Vampire Hunter D

12,090 AD, humanity lives in a quasi-medieval society formerly ruled by the vampiric Nobility who kept them in a state of feudal subjugation and terror. When Count Magnus Lee returns to his sector of the Frontier after an absence of 50 years or so, he discovers a beautiful young village girl named Doris Lang trespassing on his domain. He bites the girl and becomes so obsessed with the taste of blood that he decides he must soon take her as his next bride. Doris hastily hires a mysterious Vampire Hunter known only as 'D'. The townspeople want to give her up to pacify the count, but D convinces the Mayor & Sheriff that Doris won't be a threat because he will slay Count Lee and cure her. After that D launches a crusade that leads to many encouters mutants, demons, witches and werewolves. As D battles the servants of Count Lee, he finds that Doris has fallen in love him, and resisting the young girl's desires proves difficult for the Dhampir. His Left Hand has a little face and nags him mercilessly, constantly reminding him of his half-vampire heritage and mocking his antisocial tendencies.

The film is based on the first book in long series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi, who also created Wind of Amnesia, Wicked City, and Darkside Blues. Despite the Hammer-horror trappings, at heart VHD is more like a vampire Western. The character designs, based on Amano's illustrations for the novels, may entice lovers of his smoky, elegant watercolors and baroque game characters, but they were radically simplified to cut animation costs, with only traces of the artist's hand remaining, mostly in still frames.