Castlevania: 5 Ways The Games Are Better (5 Ways The Anime Is Even Better) – Screen Rant

The Castlevania series began life as a tough-as-nails NES platformer, but does its status as a classic mean it's better than the Netflix anime?

The Netflixs series Castlevania has become immensely popular, inspiring fans to both praise the show and even create some wonderful cosplays, especially those of Sypha Belnades. However, Sypha is not the only popular character of the show, with fans marveling at the fact that they can now witness characters like Vlad Tepes, Alucard, and Trevor Belmont on their television screens.

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The popularity and craze that these characters demand are, however, owing to the popularity of the games that they have been inspired and adapted from. The Castlevania franchise has been an immensely successful and popular series of games, which has finally been adapted into an anime. While major parts of the anime are adapted from the game Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, the other games too have had an influence in its making, starting from set design, animation, costumes, and character traits. Therefore, it is hard to decide for fans, which is better, the games or the anime. While both have similarities, there are some ways in which the games prove to be better, while others make the anime an absolute genius work of art.

Video games have evolved tremendously since their origins, and it has always been an immersive experience to be able to take part in adventures, simply by sitting in front of a computer screen or gaming console. That being said, while the anime has been able to create some complex characters, the games always provide a better setting in that players can actually choices that influence the story.

Castlevania is no different, allowing players to play as Trevor Belmont or as one of the three assisting characters in Grant Danasty, Alucard, and Sypha Belnades.

While the games do mention Lisa Tepes, insight into her relationship with Dracula or the reason why Dracula embarked on a quest to destroy Europe is really brought to light. The anime seeks to amend this lack of insight into the personal life of Dracula and provides a deep and justified reason for the Counts madness.

The anime shows the depth of the relationship that Vlad Tepes shared with Lisa of Lupu and how men, in their own blindness and superstition, destroyed that love. There is a method to his madness, and, instead of showing Dracula as a maniacal monster, the anime transforms him into a tragic hero.

While there are many powerful monsters in the Castlevania games, it also provides a vast arsenal of powerful weapons to counter them. The games are very well balanced, allowing the heroes to thwart the monsters and bosses, using powerful weapons.

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However, in the anime, very few of these weapons are actually shown. Although Trevors blessed whip Morning Star and Leon's long-sword do make appearances in the anime, many of his sidearms, as well as his elaborate armor of war, are completely ignored. These items have become deeply ingrained in the memories of hardcore fans of the franchise, and, therefore, not including them in the animes makes the games slightly better compared to the series.

Although it is true that the games allow players to play their favorite characters directly, the anime provides a more complex dynamic to their characterization. Instead of being paper-thin characters seen in each level of the games, they have transcended into the world of animation and cinema and become characters that have backstories, dialogues, ambitions, and demons, making them more real than they ever were.

Apart from the fact that the anime brought to life some of the most beloved characters like Trevor Belmont and Alucard to life, it also helped breathe life into some of the evilest characters from the games, including Camilla and Issac.

Unfortunately, two relatively important characters to the Castlevania storylineGrant Danasty, an assisting character that players can play in Castlevania: Draculas Curse, and Leon Belmont, the first Vampire Slayer and founding father of the Belmont clanwhofirst appeared in the game Castlevania: Rondo of Bloodare totally missing from the anime.While Leon has only been shown onceand only as a portrait kept inside the Belmont Hold, Grant might yet still feature in the future seasons of the anime.

After the killing of Dracula, Alucard proceeds to go into a long death-like slumber, restraining his powers out of guilt of having committed patricide. Although this is one of the four alternate endings of the game, Alucards fate is always to go to sleep if the player chooses to end the game with him as the assisting character beside Trevor Belmont.

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However, the anime makes changes to this by allowing Alucard to stay in the castle and bestowing the responsibility of the Belmont Hold on him, therebymaking him stay in the thick of things and providing scope to further develop this brilliant character.

The Castlevania game franchise is a huge one that has spanned decades. The eternal story of Dracula being battled by the forces of good in the form of the Belmont clan, Alucard, the Cruz clan or the Morris clan has been the cornerstone of every game in the series.

Being released on a continuous basis for almost thirty yearsthe last decade notwithstanding, of coursethe games are undoubtedly a nostalgic experience to many who have grown up playing the games as a child only to grow up and find newer installments release. Therefore, irrespective of the anime's huge popularity, the games hold a special place in the hearts of diehard fans.

As with most games, the Castlevania series also prioritized its protagonists and assisting characters more than it did its antagonists. Therefore, the games see the villains, especially the minions of Dracula being portrayed as mindless monsters, alive only to do the bidding of their dark lord. The anime, however, takes a different approach and tackles Draculas minions, as well as the companions of Belmont with equal importance.

Therefore, even monsters like Carmilla, Issac, Gaibon, and Slogra are shown to have a mind of their own, as well as feelings and comprehension. This creates a more balanced narrative while also providing depth to these characters.

Games have the ability to adapt and provide multiple storylines to players depending on the choices they make during the course of the game. An anime, however, cannot follow such a form of storytelling since they have to adhere to more linear methods. Therefore, the games score a point over the anime in the sense that players can experience different endings.

In Castlevania III, if Trevor finishes the game alone, he watches as Draculas castle crumbles. If he finishes it with Grant, both watch Draculas castle crumble as Grant is said to dedicate himself to build parts of the city in later years. If he finishes it with Sypha, she reveals her true identity as a woman and both watch the castle crumble as Trevor puts his arms around her shoulders, and, finally, if he finishes it with Alucard, both watch the castle crumble as Trevor sympathizes with what Alucard might be going through after having committed patricide.

As is the case with many works of art that have been adapted from other sources, the adaptation tends to change certain parts from the cannon in order to elevate the quality of the adapted material or to make dramatic improvements.

It is the same with Castlevania, which changes the storylines of characters like Carmilla, Hector, and Alucard, and introduces elements like the intrusion of the Church and Lisas burning. However, these changes only make the anime better and further the storyline. Therefore, it should be celebrated instead of looked upon with contempt.

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Arnab Rakshit is an avid reader, writer, movie-buff, and comics fanatic residing in Kolkata, India. He is a graduate of Asutosh College, Calcutta University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. Having worked in the field of content development for myriad clients for the last three years, he is confident about creating meticulous and informative content for ScreenRant readers, He also enjoys a competitive game of Table Tennis once in a while.

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Castlevania: 5 Ways The Games Are Better (5 Ways The Anime Is Even Better) - Screen Rant