Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned | KYOTO VIDEO

[@samwill7259]

From Universal Pictures, to Marvel Comics, to Konami Video Games. If only all of our works should be so immortal

[@LowellLucasJr.]

Trust me, after Voltron, I never trusted the narrator. No matter how many times they've told you someone's evil, someone's unredeemable, or the Robeast is alive...DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!

[@otaking3582]

Wasn't he also the narrator for Macron 1?

[@kikihideout4966]

Lucky for us, Thanks to Kineko Video, we now have a true HD scan!

[@MonsieurMaouji]

The hamburger meme at least will go down in history. Also love the Rondo of Blood music at the end.

[@JohnathanEnder]

You went through the whole review without mentioning the best character...the dog! Who, when introduced, we're told "he was kicked out a convent for drinking the holy water." AND THEN THE DOG'S EYE CHAR-GLINTS.

[@skeletonking4119]

That’s why he deserves our respect!

[@TBoneTony]

Count Duckula as well as Count Von Count were my first exposure to the famous Count Dracula characters in fiction.

[@Launchpad05]

I've learned about this movie through Bennett The Sage, and Linkara's review of it. (3:49 Wow, Inspector Gadget really let himself go.) What fascinates me the most about this movie is it's connection to Marvel's 'Tomb Of Dracula' comic. Marvel's partnership with Toei on the sentai shows was what probably led to Marvel's then newly formed animation studio, Marvel Productions to work with Toei Doga on many of their TV cartoons during the 80's.

[@warhawk4494]

I used to like Bennett the sage but man I hate him and his whiny little buttbuddy who talk about suicide and his poor mentally illness constantly. Turn me off from his channel. Lol but glad you enjoy his channel. Have a good day. :)

[@Clay3613]

Comic Tropes just released a video about the comics.

[@BlackoutCreature]

I remember watching this for the first time. All I could think was that for a 70 issue comic book stuffed into a 90 minute movie, the plot moved at a snail's pace.

[@ShinSeikiEvan]

A new fansub of Tezuka's Don Dracula just dropped. I remember it being a fun show. The same Japanese voice actor plays Dracula in both Sovereign of the Damned and Don Dracula, even though the latter is a full-out comedy.

[@SapphireDragonDX]

I've always viewed this particular anime movie to be great riffing material, right up there with the likes of the Japanese version of Ninja Turtles and the English dub of Garzey's Wing. Thanks for covering this one!

[@Savagewolver]

Hey, Japanese 80s turtles are awesome.

[@aaronorenstein5963]

Huh. Maybe Toei not doing anime series based on Moon Knight and Silver Surfer (which would've featured different takes on Ms. Marvel and the Thing) turned out to be a good thing after all.

[@Zistheone2]

Toei was going to do what?!

[@MonsieurMaouji]

Toei was going to also do something stranger... *_"Originally, Toei planned to bring a comics-faithful version of Spider-Man into a series about Yamato Takeru, a legendary ancient prince of the Yamato dynasty, who would’ve time-traveled to the present day."_*

[@juliamavroidi8601]

​@@MonsieurMaouji i mean not that much stranger than some early marvel stuff

[@mightyfilm]

I watched the 90's Silver Surfer Fox Kids cartoon on Disney +. Frankly, I don't think Toei could have done any worse than the joyless, yet incredibly hilariously bad result Saban had. If anything, it almost makes THIS tolerable. It even ends with a pathetic "please renew us" cliffhanger that clearly they found out they weren't last minute, so it ends with a massive explosion and a "The End?"

[@drixg555]

Decades later, Toei Animation would later team up with Marvel, Disney, and Bandai to unleash Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers upon a waking world.

[@SlapstickGenius23]

Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned is one of the first Marvel anime works!

[@TankHammer]

That map of the Brookline/Boston border with the big Batman logo on it has broken me. A mental image of Dracula stalking Coolidge Corner is now forever in my brain.

[@blindcrow849]

I heard about this anime, but I didn't know it was linked to the marvel comics series. Great video.

[@Kolbatsu]

it's vamp month and what better way to start off than with the most infamous vampire anime of all time

[@stefanmrkonjic9279]

Being from Serbia, it's really cool somebody actually acknowledged the Petar Blagojevic case as the starting point of vampire obsession in Europe. You did your homework :)

[@shelbymckinney8888]

When you named the cast of the movie, my jaw dropped. Also, since you established your theme, I am guessing Nightwalker: Midnight Detective is on your list. Here's hoping.

