Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Beautifully animated, great plot and superb acting
Disadvantages:	Virtually None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

~~~ Vampires, Hunters And Anime ~~~
‘Vampire Hunter D’ was originally a Japanese manga, (graphic novel), by Hideyuki Kikuchi. The novels follow a bounty hunter named D who, as you might gather from the title, hunts vampires. D is a donpeal - a halve-breed whose mother was a human and father was a vampire. Shunned by both races, D leads a solitary life, selling his services to anyone who has a problem with vampires. His only companion is a parasite that possesses his left-hand.

D first came to the movie-screens in 1985 in ‘Vampire Hunter D’, an anime movie that has since become something of a cult classic.
Japanese anime is often neglected in the west, at least in my opinion, with many people dismissing it as nothing more than ‘cartoons’. Without going into a lecture of why more people should like anime, I shall simply say that there is a lot of movies within the genre that can appeal to a wide-ranging audience and a vast array of different kinds of people.

‘Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust’, although the second of D’s movie-outings, it’s not a sequel in the typical sense of the word, since it doesn’t lead on from events of the original, instead telling a different tale following D.

~~~ Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust ~~~
Set ten thousand years into Earth’s future, ‘Bloodlust’ tells the tale of D being hired by the Elbourne family, when their daughter Charlotte is apparently kidnapped by the vampire named Meier Link. Not only must D try and reach the girl before Link ‘changes’ her, (or converts her into a vampire), but he is also racing against another group of bounty-hunters, known as The Marcus Brothers, who have also been hired by the family for the same task. Both have orders to either bring her back alive or. If she has been changed, to finish her in as dignified manner as possible. Alive or dead, D will receive his twenty million dollar fee - so long as he gets there first.

The movie was directed by acclaimed anime-director Yoshiaki Kawajiri, (Ninja Scrolls), who also wrote the screenplay for the movie and was made in 2000. Unusually for an anime, the dialogue was recorded in English first, rather than being dubbed.

~~~ The Movie ~~~
Visually, ‘Bloodlust’ is an extremely striking movie, with its smooth and distinctive animation. Whilst I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on anime, since there are an awful lot of movies within the genre I haven’t seen, I’ve probably seen more than most. I was particularly impressed in places by the style of the animation, since some scenes almost look as if they were real-life film in places, (this is more in regard to the background scenery, rather than the character animation). Whilst the style of drawing is similar to the 1985 movie, the actually animation is a vast improvement and I found myself drawn-in by the visuals of the movie. Whilst it manages to portray a ‘gothic’ sense to the world, it doesn’t rely on simply being dark and moody in terms of colours and there’s plenty of on-screen splendour to keep the viewer watching. I would go as far as to say that it’s one of the best drawn and animated anime’s I’ve ever seen.

The plot of the movie is very easy to follow and well paced – I don’t think it’s at all important to be familiar with either the first movie or the graphic novels, (whilst I have watched the first movie, I haven’t read any of the novels). ‘Bloodlust’ gives the viewer the right amount of information and backstory for this to work well as a self contained entity, making it easy enough to follow the story.
What I particularly enjoyed about ‘Bloodlust’ was the ambiguity regarding good and evil; whilst Link is supposedly the villain of the piece, his actions suggest otherwise. Likewise with the Marcus Brothers, who although they work on the same side as D, (the ‘hero’ of the movie and therefore a “good-guy”, by default making them “good-guys”) their actions are remarkably single-minded, such as their reactions to D as a half-breed and struck me as being far from the noble aspects one would typically associate with hero’s.

The script is superbly written and I thought it managed to bring a great amount of depth to the world that is often neglected in many other movies, whether anime or live-action. There are a couple of aspects that the script doesn’t reveal, such as how exactly Left-Hand, the parasite possessing D’s hand, came to be with D, or the backstory regarding vampires; however, like any other fantasy movie, I think if you’re prepared to take certain things on face value, accepting them as “world truths” then there’s nothing here that anyone should find excessively confusing.

Anime voice acting, to my mind at least, can make or break this kind movie. In the case of ‘Bloodlust’, I thought it was excellent. The casting of the roles brought another level of depth to the characters.
Andrew Philpot as D plays the role extremely well, bringing the cool, calm demeanour required for the role. Equally, Pamela Segall (now Pamela Aldon) does a creditable job as Leila and Michael McShane as Left-Hand plays his role to perfection.
In honesty, there are relatively few actors whose names or voices I recognised, although the obvious exceptions are John DiMaggio, (best known as Bender from Futurama - who always gets a little cheer from me whenever I hear his voice in a movie I didn’t know he was in); most surprisingly of all for me was Dwight Schultz, (A-Team, Star Trek), since I didn’t actually recognise his voice - a credit to his vocal talents.

I think a mention should also go to the music in 'Bloodlust'. Whilst it's perhaps not something you'll be humming to yourself after the movie, it does bring a great deal atmosphere to the scenes and I for one really felt it added to my overall enjoyment of the movie.

One thing I do have to say is that I don’t think the rating of 15 is justified. Whilst there are dark and ever-so-slightly violent elements to the movie, there’s nothing that is particularly “graphic” or grossly untoward about the movie. The lack of swearwords throughout the movie is highly notable - as is (thankfully) the lack of sex-scenes, which is often prevalent in many anime movies. The violence, for me, isn’t excessive or gruesome and I really feel this could have gotten away with a rating of 12; when coupled with the lack of “bad” language and nudity/sex I can’t fathom why the 15 rating was given. I don’t have kids myself, but thinking back to my teenage years there isn’t anything in ‘Bloodlust’ that I think I hadn’t encountered before at around eleven or so and to alienate pre-teen’s is an injustice to them. That said, I would always advise parents to watch this sort of movie themselves first before making the judgement about whether or not it’s suitable for their child. Hypothetically, were I to be a parent of a twelve year-old, I’d have no qualms about them watching this movie.

When you combine the animation, plot, script, music and vocal talents, which are all in themselves excellent, ‘Bloodlust’ amounts to something much more than the sum of its’ parts and everything about the movie captivated me - I really can’t think of anything I disliked about the movie.

