>Volume 6 blurb
Granny Viper is a "people finder," a searcher for lost souls along the roads of a forbidding wasteland. Her latest mission: the safe return of a young woman named Tae, kidnapped eight years ago by vampire Nobility and held in Castle Gradinia on the Frontier's far border. But rescuing Tae is only half the battle--Viper knows she and the girl can't cross the formidable expanse to the town of Barnabas alone. After making the fatal mistake of hiring the mercenary Bullow Brothers to help her, Granny turns to the legendary Vampire Hunter D for salvation. As they traverse the bleak desert between the Inner and Outer Frontier, the two women and D find themselves in a race for their lives. And they soon discover how cruel the desert is--and how very ruthless the Bullow Brothers are .

>>291594646
>Volume 6 Impressions
In this volume, D is tasked with traversing a desert known to devour all travellers who try to brave its sandy plains. Called upon by a letter indirectly sent by the Sacred Ancestor, D finds himself in a little village along the outer Frontier. There, we meet our cast of characters: Granny Viper, Tae, and the Bullow Brothers.

What I liked most about this particular volume is that D remains with this small cast from start to finish. I wouldn’t say D develops any relationships with them. Instead, their personalities bounce off one another enough to form some sort of bond simply through spending so much time together. It’s not that anyone opens their heart, but rather that they simply get used to each other. I like seeing D forced into interacting with people for extended periods. Often, he’ll give a very short answer, or none at all, before leaving people behind. In this story, he often goes quiet but the characters keep hurling questions and comments at him until he gradually begins to respond more and more. In the end, he does mourn Granny’s death to some degree. Whether out of simple respect for the dead or some level of genuine emotion, he attends her funeral service joined by the Bullow brothers. In the postscript, Kikuchi actually says he regrets killing them all off and that he could have used Clay and Granny again in a future volume. Personally, I agree. More than any of D’s previous companions, these characters canonically spent the most time with him that we’ve seen so far: a full week by his side. I think Clay or Granny should’ve survived and perhaps returned in a later volume.

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>>291594670
While Bingo gets the short end of the stick, Clay and Granny are definitely the two characters who get the most screen time. Clay himself is interesting because he’s clearly a bad person, but finds himself stuck with D and Granny. His goal is to kill D, but he gets swept up by the twister along with the rest of the group, except Bingo, and is forced to work with them. He wants to seduce or even force himself on Tae, has a strong dislike/rivalry with Granny, and makes no attempt to hide his murderous intent towards D. Yet, by the very end, he admits that he doesn’t really want to kill D anymore showing some form of emotional growth.

Clay is definitely one of the stronger humans we’ve met, but mostly because of his harp. In fact, both Bullow brothers have very powerful abilities but don’t seem to possess exceptional speed or physical strength. Clay even loses a fistfight to the farmer Lance. The brothers are known as the Frontier’s strongest because of their overpowered abilities: Clay’s harp destabilizes atoms, while Bingo’s dream bubbles turn anything they touch into a dream. Also, Granny herself is the first dhampir we’ve seen besides D. It took six volumes, but we finally got one! Of what we’ve been told about dhampirs, she’s actually a high-level one. The average dhampir is supposedly unable to withstand sunlight for more than a few hours, yet Granny tanks the desert alongside D. While the sun isn’t directly shining on them due to the constant overcast, the heat and sunlight filtering through the clouds would still be enough to weaken a normal dhampir. There’s plenty of foreshadowing for her true nature, too: her excellent night vision, her own loathing of dhampirs, and even the fact that she killed a Noble off-screen to save Tae. And remember, we’ve been told again and again that the highest-level Vampire Hunters are dhampirs. Granny could have been a returning character, in my opinion.

>>291594682
Tae doesn’t have much of a character, but she’s important to the story. In fact, D is going to have a younger half-sibling soon, though he doesn’t seem overly bothered by that fact. He probably has hundreds, if not thousands, of half-siblings who may be dead or alive. We’re reminded that he’s the only “successful” child. The desert was another facility created to try to merge Vampire and human DNA, but it was abandoned much like the one in Volume 2. This time, the machinery became sentient and fused with the desert, creating an interesting antagonist. It seems compelled to preserve itself despite its own desire for death and collect more information on humans by experimenting on them.

