Japanese anime and manga frequently depict devilish, blood-sucking vampire characters as gloomy antiheroes or terrible villains, while others depict vampires as lovely, unexpectedly relatable, and appealing people, with the occasional cute vampire female. Vampires are more popular than ever in the media, and anyone who like stories about the occult or the supernatural should check out a few fantastic vampire anime series.
While the abilities, flaws, and origin myths of vampires can vary throughout time according to each creator, anime fans can’t get enough of how instantly recognized vampires are as fanged children of the night. Vampires can be reinterpreted or even deconstructed in anime, from half-vampire antiheroes to vampires who are more like high school kids than classic vampires like Dracula and Nosferatu.
Update on May 17th, 2023: This list has been updated and renewed with more relevant and entertaining content, including the addition of a few new vampire-themed anime series and trailers to get viewers excited about what the greatest anime-themed anime series have to offer.
20 Blood-C
Despite being part of Production I.G’s Blood franchise, Blood-C has no tie to the earlier Blood+. It’s actually far darker than the 2005 series. Furthermore, the twist in Blood-C throws protagonist Saya Kisaragi’s life into disarray.
Saya reminds me of Buffy. She is a high school student by day. By night, she battles Elder Bairns, beasts who feast on human blood. As these monsters begin to assault during the day, Saya knows something is wrong with her surroundings. Everything will change when she discovers the truth.
19 Vampire Princess Miyu
Despite its pretty grim plot, Vampire Princess Miyu has a thread of hope running through it. This is despite the fact that the main character, Miyu, wishes to remain in the dark after completing her quest. Still, her major purpose is to provide the human race the gift of perpetual bliss.
She wants to accomplish this by using her abilities as a hybrid vampire (one of her parents is human) to hunt out and slay Shinma, or wicked demons. This is something she does with her best friend, Larva. In truth, Larva saves his comrade from being killed by vampire blood in the original video animation (OVA) of Vampire Prince Miyu.
18 Karin
Karin Maaka, the series’ protagonist also known as Chibi Vampire, is the middle kid in a vampire family. She, on the other hand, does not behave like a typical undead representation. She goes out throughout the day, goes to high school, and looks in the mirror.
To be honest, she doesn’t even bite humans to get their blood. Karin overdoes it to the point where she gets massive nose bleeds. This is exacerbated when a new transfer student, Kenta, causes her heart to race. Karin is, unsurprisingly, a coming-of-age love comedy about a young vampire.
17 Shiki
Shiki isn’t a lighthearted animation about good-hearted vampires attempting to live human lives. Based on Fuyumi Ono’s horror novel, it goes above and beyond the subgenre’s expectations. It investigates survival in a world when good and evil are indistinguishable.
It all starts with Megumi Shimizu‘s death in a little Japanese hamlet. This triggers a pandemic, transforming ordinary people into vampires known as the Shiki. As this occurs, a doctor in the hamlet decides to forgo his humanity in order to figure out how to put an end to the terror. He joins forces with an anti-social adolescent to prevent Armageddon.
16 Call Of The Night
Call of the Night is a vampire comedy anime with very grounded and relatable themes about finding one’s purpose in life and the strength of friendship, despite its fantastical antics. Ko Yamori, an eighth-grader who feels isolated from mainstream culture, wanders the midnight streets.
There, Ko will encounter a mischievous rogue vampire named Nazuna Nakakusa, who develops feelings for him. She may be a vampire who enjoys the taste of Ko’s blood, but her lifestyle is far from glamorous. She, like Ko, is lost and lonely, and she understands that changing Ko into one of her own type will not lead to happiness.
15 Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya
Vampires are crucial to Seraph of the End. In truth, a swarm of bloodsuckers has assembled to confront Tokyo’s Demon Army. The show, however, is essentially about an anime trope: the strength of friendship.
Yuuichirou Hyakuya is finally reunited with his childhood friend Mikaela, whom he assumed was dead. Unfortunately, Yuuichirous discovers Mikaela’s transformation into a vampire. With dozens of zombies advancing on him and his Moon Demon Company, Yuuichirou is even more eager to strengthen himself in order to aid his friend and his colleagues.
