June reviews: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

-Protovania

  One aspect of not just Anime, but animation in general that has gone ridiculously underappreciated in more recent years is the importance of having a distinct aesthetic, in an age where most shows stick so closely to the established visual identity of their genre i think it's important to look back at a Film whose mix of gothic horror and 80's sci-fi creates some of the most striking imagery I've seen an Anime produce, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

 Based on a long running series of novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano (of Final Fantasy fame), VHD is one of those pieces of media whose influence cannot be truly felt until you've experienced it (if you've ever seen a long haired anime vampire be angsty about his inhuman nature, this is the Series you have to thank for that), and yet, despite the ubiquity of the tropes it created, it's still relatively obscure compared to the works that were inspired by it, having only ever received two Anime adaptations; a 1985 movie by Ashi productions, and Bloodlust, the subject of today's review.

-Synopsis

 After a great nuclear war, a race of Vampires known as nobles rose from the shadows to rule the world, now, years later, their numbers are dwindling, and those with the skill to hunt them earn vast sums of money by doing so. one of these hunters is a man known simply as D, a half-human half-Vampire hybrid, he belongs to neither world.

 When a young woman named Charlotte is kidnapped by a powerful Vampire, her father and brother hire D along with a family of bounty hunters known as the Marcus Brothers to either bring her back or kill her if she turns into a Vampire. 

-Story

 Bloodlust sticks closely to the mantra of "show don't tell" as, outside of the opening narration, exposition is delivered almost entirely through visuals and incidental dialogue, relics of the old world such as fallen airships and ruined highways dot the landscape, and orbital space stations and rockets built by the nobles during the height of their power are matter-of-factly mentioned as just natural facts of this world.

 

 This approach is taken not only with the setting, but the characters as well, especially D, as i already said, stories about prettyboy Vampires angsting over their inhumanity are a dime a dozen, but what makes D such a compelling character is that, instead of openly brooding about his monstrous nature, D's conflict of not truly belonging in either world is presented almost entirely through visual means, while nearly all of the humans and vampires have designs that stick fairly closely to the world they belong to, D remains an outlier, his leather bodysuit and wide-brimmed hat setting him apart from the nobles' antiquated, aristocratic clothes, while his all-black clothing, flowing cape, and unnaturally pale skin making him stick out like a sore thumb in the humans' sun-drenched, wild-west inspired villages.

 This serves to drive home D's isolation as the main point of the story, as he is contrasted with Leila, a human bounty hunter who believes she is destined to be alone, what sets her apart from D is that, unlike him, she manages to overcome her loneliness, and in the end, is show to have lived to raise a large 

family, while D still remains an outcast in both worlds.

-Visuals

 I've said a fair bit of what i wanted to about the about the visuals already, and though it can't really be helped in a Film as reliant on visual storytelling as Bloodlust, there are two things i still think are worth mentioning in this department.

 

 The first are the Film's breathtaking backgrounds which do a fantastic job at bringing to life the world's vast landscapes and vistas, most noteworthy are the village of the Barbaroi, whose bizarre, otherworldly architecture and tone perfectly matches that of it's inhuman denizens, and Chaythe castle, the centerpiece of the Film's third act, an impossibly huge fortress whose gothic architecture make it one of the most distinct locations I've seen in Anime

 The second is that Bloodlust is the first Anime I've seen that managed to translate Amano's ethereal, otherworldly artstyle to animation with so few compromises. even the likewise excellent angel's egg (which, to be fair, lifted far more directly from his artwork) had to compromise on character animation in order to faithfully recreate his artstyle. D's design especially manages to capture his otherworldly allure beautifully.

-Final verdict

 The more i think the less reason i can find not to universally recommend Bloodlust, it's deep characters, breathtaking visuals, and incredible animation make it, in my opinion one of those seminal works that everyone HAS to see at least once

                RATING: AUTHOR'S CHOICE