Onigen, Offigen.

I've lost track of time today thanks to the following marathon (on daikaijutv):

Devilman (2004)  • The Manster (1959)  • Meatball Machine (1999)  • Casshern (2004) • Skull Soldier (1992) • Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)  • Full Metal Yakuza (1997)  • Blood: The Last Vampire (2009) • Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (2009) • The Visitor in the Eye (1977)

I caught snippets of Devilman for breakfast, watched The Manster for the first time, caught snippets of Meatball Machine, Casshern, Skull Soldier, Tetsuo: The Iron Man and Full Metal Yakuza none of which were my cup of tea. In between, I managed to do two loads of laundry and some tidying up. I put on the headphones and watched Blood: The Last Vampire in its entirety even though I have it on DVD. I love that movie and I wrote about it here (I even used a similar title back then.) I'm listening to the final movie, which is a live action version of Blackjack, while I'm typing this.

The vampire in question looks a little bit like this Incubus. (Cue segue to Monster book.)

 

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out its female equivalent, the Succubus.

 

 Unrelated to the above, I scored a very nice Todd figure of Norman Bates in pristine shape last week. 

 

 

Back in those pre-internet days of the 90s, my brother and I drove to New Orleans. On the way back, we popped into Universal Studios in Florida and went to a Q&A about Universal Movies. The host asked if anyone knew what they used to film the realistic looking blood in the shower scene. I piped in with "Chocolate Syrup" and the dude was duly impressed. Years of Monster Magazine reading finally paid off. (As an aside, we went into a taping of Nickelodeon's You Can't Do That On Television and there was a segment where they were throwing rubber chickens at contestants. The host asked the audience if there was anything they could do to make the show more exciting (expecting the audience to shout SLIME) and my brother yelled out, "Throw live chickens!" The host did NOT expect that.) 

I picked up this box of a dozen UltraMan Pringles at CostCo recently. I haven't indulged yet, I'm not certain if I want to consume them myself or give them away as prizes. 

 

 For a change, I haven't carved up any veggies today. so I'll end with another blogger recommendation, Your Best Halloween Ever.

Bloody Great!

I picked up a collector's set of Blood: The Last Vampire way back in October fully intending to review it for Halloween but never got around to it. I watched it last night and was not disappointed, apart from the length, (only 45 minutes!) but they sure packed a lot into 3/4 of an hour.

The complete box also includes a Digital Copy and a Supplementary disc crammed full of extras, such as an interview with star, Yuuki Kudou. 

Here's a taste of it. You can seek it out on the interwebs by yourself.



Interestingly enough, it also contained a complete script in English (appropriate, since it was filmed in English.)

There was a live action version way back in 2009 and I wrote about it here.

Now all I have to do is locate the 51 follow-up anime episodes and I'll be all caught up.

Onegin, Off Again.

How about checking out an original Anime, called
ブラッド ザ ラスト ヴァンパイア also known as Blood: The Last Vampire from 2000?



Now, how about a trailer of the movie I just saw (with a handy link to the official site)?



Tempted you enough yet? How about if I tell you that it was the coolest live action Anime adaptation that I've ever seen? It stars Koyuki as 小夜 (Saya), a halfling Vampire fighter in a High School Sailor outfit who does a kickass job in slaughtering the undead with a katana and any other handy weapon. She faces off against Korean actress Jeon Ji-hyun, aka Gianna Jun who portrays villainess Onegin. The action was non-stop & gory & visually awesome & gory & with great CGI (for a change) & gory & great wirework/stunts & gory & surprisingly good acting & gory & it was all done in English except for some childhood flashbacks and thus completely comprehensible to me. Oh, did I mention that it was gory?
















How about some Last Blood goods? I only picked up a Clear-file (which is actually TWO clear files, much to my surprise), and they are pretty sweet.

How about a link to a surprisingly tolerable Glay who sang a song over the end credits. How about you watch the following preview with lots of English exposé and a snippet of Glay's tune near the end:



Okay, I was pushing it with Glay there, but even that song was fairly good. I have no idea when it'll reach North American shores, but it is definitely worth checking out!