Blood - The Last Vampire

Starring:Youki Kudoh, Saemi Nakamura, Joe Romersa, Rebecca Forstadt, Stuart Robinson (II), Akira Koteyama, Tom Fahn, Fitz Houston, Steven Jay Blum, Paul Carr, Dave Mallow
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Studio: Manga Video
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Saya, the last true vampire, battles the bloodthirsty demons attacking an American base in Japan during the Vietnam War. Much of the story takes place during the late afternoon and evening, and the artists use shadows, reflections, and light with exceptional skill: the look of the film is more interesting than the underdeveloped story. Saya wields a deadly sword and pursues her foes with chilling ferocity, but she's silent and sullen and fails to develop as a character: the viewer has no idea how she views her deadly occupation. Albeit a visually striking film, this dark, violent work fails to live up to its billing as "Japan's first fully digital animated feature film": the three-dimensional objects and effects are digital, but the two-dimensional characters are hand-drawn. Nor is the film really "from the creators of Ghost in the Shell." Blood came out of a group that Ghost director Mamoru Oshii organized to encourage young talent, but he didn't direct it. And at 48 minutes, it's very short for a feature, although this edition includes a rambling 21-minute making-of film and a 3-minute trailer. It seems unlikely that Blood "will transform Japanese animation," but other artists may use its visual style to tell more compelling stories with better-developed characters. Unrated; suitable for ages 17 and up for profanity, brief nudity, and considerable violence. --Charles Solomon

Blood - The Last Vampire
Average customer rating:

Nice movie, but feels like a teaser

Good but not great

I hope this is the last vampire

still has a hold on me

Mediocre

Blood - The Last Vampire
Starring: Youki Kudoh , Saemi Nakamura , Joe Romersa , Rebecca Forstadt , and Stuart Robinson (II)
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Manufacturer: Manga Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Vampire Hunter D

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ASIN: B00005NG6U
Release Date: 2001-08-28

Amazon.com

Saya, the last true vampire, battles the bloodthirsty demons attacking an American base in Japan during the Vietnam War. Much of the story takes place during the late afternoon and evening, and the artists use shadows, reflections, and light with exceptional skill: the look of the film is more interesting than the underdeveloped story. Saya wields a deadly sword and pursues her foes with chilling ferocity, but she's silent and sullen and fails to develop as a character: the viewer has no idea how she views her deadly occupation. Albeit a visually striking film, this dark, violent work fails to live up to its billing as "Japan's first fully digital animated feature film": the three-dimensional objects and effects are digital, but the two-dimensional characters are hand-drawn. Nor is the film really "from the creators of Ghost in the Shell." Blood came out of a group that Ghost director Mamoru Oshii organized to encourage young talent, but he didn't direct it. And at 48 minutes, it's very short for a feature, although this edition includes a rambling 21-minute making-of film and a 3-minute trailer. It seems unlikely that Blood "will transform Japanese animation," but other artists may use its visual style to tell more compelling stories with better-developed characters. Unrated; suitable for ages 17 and up for profanity, brief nudity, and considerable violence. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews:

Nice movie, but feels like a teaser.......2007-04-09

Blood - The Last Vampire is a riveting and involving piece of anime; probably one of the best I've seen in terms of artistry. The animation isn't as fluid as, say, Steam Boy or as technologically groundbreaking, but it uses shadows and sound to get some great suspense going. That said, a nicely tuned TV and audio equipment is a must with this movie.

I was supposed to give this movie a 4-Star rating, except for one thing: story, or the lack of it. As a feature film, Blood - The Last Vampire felt more like a teaser than anything else. Little plot, but lots of action, intrigue and excitement. What's more, the video promised a running feature length of 85 minutes...the movie is only about 45 minutes long. The rest is a behind-the-scenes look at the movie.

Good but not great.......2007-03-04

At around 45 minutes, Blood - The Last Vampire is an anime that could have been something. The story introduces the main character, Saya, quickly and gives very little history about her. You're given a little action right from the start then story begins to unfold, but it is never fully developed, leaving you with a bunch of questions. The last 15-20 minutes are filled with more action, but once its done, your left wanting more. The animation itself is great, but again, seeing what the animators are capable of makes you wish the film was longer. If your an anime fan, you should see it, to at least appreciate it for its merit.

I hope this is the last vampire.......2007-02-11

There is better vampire flicks out there. To be honest this is the worst one I ever saw. The first problem has to be the animation. Rarely does animation play a factor with me, because if the animation is great but the story and characters are weak, then the animation is the least factor. But the artwork in blood is so ugly, its seriously painful on the eyes. Those have to be the ugliest characters I have ever seen. The character development and plot was very weak due to the movies length. The action scenes were nothing special. There's lots of blood and some gory deaths. However I would say at that the most this is good for a rental. If you must see this, then you should purchase this as cheap as possible. Nobody should pay more than 5 bucks for this. If you want to check some anime vampire anime. Then I recommend these way before this.Hellsing, Vampire Hunter D and Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust.

still has a hold on me.......2007-01-10

Amazing.
Although it's shortness does not allow for in-depth character developement, the sensation from really immersing yourself in this movie is phenomenal. You can almost feel the main character so intensely that in such a short ammount of time, her persona is able to cause such a significant impact on the viewer which characters in other works take seasons and a plethora of gimmicks to accomplish.

Mediocre.......2006-12-11

Hmm... lets see first the good points...

Quasi interesting.
Promising plot,
Doesn't take long to get into the action.

Now the bad.

Short,
Little plot development or background.
Horrible voice overs. Even the japanese voice overs are horrible.
Medicore artwork.
This show mostly rides on the vampire stigma, japanese language and gore. None of which is enough to make it a good show.

Blood - The Last Vampire (UMD Mini For PSP)

Average customer rating:

Some good news, some bad news.

Blood - The Last Vampire (UMD Mini For PSP)
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Manufacturer: Manga Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: UMD for PSP

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Ghost in the Shell (UMD Mini For PSP)
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Accessories:

Sony PSP PlayGear Amp
Sony PSP Comfort Grips Black
Sony PSP Psyclone Nodus Sound System
Sony PSP Travel Case

ASIN: B000A158SS
Release Date: 2005-08-23

Customer Reviews:

Some good news, some bad news........2005-10-20

I bought Blood: The Last Vampire because I'm not a huge Anime fan, but really appreciate this movie's beauty and story. Seeing it on DVD, I knew the video would look great on the PSP screen, and for that most part, that's true. Also, the movie is about 45 minutes long, so the PSP is a great outlet for it as opposed to a painfully long feature film (I prefer to watch TV shows and shorter films on the PSP because I rarely have long spans of time to devote to PSP-filmwatching).

The bad news is related to the video quality itself. The studio converted the video to UMD as a matted-widescreen version (not sure of the technical term), so when you first play it, you get a small widescreen picture with "black bars" on ALL FOUR SIDES. You must use the "Zoom" option under the PSP display menu for the picture to fit right. A minor annoyance, but worth mentioning.

Also, the black-level is washed out. I've found that watching the UMD at the lowest brightness setting on the PSP screen is most accurate color-wise, but with such beautiful animation, it's sad to see the contrast couldn't be nudged up some. I don't know if this represents studio laziness, but I understand this is common on UMDs.

Ultimately, entertaining and a great flick for the UMD format, but not perfect.

Average customer rating:

Blood: The Last Vampire [Region 2]
Starring: Youki Kudoh , Saemi Nakamura , Joe Romersa , Rebecca Forstadt , and Stuart Robinson (II)
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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