Hideyuki Kikuchi: Mysterious Journey to the North Sea Part 1

• ISBN-13: 9781595821072
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
• Publication date: 5/2/2007
• Series: Vampire Hunter D Series , #7
• Pages: 280

 A hero, no matter how reluctant, can never refuse the last request of a beautiful girl. 
 When a young woman traveling across the scarred wastelands is murdered over the possession of a strange jewel, she entrusts the gem, with her final breath, to the mysterious Vampire Hunter known as D, and charges him with a desperate mission - to deliver the priceless stone to her sister, far off in a fishing village on the shores of the North Sea.
 D's journey is made ever more perilous by the motley unsavory scoundrels and rogues enlisted by the girl's murderer, who will stop at nothing to claim the jewel. Determined the hunter will not reach his destination, the villains are relentless in their pursuit, one of them harboring a secret, deadly agenda of his own.

 If Dickens in my last review shows the very pinnacle to which humanity can reach, Kikuchi is the master of showing the very depths. Every single novel has a plethora of characters that are the most despicable, low-down, conniving bastards the earth has ever produced. And if that's what you're looking for, this novel doesn't disappoint.
 One of the things that has been bothering me about the progressing adventures of the Vampire Hunter D, is the strangely increasing conversation of the intrepid hero. The author goes on and on and on about the silent and stoic Hunter, but he has been steadily becoming more talkative. If you're going to continue to portray him as the strong silent type, he should remain mostly silent. That's all I'll say about that.
 The adventure in this volume centers around a mysterious pearl that everyone seems to be after without seeming to have any clear idea what it is. The usual number of competitor warriors that think they can defeat D have increased as well. There's at least seven that we know of, and that's just right off the bat. This is a two-parter, so who knows what we'll get next time around.
 In addition, we have a possible Noble on the loose. More remains to be seen on that front, but it does seem like we might get a little more history on D. Exciting.
 And hey, let's give a round of applause for Su-In, the girl he's supposedly helping, who loses her whole family and still manages to keep her head in the game.
 There isn't much more to say since this novel is largely setting up for the next one, when all the mysteries will supposedly be solved. Although I'm sure the mystery of D's origins will be drawn out for the rest of the series so don't hold your breath.
 Oh, and Kikuchi is still creating the most disgusting villains the imagine can come up with. Ew.
 Overall: B+
 Not a whole lot of action, so to speak, and it left more questions than answers. The next one will probably be much better as we can really sink our teeth into the story.

Hideyuki Kikuchi: Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse Books; 1st DH Press Ed edition (December 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-1595821065

The Cruel Desert between the Inner and Outer Frontiers has a mind, and a heart, of its own.
Granny Viper is a "people finder," a searcher for lost souls along the roads of the forbidding wasteland of 12,090 A.D. Her latest mission: the safe return to her family of an "abductee," a young woman named Tae, kidnapped eight years ago by vampire Nobility and held in Castle Gradinia on the far border of the Frontiers. Rescuing Tae was only half the battle - Viper knows she can't make the rest of the journey with the girl across the formidable expanse to the town of Barnabas alone. But the wizened crone makes a fatal mistake in hiring the mercenary Bullow Brothers to help her, and when she turns to the legendary Vampire Hunter D for salvation the two women and D find themselves in a race for their lives across the blinding desert sands.
 
Another adventure of D - and I really liked this one, mostly because it took D to an emotional place that we'd never seen him before.
 D walks into a Frontier town, like he do, and takes a job from a lawyer engaged in sweaty orgy. Yeah, it surprised me, too. Unfortunately, there are a couple of those happy gunslingers (who usually don't even possess actual guns) that abound on the Frontier who of course want to challenge him. Then there's the one who wants his help, and she's pretty sassy. And also bi-polar, apparently.
 Anyway, with this rag tag group of crazy kids they start across an extremely dangerous desert that they discover...oops, I can't tell you that. Because that would spoil the surprise. But I will tell you this - it's a bit of a "what?" moment. But on to the emotional stuff. The girl in the charge of Granny (sassy lady) is one of the hidden, italics not mine. In other words, she was kidnapped by the Nobility, has served them for who knows how long, and now Granny is returning her to her family, which is an iffy prospect to say the least. There's another surprise about this girl that D strangely connects to, and he, despite the author telling us how cold he is pretty much constantly, protects her from everyone and everything. Not because he has to, but because he's noble and good, and I love that nobody thinks he is, but he's the freaking best. Sorry, babble city right there, but I really love D.
 There's a lot of that strange sort of honor going around in this volume. Each character starts out seeming like a deceptive asshole, but by the end of the book you actually care about each of them. And you're even...somewhat proud of them. And I think that's a great and interesting quality in a novel that is essentially about an emotionless, badass swordsman. Delightfully unexpected.
 Overall: A
 I think this was one of the better ones, plot and pacing wise, although Kikuchi does have a serious problem with keeping pretty much everything obscure. If his plan is to leave us hanging as long as possible and draw the series out, it's working.

