Marvel Anime (Part 4): Blade

Hello, my friends.  We’re past the halfway threshold, but there’s still a thirst to be quenched here.  As such, welcome to another entry of the review series known as…

So far, we had an Armored Avenger clear his name while trying to launch an arc reactor in Japan & fend off a mysterious group, a mutant travel overseas to prevent his true love from a marriage even she doesn’t approve of and a mutant team prevent an anti-mutant master plan with a powerful being used as its core.  Now, it’s time for the Daywalker to shine and take on Japan’s supernatural side in a series known as…

This series debuted on Japan’s Animax Channel from July 1 to September 16, 2011 before America got to see it on G4 from January 13 to April 2, 2012.  How does the series’ final TV outing handle its half-human, half-vampire protagonist?  Let’s find out.

We begin Episode 1 “His Name Is Blade” (or “The Man, Blade”) on a pre-title scene where Eric Brooks a.k.a. Blade (voiced by Harold Perrineau of Lost fame) narrates about his profession as a vampire hunter.  As he’s doing so, we get a quick flashback where his mother Vanessa Tara Brooks (voiced by Harmony Bear herself, Nayo Wallace) is attacked by a vampire.

As she’s later rushed to a hospital, the vampiric parasites course throughout her body and into her pregnant womb.  Though she ended up dying, Tara was still able to give birth to her son.

As Eric unsheathes his signature weapon, he explains that he was born half-human & half-vampire.  With all of the vampiric strengths coursing through his body, he never has to worry about burning up in sunlight due to his human traits and thus he has his nickname “Daywalker”.  As he heads out, the scene ends with him saying that his mission is to wipe out the vampires once and for all.  He’s created enough of an impression on the fanged creatures that they know him as “Blade”.

Following the opening title sequence, we shift to nighttime in Yokohama, Japan where Eric overseas a particular nightclub from afar.  As he looks up and sees a blood-red Moon, he thinks back to how his mother was attacked.

We then cut to a flashback in London, England where Tara is being chased through the dim and foggy streets.  She’s suddenly approached by her pursuer, a being in a fancy coat and in shadows.  Just as he’s about to grab her, Tara manages to take out her pocket knife and slice his palm.

However, he easily slaps her to the brick wall and disarms her before he bites her neck and starts to drink her blood, inadvertently implanting the vampiric traits that would work their way into her son, who would be born into this world via a C-Section.  As the flashback ends, Blade says in his narration that he remembers a warning that his mentor gave him whenever he hunts for vampires: Guard your soul against the darkness, since it’s always looking back.  From there, he leaps down towards the night club.

Just then, a woman has a lovingly-drunken guy chase after her through a maze of storage units.  Not too long afterwards, they proceed to make out.  However, the man discovers to his horror that she’s a vampire and is looking to suck his blood.  As such, the man makes a run for it.

As he drunkenly tries to find his way out, he then comes across a trio of officials and asks them for help.  Unfortunately, it turns out that they’re also vampires as he finds himself pinned between them and the blood-sucking female.

Just then, a pair of spinning blades come in and slays two of the three vampire officials before returning to Eric as he calmly explains in his narration that garlic and crucifixes don’t work in this universe.  As he stabs the female vampire with his sword after she tries to dive onto him with a sneak attack, he narrates that a silver blade to their hearts are effective.

After slicing the remaining vampire guard’s gun, Blade allows the drunken guy to escape before interrogating the fiend about the night club (which serves as a devious feeding ground) and demands to know what the symbol on the building means.  The vampire tells him that it represents their organization called Existence, which has been growing in strength all throughout Asia.  Eric then demands to know where he can find “the vampire with four fangs”, but the fiend doesn’t know.  After our hero supposedly takes his leave, the vampire feels confident as he exclaims that his boss is arriving tonight.  Fortunately, Blade overheard him and proceeds to slay the fiend off-screen.

A short time later, the Existence’s leader arrives at the night club called Feed.  At the same time, a man and a young woman are parked in the back and ready to infiltrate.  The female named Makoto (voiced by Mei Ling herself, Kim Mai Guest) will head in while her partner will follow 10 minutes later.

Inside, the vampires are watching a group of young women who are in the middle of dancing.  Just then, their attention gets diverted as Makoto enters and seemingly all of them become entranced towards her.  At that moment, the club owner named Ladu (voiced by Grant George) has the music turned off as he suavely uses his charms on her.  After she accepts his offer to get her a drink, he orders the DJ to bring the club music back on.

A short time later, Ladu has taken Makoto up to his private suite.  While the women on the dance floor are suddenly imprisoned as the steel bars trap them in order for the vampire patrons to feed on them, Makoto manages to get the drop on Ladu as she kicks him through the window and back onto the main level.  Afterwards, she discards her disguise and reveals her true identity to the fanged fiends.

It turns out that she knew that they were vampires all along as she proceeds to slay the various members while saving the captured patrons in the process.  Not too long afterwards, her partner comes in and proceeds to gun down several more opposing vampires as well.  They’re then confronted by Ladu who transforms into his real form: a werewolf.  They proceed to fight for a bit, but their bullets don’t work on him since they aren’t coated in wolfsbane.

Just then, Blade arrives and proceeds to slaughter several of the remaining vampires.  Afterwards, he then tells the two vampire hunters that he’ll take care of Ladu.  Despite Makoto’s reluctance, she and her fellow partner take their leave.  As such, Eric proceeds to use a technique where Ladu believes that he attacked Blade, but it was only an illusion as Brooks delivers the finishing slice to him.  It turns out that this is “Deadly Sword Technique #1: Residual Moon”.

Meanwhile outside, the two vampire hunters take out the remaining fanged fiends.  However, they’re then approached by the Existence leader himself (voiced by J.B. Blanc).  After Makoto gets reminded that there will come a time where she’ll have to “lay it all on the line” when it comes to hunting vampires, her dad (which in the English dub that detail is now finally revealed) charges at his foe with his gun blazing.  However, the fiend manages to dodge the bullet barrage and not only shatters the automatic handgun, but knocks him out as well.

By the time Blade manages to catch up, he’s too late to do anything as the vampire manages to bite Makoto’s dad’s neck and drink his blood.  As it happens, a flash of painful memories begin to surge through Eric’s head.

Afterwards, Blade leaps up to confront the fiend.  It turns out that this was the same vampire that attacked his mother as he reveals the permanent scar on his hand.  Eric tries to attack, but the fiend manages to kick him with enough force to send Brooks back several feet before he slams into several storage units.

Just as the vampire is ready to head out, Blade is suddenly attacked by a pair of darts and gets pinned down.  As the darts manage to take some of his blood, it turns out that they came from the fiend’s fellow cohorts as they make their escape.

Back on the ground, Makoto tearfully comforts her deceased father in her arms.  Just then, he wakes up and viciously shoves her away as he mutates into a vampire and prepares to kill his own daughter.  Fortunately, Blade recovers in time and slays him with his sword as he burns up and dies.

Emotionally distraught by what happened to her father, Makoto blames Brooks for interfering and tries to attack him.  Fortunately, his vampiric strength lets him withstand her spiked knuckles before tugging her away and taking off.  As such, Episode 1 ends with Makoto personally vowing to get revenge on Blade.

We begin Episode 2 “A Night For The Living, A Mourning For The Dead” (or “Mad World”) in Osaka, Japan as Detective Sakomizu (voiced by Kirk Thornton) and Detective Ikeda (voiced by Sam Riegel) are discussing about a recent string of missing people.  It turns out that various illegal immigrants (all of them women) have disappeared over the course of a few months.  A short time later, they arrive at a crime scene and are met upon by their Lieutenant (voiced by Liam O’Brien).  As Sakomizu wonders how his superior keeps reaching crime scenes so early, he then notices Blade watching from afar as Eric darts off out of sight.

Det. Sakomizu heads inside to inspect a room that was part of a small apartment complex used to cram the female immigrants inside.  He then notices a picture on the floor as he examines it to discover that it’s one of the captive women.  Just as Det. Ikeda comes in to ask if he’s found anything, Sakomizu places the photo in his coat pocket and says that he hasn’t.  Ikeda says that he asked the crowd outside, but all they mentioned was about a “tall, black man in a trench coat”.  Just as Sakomizu instantly thinks back to when he briefly saw Blade from a distance as a coincidence, Ikeda says that he can take care of things around here while his partner heads home to celebrate his daughter’s birthday.  However, Sakomizu is willing to stay put and says that they should ask around the neighborhood.

After a quick montage where the two detectives ask several people in the vicinity, it turns out that they were unable to acquire any further information from anyone.  Just then, a callout from dispatch informs them of a break-in at Sakanishi Industries.  After initially considering passing on the call, Det. Sakomizu remembers that the company is run by members of the Yakuza (Japanese crime syndicates) as he lets dispatch know that he’ll take care of it before he and his partner speed off towards the building.

Over at Sakanishi Industries, Blade arrives and begins to beat up the employees.  He notices that they have the Existence logo on them and demands to know more about their “associates”.  Just then, Sakomizu and Ikeda arrive on the scene.  Just as they pull up, Eric tosses one of the henchmen through a window as the perp lands on the car.  Sakomizu tells Ikeda to call for an ambulance while he heads inside.

Just as he arrives at the top floor, he finds nearly all of the henchmen beaten up and lying unconscious on the floor.  With his gun drawn, Sakomizu orders Blade and a remaining thug to surrender.  After Eric slices the perp up, the criminal bursts into flames since he was actually a vampire.  Sakomizu is shocked by what he saw, allowing Brooks to subdue the detective and have him surrender.

A short time later, Blade emerges from the building while holding Sakomizu at sword-point while also in possession of his handgun.  Ikeda nervously tells Eric to surrender, but he decides to call for backup instead.  However, Brooks pulls him away as he and Sakomizu hop inside the car.  To the detective’s confusion, Blade wishes to be taken in as they proceed to drive off.  Along the way, Eric tells the detective that the guy he saw bursting into flames wasn’t a human at all.  He also informs Sakomizu that one of his fellow colleagues has been part of the devious group that’s been recently abducting women.

A short time later, the detective walks into the station with Brooks in handcuffs and tells a female officer that he wishes to speak with their Chief (voiced by Joe Ochman).  At that moment, the Lieutenant and another officer hide inside the Chief’s office and inform him that Blade is in the building.  After Sakomizu kicks the door down, the Lieutenant fires his gun at him.  Fortunately, Eric’s vampire make-up allows him to shield the detective from the bullets as he breaks his handcuffs and grabs the devious official before subduing the remaining felon with a single kick.  He then shows Sakomizu the Lieutenant’s wrist, showing that he’s pledged his allegiance to Existence, even going as far as to hide crucial evidence in order to protect the devious group.  Having now realized how his superior was able to get to the crime scenes before anyone else at a superior rate, the detective berates the traitorous lieutenant for his actions.  Meanwhile, Blade interrogates the devious Chief for information.  He then calmly, confidently and smugly tells them that they’re helping Existence out, since it’s not just crooked cops who’s assisting them.  It’s also corrupt government officials and organized crime gangs that are helping the Existence towards their devious goals.  After learning that the kidnapped women were given to the group in order to sustain the country’s protection, the scene ends with Sakomizu proceeding to punch the Chief for his actions and to know where the illegal immigrants are being held.

