Old School Anime Review - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

A few weeks ago I reviewed Vampire Hunter D and now it's time to look at the second film outing of the titular vampire hunter, D. Let's begin.

Possible spoilers ahead - you've been warned.

Some Background

So, for the last review I talked about the books on which the films are based. With that in mind, I rarely repeat myself but I should at least give some information on the film's background.

For starters, author Hideyuki Kikuchi wrote the first of the Vampire Hunter D novels in 1983 and is still going strong with a total of 37 novels and counting, 21 of these books have been translated into English.

The series follows the exploits of a half-breed vampire hunter named D as he wanders through a post-apocalyptic world ruled over by the nobility (vampires) about 5000 years after a nuclear war pretty much destroyed the world.

Adaptation-wise, there have been several adaptation but we're looking at the second of the two film adaptations - Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

Based on the third of Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels, Bloodlust was released in 2000 in 12 US theaters to a largely positive reception with some criticism being leveled at the bare-bones story.

The Story

A young woman named Charlotte is spirited away by the vampire Count Meier Link. Her family hires D, a dhampir (pronounced dunpeal in the film for some reason), to retrieve her and either bring her home safely or kill her if she's been turned by the time he finds her.

D sets out and competes with a rival group of hunters - the Marcus brothers - to retrieve the woman. Things are somewhat complicated by the vampire's claim that Charlotte is with him of her own free will; a claim that she seemingly reinforces.

Where is Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Successful?

Let's start off with what works, shall we?

Plot and Characters

I loved the film's overarching plot. Charlotte and Meier's love story is tackled with some surprising maturity. It would've been so easy to go with the melodramatic performances and brooding that one would expect from modern teen-oriented films nowadays. Instead, we're treated to a story with remarkable depth thanks in large part to the character of Meier Link.

Meier Link could've been similar to the previous film's vampire antagonist - Count Magnus Lee - and been straight-up evil and bored but he's not. He's tired and lonely and just wants to have a happily-ever-after of his own. His love for Charlotte is of such that he braves daylight and almost burns to death in the process of preventing the Marcus brothers from taking her back - much to their shock.

The character of Leila has a story of her own, that of a woman driven into isolation and loneliness by the very choices she made. The life of a vampire hunter is a sad one, what 'normal' person could understand the motives and emotions and stresses that she puts herself through. She's driven to hunt, presumably out of misplaced guilt over her mother's death but she also fears that nobody will remember her when she's gone. That fear prompts her to make a pact with D: whomever survives will bring flowers to the other one's grave. The other part of that story, involves her coming to grips with the fact that maybe not all vampires are evil incarnate - even cheering for Link and Charlotte towards the end.

As far as D is concerned, he's very much the same as he was in the previous film; stoic, mostly-silent, and only speaks when he's got something meaningful to say. He has made peace with what he is and what that means for him in regards to his lifestyle. He is lonely, but he's resigned himself to an eternity of isolation - after all, he can't really have a relationship with a human in the typical sense.

Visual Storytelling: Animation, Writing, and Sound Design

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is practically a master class in visual storytelling. The opening scene really serves to create a sense of uneasiness with all the town's crosses warping in the presence of the vampire nobleman.

With a 15 year gap between films, the animation is vastly superior to its 1985 predecessor. The use of shadows gives us a truly Gothic feel to the film and I love it! The sound design and voice acting are also absolutely fantastic.

The writing is spot on, with humor at all the right moments to give us a break between action sequences.

Where Does Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Fail?

As with all films, not everything will work 100% of the time. Thankfully in this case; the list is short.

The Last Minute Antagonist

This is probably going to confuse a few people but Meier Link is NOT the film's main antagonist. I realize that sounds odd to those who haven't seen the film so let me explain - please keep the aforementioned spoiler warning in mind.

We know Meier is taking Charlotte to a place where they can board a ship and depart to the 'City of the Night' - i.e. a spacecraft that'll take them off of Earth (it's a movie just go with it). What we don't know is who has the ship, until the end of the film. They arrive at the castle of Chaythe, the home of the vampire Countess Carmilla...yes, really. She seems sympathetic at first, until it's revealed that she's a ghost hellbent on reclaiming her physical form.

Now, I'll have to come back to that point but I will say that Carmilla doesn't have much of a presence in the overreaching story. When she's onscreen, it's a different story; the actress really threw herself into giving her character's limited screen-time some much needed kick. She doesn't interact much with the other characters until they're in her castle which kind of takes away from giving her an antagonist's role.

Backstories

There is a lot of potential in this film which was sadly never utilized. One example of this is in the backstories. We know who Meier Link is, but we don't know anything about him - apart from what's stated in the film on both sides. We know who the Marcus brothers are, but we know nothing about them. Where did they come from? What got them into hunting and why? The same applies to Leila, we know she's a hunter and that she lost a relative - presumably her mother - to a vampire. So, in her case; we know more or less why she does what she does. We also get the idea that she's probably not too keen on hunting after all.

To a larger extent, this also applies to the film's antagonist. We learn, around the same time that Link is arriving, that Carmilla was a vampire with an insatiable bloodlust who disgusted D's father so much that he killed her. Apart from that, we don't know anything about her - apart from her rather obvious intentions regarding Charlotte.

Final Thoughts: A Fantastic Film for the Weekend

In closing, this is a great film that you can enjoy whether you're an anime fan or not. The pacing's good, the animation is good, and the plot, while thin, is well done. This is a great film to watch over a weekend with buddies and is a good introduction to anime in general.

I hope you've enjoyed this review, it's a bit late for Halloween but thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.