Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Castlevania: Season Three Blu-ray Movie Review

Castlevania: Season 3 continues to expand upon the storytelling universe established in the first and second seasons of the hit animated television series. The series is produced by Mua Film and Project 51 Productions. Inspired by the original work of Bram Stoker, Castlevania: Season 3 is a Netflix streaming production. Licensed for home media by VIZ Media, Castlevania: Season 3 is produced by Maki Terashima-Furuta and is a series in the “vein” (pun intended) of anime.

Dracula (Graham McTavish) perishes – death bringing his tale to a (potential) close. Yet the challenges ahead are ominous and the stakes are larger than ever before. Trevor Belmont (Richard Armitage) is faced with new dangers as he comes face-to-face with other villains. Sister vampires enter in to the picture. Can a future be forged without more death and misery? Even after Dracula’s death, there remains more blood-soaked horror – terror awaits.

Trevor Belmont remains the steadfast central protagonist of the series. Audiences will be happy to go on another journey with the character and watch the storyline unfold with more twists and turns along the way. The character faces some new challenges in the third season and must rise to the challenge that is before him.

The third season continues to showcase the impressive animation design for the production. The art style capably showcases the dark and mysterious elements of the action animated series. The animators involved on Castlevania seem inspired heavily from Japanese anime and the third season is no stranger to these aesthetic sensibilities. This aesthetic applies to the character designs as well as to the brooding background art. Colors are dark and aesthetically evocative.

The original score composed by Trevor Morris (The Tudors, Vikings) is one of the best components of the series. The score has a creative style which fits the production well. The music certainly imbues the dark and complex art style with some effective mood. The music certainly fits the backdrop of the series and that is something compelling. An impressive effort by Morris.

The production design is one of the most interesting creative elements. The design showcases an art style which highlights the animation. The production elements certainly help to create a compelling gothic undertone. The art highlights the creativity of the animators and this can be felt well during Castlevania. It is unusual to see an animated series with such a strong gothic art style and this is a element well preserved throughout the production design elements and the team involved has fun exploring it.

Directed by Sam Deats (Castlevania: Nocturne), Castlevania: Season 3 provides fans with more of the ingredients fans have come to expect from the production. Director Deats (who was also in charge during development on the production design) makes sure that the atmosphere of the show will manage to appeal to Dracula fans. The third season takes things in some new directions but still manages to continue the series with more of what audiences expect to find.

Castlevania: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from VIZ Media, Castlevania: Season 3 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original streaming aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation on the Blu-ray release is reasonably good though it has some banding and compression that makes one wonder if the issues are source related or simply due to the masters provided to VIZ from Netflix. The picture quality is still reasonably impressive on the whole and the gothic tone of the production is well preserved by the video encode. The release showcases the impressive color design for the series and showcases the efforts of the team of animators well.

Castlevania: Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound. The lossless audio quality provides a more immersive sound experience. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The score by composer Trevor Morris is well reproduced and sounds crisp on the release. The sound effects are certainly interesting and the surrounds are actively engaged to create a more enveloping audio experience. The release includes a selection of secondary audio tracks as well: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo, Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound, and Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo. Optional English SDH subtitles (for the deaf and hard of hearing) and Spanish subtitles are also provided.

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

NYCC Panel with the Creator, Directors and Cast of Castlevania (HD, 39:25) is an extended comic con panel featuring the creative team involved on the production. The bonus feature is the kind of extra serious fans hope to find on releases (such as this season set) and it is always nice to see some nice exclusive content included to entice buyers. For fans of the program hoping to learn more about the production and hear some insider comments from the crew, the extra is certainly going to be worth checking out.

Art Galleries includes characters, creatures, locations, props, and buildings. These art galleries include numerous illustrations highlighting key artwork used for the production of Castlevania: Season 3.

Storyboards for episodes 1, 3, 7, and 10.

Animatics from episodes 9 and 10.

More from VIZ Media (HD, 4:17)

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

Castlevania: Season 3 expands on the storytelling universe of the series. The production has fun with the genre and the return of Trevor Belmont. Returning director Sam Deats (Castlevania: Nocturne) brings an element of genre storytelling to the production and continues to explore these characters for the fans. The Blu-ray release includes a solid video and audio presentation and an exclusive selection of bonus features. The release includes a extended New York Comic Con panel featuring the creator of the animated series alongside the cast and this is one bonus feature that might be of serious appeal for diehard fans of the program. The release also includes art galleries, storyboards, and animatics. The first pressing of the set also includes an o-card slipcover and will look nice on the shelf. Fans of the series will be quite pleased. Recommended.