Blade is the fourth and final of the Madhouse anime series based on Marvel Comics characters. A "Daywalker" born with all of the strengths and none of the weaknesses of a true vampire, titular vampire-hunter Blade is out for revenge against the powerful Deacon Frost, the vampire who killed his then-pregnant mother and caused him to become half-vampire. The story follows Blade as he tracks Frost through modern day Southeast Asia, where he runs into Frost's underground society of vampires, Existence. Making both new allies and enemies along the way, Blade soon discovers a vampire plot in Vietnam that could change the world for the worse.
Featuring a story written by Kenta Fukasaku, son of the late Kinji Fukasaku, the series premiered on July 1st, 2011 in Japan. The dubbed version began airing in January of 2012, with Harold Perrineau providing the voice for Blade.
- Action Girl: Makoto
- And This Is For: Though he never actually says those words, the message is clear enough when Blade kills Deacon Frost with the help of his mother's knife and Makoto's knuckledusters.
Blade: My partner sent this for you! Take it! |
- Anti-Villain: Kikyo is a Type I, as he was in his previous appearance.
- Deacon Frost is a Tragic Villain, straddling Type II and Type III as he was driven to turn himself into a vampire by the death of his son and subsequent cover-up by the corrupt police force, creating Existence to take his revenge on all vampires and the humans who work for them.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: In episode 3, he's a vampire that appears to hunt humans in a similar way to a fox hunt.
- All of the "purebloods" (traditionalist European vampires) seem to have this trait.
- Badass
- Badass Abnormal: Blade, of course.
- Badass Normal: Makoto and Noah.
- Big Badass Dog: Razor.
- Bald of Awesome: Blade
- Barehanded Blade Block: Deacon Frost is able to do this with Blade's silver sword.
- Big Bad: Deacon Frost
- Big Damn Heroes: Episode 11, Noah busts in to save Blade, toting a mini-gun and a crapton of strategically placed explosives.
- Bittersweet Ending: The finale has tinges of this. Blade finally kills Deacon Frost, but it's now to avenge two people instead of one — his mother and Makoto. Existence may now be gone forever, but the purebloods are still out there wreaking havoc on innocents. Blade may have won the day, but he knows his job isn't over until all vampires are destroyed, so he, Noah, and Razor are off to Europe to continue their vampire hunter duties.
- Blood Knight: Kikyo, still searching for a Worthy Opponent.
- Bloodier and Gorier: And how!
- Calling Your Attacks
- The Cameo: Yep, Wolverine appears in this one too, as the trail takes Blade and Makoto to Madripoor. It also turns out that Kikyo survived his duel with Wolverine, and is now working for Existence.
- Composite Character: Noah Van Helsing is a character from the comics, and his relationship and first meeting with Blade have similarities to that of Abraham Whistler in the films.
- Blade himself is a composite of the movie version (black trench coat, silver katana and the majority of his weaponry) and his comic book version (primarily in backstory, being born and raised in England).
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Makoto tears her way through a nightclub full of vampires with nothing but silver spiked knuckledusters. Faced alone, however, Deacon Frost is able to effortlessly toss Blade around.
- Cool Old Guy: Noah Van Helsing
- Darker and Edgier: Moreso than the Wolverine anime.
- Death by Origin Story: Blade's mother, as shown by flashbacks in the first episode.
- As revealed in episode four's flashbacks, she later comes back to kill her former group of friends, who took it upon themselves to raise Eric. She becomes the first vampire Eric slays.
- Also, Deacon Frost's son.
- Dirty Cop: Seen in the 2nd episode.
- Disposable Sex Worker: Eric's mother, Tara and her friends, killed by Tara herself. Later invoked by Deacon Frost to make Blade angry.
- Dueling Shows: This show premiered in the same month as another series featuring a vampire hunter.
- Dying as Yourself: When 10 year old Blade stabbed his vampire mother, she had a brief moment of lucidity where her humanity came back to her before she died. The same thing happened again when Blade killed his vampirized sword master, who had also been turned by Deacon Frost.
- Makoto gets this pre-emptively. After being bitten by Deacon Frost, she begs Blade to kill her so she can die while she's still human.
- Finishing Move: The man who taught Blade and Kikyo how to use a sword taught him a few techniques for finishing a battle.
- Savage Moon: To the villain, it looks like Blade freezes for a second with his sword in hand. When they go for the kill, the clone will act as if struck and then disappear. He cuts them in half from behind before they have a chance to react.
- Phantom Moon: Blade whirls around, and the villain is sliced to pieces as they are slashed from many angles at once.
