Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2001)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, based on the novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi
Directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Starring Andrew Philpot, John Rafter Lee, Pamela Segall, Wendee Lee, Michael McShane

Features:

• Making-of featurette
  
• Storyboard to feature comparisons
  
• "Fan favorite" scene clips
  
• English audio (Dolby 5.1), closed-captioned
  
• Trailers and TV promo spots
  
• Yoshitaka Amano image gallery
  
• Merchandise guide and weblinks
  

Doc's Anime Warnings:

• Strong language
• Graphic violence
• Brief nudity
• More violence

Rating: R

Anamorphic: Yes.

My Advice: Own it.

The return of Vampire Hunter D to the big screen last year was a landmark occasion in the world of anime fandom. A long-time favorite in the history of anime got a long-overdue update with a sequel film that was in many respects better than the original. A more complex story, greater character development, and the advantages of an entire decade's worth of improvements in the technology of moviemaking in general, and animation in particular, served to make Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust one of those rare exceptions to the rule of diminishing sequel returns. Unfortunately, despite all this, the movie suffered the same fate as Princess Mononoke, running only in select cities and small independent movie houses throughout the United States.

The DVD presentation is very nice. The slipcase, with beautiful Amano art, holds a blood-red keepcase with simple iconic cover art. From the outset, it's obvious that the intent was to produce a quality DVD worthy of any anime fan's collection. Once in the player, the goodness continues. The menus are nicely animated, with more of Amano's original character artwork mixed with film clips. The video transfer is top-notch, and the colors (very subtle and dark in places) retain all their theatrical richness.

The only blip in the presentation at all is with the sound. The digital remastering of the sound was ostensibly "optimized for home theatre," but I suspect that those of us poor shmucks with only a basic TV/stereo set-up were not considered. The volume of the score and sound effects is markedly louder than the dialogue track, and this can lead to a great deal of remote-jockeying in order to keep the noise level bearable, while keeping the dialogue discernible. This problem may not be as obvious if one is dealing with a solid 5-channel surround system, or a higher-end stereo system, but coming through the TV speakers, it's a pain in the arse.

The extras are very solid. A short slideshow of Amano's artwork is presented, beautiful as always. The making-of documentary is longer than most of its kind, and provides some great shots of the voice actors at work, using a "picture-in-picture" setup to show both the animation and the recording studio footage simultaneously. This same PIP gimmick is used to great effect in the storyboard-to-feature comparison, which presents key scenes viewable as storyboards, finished product, or a PIP combination of both. Very cool. The "fan favorite" scene gallery presents a top-ten list of scene clips as voted on the Web by the fans, but the clips are so short as to rob most of them of real emotional impact. The trailers and TV spots are interesting, because they are drawn from multiple international markets, making for an interesting cultural comparison. The promotion of the movie was markedly different in the countries represented, and it says a great deal about how movies are pitched and appreciated by those countries.

For those that weren't fortunate enough to catch Bloodlust on the big screen, the DVD release should cure all your ills. With an impressive list of extras and a beautiful anamorphic transfer, the DVD is sure to please any fan of the character, franchise, or genre in general. While still short of the impressive benchmark created by the Akira DVD release, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust holds its own as a must-have DVD release.