Blood: The Last Vampire

At 48 minutes, it’s hard to classify Blood: The Last Vampire as a movie. Indeed, it feels like the middle chapter of a trilogy and doesn’t really stand on it’s own in a narrative sense.

The opening sequence sets the tone for the film, where a mysterious woman assassinates a mysterious monster on a subway train and meets with two mysterious government agents. The only problem is that none of the mystery in the movie is ever explained, and the audience is left scratching their heads if they try and look beyond the top-notch animation and non-stop action.

Further, the title is misleading, as there are really no signs of any vampires in the western sense of the word. The monsters here are more like general demons, that happen to turn into bat-like creatures to fly.

Thematically, director Hiroyuki Kitakubo may have wanted to make a statement about the consequences of war, but his message is lost without a narrative. A shame, since animation of this caliber deserves a solid story to back it up.