Dark Horse Manga had news for 2 of its horror series on November 9. The publisher reminded readers that Saiko Takaki's manga adaptation Vampire Hunter D: The Rose Princess begins its English release on June 29, 2027, and separately confirmed that it is working on a reprint of the entire I Am A Hero series. Check out the official post down below:
The Rose Princess adapts part 1 of the 9th Vampire Hunter D novel by Hideyuki Kikuchi. Takaki's manga began running in Japan on Sonorama+ in July 2024, and Dark Horse announced the English license at Anime NYC in August.
What The Rose Princess Is About
The story is set in the year 12,XXX AD, when vampires rule over humans after a nuclear apocalypse. The village of Sacri is a fertile oasis on the barren frontier, but its prosperity comes at a price: the ruling noble, an immortal vampire princess, feeds on the villagers whenever she wants.
When a young man tries to save his lover from being bitten, the princess sends her 4 savage knights to punish the village. D stands in their way, and with the help of a rebellious young woman named Elena, he sets out to end the princess's rule. First, the 2 of them have to survive a duel with her knights.
Volume 1 runs 176 pages and costs $14.99. It is rated 16+, translated by Kevin Leahy and carries the ISBN 9781506758077. Dark Horse calls Vampire Hunter D the longest-running Japanese novel series in English translation.
The Vampire Hunter D Novels
Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D series began in 1983 with illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano. It has grown to 58 novels with more than 17 million copies sold. DH Press began publishing English translations in 2005, and Dark Horse started releasing omnibus editions in 2021.
The novels were first adapted as a 1985 anime film, followed by Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust from director Yoshiaki Kawajiri in 2000. Dark Horse's original comic Vampire Hunter D: Fortress of Blood, by Chris Condon and Filipe Andrade, arrives with Issue #1 on February 24, 2027.
I Am A Hero Is Coming Back
Dark Horse also addressed fans of Kengo Hanazawa's zombie manga I Am A Hero:
Dark Horse published 11 omnibus volumes of I Am A Hero in English between April 2016 and October 2019, and has not given a date for the reprints yet. The series ran in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits from 2009 to 2017 and was collected in 22 volumes in Japan, with more than 8.3 million copies in circulation. It won the Shogakukan Manga Award in 2013.
The story follows Hideo Suzuki, a 35-year-old manga artist's assistant stuck in a low-paying job with unfulfilled dreams, strange hallucinations and unsatisfying relationships. His life is upended when a disease nicknamed ZQN starts turning people into homicidal, zombie-like mutants, and he runs for his life armed with only his sporting shotgun.
Shinsuke Sato's live-action film adaptation premiered at the Sitges Film Festival in October 2015 before its commercial release in April 2016. The manga also has 3 spin-offs set in the same universe, I Am A Hero in Osaka, I Am A Hero in Ibaraki and I Am A Hero in Nagasaki, plus the anthology I Am A Hero Official Anthology: 8 Tales of the ZQN.
Other recent Dark Horse manga news includes Hiroyuki Takei's Martial War and a Berserk tarot deck box set for May 2027.
Will you be picking up Vampire Hunter D: The Rose Princess next June, or are you more excited to get I Am A Hero back on shelves?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.