Blood The Last Vampire - A Vampire Hunting Demonic Creatures [ENG -ESP]
Perhaps some of the most memorable and basic creatures in horror stories are vampires, although they tend to be more frequent in stories set in Europe, they are still creatures known around the world and can be presented in different ways, although perhaps something not so common is to see a vampire using a katana to kill demonic creatures that certainly can remind us of the most basic vampires of the Castlevania stories, especially the animated series. Blood The Last Vampire is an old movie that dates back to the year 2000 and despite being from this period, its quality and designs make you think that it is much more recent.
The story of Blood The Last Vampire introduces us to Saya, a girl who besides being young also has all the appearance and even a little stereotype of vampire hunter, she also has a super human strength is the last of the "original" and the only one who can eliminate a number of creatures that have a rather demonic and somewhat gloomy aspect, these demonic creatures are called Teratoide, these creatures have the ability to become human to go unnoticed.
This film is quite short because it has less than 50 minutes of duration, for this reason there are not many explanations in the story, only these strange creatures are presented, Saya the protagonist, the only one able to hunt them and just as mysterious everything about her, Now her next mission will be to travel to Japan to give home to several creatures that inhabit an American military base, with this background we have moments where the dialogues are in English and many others where it is in Japanese, the result of both languages is curious and at times when you are listening to the English voices you may think you're watching Castlevania.
Being such a short film, the range of characters is reduced mostly to simple filler characters or have virtually no involvement in the story, basically the whole story focuses on Saya, an assistant named David who works with her, and a nurse whose name goes completely unnoticed in the story, everything will focus on the strange creatures and how they are making their appearance on screen, Saya's battles to try to eliminate them, the aspect of eliminating the creatures is quite striking and somewhat shocking, although it could also have been done in a more exaggerated way to highlight even more the Gore aspect in the story and this is because in order to kill the creatures must cause wounds where they lose a lot of blood quickly.
The development of the story is quite direct and fast, soon the few characters that will have some relief are introduced and the demonic creatures appear to see how Saya tries to defeat them one after another, the appearance of these creatures can be a little disturbing and disturbing, also it knows how to use the mystery very well by revealing their true appearance little by little and in very dark areas or places to achieve even more the effect of terror by not seeing completely the creature that is capable of murdering with great ease.
The animation has that nostalgic and unique style of the old anime and its style so marked in the Gore and terror, the only aspect that may be a little strange and that can be noticed more is the design of Saya the protagonist, in some scenes especially when it is in profile the design is a little strange and may even lose a little of the essence of the character, it is still something acceptable for an anime that has almost 24 years old.
Although many questions are left unanswered, it fulfills well its objective of presenting the history, development and outcome of the hunt for demonic creatures in Japan and manages to have exciting and somewhat shocking moments, perhaps the most peculiar and undoubtedly unexpected aspect of the whole film is its end, when the credits begin and in its Ending we will have a very vibrant melodic acoustic, mysterious and exciting, while in the background we have quite dim and dark images, but much more realistic even looking like documentary images about the Vietnam War, I do not know if it was done with a specific objective or it was simply a decision to generate more intrigue in all those who saw the Ending. Anyway, Blood The Last Vampire ends up being quite interesting and a good view to the past of anime at the beginning of the century.
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Studio Animator: Production I.G
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
All Images Are Screenshots Of My Monitor
Separator Images:
1. Source 2. Source 3. Source
Español
Tal vez algunas de las criaturas más memorables y básicas en las historias de terror son los vampiros, aunque los mismos suelen ser más frecuentes en historias ambientadas en Europa, no dejan de ser criaturas conocidas en todo el mundo y que se pueden presentar de diferentes formas, aunque tal vez algo no tan frecuente es ver a una vampira utilizando una katana para asesinar a criaturas demoniacas que sin dudas nos pueden recordar a los vampiros más básicos de las historias de Castlevania, en especial la serie animada. Blood The Last Vampire es una película algo antigua que data del año 2000 y a pesar de ser de esta época es increíble su calidad y diseños que te hacen pensar que es mucho más reciente.
La historia de Blood The Last Vampire nos presenta a Saya, una muchacha que además de ser joven también tiene todo el aspecto y hasta un poco estereotipo de cazadora de vampiros, ella además de contar con una fuerza sobre humana es la última de los “originales” y la única que puede eliminar una serie de criaturas que tienen un aspecto bastante demoniaco y algo tétrico, a estas criaturas demoniacas los llaman Teratoide, estas criaturas tienen la habilidad de convertirse en humanos para pasar desapercibidos.
