Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

In a far future ruled by vampires, a wealthy family hires a hunter named D to find the vampire who took their daughter. The Marcus brothers have been given the same job, and the two sides chase the target and each other. When it emerges that the girl was not abducted but went willingly, the frame of the job changes. Yoshiaki Kawajiri directed for Madhouse. The source is Hideyuki Kikuchi's series of novels. Production began in 1997, intended as a far higher-quality successor to the 1985 film. That one was a direct-to-video release on a modest budget; this was conceived from the start as a theatrical feature for an international audience. That aim led to an unusual decision: the English voice track was recorded before the Japanese one, so the mouth movements and rhythm were built to the English text first. Yutaka Minowa did the character designs, translating Yoshitaka Amano's thin, dissolving lines from the novels into animation, the task being to keep that intricacy while making it move. The film was praised for its animation, its gothic atmosphere and its adult storytelling, and in the West it is named alongside Akira and Ghost in the Shell as a gateway title. Who it is for: viewers who want gothic anime and hand-drawn animation at its peak. Who it is not for: anyone curious about how the world works. The film does not explain its background and makes no effort to inform a newcomer.