SUMMARY
In the fall of 1966 at Yokota Air Base, students of the
local high school are busy planning a Halloween party and dance. Yet
unbeknownst to them, dark and sinister creatures are lurking in the
backgrounds, silently living among the humans. Suspicious incidents
are beginning to occur across the town, and top-secret undercover
agents are called in to investigate. This branch of agents has one
main weapon to use against these foul monsters -- a girl named Saya.
She is the last remaining original, and only she has the abilities
to stop these creatures.
Can Saya kill all of the monsters while keeping her mission
secret, or are the town's inhabitants doomed?
DVD
VISION TEST
Video:
This transfer looks great. The digital animation plays out smoothly,
and there appear to be no defects. Also, backgrounds look crisp and
clean.
Audio: There
are two audio tracks on this DVD, a 2.0 Dolby surround sound and a
5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. Since the English and Japanese
dialogue is on the same track, it really came down to which audio
came through the clearest. In this case it was obviously the 5.1
Dolby Digital surround sound, which allowed some background music,
and character dialogues to be more intense.
Edits: There
appear to be no edits contained on this DVD. This movie seems to
play out in its original format.
Extras: The
extras include a documentary of the making of Blood: The Last
Vampire, theatrical trailers, a mini-poster and a photo gallery.
WIDESCREEN
REVIEW
STORY:
To be honest I was a bit disappointed with this story by Kenji
Kamiyama. There were certain questions about character backgrounds,
especially Saya's, that were left unanswered. Some parts seem to
move along slowly, almost to the point where it was dragging the
entire movie.
ACTING: Since both the English and Japanese dialogues were
contained on the same audio track, there was no need to switch back
and forth to compare and contrast them. The Japanese voice cast had
to act out their roles in both English and Japanese. It was really
great seeing and hearing them change to each language with such
ease.
FAN SERVICE: You can see the breasts of a female corpse still lying in
her bathtub. Meanwhile outside and across the street there are a few
prostitutes, but all of them are mostly covered up because it's raining.
CONCLUSION:
Overall
I wasn't too satisfied with "Blood: The Last Vampire". Its
pacing is slow, vital background character information isn't
revealed, and it feels as if the viewer is tossed into the middle of
this story instead of the beginning.
Because of the lack of characterization, one can only guess
as to why Saya is hunting down and killing her own kind. If a reason
as to why the killings were deemed necessary, then that would have
made this story feel more concrete. If more and vital information
was reveal I probably would have had a better connection with Saya
and the other characters.
Speaking of lack of information, Blood: The Last Vampire
starts out almost seemingly in the middle of it story.
This makes the title feel like a small part of a grander
tale. It’s very
frustrating and it decreased my enjoyment.
On the other hand, Blood: The Last Vampire does have some
good points. The violence during the action sequences is pretty
graphic, with lots of blood spraying and Saya's sword slashing
everywhere. The special effects look really great and the 3-D camera
work for other scenes are impressive.
For example, when Saya runs into the nurse's office, one
almost feels as if there's an actual camera following right behind
her capturing her movements. The creative team behind this movie put
in a lot of work, and it shows beautifully.
Since Production I.G. assisted in the making of this movie I had high
expectations for it. Unfortunately those expectations weren't
reached, and it left me with a sort of hollow feeling of
dissatisfaction. I've watched very many of Production I.G.'s anime
over the years and rarely did I ever felt that a particular series
or movie let me down. Blood: The Last Vampire did, and that is a
tragedy.
If
you're a general fan of the vampire genre in anime, or you like
being tossed into the middle of a story then “Blood: The Last
Vampire” will be right up your alley. However, if you like your
anime fast-paced with wild and goofy characters, this anime is not
for you. In short, rent this anime first before you buy it because
you may be wishing there was more to it than this.
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