This movie is too short and leaves many loose ends. I feel like giving it two and a half stars for the acceptable animation, but the story doesn't help for this purpose. If you haven't seen it you are not missing a lot. Just another vampire story which, to make things worse, leaves you wanting for more. The only way that I know to get more into the story is by reading the manga, but here we talk about animation, not comics. And one more thing: I just don't get that fixation people have in making emotionless characters that you can't feel connected\identified with.

Blood: The Last Vampire is an anime produced in 2000 by a division of Sony. I want to be clear that there is nothing wrong with a film being short (or long for that matter) as long as the run-time is justified by its contents. At 48 minutes, Blood is dang short considering the number of unaddressed plot points left lingering. Now, not everything always needs to be wrapped up with a nice little bow on top, but in the case of Blood, the film was intentionally and abruptly cut short to pave the way for a sequel on the Sony Playstation 2. That sort of drug-dealer mentality of giving a cheap first fix, then jacking up the price does not sit well for me. Even if I wanted to see the continuation of the saga, I would be out of luck since I am currently Playstationless. Anyhow, I will go ahead and give my thoughts on the 48 minute "feature."

The film takes place in a school on an American military base in Japan in 1966, during the Vietnam War. The mysterious Saya (who never gets any development) is a Vampire that works with agents to hunt down shapeshifting demons, which in this film, happen to be posing as high school girls preparing for the big Halloween bash. Posing as a student, Saya tracks down these creatures and unleashes her katana on them in a gory blood splashing showdown.

Blood looks fantastic. The realistic animation style seamlessly incorporates 2D and 3D animation. The images are quite gruesome, but there is mostly blood shown and not too many guts. The action of this film is great, but there is no plot in between. Also, the first 5 to 10 minutes of the film raise a lot of points that are never dealt with. In the beginning, much is made of one of Saya's hits being human, not a demon. But then the scene just breaks. It really would be nice to have learned a bit about this supposed "Last Vampire," but basically, we only ever learn her name. We never even see her vamp out, she might as well be a werewolf, or even a plain old ninja.

One notable thing about this film is that the dialogue is split between English and Japanese, making for a sense of realism given the setting. Overall, Blood: The Last Vampire was interesting to watch, and pretty intense though ultimately it was unfulfilling. I would love to score Blood a high grade, but I have to offer up a mere B-

I reckon many people were pissed when they paid good money for a movie that ran for only 48 minutes. And I must admit I was a little displeased at how expensive the DVD was for such a short film. But you know what? I don't care. Because when the film was over, I could've swore I saw the most graphically beautiful anime movie ever. Now granted, how much you enjoy this film probably has a little to do with how much you care about your pocketbook. If 48 minutes sounds like too little value to spend twenty or so dollars, then so be it.

Within the time constraints, Blood: The Last Vampire tells the tale of a beautiful but strangely eerie female named Saya who possesses the ability to detect the film's blood-sucking "chiropteans" even when they're disguised as seemingly normal humans. When she has one cornered, she pulls out her ancient sword and decapitates it. A few have infiltrated the local high school, so she must pose as a student and ferret them out. Even though Saya is the main character, the movie is told mostly through the viewpoint of the religious but hapless school nurse, whose world gets turned upside down when the vampires turn the school into hell-on-earth.

Blood: The Last Vampire is made by the man behind the confusing Ghost in the Shell and the mediocre Jin-Roh but is many times more satisfying than both put together. It breaks several anime molds. The first mold it breaks is that none of the characters are drawn in that irritatingly uniform triangular mouth and head that most animes are known for. Nor is the animation as jerky or static. In fact, one would confuse this movie as a graphic novel come to life. There's a startling amount of depth and detail here. The second mold it breaks is that there is no English dubbing track. The American characters speak English and the Japanese characters speak both Japanese and English. For user-friendliness, the DVD comes with subtitles.

The film takes place during the 60s against the backdrop of the Americans' involvement in the Vietnam War, and this element gives the movie a very subtle but believable layer that thankfully doesn't interfere with the horror themes. It should be worth noting that this film is set up like a "window to a larger world". It only offers tidbits to other things which never get explained except in other media like the comic books and video games. As such, certain parts will seem confusing, but not because of a convoluted plot. Quite the contrary, this film has one of the tightest scripts I've ever seen. Thankfully, this method of storytelling doesn't slow the film down one bit. The fiery climax is suitably gripping, but it's the ending that finally gives the film and the main character the humanity both desperately needed.