Go watch CASTLEVANIA on Netflix

[Big Bad Wolf]

Someone needs to call Universal and show them this series because it's yet another classic monster show that does it better than they do.

Guys, Netflix's Castlevania is a home run. It's awesome. Unfortunately the first season is sort of a trial run with only four episodes, but it's already been renewed for a longer second season. The tone and the atmosphere are dark and full of dread, with a bit of humor sprinkled in just a little. Dracula has more depth in 15 minutes of this show than many other recent films and TV shows have given him even with more screen time. FINALLY someone does the master vampire justice.

Our hero, Trevor Belmont, is a great flawed-yet-ultimately-heroic protagonist, a cynical vampire killer still bitter about his family being excommunicated. Even though there's only four episodes, each one coming in just under 30 minutes as with most anime, Trevor has a solid character arc as he inevitably decides to stop being a drunk a$*h*l** and kick some monster ass.

As a fan of classic horror and of the video game series on which it's based, I can't recommend Castlevania enough.

[Sir Spooks-A-Lot]

Eh, I always liked Simon Belmont better then Trevor, but then there is Julius Belmont.

[the_last_gunslinger]

I have been hearing a lot of good things about it. Can you tell me how its depiction of religion is? I've heard it's somewhat negative. That's a big factor in determining if I watch it or not.

[Sir Spooks-A-Lot]

I have been hearing a lot of good things about it. Can you tell me how its depiction of religion is? I've heard it's somewhat negative. That's a big factor in determining if I watch it or not.

Its pretty negative, in hindsight the church are the real bad guys and not The Count ( I mean he is the active threat but the church is reason Dracula is kinda angry at everybody)

[Big Bad Wolf]

I have been hearing a lot of good things about it. Can you tell me how its depiction of religion is? I've heard it's somewhat negative. That's a big factor in determining if I watch it or not.

The depiction of religion is a bit more complicated if you dig deeper. Historically, it wasn't uncommon for religious men of power to accuse innocent people of being witches, usually women, and this is the catalyst for the series. A rather nasty, power-hungry Bishop orders Dracula's human wife to be killed for using science and medicine to tend to the sick and the poor, on the charge that this is witchcraft.

However, I would like to point out that religion itself is not depicted as inherently villainous. During a climactic battle, a minor priest character is needed in the fight against the demonic horde that Dracula has unleashed thanks to his ability to make holy water, which is a powerful weapon against evil precisely for its sacred properties. As for the Bishop, he learns before the season's end that his cruelty and his tyranny is entirely misguided, and what he believed to be holy work is in fact truly evil.

It's easy to see "religion = bad" given that the religious leaders we see are villains, but if you pay close enough attention, you'll realize it's not so simple. Religion is merely taken advantage of by cruel and twisted men to suit their own ends; it's not actually depicted as a genuine source of evil.