n the far, far future, a nervous and superstitious humanity shares its world with a veritable pantheon of evils—vampires, werewolves, shape-changers and magic-workers of all kinds. These creatures prey on their weak human neighbors, who, in times of trouble, pay specialists exorbitant fees to hunt down and kill particularly dangerous predators. One such hunter is a man known only as "D," an icy, detached killer with unparalleled skills, a wickedly lethal sword and a parasitic entity embedded in one hand. D is a half-vampire (a "dunpeal," as this animated film calls him) himself, which gives him unusual powers, but also some of a vampire's weaknesses. But in spite of his inability to cope with lengthy exposure to sunlight, he's still a force to be reckoned with.
In the opening scenes of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, an adaptation of the third book in Hideyuki Kikuchi's massive, popular series of novels, potent vampire Meier Link (Lee) overwhelms a town's supernatural defenses in order to make off with a beautiful young woman. Her wealthy family hires D to rescue her—or kill her, if she's been converted to a vampire herself. But the family also hires a team of heavily armed toughs called the Markus Brothers to do the same job. Their leader professes some admiration for D, but makes it clear that they plan to find Link first and earn the immense reward for rescuing his victim. As D and the Markuses separately pursue Link, they run into a variety of unpleasant adversaries, most of whom are horrifically dangerous and generally opposed to human life. A great many elaborately choreographed fight scenes ensue.
Ultimately, Link flees to an ancient castle that was once home to Carmila, an impossibly powerful vampiric noblewoman. Carmila was killed long ago, but apparently was powerful enough to survive even that—her spirit survives to advise and assist Link, and to deal with the forces assembling to reclaim his prize.
Anime meant for the big screen
Yoshiaki Kawajiri's anime films, including Demon City Shinjuku, Wicked City and Ninja Scroll, tend to be visual spectaculars, often packed with grotesque and horrific creatures that battle each other in breathtaking deathmatches. Bloodlust is no exception. From the demon-creature that travels within shadows (voiced by Dwight Schultz, Star Trek: The Next Generation's Reginald Barclay) to the woman who merges with objects and turns them into weapons, the monsters of Bloodlust were created with reckless, outsized invention and remarkable design skill. The movie's plot is relatively simple—two factions competing to catch up with a single target, and fighting obstacles along the way—but it allows for endless variations on the irresistible-force-meets-immovable-object paradigm of nearly-all-powerful entities clashing in titanic struggles.
And the execution of those struggles is just spectacular. Madhouse Ltd., which produced, among other projects, Perfect Blue, X and HBO's second Spawn animated series, has outdone itself with this elaborate, gorgeously painted, incredibly detailed film. Where the original Vampire Hunter D film (which told a different story entirely) took the gothic designs of artist Yoshitaka Amano and simplified them for animation, this version simply makes the colors brighter, the lines heavier and the contrasts greater, without losing the complexity of the original art. The digital animation allows for smooth, rapid motion in a painstakingly rendered environment, but Kawajiri keeps the effect relatively well integrated, without the intrusive look of computer animation. The entire project simply drips skill, dedication and rapt attention to detail.
Some minor nitpicks can be made with the movie—some aspects of the plot are predictable, while others stretch even the lax belief necessary for this sort of fantasy. But it's not meant to be challenging, it's meant to be exciting, even overwhelming, and on that level it succeeds utterly. Urban Vision held out for about a year and a half after the film was completed, pushing for a theatrical release instead of permitting the film to go direct to video. The company's decision was well justified; this movie was meant to be seen on the big screen, where its beauty can be fully appreciated.