14 Rosario Vampire
Teenager Tsukune Aono realizes in Rosario Vampire that it is difficult to get into a good high school when someone like him has terrible marks. His only hope is Youkai Academy, a seemingly regular institute on the surface. It is, nevertheless, teeming with all manner of creatures in human form.
This includes the title’s primary character, Rosario. She may appear normal, yet she is a vampire. Nonetheless, Tsukune perseveres and ensures that the academy’s faculty is unaware of his human nature. If they find out, they will execute him in accordance with the school’s rules.
13 Blood Lad
In the Legion of Super-Heroes, Blood Lad is not a teen hero. Instead, he is Staz Charlie, a strong vampire that controls over a portion of Demon World. However, he has no desire to consume any blood. On the contrary, Blood Lad’s protagonist prefers to spend his time reading comics and playing video games.
Staz encounters Fuyumi Yanagi, a human girl who mistakenly enters the Demon World portal. She and Staz had an instant attraction. Unfortunately, an attack on his land kills her and turns her into a ghost. Staz and Fuyumi go across Demon World with the help of a magician and a half-wolfman in search of the magic that can restore the girl’s humanity.
12 Strike The Blood
Strike the Blood is based on a series of light novels. Nonetheless, it contains enough violent content to be outlawed in China. This does not imply that it is always blood and core. Strike the Blood, on the other hand, is a coming-of-age novel tinged with the otherworldly. After a disastrous incident in Itogami Island’s Demon District, student Kojou Akatsuki gets vampire powers.
It is eventually revealed that he is the Fourth Primogenitor, a legendary entity. To deter Kojou from taking over the world, a hidden society sends an apprentice sword-shaman to maintain watch and, if necessary, kill him. Despite their dislike for each other, Kojou and the apprentice join forces to confront Itogami Island’s various animals.
11 Servamp
Vampires in anime come in different shapes and sizes. Some people are determined to rule the world in which they live. Others would rather do nothing than sit about.
In Servamp, this is the case. Mahiru Shirota, a high school student, picks up a stray cat on his way home and calls it Kuro. One day, instead of the cat, he discovers a young man sitting on his couch. When Mahiru unintentionally exposes the boy to sunlight, he reverts to Kuro. Thus begins a trip between the astounded boy and the slacker vampire.
10 Noblesse: Awakening
This half-hour OVA is based on Son Jeho’s Noblesse, a South Korean web manhwa (digital comic). Centuries ago, the “nobles,” an ancient species of immortal supernatural human-like creatures revered as sovereigns and gods, flourished. Among the nobles was the “Noblesse,” a dominant individual shrouded in mystery known as Cadis Etrama di Raizel, or “Rai.”
Rai awakens in South Korea after an 820-year slumber to find his beloved and dedicated servant, Frankenstein, who he discovers as the current director of Ye Ran High School. Rai enrolls as a student in order to better grasp modern life.
9 Black Blood Brothers
Black Blood Brothers is based on Kohei Azano’s light novels. It tells the story of the two Mochizuki brothers, Jirou and Kotaro. They are Old Blood, the last and sole heirs of a powerful vampire line. Jirou was the Holy War hero, the one who defeated the Kowloon Children (strong vampires) on his own.
When the couple realizes that some of the Kowloon Children have survived and that they wish to reach the “Special Zone” (a wealthy metropolis protected by a hidden barricade), they decide to re-join the conflict. Things become even more difficult when Kotaro is kidnapped by the Kowloon. Jirou then goes to whatever length to save his sibling.
8 Trinity Blood
Based on Sunao Yoshida’s light novels, Trinity Blood’s 24-episode animation follows Abel Nightroad. He’s a Crusnik, a vampire who feeds on the blood of other vampires. Nine centuries after a brutal conflict between vampires and humans, the world has been divided into two fronts, the Vatican and the New Human Empire, which are still engaged in a Cold War.
Nonetheless, most people wish for a peaceful coexistence of humans and vampires. Abel fights for the Vatican while resisting the Rosenkreuz Orden, a fanatical group that manipulates the two blocs for their own ends.