Afterwards, Blade and the detective head off towards their destination.  Eric lets him know that he withstood the lieutenant’s gunfire thanks to his body armor and the fact that silver bullets don’t work on him, while Sakomizu is mad at himself that one of his colleagues was working for Existence and yet he didn’t know.

A short time later, Blade and the detective arrive at the site.  With Eric’s usual arsenal and Sakomizu now loaded with silver bullets in his handgun, they proceed to head down.  Unbeknownst to them, Makoto has followed them as she prepares to get her revenge on Blade.

After Eric and Sakomizu make their way down to the bottom of the abandoned subway station, they notice some strange dim lights on the ceiling.  Just then, the main lights come on to reveal the contraption as one of the previously-seen lackeys named Tanaka (voiced by the ’03 Leonardo himself, Michael Sinterniklaas) reveals that this machine is actually a Blood Farm.  It turns out that the captured women were placed in various pods and kept alive in order for their blood to be drawn and sold off for the right price.

When Blade demands to know where he can find the Existence leader himself named Deacon Frost, Tanaka says that he’s left Japan.  He then sends a group of monster cats after them, to which Eric easily slices the majority of them with one swipe of his sword before he chases after Tanaka.

Afterwards, Sakomizu manages to shoot a series of pods down and manages to cut one of them open as he starts to save the captured women.  However, he’s then confronted by even more monster cats.

Meanwhile, Blade follows Tanaka to an underground pool as his foe reveals that he’s not just a vampire.  He’s a certain species known as a Water Tiger.  As such, he transforms into his actual form before curling into a ball and spins towards Blade.  Eric tries to attack with his spinning blades, but they bounce off his adversary as he gets hit and forced into the water.  Now possessing the homefield advantage, Tanaka proceeds to beat up Blade.

Back at the Blood Farm, Sakomizu manages to shoot as many demonic cats as he can before he runs out of silver bullets.  Just as he and the initially-rescued young woman are about to be mauled, Makoto arrives in time and uses her spiked knuckles to slay the remaining beasts before she helps to free the remaining captured females.

Meanwhile, Blade kicks Tanaka away in order to swim up for some air as he climbs onto a steel girder within the middle of the pool.  With the opposing Water Tiger circling him and preparing to strike, Eric prepares to finish his foe off.  Just then, Tanaka leaps out and seemingly kills out hero.  However, Eric gets the last laugh as he tricks and slays his demonic foe with the Residual Moon technique.  However, Tanaka manages to activate a remote detonator on his belt buckle before he dies.

Shortly afterwards, Makoto finally catches up to Blade in order to have her revenge.  However, it turns out that Tanaka had installed a series of powerful explosives within the Blood Farm machine as it starts to blow up.  With Det. Sakomizu having already saved the captured women, they hurriedly make their way to the surface.  With the raging fire about to reach them, Blade and Makoto are forced to swim their way out.

As the sun starts to rise on a new day, the police have been summoned to the scene as they prepare to help out the freed women.  Sakomizu talks to one of the young ladies named Sara as she gets her picture back from him.  After letting her know that it was the two strangers whom they should thank for helping them out, she’s taken into an ambulance and on her way towards complete recovery.  Just then, Det. Ikeda comes in and tells him to forget about the vampire’s connection with the incident as it’s revealed that he’s also a member of the Existence.  Fortunately, Sakomizu refuses to play along as he strikes his now-former partner with his elbow before taking his leave.

Later, Episode 2 ends at night as Blade arrives at Kobe Port and meets up with a man and his dog in a foggy, secluded area in order to learn where Deacon Frost has gone to.  After the man tells him that his foe has left for the Philippines, he then aims his gun towards Eric and pulls the trigger, causing our hero to pull out his sword in defense.

As we open Episode 3 “Dead On Arrival” (or “Vampire Hunter”), we find out that the opposing bullet wasn’t meant for Blade, but an otherworldly creature that was overlooking them and diving down to attack.  In actuality, Eric is getting assisted by an old colleague named Noah Van Helsing (voiced by Troy Baker) and his faithful dog named Razor.  As such, they head out on a speed boat towards a larger vessel.

As they board the Queen Victoria II, they’re greeted by the ship’s leader named Capt. MacRae (voiced by Steven Blum).  He tells them that he employs strict rules whenever visitors are on his ship.  When he brings up the “No Women Allowed Since They Bring Bad Luck” rule, it turns out that Makoto had crept aboard in order to obtain her vengeance.  As Blade starts to head down below in order to receive a certain item that Noah brought for him, Makoto tries to chase after him.  However, MacRae sends his men after her.  She manages to beat them up before Noah steps in and trips her up, allowing MacRae’s men to surround her.

Just then, Razor comes in and licks her face.  Surprised that his own dog usually never takes a liking to an unfamiliar person so quickly, Van Helsing decides to spare her from any awaiting indignity.  However, MacRae still stands by his “No Women Allowed” rule, so Noah pays him off with the money that she currently has, allowing her to stay on board under the guise of “a boy”.

Sometime after they set sail for the Philippines, things eventually quiet down before Makoto decides to sneak around to get her vengeance.  As she approaches Blade’s room, she hears painful moans coming from him.  With his bloodlust fighting him, Eric is chained down to his bed while Noah injects him with a strong retrovirus.  Van Helsing explains that his own makeup is resisting any kind on sedative, but Blade proceeds to go with the process as he gets his injection.

Later on, Blade is fast asleep.  Just then, Makoto sneaks into his room and prepares to slay him with her spiked knuckles.  Fortunately, Eric wakes up in time to deflect her attack and orders her to get out.  Afterwards, Noah walks in to escort her out in order for Brooks to rest up.

After making their way topside, Van Helsing explains to Makoto about Blade being half-human, half-vampire and that he was injected with a drug that’s supposed to help curb his bloodlust.  He then proceeds to inform her about how he originally met Brooks.  We then cut to a flashback in Dover, England where a young Eric had to kill a bystander in order to drink his blood and curb his unending thirst.  Sometime later, he carves a makeshift spear out of a stick in order to use as a weapon.  Shortly afterwards, he hears a scream in the distance.

It turns out that a young woman has been chased by a group of vampires and is now trapped at a cliff.  Just as the head fiend named Baron Howard (voiced by Jamieson Price) unleashes his goons onto her, Brooks arrives in time and proceeds to attack them in order to save the fair lady.

At that moment, Noah is investigating Eric’s recent victim when he also hears the woman’s scream in the distance.  Try as he might with his valiant effort, the vampires manage to pin Brooks down.  The leader then notices that he’s one of them and is amazed to learn that Eric is a hybrid.  Just then, Van Helsing arrives and proceeds to shoot him down with a silver bullet.  He then proceeds to gun down the remaining group of vampires while the remainder retreats.  Brooks then checks up on the lady, but she’s horrified when she sees his fangs and flees for her life.  Shortly afterwards, Eric collapses from exhaustion.

When he eventually wakes up, he’s chained down to a table as Noah sees him not burning up from the morning sunlight as he discovers the young lad’s hybrid status.  Later on, Van Helsing tells Eric that he helped him out since it’s not often that he comes across a vampire who felt guilty over killing someone for their blood.  Brooks says that he wants to get his vengeance on “The Man With Four Fangs” for killing his mom.  Noah says that he can’t help him there, but might know of a way to tame his bloodlust.

Within his lab, Van Helsing explains to Eric that he’s developed a prototype retrovirus from several vampiric ashes and silver.  He originally planned to use it as a cure for those who were bitten by a vampire and mass produce it as well, but the experiments failed since it attacks the human DNA as well as the virus from a vampire’s bite and his test subjects ultimately burned into ash.  Because Brooks is a hybrid, Noah believes that the retrovirus may actually suppress the unquenchable thirst.  Van Helsing then tells Eric that should he survive the injection, he’ll have to decide what he’ll do with his “second chance at life”.  Ultimately, Brooks decides to take the risk.  At sunset, he’s chained down to the table again as Noah injects him with the retrovirus.  With surging pain raging throughout Eric’s body, Van Helsing tells him to cling onto the humanity within his own soul.  Brooks says that he’ll do so, but he’s still sticking with his revenge quest.

The next day, Noah discovers that Eric survived the treatment.  Afterwards, the flashback ends with Brooks wanting to know how to fight vampires and Van Helsing taking him on as a partner.  Back in the present, he explains to Makoto that they’ve spent several years slaying the fanged beings all across the globe and that Eric earned his well-known name due to his signature weapon.  Despite listening to the tale, she still wishes to kill him in the name of her father.  Noah tells her that it isn’t revenge that she wants, but the need to “run away” from an inner darkness that comes with being a vampire hunter.  However, he says that there’s no way to escape that, no matter how far she manages to run.  He then mentions a knife that Blade has in his possession (which she noticed earlier) and how despite its ineffectiveness as a weapon and him being unable to know why he carries it with him, he feels that it means something special to Eric and helps him maintain his humanity.

Just then, they hear commotion from the sailors.  It turns out that they’re being pursued by a group of winged vampires that are native to the Philippines called the Mandurugo.  After Noah arms Capt. MacRae & his men with shotguns armed with silver bullets and tells them to fire at their hearts, a shootout unfolds as several of the vicious beasts are obliterated.  Razor even joins in as he bites one of the Mandurugo and slays it.  Down below, a groggy Blade hears the commotion and gets out of bed in order to fight the beasts off.

Even with the firepower, the Mandurugos manage to swoop down in order to drop the sailors overboard.  Even worse, the crew runs out of silver bullets.  Meanwhile, Makoto tries to fend the beasts off.  Just as one of the Mandurugos comes in to attack her, Blade arrives in time and slays it with his sword.

Eric then manages to slice a few more opposing beasts before he’s overcome by a surge of pain from the retrovirus in his system and passes out.  From there, the head Mandurugo named Matthes (voiced by Kat Purgal) picks him up and carries him to the ship’s mast.

After seeing his friend get captured, Noah tells Makoto to go save him.  Despite her initial reluctance, she ultimately hops up and strikes Matthes with her spiked knuckles.  From there, Noah throws the retrovirus sedative to Blade who proceeds to inject it into her.

With the dose coursing through her, Matthes begins to convulse in utter pain as she ultimately passes out and has to have her fellow Mandurugos carry her back to their base.

