The first snow of the year was today
Please please please can we stop calling unnecessary sequels and remakes by big companies “bad fanfic”??? Even the most poorly-written fics are somehow born from a love of the original text. A soulless cash grab made people who don’t give two shits about what they are actually creating is not “bad fanfic” and will never be.
its not fanfic if they're not even a fucking fan
Aria of Sorrow & Identity
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a Gameboy Advanced game released in 2003, and marks the penultimate end of the Castlevania series’s canon timeline. Unlike the other entires in the series, the protagonist (Soma Cruz) of this game is unfamiliar with the supernatural. He has not been raised to be a monster hunter. Soma doesn’t even believe that monsters exist.
The Soma is tasked by a mysterious agent named Genya Arikado to reach Dracula’s throne room after learning that he and his childhood friend have both been trapped within the otherworldly dimension the castle now occupies. Throughout his trek through Dracula’s Castle, he discovers that there is a prophecy that foretells the return of the evil count. It is on this journey that Soma discovers the truth of the prophecy and of his own identity.
Aria of Sorrow is a game that has a lot to say about identity, about how important it is to know oneself. Each and every character in the game plays into this theme in one way or another, and I will be taking the time to highlight how I believe this theme applies to each of the characters that appear.
Soma Cruz
Soma Cruz (or 来須蒼真 / Kusuru Soma) is a Japanese national (or foreign exchange student in overseas releases). He is currently in his last year of high school and is presumably making plans for the college that he ends up attending in the sequel game. His character bio in the game manual describes him as having a “strangely daunting presence” that others “find difficult to approach.” He is still close with his childhood friend, whose name is Mina Hakuba.
The moment that Soma starts his adventure, he learns that he has a supernatural power referred to as the Power of Dominance. It is a power that allows him to rule over the souls of monsters and use their abilities. It is a power that is unambiguously dark in nature.
It is a power that makes Soma uncomfortable.
Soma begins to feel as if he does not know himself anymore. Who is he to have this sort of power? When he questions Arikado at the beginning of the game, the agent skirts around the question and orders him to head for the throne instead. Every time Soma attempts to question him, Arikado simply tells him that all of his questions will be answered when he reaches Dracula’s throne.
And when Soma does reach it? His whole world crumbles.
Soma is destined to become Dracula. He is the one from the prophecy that has brought everyone he met to Dracula’s Castle.
Not only that, but the chaotic being at the heart of Dracula’s Castle begins to actively fill Soma with the very same malicious will that drove Dracula to insanity before him.
(Note, Arikado’s dialogue has a slight mistranslation. In Japanese, he says, 「魔力と一つになったお前には、巨大な邪悪な意思が流れ込んでいるはずだ。」 So, he’s saying “Now that you’ve become one with [Dracula’s] magic, an enormous amount of malevolent intentions must be flowing into you.”)
Not only has Soma had his entire self-image upended by the discovery of his dark power, but he’s now being forced to ensure this evil energy being poured into him. The very same twisted human desires that fuels Dracula’s myriad resurrections.
But all hope is not lost. The very chaos that is corrupting Soma is deep within Dracula’s Castle. Arikado tells Soma that he can delve to its depths, and then he will be able to destroy it and save himself.
Soma agrees and tells Arikado that he will fight against his fate with everything he has. He will not let the world define him, he will not let himself be guided by a destiny that he has not chosen for himself. He will not allow himself to become the monster his previous incarnation was.
And so, Soma sets off to tell the world that he is the only one who decides who Soma Cruz is.
But now, I’m going to talk about the rest of the characters and how they support this theme of identity.
Mina Hakuba
Mina Hakuba is an 18-year-old high school student and Soma’s childhood friend. She’s the only daughter of Hakuba Shrine’s caretaker and is described as being an extremely friendly person who gets along well with everyone. She ends up in Dracula’s Castle with Soma after the two of them agree to meet up to view a solar eclipse outside the shrine.
At first, she seems like an unassuming victim in all of this, but if Soma returns to talk to her throughout the game, she reveals that she has a deep connection to this underground world that Soma has no idea existed.
For one, Mina has known the witch Yoko Belnades and agent Genya Arikado for years. She’s known Arikado since she was eight years old, and Yoko long enough that she sees her as an older sister. This information, along with most information about Mina, is revealed in optional dialogue. You can only discover it if you take an interest in her and return to speak with her often throughout your playthrough.
If you continue to speak with her, you can eventually learn about the shrine her family takes care of. Soma learns that the Hakuba Shrine conducts rituals that “confine anger and evil intentions” and that they performed a ritual in 1999–the very one that led to the truth death of Dracula.
Mina has been deeply involved in all of these supernatural happenings without Soma knowing. In fact, he barely seems to know anything about the life of his childhood friend. Which makes me believe that Mina has been intentionally hiding her involvement with the supernatural from Soma. What young girl wouldn’t want to talk about the mysterious secret agent who comes over to her house, or her cool older sister?
However, Mina is also one of Soma’s most ardent supporters. When he begins to lose himself to the stream of malevolent feelings, you can choose to return and talk to her. Soma will ask her how she would feel if he “stopped being himself.” Mina’s response is honest.
