When Blood first starts, viewers get a slideshow of credits and pleasing images. A subway train screeches, a phone rings, and the title appears. A nice little introduction not seen very often. Alas, this is more than a mere introduction. This is the first part of the story in Blood. When the phone rings, viewers are supposed to assume that someone picks it up and answers. When the subway train screeches, viewers should extrapolate that whoever picked up the phone was told to ride the train. All of this was supposed to be assumed with a mere two images. This is where Blood falls short of nearly all animes: Its storyline.

Blood tries to use clever devices to illustrate their plot. Not only are these devices sparse, leaving little story until the end, but some are even confusing. One example occurs within the first five minutes of the film's launch. Saya, our young vampire protagonist, kills a being known only as a Chiropteran. Moments later, two men arrive to take a snapshot of the downed creature. Problem is, the creature still looks like a human. Now, from this scene we are supposed to figure out that the Chiropterans are creatures that can resemble humans, but mutate back to their former self after death. Simple. Where it gets complicated is where the Chiropterans come from. Why are they here, and more importantly, why is Saya the only one that can fight them? Near the end, viewers are enlightened to the fact that unless the Chiropterans lose enough blood in one blow, they will not die. So how does this make their deaths exclusive to Saya?

Unfortunately, none of the questions are answered. Through the use of their website, I was able to do some research into the Blood movie. Chiropterans are addressed in an area known as the Eternal Life project. They may be the offspring of a vampire and a human in an effort to attain longer life spans. Why then, is this not even mentioned in the movie? Although the site offers more information, its explanations are nearly as sparse as those in the movie. One should not be required to head to an official site to gain the knowledge required to enjoy a movie.

The production team for Blood did set a new style for animation. This style is also one of the harmatias, fatal flaws, of the film. Rather than looking rough, characters look bland and poorly drawn. Awkward animations persist throughout, and these are accented terribly during computer generated camera movement. This flaw often ruins dramatic angles, and viewers find themselves less than thrilled during these sequences. Smooth computer drawn backgrounds, conflict with the roughly drawn foreground characters. Rather than aid, the CG sequences often disagree with what is going on in the hand painted cels. Alone, each animation looks decent, sometimes even pleasing. However, any mixture of the two - at least in this movie - leaves viewers wishing the production team had chosen one form of animation that remains constant throughout Blood.

On a positive note, the sound production is one of the movie's better aspects. Rather than midis, the team created an entire original score, complete with a full-size orchestra. Music can make or break a movie, and in this one it is definitely the latter of the two. The music sets the mood throughout Blood, often taken the role of failed voice acting. Crescendos, staccatos, fermatas, and all other musical characteristics fall into place, and in the right sequence. Although it may not be worth a separate purchase, the soundtrack in Blood saves it from being a terrible movie.

When the team finished their work, they believed that they had attained the perfect balance between story and animation. Although the focused heavily on animation, specifically a new standard of animation, their efforts did not pay off. Terrible voice acting is blatantly heard due to the fact that half of the actors speak little to no English. Overall, Blood The Last Vampire is worth a rent, but only after you've exhausted most of your anime library.