Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D Manga, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Hideyuki Kikuchi (Author), Saiko Takaki (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 20, 2007

The year is 12,090 A.D., and what little is left of humanity has finally crawled out from the ashes of war and destruction. From the darkness of fallout, mutants and a race of vampires known as the Nobility have spawned. They rule the weak with no remorse. Once bitten by a Nobility, one is cursed to become a member of the undead. Villagers cower in fear, hoping and praying for a savior to rid them of their undying nightmare. All they have to battle this danger is a different kind of danger - a Vampire Hunter.

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing (November 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569708274
• ISBN-13: 978-1569708279
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #322,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Hideyuki Kikuchi is considered to be the master horror writer of Japan by American fandom, often compared to Stephen King.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've waited for this a loooonnng time, November 17, 2007

By 

B. B. Bridenbaugh "KingNot" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D Manga, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Especially that there was this shocking news to an Anime fan that there was "No such thing" as an "Original Vampire Hunter D Manga". Direct from book to Anime. Rarer, but nowhere near unheard of. Also tangent "Shamanic Princess" for example.

Overall, it is a very good Manga adaptation of the novel. Actually a bit of a gestalt of the Novel and the film, leaning heavily towards the former. A little bit of artistic license here and there for gag effect, but in no way detracts from the story.

The artwork is very good although Amano's own artwork is much better but now much more stylized than most would like.

This is simply a "Must Have" for anyone who likes D enough to have the films. To anyone who's maybe watched the films on TV or a rental or at someone's house, I'd still recommend the Manga, then perhaps the first volume of the translated book.

Some examples of this are that Doris has black hair and is a bit of a more forceful personality rather than constant "Damsel in Distress" of the manga. The count's daughter, Lamika, is a blonde and is interested in rather than scornful of D. And the Count is still as formidable, but his powers are a bit...different. Won't say more and be a possible 'spoiler'...again I'll say its well worth buying. I don't even get that many comics or mangas these days, but I eagerly bought this one.

What I think is even better is that there seems to be promise to make more of these books into novels, up to perhaps (market willing) the whole series. At the least, "Raiser of Gales" will be available next summer:-)

Last, but not least, this book is a larger format. Half again the size of the standard manga. This, not licensing is no doubt the reason for its increased price, but it is thick and chock full of beautiful illustration, including a color front piece, something American Manga publishers seem to cheat out of for the most part.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I really enjoyed this, August 23, 2008

By 

S. Raines - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D Manga, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I'm not a big fan of the movie version of this, but I'd heard the novels were better and that the manga was more faithful to those so I picked these up. At first the artwork surprised me. It's very busy. But then as I started to read I began to appreciate how the ornateness paired up with the spare dialogue to tell the story. The style reminds of a combination of Kaori Yuki (Angel Sanctuary/Count Cain) and Kouta Hirano (Hellsing), in a good way. It's dense with lines and textures, but most panels were easily understood despite that. There were only a few in battles scenes that confused me.

The story has been described by the others, vampire hunter with a mysterious past saves a buxom (waaaaaay too buxom) girl and her kid brother (who sounds like he stepped off the set of Bonanza). This is a Western at heart. The trappings though are new and original, and I was intrigued by this futuristic new world where horses were constructs and men could have hands that talked.

It looks like this could be a long string of volumes complete within themselves, but containing an arc slowly revealing D's past that strings them together. I've read the first two and thought they were really entertaining, lively action and bits of the puzzle of D to think about. I'd recommend them to anyone who likes mature graphic novels, vampires, dark fantasy, and science fiction.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A hunter of unbelievable skill, February 7, 2008

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D Manga, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

It somehow seems surprising that with a pair of classic anime movies and several novels, Hideyuki Kikuchi's "Vampire Hunter D" has never been rendered in manga form.

Well, now it has. And it's a gorgeous, detailed rendering of Kikuchi's futuristic-western-by-Bram-Stoker style. And it does a solid job mingling dark science fiction with ancient mythical creatures -- werewolves, vampires, and a medieval futuristic world full of monsters.

Farmgirl Doris Lang stops a sword-carrying youth on a cyborg horse, and finds that he is a Vampire Hunter. Good thing, because Doris has been bitten by the vampire Magnus Lee, and needs this young man -- who calls himself "D" -- to save her and her brother from the vampire. Haughty vampire ladies, werewolves and feuding villagers all visit Doris' farm -- only to be repulsed by D.

But to deal with Lee, D must venture into a disgusting, labyrinthine castle, dealing with demonic serpent-women, lethal mutants, and the Count himself. Outside, Lee's servants and daughter Larmica grapple with various villagers, intending to capture or kill Doris -- but none of them realize what D, a dhampir, is hiding in his distant past...

The world Kikichi concocts is a pretty fascinating one. As the introduction explains, it's over ten thousand years in the future, in the waning days of a vampire empire that ran the whole planet, and Earth is overrun with vampires, werewolves, mutants and cyborgs. He's invented a gloriously rough, wild kind of world, sort of a postapocalyptic Wild West.

And his detailed, atmospheric writing is stripped down and translated into artwork and spare dialogue. The actual prose tends to be rather straightforward, in a "Shane" kind of way, but preserving much of the flavour of the original novel. And most of the stuff Kikuchi described is faithfully set down, and spun into detailed black-and-white illustrations.

And the artist should be commended for his work -- we have ornate satellites, cathedral-like castles, the dissipated-looking Count Lee and his sensuous (and big-haired) daughter, shadowed rapid-fire fight scenes, run-down wildernesses, and even the creepy monsters like Garou or the pretty-boy Rei-Ginsu. It's lusher and more ornate than a norma-sized manga could contain, and it adds to the gothic flavour of the story.

D himself is the absolute peak of the artwork, both in ink and in artistry. Ahe artist perfectly captured strength, inhuman stillness and melancholy age that he embodies, as well as the long lean body and beautiful youth's face. And he has a pretty cool costume as well -- think a medieval knight with a dash of cowboy.

The flaws? Well, the extremely rapid action scenes are a bit hard to follow. And Doris is absurd-looking -- her mouth is tiny, and she has giant torpedo boobs, each usually larger than her head. And they often appear to be trying to escape from her shirt and whap someone in the chin -- it says "Playmate" to me rather than "feisty farmgirl."

While it has a few errors, "Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D" is a magnificently rich, exquisitely dark manga. Definitely worthy of Kikuchi's work.