[@Lazrael32]

So blade wasn't actually half vampire until the movies. Marvel tryed to adjust the comic by having morbius bite him... which made him sort of half vampire!?! weird. works for the character a lot though.

[@murder101storytime]

One of my favorite things I've ever seen in a comic involved Dracula but it was DC, not Marvel. It was when Dracula, who was convinced he could turn Superman, bit him and promptly exploded because Superman is a giant Solar Battery.

[@gregoryblack2044]

Not a defense of the anime, but damn Gene Colan's art is gorgeous. Really sells the stories, and sadly could have inspired some better work on Toei's part.

[@VeilingSun]

15:32 Got a good chuckle from the acting of this line. Such an aura of ennui, it's either really bad reading of the lines, or it is an expert delivering some magnificent sarcasm.

[@StCosmocast]

we just saw this anime for a friend's podcast and... oh man. This video explains ALOT. Thanks for the history lesson and a good laugh.

[@Supertron1]

It's interesting how this was Toei's very first animated Marvel project. They later did the animation for some episodes of Spider-Man (1981) and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (1981), as well as the Pryde of the X-Men (1989) pilot.

[@mdo7]

Yep, this also pre-dated the Marvel/Madhouse anime collaboration with X-men, Wolverine, Iron Man, & Blade. Don't forget Toei and Marvel worked again in 2014 for Marvel Disk Wars: The Avenger. Madhouse would again worked with Marvel for Marvel Future Avenger. Kind of makes me wonder why Marvel didn't give Tomb of Dracula another anime adaptation/reboot. I mean I can see Madhouse (studio also did Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust), Production I.G (Blood+, Blood-C), Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist/FMA: Brotherhood, My Hero Academia) could handle the adaptation if given the opportunity. I mean we're living in the era of anime popularity, so wouldn't it make sense for Marvel to restart Tomb of Dracula anime adaptation with another studio other then Toei.

[@Supertron1]

@@mdo7 Oh, yeah. I had forgotten that Toei did some animation for Marvel again in the 2010's. In retrospect, i think Marvel may have used Tomb of Dracula as way of deciding if they would be interested in using Toei to animate some of their more well-known characters. The Spider-Man episodes animated by Toei have a very similar art style.

[@buddyzilla4557]

6:33-It was also because the writters were coming up with ways to portray some of these creatures in nearly every way but a few that made it a loophole. People who happened to be turned into blood sucking superpowered monsters through unspecified scientific experiments with bats were not technically Vampires. Similarly woth werewolves. Having general science as an explanation over the occult allowed them to get around the codes wording in an exploitative manner. By allowing the more tame versions of the traditional versions they hoped the writters would choose to revert to them and it would essentially limit the portrayal in a natural censorship. Such titles as "Werewolf by Night" and "Moribus" can help prove it didn't work out so well. Sort of on the contrary, comic company's like marvel even ran with this by adapting Dracula into their modernized characters stories and adding new ones. Dracula was still Brahm Stoker's style Dracula but now you had a new type of vampire hunter in Blade and extended lore for the creatures. Dracula also would cross iver with characrers like Moribus..for reasons. Vampira made all the Vampires aliens. Not kidding.

[@karoloandria]

I have the gif of Drac eating a burger on my gif folder and this week I was like "I should find what anime is that gif from, I bet it's cool" but after watching this video I would be better off reading the original comic, I'm a comic book guy after all. And I have to commend that for an anime channel you were quiet fair when talking about comics, I expected at least one inflammatory quip but finding none was a delightful relief.

[@Haro79]

I’ve been watching for over a year now and sometimes go on binges of your videos. As a huge fan of 80s & 90s anime and OVA I love your content. Keep up the awesome work 😸

[@tskmaster3837]

19:22 Yep, that's what the English narration was trying to do. I don't know why, no one could know but events like this will affect us in the future we all experienced together!

[@Eldagusto]

Honestly this has a lot of charm in the voice acting and art hoho love me some vault of Dracula hoho

[@0therun1t21]

This one of my favorite cartoons! Why isn't it more famous? It's great!

