Manga Officially Announces Blood

Manga Entertainment has sent out an official press release promoting their plans for Blood: The Last Vampire. The film will be released theatrically this summer in limited release, premiering as part of the RESFEST touring festival of digital animation. On August 28th, Blood will premier on domestic home video, and in streaming video on the internet. On the 28th, for 24 hours only, Sputnik7.com will broadcast streaming excerpts of the film to the internet in coordination with special promotions on Manga Entertainment’s own Blood homepage. The DVD edition of the film will be mastered from the Japanese digital source and will be presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 surround sound. As special bonuses, the DVD will also include a “Making of Blood” documentary, original Japanese trailers, an image gallery, and DVD-Rom features.

Blood: The Last Vampire is a 48 minute long all digital action/horror film set on the American Yokota Air Force base in Japan in 1966. The film tells the story of the “vampire hunter” Saya who must hunt down and slay three “chiropterans” in a single night. For the sake of authenticity, 90% of the film’s dialogue is spoken English, with Saya’s voice provided by Japanese actress Youki Kodoh (Snow Falling on Cedars). The film was created mainly by the staff of Ghost in the Shell and was supervised by Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii. Famed American director James Cameron has said of the film, “Digital filmmaking has entered a new era. The world will come to consider this work as the standard of top quality in digital animation.”