Customer Reviews

NightWalker - Eternal Darkness

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This DVD contains nights 7 through 12 of the 'Nightwalker' series, tales of a Shido, a Tokyo vampire, committed to fighting creatures of spiritual evil called the nightbreeds. Shido's companions in the quest are Guni, an 'urban fairy,' the newly mad vampire Riho, his assistant, and Yayoi the beautiful agent who provides her blood in return for Shido's help. This second DVD is more introspective than the first (Midnight Detective) and reveals much of the interior motivations of the main characters.

Night 7 - 'A Mother and Her Son.' Riho finds a small boy playing with a kitten in the park. His mother, who refuses to let him even touch small animals, becomes the suspect in a series of animal mutilation cases. In a moment of horror, Shido finds himself faced with a horrible choice.

Night 8 - 'A Soul Lost in the Darkness.' Broken China draws Shido into the search for a young woman's grandfather only to find he isn't missing but one of the walking dead.

Night 9 - 'Someone Else's Face.' In a grim tale of disfigurement and tormented guilt, we are told the story of the first meeting between Shido, Guni, and Yayoi.

Night 10 - 'Tears of an Angel.' The unusual luck of a young schoolgirl alerts Shido to the influence of a nightbreed. A quest for happiness leaves everyone with regrets.

Night 11 - 'A Witch in the Forest.' Shido relives a contest of wills with Cain. A woman trades her souls to stay young for her absent lover as Shido struggles to find the road to redemption.

Night 12 - 'Eternal Darkness.' Cain returns for real as Shido is forced to confront his own feelings for Riho.

As you can see, the material in this DVD is darker than the previous series. The stories turn on the more bitter and sorrowful aspects of human love. Shido is more thoughtful than he was in previous episodes, and we are treated to a good deal of insight into the motivations of Riho and Yayoi. This adds surprising depth to what originally appeared to be a fun but lightweight series. One has to admire has to admire 'Nightwalker' for both its stylishness and its efforts to transcend the traditional blood and violence of anime vampire stories (not that that is necessarily bad). Hopefully we will get another change to visit Shido's detective agency.

NIGHTWALKER: Eternal darkness is the second half of the 12 episode series first presented on DVD in NIGHTWALKER: Midnight Detective. This series aired on Japanese television in 1998. It revolves around Shido, a vampire whose human heart is in control, who acts as a private detective and fights to protect humanity from the demonic "Nightbreed" who are emerging in modern day Tokyo.

Shido has long lavender hair and an 18th century style of dress. He can manipulate and solidify his blood into a sword or even a rope to aid him in his missions. Shido is assisted in his fight by Yayoi, a beautiful detective who brings in the cases (and acts as Shido's voluntary meal provider), Riho, an orphaned high school student who lost her parents to the Nightbreed, and Guni, a small "urban fairy" who flits about and adds commentary to every situation. (Incidentally, in the Japanese version, Guni's voice is provided by Ikue Otani--Pokemon's PIKACHU.) Shido's evil vampiric sire Cain also appears, and tries to persuade Shido to rejoin him (a la Lestat and Louis in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire).....Cain even declares his love for Shido in one of the episodes.

This second set of episodes is somewhat less predictable than the first six. This time around, Riho has become a vampire (which actually happened on the last DVD volume), we learn how Yayoi had a twin and how Shido came to meet both she and Guni, there is a mystery with a single mother and her child, a guardian "Angel" who lives for only one girl, a flashback story with a Witch, and a story in which Riho "turns to the dark side". All in all, the second volume improves upon the first with more action, a little gore, and a whole lot more characterization.

Although this series is treading on somewhat familiar territory, I still found it to be very entertaining and I was not happy to see it end. If you liked Wicked City or Vampire Hunter D, you might want to give this series a chance. Although it's not as evenly good as those two films, you might be surprised at how much you might enjoy it.

This is the second (and last) DVD of Nightwalker, containing episodes 7-12. Nightwalker is the animated, Japanese counterpart to US series like Forever Knight and Angel: the main character, Shido, is a vampire who tries to help people endangered by the Nightbreeds, demons capable of possessing bodies and stealing souls. At the core of the series is a pessimism regarding ability of those drawn into evil to repent or be saved. That the show ponders such questions sets it apart, and the difficulty the hero has in saving those around him creates real suspense: the viewer doesn't know who might be saved and who might die. The show is largely episodic--in most episodes, Shiro assists police officer Yayoi in solving a Nightbreed related crime. The relationships between the main characters are constantly evolving, however, and everything is fairly well wrapped up in episode 12, while leaving room for future sequels.

