Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

[DB]

Well, my primary computer has picked up a virus it can't seem to get rid of, so while trying to do anything possible to not have to reformat the hardrive, I'll distract myself by writing a review on the old but still reliable hand-me-down laptop someone gave me.

It's nice to see the anime review board growing, but I did notice we lack several letter categories, so let me help by doing one that starts with 'V'.

Years ago, while walking through my local Suncoast video one fine afternoon, I happened to catch a preview for the Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust movie. I was so impressed by the animation and dialogue (and that the previous VHD is one of my favorite old school animes) that I took a chance and preordered it. Sometimes taking chances pays off. As far as I am concerned, Bloodlust is pretty much damn near perfect. It succeeds in every single aspect for me. It has a great plot, great dialogue, fast moving pace, outstanding villains, heroes, and others who go between the two. The animation is as good as it gets. The music was good enough I bought the CD to it (though it's not one of the best out there).

The basic plot is almost a take off on an old western whose name escapes me (The Searchers, perhaps?). Basically, Vampire Lord Meier Link has kidnapped a human girl named Charlette and run off with her. After a posse of locals is slaughtered in seconds, her father, a rich and powerful man, hires D to rescue his daughter, and if she's been turned, to lay her to rest. But there's competition in the form of a team of top notch vampire hunters called the Markus Brothers who'll do anything to get their pay, including disposing of a rival hunter.

As if that wasn't bad enough, D comes across evidence which indicates Charlette might not have been kidnapped after all, which would leave him in a quandry, as well as some soul searing angst as his motives for tracking down Link and bringing back the girl become blurred with his own tortured past.

All of the characters in this are vividly portrayed, and really only one is truly evil. All the others are shades of grey, operating in their best interests. Love, revenge, hatred of one's own past, being torn between two incompatable worlds, all of the characters personal conflicts, both with themselves as well as the outward conflicts with their foes, is expertly done. Perhaps what impressed me the most though is balance of action and plot. Rarely have I seen any movie, anime or live action, that did both in such a perfect combination.

There wasn't a thing wrong with this that I could find. Heck, most of the non-anime fans I've shown this to have enjoyed, the plot is that strong to overcome their 'cartoons aren't serious' biases.

10 out of 10. I recommend going out and getting this now.

As a brief side note, this came out at a good time for anime, IMO. The A!MG movie and Cowboy Bebop Movie, and ROD OVA came out in the same year, and all of them earned the rare 10 out of 10 rankings for me.

[Edward]

I wasn't impressed with the original Vampire Hunter D, but Bloodlust is very good.  While I wouldn't rate it quite as highly as DB, I definitely recommend VHD: Bloodlust.

[Rift120]

Heh Ironically my first encounter with the anime was from the EXCELLENT AMV "Variations in D Minor", which was shown at my college anime club (We had a fun thin gof airing AMV's prior to watching hte anime of the night in order to let late stragglers not miss anything).

I quite agree this WAS a very excellent movie, my only complaint was they might have provided a bit more background/charcter development for the countess. But that was really only a minor complaint, as she did make a excellent villian.

[Dracos]

Agreed with DB and Edwards.  Not sure if I'd say 10 out of 10, but I enjoyed it thoroughly and wouldn't mind watching the whole thing again.

Dracos