Blood: The Last Vampire

Title: Blood: The Last Vampire
Rating: 3/5
Genre: Animation, Action, Horror
Language: Japanese, English

No, not the recently released re-make of the cult animé classic, but the classic itself, and it doesn’t take long to realise why it’s held in such high regard. Utilising old fashioned Japanese animation techniques with live-action character modelling and CGI effects for lighting and colour, the result is spectacular. Creating a striking balance between a gothic-toned shadow and ease of being able to see everything required, this is one film that never slows in pace, never relents in its fast-paced action, and perhaps that’s what makes this such a depressing watch – knowing just how incredible it could have been.

The plot is rather simple, following the story of ‘Suya,’ a vampire hunter working for the US Military sent to a nearby school on a military base to disguise herself as a student and uncover the identities of the vampires hiding there. It doesn’t take long for their identities to be uncovered, and thus starts the bloody game of cat and mouse. It is the character design here that shows incredible strength, from the suspiciously ‘evil’ toned apparent hero to the vampires themselves; not some mere human with animalistic features, the designs here show them as something truly demonic in form. In terms of action, the consistent tension persisting through the entirety of this release really is a feat to behold. All 42 minutes of it.

And there’s my issue with this piece, there is a wealth of apparent ideas, well worked with excellent use of lighting and sound to accent the mood, magnificent character designs and excellent flow, and yet it opens up inexplicably with no real background information on the characters, and just when things start to open up plot wise, it ends. There was a lot of potential here, and it’s rather frustrating to be shown what essentially feels like a long teaser. Furthermore, with the recently released live-action version, it leaves me wondering just how effectively they will integrate the styles, and rather pessimistic as to its outcome. This film leaves me both hungry for more, and depressed in the knowledge that its unlikely to ever arrive.

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