The person Mina likes is Soma. She could never love Dracula.
Genya Arikado
Genya Arikado is an agent working for a “shadowy branch” of Japanese National Security. His age is unknown and—… Yeah, okay I’ll cut to the chase.
He continues the theme around identity through the fact that he is actively hiding who he is in order to better move through the shadows. He works in the background, keeping an eye on Soma as he progresses through the castle, only stepping in when Yoko gets attacked and when Soma makes it to the throne room.
Arikado reveals that he led Soma to the throne for his awakening in order to access his power, so he might kill Soma if need be.
But he also tells Soma this:
It was risky of him to lead Soma to the throne, but he believes that Soma can win. The decision to have Arikado supporting Soma is interesting to me, not only because of his connection to Dracula, but because Arikado has always had a—…
Let’s say a complicated relationship with his own identity. He discarded his birth name when he turned against Dracula, choosing the name Alucard to represent his eternal opposition to his father’s cruelty. He felt so cursed by it that he attempted to seal himself away for the rest of eternity.
And for all his obfuscation early in the game, it is Arikado who tells everyone the truth of Soma’s situation.
(Looks like Alucard learned something from Maria. A fate like this can hardly be faced alone.)
Yoko Belnades
Yoko Belnades is a witch working for the Church who comes to the shrine in order to investigate the prophecy of Dracula’s resurrection. She is 24-years-old and very spunky. She’s described as quite nosy and is an acquaintance of Arikado.
Unlike every other character in the game, Yoko possesses no secrets of her own. In fact, she’s candid with Soma about who she is and why she’s here. Rather, it is through her that we learn who these other characters truly are, an unmasker of others’s true nature. She is the one who clues the audience in as to who Arikado really is.
Yoko also warns Soma about another man he meets in the castle, a man by the name of Graham Jones who had left a favorable first impression on Soma. She advises him that he is not who he seems to be and that he is seeking to become Dracula. Soma doesn’t want to believe this, but it is through Yoko that Soma sees the true depths of Graham’s evil when he stabs her.
And, yes, this is an unfortunate bit of bad writing where Yoko is reduced to an object through which we learn about the other male characters’s more defined inner lives. Yoko has no secrets on her own, only what she reveals in others.
“J”
J is a mysterious amnesiac who Soma runs into while exploring the castle. He’s 56-years-old and lost his memory after a traumatic event in 1999. He’s been on his own ever since and works for himself only, though he takes an immediate interest in Soma once he senses that he has dark powers.
J, as it turns out, is a direct parallel to Soma. Both of them came to the castle completely unaware that they have an intimate connection to an exceedingly long feud that has gone on for nearly a thousand years. Soma is the reincarnation of Dracula. And J is the man who killed Dracula.
At the exact moment Soma attains one of his first, true vampiric abilities, J regains his memories. He learns that he is Julius Belmont, the last son of the Belmont lineage.
Julius is a parallel to Soma not only in having a hidden identity, but in choosing one’s own identity over fate. You see, after Julius regains his memories, he near immediately begins to talk about how defeating Dracula is what he is destined to do (And I’ve hit the image limit so I’ll be transcribing the dialogue instead of screenshotting now).
SOMA: So, if Dracula is revived again, just as it is written in the prophecy...
JULIUS: Then I must destroy him! It is my destiny.
But… if you’ve played this game, you know that Julius does not destroy Soma. Yes, he corners Soma in the area right before the chaotic realm and forces him into a fight, but, he does not kill him.
Rather, Soma’s soul and humanity shines through the haze of Julius’s fear and the legacy he is bound to. Julius cannot bring himself to kill Soma in spite of all of his words earlier. So long as Soma is still Soma, Julius will protect him just the same as any other human.
And perhaps Soma has done little to prove himself to him, but that doesn’t matter. Julius wants to believe in him.
I’ve written a long post about Julius here if you’d like to read it.
Hammer
I’m not going to spend much time on Hammer because he’s a minor character and there’s honestly not much to him. He is 34-years-old and comes to the castle after being deployed by the military. He discovers that his higher ups had been concealing the nature of his mission from his unit, who all perish in a presumable monster attack.
This enlightens Hammer to the realization that he has no love for the military and he decides to leave that all behind and become a merchant.
Graham Jones
Graham is another one of Soma’s direct parallels in that he is a man who has come to the castle without fully understanding who he is. At first glance, he seems like a very affable, friendly 36-year-old man. He claims to be a missionary, which makes him sound like he’s affiliated with the Church, and he readily answers nearly every question Soma has without rushing him away like Arikado had.
He does not make fun of Soma for thinking Dracula is made up, rather, he seems quite eager to share what he knows about their situation. It must be a relief for Soma to have someone finally explain things to him.
Of course, if you read the profiles in the game manual, you would have learned that Graham is the founder of a new religious sect that preaches about apocalyptic events coming to pass. Almost like a doomsday cult—
GRAHAM: I was born on the very day that Dracula was destroyed... so, in short, that means I AM DRACULA!
A Dracula-based new age doomsday cult. How quaint.
