Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

Hands-down one of the most gorgeous looking anime titles ever, this sequel to the popular 1985 original (Vampire Hunter D) finds the half-human, half-vampire lone-wolf bounty hunter D (think: a Goth Clint Eastwood) racing against time and rival bounty hunters to rescue Charlotte Elbourne, a well-paying scion's beautiful young daughter, who was kidnapped by the notorious vampire Meier Link. Combining computer-generated and cel drawn animation, this rich-looking theatrically-released feature, adapted and directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri, from a graphic novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi, is backed by sharp writing (D's parasitic sidekick called "lefthand"--literally a face in his hand--at one point questions a journey across hot arid sands, noting "becoming a piece of beef jerky is not a lifelong ambition of mine"), Marco d'Ambrosio's stirring musical score, and a reasonably touching romantic plot, as D and the audience begin to wonder whether Charlotte really wants to go home again. And now the bad news: just like Princess Mononoke, this was released stateside dubbed in English--only this DVD features just the English language version in Dolby Digital 5.1 (although I can't imagine why the original won't be released sometime down the road). DVD extras include a 23-minute "making of," a selection of storyboard/film scene comparisons, and a ranked offering of fans' top 10 scenes in the film. While some might want to wait for a Japanese language version, this is still highly recommended even in its weaker English dub. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)