Reaction shot: Castlevania S01E04 (or, it's all true and we SHOULD say it.)
Mar 19, 2020 22:24
LITERALLY WHAT IS YOUR BASIS FOR THE WITCHCRAFT ACCUSATIONS? BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE YOURE JUST DOING THE HYSTERIA THING RIGHT NOW.
And the previously gold and light space is now lit like a corner of hell with all of that red and black. Interesting. Visually very cool. Narratively awful for everyone involved.
Look how satisfied he is. Like, he's unleashed a mob, and he's waiting with a smile on his face. He's not even watching this murder himself, he's that confident that everything is going to plan.
I will never get over how bizarre the shape of old men's skulls are in this show, because it doesn't look right to me.
He doesn't even notice the reverb on that voice, or the fact that those footsteps are not the sound a human would make.
I DO like the designs of this demon. Just there, glowing eyes and spikes. And it raises the question of whether ALL of the demons are intelligent and capable of speech, and/or if there has been a specific demon assigned to track Bishop Witchhunter down. I could believe both! But I think Chatterbox over here is the only one who glows blue, all the others glow red.
I SAID I WOULD PUT A PIN IN THIS AND I KINDA SORTA DID IN THAT I STARTED WRITING THIS BULLET POINT SHORTLY AFTER I SAID THAT. But there we go! "God is not here. This is an empty box." If the people inside a church act like monsters, then there is no protection.
"You God's love in not unconditional." ... I can't even argue with the cartoon demon tho. I can caveat the living fuck out of it, but I can't argue.
I don't know why I keep having opinions about demons understanding the workings of divinity better than anyone else, but this keeps being a trope that works for me. "Your life's work makes him puke" here, and the Accountant in Drive Angry verbally disecting the satanists are both approaching this as "Oh, we're definitely monsters, and yet somehow you've got us beat and the divine beings are not impressed."
"Lies? In your house of god?" FINALLY SOMEONE LAYS OUT TO BISHOP WITCHHUNTER THAT HE IS A FUCKING VILLAIN WHO HELPED DESTROYED THIS FUCKING COUNTRY.
Seriously, live your life such that demons never go "We love you!"
Has that thing got bigger as it moved in? Or is this first time we get the scale?
See, from this angle and those sound effects, I assumed that Bishop Witchhunter would be a pile of pulp and bone, but apparently series two says I'm wrong.
~The city of lovers is glowing this eveniiiiiiing! True, that's because it's on fire~~~~
That is so many demons. SO MANY.
And in a complete change of tone: the city is now blue! The viewing angle, maybe? Or just that we no longer explicitly need to be reminded of hell?
THAT CAMERA ANGLE AS THE FIRE SWEEPS ROUND, I LOVE IT.
And I love how pleased Sypha is at her own skill. Like, on the one hand, of course the girl is the functioning human being and the mage, but also... I really like Sypha and her own glee in what she can do! (And of course: THIS IS WHY SYPHA GETS TO GO ON QUESTS. BECAUSE AS LONG AS SHE'S NOT TURNED TO STONE, SHE CAN HOLD HER OWN.
Seriously, Beard Dude. All you have to do is keep your head down and you probably won't get murdered! WHY IS THAT AN UNBEARABLE HARDSHIP FOR YOU. HAVE YOU NOT LEARNED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU START ACCUSING PEOPLE OF WITCHCRAFT.
Oh, okay, being a magician is different to being a witch because there's no demons involved. Cool. ... So are witches real in this setting then, do we reckon?????
I love how quickly Sypha switches between elements. Which I know is a silly thing to be happy about but HUSH, SHE CAN DRAW WALLS OF FIRE WITH HER MIND AND I LOVE HER.
And Trevor just looking so smug and pleased as she opens up a path for him.
"You never told me you were a magician." "You never asked."
That little "Fine!" as Sypha says that she fights for herself, oh my god.
Seriously Beard Dude?!
I like that Sypha has the sense of dramatic timing to open up a path as the crowd backs up.
How in the world did that ONE GUY who's like "The priest has a knife?!" manage to miss that for so long? Did he just have the worst angle or something?
