there ? s nothing quite like a gory anime . 
really , and this is the truth , no other genre in film gets away with such violence without a word being said in the media about it . 
with anime , a common shot is watching a body getting quickly cut in two , and the rest of the insides falling out seconds afterword . 
this is a standard practice in anime , or at least the half dozen or so titles that i ? ve seen . 
vampire hunter d is a gory , gory film . 
if they ever made a live version of the film , it would be banned in several countries and given a rating somewhere below xxx . 
it ? s not that it ? s gore is unique - it ? s just like other gory animes - but this one was supposed to stand out because of the complexity it ? s story , characters , animation , etc . . . 
it really didn ? t . 
it was disgusting and gruesome , which overshadowed the story , what little of it there was . 
it seems that in the not too distant future vampires and evil control the world , because god knows that our local police force just can ? t seem to get a handle on vampires in the movies . 
one evening , a blond peasant girl , drawn to look 17 and innocent ( a foreshadow that we will see her naked , i guessed early on it would be in the shower or in a rape scene ) is out fighting evil in her local forest preserve when she stumbles onto the private property of a ten thousand year old vampire ( insert strom thurmand joke here . ) 
of course , he never put a ? no trespassing ? sign on his yard , so one can ? t really blame her , but he ? s upset anyway and demands retribution . 
she gets the obligatory bite on the neck ( aren ? t there other places to get blood from ? 
it seems like a bite in the elbow would do well enough . 
if it's good enough for doctors to draw blood from , then why do vampires stray from that sight ? ) 
to fight the spell , she enlists the help of a mysteriously tall , dark and handsome vampire hunter ( you guessed it , his name is d ) . 
the vampire hunter is torn between fighting vampires , being attracted to the 17 year old peasant girl and finding reasons not to talk too much . 
you see , like all heroes in these kinds of stories , he ? s a brooder , who ? s sole purpose in life is to remain really , really silent . 
when he speaks , it ? s in cliches . 
heroes like this are bad when they ? re live , even worse when animated . 
later the vampire hunter storms the castle to meet the big bad vampire , who wants to marry the peasant girl because he ? s bored after 10 , 000 years of living ( the only clever vampire insight made in the movie ) , will vampire hunter d rush to save her in time ? 
will we see blood and intestines spattering on every place imaginable ? 
in it ? s defense , the animation , when focusing on being original rather than recycling anime slicing , could at times be original . 
the talking hand was clever - and i think the inspiration for a skateboard-related logo . 
and that ? s the best defense i can think of . 
i understand that vampire hunter d is supposed to be a fave among anime fans , but i really don ? t see it . 
it ? s an excuse to watch blood dripping from teeth , blood exploding out of eye sockets and horses necks , and most importantly , like all violent anime , it is an excuse to see animated breasts . 
why ? 
what is the point of that ? 
maybe i have to understand the genre and look past the obsessive gore and mysogny . 
i ? m not a prude , i just don ? t think it ? s warranted . 
it puts itself so far out in front of the movie that everything else gets lost . 
is there a neccesity in seeing a 17 year old in the shower ? 
of course not ? it ? s done for shock . 
it ? s tasteless and despicable .