Vampire Hunter D is a "Dhampir" ("Dunpeal" in the English version), a half-human, half-vampire, who works as a bounty hunter, slaughtering the last remaining vampires. He is hired by a rich man to rescue his daughter, who has been kidnapped by a noble vampire. While hunting for this girl, he also must compete with another group of bounty hunters, siblings who travel around in a massive vampire-slaying truck, who will do anything to ensure that they take the prize. As he closes in on his prey, D begins to suspect that the girl may not have been kidnapped against her will ...
I know what you're thinking ... sounds a bit like "Blade", doesn't it? However, while it's true that Marvel first published the "Blade, Vampire Hunter" comic in 1973, and this was clearly an influence on this character, Vampire Hunter D first made it to the big screen in 1985 -- over ten years before it's predecessor got the Hollywood / Wesley Snipes treatment. And besides, this is actually a lot better.
Great visuals, lots of blood, plenty of weirdness ... what more do you want in an anime? The first thing you'll notice is how great this movie looks. Compare this with the original, and it just goes to show how new technology is best put to use in animation. There are times when you want to pause the movie simply to marvel at how great a particular frame looks. And everything, the characters, the creatures, and the world itself, is brilliantly designed. This is the main advantage of animation, that you can design pretty much anything and have it realised without concern for cost. But this on it's own does not make a good film, of course ... it's helped along by an engaging storyline and interesting characters, resulting in an eastern Gothic masterpiece. The ending inparticular is notable for an anime since it focuses strongly on the characters rather than on some crazy monster design, which is the usual approach.
There are those who would argue that this is among the greatest anime movies of all time, and it's certainly one of the very best that I've seen. It surpasses the decent 1985 original by far.
I know what you're thinking ... sounds a bit like "Blade", doesn't it? However, while it's true that Marvel first published the "Blade, Vampire Hunter" comic in 1973, and this was clearly an influence on this character, Vampire Hunter D first made it to the big screen in 1985 -- over ten years before it's predecessor got the Hollywood / Wesley Snipes treatment. And besides, this is actually a lot better.
Great visuals, lots of blood, plenty of weirdness ... what more do you want in an anime? The first thing you'll notice is how great this movie looks. Compare this with the original, and it just goes to show how new technology is best put to use in animation. There are times when you want to pause the movie simply to marvel at how great a particular frame looks. And everything, the characters, the creatures, and the world itself, is brilliantly designed. This is the main advantage of animation, that you can design pretty much anything and have it realised without concern for cost. But this on it's own does not make a good film, of course ... it's helped along by an engaging storyline and interesting characters, resulting in an eastern Gothic masterpiece. The ending inparticular is notable for an anime since it focuses strongly on the characters rather than on some crazy monster design, which is the usual approach.
There are those who would argue that this is among the greatest anime movies of all time, and it's certainly one of the very best that I've seen. It surpasses the decent 1985 original by far.