Blade slays Japan in new anime series; watch a teaser

Although the recent BLADE television series failed to deliver here in the U.S., Japan is going to try their own televised take on the Marvel character with an animated series. The show will debut on Animax in Japan on July 1. You can watch a teaser video below.

In addition to the preview, the official website has also launched. Granted, it’s all in Japanese so I can’t make out a single word of it, but you can still check out some artwork. Here’s a little hint at what the series has in store:

The story revolves around Blade, a “daywalker” vampire hunter who was born with vampire and human blood after a vampire attacked his mother. While visiting Japan on a mission, Blade tracks down Deacon Frost, the vampire who killed his mother. Blade confronts “Existence,” a mysterious organization composed of vampires modified by Frost.

The series is directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara, written by Kenta Fukasuka (BATTLE ROYALE). The Japanese voice cast includes Akio Ohtsuka as Blade, Maaya Sakamoto as Makoto, Tsutomu Isobe as Deacon Frost and Osamu Saka as Noah Van Helsing. No word on a U.S. release yet.

Traci Lords appeared in the film version of BLADE