Vampire Hunter D (1985) DVD

The year is 12,090 AD. Centuries after nuclear devastation, the Earth has fallen into a feudal darkness ruled by the Nobility — ancient, powerful vampires who treat humanity as cattle and livestock. Doris Lang is a young frontier farmer who, while patrolling her land at night, is attacked and bitten by Count Magnus Lee — a vampire lord of enormous age and power. Marked by his bite and shunned by her superstitious village, she hires D: a mysterious dhampir, born of a vampire father and human mother, who roams the frontier as a hunter of his own kind. D is cold, almost inhumanly capable, and barely speaks. He is also, unmistakably, something extraordinary — even among vampires. The Count dispatches servants to retrieve Doris and destroy D. What follows is a dark, gothic action film set in a world where science and sorcery have become indistinguishable and the most dangerous thing on the frontier is the man you hired to protect you.

Vampire Hunter D is an 80-minute 1985 OVA directed by Toyoo Ashida, produced by Ashi Productions, and based on the first novel in Hideyuki Kikuchi's landmark light novel series, with character designs by Yoshitaka Amano — the illustrator of the novels and later the character designer for Final Fantasy.

The music was composed by Tetsuya Komuro of TM Network, whose ending theme "Your Song" became one of the most iconic pieces of 1980s anime music.

The film was one of the earliest anime productions targeted explicitly at adult audiences and was marketed in the United States as "the first animated horror film for adults." The original English dub was produced by Carl Macek's Streamline Pictures in 1992 and aired on TBS, Cartoon Network, and the Sci-Fi Channel throughout the 1990s.

Urban Vision Entertainment — the U.S. distributor of Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust — re-released the original OVA on Special Edition bilingual DVD on October 17, 2000, presenting the original Japanese audio and a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the Streamline dub alongside never-before-seen making-of footage, a trailer for Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, sneak previews of the Vampire Hunter D video game, and a Yoshitaka Amano artwork gallery. Sentai Filmworks later re-licensed the film and released a remastered DVD and Blu-ray with a new English dub on August 25, 2015. The Urban Vision Special Edition bonus features were not ported to the Sentai release. 

Notable Staff & Voice Talent

Director: Toyoo Ashida (died July 25, 2011)
Screenplay: Yasushi Hirano
Original Novel: Hideyuki Kikuchi (Vampire Hunter D novel series; 1983–present; English license: Dark Horse Books)
Character Design / Illustration: Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy character designer, Vampire Hunter D novel illustrator)
Studio: Ashi Productions
Music: Tetsuya Komuro (TM Network — later globe, Eurobeat compilations)
Ending Theme: "Your Song" by TM Network

Japanese Cast:
• Kaneto Shiozawa as D 
• Michie Tomizawa as Doris Lang 
• Seizô Katô as Count Magnus Lee
• Satoko Kifuji as Larmica
• Motomu Kiyokawa as Left Hand / Narrator

English Dub Cast (Streamline Pictures — Carl Macek, 1992):
• Michael McConnohie as D 
• Barbara Goodson as Doris Lang  
• Steve Kramer as Count Magnus Lee 
• Lara Cody as Larmica

DVD Features (Urban Vision Special Edition, October 17, 2000)

• Original Japanese Audio + English Subtitles
• Streamline Pictures English Dub — Dolby Digital 5.1 Remix
• Never-Before-Seen "Making of Vampire Hunter D" Documentary Footage
• Trailer for Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000 theatrical film)
• Sneak Previews of Vampire Hunter D Video Game
• Yoshitaka Amano Artwork Gallery

Spoken Languages: English (Streamline dub, DD 5.1 remix) & Japanese Audio, English Subtitles

Edition Details

Japanese Title: バンパイアハンターD (Banpaia Hantā Dī / Vampire Hunter D)
Runtime: ~80 Minutes
Director: Toyoo Ashida
DVD Release Year: 2000 (U.S. Special Edition, October 17 — Urban Vision Entertainment); original Streamline VHS 1993; Sentai Filmworks remastered DVD + Blu-ray + new dub August 25, 2015
Original Release Date (Japan): December 21, 1985
Publisher: Urban Vision Entertainment (out of print); Sentai Filmworks (current license holder)
Rating: NR (content equivalent to 17+)
Region: Region 1 (U.S. / Canada)
Genre: Action, Horror, Science Fiction
Themes: Dhampir Vampire Hunter, Post-Apocalyptic Gothic World, Nobility Vampire Lords, Yoshitaka Amano Design, Pioneer of Adult-Targeted Anime

Media assumed VG+ unless otherwise noted.