Gripping and gorgeous Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a must-see for fans of vampire movies and anime lovers.
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Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is actually one of my first experiences with anime, so this review is one I have wanted to do for a long while. I never thought much about anime but I always liked vampire movies like Blade and From Dusk Till Dawn. I was looking around for a good vampire movie when a friend of mine who worked at the local Blockbuster suggested Vampire Hunter D, the original, to me. So I rented the Original Vampire Hunter D and I was somewhat amused by a decent story, but I thought that the voice acting was absolutely horrible. I returned the video the next day when my friend was working and he told me that I "got the wrong one".
So I ended up renting the right movie and I was much more impressed with what I was watching. Not only was the voice acting much more believable but the story was better and the animation was better than anything even Disney had ever cranked out. But I will get to all of that in a little while.
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is the sequel to 1985's Vampire Hunter D, and is based on the third of Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels, D - Demon Deathchase. Vampire Hunter D takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where vampires run free and bounty hunters are paid to exterminate them. Then there is D, a half human, half vampire; a dunpeal. D is despised by vampires for being a bounty hunter, and hated by humans for the blood in his veins, but D relentlessly pursues his prey... for a price. D has been hired to track down Meier Link, a notoriously powerful vampire who has abducted a human woman, Charlotte Elbourne. D's orders are strict - find Charlotte, at any cost. For the first time, D faces serious competition. The Markus Brothers, a family of Vampire Hunters, were hired for the same bounty. D must intercept Meier and conquer hostile forces on all sides in a deadly race against time.
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Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust begins in a foggy village stereotypical in European vampire stories. Something evil is in the air. Dogs growl and the crosses on the rooftops bend and break as a horse drawn carriage races through the streets. A beautiful young woman is lying awake in bed when the roses at the window, an ancient vampire ward, wilt and die. The mirror above her dresser cracks and the window bursts open. Outside a bat-like demon is hanging upside down and then races into the room towards the helpless woman.
The next scene is right out of a western. In what appears to be a Mexican desert, men are aiming their weapons at an approaching figure on horseback. A pale rider dressed in black clothing approaches, dismounts, and enters the center of the building where he is greeted by the father and brother of Charlotte Elbourne, the girl who was kidnapped by the notoriously powerful vampire, Meier Link. They try to hire D but he drives a hard bargain. The brother is insulted, but the father realizes the gravity of the situation and agrees to D's price. However D can't guarantee that the girl could be brought back alive.
An armored vehicle enters yet another shady village. The driver questions a drunk man about a black carriage when the villager is revealed to be a vampire. As silver arrows pierce the vampire's body, the other villagers, also vampires, attack the vehicle. The Markus Brothers, professional bounty hunters, are introduces, as well as their headstrong sister, Leila. After exterminating an entire town of vampires in a very stylistic manner, the Markus Brothers has a chance run in with D. Leila, headstrong and hateful of all vampires, races after him.
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Because of production time and budget, there are not a lot of animated series or movies where the characters can be drawn in with much detail, and it is especially disappointing when it comes to full-length features. However, even if you were the most cynical reviewer on the planet and nothing else could be said about Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, you would still have to admit that the animation is stunning. Every scene is incredibly detailed. The backgrounds are individual works of art, and they compliment the scenes of the story as if they were characters themselves. Barren post-apocalyptic deserts; the leaves, flowers, and reflecting pools of water in lush gardens; an intricately designed castle complete with tapestries, suits of armor, and reflective tile flooring; the detail in each scene is as outstanding as a fine painting.
The actual animation is even more impressive. The use of light and shading is ever-present Character details -beads in braided hair, tattered clothing, flowing capes, and glistening jewelry- are not only present but almost seem to have been a requirement for each character to have their own unique details. The character design is so fantastic that there is not one single character that looks remotely like another throughout the movie; even the background monsters of Barbarois all look unique. The most impressive feat is that at times the animation even appears to be as fluid as a live motion movie. If you don't believe me on that one, just watch the rain and water flowing in the scene between Leila and D.
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Although there was an appropriate volume of cold, aloof heroes, dark tragedy, angst, and internal conflict of vampire hunger versus human emotion, all of them were in measured amounts, and not only did the story never bog down but the romantic aspects were remarkably sentimental (in a good way). D and Leila, the two main characters, had a coldly antagonistic relationship; both had a reasonable amount of depth to their motives and emotional character, and Leila also had a distinctive, angry edge. More impressively, even the villain, Meier Link, turned out to be more interesting than he first appeared, gradually changing from a stock vampire into a character with deep motives and internal conflict. The rest of the cast didn't feel as fleshed out, but there were still a variety of distinctive personalities (especially among the hunters), and on the whole they fit together and kept things interesting.
The two most impressive animation sequences in the entire movie are as follows: The first being the scene where Grove, the Markus brother who is bedridden and sickly, induces a temporary death where he becomes a spectral, wispy persona of himself and unleashes his ethereal and almost angelical power upon a village of monsters and freaks. The second is the second fight scene involving the character Charoline, a seductive sorceress clad in green and yellow, using her powers to bonding to substances like metal and wood and use them as weapons in a duel against D. Here the character detail is further accented by the shadows cast by the sunlight through tree leaves. However, those are my two personal favorites, and there are LOTS of great sequences in the movie.
The voice acting is extremely good, especially considering the horrible voices from the first Vampire Hunter D. It is not hard to explain what horrible voice acting is because it always stands out like a sore thumb. Normally bad voices are either mismatched, over dramatic, wooden, or monotone. Luckily the voices in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust sounds almost the same as I would have heard their voices in my head if this were a comic or a novel: Character voices match the characters, the vocal ranges are appropriate for the situations, and thankfully Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust realizes that sometimes the best scenes require little or no dialogue to have an emotional effect. The dialogue was solidly written for the most part, and there were a few bits of natural-sounding color - the minor members of the hunter team in particular felt "normal" enough to bring a touch of realism to even that rather strange group.
Anime prejudices have some foundation...I feel that many of the prejudices against Japanese animation revolve around translating themes and humor. However, the style of the movie is not exclusive to Eastern audiences. The themes in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust are far more universally appealing than I honestly admit most Japanese anime are. The obscure Japanese comedy is kept to a bare minimum, though arguably present in D's parasitic hand. However, I believe that the translated dialogue given to D's parasitic hand made the comedy easier for Western audiences to swallow.
Characters are adequately flushed out, both villains and heroes. Even though the motives for a few of the main characters are not definitive, their character comes across well to the viewer. The ending was bittersweet, slightly vague, but the movie still had a satisfying ending.
One complaint I have about Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is that the last half hour honestly felt rushed. Everything up until the introduction of Carmilla had great pacing with its plot and was also evenly balanced between the action and the drama, and then all of a sudden the audience is introduced to a new character and a new plot point that had not been previously explained, or had been adequately lead up to. It is sort of humorous to me because it feels as though the studio had gotten an hour into the movie and they realized that they needed to wrap the film up in a half an hour. I am almost expecting there to be a Director's Cut version of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust that has an extra 20 minutes building up Camilla.
The last thing to mention is the music: dark, well written, and appropriately grand in scale, it was a perfect compliment to the visuals. I particularly liked some of the creepy, chaotic choral themes, but all of it was very good.
Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust is a masterful anime. Every scene is a visually stunning and the storyline is a captivating mesh of multiple genres and themes. I truly enjoyed this movie not only because of the exquisite artwork but because Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a serious, touching, and at times humorous movie that anyone who watches it. The most surprising part is that Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust seems to play well with almost all Western audiences.
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