Unfortunately for Graham, we already know that Soma is the true reincarnation of Dracula. He is the one who gains Dracula’s power and the one who gains control of the castle in the neutral end.
Graham fits into the theme of identity in that he mistakenly believes himself to be Dracula, but unlike Soma, there is nothing of him that exists outside of that false identity. Graham clings to it with all of his might. Even when faced with indelible proof that Soma is the true inheritor of Dracula, he refuses to accept it and turns himself into a monster out of desperation.
(He also accuses Soma of stealing the power that rightfully belongs to him. This becomes extremely ironic after you discover who Dracula really is.)
Graham’s monster form is quite interesting. He literally looks like a giant womb, as if he is trying to birth himself into the position that he believes he should have been born with. It’s honestly pathetic how hard he clings to a fate Soma has to give his everything to rise above.
It’s only when Graham is on the brink of Death that he begins to understand.
GRAHAM: NO! This cannot be! Does that mean I'm not Dracula?!
It’s fitting that Graham dies here. He centered his entire life around the belief that he was Dracula—he founded a cult on the assumption. It was the basis of entire identity and without it he crumbles. Because without Dracula? Graham Jones has no identity of his own.
Finale
“One person alone is not a full person: we exist in relation to others. I was one person: I risked becoming no person.”
Margaret Atwood, The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale, #2)
When Igarashi was conceptualizing the story of Aria of Sorrow, it had a different name in Japanese. Akatsuki no Minuet, or Minuet of Dawn. This is poignant for several reasons. It is the dawn of a new day. The long night has ended and the sun is rising on a world without Dracula.
Igarashi stated that he picked that musical term because, “I thought “minuet” matched the story themes better too, as it symbolizes the people who surround Soma and give him support, just like dancers accompanying each other in a minuet” (Aria of Sorrow Developer Interview, 2003).
At the very end of the game, right before Soma has to defeat Chaos, he is contacted by Mina who says that everyone has a message for him. Soma realizes that they must know what he is and declares they must be afraid of him. Mina declares that to be nonsense and everyone gathers around to encourage Soma, with Yoko giving the most poignant advice, a repeat of what she told him earlier.
And Soma proves all of them right.
great image, helpful infographic. that being said this is the most useful reaction image ive seen in my life
somacruisingRebloggedmo-lo-co-coFollow#Alucard#cv11241
somacruisingRebloggedbeeveanFollowradiant-featherball asked:#funny post as i just wrote alucard calling himself lisa's heir#and her heritage? appealing to dracula's humanity :)Really funny since in the musical Alucard says Lisa entrusted him with eternal love lolBut actually relevant is Alucard also has his cool sword, shield and armour from her.Lisa is objectively the better parent. She at least gives her son stuff that stays after her death. beevean answered:I'm very normal about Alucard being such a mommy's boy that he feels eternally burdened by her legacy even when it was something so simple as "love people" :) or better yet, "love your father" :)And yeah, you know what? Who cares about Alucard being Dracula's son. What did he ever give him? Trauma? A cool cape? Some edgy powers? bro wouldn't even leave him his castle and court, selfish dadstard. Clearly Lisa is the real reason Alucard is so cool. She left him her OP weapons and armor, and her holy blood is the reason he can use holy subweapons, which is beyond OP for a vampiric creature. And Alucard clearly inherited his good looks from her. Eat dirt Drac, go manipulate some boys or something728
somacruisingRebloggedsomacruisingFollowoh man I just remembered the time I tried to brainstorm a tarot deck for Castlevania. I stuck with the major arcana, but here is what I had The Fool: Leon BelmontThe Magician: Juste BelmontThe High Priestess: Carrie FernandezThe Empress: Sypha BelnadesThe Emperor: Christopher BelmontThe Hierophant: Mina HakubaThe Lovers: John Morris and Eric LecardeThe Chariot: Richter Belmont (Rondo)Strength: Sonia BelmontThe Hermit: AlucardWheel of Fortune: Soma & Mathias each holding the wheel. Soma is upright and Mathias is reversedJustice: Trevor BelmontThe Hanged Man: Sara Trantoul, hung by the Vampire KillerDeath: lolTemperance: ShanoaThe Devil: Chaos, with Dracula and Lisa chained to itThe Tower: Dracula's Castle itselfThe Star: Julia LaforezeThe Moon: Graham JonesThe Sun: Maria Renard (Rondo)Judgement: Jonathan Morris with Stella and Loretta Lecarde helping him awaken the whipThe World: Julius Belmontetiketka-ot-bananaCoolest idea, i needed to draw it!#OHVSHIT THIS IS AWESOME#YESSSS SONIA YESSSSSSSSS#Sonia Belmont#cv#I literally can’t stop looking at this2344
somacruisingRebloggedmo-lo-co-coFollowInfluence#julius belmont#soma cruz#Alucard#cv327101
somacruisingRebloggedmo-lo-co-coFollow#julius belmont#alucard#cv792
somacruisingRebloggedmo-lo-co-coFollowSorrow#mina hakuba#soma cruz#cv38124
somacruisingRebloggedmo-lo-co-coFollowAnother soma scribble because why not#soma cruz#Cv3298
