As for the plot, there are no problems there, although there are a few cliché moments. Character design is, as said, very stylised, but perfectly acceptable, and D himself looks as cool as all hell.

The overall colour scheme, as well, is very Dario Argento: dark blues and browns prevail over the modern, Akira and Ghost in the Shell inspired trend for green overkill. What the original does, with its dirty, old fashioned animation is create a decidedly other-worldly and eerie feel, perfectly encapsulated in the strange, mutated beings that roam the hostile countryside, glowing and sidling in a sinister fashion. Compare the 2000 sequel, 'Bloodlust': the animation in the latter is incredibly slick and the action comes thick and fast, but it might as well be robots fighting in outer space or samurai battling on a mountaintop. The animation, whilst heavily stylised and nowhere near as crisp as todays fare, works perfectly with the material. Vampire Hunter D is the kind of stuff that Manga Entertainment built their business on: old school, action heavy anime with buckets of style. It's one of my personal favorite Anime' flicks and it definitely ranks within my top ten Japanese animation films. 'Vampire Hunter D' is not the greatest Anime' ever made, but it was one of the first that I ever saw growing up. So D goes to work, taking on the Count's legion of ghastly demons and other hideous creatures. He's hired by a local girl to exterminate the vampire that bit her and because she's been bitten, people have grown fearful of her since they believe that she is contaminated. His eyes are partially obscured by his over-sized brim hat. It is sort of slow in the beginning, but gets going once D makes his appearance, riding into town on a cyborg horse and wrapped in a long black cape. Because 'Vampire Hunter D' was released amidst a blossoming season of bloody, sexy Anime' films, it has earned a small cult following in America. As a fan of Anime', I know that Japanese animation is not all that welcome in American mainstream cinema because of the stigmas that are attached to it. 'D' fits in with the eldest category: it's not short of graphic violence and gore, and there's some explicit nudity to boot. 'Vampire Hunter D' is certainly one of the better Anime' flicks to be released during the 1980s, when most Japanese animation films were either relentless bloodbaths, borderline pornography, or both. In the 13 years before Wesley Snipes would pick up a sword and proceed to slice and dice the undead that frequented blood-soaked raves in 1998's ultra-cool 'Blade,' the eponymous character 'D' of 'Vampire Hunter D' was slicing up vampires and other horrors on the Japanese countryside.

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