Click the picture to learn about Vampier Hunter D the Anime
Vampire Hunter D is a movie that has a special place in my heart. I first saw it on the Sci-Fi channel in the early 90’s. The movie surprised me with how detailed the animation was. Also the voice acting was excellent and the story was very cool. This film is a staple for Anime lovers. The main character, D, has such a cool demeanor that sets the tone for a intense movie. The film takes place in the future, after the world has been devastated by a nuclear holocaust. It is so far in the future that mutants and other creatures roam around on the Earth. There are villages of humanity that still exist, and their technology is advanced and yet the villages look old as if they were built in 18th century. The buildings are generally made of stone. They kind of have a Gothic look to them. A cool thing about the movie are the weapons. There is a main female character in the movie called Doris. And she has an awesome electrified whip that probably inspired the Iron-Man character Whiplash. Her whip split into a hydra-like shape and then electrified and did energy damage to her enemies. Vampire Hunter D has a really cool crescent-moon shaped sword. It is razor sharp and can cut most enemies in half with a single slash. He also has special items. He has an item that he only uses once in the movie that is a small blue-ish light on his chest. When he switches it on, it scares away and damages enemy mutants. Doris’ little brother, Dan, has a large laser rifle that fires in concentrated bursts. It can hurt both people and non-corporeal creatures, list mist-monsters. Mist-monsters float in the air and they like to eat people and cattle.
One major reason why you should watch Vampire Hunter D, is that it is extremely immersive and you will feel like you are part of the dark futuristic universe. There is this one scene that takes place before Vampire Hunter D and Doris enter the town. It basically shows the setting and landscape of the village and outlying natural views. This scene is very intimate and I remember how I felt when I first watched it. There were children singing and a church-bell was ringing in the distance. I felt the cool dead wind brush past my cheeks. I felt the somber despair that the people endured in order to survive so long. Whenever Vampire Hunter D enters a new area the art is simply amazing. There are scenes when D is riding his horse through the wastelands and it is breathtaking.
This movie is violent. There are scenes where Vampire Hunter D slices this one monster dude in half and you can see all of his internal organs in a cross-section and then they all spill out. It is nasty. There is another part where D stabs a giant in the tongue and cuts his head and shoulder off. The amount of blood that sprays out is immense. Before the final battle between D and the villain of the movie, Count Magnus Lee, there is a short part where another character tries to attack the count. This character has white hair and uses these cool flying blades as weapons. Anyway, he tries to use this enchanted incense candle to stun the Count but the Count uses his telekinetic powers to put out the candle. Then the Count picks this dude up in the air with his mind like Darth Vader or something and then smashes the guy against the metal pillars in the castle. Finally the Count smashes the guy and then concentrates and then makes the dude’s head explode. Head parts fly all over the place and it is a real mess. And the count says something like, “I haven’t had fun like this in ages.” Yeah, so basically this movie is not for young kids.
There are many lines of wisdom in Vampire Hunter D. The hero talks to Dan about what it is to be grown up. And this demon entity that is trapped in D’s hand often reflects on D’s humanity. He challenges D by questioning his motivations with Doris. Also D’s hand brings up part of D’s struggle between his vampiric ways and his humanity. The voice acting is superb in this movie. I love the voices of all the characters in both the English, and Japanese versions. There is a super famous voice actor who does the voice of D. His name is Michael McConnohie, he has done the voice of Shin in the awesome Anime, “Fist of the North Star.” This voice actor is amazing and he really captures the essence of D.
If you are looking for a violent and semi-romantic vampire Anime, then Vampire Hunter D is great. This movie is definitely worth adding to your Queue on Netflix.
-Tyler