⚜ Note ⚜

This article is based on my personal opinion and speculation. The purpose of listing the similarities is to give you an opportunity to become interested in both works, not intended to expose or criticize any connections between them.

This article will focus on the novels written by the author Hideyuki Kikuchi. It does not cover the most anime and manga created later based on his original works.

Special thanks to the madam, a previous generation fan of Kikuchi novels who kindly gave me some hard-to-find books🙏

Brief Info about Author Kikuchi

[Wikipedia]

Hideyuki Kikuchi (菊地秀行, 1949–) is a Japanese novel writer. The genres and keys of his work are horror, dark fantasy, sci-fi, cthulhu, history/lore, action/violence, and weapons. Often with damned beautiful men and sexy women characters who probably not human.

Kikuchi is also known as a film critic and loves horror films in particular. Most of his inspiration comes from the classic live-action films from all over the world. Considering his age, the influence of modern anime/manga on his work is minimal. Because of the influence of his work on later generations, you will find many similarities with his work in today's fiction worlds, not just in Boktai.

Because the novel were adapted into anime and manga, Kikuchi's work became widely known along with the anime/manga culture around the 80s to 90s in Japan. These fans are the generation whose exchanged information through doujinshi (fanzine), or interacted on the internet in its early days. Many of their fansites are closed, and today it is difficult to access info and works gathered by early fans. This generation gap is one of the reasons why his work hasn't been talked about much in recent years.

Kikuchi writes novels for younger audience, but is also known for his adult novels that contain elements of erotic, gore, and violence. As a result, readers rarely discuss his work openly in public. Also his novels for younger audience are written in a more literary style than the "light-novel" that have become popular in recent years. Therefore today's teenagers may have a hard time reading it and less likely to attract new fans.

However, his work has maintained a certain popularity throughout the years and new novels continue to be published. English translations of his novels have been published, and its anime and manga have been well received, making his novels increasingly popular abroad. I hope his work will be more appreciated in Japan and gain more fans.

"Vampire Hunter D" Series

[Wikipedia]

You can see Yoshitaka Amano's beautiful cover arts, and the different spine designs from reprints since the 80's. Each book has multiple ink illustration pages by Amano.

Vampire Hunter D (吸血鬼ハンターＤ, pronunciation is almost the same as in English except that V is read as B) is one of Kikuchi's major novel series that has been running since 1983, published by Asahi Sonorama Publications. The story of each volumes are not consecutive, so it doesn't really matter which story you read first (of course I recommend that you read the first volume for the first though).

The setting is very simple. A world in the distant future, with elements of sci-fi, horror (or dark fantasy), and Western (Wild West). There are only three characters are common to all volumes. One is in D's left hand, and another one almost never appears, so the reader just follows D. With only a few exceptions, all other characters appear only in each episode.

As of 2025, 43+1 volumes have been published (some volumes span multiple books, or a collection of short stories), with three spin-off volumes without D, one guide book made by the publisher, and two illustration books of Amano's art with a short story written by the author.

It has two anime movie (1985: as OVA / 2001: Bloodlust by Madhouse) based on the first and third volume of the original novel. There were a few audio drama cassettes based the original novel in the late 80's, and one PlayStation game based on the second anime movie.

It has manga adoption volumes by Saiko Takaki since 2007, based on the original novels and mostly accurate. Production of this series seemed to have stopped a decade ago, but I recently heard the announcement of the new volume.

"Shinjuku" Related Series

Unlike simple VHD, Kikuchi's "Shinjuku" related novels are a bit complicated. Plus, I don't own most of the books and don't know much about them. I can only give you the information I know.

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A young man in school uniform with a wooden sword and special ability. The heroine Sayaka is a daughter of the president. How youthful and pure.

Demon City Shinjuku (魔界都市〈新宿〉, Makai Toshi <Shinjuku>) is Kikuchi's debut novel published in 1982. It's a story of Kyōya Izayoi's battles inside and outside of a decadent and dangerous city "Shinjuku". It was adapted into anime film (1988) and manga series from the 80's to around 2000. This series has several volumes. [Wikipedia]

By the way, Shinjuku (新宿) is a real place, a vibrant district in the heart of Tokyo. Shinjuku Station is known as the busiest station in the world, and has a complex structure called "Shinjuku dungeon" by its users. The author seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from this city. Makai (魔界) is often translated as "demon", but the literal meaning is the "demon / magic / evil" and "world". Toshi (都市) means "(capital) city / metropolis".

In Kikuchi's novels, "Shinjuku" is a land isolated by a very localized devastating earthquake, a haunted and dangerous place where anything can happen. Supernatural, telekinesis, magic, alchemy, mad science, genetic manipulation, drugs, cyborgs, secret weapons, super-people, monsters, mythical creatures, ghosts, curses, criminals, yakuza ...what else? What is surprising is that there are ordinary citizens still living there (and the author himself is wondering it). The city is surrounded by deep fissures and has only three gates to enter.

