Blood: The Last Vampire

"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.

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.

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.

This movie feels rushed at the end. On my DVD, I thought maybe something was wrong. Maybe it skipped a few scenes? But nope. The movie finishes on a note, like most anime's do, which leaves you hanging. But this leaves you hanging, really hanging, saying.... OK, so what is the point of this movie??

This movie had some awesome scenes, great animation, and lots of potential. I loved the vampires, I loved the girl main character (although the tough girl thing is overdone in anime). But it lacked a theme, feel, and.... well.... ending. Too bad, could've been spectacular.

What can I say, but I really loved this anime film. All 48 fricking minutes of its short, well made, coolness. The story of what I was able to peace together, involves Saiya some sort of immortal vampire hunter who might just be a vampire herself, even though thats left to the audiences imagination since the bulk of the story involves suspense with well done action sequences. At the start of the film shes sent off by her boss and his cronie to American Air Force base where there seems to be an infiltration from three confirmed vampires. She then sets off to exterminate them while trying to save a school nurse who seems to be the target of the vampires attention. What follows is then is one long sequence that makes up the rest of the film as Saiya and her boss battle the three vampires while trying to save the life of the nurse. Then its over. Just like that. No resolution to little plot details, like the origins of Saiya, or how she came to work for the orginization that she works for. You never really understand the point of the vampires beyond the fact that they're the villians and they bite peoples necks to kill them. Or for that matter why Saiya acts the way she does at the end of the film. Looking back at what I liked about this film, I think I would have to rank this as another digitally animated film from this year, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Unlike that film though, which left the intrigued viewer wanting more from the story. This film just leaves you wanting more story period. The direction, the animation are all top notch high grade stuff. Its just at the end, you leave yourself feeling as this has been nothing more than a well made tech demo. Well I hope its not, since I'm praying for a longer sequel to be made soon.