somacruisingAria of Sorrow & IdentityCastlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a Gameboy Advanced game released in 2003, and marks the penultimate end of the Castlevania series’s canon timeline. Unlike the other entires in the series, the protagonist (Soma Cruz) of this game is unfamiliar with the supernatural. He has not been raised to be a monster hunter. Soma doesn’t even believe that monsters exist.The Soma is tasked by a mysterious agent named Genya Arikado to reach Dracula’s throne room after learning that he and his childhood friend have both been trapped within the otherworldly dimension the castle now occupies. Throughout his trek through Dracula’s Castle, he discovers that there is a prophecy that foretells the return of the evil count. It is on this journey that Soma discovers the truth of the prophecy and of his own identity.Aria of Sorrow is a game that has a lot to say about identity, about how important it is to know oneself. Each and every character in the game plays into this theme in one way or another, and I will be taking the time to highlight how I believe this theme applies to each of the characters that appear.Soma CruzSoma Cruz (or 来須蒼真 / Kusuru Soma) is a Japanese national (or foreign exchange student in overseas releases). He is currently in his last year of high school and is presumably making plans for the college that he ends up attending in the sequel game. His character bio in the game manual describes him as having a “strangely daunting presence” that others “find difficult to approach.” He is still close with his childhood friend, whose name is Mina Hakuba.The moment that Soma starts his adventure, he learns that he has a supernatural power referred to as the Power of Dominance. It is a power that allows him to rule over the souls of monsters and use their abilities. It is a power that is unambiguously dark in nature.It is a power that makes Soma uncomfortable.Soma begins to feel as if he does not know himself anymore. Who is he to have this sort of power? When he questions Arikado at the beginning of the game, the agent skirts around the question and orders him to head for the throne instead. Every time Soma attempts to question him, Arikado simply tells him that all of his questions will be answered when he reaches Dracula’s throne.And when Soma does reach it? His whole world crumbles.Soma is destined to become Dracula. He is the one from the prophecy that has brought everyone he met to Dracula’s Castle. Even his name is a reference to the inevitability of this fact. The kanji in Kurusu translate to “come/next” and “by all means”. And the kanji in Soma means “pale/blue” and “truth/reality”. Soma is the next Dracula and he is inevitable. This is the cruel reality. “Blue” might be a little odd, but the kanji they used for it (蒼) was historically used to also describe the color green. This is important because the primary colors in Mathias Cronqvist’s design were black and green.Not only that, but the chaotic being at the heart of Dracula’s Castle begins to actively fill Soma with the very same malicious will that drove Dracula to insanity before him.(Note, Arikado’s dialogue has a slight mistranslation. In Japanese, he says, 「魔力と一つになったお前には、巨大な邪悪な意思が流れ込んでいるはずだ。」 So, he’s saying “Now that you’ve become one with [Dracula’s] magic, an enormous amount of malevolent intentions must be flowing into you.”)Not only has Soma had his entire self-image upended by the discovery of his dark power, but he’s now being forced to endure this evil energy being poured into him. The very same twisted human desires that fuels Dracula’s myriad resurrections.But all hope is not lost. The very chaos that is corrupting Soma is deep within Dracula’s Castle. Arikado tells Soma that he can delve to its depths, and then he will be able to destroy it and save himself.Soma agrees and tells Arikado that he will fight against his fate with everything he has. He will not let the world define him, he will not let himself be guided by a destiny that he has not chosen for himself. He will not allow himself to become the monster his previous incarnation was.And so, Soma sets off to tell the world that he is the only one who decides who Soma Cruz is.…And he wins, of course.But now, I’m going to talk about the rest of the characters and how they support this theme of identity.Mina HakubaMina Hakuba (白馬弥那) is an 18-year-old high school student and Soma’s childhood friend. She’s the only daughter of Hakuba Shrine’s caretaker and is described as being an extremely friendly person who gets along well with everyone. She ends up in Dracula’s Castle with Soma after the two of them agree to meet up to view a solar eclipse outside her family’s shrine. Mina’s given name doesn’t have any particularly important meaning (essentially translating to “all the more”). But Hakuba is far more interesting, translating to “white horse”. White horses are important to Japanese Shintoism, usually being offered as the mounts for the kami and being kept in the shrine in a ritual known as horse dedication. They’re offered to the kami alongside wishes, with white horses being associated with a request to bring an end to rainfall.At first, Mina seems like an unassuming victim in all of this, but if Soma returns to talk to her throughout the game, she reveals that she has a deep connection to this underground world that Soma has no idea existed.For one, Mina has known the witch Yoko Belnades and agent Genya Arikado for years. She’s known Arikado since she was eight years old, and Yoko long enough that she sees her as an older sister. This information, along with most information about Mina, is revealed in optional dialogue. You can only discover it if you take an interest in her and return to speak with her often throughout your playthrough.If you continue to speak with her, you can eventually learn about the shrine her family takes care of. Soma learns that the Hakuba Shrine conducts rituals that “confine anger and evil intentions” and that they performed a ritual in 1999–the very one that led to the truth death of Dracula.Mina has been deeply involved in all of these supernatural happenings without Soma knowing. In fact, he barely seems to know anything about the life of his childhood friend. Which makes me believe that Mina has been intentionally