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8/10
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Examples Of Anime: |
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| Blood The Last Vampire Summary: |
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Synopsis:
Right before the dawn of the Vietnam War, the US Army
has plenty of fears with the deteriorating situation
in Vietnam. However a new, potentially worse threat
has appeared within their own bases, the Teropterids
may look human but they are in fact evil creatures with
no regard for the lives of the humans whose blood they
feast upon.
Saya too is much more than she appears to be, a seemingly
normal (although downright gloomy) Japanese teenager,
Saya is in fact the best hunter of these fearsome creatures.
A Teropterid is no match for Saya's more than human
strength and her deadly sword, but how long until one
Teropterid is lucky?
Saya is planted undercover as a student in a high school
on the Yokota Base in Japan in order ferret out a group
of Teropterids and exterminate them.
Review:
From the artwork and animation, to the soundtrack and
direction, Blood: The Last Vampire is flawless. The
problem with Blood certainly isn't any of these. Instead,
Blood's flaw is with what isn't presented. From the
vehicles which some spectators mistook for actual video
recording (as opposed to animation) to the elegantly
crafted features of Saya and the monstrous Teropterids
which
could never be mistaken for real, the artwork within
Blood is absolutely astounding. Superb animation brings
the artwork together, realistic movements and fluid
animation are just what you would expect from I.G.,
and once again
they have delivered. From the first action sequence
seconds into the movie to the final showdown Blood is
almost all action. The movie slows down only for a few
short minutes to give the viewers an idea of just what
Saya is doing at the Yokota Base.
But here in lies the only flaw in Blood: The Last Vampire;
while we know what Saya is doing at Yokota (Hunting
Teropterids), we don't know why, we don't know what
the Teropterids are, we don't know why Saya works for
the US Military (or even if she really does), we don't
know anything about Saya or the story itself, and we
never find out, not in this movie at least. Mamoru Oshii
may be writing a Manga for simultaneous release and
Production I.G. may be developing a Playstation 2 game,
all of which may or may not explain the missing elements
of the story. A feature film should not need external
references to complete important aspects of its plot.
Blood would have been flawless if the script had been
extended somewhat in the middle to further develop the
plot and the characters, Saya especially.
Traditionally, regardless of a film's setting, producers
have always opted to have all major characters speak
the language of the country where the film is to be
released. As Blood takes place on a US military base
Production I.G.
decided to break with tradition, 70% of Blood's original
dialogue is recorded in English. The Japanese release
of Blood will feature Japanese subtitles during most
of the movie. The voice actors, led by internationally
renowned
actress Youki Kudoh (Snow Falling on Cedars, War and
Youth) who plays Saya, complete Blood's production with
an excellent performance. From Saya's wrath to the nurse's
dim recollection of events the voices always match the
mood and the faces of the characters.
Blood is an easy movie
to follow, the art, animation, and sound are all well
done. The action will appeal to any action movie junkie,
but the intellectual movie-goer will not have his/her
appetite satisfied. Blood seems more like
a filler episode in a series then a feature movie;
the missing elements in the script keep this well
crafted feature from being the masterpiece it could
possibly have been.
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| Lain | 08-13-2003 01:28 [E-Mail,Site] | | Umm... it was good. A little short though, not much history on Saya though. But I'd give it a 10/10. |
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