GKIDS Acquires North American Rights to Bloodlust and Live-Action 5 Centimeters per Second

GKIDS announced Saturday that it has acquired North American rights to the anime film Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and the live-action adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s anime film 5 Centimeters per Second.

Select screenings of Bloodlust’s Japanese-language version with English subtitles will take place this fall. Theatrical and home entertainment releases will follow in 2027.

GKIDS also plans to bring the live-action 5 Centimeters per Second to North American theaters.

The live-action film opened in Japan in October 2025, placing second in its opening weekend. Its first three days drew 278,000 ticket sales and 420 million yen, about US$2.78 million.

SixTONES member Hokuto Matsumura, who voiced Sōta Munakata in Suzume, stars in the film. Its production credits include:

• Production: Spoon
• Distribution: TOHO
• Director: Yoshiyuki Okuyama
• Screenplay: Ayako Suzuki
• Music: Ayatake Ezaki
• Theme song: “1991,” performed by Kenshi Yonezu

GKIDS’ synopsis follows Takaki and Akari, who become best friends after transferring to the same elementary school. Their families must later move, separating them.

A year later, Takaki boards a train from Tokyo to reunite with Akari. Memories fill his thoughts as their meeting approaches.

Both wonder whether they will see each other again and reveal their hidden feelings. Three connected stories follow Takaki through love and the loss of innocence, across the minutes and months of their lives.

In GKIDS’ description of Bloodlust, a young woman appears to have been abducted by the vampire Baron Meier Link. Her father hires D, a vampire-hunting “Dunpeal,” to retrieve her.

D crosses the wastelands while competing with hardened mercenary hunters. Along the way, he must face the complicated truth surrounding the woman.

Hideyuki Kikuchi’s novels inspired both the 1985 Vampire Hunter D original video anime (OVA) and the 2000 Bloodlust film.

Discotek Media’s 2015 DVD and Blu-ray Disc editions are Bloodlust’s most recent releases. Urban Vision previously issued the film on DVD and VHS in 2002.

The 1985 OVA most recently reached Blu-ray Disc through Sentai Filmworks in August 2025. Iconic Events Releasing and Anime Expo’s AX Cinema Nights program held its 40th-anniversary screenings in April 2025.

HIDIVE and Shudder began streaming the OVA in May 2025 in these countries:

• United States
• Canada
• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• Australia
• New Zealand

The original 5 Centimeters per Second anime opened in Japan in 2007.

Yoshiaki Kawajiri directed Bloodlust at Madhouse. Shinkai directed, wrote and storyboarded the 5 Centimeters per Second anime, also serving as sound director, producer and art director. Tenmon composed its music.