Amazon.com: Based on a series of fantasy novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a bloody anime adventure. Set in the distant future, the story focuses on D (voice by Andrew Philpot), the son of a vampire and a mortal who has dedicated his life to exterminating vampires. D is pursuing Charlotte (Wendee Lee), who has been carried off by vampire Meier Link (John Rafter Lee). The bounty-hunting Markus brothers and tough-talking Leila (Pamela Segall) are also on the trail. A long, violent chase brings them to the Castle of Carmila the Bloody Countess (Julia Fletcher), where the narrative founders in a series of confusing illusions that lead to an inconclusive ending. Bloodlust looks better in still images that evoke Yoshitaka Amano's intricate illustrations than it does in motion. The very limited drawn animation clashes visually with the more fluid computer-generated imagery--D's cape billows dramatically, but his expression rarely changes. Fans of such violent anime features as Sword for Truth and Ninja Resurrection will enjoy the no-holds-barred action sequences, but more squeamish viewers will be put off by the beheadings, impalements, disembowelments, etc. Vampire Hunter D, an earlier, more modest feature based on the same material, is a better adaptation. --Charles Solomon
Life of a dhampir With his postapocalyptic world and medieval cowboy look, Vampire Hunter D is undeniably one of the coolest vampire-slaying antiheroes out there.
And the cool fact gets ramped up in "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust," which is loosely based on Hideyuki Kikuchi's third novel about this half-vampire hunter. This one is a dark amalgam of loneliness, tragic romance, spectacularly gory action scenes, and some glorious post-"Ghost in the Shell" animation. Not to mention a wonderfully horrible villain.
The vampire Meier Link has abducted a wealthy young girl named Charlotte, and her desperate family hires D to bring her back -- or kill her if she has been turned into a vampire.
But D has competition, as the rough'n'ready Marcus Brothers (and hard-bitten "sister" Leila) have also been hired to catch Link. But when D catches up to Link, he finds that apparently the vampire and the girl are in love -- and Link has his own trio of lethal mutant bodyguards, who do their best to decimate the Marcus Brothers' numbers. And he unwittingly earns the anger of Leila, who is annoyed that a hated dhampir saved her backside.
But even knowing the facts -- and threatened by the Mutant Barbarois -- D won't give up. He and Leila follow the lovers to Castle Chaythe, an enormous fortress ruled by an ancient vampire named Carmilla. But in this castle of shadows, blood and nightmares, D's true power begins to shine when Carmilla attempts to destroy him... but what of those around him?
The two "Vampire Hunter D" movies were made fifteen years apart, so don't expect "Bloodlust" to resemble the first movie. This one is sort of "Ghost in the Shell" with a bizarre sci-fi vampire/gothic twist, and a somewhat bleaker storyline -- although nowhere near as dark as the original book.
In fact, it cranks the gothic grandeur up to the max -- dark crosses, enormous gilded palaces, dark pillared halls, sweeping capes, blood-soaked dreams and somnolent music. Even the scenes in a futuristic Western town (complete with yokel sheriff), airborne mantas and a startlingly green forest with a ruined palace can't stifle the darker dimensions of this story.
The plot of "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" unfolds rather slowly, with different motives being unveiled as the story goes on. But along the way, Yoshiaki Kawajiri peppers the story with kinetic, blood-soaked fight scenes (with iron capes, killer vines, astral projection and a giant wolf-face on a guy's stomach), building up slowly to the gruesome battle with Carmilla. Her final duel with D is stomach-turning, much like her red barbell hair.
But it's not all action and zombie attacks -- Kawajiri sprinkles in some dark humor ("My NOSE!") and some poignant scenes for the tragic lovers, like Meier's daytime attempt to rescue Charlotte.
D himself gets fleshed out nicely in here, despite being a dhampir of few words -- we get to see his loneliness, discrimination, his mommy issues, and his fondness for small children. And despite all his powerful fight scenes, we get to see his more vulnerable moments as well. Even if he does look a bit silly buried up to his neck as he carries on a conversation.
