Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001)

Well Deserved Praise

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

This film is set in the distant future in a world where vampires exist but their numbers are dwindling thanks to the actions of the Vampire Hunters.When Charlotte, the daughter of the wealthy Elbourne family, is apparently kidnapped by the vampire Baron Meier Link her father hires vampire hunters to bring her back. One of the hunter is a dhampir, a half vampire, half human hybrid, known as 'D'. His chief competition are the Marcus brothers who work alongside a woman called Leila who has personal reasons for hating vampires. As the story progresses they will get into numerous fights against a variety of demonic creatures as each is determined to rescue Charlotte and collect the reward. It was never going to be easy but things get even more complicated when it becomes apparent that Charlotte left with Meier of her own free will because she is in love with him. As well as seeing various fights we learn of D's past and just what motivates Leila. It is also clear that not everybody is going to survive.This is an exciting vampire anime. There is lots of action; this is well animated with plenty of proper movement… no need to worry about various ways of depicting action that are relatively static that are all too often employed to save on the animation budget. The characters are interesting; it was more nuanced than just having evil vampires and heroic humans… Meier is surprisingly sympathetic given that he is introduced as the villain. The film had a good look; lots of greys and browns and characters that looked fairly realistic for an animation. I must admit that when I picked this up I was a little disappointed to find it was dub only but when I started watching that didn't bother be at all; I think the voice cast did a fine job. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of anime and vampires.

The original, Vampire Hunter D (1985), was a decent action anime movie. D is a mysterious but ultimately flat character, and there was a tiny twist at the end (explaining why D was chosen as his name), but ultimately it was a pure action movie. Simple plot and simple characters to show off a series of amazing anime battles and to show off D as a Gothic superhero.But the sequel, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000), was thoroughly amazing.It kept the amazing anime battles, going even further with unique abilities and effects that only anime could easily show. It kept D as a Gothic superhero. But it added a unique plot, perhaps riffing off Romeo & Juliet, but with a lot more to it than that. Around that plot it built a human story, about love and racism and the difference between loneliness and solitude, about friendship and real loss. And it introduced and developed a wide range of interesting characters. It did all that without detracting from the action and while maintaining a great pace.And right where you'd think such an ambitious movie would falter - tying it all up appropriately at the end - it really hit the mark. A truly satisfying ending - not too happy, not too sad; not easy to anticipate in full, but not unbelievable in the context nor a 'wake up from a dream' twist that's actually just a write-off; and ties up a number of strings related to plot or character development.And one thing that's easy to escape notice: despite D still being the same, flat, 'does nothing but fight' character, that character feels well developed in this movie. How? Cleverly managed through the way the other characters and the similarities and differences in the various relationships kind of tell his story for him.An exceptional movie.

I have watched a ton of movies and read/watched manga series and my review is based on a cumulative assessment of truly beautiful movies I have watched till date. Here is what I think about the movie:My goodness! To think this genre was originally written in 1970s, seems like all modern vampire movies, action and even manga series are rip off from this original legendary movie! What a concept of a movie! So, very amazing! This movie is evenly paced for most of the time even during the most tense and action packed situations. They just apply a concept and rest just follows through, like a time continuum. I love the eerie aura created within the movie. How a mysterious character wins your heart and continues doing so throughout the movie. Great story, great dialogues, action, animation, thrill, suspense and climax. Enjoyed watching every scene to the last! Loved it! I highly recommend it to everyone who is either bored of or new to Manga! Thrill of adrenaline rush and mental stimulation guaranteed!

Remember when vampires weren't the complete laughingstock of the film world because of "Twilight"? Neither do I because I am only 15 and wasn't around for that magical time. First I will mention a few of this film's flaws. The romance between the main villain and the woman he loves isn't really explained or developed that well and at the end I don't understand why D thinks he will still get the reward if he just takes the ring, but those are the only flaws I can remember about this film. The visuals are absolutely gorgeous, so if nothing else about this film works for you your eyes will be entertained from beginning to end. The action is absolutely spectacular. The fights are two-sided, have great suspense, a variety of cool attack and weapons, and are just nice to look at. The characters all have some sort of morals and reason for doing what they do as well as having human flaws which makes all of them very interesting. There are also several great tear jerking moments and this film doesn't insult its audience by making sure all of the good guys get out alive. One common complaint I have heard is that in the original manga the vampire hunters kept the female vampire hunter as a sex slave, but I thought that was a good change because this would probably make them generic terrible people and I genuinely enjoy their characters in this movie. If this was the best film ever, which it isn't, I would be okay with that because it just does so many thing so perfectly.