The animator behind some of Castlevania’s greatest moments made another classic in the most intense scene of Nocturne’s second season

The biggest fight in Castlevania: Nocturne Season 2 lasts an entire episode. It’s almost exhausting to watch, so filled with over-the-top animation that you can repeat it for hours and capture modern details each time. This explosive action is the most stimulating part of an uneven season, but the moment I keep thinking about actually happened a few episodes earlier. It’s lighter actionbut it is still the most brutal moment of the show, with regular beheadings and fountains of blood. You’ll find out when you get there – which Castlevania animation directors Sam and Adam Deats attribute to animator Tam Lu.

“Our best animators in the U.S. handle the most important stuff, and some animators come to us with thoughts on how to spice up a shot or sequence,” Adam Deats said in an interview with PC Gamer. “Sometimes they just go crazy and do their own thing with it.”

Since the second season of Nocturne is still fresh, I won’t go into detail about what I would call the first “damn” moment of the season – only that it involves juvenile vampire hunter Maria Renard working through some feelings. As Maria’s anger flares in episode four, a grittier, grittier style creeps into the animation, with more dramatic camera angles further emphasizing the intensity of the scene.

“During this part, Tam Lu, who has been on the show since the original season three, came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I want to do this.’ this thing with this,” Sam Deats added. “And I thought, ‘This is going to be amazing.’ He went crazy and did something really cool and interesting, and that’s one of the joys of having a team of animators that we have a close relationship with that we can trust. You can give them something and they will understand how to bring it to life in a way that is unique and in some cases beyond your original vision. It’s a beautiful lightning-in-a-bottle moment.”

If you like 2D animation but don’t know the name Tam Lu, you should – here’s a montage of his work from earlier seasons of Castlevania along with some other projects like Hyper Light Breaker announcement trailer.

Lu also collaborated with former Castlevania animator Spencer Wan on the Hades 2 trailer, which is another amazing-looking few minutes of action animation. I’ll leave you with an unfinished shot that will allow you to see the raw details in one of his best scenes in Castlevania: