Follow TV Tropes

Following

Trivia / Vampire Hunter D

Go To

Franchise

  • Development Hell:
    • A live action adaptation was reportedly in the works in 2010.
    • An All-CGI Cartoon animated series titled Vampire Hunter D: Resurrection, produced by Unified Pictures and Digital Frontier, has been in the making since 2015, with no word about when will it come out.
  • No Export for You: The manga's eighth volume was never released in English.
  • Schedule Slip: The Message from Mars comic's production (which started in 2016) had to be rebooted due to personal issues with the original artist and having to restart production in 2018, then the COVID-19 Pandemic delaying things even further. A second crowdfunding campaign for a hardcover edition of the entire run was made, with the comic shipping in 2023. Altogether, it took seven years for the series to finally be released.
  • What Could Have Been: Devil's Due Publishing announced plans for a six-issue comic book miniseries, Vampire Hunter D: American Wasteland, in 2008. All that came of it was the first cover, as the comic was cancelled due to creative differences in 2009. The series would've seen D on American soil for the first time—and going up against Nobility that had ruled the land uninterrupted, since nobody was around to destroy them.

First movie

  • Completely Different Title: The movie was renamed Vampire Hunter: Hunter of Spirits in Spain. Not the weirdest thing about its release, by the way.
  • Disowned Adaptation: Original author Kikuchi disliked the film, although he acknowledged that sales of the light novels went through the roof after it was released.
  • Dueling Dubs: Streamline Pictures originally dubbed the movie in 1992. When Sentai Filmworks rescued the license in 2015, it announced a brand new English dub for the re-release; the company didn't say why it chose not to include the Streamline dub, but it is possible rights issues were involved.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes:
    • Thankfully averted. The movie was originally released in the US by Streamline Pictures; it then bounced to Orion Pictures and Urban Vision (who also licensed Bloodlust) in succession. The movie fell into licensing limbo after Urban Vision shut down, but Sentai Filmworks saved it
    • An official re-release of Streamline Pictures' English dub remains in limbo; Sentai Filmworks decided to leave the dub off their re-release in favor of a new English dub.

Bloodlust

  • Approval of God: During the production of Bloodlust, author Hideyuki Kikuchi told director Yoshiaki Kawajiri to deviate from the novel as much as he wanted, as he had worked with him for a long time (Kawajiri had adapted three Kikuchi works before Vampire Hunter D) and liked his way of making films. Accordingly, he was very satisfied with the final product, considering it to be some of the best anime he had ever seen.
  • Acting for Two:
    • Dwight Schultz in Bloodlust. He voices both the Elder of the Barbarois and Benge during the Barbarois sequence (and the two characters briefly interact).
    • John DiMaggio likewise voices multiple supporting roles (John Elbourne, Nolt Marcus, the Sheriff, and Machira). Unlike Schultz, none of DiMaggio's characters interact with one another.
  • Enforced Method Acting: In the 'Making of Featurette'', Matt McKenzie (Borgoff) is shown delivering his lines while biting down on a pencil (to simulate Borgoff's distinct cigar chomping). John DiMaggio is also shown eating actual food when Nolt and the Marcus Brothers are snacking on the road to Barbarois.
  • Children Voicing Children: 15-year-old Laura Loessl's final role was as Leila (Child) and Leila's granddaughter respectively.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: Like the previous, thankfully averted. Discotek Media saved Bloodlust from licensing limbo after Urban Vision closed.
  • No Dub for You: At the request of the film's Japanese licensors, the Discotek's re-release does not include the Japanese dub. However, this is a very odd case for anime, as English is actually the film's original language, technically. According to the film's credits, the original script was written in Japanese then translated to English (thus the incorrect "Meyer Link" instead of "Mayerling" and "Dunpeal" instead of "dhampyr"), and the English dialogue was recorded at least three years before the Japanese – the first Japanese cinema and DVD release were subtitled. So, in the case of Bloodlust, it's the Japanese dub that suffers from Lip Lock. Or maybe; the animation looks like it might have been timed to the original (Japanese) script.
  • No Export for You: The Japanese dub of Bloodlust, at the explicit request of the Japanese. As Discotek themselves put it:
    "We tried, several times. They said no."
  • Role Reprise: Ichirō Nagai reprised his role as Left Hand when Bloodlust finally got a Japanese dub. He was the only voice actor to be in both films, in any language.
  • What Could Have Been: According to Justin Servakis, Madhouse had hoped to have the movie revoiced in English with better known celebrities for a wide theatrical release, but it didn't happen.

Top