Seriously, the fact that the crowd backs down when Belmont starts applying logic to them is maybe the least believable part of Castlevania, which I must remind you is a show with literal demons and vampires.
Like, I find it very validating to have characters going "HEY YOU KNOW WHAT THE PROBLEM IS? THIS ONE FUCKING GUY!" but also I'm always thrown when a mob just accepts the truth when it's yelled loudly enough. ... MAYBE the issue is our current political climate. MAYBE.
Belmont: The only one here who isn't innocent is you! Random character: *RUNS IN AND STABS BEARDY DUDE* Me: And that guy right there I guess!
Seriously, that's more what I expected. The crowd wanted blood, and there was their chance to get it. ... Like, did they SUSPECT? Or are they still in the mode where they think that a blood sacrifice will spare them?
"Pikes! Up front, now!" "What, why?" "Because I'm the only man here who knows how to fight these things." LOOK AT THAT CHARACTER GROWTH, BELMONT HAS GONE FROM TRASHPANDA WHO DOESN'T CARE WHETHER THIS CITY LIVES OR DIES TO THE PERSON GOING "GUESS I'M TRAINING A MILITIA NOW!"
You know, I've been doubting the moral fortitude of the entire population of Gresit, but I'll give 'em credit for this: if you give them a task, they step up. It's a trait that works for both good and ill depending on who's leading them, but they do step up!
Belmont: I need a priest! One who was properly ordained, in a church! The one non-knifey priest who has presumably been keeping his head down during the entire invasion of the murder priests: *raises hand*
I am bad at recognising characters once their context changes, but I'm pretty sure that there are recurring characters in the background, which is nice. Yes my standards are low enough that basic background consistency pleases me, I grew up watching Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
Like, seriously, any scene where a disaster character steps up and starts proving their worth makes me swoon, I can't help it. So if I didn't already love Belmont at his gobliny worst, this scene of him at his monster-fighting best would do it.
The thing that puzzles me about this scene is that the demons can fly. All of them are shown to fly. What's to stop them just... Flying over the pikemen or the square or finding a different approach?
They have a bucket chain of holy water, I love it.
That ice cracks the ground, I'm impressed! GOOD THING THERE'S NOTHING UNDER THIS CITY THAT COULD MAKE THAT A PROBLEM.
"That priest could make holy water after all." WE WILL COME BACK TO THIS IN A FUTURE EPISODE.
Again, credit to these townpeople. They aren't soldiers and they don't know what the fuck they're doing, but he says step forward and they step. He sets to cut the demon down, and they do. ... BUT ALSO THEY WERE ALL PART OF AN ANGRY MOB PREPARED TO TEAR INNOCENT PEOPLE APART THROUGH THEIR OWN STUPIDITY. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
WHY DO THE DEMONS NOT FLY OUT OF THE TRAP?
Sypha turning holy water into a nail bomb is beautiful.
Of course Belmont can just duck under a fireball and dispel it with his whip. He's the protagonist.
"The whip's consecrated," says man who apparently forgot to mention that his whip could make demons spontaneously combust.
Seriously, I like that he's explaining how to fight demons to these people, because even if he doesn't make it - even if he fucks off into the wind - then any survivors will know and can spread the word. Because it's not enough to defeat the demons in one place if no one else can fight.
Okay, Chatterbox can't fly but they CAN jump. ... Maybe demons can only talk to certain people. I dunno.
Oh no, it's just Chatterbox being special.
GO SYPHA, BE THE MOST COMPETENT MEMBER OF THIS PARTY!
(I like it when magic has a physicality to it. It's not as good as Bending, but it does at least come across as taking effort.)
"There's an army of us! An army... From hell!" sounds like the tagline for something from the nineties.
Sypha: reflexes like a cat.
I HOPE NO ONE NEEDED THAT TOWN SQUARE, BECAUSE IT'S OPEN SEASON NOW. (Alternate capslock: FLOORS: 3, BELMONT: 0.)
Yaaaaaaaaaay teamwork to not splatter themselves across the OTHER underground lair! (Yes I'm into Belmont reeling Sypha in and rolling them to take the impact while she actually saves them, NO ONE LOOK AT ME.)
