Anime… hmmm.
“Kono Oto Tomare” quickly became boring. I was hoping for lovely music and got tropes, predictability, and boredom. Four episodes in I pulled the plug. Sorry if you were fans.
AOT continues to amaze. I am gobsmacked. Thunderstruck. Oh… my… God! But why do some people emerge from a titan fully clothed and others with just their pants on? I don’t understand why they’d have any clothes at all.
I’ve started Shikabame Hime. So far so good. After 4 episodes not great, just good.
Fairy Tail has got pretty wild. Dead characters, out of commission characters, hopeless battles. Zeref and the most potent mages remain as one of them squares off against… her daughter, Erza.
But that’s not this review. It is about something else. Something very old. Ancient even. An anime from before all the tropes were established. An anime that’s as much American Western as Japanese tradition. The grandaddy of them all.
Vampire Hunter D.
Released in 1985. With Kaneto Shiozawa, Michie Tomizawa, Seizô Katô, and Satoko Kifuji in voice roles. I popped my anime cherry watching this with my future wife at LosCon back in 1987, a 16mm film projected onto a small screen in a large room. It impressed the shit out of me and I pursued “Japanimation”, as it was called then, ever since.
It was the first anime movie to achieve theatrical release in the US.
The movie is loosely based on the manga, Vampire Hunter D: Demon Deathchase. Very loosely. In 1999 or thereabouts there was a nuclear war. The eldest vampires (the Nobility) saw it coming and stockpiled everything civilization would need to start again. After the war only they, some scattered humans, and a small number of other supernatural creatures survived. The Vampires rebuilt the world so that they would rule. A synthetic blood substitute was developed but some vampires still preferred human blood.
Areas were divided between them and for 10,000 years they ruled. There was a revolution but in remote areas, some remained. Those very powerful creatures often grew bored and wanted to play with their food. Vampire hunters set out to deal with them but only the most powerful can hope to survive.
D is the offspring of “Our Sacred Ancestor” and the “Fair Mina”. From that, it is not
difficult to speculate on his parentage. He refuses to go by his real name, not an uncommon trope in spaghetti western. And if you are familiar with that genre you will see many other commonalities.
A sequel to VHD, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, was released in 2000. It achieved great critical and popular acclaim by staying close to the style of the original but using advanced techniques. In 2018 the first draft for another movie in the series, Vampire Hunter D: Resurrection, was completed. I don’t have a clue when we’ll actually see it. There is supposed to be a fair amount of CGI in it.
If you haven’t watched Vampire Hunter D, you have missed the most important horror anime ever made. Possibly the most important anime, period. For its time the animation was very good, even if not at the level of a Disney flick. OTOH Disney could never have pursued this creation.
There is real evil afoot. Beloved animals get their throats ripped out. A not-so-subtle tweak of mixed heritage racism. Sympathetic characters die. Naked ladies with their boobs out to see. Look at those screenshots. It is dark and yet colorful. Lines are crisp. The creativity, design, and layout are great. This movie is worth worshipping as Our Sacred Ancestor.
Now if only a major anime provider would pick it up again. Amazon says it is no longer available and their contract no longer allows them to sell it.
Usual spoiler warning!
Dramatis Personae
The “dhampire”, a human-vampire mix: Vampire Hunter D
Doris Lang
Dan Lang
Frontier town: Ransylva (Remind you of an area in Romania?)
Count Magnus Lee
Greco Rohman
Larmica Lee
Rei-Ginsei
The Left Hand of D
On with the show!
Our heroine is out chasing down monsters. It is the usual sort of thing one does while running a ranch. But this time is different. These guys are in the big leagues.
-
First, a monster grabs her horse.
D may be in trouble but here’s a helping hand to save him.
Doris is nice! Love those shower scenes.
Has somebody had too much to drink? Sounds like he has an orgasm. Just joking… It is funny in slow motion.
And here is hoping Resurrection happens soon!
June 5, 2019 at 08:13
I remember re-watching this for a review last year and I still believe it’s a quintessential horror anime. Sure, it’s a bit outdated, but that really adds more to its charm. As Lynn said, definitely still a classic.
June 6, 2019 at 18:35
“Outdated” is only important to shallow people. The Apollo moon landings are outdated. “Citizen Kane” is outdated. The Mona Lisa is outdated. Hell, I am outdated.
“A thing of beauty is a joy forever.” – Keats
(Not that I’m a thing of beauty…😏)
June 13, 2019 at 04:56
I love that quote, and you’re right about outdated being important to shallow people! I love aged stuff and VHD is no exception to that!
June 4, 2019 at 16:49
This was one of my firsts. Love it! D definitely had a lasting impact on me. It’s one of the classics for sure.