Marvel Anime: Blade
DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara
Written by Warren Ellis
Starring Harold Perrineau, Kim Mai Guest, JB Blanc, Troy Baker
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Release Date: July 31, 2012

Marvel Anime: Blade is the last of the first wave of Marvel DVD releases of anime versions of their characters produced by Japanese animation company Madhouse. These anime series aired in Japan originally, were dubbed in English, aired on G4, and were then collected on DVD and Blu-ray.

Blade is Eric Brooks, a half-human, half-vampire hybrid known as “The Daywalker” because sunlight does not affect him. While Blade’s mom was pregnant with him, she was attacked by the vampire Deacon Frost, resulting in Blade’s unique nature. Blade struggled to control his bloodlust until he met Noah Van Helsing, an old vampire slayer. He taught Blade to control his urges and Blade began training and traveling the world, vowing revenge on Deacon Frost and seeking the destruction of the vampire race.

Marvel fans got many reasons to smile at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. Among those reasons was the announcement that G4TV will be airing four new Marvel anime series’ produced by Madhouse Studios.

Originally announced at last year’s convention, we found out from Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s new executive vice president-head of television, that each series will be 12 episodes and were all written by Warren Ellis. Get ready for Iron Man, X-Men, Wolverine, and Blade sometime in 2011.

The Iron Man series will debut in Japan on Oct. 1. No official dates were given for the U.S. broadcasts at this point. G4″²s teaser is below, and if you’re interested, CBR posted the original trailers for Iron Man and Wolverine from last year.