With the sailors cheering in triumph, Noah thanks Makoto for her help.  Unfortunately, the victory is short-lived as a lone Mandurugo managed to hide before emerging and captures Van Helsing as she flies back to her group.  As such, Episode 3 ends with our group continuing their venture to the Philippines in order to save their comrade.

As we open Episode 4 “That Was Then, This Is Now” (a.k.a. “Childhood Days”) in Manila, Philippines, our hero is sitting around and listening to the sounds of the streets.  In his narration, he states that “the sound of women’s voices in the air” reminds him of his past.  From there, we enter a flashback in an area of London known as Soho as a young Eric is in the custody of an officer.  Shortly afterwards, they arrive back at his home just as his guardian named Carol (voiced by Susan Dalian) is heading out.  Eric explains that he attacked a group of bullies who were stealing lunch money from a defenseless kid.  After he says that he managed to recover and return the kid’s lunch money, Carol praises him.  However, the officer isn’t exactly approving of her methods.  She says that she’s teaching Eric to stand up for himself in a harsh world and that she vows to his deceased mother Tara to look after him as best as she can.

We then discover that not only does Brooks have a prostitute for a guardian, but that he and Carol live with a few other hookers that gladly help raise him as they prepare to look after him while Eric’s guardian heads out to “work”.  From there, the flashback ends with Brooks reaching his room to look over a picture of his mother and her friends.

Back in the present, Blade is approached by Makoto and Razor before he proceeds to head out.  As he takes his leave from the cafe, we immediately head back into the flashback.

A young Eric wakes up following a nightmare involving his mother getting attacked by a certain “Man With Four Fangs”.  Later, Carol arrives back with groceries to discover Brooks on the couch and holding his mother’s knife.  After learning about his nightmare, we find out in their conversation that it’s been 10 years since Tara was slayed.  From there, Carol assures him that he’ll never be alone since his mother will always be with him in spirit, in addition to her and her fellow prostitutes who’re looking out for him.  After she sends a newly-calm Eric to bed, Carol returns the knife to Tara’s picture and admits that she’s gotten used to being a mother.

However, the flashback ends with an ominous figure overlooking the place.

Back in the present, Blade, Makoto and Razor travel through Manila’s crime-ridden streets.  As they walk past several peasants being forced to search through piles of garbage for halfway-decent food, Eric’s narration speaks about his nightmares continuing to haunt him to this day.

After heading back into the flashback, Eric is walking through London’s streets when he comes across a crime scene involving a murder victim.  The officers of Scotland Yard discuss among themselves on the attack being carried out by “local hooligans” and that they left familiar neck bites.  After noticing some of the victim’s blood on the ground, Eric suddenly feels a surge of pain from his bloodlust as ultimately takes off from the crime scene.

As night falls, he suddenly hears a tempting voice coming from an alley and calling out his name.  He heads down to investigate before he comes across a familiar officer who’s been attacked by a vampire.  Just then, the flashback ends with a fire breaking out and Eric realizing that it’s in the vicinity of his home.

In the present, our heroes notice a young woman being cruelly taken away from her own family.  Makoto wants to intervene, but Blade prevents her saying that her noble act won’t account for much since the whole area is gripped in fear.  As they take their leave, they end up being watched by a pair of Existence members.

Later, the Mandurugos (having transformed into their human-looking forms) are at their base with the imprisoned Noah.  Matthes, having fully recovered from the sedative and having been recently notified by the two guys from the previous scene, informs him that Blade has been spotted and that they’ll be ready for him.  However, Van Helsing tells her that Eric isn’t someone whom can get overtaken in combat a second time.  After slapping him, Matthes says that she has her order from Deacon Frost to get another blood sample from Blade.  Once she does so, she plans on killing him.

With a storm raging on the land, our heroes make it back to the Queen Victoria II to rest up.  However, Makoto has a nightmare relating to her guilt over not being able to prevent her father from getting killed.

Shortly afterwards, Blade comes knocking having heard just enough of her screams stemming from her night terrors.  Makoto tells him that she’s been having the same bad dream even since her dad’s death.  Eric says that he doesn’t find any joy in her own pain of not having a parent and tells her that at least she got to know her father since he didn’t get that chance.  After learning that the Queen Victoria II is pulling out soon, Makoto asks him about a conversation she had with Noah concerning about him having “darkness” in his soul.

We then cut back to the flashback where Eric discovers that his home is on fire.  As he discovers that the resident hookers have been drained of their blood, he heads inside to try and find his guardian.  Unfortunately, Carol has been bitten by a vampire and gets killed.  To his surprise, it turns out that this vampire is his own mother.  Eric is rightfully confused as to how she’s standing in front of him as Tara tries to convince her son to give her a hug.

Fortunately, Eric arms himself with his mother’s own knife and warns her to stay away.  Tara tries to convince him that she’s still his mom, but he doesn’t buy it and proceeds to stab her in the chest.  Because it was made of silver, it cures her of her vampirism.  With her dying energy, she sees the horror of what she just did to her friend Carol and tearfully apologizes to her son before she bursts into flames and completely dies.

With the flashbacks over, Blade takes out that same knife and explains that his own inner darkness is him slaying his own mom as his first vampire kill, but at least he was able to see his true mother if only for a very brief moment.  Eric then relates his parental tragedy to Makoto’s by telling her that they both have their own demons that they’ll never outrun, but it’ll make them stronger moving forward and fight their own inner darkness.  A short time later, Blade thanks Capt. MacRae for helping him get this far before Makoto says that she’ll join him since she’s still a vampire hunter.

Later, Eric oversees some human trafficking down at the docks.  At the same time, Matthes is waiting for his arrival when she suddenly sees an explosion from a distance.  After learning from one of her associates that Blade is breaking up the slave trading operation and becomes puzzled as to why he’s not saving his own partner, she orders her fellow Mandurugos to join her and fight him at the harbor.  As such, they transform into their true forms and fly off.

While Blade frees the captured women, his true plan is set in motion as Makoto and Razor drive into the Mandurugos’ mansion and fight off the henchmen.  After she acquires one of their automatic guns, she and the dog get a reasonable distance away before she opens fire on the vehicle.  She manages to hit the numerous gas tanks on the truck and make it blow up in order to take care of the thugs.

While Makoto and Razor manage to rescue Noah, Blade proceeds to slay every last Mandurugo before ultimately tussling with Matthes again.

They engage in a brief scuffle before Eric ultimately puts her down for good with the Residual Moon technique.

With the sun rising, our heroes regroup at the docks.  As Blade prepares to continue to hunt Deacon Frost, Noah informs him about some information that he overheard from Matthes and company.  It turns out that Frost has a base on a remote island that’s not too far off the coast.  As Eric starts to head out, Van Helsing tells Makoto to accompany him on his quest.  Because he has to stay behind and heal his injuries, he also allows her to have Razor by her side as well.  As they run off to catch up to Blade, Episode 4 ends with them being unknowingly watched by Deacon himself before he starts heading back to Siquijor Island.

As we head into Episode 5 “The Island Of Fire” (a.k.a. “Island Lights”), our heroes arrive at the Filipino sovereign of Siquijor.  Due to its nightime glow, Blade brings up some actual historical context by explaining that Spanish colonials called it “Isla del Fuego” (Fire Island).  Due to its eerie landscape, even the local natives aren’t keen about the place, giving Eric a good feeling that Deacon Frost is hiding out there.

Meanwhile inside the island facility, Deacon is approached by a being whose managed to slay his two vampire guards on the way into his office.  It turns out to be another vampire named Lucius Isaac (voiced by Christopher Corey Smith) as he explains that he was sent by the High Council to deliver a message to Frost, stating that they don’t approve of his recent actions and demand for him to cease at once or else.  However, Deacon takes the message and tosses it into his surrounding bloodpool.  Now that he carried out his official business, Lucius decides to implore on what Existence is up to, having already been impressed with his quickly-established control over Southeast Asia.  Deacon explains that he believes that the High Council and their “Euro-centric World Views” are becoming obsolete.  As such, he gives Lucius a message to give to the high-ranking vampires: Be afraid, since he’s creating a new breed called Hybrids in order to take charge of the new world.

Outside, our heroes are venturing through the trees when they suddenly see a gigantic creature quickly flying overhead before continuing on their journey.

Back inside, Deacon takes Lucius to his underground lab in order to show what he’s working on: a prototype vampire hybrid.  The only thing that Frost needs to complete his experiment is a sample of Blade’s blood.  However, the current vial’s contents have become useless since it broke down upon integration with the other blood groups.  As such, his adversary must be allowed to survive in order for another sample to be taken before he can get executed.

Meanwhile, our heroes arrive at a seemingly desolate part of the island.  Fortunately, Blade notices the Existence logo nearby, letting him know that they’re in the right place.  Just then, they find themselves under attack by the local natives.  It turns out that they’re a group called the Berdugo, the island’s main guardians of the past several centuries.  When Makoto mentions how there’s vampires on their land that they intend to wipe out, the Berdugo calm down and proceed to introduce themselves.

The group consists of Lupit (voiced by G.K. Bowes) who’s from the Kali Clan and is the faction’s Hereditary Chief, the staff-wielder named Cimarron (voiced by Keith Silverstein) from the Spears Clan and their archer named Hagibis (voiced by John Eric Bentley) of the Bow & Arrow Clan.  Lupit then explains that they’re after a beast named the Manananggal (an actual vampire-like being of Philippine myth).  Described as a giant-winged creature of the night capable of feasting off human flesh, it was originally imprisoned within the mountain by their ancestors.  However, Deacon Frost has unleashed it onto the island again.  Now, it befalls upon them to imprison the beast once again.  Afterwards, Blade proceeds to enter the Existence’s facility with Makoto, Razor and the Berdugo following suit.

With our heroes’ entry, the intruder alarm blares throughout the base.  While the scientists flee for their lives, Blade, Makoto and Razor proceed to slice, stab and bite their way through several otherworldly creatures.  Even the Berdugo find themselves engaging and prevailing over the opposing adversaries.

Over in the lab, Deacon and Lucius overhear the intruder alarm as they suspect Blade to be within the compound.  From there, Frost shuts down the machine before taking his leave.

Just as Deacon is about to board a helicopter, Blade arrives and proceeds to engage his foe.  However, Frost is able to block his strikes before taking him out with a fierce gut punch.  Afterwards, he proceeds to take another set of blood samples from him before he boards the chopper and takes off.

By the time Makoto and Razor reach their ally, the Manananggal shows up and immediately splits itself in half.  Fortunately, the Berdugo arrive and proceed to engage the foul creature.

Lupit proceeds to cast a spell on the beast, which causes it to fall onto the ground.  Afterwards, Cimmaron heads in to finish it off with his bladed staff.

However, the Manananggal recovers and fatally wounds him with her sonic shriek.  With the spell having worn off very quickly, Hagibis proceeds to shoot an arrow into its eye as he successfully hits his mark.