hiding her involvement with the supernatural from Soma. What young girl wouldn’t want to talk about the mysterious secret agent who comes over to her house, or the cool older girl who treats her like a little sister?However, Mina is also one of Soma’s most ardent supporters. When he begins to lose himself to the stream of malevolent feelings, you can choose to return and talk to her. Soma will ask her how she would feel if he “stopped being himself.” Mina’s response is honest.The person Mina likes is Soma. She could never love Dracula.Genya ArikadoGenya Arikado (有角幻也) is an agent working for a “shadowy branch” of Japanese National Security. His age is unknown and—… Yeah, okay I’ll cut to the chase.He’s Alucard.He continues the theme around identity through the fact that he is actively hiding who he is in order to better move through the shadows. The kanji that make up the name Arikado translate as “existence” and “horn”. Genya is made up of the word “illusion” and the verb “to be.” He exists due to an illusions, with the “horns” part alluding to a more demonic kind of visual. Arikado works in the background, keeping an eye on Soma as he progresses through the castle, only stepping in when Yoko gets attacked and when Soma makes it to the throne room.Arikado reveals that he led Soma to the throne for his awakening in order to access his power, so he might kill Soma if need be.But he also tells Soma this:It was risky of him to lead Soma to the throne, but he believes that Soma can win. The decision to have Arikado supporting Soma is interesting to me, not only because of his connection to Dracula, but because Arikado has always had a—…Let’s say a complicated relationship with his own identity. He discarded his birth name when he turned against Dracula, choosing the name Alucard to represent his eternal opposition to his father’s cruelty. He felt so cursed by it that he attempted to seal himself away for the rest of eternity.And for all his obfuscation early in the game, it is Arikado who tells everyone the truth of Soma’s situation.(Looks like Alucard learned something from Maria. A fate like this can hardly be faced alone.)Yoko BelnadesYoko Belnades is a witch working for the Church who comes to the shrine in order to investigate the prophecy of Dracula’s resurrection. She is 24-years-old and very spunky. She’s described as quite nosy and is an acquaintance of Arikado. While her first name sounds Japanese, it’s written in katakana. This could mean she was born overseas and thus wasn’t given a name written in kanji. Possible readings for her name are “sunny child” and “ocean child”, with the former perhaps in reference to her sunny demeanor.Unlike every other character in the game, Yoko possesses no secrets of her own. In fact, she’s candid with Soma about who she is and why she’s here. Rather, it is through her that we learn who these other characters truly are, an unmasker of others’s true nature. She is the one who clues the audience in as to who Arikado really is.Yoko also warns Soma about another man he meets in the castle, a man by the name of Graham Jones who had left a favorable first impression on Soma. She advises him that he is not who he seems to be and that he is seeking to become Dracula. Soma doesn’t want to believe this, but it is through Yoko that Soma sees the true depths of Graham’s evil when he stabs her.And, yes, this is an unfortunate bit of bad writing where Yoko is reduced to an object through which we learn about the other male characters’s more defined inner lives. Yoko has no secrets on her own, only what she reveals in others.“J”J is a mysterious amnesiac who Soma runs into while exploring the castle. He’s 56-years-old and lost his memory after a traumatic event in 1999. He’s been on his own ever since and works for himself only, though he takes an immediate interest in Soma once he senses that he has dark powers.J, as it turns out, is a direct parallel to Soma. Both of them came to the castle completely unaware that they have an intimate connection to an exceedingly long feud that has gone on for nearly a thousand years. Soma is the reincarnation of Dracula. And J is the man who killed Dracula.At the exact moment Soma attains one of his first, true vampiric abilities, J regains his memories. He learns that he is Julius Belmont, the last son of the Belmont lineage.Julius’s name is Roman in origin, humorously meaning “downy-bearded.” This could be a reference to the fact that he’s one of the only Belmonts with facial hair. However, there is another meaning. Julius can also mean “devoted to Jove”, which Jove being an alternate name for the Roman god Jupiter. Going into detail about Jupiter is far beyond the scope of this post, but it’s pretty interesting.In any case, Julius is a parallel to Soma not only in having a hidden identity, but in choosing one’s own identity over fate. You see, after Julius regains his memories, he near immediately begins to talk about how defeating Dracula is what he is destined to do (And I’ve hit the image limit so I’ll be transcribing the dialogue instead of screenshotting now).SOMA: So, if Dracula is revived again, just as it is written in the prophecy...JULIUS: Then I must destroy him! It is my destiny.But… if you’ve played this game, you know that Julius does not destroy Soma. Yes, he corners Soma in the area right before the chaotic realm and forces him into a fight, but, he does not kill him.Rather, Soma’s soul and humanity shines through the haze of Julius’s fear and the legacy he is bound to. Julius cannot bring himself to kill Soma in spite of all of his words earlier. So long as Soma is still Soma, Julius will protect him just the same as any other human.And perhaps Soma has done little to prove himself to him, but that doesn’t matter. Julius wants to believe in him.I’ve written a long