Category Archives: Anime

Halloween Review: Vampire Hunter D – Bloodlust

In 1983, Hideyuki Kukichi created a series of horror novels set in a post apocalyptic future, where in the ashes of World War III, as humanity tried to rebuild, horror from folklore re-emerged to assert themselves on mankind – Vampires. Under the guise of “The Nobility”, they made themselves humanity’s new masters. They rebuilt the world, but at the price of humanity’s subservience. Humanity chafed under their yoke, and rose up – shaking themselves free from those who would treat them as slaves and food. In this world came vampire hunters who would try to hunt down and destroy the Nobility. Among them was a dunpeal, half vampire, half human, seeking to hunt down the race that created him. A man known only as D.

This series became incredibly popular in Japan, due to the creepy but stylish setting, as well as the illustrations by up and coming artist Yoshitaka Amano. The series received a movie in 1985, which was one of the first anime films to be released outside of Japan, and it achieved a cult following in the US. Thus, when Yoshiaki Kawajiri directed a second film in 2000, based on the novel Demon Deathchase, a US release was certain… Continue reading →

Hayao Miyazaki to Direct Dune Anime

Studio Ghibli has announced that they will be doing a 24-episode television series adapting Frank Herbert’s Dune, to be directed by Hayao Miyazaki. This will be Miyazaki’s first television series since writing for Gainax’s television series Nadia and the Secret of Blue Water in the early 90s, and the first television series to be primarily animated by Studio Ghibli.

In a press release, Miyazaki said, “Frank Herbert created a beautifully realized universe with the Dune series, which inspired my own ‘Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind’. It is an honor to give this work the adaptation that it rightfully deserves, and with the production values that our viewers have become accustomed to.” The series is scheduled to begin in the Spring 2015 season, in time for the novel’s 40th Anniversary.

Some of the concept art and character designs have been released online, and can be found here.