Castlevania (animated series)/Anachronisms

An anachronism is a chronological inconsistency; an appearance of an event, circumstance, person, or object that's out of place in the given time.
The world of the Castlevania animated series is fictional. While it borrows elements from real history, it also contains several intentional anachronisms in comparison. Especially, the vampire civilization portrayed in it possesses advanced knowledge of science and magic, and vampires are stated to have made many discoveries ahead of humans.
==Geography==
===Antarctica===
Antarctica is already discovered and mapped. It is featured on the map in Alucard's old room in the castle.
Antarctica map.jpg|Map of Antarctica.
===Americas===
Americas exploration is already common knowledge. South America can be seen appearing on the Captain's map in his quarters. While historically, Viking explorers reached North America way before the events of the series, their discovery wasn't common knowledge, and cartographers didn't have access to such information until later.
Captains quarters by stephen stark.jpg|Captain's quarters with the map on the wall showing South America.
Captains map.jpg|Captain's map zoomed in.
==Technology and science==
===Usage of electricity===
Alucard made mention of electricity and batteries being inventions of the Parthians in 200-250 BC, and as Lenore said, while humans have forgotten vampires do not, having preserved this ancient scientific knowledge and improved innovated and invented upon it; (the 200 BC date aligns with the discovery of the real world "Parthian/Baghdad Battery"). See also Easter eggs section.
===Incandescent and fluorescent lamps===
Various electric fluorescent and incandescent light bulbs can be seen used in the series, even in big numbers which could suggest industrial level of production through some vampire factories, though it was never shown or elaborated on.
Gresit mausoleum lamp.jpg|A lamp with an incandescent light bulb in the secret part of the mausoleum in Gresit.
Belmont hold lights.jpg|Fluorescent light bulbs in the Belmont Hold.
===Steam engines===
A small steam engine can be seen in Dracula's laboratory; however, it's not clear whether the technology is widely known by vampires or something developed by Dracula himself.
Draculas steam engine.jpg|Dracula's steam engine.
===Centrifuge===
When the Bishop and his goons were wrecking Lisa's house in Lupu, Burly got startled by activating a centrifuge. Historically, the usage of centrifugation for separating particles in a liquid was discovered centuries later.
Lisas centrifuge.jpg|Centrifuge in Lisa's lab in her house in Lupu.
===Antibiotics===
===Glassware===
Vampires are capable of manufacturing glass thinner and in more complex shapes than humans do, as evidenced by laboratory glassware and light bulbs used by them.
===Heating, cooling, ventilation, air conditioning technology (HVAC)===
Carmilla's castle contains a central heating system, likely derived from the hypocaust - Greco-Roman technology of classical antiquity, although whether it is of Greek, Roman, or other origins is unknown. Hector also mentions Dracula's castle featuring similar technology.
===Teleportation===
While many vampires use magic to teleport their bodies, Dracula's castle contains advanced technology as well as magical and supernatural enchantments, which work as a singular teleportation device to allow the massive structure to instantaneously move through space. It is unknown how much of the holistic teleportation device relies on magical principles and how much it relies on scientific and technological principles, the differences may be indistinguishable from each other.
==Other==
===Fruits and vegetables===
Various fruits and vegetables originating in the Americas and which were historically not available in Europe at that time can be seen in the series. In Lindenfeld's market, there are cherimoyas and papayas available for sale. Furthermore, bell peppers, tomatoes, and what appear to be potatoes can be seen as part of meals. It's never explained how they were obtained, but given geographic discoveries and existence of instant travel differ that world from real one, it should be feasible if some vampire or human merchants engage in cross continental trade.
Lindenfeld market produce2.jpg|Lindenfeld's market fruit stand featuring cherimoyas and papayas.
Lindenfeld Meal Spread.jpg|Lindenfeld meal featuring bell peppers, tomatoes and what appears to be potatoes.
===Futuristic fashion===
Katie Silva, a character designer in the show, stated that vampires wear more modern clothing than the humans in the animated series, explaining in an article:
:"For Morana, I wanted her to look really out of time but also regal. Vampires wear more modern fashion than humans in Castlevania (Alucard invented the V-neck), so there's more room to play with clothing periods. Morana's the oldest, probably thousands of years old. Her shawl is a kaunake-type thing that she's either kept for thousands of years or adapted from something else as a reminder of older times, while her outfit top is more Elizabethan. Morana has modern makeup because she's an icon, and one of the biggest challenges was trying to do that eye makeup myself at 2 a.m. to test my abilities."
:"For Saint Germain, the big deal was trying to figure out how to adapt a pre-existing character for a show where he has a different function in the story", describes Silva. "I put him more solidly in the Tudor time period, like he's a few years more advanced than the rest of the folks clothing-wise but not as much as the vampires. I gave him a Shakespearean doublet because I thought he was an actor playing a part and because they're hot. His cane actually is the same rough design as the sword he carries in the concept art. The really hard thing for him was that he was described as wearing really fine clothes that were broken down and worn with age, but that's hard to do with flat colors because [to me] it implies a textural element. Saint Germain has the greenish coat because that's kind of the color a fine, rich, black coat gets when it's been in the sun too long. Saint Germain keeps his shirt untucked because he really is tired and isn't looking to really impress these Lindenfeld folks as much as if he were younger."The Blood, Sweat and Vampires of Anime Castlevania
For example, the Council of Sisters wear more modern dresses than the aristocrats back in the 15th century, such as Lenore wearing undergarment in "The Harvest" (S3E09) and Alucard having a zipper on his pant (as he can be heard zipping his pants up) in "Murder Wakes It Up" (S4E01).
Lenore's panties.jpg|Lenore's undergarment in "The Harvest".
Dracula traveling model.png|Dracula's traveling outfit model from "Witchbottle" (his outfit appears to be Victorian).
Saint germain model sheet.png|Saint Germain's outfit is very similar to the fashion in the Tudor period.
Carmilla Season 4 Model Sheet by Lina Ngo and Sam Deats.jpg
Lenore model sheet.jpg
Morana model sheet.jpg
Alucard (AS) Official Model Sheet S3.jpg|Alucard invented his V-neck shirt.
===Toys===
A baseball bat can be seen in Alucard's childhood room which resembles a modern baseball bat (this can hint that baseball was already possibly invented by vampires). Alphabet blocks can also be seen, predating the oldest known mention of them by roughly a hundred years.
Alucards toys.jpg|Baseball bat among Alucard's toys in his childhood room.
Category:Castlevania (Animated Series)