Patreon Pin Up 4/12/21 (Patreon)

I haven't been able to do much retro game collecting lately, but this month I splurged on Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, and I've been having a blast going through it again after all these years. This here is my take on Charlotte Aulin, one of two main characters from that particular entry. 

I wouldn't be surprised if many of my readers know the name Castlevania largely from the badass Netflix series. But that show wasn't the first time the franchise crossed paths with the anime style.

Originally Castlevania's artistic style was like a mashup of Conan the Barbarian comics and and the classic Universal monsters. The official artwork had a very painterly and western dark fantasy look overall. But more than once over the years, a new entry would be injected with a heavy dose of weeb. Portrait of Ruin was the first game where I felt like they really cranked the anime dial up to eleven, and this was after Rhondo of Blood, where you could play as a little girl in a pink dress who defeats Dracula by throwing doves and cats at him. 

But in a weird way, it kind of worked? I don't blame purists for crying foul, as abandoning the gorgeous portraits designed by legendary artist Ayami Kojima in favor of a cheap-looking cartoon style is a tough sell on paper. But to me, the anime infused entries were the ones where your heroes had the most personality. In many Castlevania games, your character's entire profile can be summed up as "Fuckin' hates vampires. Whip owner." And that's fine, but by the time we were getting up to the ninth and tenth games in the series, I was ready for some variety. 

In any case I hope you guys like the pin up. I'm trying to level up my light and shadows so l'd be happy to hear any feedback you have. Meanwhile have a good Monday!