VAMPIRE HUNTER D

Version: Urban Vision 2000 DVD Release; English dub

Well, this was a good film. I remember first hearing about this back when Cartoon Network was an infant. They were going to play this, Robot Carnival, and Twilight of the Cockroaches. After watching this film 12+ years later, I am amazed CN had the balls to air it (it was probably chopped to pieces in the editing room).

Let me start my review by saying that you will need some background to get everything on the first viewing. The editing in the film is horrible. Doris calls D by name, but you were never told what his name is. You hear D's hand talking to him, yet you are never told who is speaking or even that he has a talking hand. You just see it, and then it saves D's life. Huh? There are a lot of scenes like this. I recommend glancing over a wikipedia entry on D before seeing this one.

This is one of the classic anime films, in my opinion, even though visually it is nothing compared to Akira or one of Miyazaki's films. You can tell that this is an 80's film by the style, and if you look closely, you can see that they reused some animation. But it's not much, and you may not even notice it. This movie is full screen, so set your tv accordingly. If you have a letterbox version, it just means that they chopped the top and bottom off.

Mechanics aside, this is a great film. The story is noble, and the characters are likeable. I am certain that I will watch this many times (duh, you bought the DVD!). I would say that rating-wise, this is a heavy PG-13. Yes, there is violence, and yes there is nudity. The violence is just about equal to any CSI episode today, and the nudity consists of breasts and some outlines. Most people know what a breast is, and I've seen the same amount of skin in an episode of Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Okki. I would let a 13 year old watch it because chances are, if they are a girl they have it and if they are a boy they have seen it. But use your own judgment.

See this movie!