Blood: The Last Vampire (DVD, 2001)

"Blood: The Last Vampire" is the movie that inspired the 50-episode anime series "Blood+". I was a fan of the anime series first and decided to check out the movie soon after I saw the anime. Aside from the main character of Saya, the Japanese school girl and David (her agent?), I didn't recognize a name from anime series, but the main story is much the same. There are shape-shifting blood suckers called chiropterans running among the population and Saya is the one who is capable of killing the creatures.

The animation is quite beautifully done in this movie, and when it came out, it was cutting edge. Some of the elements on screen look very real and the story is quite fascinating. However, the movie is terribly short at only 48 minutes, by most anyone's standard (short for even Disney's kiddie movies), and the viewers are left with lots of unanswered questions and generally wanting more. I was disappointed by the shortness of it, and I remain a royal fan of the anime series that was inspired by this movie. (Although the original movie's Saya was cooler, I thought.)