REVIEW: Something To Sink Your Teeth Into: Blade (Marvel Animated Series)

What a fantastic summer it’s been so far—reading, writing, and binge watching many of the shows that I’ve fallen behind on! One such show that, until now, had escaped my viewership has been Blade (Marvel Animated Series) (2010-2011). I’ve long been a fan of vampires and comic books generally, so it was a bit of an oversight that I should let the slate of Marvel anime shows and two films produced in the early 2010s (Wolverine, X-Men, Iron Man, and Blade) go unwatched. Given my interests, the natural entry point into this Marvel mini silver screen universe was Blade.

Marvel Anime series (2010-2011).

The entire series of shows and films was a collaboration between Marvel Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, and the legendary anime studio, Madhouse. Each part of the television anthology had its own director, featuring top notch animation, with Blade having been directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara. All of the featured superheroes in these works are featured as traveling to and going on a series of adventures in Asia.

Blade follows the titular character chasing his comic book nemesis, Deacon Frost, across Japan and Southeast Asia and attempting to shut down the Life Foundation, a secret vampire industry poised to develop a new super breed of vampires. The series does an excellent job of incorporating East Asian mythologies into the classic vampire lore of the superhero day walker, Blade. Various monsters of Asian lore (for example the Manananggal) are recontextualized as different local breeds of vampire.

A depiction of a Manananggal.

The story was fun. I wasn’t exactly sure how the narrative would play out, wondering if we would have merely episodic installments, but I soon discovered that there was indeed an overarching narrative, along with several subplots, that would emerge through the series. The inclusion of new characters, particularly Makoto, a fellow vampire slayer, were a welcome addition to the comic book lore. I was also happy to see several more specific tie-ins to Marvel comics as well. I will attempt to avoid major spoilers on this end, except to note that we get an interesting feud between various vampire factions.

Overall, Blade was a pleasure to watch and a good way to detox at the end of several long days of reading and writing, while enjoying the summer weather (no adverse reaction to the sun on my part!).

Hope this satiates the hunger for a while!

AK-M