History WesternAnimation / Castlevania2017

-->'''Dracula:''' She said to me, "If you would love me as a man, then live as a man. ''Travel'' as a man.\\

* AdaptationalJerkass: Zigzagged with Trevor. In the classic continuity games, the Belmonts were upstanding heroes who, despite the Church's actions, never wavered when there was evil to be fought. Here, Trevor is a bitter and foul-mouthed loner who, to put it bluntly, clings to past victories and holds a grudge against everyone. He eventually snaps out of it and proceeds to save Gresit from both the corrupt church's influence and Dracula's minions but, even before that, he continues to try desperately to save the Speakers despite his protestations that he doesn't care about the deaths caused by Dracula's army, and he takes every opportunity he sees to save innocent life wherever he finds it.

* AdultFear: Dracula's motive for his revenge on mankind is very understandable - His wife was murdered while he was travelling, and no-one tried to intervene and save her.

* AnachronismStew: In spite of the game/animation being set in 1476, there are many present-time elements thrown in, like intricate machinery that raises Alucard's coffin, or the electric lights in the Cyclops' catacomb lair. Although this is explained in-universe; the reason Lisa comes to Dracula's castle is that he has scientific knowledge beyond that of regular humans. With that said, this is on par with the games as a whole, which feature futuristic technology outside of the time period any given game is supposed to be set in.

* {{Animesque}}: Considering what Frederator Studios' [[WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents other]], [[WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot more]] [[WesternAnimation/ChalkZone well-known]] [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime titles]] are like, this comes off as a very shocking surprise to anyone expecting something a lot more cartoonish.
* ArcVillain: The Bishop, acting as one for the first season. His witch hunts set the plot in motion with the execution of Lisa Tepes, and he also blames the Speakers for the demon invasion, sending an angry mob after the only people who were trying to fix the situation. Ultimately, Dracula is the bigger threat, [[spoiler: and see BigBadWannabe for what happens to him during the fourth episode.]]

* BoyishShortHair: Unlike the game, where Sypha has long hair she keeps hidden in her robes, this incarnation has her hair cut short.

* CrapsackWorld: Wallachia turns into quite the hellhole after Dracula unleashes his legions upon it. Most of the major cities have fallen, and the ones that haven't are ruled over by a corrupt church that shift the blame for nightly raids by monsters on whatever targets can be conveniently labeled as heretics.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Dracula decides to exterminate the population of Wallachia for the execution of his wife, Lisa. While Dracula is understandably upset at his wife's death, his own son Alucard points out that the former's revenge will kill many more people who were just as innocent as Lisa. It's just that Dracula doesn't care.

** When fighting one of the Bishop's men, Trevor slashes him across his left eye, plucking it out. Later, [[AssholeVictim the poor bastard]] gets shot in the ''other'' eye with an arrow fired by a fellow priest.

* TheFundamentalist: The Bishop is utterly convinced that anyone not directly in service to the Church (like the Belmonts or the Speakers) is an evil heretic that must be destroyed. Also, he sees himself as the ultimate religious authority in Wallachia due to all the other major cities being destroyed by Dracula's forces.

* HeroAntagonist: Alucard duels with Trevor after being discovered in the catacombs by him because the latter figured out the former is a vampire, and therefore must be evil. However, Alucard only got trapped there in the first place because he tried to stop his father from unleashing his demonic army and when the duel reaches a draw, he agrees to help Trevor and Sypha to fight Dracula.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: The Belmonts were excommunicated by the church for their dealings in magic when fighting the forces of darkness. Trevor carries this stigma with him. Similarly, the Speakers, including Sypha, are blamed by the church for attracting Dracula's legion, with the bishop whipping the people of Gresit into an AngryMob to kill them.

* HumansAreBastards: What Dracula wholeheartedly believes. He didn't have much love for humans before he met Lisa, but once she died as a witch, all bets were off. When Alucard attempts to talk Dracula down, claiming that his wrath will kill a lot of innocent people, Dracula snaps at him, showing how useless talking has become:
-->'''Dracula:''' There ARE no innocents! Not anymore!

* HypocriticalHumor: After getting [[GroinAttack kicked in the groin]] by Trevor during their duel (to [[BallsOfSteel no avail]]), Alucard tells him "this is no bar fight" and to fight with class. After being slashed in the chest by him, Alucard forgets his own advice and punches Trevor across the room.

** The people of Wallachia's reaction to Dracula's one year deadline to make their peace with God is to completely ignore it, and hold a celebration on the anniversary of Lisa's death. Dracula is ''not'' amused, has his castle erupt from the ground and destroy the Targoviste cathedral, and releases an army of demons which kill everyone in town and begin to raze the countryside. This is actually TruthInTelevision since people during the Dark Ages, especially those in high positions of power, were very arrogant and did a lot of dumb things:
-->'''Dracula:''' One year. I gave you one year to make your peace with your God. And what do you do? ''Celebrate the day you killed my wife''. One year I gave you, while I assembled my armies. And now I bring your death. You had your chance.

* MexicanStandoff: The Season 1 finale has one of these between Trevor and Alucard. Alucard is about to bite Trevor's neck, but if he does so Trevor will stake him through the heart.
** Sypha breaks the stalemate by charging a fireball about a foot from Alucard's head, giving him two threats to think about.

