While it wasn’t a great movie, the original Vampire Hunter D was in itself an enjoyable horror that managed to start off an important part in anime history that would cater to the adult/mature demographic with its dark visuals, brooding characters, haunting atmospheres and limitless amounts of gore and blood just to drive the point home. With technology in animation improving to where new ground can be broken, Vampire Hunter D came back once again in the year 2000 with probably it’s most famous and easily best literation in the series based off this character, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.
The movie (based loosely off the third novel in Hideyuki Kikuchi's series called “Demon Deathchase”) follows D where he is once again on his quest ridding the ruined post-apocalyptic world of Vampires and whatever types of creatures roam the world, he is hired by John Elbourne under the payment of $500,000 to retrieve his daughter Charlotte who was taken by the vampire Baron Meier Link. However John’s son Alan Elbourne has also hired bounty hunters known as The Marcus Brothers for the exact amount that D is being paid. It’s a race to see who can kill the vampire and return with the hostage alive or dead for the most part; however throughout the course of the movie it becomes clear that the reason for Charlotte being taken by Meier was through forbidden love which becomes harder to understand from all the characters who are trying to save her.
Whilst not being a direct sequel or even anything related to the film from 1985, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a movie that feels fresh and stands firmly on its own. Everything about this works in every conceivable way, the look and tone of the movie from its characters and setting do a great job of dropping you into this still ruined and rundown post-apocalyptic world but at the same time offer something different and engaging which make it not just a great vampire anime, but a great vampire movie.
The characters for starters are what drive this movie forward because there is a huge cast where each person is written, designed and playoff in a specific way which make this movie stand out. D as usual still is a stoic, cold and at times emotionless lead but Bloodlust does a good job of adding a level of depth to his character as well as providing some interest to the characters that he interacts with, Charlotte Elbourne while not given a large amount of depth is written to where her love for Meier Link is an understandable one but it also adds a soul-crushing amount of weight to the lives that have been taken because of this love. Charlotte’s presence in the film offers an amount of concern for where she would gladly take her own life just to be with Meier Link, which shows the bond they form and lengths that it goes to see that their love is not stopped by anyone. Meier Link as an antagonist is written to where he is not your typical “blood-sucking monster” and where he is given some level of emotion and understanding, Meier’s character behaves more like a gentleman to where her relationship with Charlotte is shown to be a complicated and difficult one as because where she is a human and Meier is a Vampire it’s impossible to see that their love is anything that is real to where Meier has to control is vampiric urges as Charlotte tempts him to drink her blood. The Lust between the two plays out as a very sensual and emotional one. In addition to the 3 main leads we have The Marcus Brothers which although their main concern is the money, serve as interesting side characters to focus on as while we see them interact off each other as well as with the other cast; they each bring something special to the film.
The Marcus Brothers which include
• Borgoff – The Leader and oldest who is armed with a crossbow.
• Nolt – Second oldest brother of the siblings armed with Staff with stakes on both ends.
• Kyle – The third brother armed with crescent blades which are similar to that of shurikens.
• Grove – The fourth brother who although sick and bed-written can manifest his energy through injection of the serum that allows him to become a spirit and emit blasts of light from his body.
Although each of the brothers stand out very well in their own way because of their appearances and personalities, the one member of the character who we draw more focus on is the character of Leila, A young woman who joined up with the Marcus Brothers at a young age after her mother was changed into a vampire and was stoned to death by the villagers and her father who tried to save her. Leila’s character easily gets the most development to where we see underneath the rough and violent outside to her she is a deeply caring and concerned individual to where she believes that when she dies, she will not be mourned. The moments with her are easily what win the film over when we see her reveal her vulnerability to the character of D in the scenes both characters have with each other make her story and development highly rewarding.
• Borgoff – The Leader and oldest who is armed with a crossbow.
• Nolt – Second oldest brother of the siblings armed with Staff with stakes on both ends.
• Kyle – The third brother armed with crescent blades which are similar to that of shurikens.
• Grove – The fourth brother who although sick and bed-written can manifest his energy through injection of the serum that allows him to become a spirit and emit blasts of light from his body.
Although each of the brothers stand out very well in their own way because of their appearances and personalities, the one member of the character who we draw more focus on is the character of Leila, A young woman who joined up with the Marcus Brothers at a young age after her mother was changed into a vampire and was stoned to death by the villagers and her father who tried to save her. Leila’s character easily gets the most development to where we see underneath the rough and violent outside to her she is a deeply caring and concerned individual to where she believes that when she dies, she will not be mourned. The moments with her are easily what win the film over when we see her reveal her vulnerability to the character of D in the scenes both characters have with each other make her story and development highly rewarding.
