Vampire Hunter D

Vampire Hunter D (吸血鬼ハンターD) is a character developed in 1983 by Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi (菊地 秀行), who eventually wrote 17 novels based on him, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. Two have been turned into anime movies. The first two novels has been translated into English just recently. Both films are licensed by Urban Vision.

Animated movies

Vampire Hunter D

The first film is set some 10,000 years in the future in the year 12,090 A.D. where a vampiric nobility terrorizes human peasants. A young girl, Doris Lang, is attacked by Count Magnus Lee, a powerful vampire said to be a 5000 or 10,000 years old. She later encounters a mysterious horseman, D, whom she hires to protect her farm from the vampires' predations. Unable to provide monetary recompense, she offers her body to do with as he pleases, but he refuses, yet decides to assist her because not only is he a Dhampir, he is a gentleman to boot.

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When Doris is kidnapped by Count Lee, D and Doris' little brother Dan travel to Lee's gigantic fortress to rescue her. During the rescue, it is revealed that D is a descendant of Dracula.

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Outside, the trio stand and watch as the castle crashes down. Soon, the land is clear of the Count's corruption.

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The next day, under a clear, blue sky, D rides off on a journey with no destination. Doris and Dan call out to him; D looks at them and for a moment, his eyes are filled with affection. Then, D turns away, and he travels into the distance.

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The novel this anime is based on has recently been released in English on June 2005 due to popular English demand.

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Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust

The second film, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, is set 2000 years after the first film which would be in the year 14,090 A.D. Bloodlust, directed by Yoshiaki Kawajiri is widely regarded as being the cinematic superior of the two due to advanced animation techniques, better voice-acting (English voice casting/direction by Jack Fletcher), and a better . The second Vampire Hunter D movie (VHD2000; Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust in the USA) is based on the third of Hideyuki Kikuchi's series of Vampire Hunter D novels (殺妖行, or "Demon Deathchase" in English).

Related Topics:
Yoshiaki Kawajiri - Jack Fletcher

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In this film, vampires are a dwindling breed, and one of the last, Meier Link, has kidnapped Charlotte Elbourne, a human girl. Her father hires D to find her. He also hires the Markus brothers. Borgoff, the leader of the group, battles using a special repeating cross bow that he wears on his glove. Nolt is a behemoth of a man who wields a warhammer made from an enormous wooden stake. Kyle fights with a special pair of boomerang-like blades that spin on his fingertips. Grove, whose physical body is frail, projects his spirit into battle as a powerful, spectre-like being after being given a special shot. Leila, the only woman of the group, is not a member of the Markus family, but fights along side them using a very large pistol. In a touching scene she tells D that she became a Hunter to avenge her parents, who were victims of vampires. In this same scene she forms a pact with D that if either one of them survives, the surviver can bring flowers to the other's grave. D agrees because, as he says, he is a "dunpeal"; he doesn't get to have a life like she does. The two parties race inexorably toward a final confrontation with Link, but not before battling the mutant Barberois -- a group of mercenary bodyguards and warriors with strange and lethal powers. A strange, unicycle-riding, old man speaks on behalf of the Barberois.

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In time it is revealed that Charlotte is in love with Meier, and they wish to travel a "pathway to the stars" where they can love each other without being shunned and harmed by humans. As the story ends, all the Markus brothers, except for Leila, are killed, and D is forced to fight Carmilla, the ghost of a long-dead vampire Countess who tries to re-animate her physical body by draining the blood of Link and Charlotte. When vampires were all-powerful and unchallenged, this countess reigned supreme within the Castle of Chaythe. Her character is based around the myths surrounding the Countess Elizabeth Báthory. At the movie's end, many years after the events at the castle, a funeral is held for Leila who, we are told, decided to settle down and end her job as a Hunter. D arrives at the funeral and is greeted by Leila's granddaughter who invites him to stay with them for a while. D declines saying that he simply came to "repay a favor to an old friend, who feared no one would mourn her death." The girl thanks him for coming, and D replies by smiling gently at her. As D leaves, his left hand comments on how he wasn't such a bad guy after all. He just dresses bad.

Related Topics:
Carmilla - Elizabeth Báthory

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