[@jasonblalock4429]

17:15 OMG I can't stop laughing every time you play clips of the narrator. It sounds like Plan 9 From Outer Space! I think I have to go watch this now. Edit: And then you made the exact same association. Noice. 😀

[@KazeNiNare88]

I had both that and Frankenstein on VHS when I was a kid.

[@ArtWave879]

Well, all I know is that Discotek damn well better release a blu ray of this now. I mean, what will future generations think of us if we let this masterpiece of animation just fall through the cracks? History must be preserved!!!! Who's with me?............ *Crickets chirp mournfully*...............

[@k-dogg9086]

I found this anime quite humorous, actually. Drac eating (what I assume to be raw) burgers, falling in love, kidnapping a future wife for himself, protecting a group of kids, slapping out a vamp hunter, strangling an old man, crying yelling and throwing a tantrum, hehaving second thoughts about his vampy ways, and his regretting his murderers and butchery, makes me want to see this.. but I won't. I didn't like the fact they they involved the evil one throwing him in there so lightly, and what they did to that dead child was beyond stupid, and finally the mentioning of God Almighty in this was blasphemous.

[@quintessenceSL]

I'm actually for preservation of the foibles, the failed experiments, the madness of the times. I often find myself recommending films that are objectively not good, but capture the sense of the time, warts and all. A snapshot of how stupid and full of hubris we can be. And nothing's changed.

[@ShinSeikiEvan]

If the original subtitled version was included, I would totally buy it, and Frankenstein as well.

[@LowellLucasJr.]

Great to see this title covered! Perfect fir the month of Hallows Eve! Its still a charming story that you'd never thought it was from Marvel's Tomb of Dracula Comics!

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodGeek99]

I saw the frankenstein anime, this one seems interesting lol great review!

[@NinjaKage100]

Dracula: Sovereign of the Damned or as I like to call it "Dracula having the absolute worst friday."

[@DragonKingX78]

I do love Castlevania Symphony of The Night's sound track.

[@ChristophersRants]

I was reminded of Criswell and plan 9 and a clip pops up.

[@bluespaceman7937]

It's a silly movie, looking back, but I remember thinking it seemed cool as a kid. Never knew it was based on a comic until decades later. I want to read them one day.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

This anime was like if they tried to do Dracula: Dead and Loving It, but playing it completely straight!

[@dustinsimoneau4780]

Oh please, Drac eating a Whopper? Now the Nasuverse Frankenstein's "monster" at a Wendy's going to town on a frosty, now that warrants "the funny"

[@KaiserMazoku]

Still better than the Morbius movie

[@Zistheone2]

3:20 - 3:37 Hopefully this means Chibi Vampire Karin &/or Interviews with Monster Girls will be featured this month

[@juliamavroidi8601]

I hope he's gonna atleast mention the Sailor Moon episode with the child vampire that feeds on flowers

[@_GeneralMechanics_]

Forget waiting for the Blu-Ray release, I want to see this in the MCU! Tony Stark: "Have you ever had shawarma?" Dracula: "I would like a hamburger."

[@raulzavala9061]

I have a bootleg DVD of this because of nostalgia reasons I saw it as a kid while living in Ecuador and it was dubbed in Spanish which was probably better acted than the English one.

[@BottleWaterson]

The thumbnail has me Fully Intrigued

[@ScarecrOmega]

Even though it's really bad Im glad it exists. When I first heard of this I was so hoping that there was a Werewolf By Night anime around the same time, too bad there wasn't.

[@CptColumbo]

If I remeber correctly, the anime adapted the first and almost last story lines from Tomb of Dracula.

[@faidou9954]

it's morbin' time.

[@tipulsar85]

I keep expecting that HG narrator to cut away to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.

[@teddyfurstman1997]

This is like a CInemassacre Monster Madness but devoted to Vampire Anime. Keep up the Spooky work. Hope for the final two parts of The Merrie History of Looney Tunes.

[@noneofyourbusiness4616]

2:15 - "Beleaguered" rhymes with "believers" rather than "dual Lugers." I enjoyed the video, just a language tip in passing! Thank you for this!

[@Zimonov]

Oh how great to see this, this was one of two anime horror movies released in sweden as well with a swedish dub. The other being the aforementioned frankensteins monster adaptation, while i agree on this movie being bad i actually really love the frankensteins monster adaptation. I would love to see you cover that at some point as well!