- Chaotic Moon: The victim sees Blade unleashing a deadly miasma which homes in on them. When it hits, the illusion falls away with Blade's sword piercing them where they were struck.
- Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Stan, a Shell-Shocked Veteran of the Vietnam War, and the last survivor of a unit of vampire soldiers. By far the most moral vampire in the series, he stays away from people and steals blood packs from neighboring towns so he doesn't have to prey on them. Naturally, this makes him Too Cool to Live.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Blade.
- To get revenge for his son, who was murdered by a vampire, Deacon Frost turned himself into a vampire and created Existence in order to be able to destroy the Purebloods, becoming the very thing he hates.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Carol, young Eric's foster-mother, as well as the other prostitutes he lived with. His biological mother too, before she became a vampire's victim.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Jaral wants to become a vampire because he thinks that being human isn't good enough in a world full of vampires and mutants.
- Killed Off for Real: Makoto after she is bitten by Deacon Frost. She asks Blade to Mercy Kill her before she can turn into a vampire. Notable for being the only time (excluding flashbacks) that Blade cries in the series.
- Kick Chick: Makoto's fighting style, complete with silver-tipped Combat Stilettos.
- Knife Nut: Blade's Weapon of Choice and where he gets his "known" name, although his given name is Eric Brooks.
- Jaral in episode 7 attacks Blade with a small dagger.
- Stan with his combat knife.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: For the most part, vampirism is treated as a virus that people can be infected with, and Existence is trying to use advanced science to create a perfect bloodline. At the same time, one of their weaknesses is White Magic and purebloods can use animals as familiars, suggesting that they are still at least partly supernatural in nature.
- Names to Know in Anime
- Akio Ohtsuka as Blade (who reprise his role from the Japanese dubs of the live-action films)
- Maaya Sakamoto as Makoto
- In English, Johnny Yong Bosch (aka Ichigo and Lelouch) is Djalal, a criminal trying to make his way up in Madripoor.
- Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Blade.
- Our Vampires Are Different. And how. They all have the same set of weaknesses (sunlight and silver), but range from the typical human vampires to a variety of sub-species seemingly based on folktale monsters from Southeast Asian countries. And while they aren't harmed by holy symbols, they are vulnerable to various forms of White Magic.
- And, as it turns out, the mythological sub-species were genetically engineered by Existence, mainly to give Blade more dangerous adversaries, making this a partially Invoked Trope.
- People Farms: The plot of the second episode is centered around one. Existence filled it with young women and kept them alive in water-filled jars to harvest their blood.
- Another one of these is seen in the finale, and it's huge.
- Pinocchio Syndrome: Blade certainly never wished to be half of "one of them".
- Power Fist: How Makoto fights.
- Redshirt Army: Frost's Mook-level soldiers. They even have red uniforms.
- Rock Beats Laser: Played with. The Purebloods attack Existence's base on horseback, with plate armor and broadswords, plowing through the Redshirt Army with ease. Frost's genetically-engineered monsters give them quite a bit more of a fight.
- The Quisling: The humans working for Existence.
- Especially Jaral, who doesn't have any particular loyalty to Existence, but is selling them weapons in exchange for the promise of becoming a vampire, which he believes will give him the power to take over Madripoor.
- Red Right Hand: Deacon Frost has four fangs, marking him as different even from other vampires. It is later revealed that this is because his vampirism was artificially induced.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Makoto after her father turned vampire was killed by Blade. Blade for what happened to his mother.
- Scare'Em Straight: Blade's reputation with the monsters.
- Shipper on Deck: Wolverine ships Makoto and Blade.
- Team Pet: Razor
- Teach Him Anger: Deacon Frost's intent is to drive Blade into a rage in order to draw out the full power of a Daywalker.
- Too Cool to Live: Stan. See Friendly Neighborhood Vampire.
- Tsundere: Makoto especially when Wolverine starts pairing her up with Blade.
- Vampire Hunter: Well, duh.
- We Are Everywhere: A Dirty Cop (specifically the police chief of the Osaka PD with a few uniform and plainclothed officers) working for Existence basically says this to Blade and honest cop Sakomizu. When Sakomizu's partner pulls this again, threatening Mizu's family if he continues to dig any deeper, it earns the Smug Snake an elbow to the face.
- Weird Moon: The moon is always abnormally large and bright red.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Detective Sakomizu is never seen or heard from again after the second episode.
- You Killed My Father: Deacon Frost kills Makoto's father, but after he turns into a vampire that is destroyed by Blade, she shouts this at Blade in her grief.