The distant future. Vampires rule the night but their numbers are dwindling. With huge bounties on their heads a new class of warrior has emerged... The Vampire Hunters. Mercenaries with no home to return to no fear of death and no sympathy for the endangered species that still poses a threat to humanity. One hunter is unlike all the others... Born from the unholy union of a human woman and an ancient Vampire Lord he is a Dunpeal trapped between two worlds. At war with himself feared by all tortured and alone he is D. When a young girl is kidnapped from her home her family offers him 20 million dollars to bring her back dead or alive. The catch however is that hes not alone. Competing for the girls bounty is the Markus family a formidable faction who would just as soon share his trail as kill him in his tracks even as their target the Vampire Lord Meier Link hires a band of demons to ensure his safe passage to a mysterious castle in the north. Its anyones game in this deadly demon deathchase but as the bodies continue pile up theres no turning back for any of them. Its easy to tell from first glance that this movie bears a massive visual upgrade from its predecessor. Originally bearing the same title called Bloodlust in the west to avoid confusion this installment opens on a shot of the moon before immediately pulling back passing through a landscape full of dilapidated gothic architecture and giant crucifixes using the perspective of passing objects to immerse you into this world before you even realize that youve taken the plunge. It never lets up from there delivering a world full of depth and attention to detail. Outside of the action every single frame is a masterfully handcrafted painting with open landscapes conveying a sense of loneliness in all directions and interior shots showing every single pebble and torn/scarred design thats faded with time. Were treated to several setpieces throughout the story and every single one of them is simultaneously alive with life and fading with forgotten history. The action itself is fast well paced and engaging with nearly every encounter offering some kind of contribution to the plot whether its an important revelation or the demise of a character. Those characters are also primarily responsible for keeping the action from getting repetitive as each one... Human AND demon... Offer a different weapon and combat style or even a different power and while they can feel a bit gimmicky at times it still works really well when each character is given at least one moment to shine in combat. The settings are vastly imaginative stretching the limits of several different genresMost notably gothic horror wild west and dystopian science fiction and they never miss an opportunity to explore the fascinating world that author Hideyuki Kikuchi created to suit his seminal character. They might not all work for you... If youve read my Sands of Destruction review you can guess how I take to the whole Sand Mantas thing... But theres no room for complaints here. Much like the world they inhabit characters have highly detailed designs far removed from the largely copy/paste facial templates in most anime today. They each possess their own unique facial features with everything from their jawlines to their cheekbones receiving equal attention some more relaxed than others some more exaggerated than others and this is largely due to a change in direction. Madhouse put this films production almost entirely in the hands of Yoshiaki Kawajiri a man whose previous workssuch as Wicked City and Ninja Scroll had already proven far more successful in the west than in their own home country due to their intense gritty nature and eclectic structure frankly like nothing that we had seen before from the world of animation at the point. With Bloodlust he decided to try and appeal to us deliberately this time. In an era where handdrawn animation was experiencing its last gasp of wide spread relevance Kawajiri went all out with painstakingly realizing his vision with only the barest hint of CG qualitycontrol accompaniment that most viewers probably wouldnt even notice at first glance. A slightly more interesting detail I noticed however is that while Kawajiri may have been playing to the teenage edgelords of the west it looksto me at least like he was also playing to the sensibilities of their parents. First of all while the first movie may have contained some sexual tension rape references and a couple of gratuitous nude scenes Bloodlust is almost devoid of fanservice. The dynamic between the two main characters is engaging while also respectful and platonic and there are only three characters who wear any kind of revealing clothing... A tree monster a dommy mommy vampire ghost and a dude. Honestly though considering the fact that the novel featured a gangbang scene that even Stephen King would have had second thoughts over Im gonna say less is more in this case. Whats more surprising is the overall lack of blood and gore at least for the first four fifths of the film. Yes I said earlier that bodies pile up throughout but when youre killing demons and freshly turned zombies you dont need much blood to get your point across. Dont get me wrong when a human character is killed you DO see their bloody body in often graphic detail but its usually in fleeting shots and they quickly cut back to the action. I can think of two reasons that Kawajiri might have taken this approach... Either he did it to appeal to western parents who are happy to take their kids to R rated movies as long as the content isnt too explicitminimal gore and no boobs or he did it so when the movie finally DID start to pour buckets of blood on the audience towards the ending it would feel more visceral in contrast. Either way not gonna lie smart move. Kawajiris efforts to appeal to the west didnt stop there however as basically the entire audio side of the film was recorded in California. It has an entirely American musical score sound mix and English voice cast. The first trailers were shown at American film festivals followed by the film itselfalbeit in only six theaters. For its original Japanese theatrical run it was shown in English with Japanese subtitles and while a Japanese dub was eventually created the film is in an unusual licensing situation where the sub version cannot legally be released in America. Hence why Ive never seen it. As for the English dub? Or you know the original track that Im just going to call the dub for my own comfort? Strap yourself in for this its gonna get weird. Andy Philpot is an actor with a small resume... He hasnt done much since this film Ninja Scroll and Final Fantasy... But he does a perfectly acceptable job playing D a character who normally wouldnt be much of a challenge but he puts forth commendable effort nonetheless. John Rafter Lee wasnt much of an actor outside of his role as Meier Link having built most of his career off of audio books but his cadence is equal parts intimidating noble and tragic. Hes everything youd want out of a smoothtalking bloodsucker with an exotic accent. Wendee Lee and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn have somewhat smaller roles and they do fine despite their characters being on the more forgettable side. There are numerous small roles by noteworthy names such as John Dimaggio Debi Derryberry and Dwight Schultz. Mike McShane