burning his enemies at the stake and generally abusing his lofty position for personal gain. Other than a vague desire to use Dracula's attack to consolidate his own religious power, The Bishop's motivations never really coalesce. Comapred to the rest of the main cast, he's annoyingly one-dimensional.

Clearly, Netflix spared no expense when it came to the voice cast, forgoing the familiar names in the voice acting world in favor of some surprisingly big-name actors. For the most part, the actors do justice to their characters. McTavish and Callis in particular stand out as they channel the pathos and suffering of their undead characters. There are times when the actors (Armitage especially) speak too softly and become almost drowned out by the music and sound effects, but at least there's a passion to these performances that you don't always find in projects like this.

Amid all the character drama and clashing between science and superstition, Castlevania never loses sight of the moire visceral appeal of the series. There's plenty of action to go around, even if these four episodes barely dip their toes into the giant menagerie of monsters from the games. A joint effort between Frederator Studios and Powerhouse Animation Studios, Castlevania has a slick look and feel that really stands out when the action heats up. The series does an admirable job of translating the lush character designs of artist Ayami Kojima, particularly in terms of the graceful, almost feminine qualities of Dracula and his son. This series may draw mainly from Castlevania III in terms of plot, but it's far more influenced by games like Symphony of the Night when it comes to art style.

Ellis' sardonic wit is also apparent in many spots. That's especially true whenever the wisecracking, alcoholic Trevor comes into conflict with the ordinary villagers of Wallachia. The second episode, "Necropolis," feels the most Ellis-y as Trevor gets into drunken brawls and the humor leans towards bestiality and the convoluted genealogies of country peasants. It is a little jarring to hear the occasional F-bomb being tossed about, only because the series is so sporadic and inconsistent about its use of adult language. Still, it's nice to see an animated series embrace its adults-only trappings.

Castlevania isn't a flawless adaptation by any means, but it's far better than any fan had a right to expect given the way these things usually play out. Honestly, the series' biggest flaw is that there's so little of it. Four 25-minute episodes is a pretty measly way to kick off a new series. Shankar and Ellis have room to do little more than arrange the basic pieces on the board before the season ends. It plays less like a complete, cohesive season than simply Act 1 of an ongoing adventure.

Castlevania is a welcome reminder that video games actually can make for compelling TV when the right people are put in charge. Adi Shankar and Warren Ellis were clearly the right men for this assignment, as they blend the action and atmosphere of the games with a compelling conflict built around the clash between superstition and reason. When a show's worst problem is that there's simply not enough of it, you know it's doing something right.

Given Netflix's increasingly conservative stance on renewing original series, it may be that the company simply didn't want to commit to more than four episodes of an expensive animated project in one sitting. The good news is that the series has already been renewed for a second season of eight episodes. But was it really so much to ask to get all 12 episodes in one big meal?