post about Julius here if you’d like to read it.HammerI’m not going to spend much time on Hammer because he’s a minor character and there’s honestly not much to him. He is 34-years-old and comes to the castle after being deployed by the military. I’ve see websites that say Hammer is an English occupational name that might have been a thing back when people took the name of whatever their job was, but I can’t find proof of that outside random baby name websites. So, this should be taken with a grain of salt.While inside the castle, Hammer discovers that his higher ups had been concealing the nature of his mission from his unit, who all perish in a presumable monster attack.This enlightens Hammer to the realization that he has no love for the military and he decides to leave that all behind and become a merchant.Good for him.Graham JonesGraham is another one of Soma’s direct parallels in that he is a man who has come to the castle without fully understanding who he is. At first glance, he seems like a very affable, friendly 36-year-old man. He claims to be a missionary, which makes him sound like he’s affiliated with the Church, and he readily answers nearly every question Soma has without rushing him away like Arikado had.He does not make fun of Soma for thinking Dracula is made up, rather, he seems quite eager to share what he knows about their situation. It must be a relief for Soma to have someone finally explain things to him.Of course, if you read the profiles in the game manual, you would have learned that Graham is the founder of a new religious sect that preaches about apocalyptic events coming to pass. Almost like a doomsday cult—GRAHAM: I was born on the very day that Dracula was destroyed... so, in short, that means I AM DRACULA!A Dracula-based new age doomsday cult. How quaint.Unfortunately for Graham, we already know that Soma is the true reincarnation of Dracula. Soma is the one who gains Dracula’s power and the one who gains control of the castle in the neutral end.It’s funny, then, that Graham’s name isn’t anything particularly special. The name Graham is Scottish in origin and means “gravelly homestead”. His surname on the other hand, Jones, is most likely a reference to Jim Jones—an American cult leader who lead 918 of his followers to their death.Graham fits into the theme of identity in that he mistakenly believes himself to be Dracula, but unlike Soma, there is nothing of him that exists outside of that false identity. Graham clings to it with all of his might. Even when faced with indelible proof that Soma is the true inheritor of Dracula, he refuses to accept it and turns himself into a monster out of desperation.(He also accuses Soma of stealing the power that rightfully belongs to him. This becomes extremely ironic after you discover who Dracula really is.)Graham’s monster form is quite interesting. He literally looks like a giant womb, as if he is trying to birth himself into the position that he believes he should have been born with. It’s honestly pathetic how hard he clings to a fate Soma has to give his everything to rise above.It’s only when Graham is on the brink of Death that he begins to understand.GRAHAM: NO! This cannot be! Does that mean I'm not Dracula?!It’s fitting that Graham dies here. He centered his entire life around the belief that he was Dracula—he founded a cult on the assumption. It was the basis of entire identity and without it he crumbles. Because without Dracula? Graham Jones has no identity of his own.Finale“One person alone is not a full person: we exist in relation to others. I was one person: I risked becoming no person.”Margaret Atwood, The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale, #2)When Igarashi was conceptualizing the story of Aria of Sorrow, it had a different name in Japanese. Akatsuki no Minuet, or Minuet of Dawn. This is poignant for several reasons. It is the dawn of a new day. The long night has ended and the sun is rising on a world without Dracula.But why a minuet?Igarashi stated that he picked that musical term because, “I thought “minuet” matched the story themes better too, as it symbolizes the people who surround Soma and give him support, just like dancers accompanying each other in a minuet” (Aria of Sorrow Developer Interview, 2003).At the very end of the game, right before Soma has to defeat Chaos, he is contacted by Mina who says that everyone has a message for him. Soma realizes that they must know what he is and declares they must be afraid of him. Mina declares that to be nonsense and everyone gathers around to encourage Soma, with Yoko giving the most poignant advice, a repeat of what she told him earlier.You are who you are.And Soma proves all of them right.#DAMN THIS WAS A CHONKY POST TO WRITE#fun fact I wrote this twice cuz the first time the app refreshed and it didn’t save my draft#anyway god I’m so… static brain after spending all day writing this#I love aria a lot okay#Aria of sorrow#castlevania#akumajou dracula#soma Cruz#mina Hakuba#yoko belnades#Genya Arikado#Alucard#hammer#Julius Belmont#Graham Jones… See all14182
somacruisingRebloggedmo-lo-co-coFollow#cv#alucard#Julius belmont1195
somacruisingReblogged actualasteruserfishFollow14,06425,211
Sponsored
somacruisingReblogged rayless-reblogsfeatherstonevintageFollowOilily 1980s Floral Patchwork Magenta Wool Tie CoatSource: featherstonevintage.com1111
somacruisingRebloggedmo-lo-co-coFollow#soma cruz#Alucard#cv34148
somacruisingReblogged thefairytalerherssianFollowdeepen the shadows bro. it'll be okherssiani meant art-wise but if any dark sorcerers see this. you do you3952,19062,602
somacruisingReblogged thefairytalerthememedaddyFollow1194949
somacruisingReblogged actualastermarlasbreastlumpFollowwas originally gonna color and post this for pride month but i lost the original file 9619,35726,761
