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Vampire Hunter D Directors: Carl Macek, Toyoo Ashida Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Academy Ratio Format: Color, Animated, Dolby Audience Rating: Unrated Running Time: 80 minutes Studio: Urban Vision Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2000-10-17 Buy from Amazon |
 "Over-hyped but defiantly worth seeing."Although I usually prefer to watch dubs so I don't have to read movies, I found the Japanese version to be much more entertaining. The English Dub seems very distant and almost boring. Luckily it is "standard" for anime DVD's to have both dubs and subs. Unless you are a collector of VH-D stuff there isn't really any good reason to buy this. However, it is defiantly worth seeing. Especially since the sequel is so good. If I had rented this or seen it on tv I probably wouldn't have bought it.  "Vampire Hunter D is a solid A!"I remember the time I came upon this movie when Cartoon Network was showing an anime festival every midnight on Saturday for 3 weeks and I saw the amazing first 5 minutes and I sought it out, bought it, years later I bought the DVD again and the transfer is ok but now to the film. The film was one of the first true horror animated films for adults (mind you this came out before AKIRA so AKIRA was not the only great one to come out in the 80s) and it's as good as if it had been made into live action movie. The animation is amazing considering the time period and the screenplay is very layered. It makes a fairly subtle social commentery about social positions in terms of the "common" mixing with pure bloods which gives it an added depth which makes it even more compelling and makes it rise above the average anime film. The characters are all extremely well drawn. You can't help but feel empathy for Lamika, the Count's daughter. It has some great visuals in terms of the design of the demons and mosters and the design of landscapes and castles. The music is also great, very ominous, classical and heartfelt at times. This movie also creates a great anime superhero in D who deservedly had another movie created around him called VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST. Do not miss this movie. It is a milestone in anime. "The birth of all vampire hunters in movies/anime...."Vampire Hunter D is a great example of how anime has influenced American Movie makers and some comic book heroes. Here we have a half vampire named D who is hired by a chick named Doris to rid herself of a Vampire Lord who wishes to marry her. I first saw this film back when I was 13 and it still is awesome to watch seven years later. If you like Blade or any vampire movie/anime then Vampire Hunter D is for you.  "Unfortunately I bought instead of rented"This is one of the first anime movies I ever watched and it almost turned me against the genre. Thankfully, I bought Ninja Scroll afterward and was taken back in. I did not care for the slow feeling of the movie and my mind kept wandering. The imagery is wonderful, which is why I gave it three stars. The pictures from the film are worth framing! For that reason alone I kept the movie. The animation is good. It has a dark and eerie feel that will draw you in if you care more for atmosphere than story. "Good, but not great"This was a good anime...for its time. However, by today's standards, the colours seem rather bland, and the dialogue, though masterfully dubbed, us kinda crony. Nevertheless, it has its 'damn, that's cool' moments, but all in all I expected more. I know the review sounds negative, but this really is a good movie, and worthy of four stars. Watch it. |
