Site Index | Blog What's New? Review List Stuff Review Outline Why Hate Anime? Wheat RoD: The TV Haibane Renmei Teen Titans Chaff Akira Legend of the Overfiend Black Heaven There is a steadfast but elusive set of components that must be in place to form a classic vampire movie. I'll be half-buggered to actually define such a list myself, but I knows 'em when I sees 'em. I do know this about vampire movies though; the devil is often in the details. Oftentimes it's the intangibles that will make or break such a trite, cliche bump-in-the-night horror story. That isn't D's business face; he looks like that all the time. For example, if you were told to summarize both Blade (starring sunglasses, trench coat; co-starring Wesley Snipes) and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust in twenty words a piece, the first eighteen words would be identical. You'd mention vampires, you'd mention half-vampires, you'd mention how cool vampires are, you'd mention vampire hunters... the difference would be that Blade's last two words would be "it sucked" and Bloodlust's would be "it's awesome". Bloodlust exists in the long shadow cast by its prequel, the insurmountable classic Vampire Hunter D. VHD, however, was unleashed in 1985, and while still a monumental anime (and quite purty to boot), it shows its age. How does Bloodlust, fifteen years VHD's junior, stack up to the original? Remarkably well actually - it keeps all the things that made VHD great and changed just enough to make the new story unique. Characters: The title character of Bloodlust is D, a vampire hunter who is half-vampire himself. Shunned by humans and vampires alike, D exists only to slay the vile creatures of the night. It is not an easy road, but as D puts it, "As a dunpeal, I don't get to have a life." In essence, D is exactly the same guy he was in the original VHD - soft-spoken, solemn, and immeasurably cool. There is nothing about D that doesn't scream style - his wide-brimmed hat, his black flowing cape, his enormous blade, his nightmarish steed. Watching D is a treat whether he's in action or at rest. He's the type of guy who never does or says anything unless he knows it'll make him look suave. Second banana, so to speak, is D's hand. D has a parasitic creature of some sort living on his right palm. (Insert painfully obvious 'talk to the hand' joke here.) The smart-alec appendage plays clown to D's straight man by offering smarmy comments and off-color humor wherever possible while constantly taunting D about his hopeless dunpeal nature. The irony is, of course, that the hand could not survive without D and, at this point at least, D could not survive without his hand. There's very little back-and-forth between the two characters (chiefly because D doesn't allow himself to get dragged into arguments), but it's clear they are not friends. "Allies of opportunity" might be a better description. Stepping up as D's opposition are the Markus brothers - a gang of four brothers and their sister who hunt vampires with fantastic overblown weaponry and an armored tank. The four guys essentially exist to play backdrops to Leila, Bloodlust's female lead, who crosses path with D several times and even grows to sympathize with him. So while each of Leila's brothers essentially gets one scene to shine before they're written out of the plot, Leila herself is left to sort out her complicated relationship with D while coming to grips with her own reasons for being a hunter in the first place. And it just wouldn't be a vampire movie without vampires, right? Bloodlust steps up with two fine specimens. The first is Meier Link, who has recently made off with a rich man's daughter and carries a bounty on his head that numbers in the tens of millions of dollars. The second is Carmilla, who falls cleanly into the "charismatic and polite but just oh-so-evil" category. Both bloodsuckers command a delicious variety of goons and goblins which serve to plague D and the Markus gang throughout the movie. My personal favorite is the wood nymph who oozes up through the floor of the Markus tank and - well, I couldn't spoil the fun, could I? Just rest assured it's good times. It's refreshing to see henchmen, for once, getting much of the attention usually reserved for the main villain. Story: Bloodlust could have probably gotten away with a shallow story that served as an excuse to watch cool heroes with wicked weapons hack an army of monsters and a couple of vampires to pieces. And largely, that's what it is - and we certainly won't fault the movie for it. However, there are plenty of chewy plot twists that keep things interesting as D makes his way through more and more bizarre hordelings while staying a step ahead of his opponents. In a medium where so many stories do just what you'd expect and no more, Bloodlust edges passed that mark and into a realm where the story would be equally interesting if there weren't big guns and fast swords and gruesome monsters lurking about. "My darling, you have the most beautiful chin." The story opens with the abduction of a beautiful young aristocrat named Charlotte at the hands of the despicable vampire Meier Link. Charlotte's father is so desperate to have his daughter back that he hires both the notorious Markus brothers and the brooding dunpeal D to find her and bring her back. The reward is a staggering $20 million, so the incentive to be the first to return Charlotte (or to kill