Unfortunately, the Manananggal grabs him followed by Cimmaron as she proceeds to kill the latter by biting into his corpse.  Lupit tries to save her comrades, but she’s easily smacked away before getting pursued by the foul being.

Fortunately, Blade recovers and manages to shield her from the creature’s fierce strike.  As the Manananggal starts to tear the base apart, our heroes are forced to retreat.

Later, Hagibis’ sister named Danas (voiced by Janice Kawaye a.k.a. Gi of “Captain Planet & The Planeteers”) tearfully begs to join their fight in order to avenge her brother.  As such, Lupit accepts her request.  Inside, Blade is recovering as he takes another dose of Noah’s sedative in order to curb his bloodlust.  Just then, Lupit comes in and blames his arrival for the death of her fellow warriors.  As she asks Makoto why she’s with him, Eric explains that he’s only part-vampire and that he came here to slay “The Man With Four Fangs”.  Despite the perils that still await her and despite Blade telling her that she needs his assistance, Lupit refuses to accept his help.

Just after he states that her remark suits him since he’s never need help before, the Manananggal is spotted as it heads towards their village.  As Lupit rushes out to engage it, Makoto asks him what he meant about his recent statement.  Eric says that he didn’t mean it since they’re a team, especially since he has a task for her to do.

It turns out that she’s being used to lure the great beast towards a certain spot by running as fast as she can while carry a torch.  She and Razor manage to reach a particular spot on the beach where Lupit is also at.  At that moment, Blade emerges and proceeds to slash at it.

As the Manananggal’s lower half comes running in to assist, Razor squashes those hopes by attacking it.  As Lupit overseas the fight, she’s suddenly confronted by the surprising return of Hagibis and Cimmaron.  Unfortunately, they’ve been transformed into the Manananggal’s own minions.  Makoto manages to fend off their advances and tells Lupit to help out.

As our heroes continue to fight off their otherworldly adversaries, Lupit starts praying to the “Spirits of Light” for assistance.  During the scuffle, Hagibis manages to slip by Makoto.  He manages to stab Lupit, but she’s able to stab him as well as she sets his soul free in death, having completed her incantation in time.

From there, her spell begins to take shape just as Cimmeron is shot down and killed by Danas.  With her last bit of strength, Lupit unleashes the full might of her spell and subdues the Manananggal.

With the Spirit of Light giving him an extra bit of strength to his sword, Blade proceeds to slay the fierce beast once and for all with a new finishing move: “Deadly Sword Technique #2: Phantom Moon”.

Unbeknownst to our heroes, the fight was being secretly watched by Lucius.  Having now discretely seen the recent tussle between Blade and Deacon, he’s convinced that both men are equally-matched and should give the High Council a lot of worry.  As such, he takes his leave in order to continue with his private investigation.

By the time the morning sun arrives, Lupit has succumbed to her wounds and passed on.  As Danas takes her leave back to the village, Episode 5 ends with Blade narrating on Deacon being a symbolic plaque, leaving nothing but death and destruction in his wake as Eric vows to be the cure.

As we open Episode 6 “Bad Blood” (a.k.a. “The Magic Medicine Man”), Blade and Makoto are hanging out at a pier discussing what the natives informed them about Deacon Frost’s whereabouts.  However, all they were told is that they saw his helicopter travel South with not much else to go on.  Just then, Razor senses something from within the waterside shelter.  It turns out to be a fellow supporter of the High Council in bat form.  He tells our heroes that Frost has taken his leave towards Sumatra since he has a silver mine located there.  After the minion tells him that the High Council would love to see him take Deacon out, Blade proceeds to slay him with one swipe of his sword before our heroes head out.

After taking a boat, they arrive on the island just after daybreak.  After arriving at the foot of Mount Sibayak, they oversee the mining operations before noticing the nearby warehouse bearing the Existence’s logo.  With Makoto carrying a duffel bag full of weapons on loan from Noah, our heroes prepare to tear down the devious operation.  Just then, they’re approached by a shaman named Agus (voiced by Kenshin Himura himself, Richard Cansino) who tells them not to go through with their strike since it would put his village in peril.  He then asks them to follow him in order to explain his reasoning.

After arriving at a stream within the nearby jungle, Agus begins to share the details as he’s filling up his jugs with water.  He explains that the Existence arrived and began their mining operations six months ago, initially forcing the male natives to work for them before ultimately forcing the female natives to dig as well.  Makoto wonders why they would be mining for silver, since vampires are weakened by that metal.  Agus isn’t sure of what Existence’s ultimate end goal is, but he does mention that they tried to take his wife from him.  Fortunately, his cleverness allowed him to get her back.

A short time later, they arrive back at his home.  Agus then opens his chest to reveal his wife Yati partially enveloped within water.  He explains that she was bitten, but she hasn’t developed fangs.  It turns out that he uses the water that he retrieved from the steam and blesses it in order for its sacred properties to help fend off the vampiric transformation while he searches for a cure.  After blessing the new batch of water in the chest, he explains that the women in the village have been turned into vampires and that he must heal them before it’s too late, since he believes that the sacred water’s properties will ultimately cure them.  However, Blade isn’t willing to help since he doesn’t believe a cure of any kind can exist as he takes his leave.

Over at the silver mine, the Existence is serving dinner.  However, it’s not for the enslaved workers.  It turns out that they’re the meal for an unseen creature that lies within the mine itself.

Back at the hut, Agus continues to comfort his unconscious wife while Makoto sits nearby wondering if he’s actually close to discovering the cure for vampirism.  Over at the stream, Blade is still sure that no human can ever come back from being a vampire based on his own life experience.

Suddenly, he’s approached by Lucius.  As Eric tries and fails to strike him, Isaac lets him know that he’s drawing attention from the High Council and that they want him to slay his enemy, Deacon.  He then mentions his shared belief on there being no cure for vampirism.  Just then (due to Razor sensing the nearby conflict), Makoto tries to deliver a sneak attack.  However, Lucius evades her strike and kicks her away before taking off.

By the time the sun has risen on a new day, our heroes are healing their recent wounds over by the stream.  As they do so, they talk about Agus’ pursuit towards curing vampirism.  While Makoto says that it would nice if such a formula existed despite the longshot, Blade sees this as a permanent end to his war against the vampires, which he’s been a part of for nearly all of his life.  They remind themselves of the loved ones they’ve lost during the fight before Makoto recognizes what Noah was trying to tell her about a vampire hunter’s own “inner darkness”.  She believes that it should be fought in order to not be consumed.  While she would miss hunting vampires when a cure is found, a re-energized Makoto reminds Blade that they still have work to do.

Back at the hut, Agus has returned with fresh water when he suddenly notices a path of wet spots on the floor.  To his horror, he finds out that his wife has disappeared from his chest.

Later, our heroes put their attack plan into motion.  While Makoto starts rescuing the captured villagers, Blade heads for the mine.  Just then, Agus confronts him and lets him know that Yati has vanished.  He then wants Eric to promise him that he’ll spare his wife should she be found, but Brooks is unable to since he says that Yati has completely become a vampire and that not even his sacred water could change it.

Just as the sun sets on the land, Agus then notices his wife emerging from the mine.  He embraces his beloved in heartfelt sorrow, but her vampire traits kick in as she’s gained abnormally elastic limbs to wrap her husband around.  Agus tries to sway her with a pendant that she gave him for their wedding anniversary, but it doesn’t work as she proceeds to bite his neck and drink his blood.

After Blade easily slays Yati, several similar elastic vampires emerge.  At that moment, Makoto and Razor arrive as she tells him to go after Frost while they take deal with the the fanged demons.

While the vampires are being dealt with, Makoto discovers that Agus has been bitten.  With their foes continuing in a seemingly-endless rate, the shaman asks her to escort the villagers to the lake.

Meanwhile, Blade makes his way deep into the mine as the main culprit confronts him in order to avenge his vampire race known as the Sundel Bolong (apparently named after a mythical Indonesian ghost), which were on lone to him by Deacon himself.  The abnormal being named Saragi (voiced by longtime DragonBall Z actor Kyle Hebert) then tells Eric that Frost has left the island days ago for an island known as “Hell on Earth”, to which Blade instantly recognizes it as Madripoor.

From there, Saragi splits himself into a giant swarm of rats and attempt to overwhelm our hero.  Eric manages to fend them off long enough before his foe reforms himself.

Meanwhile, Makoto, Agus and the villagers managed to reach the lake just as the remaining Sundel Bolongs begin to catch up.  Just as the beings head into the water, Agus uses his magic to bless the entire lake.  As such, their vampire bodies burst into flames and explode, allowing their innocent souls to be set free.

Back in the cave, Blade manages to get the drop on Saragi with a pair of spinning blades before finishing him off with the Phantom Moon technique.

Back at the lake, Makoto congratulates Agus for saving his fellow villagers.  However, the victory is bittersweet since he was already bitten by his vampire wife.  Since he’s in his own blessed water, he knew that he doomed himself with his tactic.  As he starts to ignite, he gives Makoto a vile of his sacred water in order to help out on her quest.  By the time Blade arrives, he overseas Agus becoming enveloped in flames and die.

With the sun shining on a new day and now armed with blessed water, Makoto learns from Blade to where their new destination lies.  Afterwards, Episode 6 ends with Yati’s necklace hung on a makeshift grave for her and Agus.

As Episode 7 “Claws & Blades” (a.k.a. “Daywalker & Mutant”) opens in Madripoor, a familiar face to this series has returned to this devious island.  It turns out to be James Howlett a.k.a. Logan a.k.a. Wolverine (voiced by Milo Ventimiglia).  Meanwhile, Blade, Makoto and Razor arrive on the island themselves.  Since she’s never been to the island before, she sees a random civilian shoot another bystander and learns that this kind of act is common here as Eric arms himself with his weapons.

Just then, our heroes (including Wolverine) are bombarded with grenades.  Shortly afterwards, Blade takes out several thugs before Logan comes in and confronts him.  Eric thinks that he’s working for Deacon Frost while James believes that he’s working for A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics).

Fortunately, they both quickly drop their misunderstandings when more thugs arrive.  Makoto comes in to help finish the job as our heroes manages to scare the remaining fugitives away.  After things have settled down, they proceed to inform each other as Blade says that he’s hunting down Deacon Frost while Wolverine gets introduced to his assistant.