somacruisingReblogged actualastertheroguefeministFollowi haven’t heard the word “cyberstalking” in a long time but it used to be a recognizably bad thing to stalk someone online, to try to dig up everything you can on them, follow their every move online, obsessively post about them, barrage them with messages, block evade, etc - but now it’s just normalized and seen as something totally “ok” to do if the person in question is “problematic” in some way - like the same people who say “if your partner does this run” will turn around and do the same thing to a stranger online they dont even know and they don’t even think twice - it’s abuse, it’s harassment… just stop it344,24950,652
somacruisingReblogged thefairytalerblackarachnyaFollowthe morbius jokes got stale fast but sony misunderstanding them and rereleasing the movie only to cause it to lose even more money was an all timer moment. we couldnt recreate that situation if we tried 3213,84318,930
somacruisingReblogged rayless-reblogsthedreadvampyFollowmale gaze is not 'when person look sexy' or 'when misogynist make film'death of the author is not 'miku wrote this'I don't think you have to read either essay to grasp the basic conceptsdeath of the author means that once a work is complete, what the author believes it to mean is irrelevant to critical analysis of what's in the text. it means when analysing the meaning of a text you prioritise reader interpretation above author intention, and that an interpretation can hold valid meaning even if it's utterly unintentional on the part of the person who created the thing. it doesn't mean 'i can ignore that the person who made this is a bigot' - it may in fact often mean 'this piece of art holds a lot of bigoted meanings that the author probably wasn't intentionally trying to convey but did anyway, and it's worth addressing that on its own terms regardless of whether the author recognises it's there.' it's important to understand because most artists are not consciously and vocally aware of all the possible meanings of their art, and because art is communal and interpretive. and because what somebody thinks they mean, what you think somebody means, and what a text is saying to you are three entirely different things and it's important to be able to tell the difference.male gaze is a cinematographic theory on how films construct subjectivity (ie who you identify with and who you look at). it argues that film language assumes that the watcher is a (cis straight white hegemonically normative) man, and treats men as relatable subjects and women as unknowable objects - men as people with interior lives and women as things to be looked at or interacted with but not related to. this includes sexual objectification and voyeurism, but it doesn't mean 'finding a lady sexy' or 'looking with a sexual lens', it means the ways in which visual languages strip women of interiority and encourage us to understand only men as relatable people. it's important to understand this because not all related gaze theories are sexual in nature and if you can't get a grip on male gaze beyond 'sexual imagery', you're really going to struggle with concepts of white or abled or cis subjectivities.11454,27963,874
somacruisingReblogged proxypunchanimentalityFollow83,2829,850
somacruisingoh man I just remembered the time I tried to brainstorm a tarot deck for Castlevania. I stuck with the major arcana, but here is what I had The Fool: Leon BelmontThe Magician: Juste BelmontThe High Priestess: Carrie FernandezThe Empress: Sypha BelnadesThe Emperor: Christopher BelmontThe Hierophant: Mina HakubaThe Lovers: John Morris and Eric LecardeThe Chariot: Richter Belmont (Rondo)Strength: Sonia BelmontThe Hermit: AlucardWheel of Fortune: Soma & Mathias each holding the wheel. Soma is upright and Mathias is reversedJustice: Trevor BelmontThe Hanged Man: Sara Trantoul, hung by the Vampire KillerDeath: lolTemperance: ShanoaThe Devil: Chaos, with Dracula and Lisa chained to itThe Tower: Dracula's Castle itselfThe Star: Julia LaforezeThe Moon: Graham JonesThe Sun: Maria Renard (Rondo)Judgement: Jonathan Morris with Stella and Loretta Lecarde helping him awaken the whipThe World: Julius Belmont#akumajou dracula#Castlevania#I put a lot of thought into this… I wanted it to start with Leon as “the first” and then end with Julius Belmont “the last”#I tried to be as inclusive as I could with as many games as I could#Anyway death should be obvious#I am grieving that I couldn’t find a place for Simon#He could also be the Fool too if you twist the idea of “first Belmont”#I know the Fool is 0 but tumblr fucked up my formatting >:/2344
somacruisingRebloggedtyulezhikFollowRequest for @carnefresco#Leon belmont#cv#wooooowww480217
somacruisingReblogged soryualeksithememedaddyFollownatalieironsideThe computer used to do something very basic & helpful and now it doesn't. I'm gonna complainsoftness-and-shatteringThe computer used to do something very basic & helpful and now it doesn't. I'm gonna complain. 16749,12454,372
somacruisingReblogged actualasterredstonedustFollowhaving anti punitive justice morals sucks because you want to say "man that guy sucks he should get hit with hammers until he dies" but you also want to make it clear you don't think anyone should be put in charge of the 'hit people with hammers until they die" machine.pluggedinandreadytofall24557,13571,543
somacruisingReblogged beeveanheta-magischFollowIt's Christopher but its okay to think its Simon lol#CHRISTOPER SPOTTED#christopher belmont#Cv2616
somacruisingReblogged beeveankuttithevanguFollowOne of the things about writing that feels the silliest is when there’s a detail in the scene that the character doesn’t think is important but you know the reader will know it’s important because otherwise it wouldn’t be there, so you’re just sort of making eye contact with the reader over the character’s head and whispering “don’t tell them”6,0738,955