Finally, we get another direct encounter with the Sacred Ancestor. The last time was in Volume 2, when D risked a great deal to call upon the Sacred Ancestor through some sort of psychic link. Think Joseph using Hermit Purple to view DIO. This time, it’s more like a dream recording being played by Bingo, but it’s still an encounter with the Sacred Ancestor. The whole point of the journey is to serve as a trial for D while leaving him with some sort of message. What that message is, I’m not entirely sure. It seems to be something about death being all D will ever find if he continues his life as a Vampire Hunter. It’s not very clear, and it feels weak to me. Why would witnessing this desert leave such a strong impact on D or cause him to abandon his pursuit? The desert doesn’t seem all that different from other places D has witnessed, leaving whatever lesson he’s supposed to learn feeling half-baked.

>>291594698
Another criticism I have of this volume is that the desert setting doesn’t feel fully utilized. I was hoping the journey across the desert itself would be the challenge. The sun, the lack of food and water, and the enemies along the way would push the cast to their limits. However, very early on, the group gets swept away by the twister that transports them elsewhere. From that point on, the group is simply fighting enemies until they finally reach the heart of the desert. The tension of being lost, running low on supplies, D being struck by day-sickness, or the group turning against one another never really materializes. It’s just one enemy after another.

A repetitive line in this volume is “(Character)’s eyes were bulging out of their sockets!” after D does something impressive. I will say, though, that the idea of psi attacks being used more heavily is cool. Left Hand protects D from being overwhelmed by psychic energy, but D still has to defeat whatever vision he sees. Apparently, the desert’s psi attacks are strong enough to drive an entire city’s population mad in a single millisecond. Meaning D has some of the highest psychic defences in all of fiction. Another cool detail is that crosses are brought up again. Even D takes significant damage from them. Simply putting two steel pipes together to make a makeshift cross is enough to bruise his hand. A last small detail I liked was that Left Hand was fully serious when they drew near the Sacred Ancestor. No mocking tone or snide remark. Just a simple “D, he’s in there. Get ready.” because even he knows how serious shit will get. As we saw, it’s on sight for D. No talking or anything.

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I'll keep asking just in case.

Tangentially related, but does anyone know if this was ever translated?
>On July 2024, Asahi Shimbun Publishing announced the adaptation of the ninth novel in Hideyuki Kikuchi and Yoshitaka Amano's Vampire Hunter D novels, "The Rose Princess," into a manga, with Saiko Takaki returning as the illustrator. The serialization began on July 31 on Asahi Shimbun's Sonoroma+ website

>>291594724
Overall, this was an okay volume. Not my favourite, but not the worst one either. It gave us more lore, and perhaps a future hook with Tae and the unborn baby. Like I said, I was hoping for some better desert kino by reading about the journey they’d have to make. But still, I enjoyed seeing the group slowly bond over time and I was hoping they’d have settled their differences by the end and walk away happily. But this is Vampire Hunter D we’re talking about. Remember the ending to Volume 3? Yeah, we don’t get happy endings.

>Discussion Questions
1. What is your interpretation as to why the Sacred Ancestor had D travel across the desert?
2. Which character did you enjoy the most: Granny Viper, Clay, Bingo, Lance, or Tae?
3. D had an opportunity to leave the desert so long as he abandoned the group. They followed him on their own accord after all, but he still saved them. However, we saw him hesitate and initially walk away before changing his mind. Did that change your perception of him? To me, I’d thought he would save them right away but he actually didn't, which I found interesting.
4. Was Granny being a dhampir a surprise to you? Or did you see it coming?
5. About returning characters: Is this something we actually want? This series is an anthology in the end, and it goes against the spirit of it to constantly have call-backs. A little bit of fanservice (mentioning Doris in volume 4) is nice, but to actually have characters come back and play major roles might not be best for the series. Personally, as someone who’s reading them all in order back to back it would be cool. But as a reader who’s only read a few of them in random order, that would be confusing and off putting.
6. Don’t you think D should’ve had some difficulty traversing the desert?. Sun-sickness is a thing (see volume 3) and Dhampirs are supposed to have varying levels of resistance, but this guy was in the desert for a week straight without issue.
7. Which tool are you more interested in? Clay’s harp or Granny’s sand?