Hideyuki Kikuchi: The Stuff of Dreams

• ISBN-13: 9781595820945
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
• Publication date: 9/13/2006
• Pages: 204

Even Vampire Hunters cannot resist the siren song of an ageless sleeping beauty.
 In a world where even the smallest and most remote village cannot avoid being terrorized by the monsters that stalk the night, there is a hamlet, prosperous and peaceful, where mortals and the vampire Nobility have coexisted for years. It is there that seventeen-year-old Sybille Schmitz has slept, neither waking nor aging, for thirty years since first receiving the vampire's immortal kiss.
 The mysterious Vampire Hunter known only as "D" is lured to the tranquil oasis by recurrent dreams of the beautiful undying girl bathed in an eerie blue light and dancing in a ghostly chateau. But there are a number of people who do not welcome the presence of the dhampir, fearing D will disturb the delicate balance upon which the fate of the town rests. They will stop at nothing to protect that balance, even if it it means destroying the most feared Hunter the world has ever known.

 In our beloved D's fifth adventure, he encounters a foe that he may not quite be able to deal with - not because he's so much stronger, but because he's a dream. What? Yes, that is indeed the plot. D finds himself called into someone's dream, to do what, we don't know. Neither does he.
 Once again, I found myself noticing Kikuchi's strange prose. It strays occasionally into cheesy and over the top territory, but after the first chapter or so, you get used to it and move on with your life. Also, I did notice that D talks a whole lot more in this installment than he has so far. Which is somewhat jarring, because you don't really expect him to explain his actions or ask questions - the D we know and love would just figure the mystery out on his own, based upon pure observation. So it's a little unusual in that respect. The plot, however, is fantastic.
 Kikuchi weaves a crazy complex story, that I only realized was so complex when I was trying to explain it to my dad. He didn't get it. I probably wasn't doing that well with my explanation, but it's not like he really cared, so I'm not going to be bothered about it. Suffice to say, it is well and truly a mind-fuck. Yes, guys, I did just drop my first f-bomb on this blog. We should through a party. Back to the plot, though. It leaves you wondering, definitely. Who was right? Did everything turn out as D expected? Were the characters happy with the choices they made? I leave those questions to you, as Kikuchi does. At the end, you're left to your own devices to decide how everything might have turned out. Because D doesn't much care, and Kikuchi certainly doesn't tell you.
 This novel is one of the shorter ones, so it flies by, but you hardly notice at what speed you're reading because the story is rather engrossing. And that's all I'll say about the plot. I'm done, I swear.
 Characterization: As I said before, D seems to be a little more open in this novel, which, honestly, displeases me a bit. One of the reasons I love D is that very stoicism that seems to be missing from The Stuff of Dreams. The other characters are pretty shallow since it is such a small novel. A novella, really. The only person that really interested me was Sheriff Krutz. He was just so wonderfully conflicted, and you felt a connection with him and his wife right at the moment you met them (separately, but the same feeling).
 Overall: B+
 Because of the smallness of the work, a lot was crammed in and characterization definitely suffered. But the story was fascinating and definitely set your brain to working, so that's why the score isn't lower. Although, I did enjoy it, so don't freak.

Hideyuki Kikuchi: Tale of the Dead Town

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse Books/Digital Manga Publishing; 1st DH Press Ed edition (December 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-1595820938

When vampires attack a floating city, only one man can save paradise.
The City, a tiny metropolis of a few hundred sheltered citizens floating serenely on a seemingly random course a few feet above the ground, has long been thought safe from the predation of marauding monsters. It seems like a paradise.
A paradise shattered when an invasion of apparent vampires threatens the small haven. While the Vampire Hunter known only as "D" struggles to exterminate the scourge, a former denizen of the city, the attractive Lori Knight, and the brash John M. Brasselli Pluto VIII seize control of the city, lurching it onto a new and deadly course. D's travails are just beginning.
 Well, that sounds ominous, doesn't it? And not entirely accurate, but I won't spoil it for you...
 Kikuchi has an incredibly ornate writing style, to say the least. Lots of adjectives that people rarely use. I'm not sure what he thinks the effect is, but in English I don't think it's quite the same. While slightly amusing, it doesn't detract too much from the story once you stop noticing it.
  The plot: D's at it again, saving people that aren't too terribly thankful. It's a fact of humanity: what they don't know or understand scares them, and rather than look beyond their own prejudices, they will lash out with violence, if necessary. Or unnecessary as the case may be. But D is D, so he doesn't really give a flying rat's ass about a bunch of petty, stupid humans. He's going to save them because it's his job.
 This wasn't my favorite entry in the Vampire Hunter D universe, if only because there didn't seem to be a lot going on, and it got somewhat repetitive. There were also a couple of random things that happened that didn't really have a larger connection to the story and seemed to just be there for the horror of it all. I was extremely pleased to see a mention of one of D's past adventures though - it was my personal favorite thus far, and it was nice to see that the story is over but not forgotten and that these characters do continue on (if they're alive).
 As far as characterizations go, Kikuchi did a pretty good job with this one. The only person that drove me nuts was Pluto VIII, but that had less to do with skill in writing and more to do with the fact that I just hate characters like him. Ambiguous at its best. I guess that says something positive for Kikuchi's writing.
 Overall: B-
 It had some good elements, but overall I think it was kind of a rush job.