Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 1 by Hideyuki Kikuchi, Yoshitaka Amano
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Book Reviews of Vampire Hunter D, Vol. 1
Book Review: A whim that proved entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book on a whim, saw an interesting cover and name and decided to give it a shot. Great book in my opinion, vampires, sexual content, awesome world to imagine. I'd recommend this, have been plowing through the series since I picked up this title.
FYI the DVD sucks, don't buy it.
Book Review: Very Poorly Written
Summary: 1 Stars
While this could have been an entertaining read, the writing makes this novel impossible to enjoy. This novel is severely lacking in character development...I didn't care at all about any of the characters. The plot is predicatable, and slow paced. Basically, I found this book a chore to read.Book Review: A Hunter of unbelievable skill
Summary: 4 Stars
Imagine a postapocalyptic wasteland, where technology is slowly sliding into a new medieval age... and vampire Nobles have ruled for ten thousand years.
Hideyuki Kikuchi left the rules of vampire novels behind when he crafted "Vampire Hunter D," mingling dark science fiction with ancient mythical creatures -- werewolves, vampires, and so on. Though his style is rather distant, the result is sort of a futuristic western by way of Bram Stoker.
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 -- 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, fairies, mutants and cyborgs. He's invented a gloriously rough, wild kind of world, sort of a postapocalyptic Wild West.
However, his writing is anything but -- detailed, atmospheric, and full of creepy scenes (including D's, uh, left hand reviving him when he's "killed"). If there's an overhanging problem, it's that he has to infodump his audience at times, so they know about stuff like Gargantua grapes.
Kikuchi relies on a formal, distant style reminiscent of 19th-century novels, though more spare and stripped down. But sometimes he bursts into outright pulpy prose ("The people saw the crimson glean of his eyes in the darkness -- the eyes of a vampire!"). And he spins up some pretty intense suspense about D's true nature, and his hidden identity.
D is a rather elusive, haunted character -- Kikuchi rarely shows us what he thinks or feels, but gradually hints at his inner struggles. And he's backed by a pretty solid cast of characters -- feisty Doris, the despicable rich boy Greco, haughty vampiress Larmica, and the downright creepy mutant Rei-Ginsu, who is able to warp space inside his body.
While it has a few rough spots, "Vampire Hunter D" is a haunting, futuristic tale of vampires and the mysterious Hunter who pursues them. An excellent beginning to the series.
Book Review: Seen the Movie, now Read the Book and be Blown Away
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow. When I bought the book, I was expecting a novelization of the movie, but this book is so much more. The movie was about Vampire Hunter D, this book IS Vampire Hunter D.
Compared to the book, the 1985 movie was a run through of all the important plot points and leaves out a huge chunk of the events only seen in the book. Battles, scenes, and background information that you never see in the movie is explained in full in the novel.
Most of the characters are the same, except for some changes. However Rei-gensei is a complete rework between his novel and movie counterparts. In comparison, the movie Rei-gensei is a nice guy next to his novel counterpart. The same goes for the Mayor's son, Greco. And Lamika is considerably nastier in her novel role too.
Doris is given more depth and her brother Dan is given a change to grow up in a vivid world where the number 1 rule is survival at all costs.
The only con about the novel is sometimes the wording is a bit off or seems strange, but bear in mind that it's been translated from Japanese, but that did not keep me from enjoying the novel one bit.
Book Review: So long awaited, it has 5 stars no matter what.
Summary: 5 Stars
My only problem with this book is that the translation seems rushed. In Movie to book, you have the image of a hack writer watching the DVD copy and just going along with the action. There's a parody of "Movie to Novel" of the Lord of the Ring movies that does this and makes Tolkien fans shriek like they are Lovecraft characters seeing Great Cthulhu.
Well, foreign translations, especially great culturally different ones, risk the "All your base are now belonging to us" speech. And I note a little of this, not so much as in the dialogged but in the descriptions of the characters and their motivations. There is a bit too much on how this character, despite being a weird "Post Apocalypse" mutant/vampire/whatever is "Special" in some way...
So, you've got to be a bit forgiving here. For all I know the translation author had no time and a super strict contract protecting the contents. And, if you read such a fiction as "Vampire Hunter D" you need to turn up your "Suspension of Disbelief" to the level of a child or a fursuit lifestyler.
But, do not let this scare you away. I got the novel eagerly and loved it. Vampire hunter D is an experiment in style as much as any 'fantastic' story. I'm sure, if it was translated perfectly, it would be up there with some of Clark Ashton Smith's best works.
I really, REALLY wish Dark Horse would re-write this. I don't really have a problem with who they used, except that this story deserves the ultimate hack; Harlan Ellison. Serious. He's worked for/with Dark Horse before. Just lock him in a room with endless coffee, the movies, the "All your base" literal translation and the english hack's attempt, and the promise of a few quick thousand plus royalties if he follows the "Just make a good novel out of that story" instructions properly.
Most net users only know the "King of Cranks" Harlan Ellison who sued AOL over online trading of his works. Grow up, it's the guys who bought obscure patents and sued for blackmail purpouses, or the person who tried to patent the "Hyperlink" who threatened the net, and he had far more reason than the RIAA for the unpopular line he went down.
Anyone who's read his stories knows he'd be the best for the job. I'd suggest "Quicktime", "Repent Harlequin said the ticktock man", "Deathbird", "Friend of the Enemy" and so on. And if you need any further convincing, look up his "Chocolate Alphabet" underground comic. Yeah, he's old, but that's ok. "The Glass Teat" is another one.
He'd have a field day with this. He'd probably go "Gaaaaahhhhhh!!!! They want to KILL ME!!!!" the first few days, then get really, really drunk and churn out an incredible novel. He'd do what Adam Warren did with the Dirty Pair; Make the American Version so good, it is illegally imported into Japan because the fans like it better!