The hunt for the vampire that killed his mother and made him a half breed takes Blade to Japan.
What They Say:
His Name Is Blade – Blade travels to Japan and teams up with a father/daughter pair of vampire killers.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having been into Marvel Comics since the late 70’s, the character of Blade is one that I’m definitely familiar with, never mind the fact that there were the few movies with Wesley Snipes starring in them, which were pretty enjoyable. Unfortunately, it never felt like Blade was the kind of character that fit well into the Marvel Universe since at the time he was darker than the rest of them and when he interacted with the heroes it just felt awkward. With an anime incarnation that stands alone, they’re able to give him his own world in which to play, connected as it is, with a good bit of anime style that should work since the anime world is most definitely familiar with vampires and vampire hunters.
Revolving around the titular character, Blade is a half breed himself of human and vampire but has taken the turn of being a vampire hunter because of that origin and how it changed him and ended his mothers life. With this being anime and a focus for Japanese audiences, the story involves Blade traveling to Japan where we see him in Yokohama going after his latest target. His first run in with vampires in Japan is pretty good and moody as he deals with a group that’s toying with some random person and it lets us understand that most of what you hear about how to kill vampires are just myths. What he’s found that works is a silver blade to the heart though and he uses it well, along with a few other weapons. Blade is more than just a killer though as he has a good investigative side as well and he knows how to rough up his targets to get the information he needs.
While Blade has worked with others before and had help, this series wants to give it a more distinctly Japanese connection as should be expected, and as seen in the other Marvel anime series. For this one, it comes in the form of a father/daughter pair of vampire hunters. She plays the bait at times, which makes sense, as Makoto is an attractive young woman that can easily go into a club that’s designed as a feeding ground for the vampires and draw attention. But in being a hunter, she’s not just a pretty face and it leads to a solid action sequence that ramps up things really well and makes it clear that while Blade is the best at what he does, others are very, very competent as well. It is amusing to watch Blade work though when he gets involved as they go with the very anime/manga staple of naming moves and even putting the name on the screen, though it isn’t translated on screen outside of Blade reciting the technique.
In Summary:
The setup for Blade is simple in that he’s still hunting down the vampire that got his mother and in the end turned him into what he is now, a daywalker. The opening episode sets things up well enough by introducing the hunters that exist in Japan, not without a few problems thrown into the mix, and makes it easy to see how the team-up will work in classic fashion. The vampires are given a basic look with some background and how they operate and there’s no real surprises here. But it is a well executed piece overall that puts all the right things in place and makes the path clear as to where it will go. It comes down to how the relationship between Makoto and Blade will unfold and whether there’s enough chemistry there in general to work between them, especially since Blade needs more personality than he has.
Grade: B
Readers Rating: [ratings]
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