Dracula - Sovereign of the Damned
So apparently the classic 70s comic series
Tomb of Dracula was adapted into an anime film in 1980. I just assumed it was supposed to be a regular vampire story until I noticed Marv Wolfman was given credit and I did some digging. Sadly, like most compressed adaptations (ex:
Harmageddon) a lot is lost trying to fit so many events in and it ends up a rather questionable final product.
The premise is Dracula has long since fled Europe and moved to Boston where he interferes with a satanic summoning ritual as a giant "Fuck you." to Satan himself. There he steals Dolores, bride of Satan, and decides the whole evil vampire thing has grown stale so gets married to her and settles down. As it were, his long list of enemies doesn't really care about this. In particular, a group of vampire hunters continue to hunt him down. They're comprised of wheelchair bound member of the Harker family out to avenge his family, some chick with a crossbow that's a member of the van Helsing family, and a descendant of Dracula himself. In addition to this trio, a strangely intelligent dog that is the reincarnation of Johnathan Harker, aptly named Johnathan Barker, assists them in their pursuit of justice. While this goes on, we're privy to Dracula confessing his life of evil to his wife, being a family man, taking his wife out on a date, and fulfilling his role of World's Best Dad. Shame it all comes crashing down.
Ok one part of that isn't real but that's for the reader to discern.
As the movie progresses, it's increasingly apparent several elements from the comic series were thrown in as "important events" and unfortunately it plays out as one might expect. There's one scene in particular towards the middle (Dracula vs Anton Lupeski) that's surprisingly strong but later events cheapen it. There's some globetrotting, some assbackward logic to create tension, and a bunch of characters no one gives a shit about in the second half. I wouldn't be surprised if 7 years worth of comics was indeed compressed to 90 minutes.
It did give us this though and for that I'm ever grateful.
, YuruYuri S2, Natsuyuki Rendezvous, Moyashimon Returns, Oda Nobuna lol, Binbou-gami ga!, Tari Tari, Rinne S2 and Joshiraku. Maybe that Bodyswap show and chitose if it's a dumb throwaway short.
