Vampire Hunter D (1985)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written by Yasushi Hirano, based on the novels of Hideyuki Kikuchi
Directed by Toyoo Ashida
Character design by Yoshitaka Amano

Features:

• Making-of featurette
  
• Production stills
  
• Deleted footage
  
• Original trailer
  

Doc's Anime Warnings:

• Graphic violence
• Brief nudity
• Did I mention the graphic violence?

Rating: Not rated, recommended for mature audiences

Anamorphic: Nope.

My Advice: Own it.

Before Akira, before Ghost In The Shell, there was Vampire Hunter D. In the mid-80's, when American animation gave us glories like the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special, Japan was cranking out defining classics in the world of anime. 1985 was the year that saw the release of the Robotech TV series, and the theatrical release (in Japan, anyway) of D.

D is a vampire hunter and, like his western counterpart Blade, a half-vampire himself. Doris, a young farm girl in a tiny little village, is bitten one night while chasing predators away from her livestock. The culprit is the mysterious (and powerful) Count Magnus Lee. When the frightened villagers suggest sending Doris away to an internment camp/leper colony for bite victims, the laconic hunter offers his services to rid the area of Count Lee and thereby save the girl.

Some day, when the original novels are translated into English (or I happen to spontaneously learn to read Japanese), I'll be able to compare them to the film and determine how faithful an adaptation the movie is. But barring that, the tale of a distant future (the year is 12,090 AD) where vampires have ruled for generations is an interesting one. When D descends upon the stronghold of Count Lee and his family, the results are satisfyingly gruesome. He is the perfect anti-hero, himself a monster and yet determined to see vampire-kind scourged from the face of the earth. Add to that the relative scarcity of his actual lines, and the aura of quiet power and intrigue surrounding D is complete.

The DVD presentation is quite nice. Not on par with the recent re-issue of Akira, but very few things are, after all. The animation is beginning to show its age, particularly when compared to the sequel released last year. There are places where the colors are dark enough to obliterate all detail, and having never seen the original in the theatres, I'm not sure if this is intentional, or a side effect of age. I'm also not certain why we only get a full-frame version, though I know the VHS release of the movie was never offered in widescreen, either.

Extras are better than average, if not stellar, and the "making of" special from 1984-5 is an interesting look at the animation process in the days before computers made everyone's lives simpler. The production stills are nice, but the deleted scenes were obviously deleted for good reason (pacing seems to be the dominant reason for their exclusion).

Vampire Hunter D is an absolute landmark classic of anime, and if you're a fan of the form, this one is a must-own. As a vampire movie, it's definitely better than most (I give you Dracula 2000), and as an action flick, it's very hard to dispute the gore and staggering body count. It's looking a little long in the tooth, and it would have been nice to see it get the Akira treatment, but odds are, this is as good as it gets for D. Pick it up ASAP.