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Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D #2
Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Volume 02
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 returned, with no memory of what happened or where they went...
200 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 7, 2013
07 January 2013
Yawn!!
Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Volume 02 feels like quite the departure from the first volume, which was dark and dramatic. This isn't nearly as interesting as the previous installment. I had difficulty finding the motivation to finish it.
In the beginning of this book, the dialogue is so choppy and dull, I nearly put it down. It does get slightly better as you continue on, but not good enough for me to continue the series. Another grievance I had were the continuous rape scenes. I am no fuddy duddy, but they felt tiresome even to me.
The artwork is beautiful, but can be very difficult to follow sometimes. I enjoyed the first volume and all its cheesy glory, but this volume was a killjoy. I doubt I'll read the rest of the series.
Yawn!!
Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Volume 02 feels like quite the departure from the first volume, which was dark and dramatic. This isn't nearly as interesting as the previous installment. I had difficulty finding the motivation to finish it.
In the beginning of this book, the dialogue is so choppy and dull, I nearly put it down. It does get slightly better as you continue on, but not good enough for me to continue the series. Another grievance I had were the continuous rape scenes. I am no fuddy duddy, but they felt tiresome even to me.
The artwork is beautiful, but can be very difficult to follow sometimes. I enjoyed the first volume and all its cheesy glory, but this volume was a killjoy. I doubt I'll read the rest of the series.
December 2, 2021
I was able to get a physical copy of this volume from the library to see if it was easier to read in print than online. Sadly, this was nearly as tough to enjoy. Some of the panels are just so busy that it's tough to make out what we're supposed to be seeing. Near the end of this one the plot had got so dense and complicated that it was tough to follow. I think the next step for me is to try the original novels, no illustrations. I wanted to like this all more because the film left such an impression when I saw it decades ago, but I don't know that I really feel like trying to get through any more of these.
August 4, 2016
Got the second manga to this series. I really enjoyed this one too. A must read.
May 13, 2019
Dark, twisted, amazing.
I couldn't put it down. I never thought I'd be such a big fan of this series.
If you liked the first book, definitely continue with this one.
I couldn't put it down. I never thought I'd be such a big fan of this series.
If you liked the first book, definitely continue with this one.
July 3, 2019
A strange ruin at the top of a hill at the edge of town. Four children disappear there. Three come back. D is hired to investigate the strange phenomenon that is occurring in the town.
This particular volume focuses on elements of light and darkness, and how the failing race of vampires sought a remedy 5,000 years after the Apocalypse to see if they could preserve their vampiric nature while being able to walk in the day light. Full of mystery and intrigue, D encounters facade after facade while unraveling the intense investigation that must take place to put all of the clues together. More innocent victims become the target of gruesome attacks. D encounters more internal struggle of who he is and why he exists. The theory of homunculus are explored in this particular graphic manga novel.
The action sequences are great and the art remains on par. 5 out 5 stars.
F.D. Gross
This particular volume focuses on elements of light and darkness, and how the failing race of vampires sought a remedy 5,000 years after the Apocalypse to see if they could preserve their vampiric nature while being able to walk in the day light. Full of mystery and intrigue, D encounters facade after facade while unraveling the intense investigation that must take place to put all of the clues together. More innocent victims become the target of gruesome attacks. D encounters more internal struggle of who he is and why he exists. The theory of homunculus are explored in this particular graphic manga novel.
The action sequences are great and the art remains on par. 5 out 5 stars.
F.D. Gross
February 8, 2021
Vampire Hunter D takes place in an alternate version of Earth where Dr. Van Helsing failed to kill Dracula and save Mina Harker; which resulted in Dracula killing the cast of Bram Stoker’s original novel, enslaving humanity and ruling the world with an army of scientifically manufactured demons at his disposal for thousands of years.
The year is now 12,090 A.D. The world has ended, ravaged in a firestorm of man’s wars and madness. But from the wreckage a few humans manage to survive, and a race of forgotten creatures rose up from the ashes. The vampires and their legions of bloodthirsty demons.
