Blood: The Last Vampire

Plot synopsis:
The year is 1966. Saya is the only remaining original
vampire, and she hunts Chiropterrans--demons who live off human blood.
Saya's a testy and demanding little bitch but apparently very valuable to
"the top." Her next assignment, as her boss David explains it to her, is
to infiltrate the U.S. Yokota Air Base's High School, which has been the
scene of several deaths in the past and is thought to be harboring at
least two Chiropterrans. Saya's cover is that of a student who will be
participating in classes for a few days.Saya's first day at Yokota High is pretty uneventful. After classes
are over and everyone has cleared out, Saya snoops around the school and
learns that blood has been spilled on the floor in the infirmary. She
suspects that the infirmary is the Chiropterrans' feeding room. The next
day is the school's Halloween party. After school lets out, the students
change into their costumes and head for the dance...all except for Sharon
and Linda, that is. Linda isn't feeling well, and Sharon thinks it's a
flare-up of Linda's anemia, so she's going to walk Linda over to the
infirmary and they will attend the party later. Saya enters the infirmary
just as Sharon and Linda are about to feed on nurse Makiho Amano. Linda
changes her form into Chiropterran, and Saya slays her with her sword.
Saya turns on Sharon and wounds her, but Sharon gets away, spilling blood
as she flees. The astonished nurse follows the trail, which leads to the
dance hall where she finds Sharon in Chiropterran form hiding under a
blanket. While Saya battles the creature, Makiho runs for help.Meanwhile, at a nearby bar, the mama-san sets the bar on fire, takes
Chiropterran form, and heads for the army base. She kills the military
guard who is escorting the Makiho back to the dance. Saya saves the
terrified nurse, and they take refuge in a military garage, but the demon
finds them. Saya, without her sword, battles the creature with a shovel
while Makiho hops in a jeep and rams through the door. David, who has been
looking for Saya and was standing outside the garage, tosses a sword to
Saya, and she chops the demon (Sharon) in half. As Saya and David take
Makiho from the jeep and lay her unconscious form gently in the grass, they see the mama-san in demon form on the roof, preparing to fly away.
David and Saya follow in the jeep. The Chiropterran tries to escape by landing
on the wing of a military jet tooling down the runway. The jeep gives chase,
and Saya slays the monster. As the Chiropterran lies dying on the runway,
Saya feeds it with a few drops of her own blood.Epilogue: Makiho attempts to describe what she saw to the military brass, but
she has little proof of anything. When she returned to the infirmary,
Linda's body was no longer there and the bloody mess had been cleaned up.
The military brass deny knowing anything about David, but they do show
Makiho a photo taken in 1892 that clearly shows Saya and has the word
"Vampire" written on it. Makiho returns to her office, wondering to
herself whether Saya is still around and still fighting demons, "just as
we humans continue to kill each other." At that moment, an announcement
comes over the radio that the Liberation Front has attacked the American
Blake base and that Yokota base personnel have been ordered to fly to Don
Hoi in North Vietnam. As the credits roll, the background shows some very
blurry photos of what looks like American forces in Vietnam.
[Original Synopsis by bj_kuehl] [Edited by m-lissa1]

Tags: cult, murder, violence

Review:
Using a mixture of animation cells and computer-generated backgrounds, this is an effortlessly stylized visual breakthrough that hopefully will launch future endeavors in the style.The problem with this particular film, though, is that it is far, far too short.
At just over forty minutes filmed length, the story of a strange girl called Saya that seems to be some sort of vampire slayer barely gets the ball rolling on the enigmas behind this girl, the organization she works for, and the beasts she vows to slay before fading into the end credits.
This makes you sit back, blinking at all the dazzling visual beauty that went into this well-crafted film, and wonder, 'what next?'  Hopefully, there will be further adventures of Saya and the dingy, grimy world she lives in, each as well-designed as this one was, though with much more payoff.All in all, worth looking at if only to see what the future of animation might look like..
That said, "Blood: The Last Vampire" is very much like a roller coaster: Very fast, a lot of fun, but over before you know it.The first three minutes drew me into the whole story very quickly.
The CG in the film leads to some very cool effects, but as strange as this sounds, some of its realism (especially with the plane scenes) offsets the animated look.
