u/Excellent_Trust_7647

Some thoughts post ep 36 (where I've heard the show 100% becomes anime original) but mostly speaking on the Ending, which wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be (certainly questionable though) all in all I liked it (like I kind of get what they were going with) in regards to fear being awoken and beaten by bravery a foreign emotion to the at this point inhuman Kinshin (or maybe all too human) but man

Black Star, and Kid really just get stronger so quick (like they really rush it with how strong they get considering even Kid said he couldn't do anything when the Kishin was fighting Death)​ then the Bravery punch

(I think I would've been fine with it, if at least it was Maka and Soul together in some way, and Maka being a death Scythe sure fine, but she's already way more advanced than Soul has been up to this point in the series, it's just too much)

I like how the three were part of different missions and all meet up against the Kishin, and when Maka frees Soul from the Black Blood, her recognizing it wasn't Soul, and the animation is really cool, the 2000% from Death the kid and his hair stripes coming undone,

Black Star little shadow clone rushes, and everything inside Soul's body as Maka helps him, those are cool scenes but man the kid and black star stuff is questionable because where'd they pull that stuff out of)

I mixed on the ending (very mixed) but I'd say I like the series as a whole (not my fav, but it does have some unique power system that's really cool, kinda hoped we'd get to see it develop further after the genie hunter attack against mosquito, but that didn't happen, also wish we got more out of Black Star, him beating Hifumi was kinda cool, but felt a bit quick, Kid at least had his moments questioning DWMA, which was pretty quickly resolved)

Death moving the city (which was foreshadowed way earlier) was absolutely great (death vs the kinshin was cool on paper, and definitely had it's moments, felt like it didn't do enough)

Favorite character is Tough but I'd prolly go Crona (again, just wish more was done with them, feels like their future appearances are rare, sucks because I liked the moments with them)

So yeah (gonna start the manga, debating starting from the beginning or from where episode 36 shifted)

wee update

So went with anniversary collection first (beat Castlevania 1 and 3, 2 just wasn't for me)

1 really just seems to throw you into the deep end, and especially towards the end, at first I was thinking, ok there's a rhythm to this it's not necessarily easy but there's a certain way to go about this (which I more or less understood)

towards the end though, like with the infinitly spawning igors or giant vampire bats over bottomless pits on the way to dracula (really just a lot of the last section) felt like an endurance round, though I have to imagine, maybe I missed a subweapon, a trick, or simply just wasn't able to adapt as quick as I liked

I'll say that I loved the final fight with Dracula (figuring just the right way to strike and dodge in time, and managing to not take a hit for the first phase felt so good, and then second just spammed holy water, granted took me a bit to figure out but still feels a tad less cool than the 1st phase)​

(either way, I'd probably hold off on going back to 1 for a bit, because while I did ultimately appreciate the experience as a whole, it's not gonna be my go to for a fun time)

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2, I understand the requirement for a guide, and while I appreciate it being easier than the first game, the tradeoff from what I played was, being more tedious,

beat monsters, collect hearts, upgrade whip, buy items, beat monsters, collect hearts, go back to buy more items

now of course this could be applied to any game, I'm being a tad reductive when describing the gameplay loop (oh mario you just jump on stuff and go right, mega man you just jump and shoot, Sonic you just push the boost,) but unfortunately the gameplay loop just didn't hook me, I prefer the more straightforward adventures of 1 and 3, but I gotta give props as Dracula's curse feels like a very early version of what would later become metroidvanias, or at least has parts of it (rpgs elements like upgrading your weapon by defeating enemies, wandering around the map to simply explore acquire key items or new stuff to use on your adventure)

and of course it has to be said the atmosphere is great

(I'm split on the curse day to night cycle, since it's a tad annoying at times, heck if it just transitioned to night without the text or vice versa it'd be so much better, the cool bit though is the changing colors, the tougher enemies add to the dread, and even stuff being closed like shops or churches as Zombies or other monsters attack at night add to the theatrics)

all that in mind, I appreciate it, but didn't like it,

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Castlevania 3 (I played the jp version)

My fav, I love the different playstles between Grant and Sypha (sidenote Sypha is a beast, some of those spells really just tear asunder anything in front of her, and the movement options of Grant are just plain fun, and of course Trevor feels like a better Simon, or I've just gotten used to how the series controls, one or the other)

Plus different paths, and the stages, the pirate ship is probably my favorite, and I love the details like the bridge that's later broken on the map, the areas abandoned as they're overrun with foul beasts, and heck making the bosses connected to the team (a warped version of them, or in Sypha's case her being turned into a statue) it's great

Bosses felt easier than 1 (have to give a mention to death somehow becoming way creepier than in the first game, yeesh) or at least on a similar level thanks to items (or Sypha, again, she's a beast)

Ooh and getting back to dracula's castle with the layout and music from 1 (felt so cool, how did they make me nostalgic for a game I just recently played)

Dracula felt odd, like the pillars of fire were almost unreadable and Dracula's teleport (really the 1st phase in general felt like nothing but screen flickering) I ending up brute forcing the 1st phase 2 wasn't much of a challenge, and then phase 3 took a minute but wasn't too difficult

Really gotta try out Alucard and the other routes in that game (cause it feels so much bigger in every way over the 1st game, from the number of stages, playable characters, theming/graphics, oh and the music in this game has to be my favorite out of what I've played so far)

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So yeah just my thoughts so far

gonna get to Super Castlevania, and Bloodlines soon, curious if Kid Dracula is worth a play? (It's the one game I've heard next to nothing about other than people making jokes about kid dracula being Alucard)