If you are an anime fan...

[firecat]

...try to get your hands on a copy of the Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust DVD.

It was made in 2000 with a joint American/Japanese crew and originally performed with an English speaking cast. It's a sequel to a classic piece of anime, Vampire Hunter D, made in 1985. The main character is the same and the tone of the movies is the same, but the animation styles are much different; the original anime was done in a very simplified and spare style and the sequel is very lush and detailed. The director is Yoshiaki Kawajiri, who also did Ninja Scroll and several other anime movies that are popular in the US.

Comments

[erin-c-1978.livejournal.com]

Wicked City and Demon City Shinjuku aren't the same film, although practically everybody I know who's seen them confuses the two because they're so visually similar.

Wicked City is about a human male special agent and a "Black World" female special agent trying to create a peace between humans and Black Worlders, all the while shepherding around a little pervert who's supposed to be spearheading the process. In Demon City Shinjuku, a nasty sorcerer has kidnapped someone's (Japan's?) prime minister and made a ruin of the Shinjuku portion of Tokyo. A kid whose father he killed and the prime minister's daughter tromp on in to find her dad/kill Levi Rah.

Short version: Wicked City is the one with the monster sex and the melting prostitute.

If you liked Bebop at all, Wolf's Rain is a fantasy anime by the same team, and it does have an ongoing storyline. (It's playing on Cartoon Network at the moment and I'm enjoying it hugely.)

[firecat]

Thanks for the correction! I now recall I've seen Wicked City and liked it ("monster sex and melting prostitute" helped!). I haven't seen Demon City Shinjuku, though.

[erin-c-1978.livejournal.com]

The melting prostitute was pretty memorable! ^_^ I'm quite fond of Demon City Shinjuku, despite an ending that gave me the impression the budget ran out -- I think at some point they were showing it on one of the cable stations, possibly the Sci-Fi channel. (Probably the dub, though, which was really bad.)