A chance meeting brings D closer to his goal.

Creative Staff
Story: Hideyuki Kikuchi
Art: Saiko Takaki
Adaptation: Saiko Takaki
Translation: Duane Johnson

What They Say
The Nobility have captured a young Frontierswoman named Tae and held her captive for eight years, and her prison – the remote Castle Gradinia – can only be accessed by those brave (or senseless) enough to cross into the no-man’s-land known as the Outer Frontier. The mysterious “people finder” Granny Viper has been charged with the recovery of the girl… but can she trust her hired escorts, the notoriously shifty Bullow Brothers?

In a race across treacherous terrain, it will be up to D to lead the charge and level all enemies on this rescue mission!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
D is hired to cross a great desert, one that sees more people dead than not. Accompanying him is Granny Viper, a people finder who has rescued a hidden—a girl taken captive by a member of the nobility—with the intention of returning her home. Tagging along are also a couple of mercenaries, the Bullow Brothers, who seem pleasant enough but also seem to have their own plans. A short ride into the desert, the group is swallowed up by a tornado and deposited in a strange place. Finding their way out is only the first step to success.

We’re now six volumes into the Vampire Hunter D manga series, and this is really the first time that D’s own motivations begin to be questioned and examined. His fee for agreeing to cross the desert is information on a man he is looking for. The hidden girl, Tae, is discovered to be pregnant with the child of a vampires (in other words, the child will also be a Dhampir), and while they never name the vampire, it is strongly implied that the father is Dracula, who also sired D. This cross allusion is making me think that the person D is after is his own father.

Regardless, it is interesting that we’re starting to get more into the purpose of the series. Each graphic novel so far has been its own standalone story, and other than having D and Left Hand, they have all been independent of one another. This one ended on a little bit of a cliffhanger, so it will be interesting to see if they follow up with it in the next volume. But after a few volumes of studying the collective psyches of vampires and humans, it is interesting to see that microscope be turned on D. He’s always been mysterious, but perhaps now we can start to see some of those mysteries unravel.

In Summary
Vampire Hunter D continues to be a great series. The particular plot of this novel is a little bit weaker than some of the others, but it’s made up for by now starting to dig into the secrets of what makes D tick. I’m hoping that we’ll keep up with it in the next one. 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: December 29, 2010
MSRP: $13.95