Since he rarely talks, most of the conversation comes from Left Hand, who provides sporadic comic relief ("You're not really bad. You just dress bad") and insights into D's mind. And Leila is a pretty brilliant female lead -- tough, rough, hard-bitten, but still able to reluctantly befriend D when she realizes that they're not that different.
"Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" is a dark portrait of postapocalyptic horror, done with beautiful animation and lots of blood'n'crosses. Definitely a must-see.
Neo-Vampires The original cult classic, Vampire Hunter D (1985), is up there with the likes of Ninja Scroll, Akira and Ghost in a Shell. Bloodlust (2000) is the new look 21st century Manga and is the main presentation for their next generation look.
The cult reputation of the original story, which featured sexual elements as well as horrific violence, has been sacrificed and toned down to produce a picture for a larger audience. Vampire Hunter D is still action packed, and heads do get parted, but it is not as visceral as the 80s bag of guts.
Essentially this is Manga's platform for its new style. Bloodlust looks almost as good as a completely CGI generated movie (such as the new Appleseed remake). While computers have been used to enhance the artwork, producing 3D special effects, it still essentially feels like Manga.
The story revolves around the alledged kidnapping of a woman by a vampire. D is hired to bring her back and meets up with a team of vampire hunters along the way. There is a thrilling bridge sequence followed by the castle of illusions assault on all your senses ending.
As long as you go into this knowing that its more mainstream than the cult classic then you will not be disappointed. It is one of the best looking Manga around and the artwork is near faultless.
A beautiful dark anime about vampires This is a must have for anime collectors. The animation looks great even for an older film. This full length film is meant for the mid-teen to older crowd, for animated violence and gore.
A perfect example of why I love anime Vampire Hunter D Bloodlist has got to be one of my favorite anime movies of all the time. The animation is beautiful, the soundtrack is awesome, the voice acting is terrific, the characters and story are original and most important of all... This anime sets the bar for vampire animations. Bloodlust blows the first movie out of the water with ease. D gets more fleshed out in this movie. The real shame here is that there are so many novels for Vampire Hunter D (this movie is based off of the 3rd novel) and so few movies for them.
Awesome movie It has a few flaws, but Vampire Hunter D is so fantastic it's style beats the flaws.
The flaws are thus; 1. The sound goes from too quiet to too loud too often. This is intentional, but not good. 2. They talk about money in Japanese terms. Imagine if Americans talked about money if a penny was the standard unit of currency? The high amounts they talk bespeak; "Well it's post nuke so they all can loot open banks, but why bother?" 3. They use the term "Dunpeal" for D, which is a mistranslation of "Vampyrr" and/or "Dhampire". Not everyone bones up on vampire lore, but the latter two terms are intuitive to an English speaker who's seen even one vampire movie. 4. Just a minor note, but the Sheriff Leila "Flirts" with has far more importance in the book, relating to both her treatment by her brothers and the ending.
Now, this movie differs from the book a lot, but I think they did an overall great job with this adaptation. Benge, the Clouphobia inducing shadowmancer, is far more deadly and scary in the movie. He also uses a technique not used in the book, but in it's prequel "Raiser of Gales".
The Marcus Brothers are portrayed as being slightly more than brutal thugs, flattering from what they behaved like in the book. Then again, if they'd animated their mistreatment of Leila, well it would have probably launched a talk of a crackdown like the infamous movie theater showing of "Urotsukidoji"...
Of course what really steals the show is the love of Meir Link with the woman he's kidnapped and D's hateful pursuit of them, being motivated far more than by money. I'd have added Carmilla in the movie in my complaints, except it sets the scene for a much more gothic/romantic ending. Also, vastly improved are the "Barbaroi" and Grove's powers. (one of the Marcus brothers)
On fictions that have "Monster is a monster hunters" I go "Come ON, why?" but D is such a fiction that pulls off an innovation, now wretchedly cliche genre. I'd encourage both the films and to read the novels.
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