Soon she saves the school nurse Makiho Amano from two vampires disguised of classmates and Makiho witnesses her fight against the powerful demons."Blood: The Last Vampire" is an animation of 48 minutes running time with the tormented and skilled samurai Saya.
I saw the movie "Blood: The Last Vampire" (2009) a couple of years ago and the character Saya is better developed.
Standing at 48 minutes long, Blood: The Last Vampire is cornucopia of pure violence, bad a55 combat and suspenseful monster slaying action.
It has exceedingly smooth animation combined with highly detailed artwork, appealing character designs(a far cry from the cutesy big eyed girls in most anime) and awesome fight choreography.However, look beyond the "wow factor" and there is little else that this film offers.In terms of plot, it is very straight forward and predictable with few story twists.
I do, however, applaud the decision to record a mixed language dialogue(western characters speak English, Asian characters speak Japanese) as it enhances the realism of the setting.To top it all off, The pacing of the movie in erratic and it shows in the more subdued scenes of conversation where things get really boring.
The scene with the jet taking off, for example, looked more like a piece of live footage that had been "animation-ized" after the fact.The plot was poorly developed.
Manga craftily fail to mention this on the cover and I was very let down when the movie faded out to the end titles merely 40 minutes into the film.
But I guess in doing so the enigma of the protagonist would lose out, as the script doesn't completely come out with her infliction in other than one word, or minor visual hints.Saya, a half-human, half-vampire samurai is all edge, and it looks like it doesn't take much to tick her off.
Her next assignment sees her at an American military base, where there have been some strange, grisly deaths possibly the work of vampires and the bases' school nurse finds herself stuck in the middle of it all.This is just another chapter to the story's universe, as the investigative build-up eventually breaks out the gushing blood and precise blade-work of Saya going to work (slaying) when she uncovers the suspect/s.
Watched #Blood....This is an A rated anime about a vampire works for government secret service killing the daemons which survive on human blood....The movie has badass action sequences and brilliant animation.
This film could've been on par with the Vampire Hunter D series, I am that serious but the makers try everything to ruin the experience of Blood: The Last Vampire.Saya is a vampire hunter who looks like a young adult, she is called in to an American air base in Japan to hunt and kill vampires.
An average time limit for an action show is 40 minutes per episode.Onto what I liked, the animation is really well put together and has a nice organic flow-through, the voice acting had no faults and the story, while basic, is pretty well executed.So overall I'm giving this a 7/10.
Was interesting enough that i could watch the whole thing.Now looking back i can say i'm disappointed that they left us hanging like it there was going to be a sequel.Still want my favorites and i make my friends watch it.I love it.
It's kind of like a real movie.I can't think of anything i change.They could've made more movies afterwards though.It's a must see anime.I only like real stuff but this is pretty close to being real life.Even though it gots vampires or whatever they are.Beautiful Art. The sky scenes.
Japanese animation films aren't usually the kind of thing I watch - I think some bozo at my rental firm must have confused this with the 2009 live-action version - but I decided to give it a go anyway.
Apparently Saya, a schoolgirl, is a one-of-a-kind demon hunter who is having a few issues with her taskmasters and rather reluctantly chases demons to a school on an American military airbase.The animation is a strange hybrid of CGI and hand-drawn that doesn't really work, although having said that, some scenes stand out for their impact, and there are some decent attempts at making this more than just another animation.
Like the riveting "Ghost in the Shell", "Blood" is proof that visually stimulating anime and a solid story are as good - if not better - than any live action film.The story is simple, straightforward, yet solid.
With minimal dialogue, the action speaks for itself and carries Saya's tale wonderfully.Many complain the movie is too short, and it is by general film standards, which dictate feature films should be nearly 80 minutes or more.
Maybe the animators, whose work is bold, beautiful and brilliant, ran out of funds, but I'd like to think that the story was good enough to be told in a mere 48 minutes without shoehorning garbage into the tale as useless filler that would only detract from the narrative.This is clearly one of the best anime films of all time.
Besides horror and vampire fans, it's a great movie for anyone who loves a quality driven story.
It's a great film with a wonderful story and you can watch the Animes that go along with it to complete the story and you can follow the story of Saya some more.
