I’ve been a fairly decent fan of the Castlevania Netflix series, which now actually consists of two different shows—the original series and its sequel, Castlevania: Nocturne, which focuses on Richter Belmont instead of Trevor. It came out about half a year ago, and it’s taken me this long to finish it due to limited free time and the fact that it’s not something I can watch around my kids, thanks to the heavy violence, gore, and scary moments.

Season 2 picks up immediately after the end of Season 1. Richter Belmont and Annette narrowly escape certain death thanks to the surprise emergence of Dracula’s half-vampire son, Alucard, whose one-shot kill of Drolta was absolutely marvelous.

Unfortunately, Erzsebet Báthory is still incredibly powerful and retains a formidable vampire army. Her goal is to obtain the power of an Egyptian goddess in order to plunge the world into darkness and fulfill the prophecy that she believes makes her the vampire messiah.

Tera Renard becomes a vampire who is, technically, supposed to be loyal to Erzsebet. However, she still clings to her humanity and her identity as Maria’s mother. Watching her adjust to her new vampire existence was surprisingly interesting.

I wasn’t a big fan of Maria’s storyline, though—she still has a lot of maturing to do. That said, her magical beast summoning abilities are undeniably cool.

Juste Belmont also shines this season, stepping up as the grandfather Richter always needed.

As usual, Alucard remains the MVP of the show. I was also pleasantly surprised by Annette’s growth—she proves to be a much stronger and more valuable ally this season compared to the last.

Castlevania: Nocturne isn’t a perfect anime, but it’s still one of my favorite shows to watch. I really love the video game series, and while the show does deviate quite a bit from the original story, the stellar animation and some of the narrative twists are really well done. Season 2 wraps up a storyline that could potentially serve as an ending, but Netflix has left the continuity ambiguous. There’s definitely still room for Richter and Alucard’s stories to continue—and I hope they do.