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Post by IamAres on Sept 20, 2019 7:04:52 GMT
I've been watching and absolutely loving the shit out of Netflix's Castlevania!! Wow, the first season (only 4 eps long) was a really nice, slow build to the point where i was completely hooked by Episode 4. Season 2 has a different vibe in many ways but still progresses things really well. The fighting is great but is sparingly used to maximize effect. The series is also surprisingly funny, particularly with banter. And I really like the character build for everyone that gets significant time. I blew through about 10 episodes in the last 3 nights and just have 4 left of Season 2. Dude, I absolutely love this show. The amount of what they got right from the games is staggering, especially when you consider that there are Castlevania GAMES that didn't get Castlevania right, like Judgement - a game featuring almost every major character from the whole series...most of whom had been redesigned into unrecognizability. Other stuff from around that time, too. A lot of people got pretty, goth redesigns because it worked so well with Alucard (and Richter to a degree), but...yeah, the games got pretty off track there. But as somebody who grew up on Castlevania, they got this so, so right. I love that they went with Castlevania 3, which also let them tie in elements from Symphony (with pretty much all of Dracula's and Alucard's backstories) AND, surprisingly, Curse of Darkness. (Even redesigning the CoD elements a bit for the better - it was arguably part of that "off the rails" period.) I always loved the idea of having multiple heroes in 3, but the NES didn't really have the tools to explore that idea much - you just got to take an extra playable character with you at certain points, but story-wise, it's supposed to be the whole group of them taking on Dracula. I've kind of always wanted to see a modern remake of that story/setting that really let you have this party traveling the country trying to right Drac's wrongs like it was supposed to be. This show is actually pretty close to that. REALLY close to that. So many little continuity nods and nods to the games, too: Trevor throwing an axe at one point like a combo of the axe and cross subweapons. Alucard fighting like he does in Symphony, even using the teleport spam you get as a special move, controlling his sword like the sword familiar, and even using his jumping diagonal-down slash like you probably abuse in SotN to attack faster. Sypha being stone and guarded by the Cyclops, and using her fire and ice spells like in the games as well (plus with some added creative ice usages at points I won't spoil for anyone). The library and lab areas of the castle looking like they do in Symphony. Just so much stuff about this screams that it was made out of love for the source material. It's not some recycled scripts they've forced on top of the licensed setting, like so many adaptations. The things that are either condensed or fleshed out feel like natural parts of the world. At times, it almost feels like the games could have been based on this and not the other way around - it feels that right. It's my favorite video game adaptation to date, period. |
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Post by OrochiGeese on Sept 20, 2019 7:45:17 GMT
Just literally finished Season 2 a few minutes before seeing your post. Eps 5 and 6 were so great that I couldn't wait for 7 and 8 tomorrow and watched them all. WOW. Like easily one of the best shows I've seen all year 😲 Spoilers for Season 2: Episode 7 f'n AWESOME!! I love when Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard stormed the castle and all the vampires inside fighting just STOPPED and looked at them like shocked. Watching them carve the vampires up was like a perfect anime combination of action and RPG genres. Sypha cutting that one vampire with ice was brutal. And the fight with Dracula was incredible. They knew exactly how much clout each character should have individually and recognized Dracula's individual superiority but trouble against their teamwork. That was easily one of the best anime boss fights ever. I like that it came down to Alucard vs. Dracula but that Trevor and Sypha still helped finish the job.
The entire prologue episode that ended Season 2 and built to Season 3 was excellent too.
