Blood: The Last Vampire (2000)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Hiroyuki Kitakubo

Writers:

Kenji Kamiyama (screenplay) and
Katsuya Terada (writer)

Release Date:

17 August 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Horror | Action

Plot:

Japan, 1966. Saya is part of a secret team destroying daemons. She is sent undercover as a student at the Yokota Air Base in Fussa-shi...

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Japan | Halloween | Nurse | Schoolgirl

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Youki Kudoh	...	Saya (voice)
Saemi Nakamura	...	Nurse Makiho Caroline Amano (voice)
Joe Romersa	...	David (voice)
Rebecca Forstadt	...	Sharon (voice)
Stuart Robinson	...	Louis (voice)
Akira Koteyama	...	Mama (voice)
Tom Fahn	...	Teacher (voice)
Fitz Houston	...	S.P. #1 (voice)
Steve Blum	...	S.P. #2 (voice) (as Steven Blum)
Paul Carr	...	School headmaster (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dave Mallow	...	(voice)

Directed by
Hiroyuki Kitakubo

Writing credits
Kenji Kamiyama		(screenplay)
Katsuya Terada		writer

Produced by
Mitsuhisa Ishikawa	....	executive producer
Yukio Nagasaki	....	producer
Mamoru Oshii	....	supervising producer
Akira Sato	....	executive producer
Ryuzo Shirakawa	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Yoshihiro Ike

Art Direction by
Yusuke Takeda

Art Department
Hiroshi Kato	....	artboards

Sound Department
Kazuchika Kise	....	sound editor
Keiichi Momose	....	sound director
Jonathan Wales	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Tokumitsu Kifune	....	3D CGI
Katsuya Terada	....	3D CGI

Camera and Electrical Department
Miki Sakuma	....	animation camera operator

Animation Department
Shinji Arakawa	....	animator
Toshiyuki Inoue	....	animator
Toshiyuki Inoue	....	assistant animation director
Akiharu Ishii	....	animator
Taketomo Ishikawa	....	animator
Mitsuo Iso	....	animator
Yoshiyuki Itô	....	animator
Kanta Kamei	....	animator
Kenji Kamiyama	....	color artist
Toshihiro Kawamoto	....	animator
Toshinobu Kikuchi	....	animator
Kazuchika Kise	....	animation director
Hiroyuki Kitakubo	....	animation director
Ken Koike	....	animator
Kôji Komurakata	....	animator
Masahiro Kôyama	....	animator
Masahiro Kurio	....	animator
Ikuo Kuwana	....	animator
Jun Matsumoto	....	mechanical designer
Norio Matsumoto	....	animator
Kayoko Nabeta	....	animator
Yutaka Nakamura	....	animator
Tetsuya Nishio	....	assistant animation director
Hiroyuki Okiura	....	animator
Masaya Ônishi	....	animator
Shinji Otsuka	....	animator
Tsunenori Saitô	....	animator
Masahiro Sato	....	animator
Kanami Sekiguchi	....	animator
Masahiro Sekino	....	animator
Hiroya Takeda	....	animator
Katsuya Terada	....	character designer
Miyako Yatsu	....	animator
Kou Yoshinari	....	animator

Music Department
Alan Meyerson	....	music scoring mixer

Other crew
Hisashi Ezura	....	director of visual concept
Mamoru Oshii	....	visual concept director
Shinji Takagi	....	technical supervisor

Production Companies

• Aniplex
• IG Plus
• Production I.G.
• Sony Computer Entertainment

Distributors

• IG Plus
• IPA Asia Pacific
• Living Colour Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2004) (Australia) (all media)
• Manga Video (2001) (USA) (dubbed)
• Production I.G.
• SPE Visual Works
• Selecta Vision
• Sony Computer Entertainment America
• Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) (2000) (worldwide) (all media)

Other Companies

• Anime International Company (AIC)  in-between animation
• Anime Torotoro  in-between animation
• Anime-R  in-between animation
• Asahi Production  digital operation
• Bee Train  in-between animation
• Cello Studio  recording studio
• Digital Content Association of Japan  production cooperation
• Dolby  recording cooperation
• Gainax  in-between animation
• Garage Hiro  recording cooperation
• Ground Control Studios  re-recording studio
• I.G Niigata  in-between animation
• IKIF  3D CG animation production
• IPA  production cooperation
• Imagica  prints
• Laser Pacific Studio  foley recording studio
• MS  recording studio
• Magic Bus  in-between animation
• Media Ventures  music mixing studio
• Multi-Access Company  digital operation
• Production I.G.  3D CG animation production
• Production I.G.  digital operation
• Production I.G.  in-between animation
• Studio Biho  background art
• Studio Live  in-between animation
• Studio MAT  in-between animation
• Studio Mark  in-between animation
• Studio One Pack  in-between animation
• Studio Sheeta  in-between animation
• Studio Takuranke  in-between animation
• Studio Wombat  in-between animation
• Tamazawa Dogasha  in-between animation
• Toyo Camera Center  recording cooperation
• Westside Studio  recording studio
• Woodholly Studio  ADR recording studio

Runtime:

48 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:18 (cable rating) | Australia:M | Canada:14A | UK:15 | Spain:13

Company:

Aniplex

Trivia:

The bottle a demon uses to burn the bar is a bottle of Tequila Herradura

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#34.6)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Let's Dance

Brilliant animation & story, but then again a little short!

I had heard a great deal about Blood - The Last Vampire, but was unaware about the story or what it was about but still went ahead without any reservations to watch it.

Although I wasn't too disappointed with the film my only complaint was the fact that it was a little too short as I'm sure it could have stretched over better as a full length feature rather than clocking in under an hour.

The animation is really a sight to behold. Though 5 years old now, it seems as if it was only made yesterday making a huge significance in digital animation. This is further explored in the new updated version of Appleseed which is also another eye-opener in Japananimation too.

What makes me hugely grateful about Manga is the fact that there "out-of-this-world" ideas work best in the animation field before being converted as a live-action piece. Nonetheless this is still a worthy animation piece to check out as you'll not be too disappointed in the result despite the fact that it maybe a little short.

An interesting trivia was that the main character, Saya's look was based on the same concept incorporated for Chiaki Kuriyama (Battle Royale) in Tarantino's Kill Bill which works pretty well from a comical standpoint. Maybe some of you are aware of this or not?

Go See despite the shortness.