[@EvaFull]

Is Nightwalker: The Midnight Detective one you plan on doing?

[@k-dogg9086]

I kinda like feature films which so much detail story plot and such as they did here: BUT ONLY IF DIVE CHRONOLOGICAL IN ORDER AND RIGHT!

[@TBoneTony]

4:40 Dracula has good taste.

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

Prehaps the oddest Marvel Comics adaptation of them all, taking it's story from the comic book Tomb of Dracula

[@David315842]

Spider-Man wasn't a Sentai show, it inspired 'Super Sentai' though. That was a weird way of pronouncing Denshi Sentai Deziman if I ever did hear it. Ah well, where Toei and Marvel may have failed with Dracula: Sovereign of the Dammed, they made up for with several years of outsourcing productions. Of course, Toei would try again to produce a horror themed show for Marvel and Sunbow, while trying to promote a kids toy line by Hasbro; the Inhumanoids. :D

[@humorouserrectis5791]

Awesome video , like 👍🏼 700 is from me you deserved more for this well made review .

[@Mr.Maguro]

that begs the question: is the mad house blade anime better? probably.

[@nightisright1873]

Next Merry History of Looney Tunes video ?

[@SirPumpkinSlice]

The first essential volume of Tomb you learn quickly the books antagonist beyond Blade and Quincy Harker are not interesting. So Dracula fell into the protagonist role at times occasionally taking interests in mortals, or running into enemies that go against his self interest. I haven't seen the movie, but the Marvel comics Dracula did not serve anyone but himself. I do remember he had a bout with Satan. Which raises many questions. The Satan that created Ghost Rider was retconned into being Mephisto. First among equals of the different Marvel fill ins for the devil. I'm assuming Doctor Sun did not appear? A Japanese scientist who put his brain in a robot and required blood to live. He ended up crossing Dracula at some point

[@sophiauland3911]

You know I'd forgotten this but I used to watch this movie with my dad when I was really little and knowing that makes me love my dad a little bit more because I got to experience awful cheesy anime at its finest

[@TBoneTony]

22:45 At least this version of Dracula told this part of his backstory as a Romanian Dictator known as Vlad the Impaler.

[@CocoHutzpah]

Weekly Tube Show introduced me to this

[@thomasffrench3639]

Who knew that Blade had a connection with Toei’s Spider-Man?

[@KyleKatarn1980]

*Ahem* Is it that time for Grant DaNasty to take on Dracula with his own blade and daggers? 🏴‍☠🧛‍♂🏰

[@user-rc3cm1zv4j]

What really surprised the most about this film is the English dub cast

[@dwainsimmons3447]

Me too since this Tom Wyner’s first voice acting role.

[@Cindy67917]

I don't think I actually recall that one 'cause I don't remember seeing it.

[@Prich319]

Ah yes, I remember this film well. There was this 18+ panel at Anime Boston where they showed some truly bad anime with MST3K style commentary. Stuff like Garzey's Wing and especially this.

[@ikecarr5989]

Anyone else think Frank Drake sounded like Bruce Campbell ?

[@D.S.handle]

Cartoonist Keyfabe have a video where they go through Marv Wolfman’s court testimony over him contesting the IP ownership of Blade. The anime has a brief mention there.

[@Monothefox]

And then he said "It's drackin' time" and dracked out.

[@mightyfilm]

First off, that Drac eating a burger at Disco King should have been a bigger meme than it was. Secondly, the thing that gets me about this anime is the art style and the musical score are actually pretty good. Too bad they blew it by screwing up the plot and making everything essentially a "Dracula out of context" even IN context mess out of the movie. I can forgive the strange animation framing on the fact it was an adaption of a Western project and they tried to make it with a muddled understanding of Western animation and comics. Same problem I have with Transformers Headmasters. Maybe if this was made after they became a major outsource animation studio (usually for Marvel), they'd have a better scope of how to frame it to look like a Marvel comic, all the while not denying themselves their Japanese animation style. Still, should have been either a short form series OR a movie that covered a short arc of the comics with intention to make a sequel.

[@Enshohma]

OH HELL YES! I've been curious towards your thoughts on this bloodsucking / hamburger eating oddity! Will we be seeing your take on the anime Frankenstein film from the same people?