Sypha and Trevor's relationship progressed so well and I loved the way Season 2 ended with them. I also love how Alucard started to show more and more emotion in the past few episodes. Dude, I absolutely love this show. The amount of what they got right from the games is staggering, especially when you consider that there are Castlevania GAMES that didn't get Castlevania right, like Judgement - a game featuring almost every major character from the whole series...most of whom had been redesigned into unrecognizability. Other stuff from around that time, too. A lot of people got pretty, goth redesigns because it worked so well with Alucard (and Richter to a degree), but...yeah, the games got pretty off track there. I've always been a fan of the Castlevania games I've played but I'm not so knowledgeable about the series overall. However, I've always felt a certain "vibe" about it and I feel like the series captured it perfectly. I probably know the music more than anything because OCRemix has some excellent remixes and that got me into the original tracks as well. So whenever I recognized a song in the series, I got very excited! But as somebody who grew up on Castlevania, they got this so, so right. I love that they went with Castlevania 3, which also let them tie in elements from Symphony (with pretty much all of Dracula's and Alucard's backstories) AND, surprisingly, Curse of Darkness. (Even redesigning the CoD elements a bit for the better - it was arguably part of that "off the rails" period.) They chose an awesome core game story for them to work with. I always loved the idea of having multiple heroes in 3, but the NES didn't really have the tools to explore that idea much - you just got to take an extra playable character with you at certain points, but story-wise, it's supposed to be the whole group of them taking on Dracula. I've kind of always wanted to see a modern remake of that story/setting that really let you have this party traveling the country trying to right Drac's wrongs like it was supposed to be. This show is actually pretty close to that. REALLY close to that. I felt like the fighting and non-fighting parts of this felt like an RPG/Adventure style game. The "party" traveling, even facing a few random battles, really worked. I also really liked the Speakers group and hope they are woven more into Season 2. So many little continuity nods and nods to the games, too: Trevor throwing an axe at one point like a combo of the axe and cross subweapons. Alucard fighting like he does in Symphony, even using the teleport spam you get as a special move, controlling his sword like the sword familiar, and even using his jumping diagonal-down slash like you probably abuse in SotN to attack faster. Sypha being stone and guarded by the Cyclops, and using her fire and ice spells like in the games as well (plus with some added creative ice usages at points I won't spoil for anyone). The library and lab areas of the castle looking like they do in Symphony. I did recognize the Sword familiar and was excited for that reference! I also loved how it was used. From what I remember from SoTN, Alucard seemed very similar to that, including the teleport spam ... which even pissed off Dracula LOL (until Dracula pulled out a Geese-like counter!) Sypha was an excellent character and I thought they did the importance and power of her magic justice. Just so much stuff about this screams that it was made out of love for the source material. It's not some recycled scripts they've forced on top of the licensed setting, like so many adaptations. The things that are either condensed or fleshed out feel like natural parts of the world. At times, it almost feels like the games could have been based on this and not the other way around - it feels that right. It's my favorite video game adaptation to date, period. It is (sadly) NOT commonplace for a series based on a game to have such respect for the source material to the point they even recognize the character's moves and weapons to this extent. Other than the Fatal Fury movies, I can't think of another fighting game so seamlessly, cohesively, and consistently turned into an excellent anime. Castlevania was incredible and showed not just dedication to the source material, but the type of creative passion that only true fans could show. I can't wait for Season 3! |
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Post by Nth on Oct 1, 2019 0:36:04 GMT
Finally started watching The Boys on Amazon Prime. 3 episodes in and I immediately went on Amazon and ordered the first four volumes of the comic and pre-ordered volumes five and six.
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Post by El Marsh on Oct 1, 2019 21:13:03 GMT
^kind of random but that made me remember that I need to see if there's any new "Rat Queens" volumes
I almost want a Rat Queens TV show now lol
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Post by BakFu on Oct 7, 2019 23:16:54 GMT
Anyone else here kinda amped for Genndy Tartakovsky’s PRIMAL? It starts tonight (oct 7) on adult swim, and it looks pretty bad ass. I always had a bit of a soft spot for samurai jack, so hopefully PRIMAL turns out to be good! m.youtube.com/watch?v=mKp1hOmF0G8🦖❤️ |
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Post by OrochiGeese on Oct 8, 2019 2:46:55 GMT
Anyone else here kinda amped for Genndy Tartakovsky’s PRIMAL? It starts tonight (oct 7) on adult swim, and it looks pretty bad ass. I always had a bit of a soft spot for samurai jack, so hopefully PRIMAL turns out to be good! m.youtube.com/watch?v=mKp1hOmF0G8🦖❤️ YES!!!!! This is one of the shows I'm really looking forward to this season. I have the series DVR'd this week. It looks to be really unique and original in what they are going for. Has anyone seen Dr. Stone on Toonami? The previews looked encouraging and I'm really impressed with the show. It's about 5 episodes into Season 1 but I really encourage people to check it out from the start. I don't want to give spoilers but it's wildly different than anything I've seen before with a huge emphasis on science. The main protagonist basically uses the scientific method as his main weapon ... which is, quite a bit different than your usual Toonami anime! 🔬 A lot of shows are coming back soon too. - Supernatural: Season 15 (the final season) premieres this Thursday night at 8 PM. - One Punch Man - Season 2 premieres Saturday at 11:30 PM on Toonami (And I literally just saw a commercial for it as I was typing this sentence 😁 ) - Rick and Morty Season 4 was announced today for Sunday, November 10th at 11:30 PM. Also, the FOX Sunday line-up of show is back ... Bob's Burgers is back 😁 |
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Post by BakFu on Oct 14, 2019 19:41:13 GMT
Watched “Spear and Fang”, the first episode of Primal. I love the art style, the ambient sound, and the total lack of dialogue! Spear’s facial expressions tell the story very effectively, as do the cries of the various beasts. The reality of how the food chain works is very evident early on in the episode with Spear respecting and fearing predators, and later finding his inner beast throwing caution aside for focused violence. This is some fun stuff, can’t wait to check out the rest of these!