So please, take a breather bust out your laptop and a bowl of popcorn and watch the shows online as they have yet to be released on DVD.As for the movie, I found it quite well rounded and was pleasantly surprised when I found out that a few of the animators from the Ghost In the Shell (Stand Alone Complex) Series had drafted and backed some young guys to start this whole project up.
If you just watch this without seeing Blood+, it's just a cool little movie about vampires.
See, I'm a fan of an anime series "blood+" It's about this girl, saya, who kills these blood sucking monsters with super human strength, called....yup, thats right, kyropterines (I really butchered the spelling there, SORRY!).
no matter what the cost or BLOOD takes...-my opinion- the anime is astonishing with it's full CG cover effects, with a lush out call of great violence, though the story does seem to go off, all the blood and carnage and call of the hunt cover for a thin quick plot.*also there is now a series based of the movie called BLOOD+(it somewhat tells more to the movie, with a few alterations mixed in) although both the movie and series are a must see!.
This anime title is short: 46 minutes for the feature movie, credits included.
The IMDb page on Blood: the Last Vampire clearly states:"This was originally supposed to be a three episode OAV series, but due to a lack of time and money, only the middle segment was animated and given theatrical distribution"Given that information there should be no surprise that there was a lack of back-story, or that it was brief.
i can see great things for a television series, or at the very least a PROPER movie that doesn't leave sooo many plot threads unexamined.in the end, this is a landmark in animation, with the cgi animation not being so obtrusive that it ruins it, but rather blending with the traditional animation in a seamless, beautiful whole.
I realize there's a lot more material out there which gives you a proper background, including manga and video games, but this movie is the only thing available for the English-speaking market.We're left wondering who these people are, why and how they're involved with killing demons and what exactly the larger goal is.
The plot and characters dont fill in the promise of the early scenes i read earlier that it was ment to be a mainly visual film, however the lack of character developement and narrative dont allow the visual qualities enough room to shine.So if you want to see one of the best opening scenes in any movie animated or other then this is one to look at its pacing and mood are increadible...
The animation is very good, the scenes are well directed and the story & setting is original in its own way.
Saya is a vampire, but she is the only person with the means capable to hunt the demons that have begun to run rampant around the military airbase where the movie takes place.
The agency that Saya works for has a lead that says the demons are disguised as humans at a school, so Saya enrolls, hoping to find them before they can escape.Blood: The Last Vampire, is a very, very, very violent movie as one would imagine.
Anyway, you can watch this film if you like some good old piece of action.
Why is it then that you would go to such great length as to defend something so far from 'good anime' as Blood the last vampire was?
The girl's intentions were never explained and the 'men in black' looked like they had puppet strings connected to them so they could move and say meaningless lines to help fill in the time of the film's 48 minutes.All I hear from everyone reviewing this is how short the film was but that they still loved it.
Animation films are not good when they debut like you have to watch the next installment in order to figure out what the heck is going on.
The plot left you with no idea of why this girl was there other than to kill some vampires, vampires which I thought were going to be the sickest, smartest things on earth-they looked more like mules with big teeth who could stand for long periods of time and only speak in grunts.
There's so much better anime out there to be trying to defend something as cheesy and worthless like Blood the Last Vampire.
In fact the animation is so good that I didn't feel dissapointed after the end credits rolled out after 48 minutes, as I had to admit, it was some of the most beautiful 48 minutes I had ever seen.But the plot doesn't just hold up.
I recommend this film highly for Anime fans and to anyone else who wants a change of pace from the normal, everyday vampire story..
I'm a big fan of vampire movies in general and my husband of anime so we figured this might be a good compromise.
The imagination is an extremely powerful tool - and one that is, unfortunately, believed to be out of place within the visual images of film and TV.Blood: The Last Vampire is a classic among the likes of Akira and Ghost in the Shell.
blood: the last vampire is not only a good film if you like animation and vampires, but if you enjoy cinematography and lighting, not to mention mood and feeling.
[and as a corollary to that: i'm not sure, but i'd bet that the japanese subtitled version works the same way]) anyway, overall a very good film in general, and an amazing anime in specific.