Also, I could not find high-res artwork online from this month's volume. I’m also struggling to find a digital version of Amano’s artbook anywhere online to either purchase as an e-book or pirate. I could scan my omnibuses but I don’t really want to wreck their spines. Can anyone help me find this?

>>291594740
This? https://www.amazon.ca/dp/150675807X/ref=as_li_tl?creativeASIN=150675807X&ie=UTF8&creative=9325&camp=1789&ar_srct=T1&tag=darhorcom20-20&linkCode=gt2&creatorsDisableRedirect=true&ar_su=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F150675807X%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3FlinkCode%3Das2%26creativeASIN%3D150675807X%26tag%3Ddarhorcom20-20%26ie%3DUTF8%26creative%3D9325%26camp%3D1789%26creatorsDisableRedirect%3Dtrue&ar_mt=DIRECT

Amazon says the release will be 2027

Among all volumes so far this one is probably the one that reminded me more of classic light fantasy novels, rather than goth\horror ones. You gotta concede to Kikuchi that he does try to not write the same book twice.
Alas i must say i've mixed feelings about this one. This volume doesnt lack good moments, especially regarding the ones with some action involved, and yet i really, really missed some kind of bigger story leading the events. Kikuchi, in the postscript, does seem to confirm how the book was meant to focus on the cast of characters more than anything else, but personally i cant say i'm too fond of any of them. They're not bad, but neither that memorable. The romance between Lance and Tae was sappy and the melodrama regarding Tae in general didnt strike me too hot. More likeable and interesting Granny and the Bullow brothers.
Decently entertaining if you're into the genre\series, but nothing more than that. 06/10.

>>291594902
Yeah, I thought the action was solid. But the story wasn't really going anywhere about midway through. D often does take it slow, with him just waiting for developments to occur and reacting. Other volumes have him do the same thing, but I think there should've been some sort of pressure on him to get a move on. Either the sun was weakening him or he was out of blood-plasma pills or something.

>>291594769
1. He said it was a test. A test of skill? possibly, but i'm not too sure about it. I suspect the whole deal with Tae and the dhampir baby was not a mere coincidence. After all i suspect the father of the baby himself is the Sacred Ancestor, which would make the baby D's half-brother.
2. I wanted to say Clay, but him jobbing against Lance made the guy lose some points, so i'll go for Granny.
3. Classic D being tsundere, nothing new here.
4. Yeah, didnt really get the hints. Though it does explain why she was so attached to Tae.
5. It's a bit of a waste, yeah. But i can see the point of it, it's nice to know you can simply pick up a volume at your local library, whit light novels and fantasy series there's always volumes and volumes of stuff you MUST read to follow through, and is really worth it? You have western series with 20 and more volumes of mediocre fantasy slop, no way i'm ever gonna touch them, like they are motherfuckin Dostoevsky.
6. I guess they traveled by twilight. Maybe it was just too cheap to use the sun-sickness to cripple to D, so Kikuchi avoided the issue.
7. Granny's sand was truly powerful, though it also probably requires great skill to use properly. Meanwhile the harp is still overpowered and yet you just have to strum something. So gimme the harp, thank you.

>>291594646
Alive /a/ theory

>>291594646
>>Previous Threads
>/a/ - Anime & Manga » Searching for posts with the subject ‘The Vampire Hunter D Book Club’.

I'm retarded because I posted this link onto google docs and it fucked it. Here's the desuarchive link
https://desuarchive.org/a/search/subject/The%20Vampire%20Hunter%20D%20Book%20Club/

>>291595076
I think mentioning some of the stuff that later happens in the last chapter could have helped. They casually end in the desert and you think it's just a passage. Nope, they just wander and wander. Having the characters bicker and the casual action was fun, but the desert doesnt make such an interesting antagonist.

