Ask John: Why Aren’t There More Vampire Hunter D Movies?

Question:
If there are so many Vampire Hunter D novels, why are there only two movies about him.

Answer:
In practical terms, dark and mature anime is not very popular among mainstream Japanese society. When you consider how many morose and macabre shows like Hellsing and Berserk there are compared to the number of anime romantic comedies it becomes clear where the tastes of the majority of Japanese anime viewers lie. While the original Vampire Hunter D movie has become a cult classic, it has never been a mainstream hit in Japan. (That’s exactly why it’s a cult film.) In 2000, when the second Vampire Hunter D movie was made, director Yoshiaki Kawajiri intentionally had the film made with English language dialogue for two reasons. He wanted to film to appeal to international audiences. And, he believed that the English language dialogue would give the movie some novelty appeal to attract the attention of native Japanese viewers who would otherwise have probably skipped seeing the film. The Vampire Hunter D movies have always been more popular among hardcore Japanese anime fans, and international anime fans, than among mainstream Japanese viewers.

There are more Vampire Hunter D novels than anime movies because novels are much easier and cheaper to produce than animation, and they can easily be more profitable because of their relatively low production costs. A novel requires only a writer and editor to create while an anime production requires a crew of dozens. Novels also don’t require as many sales to recover their production, publication and distribution costs as motion pictures do. Vampire Hunter D fans can be thankful that we have two films to enjoy, but logically if there was enough demand for more Vampire Hunter D anime, there would be more Vampire Hunter D anime by now.