Later, night has fallen onto the island as we shift over to a factory and we discover the reason for the mined silver from the previous episode.  It turns out that it’s being made into silver bullets in order to be used against the Existence’s opposing vampires.  Running the factory is a guy named Djalal (voiced by Sailor Moon’s Artemis, Power Rangers’ Adam Park & Code Geass’ Lelouch himself, Johnny Yong Bosch), leader of the Viper Gang, who meets up with a representative of Existence, a vampire named Sergei (also voiced by Kyle Hebert).  His men are working with Frost in order to build towards his eventual uprising so that Djalal will be supplied with the capital he needs in order to run Madripoor.  In order to help fend off Blade, Sergei supports him with a supernatural helper.  He explains to Djalal that its a Malaysian vampire called a Polong.  All he has to do is feed it a drop of his blood and it’ll be under his command.  After reminding him that Blade must be brought in alive, Sergei and his men take their leave.  From there, the scene ends with Djalal viewing the Dragon Palace’s rebuilding (see my review of Wolverine’s series to know how it crumbled in the first place) and looks forward to his eventual rise to power.

While Blade overseas the operations, Makoto, Logan and Razor hide out in a rundown hotel.  With her appetite spoiled by the less-than-presenting food, James proceeds to eat it for her.  Makoto then learns as to why he’s on Madripoor (despite previously coming here during his own show).  As is the case throughout the overall series, he’s trying to hunt down A.I.M., since they’re a thuggish group of scientists in their own right.  Logan even mentions that they “took someone very special away” from him (most likely referring to Mariko, again look to my aforementioned review of that series for more information) and wishes to make them pay.

Afterwards, Blade returns and informs our heroes that the gang within the nearby factory works for Deacon.  He informs them that they’re running a munitions plant in order to transform black market silver into ammunition in preparation for war against the High Council.  Afterwards, the scene ends with Wolverine showing his humorous side by sharing his belief that Eric and Makoto are more than just “partners”.

Later, Djalal tells his men to capture (but not kill) Blade as he sends them off on their assignment.  Afterwards, he pricks his finger and gives the Polong a drop of his blood.  From there, it grows out of its bottle and even multiplies, giving Djalal his own vampiric army.

Over at the hotel, Blade takes another serum in order to fend off his bloodlust while Makoto and Logan wait outside.  After saying that he can relate to Eric’s plight on fighting their “own nature”, James reveals his mutant ability to her by displaying his adamantium claws.  He then tells her that he was kidding about hinting at a possible relationship before expressing his respect for her partnership with Blade, telling her to stick by him in order to also fend off any sense of loneliness.

Just then, the lights in the room go out just as Wolverine’s scent picks up something foul.  Blade comes out in time as our heroes gather in preparation for what danger awaits them.

Meanwhile, Sergei is overlooking the silver bullet operation when he’s suddenly approached by Lucius.  As he wonders what the High Council’s loyal servant is doing here, Sergei transforms his skin into organic steel as he prepares to confront him.  However, Isaac reveals a hidden blade from his sleeve and easily slices through his opponent, killing him in the process.

Back at the hotel, the Polongs burst in and attack.  They manage to fend them off long enough to get forced outside where they’re confronted by Djalal’s henchmen as Wolverine tells Blade to take care of their supernatural foes while he engages the thugs.

While Logan deals with the cronies, Blade proceeds to slice up the Polongs until he’s suddenly confronted by Djalal.  Eric asks him why a human is working with a vampire, to which Djalal explains of his intention of helping Deacon out in order to ultimately rule over Madripoor.  Blade tries to tell him that it’s fruitless to accept a promise from a vampire, but Djalal refuses to hear him out.

As Makoto and Razor manage to fend off the Polongs, Lucius has taken care of the thugs at the factory off-screen before he come across the supply of silver bullets and prepares to take care of it.

Meanwhile, Wolverine manages to lure the thugs towards an open neighborhood area.  His adamantium skeleton manages to withstand the opposing gunfire before he ducks down and slices their construction vehicle, causing it to explode.

Back with Blade, he constantly dodges Djalal’s knife strikes as he unsuccessfully asks his foe how he could sacrifice any semblance of his humanity.  Just then, they hear an explosion as Djalal discovers to his horror that his factory has been destroyed.  With his supply of silver bullets also going up in flames, he blames Eric for its destruction and decides to forgo his promise to Frost in order to kill him.

Just then, he gets stabbed by Lucius.  He then informs Blade that he intends to kill him in order to prevent Deacon’s plans from coming to fruition.  As such, they proceed to fight as Isaac continues to display his combative skills over his foe.  Fortunately, Wolverine arrives and dives in to join the fray.  Even though Lucius stabs him, Logan’s Healing Factor protects him as he manages to jab him with his claws.

This gives Blade the chance he needs to recover and jump back in the fray.  Just then, the fight ends in a surprise way as Djalal uses his last strength to fire a silver bullet.  Even though Lucius dodges the shot, Eric manages to slice him with his sword.

As he begins his deathly burn, Isaac is stunned to believe that he was defeated by a human and a half-breed.  After saying that all they’ve really done is secure Frost’s triumph, Blade shuts him up for good with a single slice to his head and causes him to explode.

After Wolverine manages to rejoin him, Djalal confronts and blames them for ruining his rise to power.  He tearfully expresses how all he wanted was a chance to make something big out of his life, but now his one shot is gone forever.  From there, the wound takes its toll and kills him.

We then cut to sunrise as our heroes prepare to go their separate ways.  While James continues to hunt down A.I.M., he gives Blade a piece of paper with some useful information and lets him know that there’s some devious plans going down in Vietnam.  He even informs them that they have their own mutant working for them.  From there, Episode 7 ends with Wolverine heading off while Blade, Makoto and Razor continue on their quest.

Episode 8 “Old Wounds, Fresh Blood” (a.k.a. “Eternal Apocalypse”) opens in the headquarters of the High Council where the head vampires discuss how they should handle both Blade and Deacon Frost, since Lucius was recently slayed.  As the lead vampire tells his fanged fellowship, they’ve been ruling for over four centuries and usually never had to place themselves against those that have previously threatened their rule.  He feels that Deacon is going to ultimately bring the fight to them through Blade.

We then cut to a man who has to leave his family because of the call to duty.  Sometime later, he’s fighting in the Vietnam War as fire and terror hang over the air.  It then turns out that he’s having a nightmare as he wakes up in his own tent within the jungle.

We then transition over to our heroes who’ve arrived in the Northwest sector of Hanoi, Vietnam.  It turns out that they came across an army of ninjas and were attacked offscreen as Makoto’s right arm got hit.  Blade tells her to head back while he distracts their opposition, since his vampire make-up will allow him to heal by morning, while also telling Razor to stay by her side.  Even as she starts feeling less important to the mission because of her injury, she agrees with his decision.  As such, she and Razor start to head out.  Just then, Eric gives her his mother’s switchblade.  He explains that he should have reacted in time to stop a kunai from injuring her arm.  Realizing her importance to him, she promises to return it to him before she and Razor take their leave.

As such, Blade begins to draw out the ninjas and fend off their strikes before he attacks them.  As they burst into flames, it turns out that these opponents were also vampires.

Just then, Eric comes across a figure with an over-sized hat.  With familiar blades coming out of his hands, it turns out to be Kikyo Mikage (also voiced by Steven Blum), an assassin whom (just like Wolverine in his series) is familiar with.  They proceed to duel for a bit before coming back down onto the ground.  While Blade was hit, he did manage to slice Kikyo’s hat.  With more ninjas approaching, Eric takes his leave as Mikage also recognizes his adversary.

Sometime later, it turns out that Blade was captured by the soldier who proceeds to look over his weapons.  As Eric wakes up handcuffed to a chair, the man compliments his weaponry, especially his silver vibranium sword.  After exclaiming that he’s not associated with Existence, he proceed to introduce himself as Sgt. Maj. Stan Davis (voiced by Patrick Seitz) of the U.S. Marines and begins to explain his backstory.

During the Vietnam War, he and his unit were stationed here and ultimately became a part of a group called V-Project.  It turns out that he was transferred from his unit into the Special Ops.  As his flashback opens in Saigon, he says that he was a model soldier that was selected for a “special assignment” that would help bring an end to the war.  It turns out that V-Project was so classified that even top-level officials were unaware of it.  Being run by A.I.M., they implanted microchips into the select soldiers’ brains and gave them blood transfusions.  What the candidates didn’t know was that they were given a vampire virus in order to be turned into supernatural soldiers.  From there, they were sent into hostile villages in order to have them passified.  Upon completing their missions, their implanted microchips would make them forget about what they did.  Then one day, their assignments stopped coming in, their C.O. vanished and their base was hit by friendly fire.  Once they viciously dug their implanted microchips out of their brains, the horrid memories came flooding back.  With America pulling out of the war, all traces of the V-Project disappeared with their identities wiped, hidden under the guise of them getting killed in action.  As such, they were trapped in a foreign country with the painful reminders of what they’ve done.

Because they were doomed with that painful knowledge, they decided to take their own lives by walking out into the sunlight and become incinerated.  As the flashback ends, Stan reveals the dog tags of every last V-Project soldier as he says that he couldn’t come around to kill himself.  Because he was turned into a vampire, he’s been forced to quench his bloodlust by robbing blood banks and hospitals, though he does try to vary it up in order to not attack the same place on a consistent basis and draw attention to himself.  Blade then tells him that eventually, his eternal thirst will never be satisfied and that he’ll have to choose between his human or vampire side.  He then tells Stan that like him, he also has vampiric traits in him and had to choose whether to cling to his humanity or give in to his bloodlust.

Afterwards, Davis frees Eric from his imprisonment and gives him the chance to slay him in order to be set free.  Just then, Blade’s heightned senses picks up a sound in time as he pushes Stan out of the way.  They manage to dodge a sudden barrage of kunai, but one of them has a bomb wrapped around it as they’re forced to evacuate from the tent before it blows up.

Just then, they find themselves surrounded by a hoard of vampire ninjas.  Afterwards, Kikyo emerges as it turns out that the Existence hired him in order to have Blade killed.  After Eric tells Stan that he used to know him back when they studied their swordsmanship skills “under the same master”, Mikage offers Davis the chance to join Existence.  Fortunately, Stan declines the request.  From there, Blade and Kikyo engage each other while Davis fights off the vampire ninjas.

While Stan is able to slay his supernatural adversaries, Blade has a much more difficult time due to Kikyo possessing a Healing Factor.  After a while, Davis heads out into the jungle.  With his army of vampire ninjas giving chase, Mikage is forced to put his personal duel on hold in order to fulfill his current assignment as he also heads out.

However, Stan was actually prepared as he lures them towards a tripwire.  One of the vampire ninjas accidentally sets it off as the bombs proceed to incinerate the supernatural army.  Unfortunately for him, Kikyo managed to catch up and disarm him.  Blade also catches up and tries to strike, but Mikage defends himself and knocks him back in order to finally finish him off.

Fortunately, Stan saves him by delivering a decisive slice to Kikyo’s neck.  However, Mikage’s Healing Factor rectifies his injury as he proceeds to stab Davis.  As he collapses into Blade’s arms and starts to burn up, Stan hands him his fellow soldiers’ dog tags and tells him to “find a place for us” should he ever get to America.

