GASP! This can't be? A manga version of Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D! Oh, it's true. Now we can look at pretty pictures of our beloved D doing his jobs; killin' Vampires, and capturing the hearts of lovely maidens.
Doris Lang was attacked by the Count Magnus Lee. When D makes his way through the village Doris lives, she hires D to destroy Count Lee before he returns to make her his bride. Count Lee's daughter, however, does not like the fact that a mere human is entering the Lee family. She has decided that she will devour Doris before her father can marry her.
Highlights
When the opportunity came in to do Vampire Hunter D reviews, I was ecstatic! I've seen the novels in stores, but always I was too short on cash. When the books arrived, I was blown away. There were four beautiful manga sitting there, waiting for me to start reading. And I did. For each volume there is a full color image at the beginning, and a full color dust cover. Not to mention the manga themselves are longer and larger than the average manga. Wow. It's a "you can judge the book by its cover" moment.
The packaging opened the door to the wonderful world of 12,090 A.D. The mix of the middle ages and futuristic technology was brilliant! It was that classic gothic setting vampire readers are looking for, and it had perfectly blended elements of different time periods that made it new! I was surprised at how well the two worked together. The artwork probably helped a lot with the setting. It was dark and rough, adding to the gothic nature of the series.
For the story itself, it was strong and setup the series just right. A mix between a mystery novel and a medieval textbook sounds weird at first, but it keeps you reading before you know it. As our hero D searches for the Noble (vampires) who are wreaking havoc on a small village, the world itself is being explained. There's no flashback moments that don't seem to belong. Instead these flashbacks are for the characters development. With each volume there is a Noble who is causing trouble, and the mystery of "who is D really?" Some clues are given, but in a way that you don't know if they are the truth. For example, in this volume, the daughter of the hunted Noble asks D if "D" stands for "Dracula". D doesn't actually answer. This got me thinking, "Is D actually Dracula?", but that cannot be, for D is only half vampire, and earlier in the volume there is something mentioned about D's father. Then I thought, "Is Dracula D's father?" But, of course, this is not answered, making you wait for a later volume.
Overall
Volume one was a great setup for the rest of the series. There was the right amount of information given to establish the setting, and develop the character of D. I was a little disappointed at the fact that there are no actual chapters, so it was hard to stop if necessary. Also, the artwork was a little too detailed at times for being simply black and white. But, the plot was just too strong for those things to really do any damage.
Unfortunately, this series may not be for everyone. There is many a sexual reference, and often it is about the female protagonist being sexually abused. There is also full frontal nudity, which I found completely unnecessary. I recommend this series to any one 16 years or older, who likes gothic vampire stories. It's a classic of the vampire world that shouldn't be forgotten. Overall, I'm excited to see what comes and who D will encounter next!
ComicsOnline Gives Vampire Hunter D: Volume 1, 4 out of 5 Victims of the Nobel, Count Magnus Lee.
