According to the January/February issue of Rue Morgue magazine, Vampire Hunter D fans may be in for quite a treat! The magazine reports that the original author, Hideyuki Kikuchi, “is busy working on a [Vampire Hunter D (VHD)] live-action film with the producer of the Biohazard video game (a.k.a. Resident Evil in North America), writing a new novel about vampires, entitled Yashakiden, and planning a new VHD anime series in Japan.” The original 1985 anime project was released in North America by Streamline Pictures and Urban Vision, sparking a revived obsession with manga and anime in the early 1990′s. Urban Vision also released the 2000 movie version, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, which did not garner quite as much of an audience, but continued the legacy of the legendary half-vampire, half-human vampire hunter and his sordid adventures. The idea of bringing the story to the live action arena is a tricky one though, for anime fans are notoriously protective of the originals that sparked their initial fandom. I personally was, and still am, a fanatical fan of the original 1985 movie and would be heartbroken if it were somehow ruined by an over-produced star-studded re-envisioning. However, I am intrigued nonetheless by the idea and am thrilled to hear that Hideyuki Kikuchi is still churning out work year after year! According to the CBM site Kikuchi’s original Vampire Hunter D novels have been consistently published by Digital Manga Publishing in North America over the years. Digital Manga Publishing is also publishing a manga version by illustrator Saiko Takaki. This is definitely one tidbit of vampire project news I will be keeping my eye on this year…

Tags: anime, biohazard, film, Japan, manga, movie, Resident Evil, Rue Morgue Magazine, vampire hunter d, vampires, video game

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