I watched Vampire Hunter D as a young teen and it shaped a lot of my anime preferences. They released it in the US around 1992, so I’d guess I first saw it in 1993. While I’m still not sure all the media I consumed as a kid was age-appropriate, rewatching D as an adult doesn’t raise as many red flags as some of my other recent revisits. That said, I’m happy to report the animated gore still holds up beautifully.
Aesthetics
Okay, the story for Vampire Hunter D is cool and all. Post-apoc vampires and monsters are awesome, but my love for this movie is primarily about style.
As a movie, the story moves quickly, jumping, from scene to scene with little in the way of smooth pacing. It’s a fast-paced adaptation, but it looks fantastic. The character designs based on illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano would forever cement some of my aesthetic preferences.
Amano would go on to work on concept art and character designs for the Final Fantasy series of video games, as well as dozens of other anime series. He is a legend, and D highlights some of his better-known style elements.
As does vampire girl, L’armica. She is one of my absolute favorite designs, weird headdress and all. She’s also a fantastic character with a clearly defined arc, which is honestly nice to see.
The animation is pretty standard for the time; fight scenes have a distinct ‘90s feel. D looks most impressive when he’s just standing around being badass. Still, I wouldn’t want to see a remake or anything. It’s a classic, and part of that includes appreciating the style of the decade.
Plot
That’s not to say that there aren’t themes or a plot present in Vampire Hunter D.
The plot is fairly basic, human woman Doris has been bitten by vampire Noble Count Lee. The Count now intends to make Doris his next bride. To prevent this Doris has hired Vampire hunter D to help kill Lee and save her from a grim fate. Like all simple plots the interesting aspect of this story is the world it takes place in, the people it happens to and the themes it deals with as the plot unfolds.
Themes
Overcoming one’s background and nature, for good or bad, is a clear theme. D struggles with his split nature. Doris, the female protagonist, has trauma over her father’s occupation and death. L’armica struggles to maintain the nobility of her family line.
D’s past and lineage is strongly hinted at too, but never fully revealed. Even he denies any claims despite how obvious they may be. He’s choosing his path and his identity, just as L’armica chooses hers.
Like any good wandering hero, Vampire Hunter D ends with D heading off into the wild again. There’s a lot of pulp hero here and just a touch of western nameless gunslinger as well.
The next time he would show up in film would be in 2000’s Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, which I’ve never seen. I’ve also never read the 56 novels about the character. Although now that I’ve rewatched the movie, I’m suddenly feeling the temptation.
Nostalgia Value
It’s always difficult to revisit something that so sparked your imagination as a kid. Since the first time I encountered D’s genre-bending pulp horror world, I’ve become more familiar with the genres and stories that influenced it. This familiarity doesn’t detract from the movie; it just adds an additional layer to it.
It’s almost impossible to recapture that original feeling of awe and inspiration, but rewatching old favorites does remind me of the days when every story felt new. It’s easy to critique a movie when you have a mental reference library of thousands of horror films, anime titles, or books to compare it to. Watching D again this morning reminded me what it was like to watch something with fresh eyes. Maybe that’s a perspective I need to take more; if I hadn’t seen ten thousand horror movies, how would this hit? I don’t think the resulting critique would always be more positive.
Voice Acting
After all this time, I’ve never watched the sub, so when I saw it on Shudder, I had to give it a watch. The English voice actors are so ingrained in my memories. I wondered if the story would feel different with the original actors? For some dubs and subs, whichever voice actor I encounter first gets locked in as how the character “should” sound to me. I’m not saying they are better, just that first contact means a lot.
In this case Michie Tomizawa and Kaneto Shiozawa as Doris and D just sounded right. Maybe it’s due to being familiar with Kaneto Shiozawa’s voice acting, he’s been in plenty of late 80′, 90’s era projects, that I’m familiar with. Or more likely they’re just that good.
Both the sub and dub are available for those who have strong preferences.
Photo Sensitivity
One thing I didn’t remember is how much Vampire Hunter D made use of flashing lights. Any scene with the Time-Bewitching candle can get a little strobey. Also, some big lightning sequences in the end are a bit of an issue. So, if you are photophobic, be aware.
Final Thoughts
Vampire Hunter D always feels like a movie that was too mature for me to watch when I first encountered it. The mix of violence and dark aesthetics was unusual for animated features available to teens in the early ‘90s. Now, it seems tame by comparison to what’s out there aimed at the same audience. Man, I do not envy kids today.
Vampire Hunter D is available to watch on streaming
Read other Retro Reviews here:
Leave a Reply