Television series
Blood of Zeus
Netflix's Blood of Zeus is a lush, brutal slab of Greek mythology animated by the studio behind Castlevania. A cast-off young man discovers he's Zeus's illegitimate son and gets pulled into a war between Olympus and the underworld. It's gorgeous, gory, and surprisingly earnest — myth with muscle, made for anime fans who want their gods to bleed.
If you liked this
Castlevania2017
Same animation studio, same appetite for gore and gothic melodrama, just swap Olympus for Wallachia and Hades for Dracula. This is where that visual language was forged.
But Vampires and castles instead of gods and temples — the mythology is invented, not inherited, so it lands differently.
Hercules1997
The same pantheon played for warmth and song instead of blood. A gentle reminder that Zeus's family drama has always been ridiculous as well as tragic.
But Disney-bright and family-friendly — none of the brutality or moral murk that makes Blood of Zeus interesting.
Immortals2011no page yet
Tarsem Singh's fever-dream take on Greek myth, all oiled muscle and painterly slow-motion violence — the live-action cousin of the show's visual excess.
But Style over substance — the plot is thin and the acting stiff, so go in purely for spectacle.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Kaos2024no page yet
The exact same Olympian dysfunction — Zeus, Hera, jealous gods meddling in mortal lives — proving the myths are elastic enough to be funny, strange, and modern instead of bloody and mythic.
Jeff Goldblum's Zeus is paranoid, petty, and running Olympus like a man mid-life-crisis. Same gods, same family dysfunction, but played as pitch-black domestic comedy.
But Cancelled after one season, so there's no resolution — and comedy-drama is a very different register from action anime.
More like this (8)
3002007
Stylized, blood-soaked ancient Greek violence rendered as comic-book opera. If the show's fight scenes got your pulse up, this is where that aesthetic was perfected.
But Spartans versus Persians, not gods versus monsters — no mythology here, just brutal history-adjacent spectacle.
Clash of the Titans1981
Another mortal son of Zeus wages his own war against monsters and vengeful deities. Big, dumb, satisfying fun with the same family of gods.
But Critically maligned for a reason — the CGI has aged oddly and the script is thin.
Vinland Saga2019
Different mythology, different continent, same engine: a young man shaped by violence and a father's shadow, wrestling with what kind of man he'll become.
But Slower and more meditative, and Norse rather than Greek — it asks for patience before the payoff arrives.
Arcane: League of Legends2021
Gorgeous, big-budget animation with real stakes and family betrayal at its core — proof adult animated fantasy can be prestige television, not just genre filler.
But No mythology here — it's a video game adaptation, sci-fantasy rather than ancient gods.
The Legend of Korra2012
A demigod-adjacent hero navigating political war between spiritual forces and mortal factions, with animation that treats action choreography as seriously as character work.
But Originally aimed at a younger audience, so it's less graphic and less morally grim overall.
Berserk1997
For when you want the genre pushed to its darkest extreme — a mercenary's journey through betrayal, demons, and cosmic cruelty that makes Blood of Zeus look restrained.
But Genuinely brutal and bleak, with sexual violence and gore that go far beyond anything in the show.
Jason and the Argonauts1963
Same mythic engine — gods manipulating a mortal hero as a pawn in their own squabbles — rendered in the stop-motion effects that invented this entire visual grammar decades before CGI existed.
Before CGI gods and demons, there was Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion bringing skeleton armies and bronze giants to life. It's the technical and mythological ancestor of everything the show is doing.
But The pacing and effects are of their era — charming rather than thrilling by modern standards, with stiff acting throughout.
Ulysses 311981no page yet
A French-Japanese animated series that took Homer's Odyssey and launched it into space — the same appetite for turning Greek myth into serialized adventure animation, just decades earlier and aimed at children.
Greek myth reimagined as 1980s sci-fi anime, with Ulysses cursed by the gods and wandering the stars instead of the seas. Strange, haunting, and a genuine cult classic.
But It's a kids' show from 1981 — the animation is dated and the tone far gentler than anything in Blood of Zeus.
People
Cast
Writing
- Charles ParlapanidesCreator
- Vlas ParlapanidesCreator
Production
- Dario BarreraAssociate Producer
- Lynn Barzola-FregosoAssociate Producer
- Brad GraeberExecutive Producer
- Charles ParlapanidesExecutive Producer
- Michael HughesExecutive Producer
- Vlas ParlapanidesExecutive Producer
- Chantal HennesseyProducer
- Michael HughesSupervising Producer
- Shane MinshewSupervising Producer