Vampire Hunter D Volume 23: Iriya the Berserker

Vampire Hunter D #23

by Hideyuki Kikuchi, Yoshitaka Amano (Illustrator), Kevin Leahy (Translator)

She might just look like an ordinary—if beautiful—young woman, but Iriya is anything but ordinary! A ruthless warrior clad in red armor, Iriya is a Hunter determined to exterminate the vampires that were once her parents and siblings. Now, half-vampire, half-human D has to decide to offer his assistance, get out of the way, or have a dangerous battle on his hands!

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Manga, Fiction, Science Fiction, Light Novel, Supernatural

190 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 31, 2007

Reviews

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solidly middling entry in the series.

[Malcolm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's start with the good: The setting is unique and imaginative. Only comparable to Stephen King's Dark Tower, Kikuchi combines fantasy, cyberpunk, and a western in a fairly seamless package. The universe is well put together despite how crazy it is. The characters are archetypes, but they're supposed to be. I also love the intentional flipping of the usual formula. Several times throughout the book, the heroine is kidnapped and D races off to save her only to find that she has saved herself quite efficiently.

Kikuchi is incredibly creative when it comes to monsters and their super powers. The aquatic vampire Kraken is especially interesting. Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations are gorgeous.

But that brings us to the bad: Kevin Leahy's translation is absolute garbage. It alternates between writing so mechanical that it's painful and prose so purple you want to retch. Leahy seems to have been tasked with translating all of the D novels in a short amount of time and it seems he cut every corner imaginable in doing so. There are large pieces of the story missing. It is revealed in the last few pages that the title character may have gone on indiscriminate rampages in every town the characters have visited but there is no evidence of this in the book at all prior to it being revealed here. It feels like something huge has been lost in translating this book and it is poorer for it.

[Jemiah Jefferson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little bit of variety in the very consistent book series comes in the form of Iriya, a skilled and ruthless hunter who also happens to be a woman. Kikuchi rarely goes in any detail whatsoever about any of his characters, particularly not the female ones, but he adds some shading and complexity to the depiction of the fierce, red-haired, independent warrior. However, the story itself is more or less the same as in all the other Vampire Hunter D books, so don't worry - there won't be a challenging amount of innovation presented, just a hint of a different viewpoint. Kikuchi's afterword is particularly good in this volume, as well, and if you're going to read only one of the series, this is the one I recommend.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this one character wise. I feel things have had a bit of redundancy compared to some of his earlier books. I'm looking forward to another double or four part story line, as those have had some of the more thought out characters and development. The last 3 or 4 books have had that meet heroine, D comes, Danger, D prevails, heroine either is turned into a vampire or killed, end.

[Keithon De Bique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Refreshing Iriya isn't in the parade of helpless 18 year old protagonist damsels in distress. She an iron warrior. The iron constitution to do the unthinkable and slay her own family members, bitten by nobility.

D opens up time to time and feels human in those moments.

That said falls into the pit of past stories - are not constructed fully. Certain scenes are too brief or nonsensical. I could go into some had it not been weeks since reading...

Does the author punch out books too rapidly? Sure feels that way - and not the first book I felt undercooked. Just why was sacred ancestor interested in her? His goal is not wholly clear.

The two strike up a bond - unfortunately the author evidently has a habit of D something 'questionable' to fellow protagonists at the end. Taken back to the end of Rose Princess I am. All in all a fairly good read.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

not my favorite, but a decent backstory in regards to the functions of the support characters.

[Searska GreyRaven · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was problematic in so many ways, but I'm just so tired of explaining why. Suffice to say, this marks the end of my interest in this series.

[maja · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5
they didnt made irya a shallow and dull female character what i really like about this, i even grew to like her and her interactions with D

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this one.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Softening of D

This book took so many different turns I smiled all the way through it. D had found an equal. He is so much more human, I almost thought we would see him settle down for a bit. But no. Mr Left Hand was also more active in the story. And, it was nice that D didn't get killed or wounded as much.