Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge (anime)

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Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge
Demitri Maximoff (back) and Morrigan Aensland (front)
Genre
Pioneer Entertainment (expired)
  • Discotek Media
    • Released March 21, 1997 – March 27, 1998
    Runtime40 minutes (each)
    Episodes4
    icon Anime and manga portal

    Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, originally titled Vampire Hunter: The Animated Series (ヴァンパイアハンター THE ANIMATED SERIES) in Japan, is a four-episode

    Madhouse Studios under license from Capcom, directed by Masashi Ikeda,[2] originally released in 1997–1998. It is an adaptation of Capcom's Darkstalkers
    video game series.

    Plot

    In the midst of a war between the families of

    Donovan Baine
    seeks to rid himself of the cursed blood which runs through his veins.

    Four of the original Darkstalkers,

    Victor
    , were featured in the intro but not in the OVA's main storyline, apparently having been killed by Pyron in a flashback sequence shown in the beginning of the fourth episode.

    Characters

    See also: List of Darkstalkers characters
    Character Japanese voice actor English dubbing actor
    Morrigan Aensland Rei Sakuma Kathleen Barr
    Demitri Maximoff
    Akio Ōtsuka
    		 Paul Dobson
    Donovan Unshō Ishizuka Ari Solomon
    Felicia
    		 Yukana Janyse Jaud
    Gallon (Jon Talbain) Fumihiko Tachiki Alvin Sanders
    Hannya (Bishamon) Masashi Ebara Don Brown/Michael Dobson
    Phobos (Huitzil) Jūrōta Kosugi Ward Perry
    Pyron Shinji Ogawa David Kaye
    Lei-Lei (
    Hsien-Ko
    )     		Yūko Miyamura Nicole Oliver
    Lin-Lin (Mei-Ling) Maya Okamoto Jane Perry
    Anita Akiko Yajima Andrea Libman
    Zabel Zarock (Lord Raptor)
    Kōichi Yamadera
    		 Scott McNeil
    Lei-Lei and Lin-Lin's mother Kumiko Takizawa Kathleen Barr

    Episodes

    1. "Return of the Darkstalkers"
    2. "Blood of the Darkstalkers, Power of the Darkstalkers"
    3. "Pyron Descending"
    4. "For Whom They Fight"

    Production

    Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge is based on the Darkstalkers series of gothic-themed fighting games by Capcom. Characters were designed by Shūkō Murase and the animation was done by Asami Endo and Yoshinori Kanada. The ending theme for the series, "Trouble Man" by Eikichi Yazawa, was also used as the opening theme in the Japanese home port of the video game Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors.

    Release

    By the time the first episode of the series was released in Japan, Viz Media had secured the U.S. rights and announced plans to release the series later in 1997.[3] Despite this, Toshifumi Yoshida and Trish Ledoux did not produce an English-dubbed version until 1999. The series was released on VHS, DVD and UMD in 2000. The North American anime company Media Blasters distributed it via rental kiosks in 2010.[4] The series was re-released on DVD in 2012 by Madman Entertainment.[5] Discotek Media released a remastered version on DVD in both language versions in the fall of 2015 and on Blu-ray for the first time in 2022.[6]

    The original soundtrack CD for Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge: The Animated Series (B00004SPLQ) was released in the United States by

    drama CD
    adaptations of were published only in Japan.

    Reception

    Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge received good reviews in the Western game magazines, with scores including B+ from GameFan in America[7] and 4/5 from Consoles + in France.[8] Bryn Williams of Gamers' Republic too gave it a score of B+, praising its "superb" animation "with vivid colors and smooth motion,"[9] as well as "gorgeous" character designs.[10] Dave Halverson from the same magazine opined it was "the finest video game-based anime produced to date," citing animation quality, "spectacular" and "breathtaking" art and vibrant colors; the English dubbing, "while not perfect," was described as very good.[11]

    Darkstalkers is featured in the 2009 book 500 Essential Anime Movies by

    Blistered Thumbs ranked it as the seventh best video game cartoon in 2011.[12]

    References

    1. ^ a b Ross, Giancarla. "Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge". THEM Anime Reviews. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
    2. ^ "Anime: Nightwarriors, the Anime: Interview". March 5, 2001. Archived from the original on March 5, 2001. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
    3. ^ "Darkstalkers Anime Answers Call of the Bloodthirsty". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 95. Ziff Davis. June 1997. p. 22.
    4. ^ "Media Blasters Launches Anime DVD/Blu-ray Kiosks - News". Anime News Network. October 14, 2010. Archived from the original on August 6, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
    5. ^ "Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge". Madman.com.au. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
    6. ^ "VIDEO: Discotek Previews "IGPX," "Darkstalkers" "Lupin vs Conan," and "Iria" Releases - UPDATED". Crunchyroll. August 20, 2015. Archived from the original on August 22, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2015.
    7. ^ "AnimeFan". GameFan. 6–2: 92–93. February 1998.
    8. ^ "Vampire Hunter, the Animated Serie". Consoles +. 64: 50–51.
    9. ^ "Gamers Republic - No. 03 (1998-08)(Millennum Publications)(US)". August 1998. Retrieved July 15, 2015.
    10. ^ Gamers' Republic issue 8 (July 1999), page 106.
    11. ^ Dave, Halverson (June 1998). "Anime Republic". Gamers' Republic. 1.
    12. ^ "The Top 10 BEST Video Game Cartoons - Blistered Thumbs". February 18, 2013. Archived from the original on February 18, 2013. Retrieved July 15, 2015.

    External links

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