As his life starts slipping away, he has a vision of returning home from the war and into the arms of his loving family.  Back in reality, he burns up and dies as Blade picks up his dog tags.

Afterwards, he berates Kikyo for his heartless slaying of a tortured soldier.  As Mikage says that while he barely felt any emotion over killing Stan, he looks forward to the pleasure of slaying him.  As such, Episode 8 ends with them both engaging each other again in sword combat.

As Episode 9 “The Bond” (a.k.a. “Teacher’s & Student’s Bonds”) opens on Blade and Kikyo’s duel within the jungles of Hanoi, we start to learn about each other’s connection following their failed attempts to slay each other using the Residual Moon technique.

We then enter a flashback where six years ago, Brooks and Mikage were students at a dojo within Yagyu Manor in Nara, Japan.  They practice their sword-fighting with bamboo swords as Eric manages to cut part of Kikyo’s forehead.  After his Healing Factor cures his wound, he hits Eric in his stomach and prepares to strike before he’s told to stop.

Afterwards, the pupils are informed by their sensai Master Tanba (voiced by Steve Kramer) that their match is officially a draw.  He explains that Eric didn’t maintain his advantage over his opponent and that he “thought too much” while Kikyo only thought about winning, thus leaving him open to attack.  Either way, he’s still proud of the progress they’ve made in becoming skilled swordsmen.

After a quick shot in the present where they attack each other with the Phantom Moon technique…

…we head back into the past (four years ago to be precise) where Eric practices his sword skills with Master Tanba.  Later, Brooks then exclaims that after spending two years training at his sensai’s abode, he plans on returning to Noah Van Helsing fairly soon, to which Tanba complies.

Afterwards, he proceeds to teach his two pupils about his three sword techniques.  Aside from Residual Moon and Phantom Moon, Eric and Kikyo had yet to become skilled enough with those moves before they’ll be able to carry out “Deadly Sword Technique #3: Chaotic Moon”.

We then cut to a snow-filled day where the time has come for Eric to head back to Van Helsing.  However, Kikyo isn’t willing to let him leave without one last duel.  Unlike his fellow trainee, Brooks exclaims that he isn’t interested in finding out which one is better.  Unfortunately, Mikage isn’t willing to see things his way as he strikes with his retractable katana blade.  As such, Eric is forced to grab his sword and manage to slice his heels.  As he wallows in defeat, Kikyo asks to be slayed.  However, Brooks refuses to do so as he thanks Master Tanba for his training before beginning his trek back to Noah.

Afterwards, we head back to the present with Blade and Kikyo still locked in their duel.  Suddenly, they’ve confronted by a familiar figure as it turns out to be Master Tanba.  Unfortunately, Brooks and Mikage are shocked to find out that their sensai has become a vampire.  He explains that not too long after Eric left, he discovered that he had aggressive lung cancer.

We then cut to a flashback (two years ago to be exact) where Tanba informs Kikyo that his training is complete and that it’s time for him to head out.  Having now honed his sword skills after arriving a long time ago as a young boy, Mikage vows to take his training and head out into the world to order to “learn how to live”.  Shortly after his departure, Tanba’s declining health is made present to him as he starts coughing out his own blood.

Refusing to spend the rest of his life withering away from his illness, we find out in another flashback (six months prior this time) that he received a letter from Noah Van Helsing asking for his assistance in slaying a vampire.  As such, he grabbed his sword and closed up his dojo as he looked forward to dying in battle.

His final journey ultimately took him to a ruin during a rainstorm.  When he arrives, he discovers the actual being behind the letter: Deacon Frost.  With him surrounded by a group of vampire ninjas, Tanba proceeds to slay several of them.  However, Deacon comes in and has the dying sensai by his neck.  From there, Frost offers him the chance to avoid death by becoming a vampire.  Despite Tanba rightfully refusing, the flashback ends with Deacon biting his neck anyway.

Back in the present, the corrupted sensai prepares to duel Blade.  Feeling guilty for leaving his master at the worst possible time, Kikyo steps in and strikes with his Razor Wind.  However, Tanba deflects the attack back at him and knocks him out before preparing to decapitate him.  Fortunately, Blade is able to save his fellow classmate as his devious sensai abnormally grows his muscles for their duel.

Meanwhile, Makoto and Razor are running through the jungle when she suddenly trips over a tree root.  As she recovers, a helicopter flies past them.  As she recognizes it from before and realizes that Deacon Frost is arriving, she and Razor head back to help out Blade.

Back at the sword duel, both sides manage to counter each other’s Residual Moon strike.  However, Tanba manages to hit Eric aside and strikes him with the Phantom Moon technique before unleashing his demonic fury on our hero with the Chaotic Moon technique.

Despite receiving a furious beating, Blade manages to shove his master aside and pull the sword out of his body before he finishes his corrupt sensai off with a display of his completed training by slaying him with the Chaotic Moon technique.

From there, Eric stabs him with a silver stake.  As his body begins to burn, Tanba regains his humanity long enough to tell Brooks that he’s capable of fending off his surrounding darkness.  As Kikyo starts to regain his consciousness, he and Eric are told by their sensai that it was his honor to teach them before he explodes.

Just then, Deacon arrives and pours salt into the recently tragic wounds with his insults.  This enrages Blade as his pulls his master’s sword out of the tree and charges right at him.  However, this allows Frost to take him down with a single punch to the gut before hitting him again to knock him out.

While his servants carry Eric’s unconscious body onto the helicopter, Deacon tells Kikyo that his contract is now officially terminated.  By the time Makoto and Razor arrive, they’re too late as Frost gets aboard his chopper and takes off.  Because he’s been relieved of his assignment, Kikyo informs her that Frost has taken Blade to his main facility in Cambodia.  Fueled by her intent to save him and return his mother’s switchblade as well, Episode 9 ends with Makoto and Razor heading out on their rescue mission while Kikyo vows to defeat Deacon in order to avenge his fallen master.

With both parties having taken the entire night to get there, Episode 10 “Sins Of The Father” (a.k.a. “To The Vortex Of Sorrows”) opens in the Northwest sector of Siem Reap, Cambodia where an Existence base lies deep within its jungle.  As Makoto and Razor arrive, they find the place surrounded by guards wielding guns.

Inside the facility (to which he calls “The Factory”), Deacon arrive at the central laboratory where Blade has woken up but is bound to the nearby machinery.  It’s here that the various vampires that our hero previously fought (Mananangal, Mandurugo and the Sundel Bolong) were all genetically enhanced.  Frost then decides to reveal to Eric about the root of his motivation towards toppling the High Council.

Thus, we enter a flashback where Deacon was a single human father who had a son named Edgar (voiced by Bryce Papenbrook).  During dinner, he learns that his kin did really well in his college entry exam and that he wishes to be a doctor and ultimately help out with his father’s research.

Over the next few years, Edgar would apply himself throughout with his studies.  Ultimately, his scholastic accomplishments helped him acquire a research grant as Deacon congratulates his son for his hard work.

Unfortunately, a bright and promising future was tragically cut short when Frost came home late one night and discovers dinner waiting for him.  He then notices that the window was open and finds his son lying motionless on the floor.  Deacon checks up on him, but it turns out that Edgar was attacked by a vampire and wound up dead.

Following his son’s funeral and grief-stricken over what happened, Deacon tried going to the police for help.  However, it turns out that they’re just going to leave the case open and write off his son’s death as a result of an attempted burglary.  They especially don’t believe Frost when he tells them about the bite marks on Edgar’s neck and that his son’s body was drained of blood.  As such, they kick him out of the station.

From there, he spends the next several hours doing extensive research and experiments in order to prove his point.

Even with his newfound information, he’s still unable to convince the police of his son’s supernatural killer.  Not only that, but even the civilians believe that he’s lost his mind with all of his talks about vampires, especially since he’s been unsuccessfully trying to carry out his task on a daily basis.

With no one left to turn to, Deacon realizes that he’s on his own if he wants to get his revenge on the vampires.  Through time, he gathered a team of vampire hunters to travel around the world with him in order to slay the fanged beasts.  On one fateful hunt, they corner a vampire on top of a snowy mountain.  With the beast in their grasp, Frost proceeds to take a blood sample from it before driving a stake into its heart and kill it.  As the hunters talk among themselves, they discuss their belief that Deacon is using vampire blood to create an antidote in order to counter the supernatural infection once and for all.  Just then, Frost stabs them with his injection.  It turns out that he isn’t inventing a cure, but “perfecting” the vampire virus in order to creature a “new breed”.  As such, the hunters begin to mutate into abominable creatures.  One of them ends up becoming unstable and explodes while the other is just stable enough, only to end up collapsing into death.  Afterwards, Deacon takes his blood sample in order to work on it.

After much lab work, he finally came across a working serum.  In his narration, Frost says that in order to fight the vampires, he must become one himself.  As such, he injects it into himself.  As it courses through his body, he gains an abnormal set of muscles and grows his own fangs.

Afterwards, he wakes up to discover the sun has risen.  As he sticks his hand out towards the light that’s shining through his window, it starts to burn him.  With the realization that he’s now a full-fledged vampire, the flashback ends with him dedicating his vengeance to his own son.

Back in the present, Deacon explains that even with his newfound vampire traits, he wouldn’t stand much of a chance against the High Council.  As such, he created Existence and formed several minions to build his army.  Blade rightfully chastises him for the numerous innocent civilians that lost their lives because of Frost’s murderous crusade.  After Deacon explains that there’ll be some casualties along the way towards his end goal, Eric asks him a simple question: Why did he attack his mother all those years ago?  Frost simply explains that he was hungry and she just happened to be there to calm his thirst.  Seeing the attack on Tara Brooks as an unexpected help to his cause, Deacon looks towards getting Blade’s blood in order to strive in the sunlight and wipe out the pure-blood vampires once and for all.  As such, Frost manages to taunt him in order for his adrenaline to put his blood in just the right state for it be extracted.

Just then, his assistants come in and tell them that Blade’s sidekick has infiltrated the building.  Realizing how this can actually work to his advantage, the scene ends with him shocking Blade into unconsciousness.

Meanwhile, Makoto has entered the base and proceeds to fight off several guards.  After she tells Razor to find Blade, she finally gets to use Noah’s duffel bag.  She pulls out grenades and uses them to blow open the walls so that the sunlight can incinerate the vampire guards, even using one to blow them up as well.

She ultimately comes across Frost’s assistants who transform into blood lions.  As such, Makoto tries to outrun them.  However, one of them catches up and pins her down.  Thankfully, she uses to spike in her boot’s heel to slay it.  Just then, the other one catches up and pins her down as well.  Fortunately, she grabs a nearby grenade, pulls the pin, stuffs it into the fiend’s mouth and kicks it off her as the blood lion proceeds to blow up.