Although this isn't really an action series, there is fighting and, occasionally, some really nasty gore--as well as a little nudity. The show was aired late at night in Japan, and the content reflects this; in addition, the quality of the animation suffers some due to the small budgets such shows have. The character designs, by contrast, are very attractive. The English dub is among the best for a CPM/US Manga Corps title; only a few incidental parts are lackluster. So, while this isn't a showcase of high budget animation techniques, it is a well-written show with interesting characters and a thoughtful (even philosophical) side which sets it apart from other vampire stories.

In my opinion Nightwalker eternal darkness is one of the best series ever.It is packed with something for everyone for example if your for action,romance,adventure or horror its got it all in this fantasic vampire collection.In this show you find yourself going through a series of emotions including the following: sympathy,fear,exitment and sorrow.It's only bad points are that it's not 100% original and in certain episodes it can be in just the slightest bit confusing but apart from that it's an amazing prodution.
My favourite things about the series are the well balanced story plots,the amusing scripts,the music and above all the characters.Shido the main charater is the most interesting character with his mysterius past and unknown future and of coarse the blue hair adds alot too.Yayio,Shido's assistant would be my least favourite character because she has the least exiting story.Guni,the little faery is hilarious,I found myself in fits of laughter at her sarcastic comments.Riho,the secretery high school girl is probably my favourite charater because she's so cute and has the most enigmatic story with sudden turn to"eternal darkness" hence the title.It almost had me in tears when Shido's arch enemy and his sire,Kain,turned Riho into a vampire leaving Shido with the hardest decision of his life to kill her or let her kill others.So I would highly recommend this anime vampire series to everyone!

NIGHTWALKER: Eternal darkness is the second half of the 12 episode series first presented on DVD in NIGHTWALKER: Midnight Detective. This series aired on Japanese television in 1998. It revolves around Shido, a vampire whose human heart is in control, who acts as a private detective and fights to protect humanity from the demonic "Nightbreed" who are emerging in modern day Tokyo.

Shido has long lavender hair and an 18th century style of dress. He can manipulate and solidify his blood into a sword or even a rope to aid him in his missions. Shido is assisted in his fight by Yayoi, a beautiful detective who brings in the cases (and acts as Shido's voluntary meal provider), Riho, an orphaned high school student who lost her parents to the Nightbreed, and Guni, a small "urban fairy" who flits about and adds commentary to every situation. (Incidentally, in the Japanese version, Guni's voice is provided by Ikue Otani--Pokemon's PIKACHU.) Shido's evil vampiric sire Cain also appears, and tries to persuade Shido to rejoin him (a la Lestat and Louis in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire).....Cain even declares his love for Shido in one of the episodes.

This second set of episodes is somewhat less predictable than the first six. This time around, Riho has become a vampire (which actually happened on the last DVD volume), we learn how Yayoi had a twin and how Shido came to meet both she and Guni, there is a mystery with a single mother and her child, a guardian "Angel" who lives for only one girl, a flashback story with a Witch, and a story in which Riho "turns to the dark side". All in all, the second volume improves upon the first with more action, a little gore, and a whole lot more characterization.

Although this series is treading on somewhat familiar territory, I still found it to be very entertaining and I was not happy to see it end. If you liked Wicked City or Vampire Hunter D, you might want to give this series a chance. Although it's not as evenly good as those two films, you might be surprised at how much you might enjoy it.

I have to say that I really enjoyed viewing the last installment of the "Nightwalker" series. It was interesting to see the characters develop a little bit more later on in the series. A lot of questions were answered.......it gives a little more detail of some of the main characters background. I still feel as though there should be more episodes. The last epidsode seems as though there should be a conclusion. I don't want to give anything away for those who haven't seen "Eternal Darkness"............but I would like to see a storyline dealing with Shido and Cain.........much more detail. All in all, I enjoyed it.