Impressions:--------------------Overall: + action, + gore, + story, + picture, + sound, - movie lengthGore/Splatter: nice amount of "violence" and blood.Nudity: nopeFangs: Jep, look nice (I write this because I hate those vampire movies which show no fangs), no bloodsuckingCast: animated movieSoundtrack: nice one, fast and goodDVD RC1: fullscreen, good picture, 5.1 sound, uncutWho should not watch?Maybe those who don't dig the manga-style
At times I thought I was watching a live action film.Yes, this movie is about vampires, but not to the extent that you would expect.
Watch this movie if you want to see great animation and see what happens when film uses almost no story-line..
A good anime story that could make a great film.
I found myself flipping the DVD remote, trying to switch over to an all-Japanese voice track (there is none; the majority of the spoken dialogue is in English).The film's sole redemption is the animation, which is easily on the level of "Ghost in the Shell." The film uses heavy white light filters on most shots, giving an uncomfortably over lit feeling (don't worry -- that's a good thing).
The DVD transfer is also beautiful, and features stereo, 5:1, and isolated score tracks.Clocking in at around 45 minutes, "Blood" is notably brief, and the plot feels like a rough treatment (or a badly-written interactive movie).
So in fact the sound track is available in 5.1 and 2.1 and the dialogue is mixed Japanese and English.Also, the DVD says the movie is 83 minutes when in fact it is only about 48 total for the actual film.
The computer graphics and animation in this film were good and I like the idea that a vampire can only be killed by causing them to suddenly lose a large amount of blood, but that isn't enough to keep this movie afloat.
As the film is only around 50m long, there is little time to build characters, know who they are or who they work for.
And that's when the fun begins.BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE is filled with animated gore and awesome action scenes.
As a long time fan of both martial arts movies and anime I was impressed by the slick style and film noir look of Blood: The Last Vampire.
certainly not for everyone.for me,Blood,The Last Vampire(the animated movie)is a 7/10.
Blood the Last Vampire offers a decent anime fix but feels like an unfinished product.
This movie has nice looking vampires and action but very little story, build-up and development in itThis is a 3D-CGI animated movie in which, the backgrounds and everything else is photo-realistic looking, while the characters are still obvious animated ones, done in a typical Japanese anime style.
The movie is also way too short for some proper development and build-up of course.Now the story mostly doesn't make sense, simply because you don't know what and why things are happening.
Well maybe in a way we'll still know soon how much potential this movie and concept had, since a live action version of this is current in post-production.The vampires are all good and scary looking.
"Saya",the main character looks like the "Saya" from the anime series (50 episodes).
The movie is only 48 minutes long which is way too short to really develop a plot, character, etc.
Running at a bit less than 50 minutes, 'Blood: The Last Vampire' is the shortest movie I've ever seen.
In fact, I would bet that maybe five, and no more than ten, minutes are used for story and character development, with the rest of the movie being Saya hunting demons, Saya fighting demons, Saya killing demons, and demons killing other people.
The digital animation is great, and adds more awesomeness to the movie.'Blood: The Last Vampire' is really only for fans of action / horror anime, and probably no one else.
While some may argue that the story is not so much in-depth, the film is overall part of a larger storyline.If I were to show anime to someone who had never heard of japanese animation, BLOOD : THE LAST VAMPIRE would be the first I would show.
This movie could have been extremely good, but ends up extremely disappointing.The animation is probably the best I have ever seen.
"Blood: The Last Vampire," a Japanese anime with computer digitalized images (e.g. hand drawn images were later scanned and digitalized), is absolutely stunning to behold, a bit too short for normal theatrical exhibition (at a scant 45 minutes), and much too anemic in story telling and character development.
This movie has a few very good scenes and the animation throughout is great.
However, the storyline is slow (especially for a 40 mins film)and there is nothing especially creative or original about it.If you like Vampires and animation, you should take a look.
Mostly the quality of the animation is good, most characters beautiful work.
Really.BUT, if you really want to know what's going on, I suggest you watch the anime series Blood+.
It's a lot like Blood: The Last Vampire.
The characters look so different..lol..I didn't understand how they got a lot of what is on the series like Hagii, the way she has to kill with her blood, and that Lewis is Jamaican.
Blood: The Last Vampire is one of the best animated movies I've ever seen.
To conclude I give BLOOD a 10 vote because of its marvelous beauty, strong story and a kick ass character....it reminds me why I collect anime in the first place (thinking back on vampire hunter D - 1985)..