Despite the massive explosion, she manages to reach the laboratory where Eric is currently at.  As she takes out Tara’s switchblade and prepares to give it back to him, Episode 10 ends with the shocking reveal that Deacon has successfully sneaked up behind her.

As we open Episode 11 “The Last Sunset” (a.k.a. “Partner”), Frost manages to reach Makoto and bite her neck in order to drink her blood.  Blade furiously tries to rip through his shackles, but to no avail.  Even worse, his adrenaline has made his blood ripe enough for it to be drawn from him and get poured into several vials.

With her last ounce of strength, Makoto manages to cut the tubes with Tara’s knife in order to stop the process.  She tries to attack, but gets easily disarmed and her spiked heel has no effect on him as Deacon picks her up and starts to strangle her.  Just then, an explosion rocks the room as Razor arrives to break it up.

Afterwards, a barrage of gunfire pours in as Frost is forced to take cover.  It turns out that a fully-recovered Noah van Helsing has arrived.  Armed with a gatling gun, he proceeds to shoot down the remaining vampire hoard that tries to attack him.  He then races to Makoto’s side and discovers to his horror that she’s been bitten on the neck.  Blaming himself for not getting here in time, he opens fire on Deacon.  However, he weaves around the bullet barrage in order to grab a pair of Blade’s blood sample and make it out in time.

Noah then proceeds to set off several C4 explosives that he placed around the facility, blowing open various parts of the walls in order for the sunlight to vaporize the vampire guards.  He then shoots the nearby console, thus freeing Eric from his restraints.

After Blade staggers over to Makoto’s side, Noah tells him that the building is about to blow up.  As such, our heroes begin to retreat.  Meanwhile, Deacon manages to avoid several explosions before reaching the exit.  He sees the helicopter in sight, but there’s also loads of sunlight waiting for him as well.  With the explosions about to catch up, Frost has no choice but to run as fast as he can towards the helicopter.  Despite suffering several supernatural burns, he manages to reach the chopper in time as his pilot takes off.

Shortly after our heroes get out before the base goes up in flames, they take some time for Makoto to wake up in order for Blade to thank her for saving him.  With her still wanting to return his mother’s knife to him, Razor arrives and places it on her stomach.  She then thanks the noble beast for his reliability before telling him to go back to his original master.  After finally returning the blade to Eric, she wearily makes him promise to take Deacon down for her.  For one final note, she asks Brooks to slay her so that she doesn’t end up like her father.  Despite his initial hesitation, Blade is ultimately forced to give Makoto a mercy kill in order to prevent her from becoming a vampire.  As she dies in his arms, Eric tells her that she’s the best partner that he ever worked with.

As night falls, we then cut to “The Vampire City of Amaurot” where all of the previously-seen vampire species exist within its walls.  With even more women captured and placed in tubes for their blood to be drawn from, Deacon proceeds to add Blade’s blood sample to his machine.  Just as he hoped, his serum has finally been perfected as he starts to inject it into his test tube vampires in order to create his army of hybrids and finally take the High Council down for good.

With the sun starting to rise, a retractable dome emerges and covers the city in a shaded tint as it protects the vampires from the UV Rays.

Meanwhile, our heroes bury Makoto in a make-shift grave before Noah tells Blade that he knows where Frost is hiding out.  He mentions about Amaurot being located “where Thailand, Myanmar (which has since been renamed Burma again) and Laos meet”, which was a central home for drug trade called the Golden Triangle.  Despite the place holding thousands of vampires, Eric is eager to tear it down as he shows the holy water that he and Makoto acquired from Agus.  With this ace up their sleeves, they prepare to head out for the final showdown.

Back in Amaurot, Deacon’s experiment is nearly coming to fruition when the intruder alarm is sounded.  It turns out to be an army of knights sent by the High Council as they proceed to fight off the opposing vampires in order to make Frost pay for turning on them.  However, this also plays into Deacon’s hands since he takes advantage of the lack of protection at the main castle by sending his supernatural army to attack the High Council.

As the knights and Existence-sided vampires continue their vicious battle, a spinning blade suddenly flies in and takes out several members from both sides as Blade make his presence known.  The head knight tries to attack, but Eric slays him with one swipe of his sword.  He then proceeds to attack several of Deacon’s armed guards, even taking out one of them with a punch.  It’s then revealed that he’s using Makoto’s spiked knuckles in honor of his fallen partner.

As such, Episode 11 ends with Blade heading out to take on the vampire hoard en route to his final showdown with Deacon Frost.

As Episode 12 “The Final Glory Of Deacon Frost” (a.k.a. “The Other Side of Darkness”) begins with Eric surrounded by a large group of fanged foes, he gets an unexpected ally as Kikyo slashes through some of them to join his one-time dojo rival.  After informing Blade that he wishes to be the one who kills him following their triumph over Frost, they proceed to easily slay the opposing vampires.

Just then, they’re approached by a giant serpent-esque creature.  Kikyo tells Eric to go after Deacon while he takes care of the gigantic beast.  As such, Brooks takes off while Mikage prepares to fight the titanic monster.

Meanwhile, Noah and Razor oversee the confrontations from afar.  From there, he uses a trigger to activate some previously planted C4 explosives and begins to blow up the facilities.

Back with Blade, he arrives inside Amaurot’s main palace and confronts Frost.  However, Deacon sends his newly-created vampires after him before exiting via his elevated throne.  Fortunately, Eric manages to elude the monstrous armada and reach the stairs in order to go after his enemy.

Meanwhile, Noah and Razor are fighting their way through several vampire guards at they reach the main tank that serves as Amaurot’s “beating heart”.  Van Helsing prepares to destroy it with a napsack full of C4s.  However, he’s suddenly attacked by a monstrous bird creature who manages to successfully relieve him of both his gatling gun and his explosives.  Just as Noah is about to be slayed, Razor arrives and bites onto its neck, managing to maintain a grip as it continues to soar in agony.

Back with Kikyo, he manages to hold his own against the hydra-esque monster before he ultimately decapitates every last one of its heads.

Meanwhile, Noah uses his handguns to shoot an opening into Amourot’s main tank before dumping the vile containing Agus’ blessed water inside of it.  As a result, its sacred properties gets pumped throughout the city’s pipelines.

Back at the palace, Blade continue his assent.  Just then, Frost’s own vampires managed to catch up and attack him.  Eric manages to slay all three of them, but their own chemical nature allows them to not stay down for long.  Meanwhile, Deacon begins to inject himself with his perfected serum.

Meanwhile, Razor’s fangs manage to cripple the monstrous bird and cause it to plummet into the main tank.  As it explodes, it ruptures Amourot’s pipeline and causes the blessed water to rain down throughout the city, exterminating both the vampire guards & the High Council’s knights before flooding the streets with its holy properties.

Back in the palace, the monstrous beings proceed to shed their skins and reveal their new forms.  Blade tries to attack them, but they elude his strike.

Eric manages to elude them long enough to reach the top floor.  From there, he continues to tussle with them before using Makoto’s spiked knuckle to shatter the tinted sun roof and allow the UV light to shine in.

At the same time, Kikyo delivers the finish blow to the decapitated monster.  It ends up crashing into the support beams and ultimately makes the tinted dome shatter apart.  As a result, the remaining vampire guards and knights are exposed to the sunlight and burn to death.

Back in the palace, Blade discovers that the opposing creatures aren’t vaporizing in the bright light.  Deacon informs him that they have Brooks’ own blood in their bodies and that they represent his ultimate destruction of the High Council.  Afterwards, he taunts Blade again by reminding him of his necessary slaying of both his mother and Makoto.  This fills Eric with enough anger to charge after him.  The sun-resistant creatures try to intervene, but Brooks manages to defeat them with both his sword and Makoto’s knuckles since they’re both made of silver and they weren’t resistant to that particular metal.

While the last monster managed to barely survive, Frost rectifies it by ripping apart his now-failed experiment and drinks its blood.  After he proceeds to bulk up, he walks into the sunlight and feels its warmth as he demonstrates the terror he wishes to unleash upon the world.

From there, Blade and Deacon begin their final battle.  Frost is able to subdue Eric with several punches to his gut and is able to strike him with enough force to make him cough up some of his own blood.

After getting back on his feet, Brooks creates a powerful shockwave with his sword.  Even though Deacon is able to withstand the blast, Blade emerges and strikes with Makoto’s spiked knuckles.  Frost initially catches the fierce punch with his hand, but Eric (determined to carry out his partner’s final wishes) delivers an overwhelming force with his attack to carry Deacon and himself across the room and out the window.

During the drop, Blade manages to stab Frost with his mother’s knife before finally finishing his grand adversary off permanently by punching it into his foe’s gut.  With Deacon finally defeated, Amourot’s castle proceeds to crumble to the ground.

Sometime later, rescue workers have arrived to pick up the captured humans.  Among the helpers is Capt. MacRae who learns about what happened from Noah and that Eric hasn’t been seen since the battle’s end before he heads out with several former hostages to safety.

Just then, Noah and Razor are relieved to see Blade emerge from the rubble.  They’re then confronted by Kikyo who simply exclaims that they “both won this time” before taking his leave.

As Van Helsing gives him a new pair of sunglasses (due to his previous pair getting destroyed during the fight), he asks Eric what he’s going to do next now that Frost has finally been taken care of.  Blade simply exclaims that there’s still vampires causing terror across the world and that his quest isn’t truly over until they’re taken care of for good.  As such, he, Noah and Razor depart from Amourot on a triumphant note.

And so, the series ends on a post-credits scene in London, England where a woman is being chased by a new gang of vampires.  Fortunately, Eric arrives and allows her to escape as he prepares to fight the threat simply known as Darkhold.

Moving on to my character analysis, let’s kick things off with our Daywalker himself: Blade.  Because I’m not too familiar with the character’s various comic book adventures, I’ll judge him from what I know about his presence here.  Throughout the course of the series, his quest sees him working alongside a human vampire hunter in order to ultimately defeat his ultimate adversary.  Where the film “Blade: Trinity” tried to work with that concept and failed miserably at it (mainly due to the toxic production surrounding that train-wreak), it works here since he grows to appreciate the help.  While his partner takes care of dismantling devious operations in the area, he’s able to concentrate on physically handling the supernatural creatures running the show.  While the film series does do a good job at delving into his backstory (how he was born, discovered & raised by a elder vampire hunter and needing serums in order to fend off his bloodlust, tying into his personal struggle to keep his humanity), I appreciate how this series added onto his origin as we get to learn about his childhood and even watch how he gained his sword-fighting skills.  It helps in adding dimension to a character most audiences would only know about if they were only familiar with Wesley Snipes’ version.  Speaking of Snipes, Blade’s anime look seems to be a cross between him and Kirk “Sticky Fingaz” Jones (the actor/rapper who portrayed the character in the short-lived 2006 TV series follow-up to “Blade: Trinity”).  He has the facial hair that Wesley sported in the third film and he even wears the long-black trench coat that’s similar in style to Snipes’.  However, he’s bald like Jones.  In order to stand out here, the character has added tattoos on his head and his sunglasses aren’t as dim, thus allowing us to see personality details in his eyes.  Harold Perrineau brings a unique delivery in his performance.  His voice does have a good range and in a way, it’s just similar enough to the calm & somewhat stoic portrayal from Wesley Snipes’ film performance, but just different enough in tone to make it his own.  It would have been nice to see him use his sword techniques on Frost during the series’ climax, but his mother’s knife did serve as symbolic justice nevertheless.  In the end, the main character was mainly solid as his slayings of various vampires brought an entertaining stabilization that Snipes brought in the films, but we still got enough vulnerability from him in order to make his ultimate conquest satisfying by series’ end.