Over-the-top violence and flashy action scenes, a blend of every monster in the history of fiction and folklore pulled from every culture imaginable, an insane mashup of dark fantasy, science fiction, dystopian horror, sword & sorcery, spaghetti western, detective mystery and gothic drama. Vampire Hunter D is pulp fiction in its purest form, an orgy of every hammer film production and cheesy 70’s fantasy and horror novel you can think of.
Each book chronicles D traveling to a new location to solve a mystery and take down a tyrant vampire lord terrorizing the locals. It’s very formulaic and that’s not such a bad thing. If you’ve read anything by Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock or Arthur Conan Doyle, you’ll have some idea of what to expect. Travel to a new place, hunt some monsters, uncover long forgotten lore, solve mysteries, save pretty girls, big climactic battles between powerful warriors and bloodthirsty beasts. Rinse and repeat. Each monster vanquished brings D closer to facing his arch nemesis, the sacred ancestor who created him and everyone of his kind: Dracula.
Fun fact: Vampire Hunter D inspired the Castlevania series of video games in the same way the manga Berserk inspired the Dark Souls franchise.
***
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The year is now 12,090 A.D. The world has ended, ravaged in a firestorm of man’s wars and madness. But from the wreckage a few humans manage to survive, and a race of forgotten creatures rose up from the ashes. The vampires and their legions of bloodthirsty demons.
Over-the-top violence and flashy action scenes, a blend of every monster in the history of fiction and folklore pulled from every culture imaginable, an insane mashup of dark fantasy, science fiction, dystopian horror, sword & sorcery, spaghetti western, detective mystery and gothic drama. Vampire Hunter D is pulp fiction in its purest form, an orgy of every hammer film production and cheesy 70’s fantasy and horror novel you can think of.
Each book chronicles D traveling to a new location to solve a mystery and take down a tyrant vampire lord terrorizing the locals. It’s very formulaic and that’s not such a bad thing. If you’ve read anything by Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock or Arthur Conan Doyle, you’ll have some idea of what to expect. Travel to a new place, hunt some monsters, uncover long forgotten lore, solve mysteries, save pretty girls, big climactic battles between powerful warriors and bloodthirsty beasts. Rinse and repeat. Each monster vanquished brings D closer to facing his arch nemesis, the sacred ancestor who created him and everyone of his kind: Dracula.
Fun fact: Vampire Hunter D inspired the Castlevania series of video games in the same way the manga Berserk inspired the Dark Souls franchise.
***
My Social Media
My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPs...
My Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/michael_sor...
My Wattpad Account: https://www.wattpad.com/user/Michael-...
August 7, 2017
In Volume Two,
The Art: It is the same just like in the first volume. I still like the way that D is drawn.
The Story/Setting: It gives more on the background a bit but it still is a sexist. Ugh...It is really annoying how sexist it is. The rape scene makes you feel sorry for the woman then she becomes a slut. Like what?
Also I have no clue what is happening half of the time because the dialogue is so wonky.
Characters:
-D: Still awesome.
-Lina: I felt sorry for her at first then...not.
-Other Characters: Didn't really care.
All in all, I guess if you are dying to read it then read it but if you are not interested in Vampire Hunter D, don't. Don't read it.
The Art: It is the same just like in the first volume. I still like the way that D is drawn.
The Story/Setting: It gives more on the background a bit but it still is a sexist. Ugh...It is really annoying how sexist it is. The rape scene makes you feel sorry for the woman then she becomes a slut. Like what?
Also I have no clue what is happening half of the time because the dialogue is so wonky.
Characters:
-D: Still awesome.
-Lina: I felt sorry for her at first then...not.
-Other Characters: Didn't really care.
All in all, I guess if you are dying to read it then read it but if you are not interested in Vampire Hunter D, don't. Don't read it.
May 1, 2015
I do enjoy Vampire Hunter D and the art and interesting story, but there are still the stereotypical tropes that hold me back. The fact that the female characters are heavily sexualized and usually helpless, is rather revolting to me. But, in this volume, the lead female character was intelligent, destined for greater things, and yet... The way her story concluded was tragic and a bit typical with an undertone of misogyny.
