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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Blood the Last Vampire

12:34 / 20.11.01

I believe this was recommended back when I was ranting on about Anime...well its on tonight on Channel 4 just in case anyone had missed it (its on at 01:15)....

So guess I'll give it a watch..kinda weird though because its pretty new isn't it....

13:02 / 20.11.01

I bought it on DVD a while ago - as a piece of animation it's really quite stunning (particularly the revolutionary lighting effects), but the story is terrible. And only 45 minutes long! The back of the DVD box said it was 83 minutes, so I'm settling in, waiting for act 2 to begin, when the end credits start to roll...

I felt conned.

But, as I said, the animation is gorgeous.

13:05 / 20.11.01

Personally I didnt like the way Ghost in the Shell finished just seemed a little weird, is there going to be a sequal, I imagine the Manga carried the story on.....

13:30 / 20.11.01

right, start brewing the coffee - I'm staying up to watch this bastard.

13:45 / 20.11.01

Yeah think I'll stay up for this one its good to be be totally shattered at work now and again.. and then onto Barb for a 5000 word review everyone !!!

or maybe I'll have Survivor Series waiting for me when I get home !!

12:48 / 21.11.01

Well - that was BRIILLLIIAAANNNT!

Really well made - it kicked ass in a profound sense.

As an anime beginner, where would you recommend I go to get other things as cool as that was?

But yeah - only 45 minutes

. Please tell me it was the first of an on-going series - there were too many cool characters and concepts for just a one off.

And what was the significance of the Vietnam war stuff tacked on to the last 5 seconds and the credits? I mean, I only cottoned on to the fact it was set in the 60s when the Glen Miller style band turned up..

Lazlo Woodbine [some call me Laz]

13:03 / 21.11.01

"AS we do, she is killing her own kind."

They tried to tac a moral to the story and it didn't really work.

20:45 / 21.11.01

Yeah that was pretty good though, looked great... It really did seem although it was part of a long series.... not quite as purty as Ghost in the Shell but yeah Good

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

18:14 / 23.11.01

I saw it in the theater before going to LA and when the lights came up, I felt like saying, "That's it?"

While it was very gooid, there were too many unanswered questions and loose ends for it to feel like a complete movie. Maybe the pilot of a TV series.

But what was there was worth watching.

16:08 / 24.11.01

quote:Originally posted by Toasted Butter:
"AS we do, she is killing her own kind."

They tried to tac a moral to the story and it didn't really work.

That quote wasn't completely out of character with many other elements prevalent throughout the film. There were so many gratuitous shots of fighter aircraft it could hardly be considered a subtle indictment of continuing US military presence in Japan. Witness too the fact that practially the entire sequence of events takes place on a US airbase in Japan. The Vietnam war time period perhaps alluding to military hegemony. The cargo plane flying into the military compound and the warning sign on the fence not being displayed in its entirety, leaving only the first three letters of 'warning' - WAR. And so on and so forth.

It may be slightly hamfisted, but then I understand Mamoru Oshii also penned several manga novels and a story-line for a computer game that all tie into the continuing adventures (and origin) of Saya, and obviously having these vaguely defined themes is de rigueur for both mediums.

11:12 / 27.11.01

I'm with Cameron here... Looks absolutely amazing, plot is abysmal... Some of the worst dialogue i've ever seen in an anime, and that includes a lot of shitty dialogue. Also, with the shortness. I watched it the other nite, and i have to say i'd rather have slept some.

That said, i was a bit out of it while watching, but i taped it, so maybe i'll go back for another watch...

12:59 / 27.11.01

Animenation

quote:
Question
Blood: The Last Vampire was great but was quite short. Are there any plans for Saya in the future?

Answer
Blood was actually part of a whole multimedia presentation in Japan which included two novels, a manga, the movie, and a Playstation 2 game. All of these different presentations tell a different part of the entire Blood story. One of the two Blood novels is set just after the movie, in 1969. The second novel, manga and video game are all set in downtown Tokyo in 2000. Produced by Production IG and the same staff as the movie, the Blood PS2 game is essentially a slightly lower budget, longer sequel Blood anime movie split onto two Playstation 2 DVD discs and turned into an interactive movie game. Because of the requirements of a video game, though, Saya is not the main character, but rather an enigmatic figure who the game player encounters occasionally throughout the game.

Reports out of Japan state that Production IG may produce more Blood animation if the original film proves unusually successful in America. At the present time, there are no plans for any other elements of the "Blood Project" to be released in America.

14:06 / 27.11.01

ar, gee. Now I need a Playstation and a working knowledge of Japanese to find out what happens..

damn their multi-media hides.