VAMPIRE HUNTER D

I was raised on anime, but I knew it not as anime. "Robotech", "Voltron", and dozens of forgotten others filled by youth. It was long ago that the Sci-Fi Channel aired three anime films together in their first "Japanimation Festival". Those films were LENSMAN, VAMPIRE HUNTER D, and ROBOT CARNIVAL.

The only one of the three that I saw in its entirety was LENSMAN. I remember being called to dinner when VAMPIRE HUNTER D was on. I remember not wanting to go. Cartoons did not have blood. Cartoons did not have closeups of breasts. Cartoons did not have swearing.

It was some years later when TNT aired VAMPIRE HUNTER D. I remember it clearly. It was a Saturday. Evan was over. We watched it together, amazed. We had pizza. Evan liked it a lot. My mother shouted, hearing the heroine calling the town jackass a "bastard".

For years to come, I would hope to see VAMPIRE HUNTER D again on television. I saw it for sale but once on video. I was young. I dared not buy it. My anime collection was all of two or three tapes.

Now, however, VAMPIRE HUNTER D has been re-released. This version came out on January 2nd, my birthday. My copy, from rightstuf.com, came on January 26th.

I watched it on January 29th, transfixed as I was ever so long ago. I watched the same thing that I saw so many years ago. I am not going to retell the tale. I am but going to say that VAMPIRE HUNTER D is up there at the ROYAL SPACE FORCE: WINGS OF HONNEASMISE and PRINCESS MONONOKE level.

Its animation is dated, but that does not matter. The sheer story telling is mammoth. This film was made in 1985. Do you remember 1985? I was but two years old. This film was one of the first to come to American and usher in the modern age of anime. Now, we are looking back on those which have brought us to where we are, rediscovering our origin. We will not go forward without knowing out past.

I am amazed by what I remember and even more amazed by what I do not.

I am amazed by just how much my life has been influenced by VAMPIRE HUNTER D. I see now where my love of excessively long swords has come from. I seek now where my dark brooding heroes have come from. I see know where my tragic unhappy endings have come from.

I am amazed by this gift the Universe has given me from so long ago.

To understand the future, we must understand the past. We must rediscover our origins. We must not forget D's theme. We must not forget the innocence, the militaristic drum beats ever so faint.

I am who I am because of D.

---

Peter Tatara
1.30.2000

Dairy Farmers For Quebec's Independence