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Anyone expecting VAMPIRE HUNTER D to feature anything in the way of flashy visuals need be warned: this is a low-budget Japanese animated feature, with stilted animation that can make the film feel dated, a feeling extended even to its sometimes synthy sounding soundtrack. Yoshitaka Amano's character illustrations are fantastic, but they are unfortunately lost in the transition to screen by the cheap animation. Faults aside, it still delivers some entertainment value for viewers willing to overlook such technical shortcomings. There's an interest and intrigue to this tale of a mysterious "vampire hunter" who comes to the aid of an unfortunate girl who is attacked by a "noble," particularly in the mystery of wondering who this man really is. It's violent and not for squeamish viewers, but it still has some interest. Sentai's presentation of the movie is extremely well done, particularly the visual transfer. Carefully restored from the original 35mm negatives, this film has never looked better. The colors were often very dark and muddy on the Urban Vision DVD release, resulting in some poor quality. This presentation is simply beautiful. Only issue is that it's 4x3 format, but keep in mind this is how the film looked originally. VAMPIRE HUNTER D was dubbed in 1992 by the defunct Streamline Pictures by Carl Macek, but that dub was poorly reviewed at the time, and it isn't hard to see why. To today's ears, it sounds cheesy and dated, with a lot of stiff, emotionless acting and laughable Transylvanian accents, causing for an unintentionally funny result. Michael McConnohie, while a good voice actor, was miscast as D, and Barbara Goodson's Doris is too all over the place to be effective. Jeff Winkless was both stilted and embarrassing as Count Lee (especially with the goofy accent), and not all helped by hokey sound vocal effects. Lara Cody was both distractingly feminine and emotionless as Dan, turning in what may be the worst performance in the whole dub. Everyone else fared no better, with only Edie Mirman putting up a decent fight as L'armica. But even then, she still suffered from monotonous delivery at times. The dub was also guilty of messing around with the music in places, resulting with two intense sequences with inappropriately calm, peaceful-sounding tones. It was also added in lines of dialogue, particularly a corny "permit me to introduce myself" stereotypical intro from Count Lee. For better or worse, though, a lot of Western fans grew up with that version and may be understandably disappointed to discover it's not included on this BD. That said, Sentai's redub of this '80s title, at least to me, is a huge improvement. It dials back on a lot of the hokeyness and aforementioned added-in dialogue and music, aiming to be closer to the Japanese version. The script adaptation is also more faithful, bringing the movie to a genuinely serious tone. This is also the first dub to maintain D's species in its correct pronunciation, dhampir. That term was mistranslated for both the Streamline dub and the superior VAMPIRE HUNTER D: BLOODLUST, but this dub gets that detail right. The vocal performances are also, for the most part, superior. John Gremillion, while an odd choice for the title character, is thankfully more fitting for the role and does a better job portraying D's cold, reserved character without sounding monotonous, and even some of the moments that came across as pandering in the older dub (like his comforting of Dan, for instance) are thankfully less so. Luci Christian is also miles better as Doris, sounding far more believable and natural in her delivery, and her dialogue is also free of any of the Kate Capshaw-isms Goodson's turn suffered from. But the real triumph of the newer dub is David Wald as Count Lee. With a voice like Keith David and a less laughable British accent (to convey the character's "noble" heritage), Wald brings both regality and menace, and is far more coherent in his delivery. His performance is, without question, the highlight of the show. Brittany Karbowski is noticeably younger-sounding than Mirman as L'armica (properly pronounced this time) and, like her father, has a British accent. She also sounds more aggressive in the role, which appropriately conveys the character as a rebellious teenage daughter. Dan, unfortunately, is still the weak link in the dub. Shannon Emerick, in fairness, is much better in the role, sounding more enthusiastic and less deadpan, but she still falls into the "woman trying to sound like a boy" trap. It's also a bit curious that he, and the citizens of Doris' town speak with Southern accents, but then again, this DOES mostly set in the countryside, so it's fitting. All in all, Sentai's redub compliments the movie better; I can only credit Matt Greenfield for taking the effort to do justice to the source material. Sentai's presentation is also commendable, despite sparse extras. Highly recommended.Read full review
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I haven’t seen this move in a long time, the last time I saw it it was on dvd and now to see it on blu ray was awesome!
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This is a classic animation for adults. If you love sci fi and monster films it’s the best of both. A must have for collectors.
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It's not the original 1985 audio track if it had the original audio would have been epic.Now it's just so,so.
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This is the best i love it
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