Vampire Hunter D (1985)

A young girl requests the help of a vampire hunter to kill the vampire who has bitten her, and thus prevent her from becoming a vampire herself.

Director:

Toyoo Ashida

Writers:

Hideyuki Kikuchi (novel), Yasushi Hirano (screenplay)

Stars:

Kaneto Shiozawa, Michie Tomizawa, Seizô Katô

1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kaneto Shiozawa	...	D (voice)
Michie Tomizawa	...	Doris (voice)
Seizô Katô	...	Lee (voice)
Satoko Kifuji	...	Lamika (voice)
Kazuyuki Sogabe	...	Rei Ginsei (voice)
Motomu Kiyokawa	...	Feringo (voice)
Yûsaku Yara	...	Greco (voice)
Kazuko Yanaga	...	Older Snake Sister (voice)
Yoshiko Sakakibara	...	Younger Snake Sister (voice)
Keiko Toda	...	Dan (voice)
Yasuo Muramatsu	...	Roman (voice)
Kan Tokumaru	...	Danton (voice)
Ichirô Nagai	...	Left Hand / Narrator (voice)
Kazumi Tanaka	...	O'Reilly (voice)
Shinya Ôtaki	...	Gimlet (voice)

Storyline

A young girl requests the help of a vampire hunter to kill the vampire who has bitten her, and thus prevent her from becoming a vampire herself.

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Plot Keywords:

vampire | vampire hunter | dark hero | half human | male dhampir | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Fantasy | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

26 March 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vampire Hunter D

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ashi Productions Company, CBS Sony Group Inc., Epic/Sony

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo 6-Track Stereo (2000 Special Edition has 5.1 audio in japanese) 6-Track Stereo (2000 Special Edition has 5.1 audio in english)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

There is a audio commentary track with Jonathan Clements on the Region 2 UK Manga Video DVD.

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Quotes

Rei Ginsei: I am Rei Ginsei, vampire hunter and killing men like you is my greatest pleasure. Prepare to die!

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Alternate Versions

In the Streamline Pictures English-dubbed release, a graphic shot of Count Magnus Lee's face crumbling during the final battle with D is replaced with a red flash. This change remains present in all subsequent North American prints, including the bilingual DVD and the subtitled VHS released by Urban Vision.

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Connections

References The Vampire Doll (1970)

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Soundtracks

Your Song ('D'Mix)
Lyrics by Tetsuya Komuro
Music by Tetsuya Komuro & Naoto Kine
Arranged by Tetsuya Komuro
Performed by TM Network

User Reviews

Very slick and cool anime set in the future, but with monsters of the past.

This is one of those anime movies I first saw on regular television. It was very cool and unique and started my love affair with these types of cartoons. The only other anime movie I saw before this one was one called in English "Warriors of the Wind". I saw that one when I was a bit young though and I didn't know what was going on so I can not really review it. I remember it being rather good though. The reason I like this one though is that it is sort of the old plot of a man going against vampires and wolfman and all sorts of other supernatural creatures, but there is a bit of a futuristic twist that I rather like. The story has a girl bitten by a vampire and destined to become his bride. She is in luck though as a vampire hunter named D has come to town. This guy really is a good fighter and he uses every trick in the book to take down the evil in the castle. He has a rather unique sidekick as well. Twists and turns abound in the movie as do betrayals and vengeance. This one has it all and some great animation and action as well. When I saw this one later on cinemax I was kind of surprised to see it had some brief nudity in it as well, but nothing that lasts to long. Quite frankly, that was about the only difference I saw from the television cut to the movie cut...not really too much of a big deal. All in all a very satisfying anime classic.