7 Blood+
The Blood+ anime premiered in 2005 in Okinawa, Japan, and was inspired by the film Blood: The Last Vampire. Saya Otonashi, the protagonist, is a typical schoolgirl who lives happily with her adoptive family. She has no recollection of her history or of her birth family.
Despite this, her life is irrevocably changed after being attacked by a Chiropteran, a bat-like beast that thrives by consuming human blood. Saya realizes she is the only one who can defeat them because her blood is poison to them. She and her friends decide to rid the Earth of Chiropterans and learn about her origins.
6 Seraph Of The End
Seraph of the End, a 24-episode animation, is based on Takaya Kagami’s namesake manga series. Yuichiro, a 16-year-old teenager, has committed his life to killing vampires in order to take vengeance for events that occurred four years before.
In 2012, a fabricated illness depletes the world’s population above 13, allowing vampires to emerge from the earth’s depths and enslave humanity. Only a handful acquire “protection” by offering blood to the vampires. Yuichiro (at 12) barely escapes the orphanage where he resided with his pals, only to see his friends slaughtered in front of his eyes.
5 Castlevania
This fantastic and spectacular Netflix original filled with gore and violence is based on Konami’s game of the same name. When Dracula’s human wife is burned at the stake for alleged witchcraft, he unleashes demons on Romania to get his retribution.
Trevor Belmont, a disgraced and excommunicated monster hunter, joins forces with Sypha Belnades, a strong mage and Speaker, and Adrian Tepes/Alucard, Dracula’s dhampir son who opposes his techniques. The odds appear stacked against the three protagonists in Castlevania’s plot as Dracula creates his army of formidable vampire warlords, but they will not stop fighting until Wallachia is free of Dracula’s control.
4 Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D is largely a novel series that began in 1983, though it has been adapted into audio dramas, a video game in 1999, a manga series in 2007, and two anime movies. In reality, the original Vampire Hunter D is a cult masterpiece that every vampire enthusiast should see.
The story of Vampire Hunter D is grim, taking place in a post-apocalyptic world after a horrific nuclear war, similar to the Fallout games. Many vicious monsters and people prowl this bleak region, including D, the half-vampire protagonist. He’s a gritty, lonely antihero with incredible abilities, which may make these anime films very enticing to seinen viewers.
3 Vampire Knight
Based on the same-titled shojo manga series, the 26-episode Vampire Knight anime. The protagonist of Matsuri Hino’s novel, Yuki Cross, a high school student at the Cross Academy and the daughter of the school’s headmaster, Kaien Cross, is a Guardian against vampires.
Yuki is a skilled vampire hunter who is human. She is involved in a love triangle with two vampires at the same time. These include Kaname Kuran, a pureblood original vampire who rescued Yuki when she was a young child, and Zero Kiryu, a vampire hunter who was born a human but was converted by an undead bite.
2 Dance In The Vampire Bund
Nozomu Tamaki’s manga, Dance in the Vampire Bund, was adapted into a 12-episode anime series. The Bund is a manmade island that Mina epeş, Princess-Ruler of all vampires, has created off the coast of Tokyo. The Japanese government constructed it so that vampires may live in peace while keeping their existence a secret from humans.
After their existence is revealed on a chat program, Mina wishes for peaceful, even amicable coexistence. Extremist vampires and bigoted humans, however, stand in the way of racial harmony. Mina must continue to work for justice and peace while defending The Bund from adversaries.
1 Hellsing Ultimate
The second anime adaptation of Kouta Hirano’s Hellsing manga is this 10-episode OVA. It is a continuation of the previous 13-episode run that ran from 2001 to 2002. Even though the original anime was fantastic as well, Hellsing Ultimate was designed to be a more accurate adaptation than its predecessor.
The narrative centers on the Royal Order of Protestant Knights, which Abraham Van Hellsing created and which is now led by his formidable granddaughter Sir Integra Hellsing, a vampire hunter. As they battle supernatural foes attempting to take over England, she is aided by Alucard, a mysterious and extraordinarily powerful old vampire, and his companion, recently transformed vampire Seras Victoria.
Leave a Reply