Vampire Hunter D

1983 & 2000

Vampire Hunter D is a series of novels written by Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano.

Story

Vampire hunter D wanders through a far-future post-nuclear war Earth that combines elements of pulp genres: western, science fiction, horror and Lovecraftian horror, dark fantasy, folklore, and occult science. The planet, once terrified by the elegant but cruel vampires known as Nobles (貴族, Kizoku), ancient demons, mutants, and their technological creations, is now slowly returning to a semblance of order and human control—thanks in part to the decadence that brought about the downfall of the vampire race, to the continued stubbornness of frontier dwellers, and to the rise of a caste of independent hunters-for-hire who eliminate supernatural threats.

Sometime in 1999, a nuclear war occurred. The Nobility were vampires that planned for a possible nuclear war and sequestered all that was needed to rebuild civilization in their shelters. They use their science combined with magic to restore the world in their image. Nearly all magical creatures on Earth are genetically engineered by the Nobility to possess seemingly supernatural abilities, regeneration, and biological immortality, with a very small number being demons, gods, aliens, and extradimensional beings who survived the holocaust.

Vampire Hunter D (manga) - Wikipedia

Despite their technology being advanced enough to create a blood substitute as food, they still prefer to feed on humans. As such, they created a civilization where vampires and humans coexisted, eventually developing the planet into parklands and cities. Society eventually stagnates when vampire technology perfects scientific prophecy, which determines they are at their zenith of existence and thus are doomed to fall, overthrown by humans. The human race was also transformed at this time, with fear of the vampires being woven into their genetics, and the inability to remember vampire weaknesses such as garlic and crucifixes.