The movie Nightwalker-eternal darkness is definitly one of the best movies I have ever seen.The animation is cute,the music is excellent and the script is extremely well put together.Each scene is another mystery unlocked.The most exciting bit is when you find out about Shiro's past and the dark secret he holds(very shocking).I found myself completely mesmerized by the storyline,I have now seen this movie 4 times because it was so good.I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone,I would think of it to appeal to people of all ages.A wonderful movie.

The vampire is certainly a popular figure in anime, spawing films from Vampire Hunter D to series like Vampire Princess Miyu. Though the ideas and stories of NightWalker are not exactly original, the anime OAV (direct to video) series is rather cute and entertaining.

Eternal Darkness is the second DVD (containing episodes 7-12) of the NightWalker OAV series. For readers unfamiliar with the series itself, here are a few quick details:

Private eye Shiro's secret is that he's actually a vampire, but one who has taken on the task of defeating the creatures of darkness in a futile quest to redeem the fall that transformed him to a vampire--viewers may find this similar to television's Forever Knight. Created by a powerful vampire bearing the biblically-suggestive name Kain, Shiro also bears a sprinkling of Anne Rice.

Shiro's partner, paranormal cop Yayoi, offers her own blood to sustain him as the two must defeat the "night breeds" in a series of six related yet distinct episodes. His "kawai" schoolgirl secretary Riho--though not immediately in on the secret--also finds herself caught up in the struggles between good and evil.

In this second DVD, Shiro's sidekick Riho has herself become a vampire. Though Shiro himself did the deed to save her "life" when vampire progenitor Kain had mortally wounded her, Riho now must learn to deal with eternal darkness. The stories do a rather good job of characterizing the difficulties Riho faces adjusting to her new life while remaining true to the spirit of the first six episodes as Shiro & company must battle the evil night breeds.

As before, what really drew me into the series was the characters, as at times the stories themselves are somewhat cliche. When in the final episode Riho apparently has turned to evil and Shiro must confront and likely kill her, you'll sit on the edge of your seat trying to figure out how the characters will possibly recover and return to their (un)lives together.

The English voiceovers are passable, but most anime purists will prefer the Japanese with subtitles option. The special features aren't incredibly detailed but do include scripts, an art gallery, character info, and production data.

I found that the cliches presented did not detract from the overall stories and came to rather enjoy the series as a whole. There may be grittier or more involved vampire anime available, but if you're looking for something different in vampire anime, give NightWalker a try.

I was delighted to stumble across this older, but still quite fascinating anime, which surprised me so much with it's daring and thoughtful Vampire Tale that I was willing to pay extra for the entire 12 episodes.

[For some inane and annoying reason, you will most likely have to get this short, 1 season anime on two different DVD's, the first six called, "NightWalker: Midnight Detective", and the last six named, "NightWalker: Eternal Darkness", and neither of them always easy to find. And to make things even more confusing, there is a really rare DVD release with the entire series, as well as video tape releases with different titles--such as, "NightWalker: Prescription"--giving the impression that there are more than just the 12 episodes.]

Although I'm uncertain of when it originally aired in Japan, the general style would indicate it was before "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" arrived on American TV. This makes it even more of a surprise, since it brings forth some Vampire-related story ideas that were not all that common until the days of "Buffy" and "Angel", such as a Reformed Vampire working as a Private Detective, humans who are his friends, and a broken relationship with his Vampire Sire [shades of "Forever Knight", which it may also pre-date.] And all with just enough angst to keep it interesting, but not too darkly brooding. There's even moments of gentle humor.

Oh, and if you need another reason to give this one a try, Shido, the Vampire Hero, is voiced in English by Richard Cansino [under the name of "Vincent Hatcher", one of his older psuedonymns], who is best known for being the English voice actor for Kenshin, of "Rurouni Kenshin" fame. And the two-DVD set I bought also came with a subtitled version of the original Japanese, if that's what you prefer.

A mild warning however, for some bloody violence, bad language and slightly naughty nudity, as well as adult themes--This is not really a series for anyone under 13.

My kids loved this anime. However there is some sexual content, adult situations and graphic violence that is not appropriate for children under 17. These animes take people to a new world of fantsy when they watch them. I would recomend this be seen by 17 or older