The biggest fight in Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 lasts an entire episode. It's almost exhausting to watch, so stuffed with over-the-top animation that you could put it on repeat for hours and still catch new details each time. That action blowout is the most exciting part of an uneven season, but the moment I keep thinking about actually came a few episodes earlier. It's lighter on action, but still the most violent moment of a show that features frequent beheadings and fountains of blood. You'll know it when you get there—which Castlevania animation directors Sam & Adam Deats credit to animator Tam Lu.
"Our top tier, best animators here in the US take on the most important stuff, and some animators will come to us with thoughts on how to spice the shot or sequence up," Adam Deats said in an interview with PC Gamer. "Sometimes they're just nuts and do their own thing with it."
With Season 2 of Nocturne still fresh, I won't spoil what I'd call the season's first "holy shit" moment in detail—I'll just say that it's about young vampire hunter Maria Renard working through some feelings. As Maria's anger bubbles over in episode four, a rougher, sharper style creeps into the animation, with more dramatic camera angles further exaggerating the intensity of the scene.
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"In that part, Tam Lu, who's been on the series since Season 3 of the original, came to me and said 'Hey, I want to do this thing with it," Sam Deats added. "And I was like, 'that's gonna be awesome.' He went nuts and did something really cool and interesting, and that's one of the beauties of having this team of animators we have a close-knit relationship with you can trust. You can hand something to them and they're going to understand how to bring it to life in a way that is special and goes beyond your original vision in some cases. That's a beautiful lightning in a bottle moment."
If you like 2D animation but don't know Tam Lu's name, you should—here's a montage of his work in earlier seasons of Castlevania, along with some other projects, like Hyper Light Breaker's announcement trailer.
Lu also collaborated with former Castlevania animator Spencer Wan on the Hades 2 reveal trailer, which is another incredible-looking couple minutes of action animation. I'll leave you with an unfinished shot that let you see the raw detail in one of his best Castlevania scenes:
Castlevania Season 3 Animation by Tam Lu (@tml096) 🦇 pic.twitter.com/hkoCeWVnANJuly 12, 2024