~~~ The DVD ~~~
The DVD comes on one disc that features the movie itself, as well as some bonus material. The DVD doesn’t have any booklet or chapter listing, which is a bit of a shame, but doesn’t spoil the overall value.

The menu design is in keeping with the DVD cover, as well as the movie itself. I thought this brought a professional quality to the DVD that made it feel like a complete package, rather than something that’s been idly thrown together. The menus are easy to navigate and I think it’s virtually impossible to not understand where you are or find where you want to go.

The Special Features are: -

- Behind The Scenes Featurette
- Storyboard To Feature Comparison
- Fan’s Favourites

The Behind The Scenes is probably the bonus feature that will appeal to most viewers. I almost always enjoy these kinds of extras and the one on ‘Bloodlust’ is no exception. I found the footage interesting to watch, since it gives you not only get to see some of the voice-artists recording their parts, but also there are some interviews with the director and animators (in Japanese with subtitles) that give some interesting insights into the movie as a whole.

The Storyboard to Feature plays the movie with the original sketches with the finished movie in shown in the corner. Also, you can change the angle to see either just the sketches or the movie.
This sort of feature won’t appeal to everyone, but if you are interested typically in storyboards then the production on this is of a high standard and it’s well worth watching.

The Fan’s Favourites is perhaps the feature I found most surprising. Using an online poll from the official ‘Bloodlust’ website, it shows the top ten scenes that fans have voted for. As Special Features go, on paper it probably sounds like the most uninteresting feature you can have; however, what I found interesting about it is that the scenes shown are some of my favourite scenes and it’s easy to see why fans voted the way they did.
Again, this probably won’t appeal to everyone, given that you’ll have watched the scenes in the movie anyway, but I always find it interesting to see what the general consensus is.
I must admit however, this particular feature does seem a little bit like ‘filler’ material and whether or not it really adds anything to the DVD is very much down to personal preference.

Whilst the Special Features aren’t necessarily all that special, they are entertaining and of a high standard and there was nothing on the disc that made me feel I’d wasted my time watching. If I was going to criticise the Special Features, it would only be that I would have liked a couple more, but in all honesty that’s true of many DVDs I own, so it’s not really a major criticism in my eyes.

The DVD can be bought for around £9 from Amazon. As always, if you shop around you can probably found it cheaper still.
I think £9 isn’t extortionate, but because of so few Special Features, I can understand why some people would think it a little expensive. As a fan of the movie, I think £9 is reasonable, but being the thrifty person that I am, I’d probably be happier paying closer to £7. That said, I’m not disappointed with the price I paid for the DVD because the movie is so entertaining and something I’ve watched several times without ever getting bored.

~~~ Conclusion ~~~
‘Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust’ is perhaps one of the more accessible anime movies for a western audience, (bearing in mind that it’s one of the few that was always intended for release in the west). I think if you’re new to anime, ‘Bloodlust’ is an excellent introduction into the genre, since it gives you impressive visuals coupled with an engaging and intelligent plot. To my mind, ‘Bloodlust’ is as entertaining as any Hollywood blockbuster and I don’t think anyone would feel cheated for having watched it.
I can’t really think of anyone this might not appeal to, at least on some level, since I think anime fanatics and newcomers alike would enjoy the depth, style and overall presentation of the movie. One I would highly recommend.