Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi and Saiko Takaki

D's travels take him to a village which is being menaced by something that until now has seemed like an impossibility: a vampire that can hunt during the day. While seemingly impossible, it might just be reality. After all the village is built over the remains of ancient ruins constructed by the nobility. And though the villagers don't like thinking or talking about it, it's possible that the machines that the Nobility used to do their research might still be up and about, constructing new horrors to prey on the humans left behind.

There is another, deeper secret here, though. Ten years ago, four children disappeared near some of the old ruins on the hill. Weeks later, only three of them returned, but none could remember what happened in those missing hours between the day they went missing and the day they returned, or what had become of the missing boy. Now, they are all grown up and one of them, Lina Sween, is next in line to become a scholar at the Capitol. Such chances are few and far between, and the entire village wants her to win and go study.

This is just the latest in a long line of fortunate coincidences for her, as she was rejected by her original father upon her return ten years ago, and instead, the mayor adopted her. She's the smartest of the three returning children. One of them, Cuore, has been deranged and mentally handicapped since he disappeared, and the other, Nicholas, was the son of the schoolmaster and was trained to replace his father. Nobody seems to quite trust the three children, but Lina and Nicholas have done their best to fit in since their return.

Now, D comes to find out the truth of the rumors of a vampire able to walk in daylight, and discovers many of the hidden secrets of the town. Such as that Lina's adoptive father, the mayor, has been raping her and abusing her sexually for years. But Lina seems mostly unaffected by the abuse and spends her time hanging around D, trying to get him to notice her and like her.

But the dispassionate D has little time and no use for such emotions, and he literally ignores her attempts to ingratiate herself with him as he investigates what really went on that day ten years ago when the children disappeared, the ruins on the hill, and the vampire who is preying on the town. But when he finds out what is really going on, will he kill the vampires, or have sympathy for them as creatures who should not exist? And will Lina be allowed to study the History of the Nobility, as she really wants to do, or will she be forced to settle for Mathematics when the examiners from the Capitol arrive?

This manga is horror, but while there is plenty of blood, gore and horrible things to chill your blood, the greater horror is what humans do to each other while pretending to love and care for each other, Lina's adopted father sexually abusing her being a case in point. And while the story of the vampire and the intertwined story about what really happened to the four children when they disappeared is interesting, the children story evokes pathos along with the horror in a stunning combination.

While this is a manga, it is based on the Vampire Hunter D story, "Raiser of Gales", and while the art is very nice, it's not enough like the titular art of the original novels, done by Yoshitaka Amano. Still, it holds a fascination all its own, and the sheer size of the manga makes me amazed that the artist, Saiko Takaki, could fit it all in one book! Saiko Takaki is also a close friend of the original writer, Hideyuki Kikuchi, and does a nice job of showing the horror, pathos and sympathetic, doomed characters that D encounters.

I liked this graphic adaptation of the original novel immensely, and honestly, can't wait to see more of D, whose character I have long enjoyed, from the time of the first animated movie. The character of D, a Dunpeal (Dhampir) is a fascinating one, and while everyone seems to want to know who his father is (the movie makes it clear that it is Dracula, the first (possibly) of the Nobility and the most powerful as well. For those who enjoyed the movies and don't want to read the books, this remains the most successful attempt at bringing the other D novels to the masses. Highly recommended.