Chasseur de Vampires D

One of the things I have learned to appreciate in my ongoing exploration of Japanese Anime is it's willingness to tell a reasonably adult, well-thought-out and plotted story. Vampire Hunter D is the best example of such storytelling that I have seen in any recent fantasy piece (animated and non).

The one thing I appreciated about this film was that no one in it is a cardboard cutout. Evil is not portrayed as monolithic (if anything, it's shown as just amorality cubed) nor all humans automatically "good guys". Just like in the real world, everybody wants something. Doris wants revenge on a personal level and safety for her village on a community one. Count Lee wants to marry a bride to pass the time. His daughter wants this marriage to be stopped. The Count's time-twisting underling wants to go beyond his current station as loyal henchman. Doris' suitor wants her all to himself. D wants...well, what does D want?

Of all the characters in this story, D is the most enigmatic. If movies do indeed have a Tarot deck, as Stephen King suggests in "Danse Macabre", then D falls under the Eternal Loner (which also applies to such cinema protagonists as Eastwood's Man with No Name in the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns and Lee Marvin's Walker in "Point Blank"). A half-human, half-vampiric descendent of the legendary Count Dracula himself, he is a man of two worlds, yet not truly a part of either. In one, he is barely tolerated out of necessity. In the other, he is hated for his chosen profession. His terse dialogue makes Eastwood look as talkative as Groucho Marx. By personal choice, he has cut himself off from all emotional ties to the people around him who, I'm fairly sure, will die long before he will (consider the comment regarding Doris' confession of love: "I know.").

The big question regarding D is why? Why does he do what he does? I'm not sure that he actually killed his father, as his conversation with Count Lee's daughter would seem to disprove. Perhaps his father saw how the vampires were changing the world and not for the better. Perhaps he instilled in his son the need to always protect those who are weaker than he from the many predators that this world had to offer (as a nobleman who felt a genuine, if patriarchial, concern for his people, it is not impossible that this would be so). One thing is certain: he does not kill his chosen prey for the common reasons that other men do: money, power, prestige, or even love. Maybe he kills to make the world a better place. Who can truly say? Maybe the new movie on the way will provide some answers.

Before the likes of Hellsing and Blood: The Last Vampire, there was "Vampire Hunter D". A haunting tale about a half vampire, half human hybrid named "D" who travels the post apocalyptic wastelands of future earth, hunting down powerful vampires. As this story opens, D is tasked with killing a member of "the nobility" who terrorizes the local populace and in a fit of "I have nothing else better to do" has forced a girl to become his bride.

Wow, what some people would do with too much free time on their hands eh?

The narrative may seem like a jumble of clichés at first, sharing many aspects in common with western vampire novels and movies. Though not the most original of stories, Vampire Hunter D was a great film for its time, combining elements from science fiction, horror, romance, and western genre to create something refreshingly new. The world as realized in this movie is a dark and dangerous place. Monstrous mutants lurk about in the dense jungles and unknown dangers lie along the treacherous mountain paths.

What stands out for me is the ability of the director to stick close to the horror aspects of the original novel and produce a movie with a hauntingly eerie atmosphere. The watercolor backgrounds, stylish character designs, heavy black shadings, creative lighting and block shadows all lend themselves to a very surreal and other-worldly feel. The opening scene with Count Magnus Lee shrouded in darkness, his silhouette lit only by flashes of lightning and his two glowing eyes, is only the first of many sinister and creepy scenes. An Omnious and unearthly synthesizer musical score permeates the entire movie and adds to the distinct atmosphere that truly makes Vampire Hunter D earn its "horror" status.

I had the pleasure of listening to both the English and Japanese vocal track and I personally recommend the English one. Both are just as well acted but seeing as how most of the characters have western names and Caucasian appearances, hearing them in English gave a more realistic viewing experience. Whats more, the English actors saw it fit to give the various characters different accents. British for some of the townsfolk and eastern European for the nobility.

As much as i like Vampire Hunter D as a classic anime, I would admit that it clearly shows its age. The animation style is severely dated and may come across as a little bit on the "cheap" side even for a 1985 OVA production. There are a number of animation short cuts like looping a conversation over a single still shot and long lingering close up shots to save on the number of cels that would have to be drawn. With its limitations in the animation department, the action scenes naturally suffer. Fights are generally quite stylish but the animation, or rather, LACK OF animation is painful to watch. Characters pause in weird stances as colorful streaks zip about behind them to give the illusion of motion. Normally I would criticize a movie that has too many long slow camera pans across a background, but this style just builds up the ominous atmosphere and thanks to the musical score, helps to increase the suspense.

