The 1985 OVA Vampire Hunter D will turn 40 this December, and today it’s premiering on the streaming services HIDIVE and Shudder.
HIDIVE is an anime streaming service, while Shudder specializes in a “selection of horror, thriller, and supernatural movies and series uncut and commercial free.”
In April 2025, the OVA was shown in more than 600 theaters in the United States and Canada, thanks to HIDIVE, Shudder, Iconic Events Releasing, and Anime Expo’s AX Cinema Nights. HIDIVE released this trailer for it at the time:
Vampire Hunter D Trailer
Viewers in America, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand can watch it either in Japanese with subtitles or with an English dub, as heard in the above trailer.
AX Cinema Nights gave this description for the OVA:
Vampire Hunter D Plot
In the year 12,090 AD, technology and the supernatural have overtaken the world, leaving the land desolate and despotic. The remnants of humanity are scattered into small communities and live in fear of vampires who compose the ruling Nobility. When Count Magnus Lee tastes the blood of Doris Lang, she is forcibly chosen to be his next wife. In an effort to escape her ill-gotten fate, she hires a mysterious vampire hunter known only as D, who comes from a peculiar lineage.
There is also a sequel film, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, that came out in 2000. (Check out Otaku USA‘s review here.)
Vampire Hunter D started out as a novel series by Hideyuki Kikuchi. Dark Horse Comics is publishing the novels in America, and earlier this week it dropped Vampire Hunter D Omnibus: Book Eight. It additionally has a manga adapted by Saiko Takaki, which is available through Digital Manga Publishing. Volume eight is likewise the most recent volume to be published.
Sentai Filmworks put Vampire Hunter D out on Blu-ray in 2022 for fans who would like a physical copy.
Source: ANN
____
Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
