Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Original Title: Vampire Hunter D: 2000
Romanized: Vampire Hunter D: 2000
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

10,000 years in the future, demons and vampires rule the world, while the remains of humanity huddle in fear of the forces of darkness. But humanity is not giving up quietly, and a new profession has appeared as a result: Vampire Hunters. The best of these hunters is D, a dunpeal; torn between his hatred of vampires and his own half-vampire blood, he hunts the vampire race that produced him. When the beautiful Charlotte, the only daughter of a rich family, is kidnapped by the vampire Meier Link, D is hired to bring her back and destroy her kidnapper. But Meier Link is a powerful vampire, and there is another team of hunters--some of the best in the world--hot on the trail as well...

Quick Review

Rating: 5 / 5
Reviewer: Marc
Review Date: 2003-08-02

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is the ultimate vampire action anime, period. The visuals are gorgeous; dripping with style, fluidly animated, and combining barely-noticeable CG work and beautifully detailed art. From the spectacular action set-pieces to the sweeping vistas and fabulous, ornate castles, absolutely everything looks as good as anyone could reasonably ask. On top of that, the story is actually interesting, and the characters have a modest amount of depth beneath their stone-cold facades. Even the English dialogue (not a dub, mind you) is very good, and it's all backed up by a grand and appropriately dark score.

Bloodlust takes tried-and-true theme and does everything right--everything--with just enough creative touches to keep it fresh. I have trouble calling it anything but a must-see for any fan of vampires, action, or fine-looking animation in general.

US DVD Review

The DVD has a sharp, smooth, all around very nice video transfer, a crisp 5.1 channel English soundtrack, plus an English subtitle track. There are all sorts of fun extras as well: Top 10 fan scenes from the movie, a behind the scenes short, and a very cool storyboard comparison; three sequences from the movie can be displayed with just the storyboard, just the video, or both visible--great for seeing how the production process worked. The disc also includes TV and theatrical trailers from the US, Japan, and even a Korean theatrical trailer. You might note that the Japanese and Korean trailers both feature English dialogue, with subtitles in the appropriate language.

Content Guide

Rated 17+ for graphic violence, and some mature themes; that might even be a little strict.

Violence: 4 - Being a vampire movie, there are a few extremely bloody scenes, but it was relatively restrained.

Nudity: 1 - Essentially no nudity.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - Nothing at all graphic, but strong themes.

Language: 2 - Some crude language, but not much.

Notes and Trivia

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust was released theatrically as Vampire Hunter D: 2000 in Japan, and as noted above was envisioned by the director as an English-language production from the start. The story is based loosely on one of the Vampire Hunter D novels. This series of novels, by Hideyuki Kikuchi, is the origin of D and his stories; the novels, though not manga, included illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano (best known for his art for the Final Fantasy games).

One thing worth mentioning is the dhampir legend; Dhampirs (or Vampirs) existed in East European folklore as people born from a human mother and a vampire father. "Real life" dhampirs (or rather people who claimed to be) were the only humans able to see the undead (this version of vampire was invisible), and would make money wrestling with and destroying these invisible foes for villagers. In this movie, "dunpeal" is used instead of "dhampir"; "dhampir," when transliterated into Japanese, comes out as "danpiiru," and apparently somebody decided to go with "dunpeal" when bringing it back into English (a silly decision, if you ask me).

For lots of information on the production of Bloodlust and other things Vampire Hunter D, you should check out The Vampire Hunter D Archives.

Note that the 2001 date listed as the production date is the Japanese commercial premiere of the film; it did however show at a few international film festivals during the latter half of 2000.

Availability

Available in the US from Urban Vision on English-language DVD (buy from RightStuf or AnimeNation). Was previously also available on English-language VHS.

Looking to buy? Try these stores: RightStuf (search) | AnimeNation | Akemi's a(nime)Store