The second volume of DMP’s signature title keeps everything that worked about the first and adds some nice twists.
Creative Staff
Story: Hideyuki Kikuchi
Art: Saiko Takaki
Adaptation: Saiko Takaki
Translation: Duane Johnson
What They Say
The people of the village of Tepes once cowered in fear beneath the shadow of the Nobility manor. But the Nobility moved on, and the castle sat empty, a place whispered of in ghost stories to caution young children to stay away. One day, four of the village children vanished. Only three eventually returned, with no memory of what happened or where they went…
Originally written by Hideyuki Kikuchi, adapted by Saiko Takaki.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
In this volume, D is hired to look into a series of attacks that are plaguing the frontier town of Tepes. Ten years prior, four children disappeared mysteriously. Three of them reappeared two weeks later with no knowledge of where they had been or what they had been doing; the fourth was never found. While there were suspicions of an attack by the nobility, there were no obvious signs of any trouble other than one of them going mad from emotional trauma. With no other issues, the town returned to normal, and the tale of the children became just a story.
Until recently, when the attacks began. D is just the most recent in a long line of hunters to come through the town and fail to discover the cause, and some of the townsfolk are beginning to feel it’s time to take matter into their own hands. To make matters worse, Lina—one of the four who had gone missing—has recently been granted the opportunity to study in the capital, a rare privilege that often results in an economic boon to the chosen’s home town. But she has been targeted, both by creature terrorizing Tepes and those in the village who want to use her for their own lustful ends. The question is whether D can end the threat before she, and the whole town, is destroyed.
This was really my first experience with Vampire Hunter D that was not the original anime. The first volume of the manga was the same story as the anime, and while I have seen the follow-up movie, Bloodlust, I only ever saw it once over ten years ago. I don’t really remember anything about it. So in some ways, I came into this story blind.
What I found interesting about this story is its approach to the nobility (vampires). The approach of the first volume basically set the nobility as the enemies of humanity, ruling over them and using them as prey. This volume takes a more philosophical approach to the nobility as it starts to examine the reasons for the nobility beginning to die out over five thousand years ago, and what exactly it is that sets them apart from humanity. It was an interesting approach that I did not expect, and something that I hope they continue to examine in future volumes, because I think it adds a lot of depth to the story, as well as layers to D’s position between the two worlds.
Otherwise, the general approach to this story was the same as the last: D wanders into a town beset by problems from monsters and/or nobility, finds himself drawn to an attractive young woman who is caught up in the mess, and constantly finds his investigations hampered by belligerent townsfolk too impatient to wait on his methods. But stoically, he continues to press forward and not worry about any of that, eventually figuring things out in the end. To be fair, it’s not a bad formula, and I enjoyed this volume as much as the last. But it is a formula, and I hope they switch it up a bit before it has a chance to get old.
The last thing I want to mention is the production quality of this release, which is pretty fantastic. It is printed on a good, heavy-weight paper that feels like it could withstand a lot of beating. And while the comic itself is black-and-white, there is a full color, glossy picture of Lina at the front of the book. But the most interesting part of the package is that it has a dust cover, just like a hard cover book. The dust cover is a full color, textured, synthetic paper. The texturing are some areas of embossing with the title and D’s pendent. The cover underneath is monochrome rather than full color, but the dust jacket is a really nice addition. It’s the perfect touch to an impressive publication.
In Summary
The second volume of Vampire Hunter D follows the same formula that worked so well in the first and finds it work just as well here, all the while adding some philosophical examination into the history of the nobility that I hope becomes a feature of future volumes as well. While I could see the formula getting old if it continues unchanged, it certainly isn’t old only two volumes in. DMP’s flagship franchise has started strong, and I hope it remains that way. So far, I have no real reason to believe it won’t. Highly recommended.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Digital Manga Publishing
Release Date: June 24th, 2008
MSRP: $12.95