A little while back, we revealed the first trailer for Netflix’s forthcoming Castlevania anime series, and, yes, it looks as amazing as Adi Shankar initially promised when we spoke to him earlier in the year. It definitely has the kind of flair you’ve come to expect from the classic Konami game series – but you haven’t seen anything yet.
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Famitsu revealed a piece of new promo art for the forthcoming series, and, well, it’s very decidedly old-school. In the promo art, which you can see below, a heroic figure – probably a Belmont, trademark whip and all, stands in front, while Dracula’s castle looms in the distance, In the upper left corner, you can see Dracula himself, making an evil face as he prepares for the challenge to come.
If this promotional art looks familiar, that’s because it poses a striking resemblance to the original NES Castlevania cover art back when it debuted in the 80’s. In that cover art, it has a very similar structure, with Simon Belmont up front, holding his whip dramatically, and the castle looming in the distance, with Dracula looking on from the corner. Obviously, Dracula looks much different in the older art, compared to the more dramatic pose he makes in the new art.
So what does this mean? Obviously it’s another sign that the team behind the studio, made up of Shankar, writer Warren Ellis and the animation squad at Frederator Studios, are going all out to assure that the new Castlevania series has that old-school vibe, so it isn’t another video game-based product that wanders away from its source material, like movies that we’ve seen in the past. (Looking at you, Super Mario Bros. The Movie.) It definitely has the right vibe going for it, and chances are we’ll continue to see key art from Netflix that hypes the show just the right way, since it’ll be making its premiere in just a few weeks’ time.
We can’t wait to see what the series has to offer, as well as its subsequent seasons, which will no doubt introduce new factors from the Castlevania saga that fans will know and love. Watch the trailer again below, just to get those goosebumps going.
Castlevania premieres on Netflix starting July 7th.
