Blood: The Last Vampire

When I picked up the DVD, it said on the back 80 minutes, so that's what I expected. Instead, I ended up with a 45 minute film. The other 35 minutes has been reserved for the "Making Of" and the trailer (Actually, the "Making Of" was only 20 minutes. Where did the other 10+ minutes go?). That said, "Blood: The Last Vampire" is very much like a roller coaster: Very fast, a lot of fun, but over before you know it.

The first three minutes drew me into the whole story very quickly. It has an impressive beginning, a moderately slow-paced lead up, but once the action starts, it becomes very, very cool. I guess that's why after the last battle, I was expecting more, and when it started rolling credits a few minutes after "officially" revealing Saya's history, I was expecting this new (but obvious) information to start adding into the story and her character. In the age of 2-3 hour epics, the abruptness caught me off guard.

But enough harping about the short film aspect. This is an enjoyable film to watch for its pacing, visuals and sound. The music was very dark and atmospheric, and I thought the voice acting for Saya was good. The CG in the film leads to some very cool effects, but as strange as this sounds, some of its realism (especially with the plane scenes) offsets the animated look. It was an unusual combination of "CG realism" and animation.

All in all, "Blood: The Last Vampire" is worth a watch. It has a lot of really good things going for it, and I'll definitely show it off to friends. Recommended

AARRRGGHH!!! CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE TURN THIS INTO A FULLY FLEDGED SERIES OR MOVIE!!!!!!!

I love a story to be fleshed out. I like to know about origins, motivations and characters. And Blood offers just enough to be thoroughly intriguing yet little enough to frustrate the absolute crap out of me. The 'pure' vampire thing is a pretty good angle. I want to know more!

That just about sums up Blood for me. Everything it does it does well. Great concept, animation (especially CG) and voice work. There just isnt enough of any of it. At about 48 mins it just barely scratches the surface. You expect another chapter in Saya's mission to directly follow. But you get the credits instead.

If this ever fulfilled its potential I think the producers could have an anime milestone on their hands. As it stands Blood is great and frustrating in totally equal parts. >

When you sit down to view Blood: the Last Vampire, the style and setting of this gothic noir anime grabs you instantly. Using a mixture of animation cells and computer-generated backgrounds, this is an effortlessly stylized visual breakthrough that hopefully will launch future endeavors in the style.

The problem with this particular film, though, is that it is far, far too short. At just over forty minutes filmed length, the story of a strange girl called Saya that seems to be some sort of vampire slayer barely gets the ball rolling on the enigmas behind this girl, the organization she works for, and the beasts she vows to slay before fading into the end credits. This makes you sit back, blinking at all the dazzling visual beauty that went into this well-crafted film, and wonder, 'what next?' Hopefully, there will be further adventures of Saya and the dingy, grimy world she lives in, each as well-designed as this one was, though with much more payoff.

All in all, worth looking at if only to see what the future of animation might look like.

"Blood: The Last Vampire" is impressive and not impressive for a number of reasons. The reasons it is impressive is...well, quite obviously the animation is worthy of mention. Taking digital animation much further than in "Ghost in the Shell," this film is probably as state-of-the-art as animation can get these days. They even made alternate takes and angles for use in the trailer, giving it a more live action feel. The visuals are intense, the music is effective, it should be a massive hit, right? Wrong, and for the reasons it's not impressive, which are unfortunately too much to save it. The first problem...it's too short, not even lasting a full hour. Obvious not meant to be a full-on movie, but it should've been. The story is weak, but only because it's not developed beyond a concept, as opposed to a drawn out plot. The concept is Saya is "the only remaining original" vampire, and the government contracts her to hunt down vampiric demons. We have little or no back story, no explanation of how Saya is the only original, no explanation of the people she works for, or why she seems to hunt her own kind...or even if they are her own kind. There's so much missing from the story, that one wonders if the workload was really worth it. Bottom line, the plot could've been simple, but it should've been drawn out. MORE, give us MORE! Now, on the other hand, if this were a pilot episode to a series, it might be more tolerable, but with the expenses and effort put into just this one 50-minute feature, it seems unlikely. "Blood: The Last Vampire" WANTED to be better than it was, and SHOULD'VE been better than it was. Alas, somebody forgot that what makes a good anime is not just the animation but the story as well, the main thing that distinguishes anime from most other forms of animation.

A quick bite, digestible, but not completely fulfilling. "Blood: The Last Vampire" is situational storytelling that doesn't really delve too deep into the background of its characters, or plights other than what's happening right in front of you. It's a slight premise, light-weight script - so maybe it could've used an extra 5-10 minutes to flesh out things further more. But I guess in doing so the enigma of the protagonist would lose out, as the script doesn't completely come out with her infliction in other than one word, or minor visual hints.

Saya, a half-human, half-vampire samurai is all edge, and it looks like it doesn't take much to tick her off. She works for a shadowy society known as the council dispatching demons infesting the earth. Her next assignment sees her at an American military base, where there have been some strange, grisly deaths possibly the work of vampires and the bases' school nurse finds herself stuck in the middle of it all.

This is just another chapter to the story's universe, as the investigative build-up eventually breaks out the gushing blood and precise blade-work of Saya going to work (slaying) when she uncovers the suspect/s. It didn't take much in the way of clues to get to that point. Once the horror erupts the vampires go on the rampage, where the imagery becomes mildly hallucinogenic, pace quickens up and sudden violence is unforgiving. These vampires are monsters; feral in their actions and fearsome in sight when they reveal their true nature. The connection between the vampires and Saya might be all business, but the last shot we see of her is a touching moment of compassion that shared enough light on her character than a bloated exposition dump could ever do. As for the animation, it had creative flashes, but more often I thought it was ulgy and grim in the details. While I wasn't particularly fond of its style, no way did it get in the way of my enjoyment and it probably suited the cold and foreboding temperament. In saying that, the opening sequence with the credits is beautifully framed and edited, so are the beastly encounters.