Blood: The Last Vampire is particularly noteworthy for two things; being an anime filmed almost entirely in English, and being completely digitally animated, a groundbreaking new way to animate when this came out in 2000. It even lead James Cameron, of Titanic and Avatar fame, to say "The world will come to consider this work as the standard of top quality in digital animation."
Essentially, Blood: The Last Vampire boils down to two things; action and animation. As alluded to earlier, the plot in this movie is razor thin and merely exists as a means to get one character into another fight scene. You almost have to view this as a prologue of sorts to a larger story, one that does continue in other mediums like manga and video games.
Lucky for us, as a short, strictly action based movie, Blood: The Last Vampire manages to be compelling largely because of the aesthetics and animation. The movie is set in the American Yokota Air Base in 1966, amidst nervousness over a war in Vietnam. Our protagonist is Saya, a vampire-human hybrid os sorts tasked with killing Chiropterans, bat-like vampires that feed off of human blood. Quite literally, that is the entire plot. Even the number of characters with significant roles is kept to a bare minimum, outside of David, a member of Red Shield organization he and Saya work for, and a school teacher who gets to see all the carnage of the fights before her eyes, we really don't get to know anyone. Even Saya and David have precious little information about them revealed.
But the film is really a sight to behold. The digital animation allows complex movements to be animated much better than traditional cel animation. Camera tricks usually reserved for live action films are used here, and everything has a fluidness and crispness that makes the action scenes extremely enjoyable to watch. The world itself we're thrust into is darkly gorgeous, too, full of grey and brown and muted lighting, the 60s setting combined with the darkness gives off an air of dystopian-esque retrofitting, even though it is not strictly a dystopian movie.
And so, for a little under an hour, we are treated to a bevy of gruesome action scenes that work to impress us visually as well as impose a sense of dread. They do that admirably. Even though we don't get to know Saya and David all that well, we still find ourselves cheering for them in their struggle, the knowledge that these Chiropterans are bad imparted to us by the gruesome ways in which they kill people. This is truly a movie of actions speaking louder than words. Luckily for us, the action is fast, fluid, and exciting, and rarely feels over-the-top or unnecessary.
Combining the great artwork with a great sound department also allows the dark, fearful atmosphere to escalate. While the voice acting isn't anything to write home about - Saya is very monotonous (intentionally) and David doesn't show too much emotion either, the creepy noises of the Chiropterans, the gruesome sounds of battle, and the eerie music all lend to the atmosphere. It's not exactly a horror movie; the action is too rampant for that, but it all helps to escalate the already dark mood that the animation sets.
While Blood: The Last Vampire isn't a deep film, or one with a great plot or cast of characters, it offers a bevy of gorgeous thrills and chills wrapped up an a very aesthetically entertaining setting. It is strictly a no holds barred, non-complex action film and nothing more, but for what it's worth, it plays that part well.
7/10