>>291594646
When are we getting a new movie

>>291595408
good luck with that. pity because it wouldnt be difficult to adapt any of the books so far.

>>291595408
I'm pretty sure we actually got another volume translated back in February, so the series isn't dead at least

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I did like that the desert utilised strange creatures to serve as its eyes and hands. The butterfly scene was cool and I really like this art.

>>291597478
all the art in this volume was quite cool, the best so far.

So D was inspired by Michael Moorcock's Corum, right?

>>291598020
kikuchi never mentioned it so far, he was (is) a dracula fan and that's where most of the influence comes from.

>>291594646
It's been a very long time since I read this one but I remember this book as one of my better liked ones. It felt like a trek or a race through an arduous and alien land, and I mostly liked the characters. Granny and the Bullows showed how D is the not the only competent bounty hunter out there nor the only one with great powers, and it was enjoyable seeing the group make their way through the desert's challenge. I think it's one of the better endings in the series as well: not in the sense that it ends happily, but that I think it's a fitting and appropriate ending for the story and the characters we're introduced to.

>>291594769
4. For me, Granny being a dhampir was a good twist.

5. As for returning characters, several named characters show up in later books and I think that's for the best. It reinforces the feeling of deep time and history to the series by showing that the decisions D has made are not isolated to single stories, but part of a long tale stretching back out of the remembered past.

>>291598115
D's Left Hand seems to me to be the same concept as Corum's Hand of Kwll, and they have similar backstories, appearances and personalities

>>291598249
Seeing other characters be able to keep up with D is nice. Honestly, I find that D is somewhat of a careless fighter. We've seen him take damage and get his heart pierced twice now (First was trickery used in Volume 1, the second was the girl from Volume 4 surprising him because she got possessed). If not for Left Hand, D would've died by now.

>>291595408
apparently kawajiri, who's probably a fan of kikuchi since he adapted both demon city shinjuku and vampire hunter d, wanted to adapt the next volume but the production studio wasnt too fond of the idea and they discarded it.

I've seen a lot of people online name this as one of their favorite volumes. I did like the group adventure aspect.

>>291594769
2. Granny. She initially comes off as a cringing villain, but turns out to be not so one-sided. Lance is kind of a nonentity.
4. Did nazi that coming. I thought they were all supposed to look eternally young. I guess the "only pretending to be decrepit" thing was a bit of a hint.
5. I could see this series having recurring Noble characters outside of D and Dr. Acula. Humans are probably too fragile in this setting to plausibly show up over and over.
7. Their weapons are both OP as fuck. They actually come off to me as more powerful than D himself, and that's kind of refreshing.

>>291598846
That is so lame

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This wasn't quite how I imagined Clay, but he looks pretty cool here

>>291601065
not so pretty after his fight with farm boy.

>>291601285
Like, that's crazy to me. He jobbed against a farmer. Goes to show his harp was all he had going for him.

>>291601563
when you consider all the fiends and beasts roaming around, maybe it actually takes more being a farmer than a vampire hunter.

>>291594646
Yoshitaka Amano at his best.

>>291603649
that cyber-horse is indeed very cool.

>>291603720
I'm still a bit confused about the matter. Are all horses cyborgs or full on robots? Have we even seen a normal horse or do they all undergo cyborg modification?

>>291603769
i dont remember ever being mentioned so far of d's horse being in need of food or water or anything else, it could be full robot from what we know, especially considered its performance. i doubt the average horse is a cyborg one, sounds a bit too convenient, though we do have seen frontier farmers possessing and being able to operate advanced technology.

Vampire D bump

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sad granny hours

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Thanks for reading along for this month as well. Next month's volume is the first part of a two-parter. We are going by English releases, so we'll only be reading Volume 7. Originally, the volume was released as a single book, but for whatever reason it was split into two parts for English. As always, good hunting.

Transient guests are we...

>>291608664
;__;

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