Next up, we reach our main heroine of the series: Makoto.  Serving as a original character for this show, here’s what I make out from her.  In the beginning, she’s an established vampire hunter who travels around with her father in slaying the various supernatural scum.  After Deacon bites her father’s neck, Blade is forced to put him down, leading to her wanting vengeance on Brooks for interfering.  It’s not until she comes across Noah & Razor and learns about him that she starts to come around onto his side.  Though there is some spunk to her, it’s mainly downplayed since she does treat the quest in a serious light.  Thankfully, it’s broken up in tasteful ways for a bit of humor and for her own vulnerability.  Where “Blade: Trinity” tried to introduce the Nightstalkers, a group of human vampire hunters, as Eric’s mortal helpers and miserably bombed (due to a poor rendition of Hannibal King who feels the need to curse and/or make a gross remark every three sentences or so & Abigail Whistler who was made up and doesn’t leave a mark at all), Makoto outclasses them in spades.  She’s a skilled close-corners combatant with weapons that specialize her ability, she never shows any sign of utter incompetence and her flaws come across much more naturally.  This comes into play with her character arc in that she must prove her worth as a vampire-slaying partner to Blade.  Sure, she’s more than competent in tangling with humans that are serving Existence and even some lower-level vampires, but even a few of those supernatural beings are able to get the drop on her at a few key points.  She’s especially no match for Deacon Frost due to his vampire traits.  During the second half, two particular weapons serve as a symbolic means to her own worth towards the mission.  One is Tara Brooks’ switchblade that Blade has Makoto hold on to in order to return it to him later.  After everything they’ve been through on their Southeast Asian trek to that point, he’s come to respect her as a reliable ally.  Of course, he ultimately gets it back to deliver some symbolic justice.  With the second item, it’s Makoto’s signature weapon: her Spiked-Knuckles.  After she’s given a Mercy Kill due to Deacon biting her neck, Blade uses her item during the final battle so that she can spiritually be with him to the end.  What started as blind revenge began to be tempered by compassion thanks to Noah and his dog Razor as she quickly had to adapt to working with a heroic hybrid.  Kim Mai Guest was mainly solid in the role, giving a tough girl delivery that still gave a respectable amount of range to the part.

Briefly, I’ll give my thoughts on Noah Van Helsing.  Serving as Blade’s main reason to find purpose in both life and his own humanity, he mainly serves as a vampire hunter in his own right as he proves himself worthy of said title with his trusty firearms.  Because he’s forced to sit out a good portion of the series due to him being captured and injured by the Mandurugos, he doesn’t get a chance at having a character arc of his own.  Despite that, he’s still effective enough at being a mentor to not only Blade, but Makoto as well.  Less we forget, his backstory on how he found Eric and helped him on the path towards giving his life purpose is what helps her understand Brooks’ plight.  In that vein, Troy Baker does a fairly good job with what small amount he has to work with.  To wrap this section up, his dog Razor is a joy to behold.  He’s a loyal, trustworthy and noble beast who must have been given silver-laced fangs, due to them bursting in flames when he bites them.

Now, we’ve reached our main antagonist in Deacon Frost.  In terms of his comic book backstory, it is similar in that it was a experiment of his that saw him injected with vampiric blood and become a vampire.  However, the original source material saw him trying to use it on a kidnapped girl in order to search for a formula that would grant him immortality.  When her fiancee burst in to stop him, Frost was accidentally injected with the blood sample.  After becoming a vampire, he even had the ability to have anyone he turned into a vampire create a doppelganger.  He could then bite them and have them follow his every command.  Here, it was on purpose since he wanted to get his revenge on the entire vampire community for killing his son, since his kin was going to become a scientist like he was.  He’s also similar to Steven Dorff’s portrayal from the 1998 film in that he despises the vampire’s own high-ranking elders.  In that film, Deacon and his faction weren’t pure-blood vampires and he wishes to summon the power of a vampire blood god named La Magra by sacrificing them and then ultimately wipe out the human race since he sees them as nothing but food for his kind.  Here, he becomes a vampire and forms his own group called Existence since he wishes to make the High Council pay dearly for the death of his own kin.  Throughout this series, Frost is consumed by his vengeance quest and wishes to include Blade’s own hybrid blood so that he can unleash his terror whether its day or night.  He has several factions of his group fight (and ultimately fail) against Blade, Makoto, Noah and Razor since he’s more than capable of dealing with them early on due to the time he’s spent developing his own vampire powers and organization.  Little would he know that coming across a pregnant Tara Brooks in order to drink her blood would be both his unexpected blessing and his eventual downfall.  That incident would give birth to the hero whose blood would fuel his personal uprising, but it would be the same hero that ultimately tears him and his world down.  After seeing this series from beginning to end, it’s nothing short of poetic justice that rains down on him.  J.B. Blanc is mainly effective in giving Frost an elegant, yet commanding and devious voice.  It combines really well with his character’s physical traits and really helps make him a force to be reckoned with.

Closing out my character analysis is a familiar figure from before in Kikyo Mikage.  First off, it was a genuine surprise to me that he was brought back.  What do I think about him this time around?  Well, here’s my thoughts.  In my review of the past series “Wolverine”, I complained about not getting to know this fascinating mutant created solely for this line of anime.  Little did I know is that I would get my wish, though not entirely as I would have hoped.  As we learn from his “fractured memories”, he joined Master Tanba’s dojo as a young boy where he became a sparing partner and rival to Eric.  Apparently sometime after Brooks bested him in their last duel as students and was eventually sent on his way by his ailing master, he ultimately became an assassin-for-hire since he ultimately pops up to take on Logan since he was hired by Shingen Yashida’s potential son-in-law, Hideki Kurohagi.  After the events of that series which ended with Howlett and Mikage having their duel (which we never learn who won since both characters have since shown up in this series), he was eventually hired by Deacon Frost to take out Blade.  As exciting as it initially was to see this character reappear and as much of his backstory we do learn from him, there’s a few things that sadly make him somewhat less-than satisfying this time around.  First up, there’s some minor character details that are absent here but could get filled should someone at Marvel ever decide to bring him in to their comics.  How did he get his mutant abilities?  Did they come naturally?  Did he always have katana blades retracting from his arms or did he get a similar treatment that Wolverine got and they were bone swords that got injected with a metal?  During his travels after Master Tanba dismissed him from the dojo, what drove Kikyo to become an assassin-for-hire?  Despite this series filling in some gaps of character development, there’s still some room that can get filled.  I know that this is Blade’s series and that once again he’s a supporting character, but he’s the only other character other than Wolverine to show up in more than one series within this line.  While Logan has the comics to thank for all of his development, maybe someone can take a chance and help make Mikage more whole.  Also, there’s a minor bit of a retread here.  He first shows up to tangle with our hero and then ultimately joins forces with him in order to help take down the main villain’s operations.  The difference is that in “Wolverine”, he wanted to take James down when they’re both at their physically best and without any distractions.  Plus, Hideki was a less-than-honorable weasel who relied on dirty tactics to get his way.  Here, he actually does intend on carrying out his task of defeating Blade.  However, their master arrives and reveals that he’s become a vampire.  Kikyo is defeated easily and the duel between corrupt master and skilled pupil ultimately allows Frost to swoop in and claim the Daywalker for himself, thus relieving Mikage of their contract.  With the knowledge that his master was turned into a vampire by Frost himself, that’s where he decides to go against our antagonist.  Despite all that, Steven Blum was still effective in the role as he once again makes him voice unrecognizable with an air of stern calmness.  Blum would get the chance to use his signature tone for the minor character of Capt. MacRae (albeit with an Australian accent), but he still makes the most out this character with the room that he’s given.

The action is very stylized and appropriate.  After all, the Blade films had their own slick style when it came to fight scenes and the heightened feel of an anime helped bring the technique to another level, especially with the Deadly Sword Techniques.  It would have been nice to have seen those used during the climax (since it was a bit short if you only count the actual final battle), but the set pieces are appropriate for their brawls.  The animation is once again solid and flows well with the various color palettes, which range from bright & colorful to dark & atmospheric.  Out of all of the series featured in this line, this has the distinct feel of several done-in-one adventures that builds toward a bigger conclusion.  During the journey, Blade & Makoto come across several vampire clans that are working with Existence and have to take them down.  Speaking of which, I’m impressed that actual vampires from Southeast Asian cultures and lore were used.  It was a solid choice to inform American audiences on these different types and see how they’re used throughout the overall narrative.  The pacing feels very quick and fluent.  Since each episode is only about 22 minutes long, they get in, tell their piece of the narrative puzzle and get out in an efficient manner.  This is definitely the kind of show that benefits from binge-watching, since all 12 episodes can be viewed in about 4 1/2 hours.

Finally, for a series that sees our protagonists travelling throughout Southeast Asia in order to stop Deacon Frost, I’m really impressed with the attention to detail the production team showed in keeping geographical continuity throughout the 12 episodes.  What you see here is the path that Blade, Makoto, Noah and Razor go on throughout the course of the series.  The journey has a good scope throughout and is mostly good at trimming the unnecessary parts out in order to help with pacing.  Rarely did I ever come across a scene that felt oddly out of place.

Overall, this is an effective entry in the series.  Serving as a slick supernatural action thriller, it hits its mark a good majority of the time.  The characters are interesting enough to care about, the animation flows really well, the villain is a credible enough threat and it mainly handles its action scenes with enough style to satisfy its audience.  Not too mention, the added touch of actual Southeast Asian vampires was really nice and clever.  In the end, there’s not much to complain about as it’s solid enough on a narrative and entertainment level.  It’s worth it to spend your day walking through this series since your thirst will definitely be quenched by the end of this ride.

Next Time: Our favorite Armored Avenger is back, but not in a serialized format.  Just like last time, authorities want to take him down and someone is unleashing the laws’ long arms after him.  Tony Stark must tear down a piece of his past if he wishes to clear his name as we dive into the film called “Iron Man: Rise Of Technovore”.

Blade (created by Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan) is owned by Marvel Comics.