Manga Review: Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D Volume One

[Jason]

Title: Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D
Volume: One
Mangaka: Saiko Takaki
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Seinen, Supernatural
Publisher: DMP
Rating: Young Adult (16+)
Price: $12.95/US

J-horror fans, rejoice! At long last, the well-loved classic Vampire Hunter D is adapted as a manga! The first of Kikuchi's nineteen novels were turned into an OVA anime in 1985 and it's taken until now to finally see a manga version. Could this version be closer to the novels themselves? Will fans finally glimpse the masterpiece that sparked the anime horror phenomenon?

In a word, no.

Despite the cover touting the claim that Kikuchi-sensei "hand-picked" Takaki to be the manga artist for this adaptation, he should have looked harder. This manga is execrable. While I’m not a hardcore fan of the old anime, I asked some people who are, and their unanimous verdict on this oversized, overpriced waste of ink and paper was to avoid it at all costs. Even I, who never really cared all that much for the anime, found this manga nearly impossible to read.

I could get picky about the plot and setting, but while there is much that is derivative or just plain silly, Kikuchi's fantasy world is compelling enough to draw the reader in and help us overlook such details. However, the Library Journal correctly points out its "ultra-mash-up plot" combining "trappings of the American Western with Fantasy, horror, sci-fi and shoujo...the spirit of Shane shines through." But it's not in such broad strokes that the real weaknesses show up.

Rather, the weaknesses in the writing are in the small things; the situational dialogue, for instance. Rarely has a manga been more overwrought and melodramatic. Most of the time in manga, there has been a "set-up", a mise-en-scene created that makes it acceptable, but in this case there is none. It's the manga equivalent of someone's first words to you being in Middle English. It's just silly. Some kind of character introduction is desperately needed.

And in manga, that character introduction usually first comes through the artwork. We see the character even before we read his or her dialogue. However, this artwork doesn't help us see anything about the characters other than that they are very poorly drawn and how bad the printing process is. Perhaps the publishers thought it would be "edgy" and "different" to have a horror story drawn by a shoujo artist. Actually, I can see where it might work...with another artist.

I have said before that I am not a fan of shoujo art, but I nevertheless greatly enjoy Furuba and Naisho no Tsubomi, amongst others. I know how to appreciate shoujo artwork, but there is almost nothing to enjoy about this art. There is absolutely no difference between most characters faces, all of them having the same nose, same heavily-inked eyes that look like patients off their anti-depression meds. Anatomical veracity is skewed, never more clearly seen than when seeing full-body drawings of long, enormous bodies and teeny-tiny little heads. I can't understand why D is wearing pants tight enough to force blood to his upper body.

I must say a brief word about the publishing. I have rarely seen such bad processes. There were misspellings in the dialogue, about a third of the pages were printed with a strange shadow of the black lines, and the paper is thin and not white, just barely better than newsprint. The inclusion of a dust cover is not enough to salvage this mess.

I have tried to give specific examples of why I am giving this manga a negative review, but frankly, it would take much longer and more space than I have here -- there are just too many. In the end, I would strongly recommend looking at this manga in the store or reading a library copy first.

Reviewer: Eric Turner
Proofer: Eduardo Menendez-Ramos
Editor: Lissa Pattillo