to distinguish it from the first film. Release Theatrical To promote the film, a two-and-a-half-minute-long trailer was finished in 1998 and was shown at American anime fan conventions. A work-in-progress print was shown in 2000 at the Fantasia Film Festival in July in Montreal and at the New York Anime Film Festival in October 2000. The completed version of the film was only released theatrically in an English-language version. On its Japanese theatrical release, it was subtitled in Japanese. It premiered on September 23, 2001, in America where it played in six theaters. It grossed $25,521 in this run and $151,086 in total, making it the highest-grossing Japanese film ever in a language other than Japanese. Home video Urban Vision released the movie on DVD and VHS on February 12, 2002, and it was listed at #7 on the Billboard Top DVD Sales chart for the week of March 9, 2002. Then on February 3, 2015, Discotek Media announced their license to release the movie for Blu-ray on September 8, 2015, and DVD on September 22, 2015, however, due to licensing restrictions, all releases have the original English audio only. In Japan, the film was released on DVD on December 19, 2001, by Avex Entertainment with both English and Japanese audio. Reception The film received generally favorable reviews from American critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 72% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Vampire Hunter Ds gothic charms may be lost on those unfamiliar with the anime series that spawned it, but the crisp action and nightmarish style will satiate horror aficionados' bloodlust." It received a rating of 62 on the website Metacritic based on 15 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The Chicago Reader gave a favorable review of the film, referring to it as a "gorgeously animated surrealist adventure". The New York Daily News referred to the film as "Beautiful, witty and provocative" and that it should "appeal to fans and non-fans alike". The San Francisco Chronicle praised the director Yoshiaki Kawajiri stating that he "has a gift for striking visuals" but also noted that "his story manages to be simultaneously thin and chaotic." See also Japanese films of 2000 List of anime theatrically released in the United States List of horror films of 2000 Vampire film Notes