Vampire Hunter D

Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi, 1983/2005, DH Press/DMP Books

My first experience with this story was about a dozen years ago when I saw the anime OAV version on the Sci-Fi Channel. Since then, that has been the only way non-Japanese speakers could experience the first story in the very successful Vampire Hunter D series. Last year, however, Dark Horse Comics started a book publishing division to publish translations of Japanese books that would appeal to comic book and manga fans, so now we can all experience the original story in its original form.

Overall, this book is about average. It is noticeably shorter than modern fantasy or sci-fi stories, clocking in at only 240 pages. In addition, the author's descriptions sometimes get over-bearing. For example, the main heroine/damsel in distress is Doris, a teenage beauty living with her younger brother. Too many times there are references to her "maidenhood" or her "maiden intuition" to let you know that she is a virgin. Being a virgin is all well and good, but it gets mentioned over half-a-dozen times, which is unnecessary. The translation is occasionally difficult at times, as well. There is one scene where I honestly couldn't tell what was happening because so many pronouns got used that it wasn't sure which "he" or "she" they were actually talking about. Things like that annoy me, because it breaks me out of the story as I have to figure out what the author is getting at.

On the good side, the story is actually quite interesting. "D" is a vampire hunter (obviously), but the story is set over 10,000 years in the future, and there is a strong sci-fi aspect to the world the characters inhabit. The proper amount of background is given to the reader to allow them to understand why the world is the way it is, but only enough to assist the story, which was nice. This is a long series, and I expect that the secrets of the world will be slowly uncovered throughout. This story involves a conflict with one particular vampire who is after Doris, but enough other characters get involved that the story avoids being one-dimensional. Overall it was an enjoyable read, and I will likely pick up more books in the series.

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