Vampire Hunter D

10,000 years in the future, the world has become a very different place; monsters roam the land freely, and people, although equipped with high tech weapons and cybernetic horses, live a humble life more suited to centuries past. The story focuses on a small hamlet plagued by monster attacks and living under the shadow of rule by Count Magnus Lee, a powerful vampire lord who has ruled the land for thousands of years. When a young girl is bitten by the Count and chosen as his current plaything, she seeks out help of a quiet wandering stranger, D. It so happens that D is one of the world's best vampire hunters, and he takes it upon himself to cut through Magnus Lee's many minions, and put an end to the Count's rule.

(Source: AniDB)

D Main

Shiozawa, Kaneto Japanese

Lang, Doris Main

Tomizawa, Michie Japanese

Left Hand Supporting

Nagai, Ichiro Japanese

Rei-Ginsei Supporting

Sogabe, Kazuyuki Japanese

Lee, Magnus Supporting

Katou, Seizou Japanese

Lee, Ramika Supporting

Kitou, Satoko Japanese

Greco Supporting

Yara, Yuusaku Japanese

Lang, Dan Supporting

Toda, Keiko Japanese

Ashida, Toyoo Director

Matsuura, Noriyoshi Sound Director

Wyner, Tom Script

Hirano, Yasushi Script

Reviews

Jan 14, 2015

animan095

Recommended

Exciting, thrilling, mysterious.
This rather old movie, is definitely a masterpiece for it's era. Taking into consideration it's age, you simply can't attempt to compare it to mordern animes, by those standards it falls rather short. But, if you judge it according to the standards of the time it was made, you find a fast-paced filled with action and horror that can easily outmatch many horror movies, be it animated or acted.

You also find in it many aspects of horror, that are fairly common in movies and series following the same genere.
Although to tell the truth, the story had such a fast pace that all ... the critical scenes didn't have much impact; but at this point one can't do much about so it's best to enjoy it.

Visually, it obviously had a very old style of animation, but neverless it was quite appealing according to it's horror genere. Scenes were constanly repeated, but as a necessity rather as of laziness. So mamy chatacters, scenarios, and places were shown in this movie that is one can infer that they would have had a very hard time keeping up with it.

The music score, was just as old as the movie itself, but it sucessfully gave it the ambience needed for a a horror movie. Maybe not memorable, but rather enjoyable.

And as personal comment, I'm surprised that fanservice and panty shots were already present since then XD

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Oct 30, 2008

Venneh

Mixed Feelings

Title: Vampire Hunter D

Novels, Manga, Anime: Vampire Hunter D was originally a series of seventeen novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano (famous for his work on character designs and the logos for the Final Fantasy series) starting in 1983.

Vampire Hunter D was adapted into two separate media; manga and comics. The manga was an adaptation in which Kikuchi hand-picked the artist, Saiko Takaki, began running in 2007, was licensed Stateside by Digital Media Publishing, and is currently ongoing. The comic, whose rights were acquired Devil's Due Publishing (the parent company of Digital Media Publishing) in July 2008, is known ... as Vampire Hunter D: American Wasteland, and will be written by Jimmy Palimotti (known for writing the Sci-Fi series Painkiller Jane and work on Monolith).

Vampire Hunter D, an 80 minute movie, was produced by Ashi Productions (known for their work on the Sailor Moon S and SuperS movies) and directed by Toyoo Ashida (famous for his work on... well, there's nothing really to speak of here). It was released in 1985 in Japan and licensed Stateside by, in order, CBS Theatrical Films, MGM, Streamline Pictures, and, the current holder of the license, Urban Vision Entertainment.

Story: Doris Lang, the daughter of a werewolf hunter, is out hunting werewolves one night when she is bitten by Count Magnus Lee, who then decides to make her his bride, marking her with his bite marks. She hires a vampire hunter known only as D, who she meets out in the middle of nowhere one day, offering him food and herself to take out the Count and save her from becoming his bride.

...Where to begin with this?

This story is all over the place. I mean, there's a general narrative here, and it's something resembling coherent when it's looked at overarchingly. In execution, however, it is made of WTF. There are sudden jumps from scene to scene, subplots are bought in out of nowhere, and twists are thrown around like they're candy, with all of this having little to no explanation whatsoever. Moreover, the thing just drags, with scenes seemingly added simply for the point of drawing out the movie, which really shouldn't have happened.