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Post by Nth on Oct 15, 2019 0:30:55 GMT
Vikings Season 6 starts December 4th
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Post by BakFu on Oct 15, 2019 1:40:07 GMT
Vikings Season 6 starts December 4th Crap. Not much time to get caught up in season five, but yay anyway! |
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Post by OrochiGeese on Oct 15, 2019 6:29:03 GMT
Watched “Spear and Fang”, the first episode of Primal. I love the art style, the ambient sound, and the total lack of dialogue! Spear’s facial expressions tell the story very effectively, as do the cries of the various beasts. The reality of how the food chain works is very evident early on in the episode with Spear respecting and fearing predators, and later finding his inner beast throwing caution aside for focused violence. This is some fun stuff, can’t wait to check out the rest of these! I have them all recorded now and am waiting til I have time to watch them all together like a movie 😁 Glad you enjoyed the first one so much! Really looking forward to it! And wow, I'm so behind on Vikings. I watched every episode when they aired live for the first two seasons but then season 3 came without me realizing it and I never really caught up. |
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Post by BakFu on Oct 19, 2019 23:04:49 GMT
Watched the rest of Primal, I like this series. Similar stories may have been done before, but this feels new and has a really cool, simple style to it, but its simplicity is what makes it effective. The fifth episode is a bloody and violent one, pretty cool but definitely a cliff hanger for the next five episodes. 🙁🦖🦍. I could see those Disney bitches raising a stink about Spear’s resemblance to a certain green, gamma irradiated wrecking machine of theirs, only spear makes that green dude look like a tranquilized teletubby in episode five!
Watching this made me want to get into far cry primal again (even though I platinumed that bitch!), smash some chumps with my cro magnon thug again!
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Post by IamAres on Oct 20, 2019 0:11:43 GMT
Far Cry Primal is super underrated. I should get back into it.
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Post by BakFu on Oct 20, 2019 0:44:32 GMT
Far Cry Primal is super underrated. I should get back into it. Watch the show if you need any motivation. And yeah, FC Primal is a great game! |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2019 1:21:08 GMT
Been a fan of The Flash since first episode, last season left me feeling a little meh...and this past Tuesday I wasn't really paying attention.
I'm doing my 3rd go on Netflix for Star Trek: The Next Generation. I love the TOS and the TOS movies are my favorite era, but man TNG was just killer.
Also, if anyone is able to, Canada's Corner Gas is worth a look. My wife and I have all 6 Seasons and the movie on DVD. I live in the US but am Canadian, so it's a nice reminder of my native land :)
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Post by IamAres on Oct 20, 2019 1:57:08 GMT
Been a fan of The Flash since first episode, last season left me feeling a little meh...and this past Tuesday I wasn't really paying attention.
I'm doing my 3rd go on Netflix for Star Trek: The Next Generation. I love the TOS and the TOS movies are my favorite era, but man TNG was just killer.
Also, if anyone is able to, Canada's Corner Gas is worth a look. My wife and I have all 6 Seasons and the movie on DVD. I live in the US but am Canadian, so it's a nice reminder of my native land :)
Can confirm, Corner Gas is some good shit. I love really dry comedy like that, where they don't stop like, "hey, that was a joke! Didja get it?" I don't know where you can watch it if you don't own the DVDs, though. |
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