Vampire Wars

Publisher
Manga Entertainment
Director
Kazuhisa Takenouchi
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
50 mins
Year
1991

Vampire Wars

By Lew
23rd May 04

'It flattened it like a dog turd under a steam-roller'

As a fifteen year old kid I watched a little Manga on TV but as you have to actively go out of your way to do this on British television I soon lost touch. Fast forward several years: as a twenty year old young adult I caught the second half of Metropolis and felt the excitement of an interest re-ignited. I went out the next day and bought Akira on DVD along with a few cheaper discs with the sole intention of bolstering my fledgling collection.

Vampire Wars was one of those lesser titles and as an 'addition': as 'something else to watch' it serves its purpose.

The hero Kuki is your typical Anime everyman: a tall, broad-shouldered, dark-haired, good-hearted bad-ass. He has a good attempt at wise-cracking but the cracks are never actually wise; see above. Still, this kind of character is what we watch Anime for right? He is unassailably cool, killing secret agents and breaking a vampire's neck with his bare hands.

Without doubt, the majority of us watch this stuff for the awesome visuals: a totally original style. This movie looks pretty good (apart from the principal Vampire's pretty-girly, pretty-green pyjamas).

Another thing that I watch Anime for is the great ideas: things that western entertainment hasn't tried yet (but obviously will rip off in the future). Vampire Wars gives us a different explanation behind the Vampire myth (I'm not gonna spill it though, the disc will set you back less than ten bills!) and the story held my attention until its premature end. Herein lays one of the movies two biggest failings.

As a Manga Newbie I wasn't aware that these movies ever clocked in at as little as 50 minutes and I hadn't read the small print on the case before I checked it out. So when the heroes are on their way to Transylvania for the ultimate showdown and their plane powers through the clouds I just wasn't expecting the music to kick in and the credits to roll: the anti-est of anti climaxes.

The second fault is pretty par for the Manga course: the English language dub is hilariously bad. The cool visuals that have always drawn me to Manga are so often tainted by really childish dialogue. I'm not a prude but swearing is cool when it's done well and ridiculous when it's unnecessary. Both the dialogue and the music did seem to get less out of place as the movie went along, so maybe I just needed to warm into it.

I'm giving the movie a second watch while I'm writing this review and with my expectations considerably lowered from the top-of-the-pile anime that was all I had previously had access to, I can see that it's pretty good. It's all here: an ass-kicking anti-hero who drinks, swears and shags his way to saving the world, a seemingly indomitable bad-guy, the 'chosen one'-type super-being, a plot-twist, some nice looking Manga-Maids (if that's your bag) and some decent action animation.

5/10 - Vampire Wars is worth a watch and well worth the recommended retail price as one more for the DVD shelf. It does exactly what it says on the tin: so long as you don't miss the running time (60 mins approx).

-- Lew 23rd May 04

Vampire Wars Images