I honestly can't tell you what the hell happened here. I was watching this with my anime club tonight, and we just gave up on even trying to understand what happened about a half hour in and just started mocking it mercilessly.

Art: For the 80s, this is halfway decent. The character designs are extremely pointy and detailed, but they're based off of Amano designs, which explains a lot.

However, it has not aged well. Action scenes are done mainly with pulsating lines in the background, not to mention flashing lights that could probably induce epileptic seizures in those susceptible to them. The movie's extremely heavy on the gore, but the way that blood works in this is incredibly stylized and not even close to reality in the slightest. Characters' color palettes will change from scene to scene, far more than lighting should account for. Most notably, the hat that D wears creates a black void in the upper part of his face with only his eyes showing, and it's incredibly painful to watch, especially when it doesn't move even when the lighting does.

There is some nudity in here, however, it's not really all that well done, and it's paired with images of death and gore and such that I'm sure that, by the process of association, if you showed this to kids, they could very easily never ever ever want to have sex ever.

Music: Meh. I didn't notice this much, but it didn't make that much of an impression on me, either. So, we'll say passable.

Seiyuu: As with the music, I didn't notice them that much, but neither did they make that much of an impression on me, so, again, we'll say passable.

Length: This movie just dragged on and on and on; it should've ended at the hour mark, and a good deal of the "twists" could've been cut out, and it would've been semi-decent.

Overall: Don't watch this. It's not worth it, except for mocking purposes.

Story: 4/10
Art: 4/10
Music: 6/10
Seiyuu: 6/10
Length: 5/10

Overall: 25/50; 50% (F)

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jul 3, 2015

Luquillo

Not Recommended

Funny

Along with Akira, Vampire Hunter D is one of those old anime titles where its popularity is based pretty much on one thing and that's nostalgia. When nostalgia runs wild it can definitely cloud one's honest judgment. However, Vampire Hunter D does a decent enough job backing up why it's an entertaining film; but to claim it as one of, or even the greatest of all time in terms of sheer quality are heavy exaggerations and thrusts one towards complete madness. The works of Miyazaki and Satoshi Kon are tough as hell to compete against and this is more of a fact than opinion.

The movie ... does have one big thing going for it which is style. I like the mix of sci-fi with the classical Transylvania setting; to include the monsters and flesh eating beast that roam the country sides devouring live stock adds to the horror like feel. The plot is well paced and the movie accomplishes what it sets out to deliver, which is a solid action romp well utilizing its horror setting.

Vampire Hunter D does have its problems though, in which the fans of it love to ignore with a smile; such as undeveloped characters and plot holes big enough to fit the moon through. D is a cool character that screams for more background, but this really isn't a gripe for me any longer because the mystery actually works here for him. However, the characters fill typical vampire roles even for that time, but Count Magnus Lee overshadows D because I like his drive. His craving just seems too realistic. I will go ahead and refrain from detailed plot issues as not to ruin the movie for those whom haven't seen it.

Although effective for that time, the animation is dated and I can think of several old titles that still hold up well until now, with Neo Tokyo being one of them. As well as one that pre-dates it by six years, which happens to be Miyazaki's Castle of Cagliostro. To my experience, those whom favor superior visuals first will more than likely walk away hating this movie. The action scenes can range from just barely ok to brutal, with characters sliced in half to fingers being crushed off. I really don't have a problem with the artwork, but I think the BGM is more hit than miss and wasn't always used properly, because at one point I can think of the music was used at the wrong time. One scene that stands out to me happens to be the first appearance of D. While watching him slowly approach on his horse and completely shrouded with mystery. I think the scene would have been more effective with the complete removal of music, with more focus on the sound effects: such as the whistling of the wind, coupled with the slow, eerie plodding of the horses steps. I believe this method would have only enhanced the style of the movie, instead it just had a rather bland feel to it and D really didn't give off an aura as an intimidating figure; but then again that's just me.

Vampire Hunter D is a title that will always be a part of my collection. Even though I respect its cult classic status and find some enjoyment in it. I can't shower it with praise because it's a very flawed film that I doubt could make a top 50 anime list of mine or even probably 100. I mainly recommend this to die hard anime fans. However, those whom need top notch visuals first are better off skipping it.

Highs: Very good setting, action, lead villain

Lows: Plot holes, story issue, most characters have very little depth, dated animation

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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