Ooooooh, giant clockwork AND death traps! This bit feels very like a video game, although I've only played like a third of a Castlevania game in my entire life so I wouldn't swear to it feeling like one of them.
SYPHA CAN CAST HASTE! What a good. ... Yes I like that they both have different approaches to solve the same problem, the entire message of these reaction shots is that I'm easily pleased.
But seriously WHY IS EVERY FLOOR RIGGED TO COLLAPSE. ALUCARD. THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING.
Please just assume that I enjoy this entire sequence of them navigating this apparently precarious catacombs that disintegrates at the slightest impact. I don't understand why it's there except as a really obvious gear change from fighting for their lives/proving that Alucard's still there because Dracula's army hasn't gotten to him yet, but it's fun!
"Oh for God's sake," Belmont says, hating his life.
Seriously, their nemeses is floor.
Me, a person who has watched this specific scene more times than should be publically admitted: I RECOGNISE THAT CARPET!!!
I really love Alucard's gothic steampunk/cogwork aesthetic. Traded in all of the demon decorations for Additional Cogs, it's a good look.
Belmont: *steps on floor switch* Belmont: ... I didn't do that.
Listen, Alucard's character design is straight out of an eighties BL manga and I'm distressingly here for it.
Sypha is so pleased! She was right! And I'm literally just here muttering "He's not the Messiah, he's a very naughty boy."
The way Alucard keeps his head tipped down and his hand curled over that scar is something I am noting and filing for future fic purposes.
"And you? Why are you here?" "I fell down a hole."
Again, the gender dynamics make this hinky, but look at Sypha going "Hi, I've completed my quest, please let me give you the relevant plot information so that we can solve this problem."
Real talk I'm assuming that Alucard keeps addressing Belmont when Sypha's the one talking to him because he saw the family crest and knew how that was going to go. ... Also because he needs to test them, and kicking the shit out of Belmont is the easiest way to do it.
That smile Alucard gives as he looks up pleases me greatly.
"So I have to ask myself. Have we come down here to wake up the man who'll kill Dracula, or did we come here to wake Dracula?" On the one hand, internally screaming about scenes where the audience know more than the characters, but on the other: look at this, possibly the first Alucard's been spoken to by someone who doesn't know who he is and who his father is.
"You call me Dracula." "I'll call you anything you like if you're gonna show me your teeth." Shipping side of Castlevania fandom: *SCRIBBLES INTENSELY*
The way that Belmont moves to force Alucard to split his focus and/or get Sypha out of the line of fire pleases me. (You can see him glance at her before he moves, pretty convinced.)
"Dracula is carrying out an execution order on the human race. Do you care, Belmont?" LOOK AT THIS LAMPSHADING OF BELMONT'S CHARACTER ARC.
LOOK AT HOW PLEASED SYPHA IS THAT HE'S ACTUALLY AGREEING TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS MESS! Waaaaaaah.
Listen, I have shipped things on a lot less than three people discussing whether or not they're going to have to murder each other, so I am VERY HERE FOR THIS.
"This place is old, but it's not been abandoned. It's alive and working." The idea of spaces as living things pleases me a lot, and oh fuck I think I just found my throughline for this fic post-series 2 fic that's about to get jossed.
Alucard stands like a dancer and I do not understand those belts.
Alucard asks Sypha "What is the year of your lord?" and now I really want to know if the Speakers have their own way of measuring years, because they are written in episode two like they're NOT christians, so... Do they use the same numbering system for convenience of have their own?
The best part of this argument is that neither of them are really wrong. Alucard IS the sleeping soldier who is going to defeat Dracula, but also he ISN'T a messiah - he's a man who has to kill his father, who did in fact build death traps to keep his father's creatures away and also napped under Gresit for a year.
And my favourite part is that all of this is Alucard asking leading questions, not actually stating an opinion on things like Belmont planning to kill him.
"My defences were not for you." "You could have told your defences that."
... So are we thinking the cyclops was a co-incidence, a defender, or something sent by Dracula to shit on Alucard's day?
That emphasis on "I asked you a question, do you care?" makes me happy.
That sword is as long as Alucard is and also he has telekinesis, because OF COURSE IT IS AND OF COURSE HE DOES.
