Blood: The Last Vampire

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. >

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.

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

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.

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.