Vampire Hunter D (2000)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Directors:

Yoshiaki Kawajiri
Jack Fletcher

Writers:

Yoshiaki Kawajiri (writer)
Hideyuki Kikuchi (novel)

Release Date:

28 September 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Horror | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

When the Sun Sets... The Hunt Begins

Plot:

Hunters race to save a girl stolen from her home by a vampire.

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Bounty Hunter | Future | Monster | Katana Sword

Cast

Hideyuki Tanaka	...	D
Ichirô Nagai	...	Left Hand
Kôichi Yamadera	...	Meier Link
Megumi Hayashibara	...	Leila (voice)
Emi Shinohara	...	Charlotte Elbourne
Yûsaku Yara	...	Borgoff
Hôchû Ôtsuka	...	Kyle
Rintarou Nishi	...	Mashira
Keiji Fujiwara	...	Benge
Yôko Soumi	...	Caroline
Toshihiko Seki	...	Grove
Ryûzaburô Ôtomo	...	Nolt
Chikao Ôtsuka	...	Barbarois Elder
Takeshi Aono	...	Polk
Motomu Kiyokawa	...	John Elbourne

Also Known As:

Banpaia hantâ D (Japan) (DVD title)
Vampire Hunter D (USA)
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (USA) (DVD box title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence/gore.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Japan | Hong Kong | USA

Language:

Cantonese | English | Japanese | German

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Singapore:PG | UK:18 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | New Zealand:R13

Company:

BMG Funhouse

Trivia:

The second language following English version was Cantonese, then Japanese, thus it was released in Hong Kong before Japan.

Quotes:

D: Your time is coming to an end. Your kind must face extinction. You cannot survive, you must die. That is the rule of nature.
Carmila: Ah. Very strong words for a dunpeal, but you seem to forget. Our spirits... are eternal.
D: No, Carmilla. Nothing lasts forever.
Carmila: I see. I should have known better than to reason with your kind, Dunpeal hunter. I guess my only option is to use force!
D: AH!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Land of the Dead (2005)

action toned down, but quality turned up

Vampire Hunter D is a legend in some aspects of the anime world. It was the first anime I saw as a child and it was a movie I never forgot. I borrowed the sequel from my friend and I was very happy with it. There isn't as much fighting as in the first one, but the story is deep and thick with great characters. Meijer Link, a vampire with noble intentions with a human girl, is the first decent vampire we see in the D movies. You root for him, yet D never loses in battle, so it's really tough watching them fight. We see again D's constant struggle with his self and the life that he leads. He's stuck between a human life and a vampire's life, never truly fitting into either. He meets a bounty hunter, Leyla, who finds something truly magnetic about D and his loneliness in that she has felt the same way in her life. It truly is a somber tale full of lively characters, a tremendous love story, and of course, D's usual blood spilling action. A great movie that I think most audiences will enjoy.