Vampire Hunter D (2000)

When the soothing comfort of sunlight starts to fade, beings of seraphic beauty become the undisputed masters of the night, instilling fear in every living creature. Water turns into ice before these blood-sucking monsters, and their victims realize that this uncanny chill is the harbinger of their inevitable demise. Fortunately, the number of vampires is dwindling thanks to the dauntless bounty hunters who track down and slay the near-immortal predators.

One night, tragedy befalls the Elbourne family as their daughter, Charlotte, is abducted by Meier Link, a revered vampire lord protected by an army of monsters. To save their beloved Charlotte, her family recruits the Marcus Brothers, a group of vampire hunters known for their ruthlessness; and D, a sword-wielding dhampir—a half-vampire, half-human who has the strengths of both species and the weaknesses of neither.

The hunters rush to rescue Charlotte, but if her abductor decides to turn her into a vampire, they should eliminate her. Moreover, their mission must be completed before Meier reaches the impregnable vampire castle of Carmilla and takes Charlotte out of humanity's reach forever.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

D Main

Tanaka, Hideyuki Japanese

Link, Meier Supporting

Yamadera, Kouichi Japanese

Leila Supporting

Hayashibara, Megumi Japanese

Left Hand Supporting

Nagai, Ichiro Japanese

Marcus, Grove Supporting

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Elbourne, Charlotte Supporting

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Carmilla Supporting

Maeda, Bibari Japanese

Caroline Supporting

Soumi, Youko Japanese

Marcus, Borgoff Supporting

Yara, Yuusaku Japanese

Benge Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Yamamoto, Mataichirou Producer

Kawajiri, Yoshiaki Director, Storyboard, Screenplay

Kawamura, Kenichi Episode Director

Reviews

Jan 5, 2025

RebelofDaNeonGod

Recommended

The paintings of Francis Bacon, Goya, Brugel and Magritte put onto celluloid and played over the retinas of the viewer, Vampire Hunter D is bombastic, it is the first taste of fresh spring water over cracked, dry lips. If the 1985 film was a fun 80s party through torchlit halls and ramshackle villages then Bloodlust is two dancers in the dark flowing through opulent marble floors and blood soaked cobble streets.

Bloodlust holds no punches, it pummels the audience with blood and guts and viscera and gore, but each strike against the ribs is measured, precise and obliterating. 2 minutes in, the tone is already ... set, Yoshiaki Kawajiri has already trapped the audience into their seats. We are given a crooked and cracking city, the dingy streets are soaked in oppressive moonlight, the horizon is made up of gravestones. A cracked mirror. dead rose leaves on a bitter wind. The lord of the night comes. Then the movie gives you a smack from downtown, "The distant future...".

Kawajiri and Madhouse are a match made in heaven, every dollar is spent on every single damn cell of the movie. Pitch black shadows, rusted iron, rotting wood, cracked stone, azure skies and lush green, the colors pop with ever second. Clothing wrinkles and flaps, capes flow forever, limbs break, bones crack, bodies line the streets as D hurtles and barrels towards Baron Meier Link, a team of the sickest looking dudes in a rattling iron fortress not so far behind.

Anyone who can appreciate gorgeous animation soaked in Gaskell and Teuthold atmosphere, dripping in swag and readily available, do NOT pass this up.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jan 4, 2025

immosha

Recommended

Underrated movie that has aged incredibly well over the years.

The plot is nothing particularly special, the title is essentially what you get - a vampire hunter. But the magic for this movie is in the absolutely breathtaking backgrounds that are so meticulously drawn throughout. To accompany, the animation for this work is nothing short of amazing - smooth, gripping animation that keeps your eyes glued to the screen and had me audibly yelling "what the hell" when ones were being animated for a cool-as-heck sword flip of a ring. Character motivations are relatively flat and perhaps under-developed, but the visual intrigue of ... their backstories are choreographed and presented in chilling fashion, in a true "show don't tell", every-frame-a-painting directorial masterpiece. The settings are grandiose, the action makes use of the setting, and the eyes are treated to a spectacle throughout.

This movie is what vampire hunter movies should be like, and what modern movies should aesthetically aspire to regardless of genre.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Mar 5, 2024

Haustlaufivindi

Mixed Feelings

What would happen if Sergio Leone, in collaboration with Luis Bunuel, filmed in animation form a book by Stephen King, written by him in the mid-1980s (during the period of Stephen’s severe drug intoxication), where the main character would be Zorro, fighting vampires in the Wild West? The result would be surreal trash, but decadent, aesthetic trash. It would be "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust", or something very close to it. As much as I, to put it mildly, am not close to the stories of Kikuchi Hideyuki, how secondary the plot is, how vulgar the characters are, how intellectually and morally powerless the narrative is, ... so much captivating the decadent aesthetics of this anime are. Just as sweetness can be found in pain, so in the destruction of ethical and aesthetic beauty, in decay, one can find decadent pleasure like "Belle De Jour". Perhaps this is what catches “Bloodlust” - the visual aesthetics here are extremely consistent with the ethics of storytelling. It has a peculiar “beauty of ruins”, a borderline sadistic pleasure of destruction, the withering of goodness and beauty. It fascinates, just as a poisonous snake fascinates its victim, just as the viewer is fascinated by the animation of a bouquet of roses withering as Meier approaches to take Charlotte to the “underworld.” The animation, I note, in “Bloodlust” is amazing. The references to Leone's western film aesthetic are animated masterfully, D against the backdrop of a full moon looks as good as Zorro against the setting sun, and it all comes together with a gothic design fused with art nouveau. Eclecticism? Definitely, but it works in "Bloodlust", paired well with an equally eclectic narrative. We can say that this anime is an empty shell, a pretty rotten one, but you can’t deny its visual peculiarity.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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	Poll: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Karikaturata - Jan 16, 2010	83 replies	by TheVistrian »» Nov 22, 2024 11:50 PM
	Miss this old look KasutoroSama - Jan 21, 2022	4 replies	by _Sanchay »» Sep 11, 2024 9:09 AM
	Full soundtrack available online AcbSnakeDemon - May 14, 2024	1 replies	by Ristic17 »» May 15, 2024 9:09 AM
	Is this similar to Dune? AcbSnakeDemon - Apr 20, 2024	7 replies	by AkiraMiyazaki17 »» Apr 24, 2024 4:10 AM
	What happened to the Vampire Hunter D series we were promised? AnnaSartin - Jan 23, 2015	16 replies	by AnnaSartin »» Mar 31, 2024 4:16 AM

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