Still, this is the same issue I had with the first volume. The female representation is for shit, but if you can get past that and try to look at the story and art only, then it's a pretty decent read.
Marked down to three stars from four because of the weak and stereotypical female character depiction.
Still, this is the same issue I had with the first volume. The female representation is for shit, but if you can get past that and try to look at the story and art only, then it's a pretty decent read.
Marked down to three stars from four because of the weak and stereotypical female character depiction.
August 11, 2015
Too Hard to Read.
I don't like that all the special effects aren't in English. I didn't get what was going on, I like reading the books better. Especially having to read backwards....is weird. I didn't like the black and white manga...couldn't see what was going on, looked to me like a jumbled mess.
I don't like that all the special effects aren't in English. I didn't get what was going on, I like reading the books better. Especially having to read backwards....is weird. I didn't like the black and white manga...couldn't see what was going on, looked to me like a jumbled mess.
November 22, 2008
AMAZING!
January 2, 2017
The art style is amazing. The story is a bit strange and the sex scenes are unnecessary. Still, somehow it reminds me of Sapkowski's Witcher series. All in all, it was a great book and I got it so cheap. I wish I'll have more lucky finds like this in the future.
January 21, 2025
Very strange art style but very faithful to the second book. Story wise. Books 1 and 3 got made into movies, so it is cool to see book 2 have some visual media to represent it. But it is one of the weaker stories with some questionable elements to it, but I still enjoyed it.
April 19, 2020
So, the big bad in this is a f¥€£ing cloud of stings or something? I don’t know. This is crap. How is it rated well? Did they read the same thing or are they just enjoying the nips?
January 2, 2021
Not my favorite D story but in manga format it was a quick and fun read. Too bad they don't make them anymore.
August 21, 2021
Action packed but somewhat hard to follow. Very dark visuals that can make the artwork confusing. Not my favorite.
December 28, 2024
I thought this was going to pick up where Volume 1 ended...but it didn't??
September 20, 2017
This one was much slower than the first in my opinion. However, towards the end, the plotline sped up considerably and I enjoyed it. The art is still beautiful, and Vampire Hunter D is a wonderful, colorful character. I think the world of Vampire Hunter D grows stronger with the third story (the manga that will come out this fall) and so I eagerly await the third one.
Second read:
Finally. Took forever to pick this up and finish it. It is physically painful to read these manga; the binding is so tight that I have to constantly pull the pages apart as I read. Makes my hands hurt :/ The plot itself was disjointed when it made any sense at all amidst its slow crawl, likely due to a translation issue. It is increasingly difficult to ignore the obvious objectification of women and flawless protagonist that is D (perfection does not make a good story). I bought the rest of the series last year at Anime Expo, but if the third book is this frustrating, I don't think I'll be able to read it all.
Second read:
Finally. Took forever to pick this up and finish it. It is physically painful to read these manga; the binding is so tight that I have to constantly pull the pages apart as I read. Makes my hands hurt :/ The plot itself was disjointed when it made any sense at all amidst its slow crawl, likely due to a translation issue. It is increasingly difficult to ignore the obvious objectification of women and flawless protagonist that is D (perfection does not make a good story). I bought the rest of the series last year at Anime Expo, but if the third book is this frustrating, I don't think I'll be able to read it all.
May 1, 2020
The themes and artstyle of the series remain largely the same, but I found the story while confusing and a bit all over the place, more interesting than the first volume.
This post apocalyptic, future tech, old tech, vampires meet high tech setting is fascinating, and I love the kernels of details sprinkled in this volume. The setting is honestly the biggest strength of the series, its unique and really interesting.
The action remains solid, though at times hard to follow in the drawings.
The biggest weakness is the characters. D is the enigmatic, stoic, and quiet but strong cliche, giving this sort of a Western vibe (probably purposefully so). He does have a past which is sort of interesting, at least what is revealed so far, but largely he is just a powerful quite dude. All the women are pretty much exactly the same, and even look similar which is both confusing and meh.
I am interested enough to keep reading, but I wonder how much this series will be held back by bland characters.