plays several roles to near perfection... You cant even tell theyre the same guy... And then you have Pamela Adlon. If you had a strange reaction whenever the leading female Leila spoke during this film and you were like I swear I recognize her... Try responding to all of her lines by saying Dangit Bobby. Yes that is Bobby Hill. Okay maybe thats not fair of me when she has a resume so long it has its own Wikipedia page separate from her own but lets be real shes Bobby Hill. She does a fantastic job of course. Everybody in this movie does even Mike McShane when hes playing my least favorite character. There is not a single performance in this dub thats anything less than good but unfortunately I cant say the same for the script. Dont get me wrong its nowhere near as catastrophic as the original dub of the first movie so it didnt share in the honor of getting a 2015 redub but its still a little hit or miss. Most of the dialogue works really well especially when its establishing dynamic or strengthening bonds between characters but it can also come out a little awkward at times. The first interaction between D and Link felt overwritten. Theres an exchange between Leila and Kyle before they part ways in town that is just full of WTF. There are also moments where it seems like there were too many lip flaps or uncomfortable silence for the director to handle so the actors were just told to improvise. Demon Benge and the leader of the Barbaroi are prime examples but Ds possessed hand can be downright annoying sometimes. Its a good dub overall which is good because were not getting the Japanese version anytime soon. One of the first things youll hear about this movie is that its superior to the first one and while I may personally prefer the first film for nostalgic purposes it is objectively true. Having said that if you think that means it has any more depth than the first one or that the story structure is any more normal think again. It shouldnt be much of a surprise as both films were based on novels by the same author but neither one has a particularly complex plot. Much like the 1985 film the plot of Bloodlust pits the title character against an old solitary vampire lord who turns a female character he wants to marry into a McGuffin for D to try and retrieve. There are several differences obviously but that is the basic core of the story. There really isnt any depth to be found outside of the occasional rumination on what it means to be a dunpeal either. The structure isnt as repetitive as the first movie but much like Kawajiris other works it feels really sequential and its method of constant jumping between action set pieces makes it feel more like a fiveepisode OVA strung together than a film with a proper three act structure. Bloodlust isnt better than its predecessor because it has intelligence or depth but because of its execution. The first film was a clusterfuck of different subplots haphazardly running into each other characters from the book who were jammed into the story despite their presence and identity never being established and ideas being brought up out of nowhere because frankly the novel didnt explain them very well either. Bloodlust knows how simple it is so it keeps things simple. Rather than trying to present a complex horror story its more of a pure action movie with horror flavorings. Much like Mad Max Fury Road the plot is thin but its still propulsive. The pacing is great the action never gets stale and exposition is kept to a minimum. We find out all we need to about the world through subtle environmental clues and we find out all we need to know about D in some of the coolest ways possible. I think the only longwinded monologue in the film is used to reveal Ds history and mysteriously ageless nature in fairly badass fashion. Speaking of the cast the characters have comprehensive motivations. Theyre either likable or they have a really cool design or both. Everybody serves their part in the story and nobody causes any real issues or overstays their welcome... With the exception of Ds possessed hand who I just do not like in either movie. His origin is never explained outside of him being a parasite but I kind of dont care either way because hes pretty annoying. He tends to ramble adding words to elements of Ds character that should have been delivered with more subtlety. He played a major role in the first film but here? I mean he DOES stuff but nothing that required him to be sentient. Or talk. He didnt need to talk. Nobody asked him to talk. They could have replaced him with a Miroku hand and all for the better. Still his actor does a fantastic job so its excusable. Bloodlust isnt perfect but honestly it feels like one of those movies that manages itself so well that even the stuff I dont like is still awesome. It knows its strengths and does whatever it can to accentuate them. It knows its weaknesses and finds ways to make the most of them. Even some of the more famously cringey moments like Borgavs lengthy joke about the owl and the squirrel yeah I eat that shit up and the movie would feel lesser without it. The mispronunciation of Dhampir as Dunpeal kind of drives me nuts but I still wouldnt trade it for anything. This movie never refuses to try exploring any idea that it has source material be damnedwho wants to watch a guy get eaten by ants anyway? and it does it all with a perfectly cinematic grandeur. I dont know if Id recommend it as a Halloween movie but any other time of the year? Hell yeah. Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust was originally available from Urban Vision Entertainment but those old copies are way out of print. I still have mine its by far the oldest DVD I currently own and it still works just fine. For the rest of you the film was recently rereleased on Bluray by Eastern Star and while Ive heard troublesome things about its picture quality its probably better than nothing. The original novel Demon Deathchase which was actually book 3 in the Vampire Hunter D series was available stateside from Dark Horse but now is pretty hard to find outside of Kindle downloads. If youre of a mind theres a Playstation game as well its basically a cheap clone of Castlevania but I guess its worth seeking out. So funny story about that Urban Vision DVD. I dont know if this is the case with newer releases but the original version came with an odd special feature... A top ten countdown voted by fans of their favorite scenes in the movie. Im not making that up. I have never seen another movie flex that hard. Its like Yeah you just finished crying over the ending but wanna see it again? We know you do. BTSs Butter feels humble compared to this but in the words of Kid Rock its not bragging if you back it up. This movie backs it up. Bloodlust is awesome it knows its awesome and its proud of the fact that its awesome. It celebrates its 20th anniversary this year and for a movie that relied so hard on visual spectacle it still holds up partially due to Yoshiaki Kawajiris brilliantly insane direction and cinematography partially due to the fact that it came out right before CG and digital painting took over the medium and it presents the absolute best of a technique thats largely lost to time. Again its not a perfect film but it wouldnt be as beautiful without its flaws. I give Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust an 9/10.