Vampire Hunter D (2000)

When the soothing comfort of sunlight starts to fade, beings of seraphic beauty become the undisputed masters of the night, instilling fear in every living creature. Water turns into ice before these blood-sucking monsters, and their victims realize that this uncanny chill is the harbinger of their inevitable demise. Fortunately, the number of vampires is dwindling thanks to the dauntless bounty hunters who track down and slay the near-immortal predators.

One night, tragedy befalls the Elbourne family as their daughter, Charlotte, is abducted by Meier Link, a revered vampire lord protected by an army of monsters. To save their beloved Charlotte, her family recruits the Marcus Brothers, a group of vampire hunters known for their ruthlessness; and D, a sword-wielding dhampir—a half-vampire, half-human who has the strengths of both species and the weaknesses of neither.

The hunters rush to rescue Charlotte, but if her abductor decides to turn her into a vampire, they should eliminate her. Moreover, their mission must be completed before Meier reaches the impregnable vampire castle of Carmilla and takes Charlotte out of humanity's reach forever.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

D Main

Tanaka, Hideyuki Japanese

Link, Meier Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Leila Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Left Hand Supporting

Nagai, Ichiro Japanese

Marcus, Grove Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Elbourne, Charlotte Supporting

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Carmilla Supporting

Maeda, Bibari Japanese

Caroline Supporting

Soumi, Youko Japanese

Marcus, Borgoff Supporting

Yara, Yuusaku Japanese

Benge Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Yamamoto, Mataichirou Producer

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki Director, Storyboard, Screenplay

Kawamura, Kenichi Episode Director

Reviews

Feb 23, 2025

MichaelMorbius

Recommended

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a bloody tale beautifully crafted by the hand of the expert Yoshiaki Kawajiri. To accompany the brutal violence that usually accompanies this author (Ninja Scroll, Wicked City), there is an unusual but not unwelcome romanticism. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodust is the peak of gothic and noir Japanese animation. A tale of violence and love, where there is no real winner or even a hero.

Plot: 8/10 - The story is about D, half vampire half human, a bounty hunter, whose fame precedes him. In a world where vampires are close to extinction after years of war, the young Charlotte is kidnapped ... by the vampire Meyer Link. The young woman's father will entrust D with the task of bringing his daughter home, dead or alive. Along with the dhampir, there will also be the Markus Brothers, a ruthless group of vampire hunters. The plot is simple but it works really well. Meyer Link and Charlotte's doomed love story is heartbreaking and engaging.

Characters: 9/10 - D is an excellent protagonist with a badass look and endless charisma. His life was doomed from the start, in fact, as a dhampir he doesn't belong to the human world, nor to the vampire world and is therefore forced to be a bounty hunter. His internal struggle is constant between his two parts, the human one and the vampire one. Leila has a nice backstory and the Markus Brothers have all great looks. Meyer Link and Charlotte's love story works as well as it does because of the two characters that Link and Charlotte actually are. Their love is doomed from the get go yet is pure and geniune. Charlotte gave up everything to spend her life with the man she loves. Link truly loves Charlotte and he's not even willing to bite her as he doesn't want to force the love of his life to spend the rest of his life in the darkness. He looks like the classic evil, arrogant vampire but he's actually sweet and good-hearted. As I said, there are no heroes and no bad guys. D doesn't want another child like him to be condemned to be a dhampir, Leila despises vampires for ruining his life but still shows mercy towards the end, Charlotte's family believes their daughter has been kidnapped and orders D and the Markus Brothers to bring her home. The Markus Brothers are, perhaps, the true villains here. Crude and greedy, they are bandits who don't care about anything except money alongisde Carmilla who, despite the short screentime, is a good villain. Evil to her core, she is willing to deceive anyone just to become young and beautiful again.

Animation: 10/10 - Just pefect. Perfect. Immaculate vibes. Great tones and awesome visuals. The fight scenes are amazing too. The world build was superb and the general atmosphere was chilling throughout the whole thing.

Soundtrack: 8/10 - Great soundtrack as well. Always the right song at the right time with a couple of hits I'd actually put in my phone playlist.

Overall enjoyment: 10/10 - Romeo + Juliet if it was gothic and had lots of blood and monsters in it. I just described the perfect film. A must-watch for every anime watcher in my eyes. An all-time classic.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Feb 11, 2025

LuxuriousHeart

Recommended

This movie reminds me of Bride of Deimos. Similar aesthetic so to speak. Which shows how tragic the adaptation for Bride of Deimos is. That OVA was a confusing mess of an adaptation. This movie was a better standalone movie. The plot was cohesive and understandable. It didn't require the manga to be read, in order to understand most of it. The art in this movie was gorgeous. I love old anime series, a time when they tried. Madhouse was a powerhouse.

The characters were good, and the romance was easy to root for. A ... juicy and forbidden romance is hard to resist. The designs were interesting, and Vampire D was a walking mystery. He was intriguing. This movie towed a perfect line of some mystery and unexplained things, while not being a confusing mess.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 5, 2024

Haustlaufivindi

Mixed Feelings

What would happen if Sergio Leone, in collaboration with Luis Bunuel, filmed in animation form a book by Stephen King, written by him in the mid-1980s (during the period of Stephen’s severe drug intoxication), where the main character would be Zorro, fighting vampires in the Wild West? The result would be surreal trash, but decadent, aesthetic trash. It would be "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust", or something very close to it. As much as I, to put it mildly, am not close to the stories of Kikuchi Hideyuki, how secondary the plot is, how vulgar the characters are, how intellectually and morally powerless the narrative is, ... so much captivating the decadent aesthetics of this anime are. Just as sweetness can be found in pain, so in the destruction of ethical and aesthetic beauty, in decay, one can find decadent pleasure like "Belle De Jour". Perhaps this is what catches “Bloodlust” - the visual aesthetics here are extremely consistent with the ethics of storytelling. It has a peculiar “beauty of ruins”, a borderline sadistic pleasure of destruction, the withering of goodness and beauty. It fascinates, just as a poisonous snake fascinates its victim, just as the viewer is fascinated by the animation of a bouquet of roses withering as Meier approaches to take Charlotte to the “underworld.” The animation, I note, in “Bloodlust” is amazing. The references to Leone's western film aesthetic are animated masterfully, D against the backdrop of a full moon looks as good as Zorro against the setting sun, and it all comes together with a gothic design fused with art nouveau. Eclecticism? Definitely, but it works in "Bloodlust", paired well with an equally eclectic narrative. We can say that this anime is an empty shell, a pretty rotten one, but you can’t deny its visual peculiarity.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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	Poll: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Karikaturata - Jan 16, 2010	86 replies	by yg »» Feb 17, 1:08 AM
	Miss this old look KasutoroSama - Jan 21, 2022	8 replies	by _Sanchay »» Feb 2, 8:31 PM
	Full soundtrack available online AcbSnakeDemon - May 14, 2024	3 replies	by Ristic17 »» Feb 1, 11:31 AM
	Is this similar to Dune? AcbSnakeDemon - Apr 20, 2024	7 replies	by AkiraMiyazaki17 »» Apr 24, 2024 4:10 AM
	What happened to the Vampire Hunter D series we were promised? AnnaSartin - Jan 23, 2015	16 replies	by AnnaSartin »» Mar 31, 2024 4:16 AM

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