After three successful Blade live-action movies and a short-lived live-action show you’d think this classic comic book character would be done, but oh no, now we have a Blade anime. Directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara, the 12 episodes originally aired in Japan last summer, and this past Friday night, Blade finally came to the US via G4. After giving the new anime a watch, I have to admit, I’m glad it made its way to the States.
Revolving around our beloved dhampir, Blade is a half human and half vampire badass who hunts down and destroys vampires for what they did to him and his mother. With this being a Japanese anime originally meant for Japanese audiences, the story involves Blade traveling to Japan where we see him in Yokohama tracking his target.
The pilot episode, titled His Name is Blade, begins with a dark introduction to the world of Blade. A narration from the man himself explains his role as a vampire hunter and how he became what he is. It’s appropriately gloomy since Blade has always been a dark and brooding character. The artists and director did an excellent job setting the tone for this anime, you definitely get that deep and horrifying vibe while watching. The impressive fight scenes and disturbing vampire scenes make it that much better.
Shortly after the wonderfully chilling intro, we jump right into a story featuring Blade, a pair of vampire hunters he meets, and their quest to take down one big bad vampire. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say that Makoto, one of the vampire hunters, is a damn good fighter! She’s almost as good as Blade (almost), so it’ll be interesting to see what happens in the future with her.
This first episode mainly consisted of introductions and the setup to the story. What little we saw of the storyline is great so far and has the potential to grow into something even better in future episodes. So that’s a big bonus. Another high note was the script, Blade’s lines were perfectly deep and dark. However, there were a few villain lines thrown in there that were painfully cheesy. Perhaps that’s how they wanted the lowly bad guys to be portrayed.
Overall, I loved the first episode of Blade and look forward to future episodes. The creators did an excellent job keeping true to the integrity of Blade. They didn’t try to make him something he’s not – he’s the badass vampire hunting loner we all know and love. They managed to capture both the horror and depth of Blade’s world. If you’re a fan of Blade, or just a fan of horror, I highly suggest checking this anime out.
– Moonlight
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