Another flaw is its story pacing. The narrative tends to drag at times and the story seems to "jump" from setting to setting. There also seems to be a eschewing of character development in favor of advancing the plot. Each of the characters are more or less stuck in their pre-set mold of stereotypical archetypes. Only D comes across as mildly interesting due to his mysterious nature and the unknown limits of his powers. Though the voice actors do a great job at trying to flesh out the characters, a generally uninspired script hamper their best efforts. I actually found myself feeling bored during couple of dialog scenes.

Vampire Hunter D is a fine example of how an animated movie can enthrall its audience by its atmosphere and feel alone. There are few anime that manage to capture the actual "feel" of the horror genre and Vampire Hunter D is one exceptional exceptional example of an anime that can. If you have an open mind for a good story and a unique style in an anime movie, Vampire Hunter D is highly recommended.

I personally encourage newer fans who are more used to the glossy pastel colored modern day anime to give this "grand old horse" a chance. Immerse yourself in the grim, gritty world of Vampire Hunter D and find out what made this the cult classic that it is today.

I knew of this movie several years before I decided to buy it on video. Firstly, this anime single handely is a landmark in Japanese animation. Not because it has a brilliant plot, infact the plot is quite basic, and is nothing that hasn't been brought onto the screen prior to this video's release...but what this film does hold is the honor of it being the first animated horror film ever, Never before has Japan produced a horror featuring scenes of bizzare fungi-like demon ozzing through tunnels, demons tearing through horses necks, etc.

Being one of the very first anime to have a western release, Vampire Hunter D was dubbed by Streamline pictures for American in 1988, and then appeared in Europe in early 1993 via agreed distribuition by Manga Entertainment. The story is quite basic and low bass, basically; a young girl finds herself fighting through a forrest of demons, and it isn't long beofre she realises that she is trespassing on the Count. Magnus Lee's land, and involuntarily teh Count takes her blood as compensation (i.e. passing on the Vampire infection). She seeks out the aid of a Vampire Hunter on the open road, who goes soley by the name of "D." The girl hires D to storm the castle and seek kill the Count so that she may be cured of her vampirism, what the girl doesn't know that D is half Vampire Himself. But the Count sends out his minions to intervine, alongside his Daughter and her Mutant hentchman, who are sercetly trying to kill the girl, rather than bring her to the Count, as they feel that she will disgrace the Lee Family.

Origionally, Vapire hUnter D started out as a novel by animator Yoshitaka Amano, then later progressed into art. The interest of his concepts grew so much that an agreement was made between him and SONY to animate the film, Amano being the chief animator and character designer. The film achieved audiable success in it's time, being many of the first wave of anime to be introduced to the highly expensive "VCRs" at the time, and remains a classic in the West, marked out for it's originality. The character's hero, D, is the main interest, ebing a dark almost emotionaless hunter, dedicated to the oblivion of the darkside, and those who dominate with supernatural powers, forever tormented by thebickering of his own left hand who lives to remind him of what he is. It's this that draws the viewer into focuss on the film.

I recomend this to any anime viewer who can appreciate "old skhool" efforts, yet many people who watch anime are beging to forget this film, due to the anticpated release of the modern superior "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust." I haven't seen this film as of yet with it been only so cinematicaly released in Asia, but considering it's directed by the renouned Kawajiri, I expet the plot and animation to be something else. Though that is no excuse to discard this film as trash, just because it is some 17 years old, and is "retro." It's obvious that modern times will progress further in animation, but people shouldn't regard any film as crap purely because it's pre-decessors have become superior to it.

Overall a worth a watch film if you like anime, particularly Yoshitaka Amano artwork, but if you hate anime, dont bother,and stick to George Clooney films***7/10***

This film went onto inspire the style of other animated horror films from this decade such as the aimated adaption of Go Nagai's Devilman, and Toshio Maeda's controversial Urotsukidoji: Legend Of The Overfiend.