somacruisingRebloggedriddlrrFollowHappy Halloween guys!!^^ heres a doodle of soma i did today <3#mista Cruz….#So cute op#soma cruz#cv418
somacruisingReblogged colourful-voidstudentofetheriumFollowCrunchyroll is destroying its subtitles for no good reasonWith the Fall 2025 anime season, Crunchyroll demonstrates zero respect for anime as a medium as the presentation quality of its subtitles redaiz.moegreat article about Crunchyroll being a terrible companystudentofetheriumwish i had some snappy paragraphs that i could post to demonstrate the article, but it's too long and the point is spread across it so much that there's no easy way to convey it. the only choice is to read it yourselfnextworldoverhere's my best attempt to get the key points (still long, but shorter than the article at least):crunchyroll is getting rid of typesetting in their subs. they're going from the good, modern subbing standard (aegisub/ass) - which lets you position, motion-track, and color code text anywhere on the screen - to one worse than what they had 16 years ago (back when their renderer couldn't handle anything fancier than 9-position placement and overlapping text). the one they're moving to (ttml) doesn't let you do any special formatting, just plain text at the top or bottom of the screen. they're doing it because a) they have exclusive licensing rights to a lot of anime, so there's no competition b) they want to make money off of sublicensing to netflix and amazon, but netflix and amazon use the garbage subbing standard c) sony bought crunchyroll a while back and put funimation in charge, and funimation has never given a shit about animefor a while they were paying their subbers to convert their good subs to the netflix/amazon shitty ones, but they have decided that instead of paying to make good quality subs for their own platform and shitty ones for netflix/amazon (or demanding that netflix/amazon update their subbing standards in order to sublicense the shows, so that everyone has the good ones), they're just going to stop bothering to make the quality subs at all. worse, it seems like they're going through their backlog and converting shows that used to have good subs over to the bad ones.the article has a TON of examples of shows that would be seriously impacted by this change. two of my faves it mentions are kill la kill (which makes HEAVY use of onscreen text for its punchiness and humor) and komi-san can't communicate (have you tried watching the netflix subs of this? they make the show literally unwatchable. the whole premise of the show is that komi has selective mutism and talks by writing things down, and the netflix subs just... didn't bother subbing any of the text. whole entire key conversations become extended shots of characters scribbling back and forth while you have no way to know what they're saying). some others it doesn't mention that i immediately thought of were shoujo kageki revue starlight (color-coded subs along both the side and the bottom come in clutch for tracking the revue duets simultaneously with the duet dialog) and yuuki yuuna wa yuusha de aru (you need motion-tracked subs for any on-screen group chat conversation to be readable, and yuyuyu has a bunch). and the article's got a bunch more examples from shows i don't know as much about. probably you can think of some of your own faves that this would ruin
worst of all, the english fansubbing community has cratered since crunchyroll came on the scene. there's a lot more anime coming out each season, and audiences are used to day-of simulcast, and most of the really good fansubbers went pro or retired and not a lot of new ones have stepped up. so even torrenting or streaming bootlegs won't be viable for getting the speed, quality, and coverage of subs we're used to these days.the article exhorts you to kick up a fuss - spread the word, complain on social media - and to cancel your crunchyroll account and give "subtitle quality" as your reason. it cites how back in 2017, crunchyroll tried to reduce their video quality, got slammed by their users, and rolled back the change. unfortunately, the sony/funimation takeover happened since then and that leadership doesn't seem to care at all about the quality of their product or what the fans think, so i don't expect them to respond to anything but a credible threat to their bottom line. so, maybe, if we can make a big enough dent in their subscription numbers, then they'll pay attentionand the article doesn't say this, but i'd add: complain to netflix and amazon, as well. any anime you see on those platforms, report the subs and say the quality makes the show unwatchable. consider canceling your subscriptions to those platforms as well, and citing the awful subtitle quality in your reasons, if the main thing you use them for is animeand consider getting into fansubbing! aegisub is free and you can learn how to use it! if you know japanese, you can help out with translation. and even if you don't, fansubbing groups can always use help with timing, typesetting, encoding, quality control, etc. try joining the discord for kaleido-subs and saying you want to get involved! (or even good job! media or novaworks - they're not releasing subs anymore, but the discords are still active and would be happy to help new people learn the ropes!) 24,3174,116
somacruisingReblogged actualastergraceashcroft-archive-deactivatreblog this to manually boop prev125,25317,480
somacruisingRebloggedclosetcoffincasketFollowI like to think Leon died of a broken heart.#man….#leon belmont#cv2794
somacruisingRebloggedtrying2thinkbutimdumsadfaceFollowsum art of soma again !! and alu card !,srry 4 being gone 4 so long !,,,,also have a lil comic thingy !Keep reading#soma cruz#Alucard#cv36212