"Tell it to your floating vampire Jesus here" is the best line in television, all other tv shows can relax and not have to stress anymore about trying to achieve a pinacle that's already been reached. Just like how video games can stop trying because "Understand the palm of my hand, bitch!" is a real line in a real game.
Alucard: *starts smack-talking* Alucard: *gets flung across the room*
Oh hey, Belmont is actually drawing ?blood? there, which is interesting. The whip's consecrated so it can hurt him, but it can't KILL him.
I love that Alucard looks like a willowy BL protagonist but he's doing their tug of war one-handed and Belmont is visibly straining with two.
THAT FUCKING FENCER'S POSE, OH MY GOD.
And Belmont is clearly quick enough that he realises what Alucard's doing with the superspeed! Yes, go on my son!
Alucard looks offended that he's having to put both hands into bracing his sword and I'm here for it.
Belmont: *knees Alucard in the balls* Alucard: ... Please. This isn't a bar fight. There's ENTIRE SCENES in my WIP folder based on that and I don't know what to tell you.
Alucard: Have some class. Belmont: *fucking nuts him*
I WONDER IS THERE'S ANYTHING SIGNIFICANT IN THE MARK BELMONT LEAVES ON ALUCARD BEING PARALLEL TO THE ONE FROM DRACULA. HMMM.
And there we go, there's Alucard finally slipping, that bit right there where he punches Belmont in the fucking face.
Look at that fucking smirk when Alucard grabs him, I am verklempt, how dare someone pander to me in this way.
"Dear God, please don't let the vampire's guts stain my good tunic."
"But you will die." "But I don't care." That smirk! That laugh! They are both fucking messes of people and I love them!
This is the point where I realised that this was as much of a test of Sypha as it was of Belmont, because would Sypha put her floating vampire jesus over saving a human life? The fireball suggests not!
She is so determined. Disappointed, but determined. And I love her.
"Good. Very good. A vampire hunter and a Speaker-Magician. You'll do." Everyone just looks so confused, I love it.
Okay, Alucard can heal almost instantly but has a scar right across his chest. How deep was that?!
I can't get over his name being Adrian. It's almost as much the least vampiric name as like... Bob.
Seriously that pose with his hand on his scar is STRAIGHT out of a BL manga. No I do not accept criticism.
Alucard has a private keep under Gresit and what I would dearly love to know is how. Did he build it? Was it his father's? Did he take one that was already there and modify it to his needs? I assume it must have been that last one, but I'd love to know how that happened! Did Lisa send him off walking the lands as well, and he went exploring historical sites? Did he just run to the nearest city and find a base there? What happened?
Lisa is responsible for 100% of vampire gap years, pass it on.
LOOK AT HOW RED SYPHA GOES WHEN HE ASKS HER IF SHE KNOWS THE WHOLE STORY.
"The sleeping soldier will be met by a hunter and a scholar." "No one told me that." "Why do you think my grandfather tried everything to make you stay?"
Belmont hates his life.
So Alucard kept his shirt and coat in his coffin with him, but decided that the leather trousers were entirely fine to sleep in. SURE MY DUDE. Also impressed that you have a clean shirt after a year in box, but eh, magic.
(I am morbidly intrigued by the bell-jar/blood scales combo at the back there.)
Belmont wandering off rubbing his head where Alucard was grabbing him amuses me.
Also someone has almost certainly written Some Fic that drew inspiration from this scene and it was not me, but I would be Intrigued.
"I need a hunter and a scholar. I need help to save Wallachia, perhaps the world, and defeat my father." "Why?" "Because it's what my mother would have wanted."
*LIES ON FLOOR INTENSELY*
Listen, this is being written after that Warren Ellis interview about how Alucard is going to spend a lot of time looking sad in different locations and WHO TOLD HIM?!
... Wait, the symbol on the whip matches the bell-jar/blood scales thing, fandom explain.
Please appreciate how convinced I was that there wouldn't be a series two, and that that was the note they left me on. It's like they knew I wanted to be taunted with the idea of this OT3/dream-team.
But yes! That's the end of series one! Needs more named female characters who live, needs more for Sypha to do, turns out that I was trash for this OT3 from the very beginning because fuck my life. I love them. Now: on to series two!