- Sep 22, 2013
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Vampire Hunter D is a 1985 Japanese horror OVA film produced by Ashi Productions, in association with Epic/Sony Records, CBS Sony Group Inc. and Movic. The screenplay is based on the first in the long-running series of light novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi.
Billed by the Japanese producers as a "dark future science-fiction romance", the film, like the novel before it, is set in the year 12,090 AD, in a post-nuclear holocaust world where a young woman hires a mysterious half-vampire, half-human vampire hunter to protect her from a powerful vampire lord (source of information from top: Wikipedia).
This semi-manga, semi-anime noir-adventure is a very thorough 'summary' of humanity's general/overall perspective on the eternal conflict between good and evil and the courage and wit (and swordsmanship/skill!) required to navigate through a world made fragile by the forces of darkness.
That's why we can use this Japanese animated film to evaluate just why we humans conceive of strange and unusual presences and creatures (and demons!) when we think of the quest towards paradise and peace.
As our protagonist anti-hero vampire-hunter wanders through a savage land filled with bloodthirsty creatures and unscrupulous warlords and minions, we find that he is slowly discovering why heroism often requires an appreciation of primal sensitivity, though of course, the vampire-hunter ultimately remains what we expect --- a brooding wanderer meditating on the value of strength-and-honor imagination...
There are many films that explore similar themes such as Van Helsing, The Crow, Gangs of New York, Timecop, The Terminator, Reign of Fire, and Akira, but Vampire Hunter D nicely captures our species' peculiar curiosity about why bloodlust stimulation may lead to nihilistic intimations of 'pure danger' and metaphysical oddities.
I'd love to see a Hollywood (USA) live-action remake/adaptation of this 1985 Japanese anime film, perhaps starring an eclectic/offbeat actor such as Leo DiCaprio (star of Gangs of New York and Inception) or Jude Law (star of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and The Talented Mr. Ripley) as the protagonist vampire-hunter.
I think Vampire Hunter D is to good-versus-evil storytelling what Steven Spielberg's rapture-oriented Japanese war-consciousness film Empire of the Sun is to watershed world history evaluation.
{excerpts/lines from the Vampire Hunter D}
====
Count Magnus Lee: I've lived for almost ten thousand years. Believe me you have no idea what that means: boredom. Everlasting and hideous boredom. A never ending search for ways to pass the time... and mating with a human female is one of the few I enjoy. Eventually they become tiresome. For in spite of their vitality, they are fundamentally stupid creatures who couldn't survive without the nobility to rule them. Perhaps now you'll understand my wanting to have some fun every thousand years or so?
----
D: Go back to the castle and tell Count Lee, visitors from the past shall return to the darkness once they came.
Lamika: What do you mean visitors from the past?
----
D: You and your kind do not belong among the living. You are nothing but visitors from the past, shadows from the world of darkness.
Count Magnus Lee: World of darkness?
D: You and your kind should go back to where you belong! Back to the abyss... OF OBLIVION!
Count Magnus Lee: A challenger. How amusing.
====
Billed by the Japanese producers as a "dark future science-fiction romance", the film, like the novel before it, is set in the year 12,090 AD, in a post-nuclear holocaust world where a young woman hires a mysterious half-vampire, half-human vampire hunter to protect her from a powerful vampire lord (source of information from top: Wikipedia).
This semi-manga, semi-anime noir-adventure is a very thorough 'summary' of humanity's general/overall perspective on the eternal conflict between good and evil and the courage and wit (and swordsmanship/skill!) required to navigate through a world made fragile by the forces of darkness.
That's why we can use this Japanese animated film to evaluate just why we humans conceive of strange and unusual presences and creatures (and demons!) when we think of the quest towards paradise and peace.
As our protagonist anti-hero vampire-hunter wanders through a savage land filled with bloodthirsty creatures and unscrupulous warlords and minions, we find that he is slowly discovering why heroism often requires an appreciation of primal sensitivity, though of course, the vampire-hunter ultimately remains what we expect --- a brooding wanderer meditating on the value of strength-and-honor imagination...
There are many films that explore similar themes such as Van Helsing, The Crow, Gangs of New York, Timecop, The Terminator, Reign of Fire, and Akira, but Vampire Hunter D nicely captures our species' peculiar curiosity about why bloodlust stimulation may lead to nihilistic intimations of 'pure danger' and metaphysical oddities.
I'd love to see a Hollywood (USA) live-action remake/adaptation of this 1985 Japanese anime film, perhaps starring an eclectic/offbeat actor such as Leo DiCaprio (star of Gangs of New York and Inception) or Jude Law (star of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and The Talented Mr. Ripley) as the protagonist vampire-hunter.
I think Vampire Hunter D is to good-versus-evil storytelling what Steven Spielberg's rapture-oriented Japanese war-consciousness film Empire of the Sun is to watershed world history evaluation.
{excerpts/lines from the Vampire Hunter D}
====
Count Magnus Lee: I've lived for almost ten thousand years. Believe me you have no idea what that means: boredom. Everlasting and hideous boredom. A never ending search for ways to pass the time... and mating with a human female is one of the few I enjoy. Eventually they become tiresome. For in spite of their vitality, they are fundamentally stupid creatures who couldn't survive without the nobility to rule them. Perhaps now you'll understand my wanting to have some fun every thousand years or so?
----
D: Go back to the castle and tell Count Lee, visitors from the past shall return to the darkness once they came.
Lamika: What do you mean visitors from the past?
----
D: You and your kind do not belong among the living. You are nothing but visitors from the past, shadows from the world of darkness.
Count Magnus Lee: World of darkness?
D: You and your kind should go back to where you belong! Back to the abyss... OF OBLIVION!
Count Magnus Lee: A challenger. How amusing.
====