Esta película es bastante cortar debido a que cuenta con menos de 50min de duración, por este motivo no hay muchas explicaciones en la historia, solo se presentan estas extrañas criaturas, Saya la protagonista, la única capaz de cazarlos e igual de misterioso todo sobre ella, ahora su próxima misión será viajar a Japón para dar casa a varias criaturas que habitan en una base militar americana, con este trasfondo tenemos momentos donde los diálogos son en ingles y muchos otros donde es en Japonés, el resulto de ambos idiomas es curioso y por momentos cuando estas escuchando las voces en ingles puedes pensar que estás viendo Castlevania.
Al ser una película tan corta, el abanico de personajes se reduce mayormente a personajes de simple relleno o que tienen prácticamente nula participación en la historia, básicamente toda la historia se enfoca en Saya, un ayudante llamado David que trabaja ella, y una enfermera que su nombre pasa totalmente desapercibido en la historia, todo se enfocara en las extrañas criaturas y como van haciendo su aparición en pantalla, las batallas de Saya para intentar eliminarlas, el aspecto de eliminar a las criaturas resulta bastante llamativo y algo impactante, aunque también se pudo haber hecho de una forma más exagerada para resaltar aún más el aspecto Gore en la historia y esto se debe a que para poder asesinar a las criaturas debe causarles heridas en donde pierdan mucha sangre rápido.
El desarrollo de la historia es bastante directo y rápido, pronto se presenta a los pocos personajes que tendrán cierta relevación y aparecen las criaturas demoniacas para ver como Saya intenta derrotarlas una detrás de otra, el aspecto de estas criaturas puede ser un poco perturbadora e inquietante, además se sabe utilizar muy bien el misterio al ir revelando su verdadero aspecto poco a poco y en zonas o lugares muy oscuros para conseguir aún más el efecto de terror al no ver completamente a la criatura que es capaz de asesinar con una gran facilidad.
La animación cuenta con ese estilo nostálgico y tan único de los animes antiguos y su estilo tan marcado en el Gore y terror, el único aspecto que puede resultar un poco extraño y que se pude notar más es el diseño de Saya la protagonista, en algunas escenas en especial cuando se encuentre de perfil el diseño es un poco extraño y hasta puede perder un poco de la esencia del personaje, de igual forma es algo aceptable para un anime que cuenta con prácticamente 24 años de antigüedad.
Aunque se dejan muchas preguntas sin contestar se cumple bien su objetivo de presentar la historia, desarrollo y desenlace de la caza de las criaturas demoniacas en Japón y consigue tener momentos emocionantes y algo impactantes, tal vez el aspecto más peculiar y sin dudas inesperado de toda la película es su final, cuando comienzan los créditos y en su Ending tendremos una melódica acústica muy vibrante, misteriosa y emocionante, mientras de fondo tenemos imágenes bastante tenues y oscuras, pero mucho más realistas incluso pareciendo imágenes de documental sobre la guerra de Vietnam, desconozco si fue hecho con algún objetivo en específico o simplemente fue una decisión para generar más intriga en todos los que vieran el Ending. De todas maneras, Blood The Last Vampire termina siendo bastante interesante y una buena vista al pasado del anime al inicio de siglo.
Director: Hiroyuki Kitakubo
Studio Animator: Production I.G
All Images Are Screenshots Of My Monitor
Separator Images:
1. Source 2. Source 3. Source
Seems like quite an average show...
Haven't heard of it before though...
it has those aspects that were very common in vampire fashion, but it looks pretty good at times :D
Vampires will always be an integral part of the horror imaginary in all genres, that also means that there is a lot of disposable vampire material, but this particular anime looks pretty good, plus, the length of the film is not negligible.
Thanks for sharing this interesting review.
precisely, the vampire theme was so popular that evidently many strange works came out, but this movie knew how to use that approach without being so absurd haha, besides with its length you can easily watch it in a free time you have and it's very easy to see :D
Although I haven't seen this movie, I love how you describe the combination of horror and action elements with a touch of mystery. I think it's great that a movie from 2000 still manages to impress with its animation. I'll make a note of it, cheers!
he knew how to use the dark shots very well and although it could also be used as a method to save on animation costs, the result was good, it doesn't have the best animation but it's pretty good and it amazes you even more considering it's almost 24 years old, as they say this animation knew how to age very well :D
If I'm not mistaken, this movie is like an alternative story of the famous anime Blood-C, which is a gem. However, I haven't seen this one yet, I have to see it.
Good review.
yes, I think I've seen something like that related to that series of anime, although I haven't seen any of those either, Thanks :D