What I’ve always loved about this film was its production which began in 1997 with a clear intent of being shown in American theatres. Directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri with character designs by Yutaka Minoawa, both these two who worked together on Ninja Scroll easily bring out the best in this movie which make everything about it worth the time taken to enjoy each scene and each movement of the character, Minowa’s designs offer a strange sort of beauty and element to it which while some of the characters appear unrealistic based on size and scale work well because of how real the human characters that aren’t muscular would appear. Animated by Studio Madhouse, the film is supported by a very strong budget to where every scene where characters are fighting, talking to each other looks and is animated to where each frame of this film feels like a beautifully gothic comic book, following from Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s love of Western Cinema, moments in the film which borrow strong influence of films from the Western genre which tie into the setting of the movie are played out incredibly well in the film. Areas to where the film would go into such as ruined villages or gigantic castles like the Castle of Chaythe pay huge detail in regards to the architecture and the setting which although this is supposed to be taking place in the far distant future it goes above and beyond to show the buildings with a certain level of age and quality and where everything needs to be designed in a specific way for it to work in the world it’s set in.
Audio for this movie is an interesting one; the reason for this movie to be shown to western audiences first is mainly due to where the score and the English Dub were done before the animation, which is a rare instance to where in Anime the voices would be recorded first and the animation would be done later. The biggest example of this being a rare is the film Akira to where the mouth movement and the animation would match what the characters are saying and doing. The score for this composed by Marco D'Ambrosio while being nothing majorly iconic brings something special and unique to the film, the score is a wide mix to where it has sweeping moments for the action scenes and rather quiet and moving moments for characters who are in a downtime state. The score stands out for being something different as well as doing a clever job of being unique in bringing something different to each of the characters and the setting.
The English dub by Urban Vision stands out for being one of the rare instances where an English dub for an anime works because of who they picked to voice each character, voice directed by Jack Fletcher you have a huge amount of talent poured into this. Andrew Philpot as D is a casting that slips perfectly into place; it’s not as stern or as old as Michael McConnohie’s performance and not as rough and angry as John Gremillion’s. Philpot’s take on the character is a quiet and sombre performance which fits well with the look of the character and when he needs to emote and enrage he does it well and makes the character more dimensional and someone to relate to. Wendee Lee as Charlotte Elbourne is pretty okay for what she has to do, for a voice actress who has had a long career in the anime industry voicing rather iconic characters she does well for the performance of Charlotte, offering a rather gentle but rather hollow feel to her. John Rafter Lee (best known for his roles as Trevor Goodchild from Aeon Flux & Jason Wynn from Spawn) plays Meier Link despite being a Vampire a rather troubled and very mournful character, mournful in that having to deal with the extinction of the vampire race must escape from the decaying world with his beloved to find somewhere where their love can go on for an eternity, John Rafter Lee provides a dark level of emotion to Meier Link and gives a rather stunning performance. Pamela Adlon who plays the role of Leila does great at giving the character a rough and distant persona to when she is angry or engaged with a dramatic scene she does a masterful job at bringing out that intensity and action to her performance as well as when she is quiet and withdrawn she does a great job of keeping it down and at the right level of sympathy which is needed for the character. Additional talents to this such as Matt McKenzie, John Dimaggio, Dwight Schultz, Alex Fernandez, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Debi Derryberry etc. manage to bring to life a cast of unforgettable characters, however one performance in particular stands out the most.
Mike McShane (who best known for his improvisational comedy on shows such as “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) plays the character of Left-Hand, who serves as a demonic entity to the character of D. The Left-Hand’s dialogue consists of sarcastic & dry lines which make his scenes stealers and don’t waste a single time in making this a character someone to remember, Although Mike McShane has not done much voice acting his work in this stands out as being something special something that brings a level of humor to a movie that is mostly horror and action.
Overall Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a great movie, while the plot tends to rush abit quick and not give the audience enough time to develop some of the characters it does a great job on keeping us fixed on the action scenes that are beautifully animated and well established as well as diving a little bit deeper into the mythology of the vampire lore and the world for which we see unfold. Everything about this movie fits into place rather neatly and it doesn’t waste time with the job it’s given, it works well for a movie that although contains minor horror elements gives us some rather enjoyable action.
Easily a movie worth the watch on repeated viewing, highly recommended.
Easily a movie worth the watch on repeated viewing, highly recommended.
Sami Sadek is a lifelong Transformers and Anime fan, and can often be found propping up bars or appearing in the background of Auto Assembly vids. He has also talks on Youtube, Tumbls on Tumblr, Tweets on Twitter, doodles on Deviantart and is a regular co-host on this very site's Cyberritz. He has never had a swordfight atop a church whilst a crow watches. Honest.
