Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is headed soon to the Nintendo DS, and I for one and psyched to see the series, infamous for breaking gender boundaries with its character designs and excessive eye make-up, headed by a woman. The game’s vampire-slaying lead Shanoa appears to be a beautiful, black-haired fighter who’s taken up the fight against Dracula in the absence of the Belmont crew. Check her out in action:
I must say, I’m torn over Shanoa. On the one hand, she’s a strong character in a series normally dominated by men (queer Gothic tropes, I’m looking at you). At the same time, she looks a traditional female game character: beautiful body, long-flowing hair, revealing outfit. Castlevania has always earned my approval for its androgynous men, heroes and villains alike with flowing locks and gorgeous pseudo-dresses. Couldn’t we have had butch female character? Or would that have clashed with the decadent, effeminate aesthetic of the series?Also, I can’t be the only one who keeps reading Order of Ecclesia as Order of Ecstasy…
Bonnie Ruberg is a sex, technology, and video games journalist who contributes regularly to publications like The Economist, Forbes, and The Village Voice. By day she's also a comparative literature PhD student at UC Berkeley, where she studies French, English, gender, sexuality, surrealism and perversion. You can reach her at [her first name and last name, all one big word] AT gmail DOT com.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I always saw the effeminate stylings of the Castlevania series as an excellent embrace of the gothic underpinnings of the vampire setting, and drawing from popular Japanese design styles like gothic-lolita fashion and visual kei. While I agree it feels a little odd to go from a gender-breaking effeminate male to a gender-stereotyped effeminate female, I think their choice was to keep the aesthetic rather than the gender-standard conflict.
Personally, I’m happy to see a female in the main role, rather than as cute, shrill-voiced, gimmicky side-character, as has happened too often in the past. And I suspect we’ll still have plenty of effeminate males, as well – including Dracula himself, if the past is any indication.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I think that complaint’s only relevant if you view the game’s style as trying to be subversive about gender roles and appearance and blah blah blah. As it is, I really think it’s more about pretty people than it is breaking stereotypes.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
What Dave said.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Pretty people, but moreso pretty boy toys than standard good looking guys.
So, yeah I think if they did a muscle head it would break with the style. But admittedly I’m surprised they didn’t sexify the main character more. I mean, she isn’t even showing a full midriff. Sadly in today’s gaming industry THAT’S being progressive.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
But she isn’t the first Playable main character in a Castlevania. This is kind of old hat for them.
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Sonia Belmont is a vampire hunter from Konami’s Castlevania series. She appears as the main, playable character in Castlevania Legends, which was published on the Game Boy in 1998.
Character history
Sonia Belmont lived during the Late Middle Ages in a remote part of Transylvania. In 1451 her grandfather was killed by Dracula’s minions. [1] Remembering his words to her – “Your powers are meant for a higher purpose and not only for yourself.” – she took up his ancestral whip and intrepidly ventured into Castlevania.
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from : http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Sonia_Belmont
August 20th, 2008 at 11:50 am
It’s true, she’s not the only female character, but the vast majority of Castlevania games have been lead by men. Plus, even if something has happened before, it doesn’t mean you can’t analyze it :).
August 24th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Well… from the way she’s been depicted, I really like her design, and the fact that I get to play as a girl now. Her character archetype appears to be that of a strong female lead with a normal voice actress, and that’s something I approve of :D
October 9th, 2008 at 7:44 am
I think castlevania series is under-rated.
I’ve always loved sidescrollers :)