The dvd available in North America (at least in Canada) is only available in the english dub. For elitetists this is a huge problem, but the dub isn't terrible, it's pretty good as far as dubs go.
The theme for this, doomed love, is played so beautifully in this. There were a few scenes that almost moved me to tears. I loved the way the story progressed, they adapt it quite well from the book. The Markus Brothers and Leila also keep the pacing of the story quite well. There are a few scenes with them that really add alot to the story. There aren't alot of loose-ends, and it ends semi-ambigously but they add a very comforting scene right at the end.
The art in D is good. It's very distinctive, there are some beautiful subtleties to it. They put alot of time into some of the scenery which really show off the skills of some of these artists. Some of the character designs bug me, villagers all seem to have the same kind of frame and all moved very similarly. But they play a small part in the movie and the Markus brothers have some nice designs.
The gothic soundtrack in this is very nicely composed. It definitely suits everything that happens in this. It greatly heightens all the emotions you would feel anway. It conveys the hope and the hopelessness of it, as well as the darkness of the time.
The characters have changed slightly from the novel. These changes are for the most part quite nice. As far as progression of the story the characters pull them off quite nicely. I had a few problems with the changes that were made, but the changes they made push the anime in a completely different direction. D is how D always is, they don't change him at all...and they don't need to.
As far as vampire anime go this one is quite good. They show vampires in both ways, both as super-powerful as well as being weak zombies. So people who like both style of vampire won't be dissapointed. If you've seen the first movie and were highly dissapointed then you definitely need to watch this. It's a great movie, but if you can't find the jap audio don't sweat it too much, the dub is decent.
