A Review of "Vampire Hunter D" (audiobook) by Hideyuki Kikuchi

When I was younger, one of my favorite anime movies was Vampire Hunter D. I loved the atmosphere of it, and as I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, I was sort of obsessed with vampires in middle and high school. I was pretty pleased when I came across the audiobook adaptation of Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi.

The story is the classic one of a half-human/ half-vampire offspring hunting full-blooded vampires. D comes to the rescue of Doris and her brother after Doris is attacked by the local vampire, Count Lee (yes, pretty certain this is a nod to Christopher Lee and his role in early Dracula films). Lee decides to take Doris for his wife, against the wishes of his daughter who believes the human will pollute their noble line. Meanwhile, Doris must also fight off the suitor from town who is in love with her and another set of hunters and their leader, a beautiful fiend named Rei-Ginsei.

A lot of people probably think this started out as a manga, but it is in fact a novel. The film and manga versions came later. And the book, being from the early 1980s, is full of tropes that we now see throughout manga and anime, many of which started off in Hammer horror films (as shared in the afterword) and science fiction films of the seventies and eighties. The mash-up of horror and decaying technology is what I really love about this world. It was so new and interesting at the time. This is a classic, and in many ways, it stands the test of time.

The narrator, Paul Boehmer, did a fine job, though I did sometimes cringe at his voice for Doris. This is a common pet peeve of mine, however: male narrators doing female voices. I admit that it is something I almost always find a weakness with. In general, his well-paced narration gave all the tension necessary to the action.

This audiobook is a great way to revisit the classic Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi. I would definitely recommend it to fans of science fiction, horror, and fantasy.

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