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.