One day not too long ago, I was happily putting stuff into my Amazon basket when an item on the "Customers who bought this also bought these" page caught my eye. The item in question was in fact this DVD, and it caught my attention as it stirred a long ago memory. Back in the late 1980's, with nothing to watch on TV, me and my other half had hit the video rental store, and came out with a VHS of Vampire Hunter D. I recalled it to be a rather refreshing take on the Dracula mythos, so decided to click on the link and take a closer look.

~~~~So, how was it?~~~

The plot itself is simple; the wealthy young Charlotte Elbourite has been taken from home in the dead of night and her family believe that the vampire known as Meier Link is the one responsible. It is to this end that the Elbourite family offer a bounty of ten million dollars for the safe retrieval of a living Charlotte, or proof of a (merciful) death if she has been "changed". Wishing to ensure success, they hire only the best. The human group of vampire hunters known as the Marcus Brothers are the first bounty hunters they have dispatched, though we first encounter the second lone vampire hunter that they are negotiating with. This is an exceptionally beautiful young man whose face we can barely glimpse from under his wide brimmed hat and enfolded in a black cloak. He rides a cybernetic black horse and carries an anchronistic silver sword. We discover he is known only as "D" and that he is much feared, with the townspeople training weapons upon him even as the family negotiate terms. The reason? D is considered untrustworthy, being a dhampir himself (though here called a dunpeal). A human/vampire hybrid who preys upon vampires, most humans see him as a traitor to vampires and with his own vampiric heritage, a possible traitor to humans as well. D, however, seems unfazed by this, and bumps up the price to 20 million before agreeing to the job. Off he rides, through desolate landscapes, replete with splendid overpass bridges bearing witness to a post apocalyptic society struggling to rebuild using what ever they can lay their hands upon.

The ending is satisfying, yet tragic, but none the less leaves questions unanswered. The main one being, just what is going on up on that space station? We don't get to know, and to be honest, it has left me intrigued enough that I am ordering the books, hoping to find out through later stories. Despite this small lingering query (which truthfully, is hinted at in the film, but I want DETAILS), and the dark nature of the material, the film is saved from being too dark by deft touches of humour. Some of this is thanks to the levity provided by D's own left hand. It is never explained in the film where Left Hand comes from, but he is some sort of parasitic demon-like creature who lives within D and manifests upon the palm of his left hand (hence his name).

Well worth a mention here as well is the soundtrack. The music here is all instrumental (credit goes to Marco D'Ambrosio as the music producer). The music here quite frankly imbues more emotional impact in the scenes than some of the voice actor's performances. In particular, the melancholic acoustic guitar piece written for Leila stirs feelings much more than any mere dialogue or flashback could. This is where a good set of speakers becomes worth their weight in gold when watching, just so you get the full auditory effect.

Being in the bargain bin section, and given the time this was made, I would not have been surprised at a direct imprint from the original. This is not the case, however. Production values for this title were high, with the picture crisp and clear. Likewise, the audio has been remastered and we get the option of having the sound as 2:1 or Dolby 5:1 for a surround sound effect. There are even some fairly decent extras thrown in for people who like that sort of thing: Behind the Scenes Featurette (watching the actors do the voiceovers in clips, etc), Storyboard to feature (the artists drawings and storyboards, then how they animated them, clips of interviews with the director and producer, etc), to Fan's favourites (a top ten series of clips from the film of fan's favourite scenes culled from a web survey). The only let down really is for the hearing impaired, as there are no options for subtitles at all. The only language available on here is English as well, which may seem unusual for a Japanese anime, but rest assured this is NOT a re-dub. Rather, this film was originally cast with American voice actors and then redubbed into Japanese for the release there. Admittedly, having watched the first film in Japanese with subtitles and in general finding that Japanese seiyuu (voice actors) tend to out perform their western counterparts, having the alternative track with subtitles would have been nice. Not to worry, though, as the acting is quite good enough and mostly without that awful cheesiness so often found with American anime dubs. All round, a good effort both from the anime creators and the Optimum Asia DVD staff, making this a real little gem.