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A review by bogdanbalostin
Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi
3.0
This is read like a bad anime. Do you remember the unspoken rules of writing? This book manages to break every single one of them... which is refreshing in itself, but understandable for western audiences is jarring. How many exclamation marks do you want on one page? the correct answer is all of them!
Do you need to explain plot twists instead of setting them up? Of course! It turns out he was not dead, because he had a secret weapon. What was this secret weapon? Why, yes, of course, the device he somehow stole from the other character when we were busy narrating this scene!
If you enjoy this kind of writing with zero character development and plot points coming out from nowhere, then this book will bring you great joy!
And thus, it read like a bad anime. Because anything can happen when you least expect it. But don't ask for any reasonable explanations.
As I said, breaking rules is refreshing because while the quality seems very low, guess what? It can be enjoyable, and it is a fast read when things happen one after another at breakneck speed.
Unfortunately for me, in the end, it was quite shallow. It was a medium-length story that seems to only deserve a maximum of 1 hour of my time. And yet it took me more to finish it all.
Lore and immersion
I'm not ashamed to admit I read pulp fiction. And game and move tie-in books. Even though the quality of writing can be low, the immersion and lore keep me wanting to discover more. While this Vampire Hunter D has potential in the lore, it fails to bring immersion because of the technobabble and magic and science and vampire and mechanical werewolves and vampires who are extremely high tech but still sleep in coffins and somehow are afraid of ancient symbols. At first, it's exciting. It's a world so big that mixes everything you like together. But not in a consistent way. There is no love for world-building here. Almost everyone is indestructible when they need to be and then dead in a second when the plot demands it. Many tech and discoveries seem to be written without consideration to the larger world and how they can affect the whole ecosystem.
I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I'm curious about this world, but on the other hand, I feel cheated when most things only make sense with a huge stretch of imagination.
Do you need to explain plot twists instead of setting them up? Of course! It turns out he was not dead, because he had a secret weapon. What was this secret weapon? Why, yes, of course, the device he somehow stole from the other character when we were busy narrating this scene!
If you enjoy this kind of writing with zero character development and plot points coming out from nowhere, then this book will bring you great joy!
And thus, it read like a bad anime. Because anything can happen when you least expect it. But don't ask for any reasonable explanations.
As I said, breaking rules is refreshing because while the quality seems very low, guess what? It can be enjoyable, and it is a fast read when things happen one after another at breakneck speed.
Unfortunately for me, in the end, it was quite shallow. It was a medium-length story that seems to only deserve a maximum of 1 hour of my time. And yet it took me more to finish it all.
Lore and immersion
I'm not ashamed to admit I read pulp fiction. And game and move tie-in books. Even though the quality of writing can be low, the immersion and lore keep me wanting to discover more. While this Vampire Hunter D has potential in the lore, it fails to bring immersion because of the technobabble and magic and science and vampire and mechanical werewolves and vampires who are extremely high tech but still sleep in coffins and somehow are afraid of ancient symbols. At first, it's exciting. It's a world so big that mixes everything you like together. But not in a consistent way. There is no love for world-building here. Almost everyone is indestructible when they need to be and then dead in a second when the plot demands it. Many tech and discoveries seem to be written without consideration to the larger world and how they can affect the whole ecosystem.
I'm conflicted. On the one hand, I'm curious about this world, but on the other hand, I feel cheated when most things only make sense with a huge stretch of imagination.