her, if she's already been changed) is high. The race is on. D and the Markus clan play off one another several times while following Link's carriage into the realm of the Barbarois, a race of monsters who sell their services to vampires. Who exactly is footing the bill for these hirelings, and Link's ultimate destination, and Charlotte's apparent devotion for her abductor all serve to give D pause. There's more to this job than meets the eye, and D seems intent on discovering exactly what it is. The Markuses, on the other hand, are just chasing their payday - in this way we see a stark contrast between the nature of humans the the nature of dunpeals. As the Markuses *get picked off one by one by the Barbarois*, D draws inevitably closer to the film's climax in the castle of the vampiress Carmilla. At this point it's D versus the Markuses, D versus Link, the Markuses versus Link, Carmilla versus*Link, D, and pretty much everyone else*, with Charlotte caught in the middle of all of it. The conclusion isn't exactly a surprise, but it's a satisfying and logical end that follows the story - and that's about all a movie of this type can ask for. Is that a laser light show in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? Bloodlust doesn't want to admit it, but it's a movie about Leila more than anyone else. I can't really fault the movie for this - D's character is essentially immune to change and therefore character development. In fact, it's probably a good thing that we're given someone else to latch onto in place of the static title character. This fact, in addition to the story being something other than just a justification of the onscreen action, pulls in a solid five hamhams. Animation: Gorgeous. Every speck of Bloodlust has had the highest amount of detail paid to it, down to the most subtle accent on the tiniest speck. The result is an absolutely brilliant world in which a visually stunning cast of characters carry out a series of fantastically jaw-dropping scenarios. Or, to put it into simpler terms, it's super yummy. You know, this was kind of a sticking point for me in the review. I mean honestly, the art quality in Bloodlust actually inspires awe, kind of like Aurora Borealis, that you cannot describe in words. You know how it's usually a reviewer's sacred duty to find some minor tidbit to nitpick, even if it's a good review? How it's our job to find a tiny flaw and inflate it to the size of a black hole? It's like a "nothing can be perfect so you have to point out what's wrong with everything" complex; it's in the How To Review Anything Handbook. But believe you me, dear readers, there is nothing here to nitpick. Any perceived flaws are subjective and completely matters of taste. Sure there's gore, but it's the prettiest durn gore I've ever seen. I get goosebumps every time I watch the crucifixes suddenly twist and crinkle up in the first scene. My spine gets chilly everytime I see the lumbering zombies. And D's complete inability to do anything without looking stylish is breathtaking to say the least. Bloodlust was drawn entirely by guys who don't know how to suck. Culture Shock: Often the score that will make or break an anime here at AA, Culture Shock can often be hard to determine. As much as I hate to admit it, watching as much anime as I do has the unfortunate side effect of a quasi-crash course in Japanese lore. So when I approach a title's Culture Shock, I tried to step outside myself and look at it from someone who has never heard of Japan. Movies like Bloodlust make that job so, so easy. Set in a bleak futuristic world splashed with a gothic motif, Bloodlust mixes the best of classic horror stories with the best of classic post-apocalyptic ruins. No schoolgirls in short skirts, no talking cats, no pagodas or Pocky or Pachinko. This is entirely familiar territory, assuming of course you have some idea of the makeup of your old fashioned Hollywood vampire. I don't know if there's a Japanese voice track on the DVD or not, and I don't particularly care. When the English dub is this flawless, who needs anything else? I urge even the most diehard sub purist to give the English voices a try; dubbing of this calibur is simply not to be missed. I couldn't decide which monster to take a screenshot of, so I decided on the least interesting one. Having been a fan of the original Vampire Hunter D since seventh grade, I was waiting with bated breath from the moment until I learned about the sequel until the moment I held the DVD in my grubby little paws. I freely admit it's entirely possible that months of eager anticipation may have sweetened my opinion of this movie, but let's be honest. High hopes or not, this is a pretty swell gig regardless. Links Official Site City of Distant Stars VHD Archives Animenation Listing IMDB Listing When all is said and done, you have an incredibly cool looking movie with absolutely stellar voice acting and an intriguing story with several nice frosty twists in it. What more could you possibly ask for inside of two hours? Scale the tallest mountains and scream this one to the heavens, people: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is the yardstick by which all other spooky goth anime movies should be measured. Arguably anime movies of any type I suppose. A true masterpiece, and a must-own for all anime collectors of any real worth. Overall Rating:

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