This post apocalyptic, future tech, old tech, vampires meet high tech setting is fascinating, and I love the kernels of details sprinkled in this volume. The setting is honestly the biggest strength of the series, its unique and really interesting.
The action remains solid, though at times hard to follow in the drawings.
The biggest weakness is the characters. D is the enigmatic, stoic, and quiet but strong cliche, giving this sort of a Western vibe (probably purposefully so). He does have a past which is sort of interesting, at least what is revealed so far, but largely he is just a powerful quite dude. All the women are pretty much exactly the same, and even look similar which is both confusing and meh.
I am interested enough to keep reading, but I wonder how much this series will be held back by bland characters.
October 11, 2009
Okay in the spirit of full disclosure I've never been a big "graphic novel" person, despite loving and collecting comics as a boy and enjoying certain ones now. These however (I read the first 2) left me cold. (By the way yes I know they are "manga" not traditional graphic novels). The story is alright I suppose (I have ordered the "original" Vampire Hunter D first volume to give it a fair reading), but these just leave me cold. (by the way I don't get the entire androgynous hero thing in anime or Japanese video gameseither.)
This is a very popular series (my son likes the video and for all I know some of these) but for me they just seem pointless. Sorry I know some of you like them a lot and that's great. But not me. I like horror Lovecraft, Poe, and still enjoy "The Savage Sword of Conan" among other graphics, but just not these.
This is a very popular series (my son likes the video and for all I know some of these) but for me they just seem pointless. Sorry I know some of you like them a lot and that's great. But not me. I like horror Lovecraft, Poe, and still enjoy "The Savage Sword of Conan" among other graphics, but just not these.
January 4, 2015
Read this in hopes of reading a manga with a good plot and great artwork. The artwork did not disappoint; the story, however,...well, it could have been better I think. It is not like the vampire hunter d the movies definitely but it had a mystery that needed to be solved and an emotionally sad ending that had a taste of a happy ending for another character. Still it just felt like it was missing something I can't put my hands on at the moment.
I may still read the rest of the books in the series or whatever books in the series that sound interesting.
I may still read the rest of the books in the series or whatever books in the series that sound interesting.
April 19, 2016
Being honest, this isn't one of the books that I liked all that much. Still, the art is pretty and it's all laid out well. Since Vampire Hunter D lacks what I would call a "linear" storyline in many ways, it's really easy to just read one and read another later volume and still understand, more or less, what's going on.
April 7, 2016
manga is harder to follow for me than western comics so keeping up with the story is a bit of an effort.
I love how the artist draws D but I havent decided if I like much else about the series.
I would say the writing is good but it's an adaption of a very good series of novel's. that's not the comics achievement, thats the original novelist's
I love how the artist draws D but I havent decided if I like much else about the series.
I would say the writing is good but it's an adaption of a very good series of novel's. that's not the comics achievement, thats the original novelist's
July 31, 2010
Not as interesting as the first volume. The underlying story had some interesting potential, but none of the characters were fully fleshed out, and the actions scenes were almost impossible to follow; too much focus on stepping it up from the first volume rather than turning out a solid story.
May 22, 2016
Much like the first book, this one moves too quickly to keep up with at points, but the story is fun and the art is gorgeous.
December 31, 2011
Graphic novel of the book. With some minor differences it was nice to see in black and white Kikuchi novels. But at the same time it took part of the magic away.
September 11, 2012
D just doesn't do anything for me, parts of this volume made no sense....
March 23, 2014
Loads more back-story in this one and several threads that came together rather well. If you didn't really enjoy the first one, try reading this one before you give up on the series.
September 28, 2015
I didn't find this one as entertaining as the first, but that's mostly down to the story that it adapts. Another capably-drawn entry in the series.
June 12, 2020
Not as clear of a story-line as the first one.
March 22, 2022
Vampire hunter d volume 2
I truly enjoyed the book. There was nothing I didn't like about the book.i would definitely recommend this to anyone
I truly enjoyed the book. There was nothing I didn't like about the book.i would definitely recommend this to anyone
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews