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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 |
 "Great movie HORRIBLE transfer!!"You have to be generous with any Anime created during the Golden Age of Anime. The studio houses bringing over these properties weren't as considerate as they are now. The anglicization was as bad as it could get, and poor story treatment was due to the fact that "Noone but children watch cartoons, why should we make it serious or invest any real time on this?" So you get what they give. Also don't expect the flashy animation of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, but more akin to Robotech. If you can realize that your not sitting down to watch anything currently on Cartoon Network's Toonami, then you ought to have a decent time. The only thing stopping you? One of the worst transfers I've ever seen (and I've seen over 500 DVDs in my collection alone) I don't know what goofball was at the helm, when they decided to put this to disc, but he left the brightness level at null. There are far too many scenes in which you hear something going on, but you can't see anything because the picture is almost completely black. My favorite scene would be the one in which the main character is wandering through a cave, and all you can see is his head floating throught the middle of the screen! So in conclusion:  "Go with Bloodlust!!"I started off my Vampire Hunter D collection with Bloodlust (the more recent sequel to this movie) and then eventually got around to renting this one. The story, characters, and animation in Bloodlust are far superior so if you are opting for just one of the VHD films, go with that. In all fairness though, compared to other movies that 1985 dished up, this one is very watchable.  "ick. just...ick."I had heard a lot about Vampire Hunter D, and was quite eager to see it for myself, thinking it would be something along the lines of Vampire Princess Miyu: an intelligent and disturbing title about vampires. Well, one out of three isn't so bad, is it? If Vampire Hunter D were live-action, it could probably easily out B-movie the best out there by Ed Wood. Mystery Science Theater 3000 would probably jump at the chance to "review" it in one of their shows. You'd find it on sale at K-Mart on the $2.99 video rack right next to Vinyl Vixens from Venus and Triceps of Titanium. As it is, though, it's a poorly thought-out and executed flick that makes you wonder what the big fuss was all about. The story simply screams "B-movie," with plot holes abound and characters that seem more gimmicky than real, such as the Italian Godfather Vampire Magnus Lee and his punk, mohawked undead minions. D himself is about as captivating as Van Damme was in his role as Guile in the Street Fighter live-action movie, only that he's slightly less articulate than Van Damme was. I think it's quite telling that the most engaging character in the title is D's wisecracking hand (yes, you heard me right). The character design is highly forced and trite, shamelessly following where all have gone before: the stoic, unflinching hero with a dark past; the helpless and fetching heroine; the ambitious minion who wants to wrest power -- where have I seen these before? It's one thing to base off of what has been established before, but D doesn't attempt to go any further than the cliche. The entire premise is flawed, too -- if Magnus wanted Doris so badly, why didn't he just keep her when he bit her neck the first time? The action scenes are equally uninspired, drawn and animated in a decrepit style that just begs to be quietly forgotten. D's powers as a vampire hunter are vastly overpowered, neatly removing all sense of tension from any of the scenes. Either the villains are all really stupid, or D is too powerful, or both. Watching the fight scenes is sort of like watching someone play Castlevania on the old 8-bit Nintendo, the difference being that I actually LIKED Castlevania. It would be unfair to say, though, that there is nothing good about Hunter D at all. There are some scenes that are rather repellent in their goriness, and the ending animation is actually quite impressive, especially given the age of this title. On balance, however, the film fails to do exactly what a horror film is supposed to do: horrify. For some good animated chills, check out Princess Miyu, or one of the darker tales by Takahashi (Laughing Target, the Mermaid saga); heck, even Phantom Quest has more effective spooks than D does. But don't expect shivers while watching D unless it's cold where you live. "Bleh"Funny how the cover has nothign to do with the feeling of the movie. I know it was done like 18 years ago, but the color scheme is aqua,pink,navy,black,white, etc very dull, the characters look like they have been drawn by a kindergarden class, and the story isn't that interesting, honestly i got through half of it, and turned it off. I couldnt even finish the movie! Watching this, all i could recomend is sticking to cheesy cartoons on tv, because they are highly more superiour to this. And not to mention the dialogue is beyond histerical. Rent if you must, then return it fast. "Never Was A Must-Have..."Vampire Hunter D is definatley not mediocre anime, but it can't compare to other anime movies such as Ninja Scroll, Akira, Ghost In The Shell, etc. The animators did get very lazy on occasion. The story is a little generic, but it still kept me interested. Vampire and anime fans should pick this up, others should only rent it. (I thought Bloodlust was better) |
