Castlevania: Season Four Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.0

Castlevania: Season Four Blu-ray Movie Review

Castlevania: Season 4 brings back the hit Netflix animated series for another round of adventures. The series is produced by Jason Williams (Seis Manos) and Maki Terashima-Furuta (Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence). Created and developed for television by Warren Ellis, Castlevania: Season 4 offers up additional escapades and excitement for fans of the program. Darkness may loom ahead but the ultimate journey is far from over.

Vampire hunter and series protagonist Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage) faces new challenges in the fourth season of the hit program. The stakes are high in season four of Castlevania. Wallachia has now collapsed. Chaos is everywhere across the land – and there is nothing easy to qualm fears. Dangerous times lie ahead.

With some attempting to bring Dracula back to life, there is a lot of mystery afoot and the journey is one with scares and action-packed thrills. Everything becomes complicated with no one trusting one another. The fear of end times has arrived. Will Dracula rise again?

Castlevania: Season 4 is more entertaining with the strong-willed protagonist, Trevor Belmont. The character is one that fans will appreciate having as part of the series. Belmont is on a journey that followers of the series will want to tag along on. The character (as well as the character design) is impressively done.

The series has reasonably solid animation and this is one element of the production that stands out the most. The art style is done in a manner to resemble that of Japanese anime (at least on some level). It doesn’t quite replicate the style perfectly but it does have a nice element of the art intrinsic to the production and there is also something to appreciate about that aspect. The animators do a good job imbuing the production with craft and vibrancy.

The action scenes might be the most essential element of Castlevania: Season 4, though. Without the action-packed adrenaline, the series wouldn’t stand out as much from the crowd of other animated productions. These elements certainly enhance the animation and the Gothic tone of the series too. Commendable.

The score composed by Trevor Morris (Hunter Killer, Immortals) is reasonably engaging and a solid backdrop for the production. The score provides some enticing action-cues and dark overtones to appropriately match the atmosphere of the production. While not a top-notch score, the music is serviceable and is a good fit the series.

Written by Warren Ellis (RED, Iron Man 3), Castlevania: Season 4 continues to explore the world of Trevor Belmont and his journey. Ellis provides fans with the elements fans of the program expect. Exploring the characters while expanding the storyline, Ellis has fun playing in the gothic and dark playground of Castlevania.

Directed by Sam Deats (Castlevania: Nocturne), Castlevania: Season 4 has some interesting elements to keep fans coming back for more. The series certainly continues to evolve and push the envelope forward with new episodes. Deats also handles the production design and this plays a key role in the atmosphere of the series and the effectiveness of the animation. Deats helps make Castlevania: Season 4 a visually interesting creation and fans will appreciate these elements of the series.

Castlevania: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from VIZ Media, Castlevania: Season 4 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original streaming aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The video quality on the presentation is excellent and will not leave fans wanting. Color reproduction is excellent. Clarity is exceptional. The level of detail on display in the encoding is excellent and will please fans of the production. The animation certainly looks nice in high-definition and is well preserved by the series encoding here.

Castlevania: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options, including English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo. The lossless, high-resolution audio is exceptionally crisp, clear, and dynamic. Dialogue remains clear and easy to understand during the presentation. The dynamics of the production are excellent and the series is enhanced by having a lossless sound mix (an obvious advantage over simply streaming the program).

Castlevania: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release includes a nice selection of bonus features. This is one area in which the release is well worth picking up. Fans will appreciate how much content was provided on the release. It was quite impressive to see how many art galleries were provided and the amount of illustrations and content available on the release will appeal to animation enthusiasts. It adds a lot of value to the Blu-ray release and is another great example of how home media is essential.

Art Galleries:

Characters includes 51 click-through illustrations.

Monsters includes 54 click-though illustrations.

Locations includes 84 click-through illustrations.

Props includes 96 click-through illustrations.

Characters/Monsters Size Comparison Charts includes 24 click-through illustrations.

Storyboards:

Trevor Fights Skeletons in the Trees includes 48 click-through storyboard sketches.

Together Again includes 46 click-through storyboard sketches.

Animatics:

3. Striga's Daytime Slaughter (HD, 2:48)
4. Sypha Soloes a Night Creature (HD, 00:56)
5. Isaac vs. Carmilla (HD, 3:56)
6. Trevor vs. Death (HD, 4:02)

Voice Actor Interviews:

Alejandra Reynoso – Voice of Sypha (HD, 5:24)

Adetokumboh M'Cormack – Voice of Isaac (HD, 5:02)

The release also includes a selection of trailers (HD, 1:03) promoting other releases available from distributor VIZ Media.

Castlevania: Season Four Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Castlevania: Season 4 is another mysterious and gothic outing for fans of the hit television series. The fourth season expands on the storytelling universe and brings new elements to the production. Fans certainly will want to continue watching the series and see where the saga heads to next. The Blu-ray presentation includes a quality video and audio presentation. The release includes a surprisingly robust selection of exclusive supplemental features. Between the higher-quality presentation and the nice extras, the set is well worth picking up for fans. Recommended.