Blood: The Last Vampire

The year is 1966.  On the eve of the Vietnam War, an American Military Base in Yokota receives a mysterious visitor: a beautiful Japanese girl looking to attend school nearby.  What they aren’t aware of is this girl is here to save them from a danger far worse than the forthcoming war.  Creatures of the night, known as Chiropterans, hide in plain sight among the humans.  As students and staff quietly fall victim to their hunger, only Saya has the skill and abilities to face them on even ground.  There’s a reason for that: Saya isn’t quite Human herself.  No…she is the last “original.”

Blood: The Last Vampire is a unique experience of an Anime.  As a short film, it delivers all that it promises and more in its short 45min runtime.  You’ve got scares, mystery, genuinely terrifying monsters, cute schoolgirls wielding Samurai swords, and an artstyle that is unlike anything seen in most Anime of its kind.  There is the other edge of that sharp blade, meaning because its so short, there is a lot to be desired.  But overall, considering I just had the painfully soulless (and often times cruel) experience of watching its successor, Blood-C, Blood: The Last Vampire is a masterpiece by comparison…which I know in many circles it already was. 
 
As a mini film that would fit perfectly inside a Horror Anime Anthology series, Blood features some great animation that combines hand drawn and CG animation is an almost flawless union.  They compliment each other, one style never overtaking or overshadowing the other.  The best proof of this is the very beginning with the excellent train sequence that is the gold standard of action scenes taking place on a train.  The mood, build up, execution and brevity are the stuff Anime legends are made of.  The character designs give the movie a more realistic feel, like they’ve been modeled after film actors.  And the Chiropterans, damn are they scary.  The large, muscular but slightly contorted bodies, the long mouths and the blood red eyes with the tiny black pupils are sure to give nightmares for a little bit to anyone watching. 
 
You don’t just want anyone going after those that go bump in the night.  So when Alucard or Vampire Hunter D might not be available, you call Saya.  She’s a girl of few words but oozes confidence, experience and a whole lot of mystery.  Also, Saya doesn’t take crap from anyone, least of all the nurse who she ends up playing escort mission with for a good chunk of the film.  The only person she has a smidge of reasonable respect for is David, her…supervisor?  Partner?  Handler?  Yeah we don’t get any real info as to the group Saya and David work for but there’s always room for speculation.  My moneys on some off the books branch of a US Intelligence Agency that deals with monsters.  Still, Saya’s a fun character, seldom speaking but proving she’s more than just a cute girl in a schoolgirl outfit with a mean pout.  She’s the real deal and while I like her Blood-C character design a bit more, personality and execution wise, Blood: The Last Vampire has my favorite Saya character in general.
 
Naturally, being a short film means several unanswered questions.  On the one hand, I’m ok with this for once because Blood plays out like a short story from a grander novel of tales that is meant to be open ended and incomplete.  Though maybe it’s a fault of the pacing but this movie’s shortness can be felt as it’s over before you know it.  Maybe it could have used a little more of an elaborate and grounded fight scene between Saya and one of her three Chiropteran foes.  Maybe there could have been more clues presented about Saya’s origins besides a big one presented at the end of the film.  Maybe I’m just being nitpicky and expecting more from an Anime that does a simple job more than well and I should just shut up.
 
It’s really a shame this movie is a short film but at the same time, Blood: The Last Vampire delivers all the spectacle, mystery, horror and action one would expect from a short and scary story one might tell around Halloween.  Still, it could serve as a lead in to a much larger series. Which I guess it did with Blood+ and Blood-C, though neither are related to each other or this movie, only sharing different versions of Saya herself.  It’s a brisk tale that might leave viewers wanting more but if you look at it as a stand alone feature not based on an original work (but rather the idea of one Mamoru Oshii), then you’ve got an Anime that took a chance on trying something a little different and ended up being better than you’d think.  This is Horror Anime done with style.
 
9/10
 
Well that wraps up our time with Saya and just in time for the Halloween Holiday, which happens to fall on a Monday for once.  Since I always like to throw in a special title this time of year, I’m pulling out a horror title I’ve been dying to look at ever since I saw it on the shelves of Blockbuster Video when I was little, right next to Akira with that infamous “Not for Kids” sticker.  Is the M. Bison lookalike on the VHS covers as dangerous as they say and is this movie the extreme horror classic I’ve been waiting for?  We’ll find Next Monday as we look at the 1990’s legend, Doomed Megalopolis, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.