Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2003-08-02 (updated 2012-09-27)
• 5 stars out of 5 (?)

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 unexpectedly engaging once it gets going, with enough sentiment and humanity to cut through the icy style, and the characters have a modest amount of depth beneath their stone-cold facades. Even the English dialogue (which is the original language, not a dub) is very good, and it's all backed up by a grand and appropriately dark musical score.

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

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2003-08-02 (updated 2012-09-27)
• 5 stars out of 5 (?)

Fans of the original 1985 Vampire Hunter D movie describe it as the ultimate vampire action movie; it was not, but Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is actually worthy of that sort of praise. With ultra-slick visuals, high-budget animation, style galore, and a surprisingly engaging plot, this Yoshiaki Kawajiri tour de force is everything a Vampire Hunter D movie could hope to be. Although it involves the same title character and world as the popular original, Bloodlust also isn't exactly a sequel, in that the stories aren't related, and you certainly don't need to have seen one to appreciate the other.

Let me state outright that I don't generally like vampire movies; all that angst, power, passion, and sexuality wrapped up in the attractive package of the bloodsucking undead gets on my nerves. So, although I'm not incapable of enjoying vampire action movies, I really wasn't expecting to like Bloodlust all that much.

Boy, was I wrong.

Above all else, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust isn't just cool, it isn't just stylish, it is full-on gorgeous--and I do not throw terms like that around lightly. The action set-pieces are exciting, full of creative powers and locations, positively dripping with style, and fluidly animated. The settings range from sweeping vistas to fabulous, ornate castles, to dark, densely-packed 18th century-style towns, with each background rendered in a combination of barely-noticeable (but very effective) CG work and beautifully detailed art. Even many of the non-violent scenes feature an abundance of style and masterfully produced animation.

Most importantly for the feel of the movie, just about everything (with the possible exception of one slightly-too-traditional Old West-style town) is infused with some level of artistic flair, be it a subtly rich backdrop in a forest glen, a sunset showdown bathed in amber tones, or a variety of creatively surreal illusions and magical powers. The only thing that I could complain about is the fact that (other than D), the character designs seem to have little to do with Yoshitaka Amano's style. I say "could" because they look so good that it's a stylistic decision, not a problem--distinctive, relatively realistic, hard-edged, generally attractive, and well-drawn. More than just stylish gothic darkness (though there's plenty of that too) Bloodlust is beautiful, slick, and expensive-looking--visually speaking, vampire movies don't get any better than this.

The visuals are more than enough to carry the film, but what surprised me the most was the story. Superficially it sounds more or less like the first Vampire Hunter D movie (or a post-apocalyptic Blade, another vampire-hunting series probably inspired by this one): Half-vampire angst, a damsel in distress, an evil vampire with a horde of scary monsters to cut up, plus a team of vampire hunters to spice things up. However, under the surface, Bloodlust has far more depth than its predecessor, and, on the whole, strikes a remarkably effective balance between plot and action. More impressive still, although there's an appropriate volume of cold, aloof heroes, dark tragedy, angst, and internal conflict of vampire hunger versus human emotion, all of them are in measured amounts. Not only does the story never bog down, the romantic aspects are remarkably sentimental--in a good way.

Although there are a number of relatively formulaic situations, and it took a little while to grab me, as the characters began to flesh out I found myself getting surprisingly caught up in their exploits. D and Leila, the two main characters, have a coldly antagonistic relationship; both have a reasonable amount of depth to their motives and emotional character, and Leila also has an angry edge. More impressively, even the villain, Meier Link, turned out to be more interesting than he first appears. The rest of the cast doesn't feel as fleshed out, but there are still a variety of distinctive personalities (particularly among the hunters), and on the whole they fit together and keep things interesting.

Bloodlust does a lot of things right, but there's one thing that stands out as truly different: D's left hand, which is infested with a chatty, wisecracking supernatural parasite. Comic relief isn't unheard of, but a smart-ass sidekick literally attached to the ultra-cold hero in a film this unrelentingly stylish is a break from formula, at the least. I'm a bit undecided on how well it works, but even though the hand's whining borders on annoying, it's just enough to keep things from getting too dark. The generally inappropriate comments also demonstrate the film's confidence that it's strong enough to break its own mood on occasion (which it is). In any case, the hand doesn't talk all that much, so it isn't a big deal either way.

Actually, there's one more somewhat unconventional thing about Bloodlust: English dialogue. I'm sure some hardcore sub fans (like myself) were reflexively enraged at the lack of a Japanese-language version, even on the DVD. Don't be--if you really don't like dubs, then you shouldn't be complaining, because the English version isn't one. Although a quality Japanese-language dub was also made, English is the "first" language; writer-director Yoshiaki Kawajiri intended it to be in English from the start of production and was involved in the English dialogue recording. Even the original theatrical release--in Japan, mind you--was English-only, with Japanese subtitles, as was the Japanese DVD. Bottom line: you are certainly allowed to not like the English dialogue, but there's no legitimate reason to complain about it on principle, and it most certainly is not a dub.

Setting that little hornet's nest aside, I thought the English voice work was exceedingly good. Although it wavers dangerously close to cheesy a couple of times, the dialogue is solidly written for the most part, and there are a few bits of natural-sounding color--the minor members of the hunter team in particular feel "normal" enough to bring a touch of realism to the rather caricatured group. The casting and acting are quite good all around, with Andrew Philpot's impressively smooth voice backing up D's few lines, and Pamela Segall as an appropriately dry, harsh Leila. Even though the cold characters don't allow for much dramatic range, the occasional chink in the armor is played fairly well. The closest things I have to complaints would be that a couple of the generally colorful minor characters are a little cheesy, and Matt McKenzie's Borgoff is a bit broad in comparison to the rest of the cast, though even his character works well enough. All around, I was quite satisfied with the dialogue--it works well, and probably seems more natural than Japanese would have, particularly in the case of the hunter team.

The last thing to mention is Marco D'Ambrosio's musical score: Dark, well written, and appropriately grand in scale, it is a perfect compliment to the visuals. I particularly liked some of the creepy, chaotic choral themes, but all of it is very good.

There is a lot to say about Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, but the bottom line is quite simple: it is the ultimate vampire action anime, period. As Kawajiri did with Ninja Scroll in its genre, Bloodlust takes a tried-and-true theme and does everything right--everything--with just enough creative touches to keep it fresh. It's hard to call it anything but a must-see for any fan of vampires, action, or fine-looking animation in general.

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Related Recommendations

As far as its genre goes, this is the pinnacle, but you might check out the original Vampire Hunter D for a story about the same character with much lower production values. Ninja Scroll is a different setting, but has a very similar style of action, so might also interest fans. A heavily stylized modern vampire tale with a somewhat similar style is Hellsing, or if you want a lighter modern vampire, there's also Night Walker. For a much more subtle take on vampire horror, try Vampire Princess Miyu.