After watching the first movie in this series, I asked myself how on earth did this warrent a sequal? However, after watching the second movie Bloodlust, my opinion of it did a complete 180. The story of Bloodlust is that a wealthy man's daughter was taken by a vampire. To get her back he hire's D, a dunpeal (half vampire). However, after D is hired he also discovers that The Marcus Brothers, who are also vampire hunters. were also hired for the same job. When I watch the movie, i was very pleased with the animation. The music itself also lends itself to help give the right emotions for each scene. The voice acting as well was excellent. The story itself moves kind of slow but the action scenes make up for it. All in all, I have no problem giving this movie a 4 out of 5.
I love Vampire Hunter D. If you expect this review to be biased, it probably will, but I'll try my best to avoid choosing sides. Animation: Amazing. There is a mix of some CG in the film but nothing that is way to over the top. It does appear from time to time but its not bad at all. Characters are beautifully drawn and the animation is fluid throughout most of the film. Sound and voice: Some of the sound is a little bland at times, especially D's voice in certain scenes. I wasn't able to try this out on a home surround sound system yet to see if the surround sound effect, but I assume it would sound good. Not great, but good. Also some of the voice acting seems rushed at times, but this could be due to the Japanese/English dubbing. Packaging: Comes in a red and black DVD case with a sleeve over it. I usually hate sleeves since I get kinda upset when they get scuffed up, but whatever, it comes with one. Story: Although this is the 2nd Vampire Hunter D movie, this is actually based off of book 3 of the novelization of the series. This story is definitely on the serious side. There is humor, but nothing like maybe Naruto (sorry, Naruto fans, don't mean to pick on you), or Trigun, or Bleach (sorry Bleach fans too). This would be more in vein with Ghost in the Shell, Elfen Lied, Speed Grapher... You know, the more serious mature orientated anime's. I'm not trying to say that Naruto, Trigun, or Bleach is bad, just making comparisons. A serious story, but a damn good story. Well, that's my review. Not necessarily the thoroughest, but at least gives you an idea of the anime if you choose to purchase it.Read full review
I looked through the reviews here on ebay and I must say that they were somewhat lacking. So, I decided I would write a review for those of you still not sure if you're going to buy the dvd. Now, when I first watched the movie, I wasn't entirely sure what I was about to see. The only taste I had gotten of the movie was from the dvd extra about the history of anime in the animatrix. While it did look interesting, I'm always a bit wary of vampire movies. They tend to have no plot and just pile on the sex and violence, which isn't something I exactly think warrants a purchase. That said, I was pleasantly surprized by this movie. Definetly the first think you'll notice in the movie is the animation. Very beautifully done. Great character design, I must say. This is probably the best looking anime movie I've seen after Gin Roh. So, if you're going on style alone, definetly buy the movie. I was pleased that you see very little of what I like to call "animation short-cuts". The movie seems to have benifited from a nice budget for visuals. For whatever reason the movie's original voice over was done in english rather than japanese. This is nice, at least in my opinion, because then you don't get all the problems commonly associated with anime dubs...such as lips / voice out of synch or weird sounding phrases used to match the lip movements. The acting is pretty good too. I was impressed with D actually, who has very little dialouge. His voice almost borders on monotone, which would've been horrible, but there is a sort of lonelyness in his voice that I felt was appropriate for the character. A few things seem a bit strange, like the name "Dunpeal". Dunpeal is the word for half-vampire half-humans in the story. For some unknown reason it sounded odd to me, so I looked it up and apparently it was a mistranslation. The original term was supposed to be "dhampir" which makes a bit more sense from an english perspective. The story line is interesting, but I felt that sometimes, there were elements that were not explained fully enough. I certainly could make logical guesses and more or less figure out what was going on, but at times, it seems characters exhibit unexplained powers, that leave you asking "where did that come from?" I did find myself caught in the semi plot twist I must admit...but I enjoyed it. I didn't really expect it at all really. One moment I'm rooting for the heroes...and then they're not the heroes I thought they were the next. The story isn't exactly life changing, but it did get me thinking. Now, anime seems to be notorious for odd endings. Now, I think this is a cultural thing. Western movies tend to resolve everything at the end of the movie as if saying "and they lived happily ever after", and eastern movies tend to leave the ending unresolved as if to say, "the story doesn't just end here..." I personally liked the ending, but on this point, I'm thinking it's really a matter of individual taste. So, my actual score would probably be a 94/100 if eBay's review system wasn't so limited. Hopefully this review helped you make a decision. Sorry if I made a few grammar / spelling mistakes...it is 2 a.m. after all. -EC P.S. I have not included anything about the quality of the DVD extras or quality of the transfer...but I'm sure you could find those sorts of things on amazon if you really still aren't sure.Read full review
Saw this way back in Early beginning of 2000's one of the best Vampire Animé/manga's I ever seen a dunpeel is half breed hybrid a vampire spawn and human, guess his Momma was assaulted by a Vampire so the innuendo goes and it's sole purpose is to end the Vampire Race, he is hired by a wealthy man Father of the Girl that gets kidnapped at the beginning of the film, to kill Meier Link the Lord Vampire, great story befriends (leah) a rival female mercenary also hired to rescue the same girl before she is turned. Very gypsy Russian/Romanian with Greek like Mythic Influences throughout the movie.👌
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I was in the mood to plan a Vampire Hunter D marathon with a friend so we could decide if this film or the older film (simply titled Vampire Hunter D) was the better watch. I had a hunch my nostalgia would pull through, as it was one of the first ventures into Anime in general, it was held pretty high on my shelf. I don't know if my watch through the original simply discouraged me (poor DVD presentation), but Bloodlust was a refreshing watch. Everything about this film was top notch, from the animation to the DVD release itself. More so, the story felt stronger and wasn't as generic as the first. It was not only more solid in all aspects of the script, but we even got to see more of the history of the world and have the mystery unfold, give rise to even more questions. That is everything a new edition to the mythos of Vampire Hunter D should do, and they did it amazingly well. If I had a complaint to give, it would be for the English voice dubbing, because I'm always keen on the original Japanese audio, which the animation is made for to begin with. But the jokes on me, because the English voice dubbing was the original dub of the film. And sure the violence has been toned down in comparison to the original, but violence does not a movie make, and what violence they did have was handled very well. All and all a better film in terms of execution than the original, and on its own merits a mesmerizing film. It's a hard sell when I try and put it against a classic, but having watched both back to back, I can say without a doubt it's the superior film.Read full review
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