Chasseur de Vampires D

Vampire Hunter D(1985)

Review: I have seen this a number of times. This has aged well. I remember on the original VHS copy on the back saying, The First Animated Movie For Adults! Indeed.

Vampire Hunter D is a classic in it's own regard. The story is straightforward and effective. A village girl has been bitten be Count Magnus Lee and now hires The Dunpeal to take care of him. This movie has the old feel of the modern vampire lore like crosses work as well as garlic. This also takes place in the very distant future.

Here are the basics: The animation: Subpar. Not bad, but could be better, but this is 1985, so I can definitely give them a break. It's still not that bad.

The Voice acting: Pretty good with the exception of Doris' little brother sounding way to much like a girl. I always hated that. Otherwise fine.

The Characters: All not fully developed, but that was not meant to be, but there is some development and it works. Just enough character. Does not suffer from over crowdedness.

The Last Word: The good olé days. This is how the anime genre got it's grand start. Takes me back. This has aged well.

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.

Vampire Hunter D is the kind of stuff that Manga Entertainment built their business on: old school, action heavy anime with buckets of style. The animation, whilst heavily stylised and nowhere near as crisp as todays fare, works perfectly with the material. Compare the 2000 sequel, 'Bloodlust': the animation in the latter is incredibly slick and the action comes thick and fast, but it might as well be robots fighting in outer space or samurai battling on a mountaintop. What the original does, with its dirty, old fashioned animation is create a decidedly other-worldly and eerie feel, perfectly encapsulated in the strange, mutated beings that roam the hostile countryside, glowing and sidling in a sinister fashion. The overall colour scheme, as well, is very Dario Argento: dark blues and browns prevail over the modern, Akira and Ghost in the Shell inspired trend for green overkill. Character design is, as said, very stylised, but perfectly acceptable, and D himself looks as cool as all hell.

As for the plot, there are no problems there, although there are a few cliché moments. The counts boredom, as opposed to the angst that seems to be all the rage in vampire flicks nowadays, is a nice touch, and at no point do characters motives seem unbelievable. The setting is a nicely realised far future post-apocalyptic landscape full of the standard juxtapositions (horse riders with laser rifles) bought to life by the supernatural element, which seems to have taken monsters and critters from anywhere and everywhere, to no detriment. The voice acting is competent, much better than some eighties dubs I could mention (unfortunately I only have this film on VHS, so I can't compare to the original Japanese).

Overall, not the best of 80's anime. It lacks the sophistication of Akira or the sheer camp hyperviolence of Fist of the North Star, but it's still a very enjoyable film, and a solid part of the collection of any anime connoisseur.

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.

I first saw this anime on the USA channel when I was 13 and it introduced me to the world of anime. Every since that fateful day I have been watching anime; and I still find this film to be one of the best anime films I've ever seen. So what does the film have. An awesome gothic tale, a kick butt main character, who is cool and taciturn yet surprisingly sensitive. Even if you don't like Japanese animation you may like this movie, it being in the same vein as Blade and John Carpenter's Vampires. The film is dark, violent, and ultra-hip, I suggest it to anyone who wants to get into Japanese animation. A+