Blood: The Last Vampire

It is probably only a slight overstatement to say that Blood: The Last Vampire was to Japanese cinema what Toy Story was to American cinema.  Both are groundbreaking in their own way, with Toy Story the more important of the two releases as the first fully CGI feature film.  Blood wasn't as pioneering but it was a huge step forward in Asian cinema as the first fully digital animated feature to come out of Japan.  I'm not sure whether it would have been released on Blu-ray anyway, but the theatrical release of a live action adaptation, helmed by Kiss of the Dragon director Chris Nahon probably gave this the push it needed.
 
It is only a brief film, clocking in at only 48 minutes but there is a definite narrative arc, some character development and a plot.  It begins on the Ginza subway line where everyone has left the train apart from a young woman and a man.  As he gets up, she gives chase and unsheathes the enormous samurai sword on her back, cutting him down in between two carriages.  When the train stops, two suits from the 'organization' are waiting on the platform to do the clean-up job.  When one dares to suggest that Saya has got it wrong and killed a human, she grabs him by the neck and lifts him off his feet as the other, David, reassures him that Saya doesn't make mistakes and the man was not human but hadn't changed yet.  In any case, Saya is special as she is believed to be the last 'original'.
 

The film takes place on Halloween, 1966 when the USAF was busy carpet bombing Vietnam, using its bases in Japan as part of the operation.  One such installation is the Yakota Air Force Base and that is where the school is located, educating the offspring of those running the base.  Saya's next assignment is to infiltrate this school where the 'organization' has found out that demons (referred to by the 'organization' as chiropterans), who drink human blood, live amongst the humans and Saya must seek them out and kill them.  Much to her disgust this means dressing up in a Japanese schoolgirl uniform.
 
She immediately spots that two of the girls are acting oddly, missing the Halloween Ball because one of them is anaemic and wants to go to the infirmary.  Following them there, Saya prevents an attack on the school nurse, killing one of the demons and injuring the other, traumatising the nurse in the process.  From there she has to follow the demon and find the others in the area and try to dispose of them without raising too much suspicion.
 
As someone who hated Chris Nahon's live action Blood: The Last Vampire, I put this disc in with some trepidation, wondering if it was going to be utterly confused and rambling.  Fortunately, this version is a pared-down slick film that knows what it wants to do and does it well without any unnecessary subplots or extraneous information; if anything, there are some unanswered questions: what is Saya and what do they mean by 'the last 'original'', where do these demons come from and what is the 'organization'?  The lack of this information doesn't detract too much from the story but it does mean that the overall picture is a slightly shallow enterprise, great on visuals but lacking substance.
 
I can understand why this is considered an anime classic and a landmark in the field of animation but, as with some groundbreaking pieces of work, it has its flaws but is still an extremely enjoyable film. 

The Disc

 
Extra Features
I half expected a commentary from some anime or animation expert, or someone well versed in Japanese cinema but all the disc has is a 20 minute making off, a trailer and two versions of the film: the Telecine version and the Digital Data version.  The press release says that the Telecine version is SD but they both looked very similar with the Digital Data one only looking marginally sharper.
 
The making of is an interesting piece, produced at the time the film was made and contains interviews with members of the production crew who talk about working with computers and the process of creating a digitally animated film.
 
The Picture
Manga have really given this a stellar transfer with a superb HD picture.  The contrast levels are excellent, as are the colours which are vibrant though the blood isn't as bright as I expected.  The character design is very good and the transformation sequences involving chiropterans are well animated - the demons are pretty fearsome looking specimens and their fights with Saya have a real weight and viciousness.
 
The Sound
The voice acting is appropriate and well done with some characters switching between English and Japanese - this is an English language film and the Japanese has forced subtitles. 
 
The disc has both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM stereo (both English) and they are both superb tracks, clear and immersive but the DTS track has the edge with particularly bombastic combat sequences and explosions.  The film is very well scored and you don't lose anything (music-wise) by choosing the LPCM option - I watched it with both and would go for the DTS-HD Master Audio next time.
 
The subtitles for the Japanese language sections are clear and easy to read though it is a little odd that they put speech marks around certain words, such as 'I'm not allowed to kill "humans"'.
 
Final Thoughts
There will be fans of Blood: The Last Vampire who consider it a classic piece of anime and the Blu-ray release is well overdue whereas there are probably others who dismiss the digital animation as a gimmick and consider films like Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Deep Blue far superior.  I'm not well versed enough in anime to express an opinion one way or another but this isn't as intelligent or thought provoking as those three films and master directors like Miyazaki have been producing superb hand drawn animated films for years.
 
The RRP of £24.99 strikes me as a little high, especially considering the running time of the feature, but there will be fans - you know who you are - who have been waiting for this.