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Marvel Anime: Blade
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Plot Summary:
Eric Brooks – known as Blade – seeks revenge on Deacon Frost, the vampire who killed his mother while she was still pregnant with Eric. With all the powers of a vampire and none of their weaknesses, Blade's quest leads him throughout Southeast Asia in search of Frost. In the Golden Triangle, he discovers a vampire plot that threatens to take down the whole world.

DVD Bonus Features:
-The Marvel Anime Universe: Blade Re-Awakened
-The Vampire Hunter: Origins and Adaptations
-Special Talk Session: Marvel Anime's Blade and Wolverine
-Trailers

Street Date: July 31st, 2012
Release Format: Two-Disc DVD
Suggested Retail Price: $14.99 (US only)
Feature Run Time: Approx. run time 287 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen (Enhanced for 16X9 televisions)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Sound
Languages: English (US) 5.1, Japanese 5.1

Blade slashes on to home video, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, in a two-disc DVD collection. On top of the main feature, the set is rounded off with additional bonus features.

The Blade DVD release includes a few bonus featurettes, some trailers and … that’s it. It may not seem like much, but what we get here seems like more than enough to compliment the main feature. Honestly, what we get here is plenty. The featuettes include “The Marvel Anime Universe: Blade Re-Awakened,” “Blade: The Vampire Slayer,” and “Special Talk Session: Marvel Anime’s Blade and Wolverine.” The featurettes cover the creation of the series, a look at Blade and his origins – both as a character and creatively, and a nice chat with the creators working on the series. It’s actually pretty interesting for the most part, a healthy mix of fluff material and some actual in-depth discussions. Again, if you’ve sat through the bonus content for any of the other Marvel Anime DVDs, you know what to expect here. Still, they do reveal where they came up with all the monstrous vampire designs for this series, the answer which actually surprised me.

The video and audio quality on this release is worth noting, especially for a standard definition DVD release. In terms of video, colors are bright and detail is great. True, I do wish Sony would release this on Blu-ray, but the widescreen presentation here is nothing to sneeze at. The same can be said about the audio mix, naturally. Whether you listen to the original Japanese track, or the dubbed English, everything is crisp and clear. Excellent quality with just a hint of imperfections in the video through minimal banding.

A suitable DVD release, Blade is definitely worth checking out. The series itself is a total surprise, a great story mixed with creative creature designs, nice action, and compelling characters. Toss in a superb DVD presentation and a nice helping of bonus materials and, without fail, you get a release worth picking up. If you’re curious, go with a rental, but I do believe a purchase is the way to go, especially for Marvel fans. Prepare to be surprised with possibly the most effective title from the Marvel Anime initiative.