* PivotalWakeup: Alucard does this, though not at a classic ninety degree angle; he more or less floats out the coffin.

** His abrasiveness and ego might have its roots in Trevor's characterization from the game ''Curse of Darkness'', where he's portrayed as proud, but hot-headed and rude.

* BadassSpaniard: Sypha, who has a more pronounced Hispanic accent, which reflects her possible origins from Spain since "Belnades" (originally ''Berunandesu'') is believed to be a Japanese corruption of the common Hispanic surname "[[Videogame/Castlevania64 Fernandez]]", which is how it's translated in a few later games. The English version of ''Dracula's Curse'' rendered it as [[SpellMyNameWithAnS "Velnumdes"]], as well.

* BadassSpaniard: Sypha, who has a more pronounced Hispanic accent, which reflects her possible origins from Spain since Belnades (''Berunandesu'') is believed to be a Japanese corruption of the common Hispanic surname "[[Videogame/Castlevania64 Fernandez]]", which is how it's translated in a few later games. The English version of ''Dracula's Curse'' translated it as [[SpellMyNameWithAnS "Velnumdes"]], as well.

* BadassSpaniard: Sypha, who has a more pronounced Hispanic accent, which reflects her possible origins from Spain since Belnades was originally written as Velnumdes, believed to be a Japanese corruption of the common Hispanic surname "[[Videogame/Castlevania64 Fernandez]]".

** It's hard not to be reminded of ''Simon's Quest'' by the montage of Trevor trying to get information from villagers.

** As Trevor is evading the angry mob, he makes use of several items he finds around the town and on his person that are, traditionally the subweapons Belmonts are known for, primarily his knives, the throwing axe, and the torch. When he rallies the townsfolk to create a defense against the demons, he also makes use of Holy Water in a similar manner.

** This appears to be the fate of Grant Danasty. As of the end of the first season, Grant is the only one of Trevor's companions from the game not to show up, nor has he been featured in any form of advertisement for the series. ''However'', Grant was the last of the foursome to be introduced in the game and so far, all of Trevor's allies have been introduced exactly like in the game (Sypha turned to stone by the cyclops, Alucard sleeping in isolation), and given how the show's been confirmed to have at least one more season, Grant could appear in Season 2 when the team reaches the Clocktower.

** Unlike the games, Trevor is still Trevor in the Japanese dub instead of Ralph.

* InfantImmortality: Averted hard. A bloody cradle is a sign that nobody is safe.

Witness [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIMrFnl5NiA the first teaser]], if you dare.

* SamusIsAGirl: Sypha. However, unlike the NES game which depicted her as a mysterious hooded figure of ambiguous gender, here [[GenderReveal she gets revealed]] early on, as Trevor recognizes her being a woman as soon as she de-petrifies. Her feminine features have also been made more blatant since this version rarely puts on her hood.

** In a case of ColourCodedForYourConvenience, the head art director for the show went with using the NES sprite colors as a palette reference while designing Dracula, Trevor, and Sypha to make them more recognizable for fans of the game. Alucard, on the other hand, uses an altered version of his ''Symphony of the Night'' design instead of his NES design.

* SamusIsAGirl: Sypha. However, unlike the NES game which depicted her as a mysterious hooded figure of ambiguous gender, here [[GenderReveal she gets revealed]] early on, as Trevor recognize her for being a woman as soon as she de-petrifies. Her feminine features are more blatant since she rarely puts on her hood.

* DevilButNoGod: Averted. Dracula's minions acknowledge the presence of God, but take delight in lecturing the Bishop that because of the Bishop's hubris and self righteous actions, he is beyond God's protection.

The series is written by Creator/WarrenEllis and produced by [[Film/TheGrey Adi]] [[Film/{{Dredd}} Shankar]]. Season 1, consisting of four 22-minute episodes, premiered on July 7, 2017. A second season of eight episodes has been greenlit and is in production.

* ForegoneConclusion: [[spoiler: If this series sticks to the video game canon, Trevor will defeat Dracula. He will then marry Sypha, and their progeny will carry on the Belmont tradition of vampire hunters.]]

* LateArrivalSpoiler: They stop hiding Sypha's gender soon after her petrification wears off. And rather than having his [[https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/8/87790/1760798-alucard_jpmanual.png original design]] from ''Castlevania III'' Alucard is shown to be a pretty boy like in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''.

* CallBack: In the first episode, Trevor is kicked in the testicles twice during a bar fight. In the fourth, he attempts the same on Alucard, who dryly states, "Please. This isn't a bar fight. Have some class."

** A minor one, but at no point does "wall chicken" make an appearance in Season 1. The closest to the infamous recurring health item is when Trevor buys a piece of dried goat meat for breakfast after entering Gresit.

* AdaptationalJerkass: Zigzagged with Trevor. In the classic continuity games, the Belmonts were upstanding heroes who, despite the Church's actions, never wavered when there was evil to be fought. Here, Trevor is a bitter and foul-mouthed loner who, to put it bluntly, clings to past victories and holds a grudge against everyone. He eventually snaps out of it and proceeds to save Gresit from both the corrupt church's influence and Dracula's minions.