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Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust Directors: Tai Kit Mak, Yoshiaki Kawajiri Number of Items: 1 Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen Format: Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Running Time: 106 minutes Studio: Urban Vision Enterta Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Region Code: 1 Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2002-02-12 Buy from Amazon |
 "Great Anime"This is simply a great anime and a great vampire movie. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is comparable to akira and ninja scroll and people should shut up about the lack of japanese track because get this, there never was a japanese language track. they animated it in japan, then it was shipped to america where it recieved the ORIGINAL voice track in ENGLISH. the basic argument for watching anime in japanese is that something was lost in translation... well this was never translated so nothing was lost.  "Not Quite Holy""Vampire Hunter D - Bloodlust" should be recognized for its attempt to revive a long lost cult classic in Anime. Stylistically, the movie is stunning - the scenary of the world is beautifully painted for its audience. The musical backgrounds, the character illustrations and the basic mood of a desolate fantasy-science fiction world are inspiring and breath taking. However, the writers of this sequel to the original masterpiece have forgotten what made the original so immaculate - even without the improvements in animation. The original "Vampire Hunter D" is a must see for all fans of Japanese Anime. It was a pioneer that successfully created a drama within a warped sci-fi motif. Earth has become a futuristic wasteland, full of technology and magic. Mankind work their days on medieval farmlands while fending off against mutants, demons, werewolves and vampires. The story begins with the non-stereotypical damsel in distress, Doris, a short skirt wearing farmer who fights off monsters using an electric whip. She has been ravished by the anceint Vampire, Count Magnus Lee, who wishes to take her as his bride. To escape her and her brother's fate at the Count's hands she hires the mysterious Vampire Hunter D to her aid. Perhaps the storyline does not seem very complex, but in contrast to "Bloodlust", there was a great deal of mystery that the audience invests in. The entire character of D, was slowly raveled out, behind his cold and calculated postierior. One had to wonder if he was even a good guy. As the movie progressed, we find out that he is half human and half vampire, has a talking hand and has a torn personality - craving a normal human life, yet also undergoing his lone responsibilities at the immortal son of Dracula. The movie concluded with his victory, though he must leave Doris, despite their obvious attraction to each other. Thus you have the tormented hero, who must walk his path alone until the end of eternity. Now that you have the background - you'd think that the sequel would be able to provide us more of an insight to the Vampire Hunter D and his true purpose. But all we get is the emotionally inept super human, who with ease, slashes and fights his way through to another inevitable confrontation with a member of the Vampire Nobility. There are no secrets left to uncover, no new information of his creation. "Bloodlust" certainly is action packed - as D races against a miss-matched group of vigilante bounty hunters for the return of a stolen maiden by a Vampire Aristocrat. The action however, feels more like a well-choreographed John Carpenter movie, rather than the exciting, gorey and unpredictable fight scenes from the first movie. The villians of "Bloodlust" are also less diverse the second time around - where in the orginal, an entire bestiary of mythological and fantastic proprotions was at the mercy of D's blade. Now, the story is too calculated and D is too indestructible and emotionally dry for us to really care how many creatures he hacks up. As for our heroine, we are greated with the one-dimensional character, Liela - who offers no worthy romance plot. Although she has the most scenes and plot development out of the Markus Brothers (the bounty hunters and competitors of D), her one personality attribute outside of being the "tough-chick" is her fear of dying alone and being forgotten. This one detail allows for some kind of bonding between her and D, but the script only allowed this to be skimmed at the surface. She is otherwise just the "tough-chick", who shoots a lot of guns and never has to reapply lipstick. I miss Doris - although it is obvious her character had died of old age centuries ago. Still, "Bloodlust" offers a few great scenes and is full of action. Its bonuses, and there are some, rely more on what can be shown, not told. This time around, we get a lot more landscapes and some very detailed artistry. There are also small references throughout the movie that detail D's legacy, but nothing in this movie that links him to being the son of Dracula. So, in my opinion, you are better off renting this than making a full purchase. If you haven't watched the original, make sure to see it first and know how "Bloodlust" should have been created.  "bloodlusting action"with grand anime that'll knock your socks off baby. bloody and great, bloody great I should say. the sequel is awesome but the original stands the test of time and space. for fans of good anime. vampires are just so cool arent they. "Excels from the original on a few points"Now, the original will always be a classic. Unfortunately, even though this film is good, it will always be the film that came AFTER "Vampire Hunter D." The influence and popularity of the original cannot be denied, even by people who think otherwise, however that does not mean this movie is in no way bad. For one, it excels in characters. The enemies and heroes are more fleshed out, and some of the heroes (the Marcus Bros. specifically) make you wonder which one is worse. Meier Link, especially, is a well developed character, and you begin to feel for him. I didn't experience such feelings in the original. Also, it excels in storyline. It annoys the hell out of me when people say otherwise, because I don't think they really know what they are talking about (some people, I've noticed, have a habit of simply summing things up with "good animation, bad storyline" and failing to elaborate). The original had the usual plot of "girl in trouble, save her." This goes for the same fling, but...wait...girl REALLY in trouble? Or girl NOT in trouble? There is also the addition of an evil Countess, and even though some have said she is just thrown in there, if you really study the film and understand the characters you'll realize she's there the whole way through. So if you like action films that aren't just blood and guts, then you should definately watch this film. I guess I can't really say much else, but "oh well, whats the sound of one hand yapping?" "Japanese Anime at its Best"Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is far superior to its predecessor in both story line and animation. The artwork is suberb, although gory, but gory is what is expected from D. Also, an interest to American viewers, the dialogue is in sync! The animation and voices were done in the west, quite a departure from most Japanese anime. Although the price is a bit sketchy, I would recommend this to any fan of Japanese anime. |
