A culmination of events from the previous season, Castlevania: Nocturne’s second season hits and exceeds many of the high notes set by its predecessor, upping the ante not only in storytelling but also animation and
action quality.
Now wielding a portion of the power stolen from the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet, the vampire messiah Erzsebet Bathory (Franka Potente) begins her conquest of France as the country is gripped by the French Revolution.
Led by the human-vampire hybrid Alucard (James Callis), vampire hunter Richter Belmont (Edward Bluemel), Vodou magician Annette (Thuso Mbedu) and summoner Maria Renard (Pixie Davies) attempt to stop Erzsebet from finding Sekhmet’s mummy, which would give her the ability to cause a permanent solar eclipse that would allow vampires to freely roam the world.
The variety of plot threads in Nocturne’s second season exceeds the previous one but show creator Clive Bradley does a decent enough job in stringing everything together, even if the pacing does lag at times due to the season being dedicated to a multitude
of characters.
Bradley’s inclusion of or choice to focus on certain characters certainly harms the pacing as well. Providing a backstory for Erzsebet and Drolta, her right hand in leading the vampire army, results in Alucard not receiving enough screen time.
The famous pale, silver-haired vampire is notably absent for most of the season, sans the final episode. Even then, Richter takes centre stage, particularly during the heroes’ final, desperate push to stop Erzsebet.
As flashy and impeccably animated as the final action sequences were, there would have been adequate space for Alucard if Nocturne had just cut the unnecessary screen time that was dedicated to Erzsebet and Drolta. Their backstories change little of Nocturne’s overarching plot or how the audience views them.
Villains do not always need backstories and Nocturne is proof of this. Sometimes, it is just fun and more satisfying to see monstrosities get whipped, slashed and attacked by magic without knowing their entire life stories beforehand.
While game adaptations are not new, Nocturne shows the genre is enjoying a renaissance of sorts. The show’s first and second seasons should be a benchmark for Western animation studios when striving to emulate what Japan has accomplished in the medium.
Though Nocturne leaves several doors open for a potential third season or a brand new series, similar to how Warren Ellis’s Castlevania set the foundation for this sequel in 2017, the future is murky for Netflix’s current best original animated series.
Castlevania: Nocturne is streaming on Netflix.
