Castlevania (Season 4)

Sequel to Castlevania (Season 3)

Genre(s): Dark Fantasy

Age-Appropriateness: 17+ (Lots of Strong Language, Gore, Violence, occasional nudity)

Platforms: Netflix

Episodes: 10

TheAwersome Rating: 8.6 / 10 (Excellent)

Premise: Wallachia collapses into chaos as factions clash: some attempting to take control, others attempting to bring Dracula back from the dead. Nobody is who they seem, and seemingly nobody can be trusted. With Trevor and Sypha at the end of their ropes and Alucard at wit’s end, will Carmilla be victorious in establishing her empire? And what does Isaac’s newfound freedom and agency bode for humanity?

TheAwersome’s Thoughts: I feel the creators really got to lean into this season and were not as concerned about making sure they had the right formula to get mass appeal. The dialogue felt more natural, as did the action and pacing, no more opening night stage fright. Moments were allowed to fluidly happen and excel without feeling highlighted as they did in previous seasons. It had been a similar feeling to watching a show with your friend who pauses three times per episode to explain why what just happened was “so cool” or “good symbolism,” etc. No, in this season we get interesting, natural, thought-provoking dialogue that explores interesting themes such as redemption, forgiveness, agency, revenge, power vs. strength, and others.

That’s to say nothing of the excellent animation and gorgeous action sequences that truly shined this time around, with several standout sequences that win places in my “best anime fights” brain space.

This season isn’t without sin, however; I feel the ending wasn’t as solid as the rest of the show, or season 2’s ending, but I’ll take it.

TLDR: The best Castlevania has offered yet, with intriguing dialogue, great character development/exploration, and gorgeous action sequences.

While this marks the end of this Castlevania series on Netflix, a spinoff was announced starring Richter Belmont and Maria Renard, taking place in 1792 France during the French Revolution.