Bandai is company the releases anime DVDs, but they've recently branched out to some live action Japanese TV shows also.  Blood Hound is one such series.  Based on the manga Yorugata Aijin Senmonten by Kaori Yuki, in Japan it was broadcast as Vampire Gigolo a title that Bandai presumably thought was too risqué for American audiences, this introductory volume presents the first four episodes (out of a twelve) which compromises two stories.  The show has low production values, bad acting, and jokes that fall flat, but it's also cheesy fun.

Rion Kanou (Minako Komukai) is high school girl who receives a strange voice mail message on her cell phone on afternoon.  Her best friend, Shiho Aiga (Yurie Kojima) call, panicked, and says "Rion, help me!  A real vampire..."  That's all she manages to leave before she is cut off.  Needless to say, Shiho doesn't answer her phone, nor is she home.  Looking through her friend's room, Rion discovers a card for a "host club" named Kranken Haus, a place where older women can go to spend the evening with handsome young men dressed in gothic garb.  For a price, of course.

Checking out the club, Rion meets Suou (Satoshi Matsuda), an escort at the club who dresses as a vampire right down to the long fangs.  At first he denies knowing Shiho, but when Rion presents him with his business card he reluctantly admits that he met her briefly but kicked her out of the club.  Not believing a word of it, Rion purposefully smashes an expensive bottle of champagne and then takes a part time job at the club to work off her debt.  She figures that this is the prefect way to keep an eye on Suou and discover what he did with Shiho.

Rion does make some discoveries, but not what she was expecting.  Not only does Suou dress like a vampire, but it turns out that he really is one.  He can walk in the daylight, eat garlic, and isn't afraid of crosses, but he's a blood sucker none the less.  He wears a necklace around his neck that dampens his powers and his thirst for blood, it's the only way he can fit into human society.  Suou didn't take Shiho however, but with Rion's help they start to investigate.

In the next story, half of a pop duo that never really made it big is murdered.  The odd thing is that just before she dies she calls her partner and says that she's being chased by an invisible man.  When the other part of the duo is targeted by the same transparent killer, Rion and Suou decide to get to the bottom of the mystery.

The first thing that strikes viewers of this show is how horrible the acting is.  I'm not sure which part is worse, the ridiculous overacting on the part of Suou or the wooden non-acting of Rion.  I'm sure that this is at least partially intentional and done for humorous effect, but it just comes off as wretched acting.

The plots are pretty stupid too, with the mysteries being more reminiscent of Scooby Doo than anything else.  A lot of the plot points are a bit silly too, like the owner of the club allowing Rion to work there, knowing that she's trying to discover Suou's secret.  The attack by the invisible man in the latter story was pretty ludicrous too.

The show has a strong vein of humor, but it's really dumb and doesn't work well.  The running gag is that Rion will kick Suou in the shins whenever she's mad at him, and he'll threaten to drink her blood.  It wasn't funny the first time they did it, and by the tenth the joke had really outworn its welcome.

Having said that, there is a sort of goofy charm to the show.  Yea, it's really cheesy, but I can't say that I didn't have a good time watching it.  The ultra-low budget special effects and the corny plots make the show fun in an old movie serial kind of way.  No one will ever accuse this show of being great, but it's not the worst thing out there.

Audio:

This disc comes with the original Japanese soundtrack in stereo along with optional English subtitles.  There isn't a bud track.  The audio was about average for a low budget production.  There wasn't a huge amount of dynamic range, and the dialog comes across as a bit thin.  In addition, the drums in the background music are pretty anemic sounding.  Besides that the show sounds fine.

Video:

The full frame image doesn't look that great, but this is due to the poor production qualities rather than the fault of the publisher.  The series has a real low budget feel to it and looks like a low grade soap opera.  Some scenes are too bright and filled with blooming whites and others are too dark.  The image is very soft and looks like it was recorded on low-grade digital video tape.  Aliasing was
also a problem and some scenes have excessive edge enhancement, though that's not a problem through the whole disc.  Overall this is a less than average looking DVD.

Extras:

The only bonus items are three trailers and a textless opening.

Final Thoughts:

With bad acting, lame humor, and simplistic plots, this show should be a lot worse than it is.  Even with the multiple flaws, this program has a cheesy sort of fun to it that will appeal to fans of movie serials and 50's SF movies.  It's worth checking out, but make it a rental.