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Dance in the Vampire Bund
Anime Review
Twilight, move over and make way for a *real* vampire story. Nozomu Tamaki's Dance in the Vampire Bund is one of the best examples of vampire manga and now it's a sassy, kick-ass anime series produced by Clamp studios, and distributed in the USA by Funimation.
Akira Kaburgi might look like a normal, teenage schoolboy, but so did Edward Cullen, and you know how that turned out. Akira isn't a vampire though, he only works for vampires; however, he himself is a werewolf. His full name is Akira Kaburgi Regendorf. He's a member of the Earthclan, and they protect the ruler of all vampires.
The current ruler, the Princess Mina Tepes, wants Akira to protect her personally. She's going to need all the protection she can get considering what she's attempting to do. She just finished a deal with Japanese government. She used her vast riches to pay off their national debt. In return they gave her a landfill off the coast of Japan. There, she will build an independent, vampire nation. A haven for the world's vampires.
 The show ran for only a handful of episodes (the whole series fits on two disks.) It still incited controversy for its provocative imagery. Princess Mina might be a centuries old vampire, but on a good day, she resembles your standard issue "Loli". This caused Funimation, the company distributing the show on DVD and Blu-Ray, to consider altering the series. They wanted to at least clip out the opening credits showing the princess dancing around wearing nothing but a ribbon.
Such censorship did not happen. Mina's going to dance about in the altogether. Ignore her. She's just trying to get under your skin.
The series differs from the groundbreaking manga in ways that hurt the storytelling a bit. (Did they really need to give Akira amnesia?) Nevertheless, it still features fascinating storylines, characterization and design. Check it out, vampire fans. There's plenty of action and violence with one of the most original concepts in horror fantasy!
Reviewed by Lawrence Sufrin, March 2012
Dance in the Vampire Bund
Manga Review
Best! Vampire! Manga! Ever! Fans of the genre rejoice. You now have your masterpiece. Nozomu Tamaki's Dance in the Vampire Bund is the top dog. The big cheese. The Rolls Royce of vampire manga. The most ferociously original vampire saga in decades.
The comic sports terrific artwork and intelligent scripting. It's reminiscent of classic humor manga such as Urusei Yatsura and Patilliro. There are occasional laughs here, which is a point in its favor. All the best horror stories incorporate elements of humor. But this is a serious horror manga. It is perhaps the most serious in years. Prepare to laugh a bit. Prepare to gasp a lot. Most of all, prepare to have your mind blown.
Don't let the princess Mina Tepes fool you with her kewpie doll appearance. Pure bred vampires mature very slowly. She might look like a ten year old loli, but she's much, much older than that. She is also the ruler of all vampires. She reigns over even the oldest of vampire dynasties. Her word is law. (But you get vampires to obey a law. It ain't easy.)
 Mina Tepes has just gone public. She made a deal with the Japanese government. She literally bought their entire gross national debt, and made their economy solvent. In return, the government has given her a large landfill near their country. There, the princess has established a sovereign state populated by her kind. For the first time in history, vampires from all over the world will be concentrated in one area. A country peopled and controlled by vampires, of vampires, and for vampires.
What, you might ask, does Akira Kaburagi have to do with this? He seems to be a normal, healthy, high school lad with a nice girl friend named Yuki Saegusa. Appearances are once again deceiving. The young man's full name is Akira Kaburagi Regendorf. His mother is a simple, Japanese lady, but his father is a not so simple werewolf. His clan has sworn loyalty to the elder vampires. Like it or not, Akira has to take time off from schoolwork to befriend and protect princess Mina Tepes.
 Yuki is the one trapped between a vampire and a werewolf. She really is what she appears to be, a simple Japanese high school student. She has a crush on Akira, but her biggest claim to fame is she writes some of the best fanfic around. Even the princess enjoys reading her work. Can Yuki and the princess become BFFs? Is that even possible?
These are the three players which the entire world revolves. A world of monsters and politics. A world loaded with intrigue, sex and violence. They must use wit, guile and brawn to survive the tide ahead of them. This manga could just be the crown jewel of its American distributor, Seven Seas Entertainment. You like vampires? You'll love this.
Reviewed by Laurence Sufrin, April 2010
Below: Illustrations from the manga Dance in the Vampire Bund.
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