[@theotakux5959]

Did this mention the Marvel collab Sentai series and completely skip the only one actually based on a Marvel character, Battle Fever J (concieved as a loose adaption of Captain America)?

[@animefreak8535]

I love the thumbnail matches my video on this anime hahaha

[@KaiserBeamz]

Great minds think alike

[@animefreak8535]

@@KaiserBeamz I not as smart as you but thanks

[@shanandersson1779]

Upload The Merrie History of Looney Tunes someday.

[@Edvin2103]

If I would have been the art director there, I would have explained that the idea is doomed if his eyebrown design remains unchanged- yes, it's so bad it would be enough to make the entire movie aestethically unpleasant and drag down the average visual enjoyment index of the thing. But I was not there of course, and indeed there were so many more inoptimalities than just the eyebrows :)

[@BastardWolf28]

I clicked on this video because that image of Dracula eating a burger triggered some buried memories. I was about to go to sleep but now I don't need sleep, I need answers!! That being said, I apologize in advance if I fall asleep so here's your like and comment. Subscribe? Ah, I feel my consciousness fading away...

[@melasnexperience]

Adapting a 7-year comic run into a movie? Foolishness. Adapting a 7-year comic run from the 70s, when the stories were denser & weren't stretching single-issue plots over six months at a time like modern comics, into a movie? LEGENDARY foolishness.

[@daseal1479]

Wait, are we ACTUALLY getting official Macross releases in the States now!? This is news to me, especially since they just recently went back and did Blu-rays for the 3 Robotech series. I'd love to own the OG series, as well as DYRL and Plus, which I own fan-created Blu-rays for. Guess I'm stuck with that trash Blu-ray transfer of Robotech: The Macross Saga for now. I bought it used as well, they aren't getting a penny out of me till they get their s**t straight.

[@TheRealNormanBates]

22:44 *FOR CHILDREN!*

[@Cameroo]

Voice acting wise. I feel like the difference between this and the American dub of Macross, Gatchaman or Mazinger Z are just marginal. 80's anime that made it's way to the United States was really.... Not good no matter how you slice it.

[@Mnemoniforma9.00]

Seeing you do Halloween ghoulies, reminds me that in spite of Batanen being on your logo's anime collage, you still haven't done Hyper Police. Honestly, I think it was ahead of its time, but like most of its contemporaries, the anime seriously muffed a lot of the more choice manga content i.e. Fonne going from being a kickass mall goth with a family life who doesn't give a damn to being an unlikeable one-note, racist ojou floozy. The finale also felt forced. Anyway, if you do Hyper Police, make sure to cover the manga differences.

[@kikihideout4966]

What happen to the Merry History if Looney Tunese?

[@KaiserBeamz]

Still working on it. Just taking awhile.

[@kikihideout4966]

@@KaiserBeamz okay. Please no woke crumbs man.....

[@NeurospicyBitch88]

@@KaiserBeamz Ah, that would explain it. I withdraw all my comments

[@300DBenz]

I KNOW YOU’RE HERE DRACULA, YOU BIG F*ING NERD, WHERE’S MY GODDAMN MONEY?!

[@dragondaveltd1992]

Are you going to continue on the next Looney Tunes video?

[@JONNYSORENSEN_AU]

what is anime, but a miserable pile of secrets!

[@funkmastaC]

So the moon knight was right after all. Dracula is a big nerd.

[@bryanc7094]

Japan always screws up in the end lol, wish the Anime studios went to X-men the animated series instead.

[@linainverse9369]

This is terrible, isn't it Edit: how the hell did Richard Epcar go from doing what can only be described as vocal garbage to voicing one of the coolest people in the history of anime? By all accounts it makes no sense Edit 2: if you're reading this Richard,no hard feelings... you probably didn't have much to work with to begin with and you probably were new to acting since this thing is from the 80s

[@Lynn17]

Well now I have to see this simply because it's so bad.

[@Smacgregor88]

sCHedule?

[@wpeniche]

I heard some symphony of the night bgm!

[@alannaramone3821]

Your miss pronouncing Gene colans last name, please dont do that again the man was a god.

[@davecrowson448]

The comics were actually really good. Waaaaaaay better than this nutty movie