NYAF Exclusive - Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship

NYAF is quickly becoming the dream convention for "Vampire Hunter D" fans all over the world. If having Hideyuki Kikuchi, Yoshitaka Amano, and Kevin Leahy as special NYAF guests wasn't enough, and being one of the 10 fans able to celebrate Kikuchi's birthday with dinner with the trio didn't have you falling head over heels, then how about an exclusive VHD short story to add on to the mix. The New York Anime Festival has just announced that "Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship" by Hideyuki Kikuchi will be published inside NYAF's Official Guide Book. Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship has never been printed before in any language anywhere in the world.

Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship, a story of D and his encounter with a blood-red battleship, dates back to one of the author's "Talk Live" events. Each year, Mr. Kikichi hosts several "Talk Live" gathering in the Kabukicho section of Shinjuku. At these events, he introduces a younger generation of fans to a wide variety of horror and sci-fi films and brings them face-to-face with guests from the worlds of publishing, animation, and film. The events conclude with drawings that give the audience chances to win signed books, artwork, and other exclusive prizes. The very best is saved for last -- short stories handwritten by Mr. Kikuchi with exclusive publication rights.

To date, three tales set in the Vampire Hunter D universe have come into the possession of lucky fans. Only the first has been published. The third -- Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship -- was won by Ms. Hitomi Yasue, a longtime fan of Mr. Kikuchi and a regular attendee of his events. As someone who knew D from the novels before ever seeing the anime, she was surprised to hear the opposite was true overseas. Ms. Yasue has graciously agreed to share this short story with fans at the New York Anime Festival in the hopes of exposing more people to the literary incarnation of her favorite Vampire Hunter. Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship has been translated for the New York Anime Festival by Mr. Kikuchi's friend and the translator of his Vampire Hunter D novel series, Mr. Kevin Leahy

The New York Anime Festival Guide Book will be available in the Jacob Javits Center lobby from September 26-28, 2008.