Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

バンパイアハンターD
2000 Madhouse Theatrical 1h 43m Completed
Action Horror Fantasy Sci-Fi
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Details & Synopsis
Ten thousand years in the future the world has been rebuilt by vampires and then partially reclaimed by humans, leaving a landscape that is simultaneously feudal and post-apocalyptic. D is a dhampir, half human, half vampire, hunting his father's kind for money. He is hired to retrieve a girl taken by a vampire lord. Four other hunters are hired by the girl's family for the same job.

Yoshiaki Kawajiri, the director of Ninja Scroll, working with a budget that Madhouse had never previously operated at, a Hollywood co-production that gave him resources and kept him out of his own way. The animation is the finest Madhouse produced for a theatrical feature: every frame of the creature design, the Gothic European environments, the movement of characters through space, built to a standard that hand-drawn feature animation rarely reached before or has reached since.

The story is classical. The execution is extraordinary. The fansub community had this before the official English release existed because the animation was the point and the animation did not require subtitles to communicate what it was doing. An argument for the visual medium as complete in itself.
Alt Title バンパイアハンターD
Studio Madhouse
Network Theatrical
Aired 2000
Runtime 1h 43m
Genre Action, Horror, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Status Completed
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Bloodlust Combat Ledger

Hunters on the Same Trail

D vs. the Marcus Hunters

Competition before cooperation

D and the Marcus team begin as competitors chasing the same bounty. Their clashes are less about defeating each other than establishing that neither side will yield the trail.
The Breakdown
The rivalry gives the movie two hunting philosophies. The Marcus team works through coordinated weapons, vehicles and specialized roles. D works almost entirely alone, reading each threat and ending it with frightening efficiency.

The Barbarois Ambushes

Nolt Marcus vs. Bengé

SPOILER!

A shadow is enough

Bengé kills Nolt by attacking through shadow, bypassing the strength that makes Nolt dangerous in a normal fight.
The Breakdown
Nolt loses because there is no conventional opponent to hit. Bengé's technique turns the ground-level assumptions of a physical fighter against him and announces that the Barbarois cannot be fought safely until their abilities are understood.

The Marcus Hunters vs. Caroline

SPOILER!

The terrain fights back

Caroline uses shapeshifting and environmental mimicry to attack the Marcus hunters from terrain they cannot initially distinguish from her body.
The Breakdown
The fight is a recognition problem first and a damage problem second. Once the hunters understand where Caroline actually is, her advantage collapses. Until then every surface around them can be the attack.

D vs. Bengé

SPOILER!

Solve the trick, end the fight

Bengé's shadow technique can overwhelm a hunter who treats it like a normal attack. D survives by recognizing the rule behind it and turning that rule against him.
The Breakdown
This is the purest Bloodlust version of D's combat style. He does not win because the movie gives him a longer exchange of blows. He wins because he understands the supernatural mechanism faster than the supernatural creature expects.

Grove Marcus Unleashed

SPOILER!

The team's last-resort weapon

Grove is physically frail, but his psychic projection gives the Marcus team destructive power far beyond what his body suggests. When the group is pushed hard enough, he becomes their most dangerous weapon.
The Breakdown
The cost is built into the technique. Grove's power can dominate a battlefield, but using it consumes the body keeping him alive. The Marcus team's strongest attack is also something they cannot afford to use casually.

Castle Chaythe

D vs. Meier Link

SPOILER!

The duel the bounty promised

D finally confronts Meier directly after the chase has already complicated the meaning of the contract. Both are supernatural swordsmen, but the fight matters because D now understands that Charlotte is not simply a captive waiting to be recovered.
The Breakdown
The duel forces D's professional obligation against information the original bounty did not contain. Catching Meier is still possible. Deciding what catching him should mean has become harder.

D and Meier vs. Carmilla

SPOILER!

The hunt changes sides

Carmilla's betrayal turns the final conflict away from hunter versus fugitive. D and Meier become aligned against an older Noble threat that intends to use Charlotte and reclaim power through her.
The Breakdown
The alliance resolves the movie's moral reversal physically. D began the story hunting Meier as the monster responsible for Charlotte's disappearance. By the climax, the two are fighting the same monster for Charlotte's survival.