Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Vampire Hunting has never been so stylish in Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s horror fantasy sequel.

“Time has left you behind. Resign yourself to your downfall. In this world we all transient guests.”

I don’t remember much about the original Vampire Hunter D film, other than it had a silent protagonist and an unexpectedly tan main vampire. But I do remember that it felt a touch empty in places, both in its storytelling and in its characterisations, but I was quite interested to hear that a sequel, released 15 years after the original, was both longer and seemingly richer in content.

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust brings back the mysterious dhampir vampire killer D [side note: why are there so many half-vampire vampire hunters in fiction?], who is hired by a wealth family to return to them their daughter Charlotte, who has seemingly been kidnapped by the vampire Noble Meier. Also hired are the mercenary crew the Markus Brothers, among which is the headstrong Leila, who are also racing to find Charlotte before Meier arrives at his destination: the castle of the former vampire Countess Carmilla.

Bloodlust does everything a good sequel should, and then some. It keeps the Yoshitaka Amano designs, while updating them for a more mainstream movie, and all the gorgeous world building from the previous film, but took everything that was wrong with that one and fixes as necessary. There’s an actual, real story here with three acts and all. D has a smidge more personality and, crucially, spoken lines.

I want to talk about my favourite part of both of the Vampire Hunter D films: the world. I’m reminded a lot of FromSoftware’s soulslike games, which are often set in these vaguely defined, lonely mysterious worlds that drip with lore with every statue, building and enemy design. The world of Vampire Hunter D and its dieselpunk gothic horror blend feels rich and lived in, operating on its own internal logic. None of it might make sense, but it feels less like it’s jumbled nonsense and more like you’re a tourist in a strange town where no one tells you the local customs. Nothing in this setting feels wrong, just alien. 

The characters are also a pretty major step up from last time. There are tonnes more this time, featuring an entire troupe of vampire hunters, a number of weird, villainous freaks (which should come as no surprise if you’ve seen any of Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s other work), and – most importantly – some semblance of depth to D. It’s not a lot, but when the movie focuses on him for so long it helps to actually get to know him. Much like the worldbuilding, D’s character isn’t lacking – he just keeps it secret.

And then there’s the obvious: the production is just gorgeous from beginning to end. The animation is stellar, with few of the cost-saving tricks often used to pad out runtimes. Animation director Hisashi Abe is largely responsible for this, and his no-holds-barred visual flair makes every action scene dynamic, unique and memorable. The background art is also worth mentioning, with each establishing shot a moody, effective scene-setter that blends perfectly with the chilling orchestral (and sometimes even choral) score.

Like Ninja Scroll and Wicked City before it, Kawajiri is able to tell a story based on another piece of fiction, and successfully lets the audience follow along without having to explain every minor detail. Too many movies go in that direction which can get tiresome. We don’t need to know how Spider-man got his powers. But then again a lot of films go in the opposite direction (does anyone even know what was happening in Advent Children?), so it’s refreshing to see a movie that finds a comfortable middle ground.

But it’s still a Vampire Hunter D film at the end of the day. It looks amazing, and boasts some complex morality in places, but it’s still just a pretty straightforward story of hunting vampires, and it doesn’t matter how great the animation is if that’s not your thing. It doesn’t exactly offer anything new, so people who didn’t like the original – or films like Ninja Scroll – aren’t going to get anything out of this. But this was exactly my jam: a big step-up from a film I already liked, with gorgeous art and top-notch action. It’s actually baffling they haven’t made any more animated Vampire Hunter D stuff since.

Verdict: Vastly superior to its predecessor, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust might even make you want to pick up one of the many, many novels

Overall entertainment: 9/10
Violence: 8/10
Sex: 0/10
Ending: It got me, not gonna lie
Favourite detail: The attention paid in marking the passing of dawn till dusk, to dawn again.
Markus Brothers truck crashes: At least 2
Vampire space ships: 1, but it’s more than I’d expected
CGI animation: A touch here and there, but typically well implemented

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Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)
吸血鬼ハンターD ブラッドラスト Banpaia Hantā Dī: Buraddorasuto
Japanese

Director: Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Writers: Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Hideyuki Kikuchi (novel)

CAST

D – Hideyuki Tanaka
Meier Link – Koichi Yamadera
Leila – Megumi Hayashibara
Charlotte Elbourne – Emi Shinohara
D’s Left Hand – Ichirō Nagai
Carmilla – Bibari Maeda
Borgoff Marcus –Yusaku Yara
Nolt Marcus – Ryuzaburo Otomo
Kyle Marcus – Hochu Otsuka
Grove Marcus – Toshihiko Seki
Polk – Takeshi Aono
Sheriff – Rikiya Koyama
Benge – Keiji Fujiwara
Caroline – Yoko Somi
Machira – Rintarou Nishi
John Elbourne – Motomu Kiyokawa
Alan Elbourne – Koji Tsujitani
Priest – Unsho Ishizuka