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Books published by different publishers, different sizes, different cover artists, but sharing the same setting and characters. These are just some of the books in the whole series.

In 1986, Kikuchi published a novel called Demon City Blues (魔界都市ブルース, Makai Toshi Blues). This is a collection of short stories featuring Setsura Aki, a resident of "Shinjuku" and the owner of a senbei (rice-cracker) shop, is an extraordinary beautiful guy in a black coat. He also has a business of finding missing person, with his super-ability to manipulate invisible strings. [Wikipedia]

The connection between the previous series and this "Shinjuku" is not clearly revealed (though the previous series seems to be set in the near future). The most difference is that this "blues" (or "man searcher") related stories are written for adult audience, and includes direct expression of erotic, gore, and violent elements. This series are still ongoing today, as both short and long stories, along with the appearance of other major characters.

Here are some of "blues" related characters who got own novel series later written by the author. "Damon Doctor / Makai Ishi" Mephisto (魔界医師メフィスト), a mysterious beautiful doctor with white cape and long black hair. "Spine Chiller" Keishiro Kabane ("凍らせ屋" 屍刑四郎), a police detective with dreadlocks and a handguard of katana as eyepatch. His weapon is a huge magnum revolver and a coat with explosive flower pattern. Yakoh (夜香), a winged vampire from old China who lived in England, the leader of the city's vampire residents and administrator of their residential area. There are more various characters living there such as a witch from the Czech Republic, a doll girl of automaton, florist guy of Setsura's cousin who does not show his face in a mask, a huge information broker lady, etc. etc...

As you can see, the "blues" novels and its related series is so complex as "Shinjuku" itself. Furthermore, these books are published by multiple publishers, making them difficult to keep track of. Many of the books are out of print today and hard to find and get. The complete list of the related novels is rarely seen, and only a few books translated into English have been published.

Because Kikuchi's most favorite movie is Dracula (1958, Hammer film), he likes to write story with vampire characters. A long story "Damon Princess (夜叉姫伝説, Yashaki-den)" is my favorite novel that features almost all major "Shinjuku" characters, and the antagonist is a group of vampires. Wonderfully, the English translation books of this story has been published (but just make sure again, it contains adult stuff).

Brief Info about "Boktai" Series

A handheld gaming device that kids had before their first cell phone. When will smartphones have solar sensor?

Boktai (ボクらの太陽, Bokura no Taiyō) is a series of video games for Game Boy Advance (2003, 2004: Solar Boy Django, 2005: Sabata's Counterattack) created by Hideo Kojima and Konami in Japan. What makes this game unique is that it requires real sunlight to play. The cartridge has a built-in solar sensor and the brightness of sunlight affects the in-game world. The main purpose of using sunlight is to defeat the undead, vampires, and "Immortals" who unites them to destroying all the life on earth. [Wikipedia]

The protagonist of the story is a vampire hunter boy Django, who inherited the solar gun called "Gun del Sol" and Crimson Scarf from his father. With Otenko, a messenger of the Sun, Django travel through the wilderness and dungeons like castles and abandoned ruins, to defeating enemies to save the world. Django has the blood of Solar Child and Moon Child, which makes him able to use the power of sun (Sol) and magic of the four elements (Flame, Frost, Earth, and Cloud). Later Django is bitten by a vampire and gains vampire abilities and dark magic.

The fourth game in the series is Lunar Knights (2006, ボクらの太陽 Django & Sabata, Bokura no Taiyō Django & Sabata) for Nintendo DS. The story is set in the future with new characters, with sci-fi elements and technologies from other planets. The enemy is from outer space, uniting Earth's vampires to threaten humans. The protagonists are young man with a sword and dark power called Lucian (Sabata), and an apprentice gunslinger boy with solar power Aaron (Django). Instead of a solar sensor build in the cartridge, this game has simulated day and night cycle with various weather conditions, which players can use to their advantage. [Wikipedia]

There is a manga based on this series called Solar Boy Django (太陽少年ジャンゴ, Taiyō Shōnen Django), was serialized by Hijioka Makoto in the kids magazine CoroCoro Comic from 2003 to 2007 by publisher Shōgakukan. They were later published in eight books in several languages. The story and characters have little in common with the original game and the art style is deformed for children. However, since CoroCoro Comic is a major medium that influences the childhood of many people in Japan, there are fans who likes this manga but do not know much about the original game.

If I find more similarities while reading the book, I will add them to the list. If you find any errors or similarities, please let me know so I can correct or add them.

By LadySolMina, 2025.4.01