Castlevania Nocturne & Black Representation In Anime.
Hello again! For those who have read my pieces before, welcome back! For my newcomers, thank you for being here. I was awoken from my slumber on Medium after the release of the latest season of one of my favorite animes, Castlevania. In this piece, I will not only be breaking down the symbolism of Castlevania Nocturne and its predecessor, but discussing how black representation in anime and other media has evolved and developed as understanding of our nuances improves within other communities. For those that may be unaware, Castlevania Nocturne is a continuation of the Netflix original, Castlevania. While the initial seasons of Castlevania are set in the 1400s and revolve around Dracula’s revenge on humanity and the events thereafter, Castlevania Nocturne takes place nearly 300 years later, spanning the “New World” before returning to Europe, specifically France.
Castlevania Nocturne introduces a set of new characters and pulls inspiration from historical events, from the recent American Revolution, the French Revolution, and subsequently the ongoing Haitian Revolution. As a true example of historical fiction and magical realism, the show is topped off with the inclusion of magic, monsters, and vampires.One of the many things I have loved about the show since its inception is representation of black characters. In the first two seasons we had Isaac, a general who served Dracula as part of his own plan to extinguish humanity, as he had experienced the worst of it as a slave within the European colonization of the African continent. While the original version of Isaac from the Castlevania video game was not an African man, this added layer to his character development helped push the story forward, as Isaac would later find his own power and ultimately take his future out of the hands of his anger and place it into the palm of his heart.
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