One of the earlier feature-film anime releases to find popularity outside of Japan, "Vampire Hunter D" is also amongst the earliest of its genre to be aimed primarily at adult audiences with its inclusion of Gothic horror, brutal violence and some sexuality. Based on the characters and novels created by Hideyuki Kikuchi, the film is often highly regarded in the world of anime fandom for its important contributions to the art-form, both aesthetic and in terms of broadening its worldwide appeal. Even to this day- more than thirty years after its initial release, it stands tall thanks to these contributions to the entertainment world. And while its quality might not quite measure up to its historical importance, it's very much a fun and engaging piece of Sci-Fi/Horror, and fans of not only anime but film in general should definitely give it a shot.

Thousands of years in the future, the Earth has crumbled into something of a post-apocalyptic dystopian world, with human culture having fallen apart and somewhat regressed while supernatural terrors roam the land. After headstrong teenager Doris Lang is attacked and bitten by the Vampire Lord Mangus Lee while patrolling her property, she seeks the help of a famed and mysterious bounty hunter known only as "D" to protect her and her younger brother Dan- knowing this dark lord of the shadows seeks to make her into his newest bride. And so, the three will have to band together to fight off Lee's mutant assassins, corrupt townsfolk who now fear Doris, and the dreaded count himself to survive!

While the plot line is a bit simple and is comprised of mainly the most basic of cliché and trope, I find it actually works quite well thanks to the wonderful use of atmosphere and the very likable characters. Despite showing its age, this is still very much a beautiful film and the immense talent of all involved (including director Toyo Ashida, original novel illustrator Yoshitaka Amano and composer Noriyoshi Matsuura) is on full display. It's got a great, grand and very captivating mixture of both Gothic and Sci-Fi design philosophy, in addition to keen character and setting design that sets up such a delightfully dreary mood from the opening frames to the end of the climactic battle. It sets just the right tone from which it builds its thrills and chills upon.

The characters are very archetypal and highly enjoyable. D makes for a wonderfully moody anti-hero. His classic design of long flowing black robes and pale skin evoking a wide spectrum of feelings in the viewer. His lack of dialog and crytptic backstory also help us view him as something of a blank slate, where we can put ourselves in his shoes and get sucked into the story. Doris and Dan make for a great sort-of foil to D's simplicity, and both are infectiously likable characters that you just can't help but root for. And Lee makes for a very fun villain. Obviously inspired by a famous actor with the same last name and was famous for playing a certain vampire in a series of films, Lee's just pure, old-fashioned Universal monster-movie cheese and contrasts wonderfully with the Japanese sensibilities of the storytelling and character design.

However, part of both the biggest strength and weakness of the film is its fun but very uneven sort-of episodic approach to storytelling. It both does and does not adhere to traditional three-act structuring, with some sequences (particular in the middle section of the film) that begin to feel more akin to volumes or chapters or even video-game like "levels" than thought-out scenes there to develop the plot line. It's all in the spirit of giving D and the others increasingly fierce opponents to fight, and it is a lot of fun in a sort-of schlocky way. But I find it distracts from the overall narrative. It leads to too much of a disconnect to the story, and eats up a bit too much screen time, making you lose focus of just what's at stake. Yes, it's fun seeing D battling various monsters... but not at the expense of the basic storytelling. I think this style of story structure was a fun experiment here that didn't quite work, but lead to future films perfecting the concept, including notably the second film in this franchise, "Bloodlust", which had more of a "road-trip" quality where the episodic approach worked significantly better.

Still, despite this quite severe blunder to the narrative structure of the film, I can't condemn it too badly. Because it's still great fun. It's still very moody and sometimes spooky. And it's still wild and thrilling entertainment that should leave most audiences satisfied. Not only is it an important film in the grand scheme of anime's history... it's just a really good, solid film in general. I know plenty of non-anime fans who have seen it and enjoyed it for what it is. And I'm still waiting for more feature-length adventures from this character. It may not be a perfect film. But it's perfect entertainment.

I give "Vampire Hunter D" a very good 8 out of 10.

This was the second anime film I ever watched (the first being the classic Ninja Scroll). Scroll was a hard act to follow but Vampire D did a pretty good job.

These days the animation looks a little bit tired compared to contemporary anime but where VHD wins out is with story and atmosphere and just utter coolness!

It blew me a way all those years ago and I still get a kick out of it :)