is a Japanese

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is ...

series written and illustrated by

Nozomu Tamaki is a Japanese manga artist. His most notable work, ''Dance in the Vampire Bund'', was licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment and adapted into a 12-episode anime series by the studio Shaft. Works Mainstream Doujinshi *''Ne-To-Ge'' ( ...

. The manga was serialized in

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was possi ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Monthly Comic Flapper is a monthly Japanese seinen manga magazine, published on the 5th each month by Media Factory since November 5, 1999 as a successor to ''Comic Alpha''. The magazine celebrated its 100th issue on February 5, 2008 (March issue 2008). On July 13, ...

'' between 2005 and 2012, and is licensed for publication in English by

Seven Seas Entertainment Seven Seas Entertainment is an American publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original English-language manga, but now publishes licensed manga and light novels from Japan, as w ...

. Three sequels, ''Dive in the Vampire Bund'', ''Dance in the Vampire Bund: The Memories of Sledgehammer'', and ''Dance in the Vampire Bund II: Scarlet Order'', were published between 2009 and 2015. A fourth sequel, ''Dance in the Vampire Bund: Age of Scarlet Order'', launched in May 2018 and is currently ongoing. All four series, as well as two ''

dōjinshi , also romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of existing works and created ...

'' collections, have been licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment. The plot follows the emergence of vampires into the human world and explores how fear on both sides changes the world's status quo as they come into conflict with those who desire peace. A 12-episode

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series, produced by

Shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

, was aired in 2010.

Plot

The story revolves around Mina Țepeș,

Princess Princess is a regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a king or prince. Princess as a subs ...

-Ruler of all

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

s, and her

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely ...

protector Akira Kaburagi Regendorf. Like other vampires, Mina has been in hiding with her people for many years. Seeking to end centuries of isolation, Mina gains permission to create a special district for vampires called "The Bund" off the coast of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

by paying off the entire national debt of the Japanese government with her family's vast wealth. Following a discussion show where known vampire movie actor

Seiichi Hirai Seiichi (written: , , , , , , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese karateka *, Japanese cult member *, Japanese politician *, Japanese photographer *, Japanese philosopher *, Japanese art di ...

(who was revealed to be an actual vampire) is killed by her during his rampage, Mina reveals to the world the existence of vampires while mentioning her desire for both races to live together as they are residing on "The Bund". However, tensions run high as fearful humans and extremist vampire factions begin to interfere with Mina's wish for peace with the human world. This causes Mina and Akira to defend "The Bund" from these attackers.

The Bund

The Bund (also known as Tokyo Landfill #0) is a special

man-made island An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

that floats in

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populou ...

off the coast of Tokyo. Mina had it built to serve as a colony for the Vampires and Werewolves. While Vampires are the primary civilians living in the Bund, Mina's Werewolf guards called the Beowulf also live there full-time for her protection. Humans of great significance (either politically or through personal relationship to Mina) are allowed to visit the Bund. The only connection from the mainland to the Bund is through a single tunnel. The Bund has no bridges or major ports. There is also an underground city in the Bund that is inhabited by the Fangless (vampires who ripped out their own fangs) as a way for them to live freely and without persecution.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by

, ''Dance in the Vampire Bund'' began serialization in the January 2006 issue of

's ''

'' magazine on December 5, 2005, and it concluded with the October 2012 issue on September 5, 2012. The series was collected into fourteen ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes between June 2006 and October 2012.

announced their license to the series at

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first w ...

2007. TO Books began publishing a two-in one omnibus reprint of the series in June 2018. The reprint includes color pages and new short short stories featuring Mina. The two-volume spin-off was published in Japan between January 2010 and March 2013. Seven Seas licensed it in October 2010. A mini-series titled began serialization in the December 2012 issue of ''Comic Flapper'' on November 5, 2012. It ended on November 5, 2013, and was compiled into three volumes between March and December 2013. The mini-series was also licensed by Seven Seas, who announced the series in October 2013. Tamaki was originally scheduled to launch a second series of the main manga in spring 2013, but it was delayed. He began publishing in the January 2014 issue of ''Comic Flapper'' on December 5, 2013. The series ended on April 4, 2015, and was published as four volumes between April 2014 and April 2015. In June 2014, Seven Seas announced that they had acquired the rights to the sequel. On March 9, 2018, Tamaki announced via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that he would be starting a new manga in the series, titled , and that the series would be a continuation of ''Dance in the Vampire Bund II: Scarlet Order''. The series launched on TO Books Nico Nico Seiga-based online magazine ''Comic Corona'' on May 28, 2018. Seven Seas announced their license to the title in March 2019. Seven Seas also published two ''

'' collections, ''Dance in the Vampire Bund: Forgotten Tales'' and ''Dance in the Vampire Bund: Secret Chronicles'', which Tamaki had previously released only at

Comiket , more commonly known as or , is a semiannual ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of '' doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered by the volunteer-r ...

Anime

television series adaptation was announced in the August 2009 issue of ''Monthly Comic Flapper'' on July 4, 2009. The series was directed by

Akiyuki Shinbo is a Japanese animator, director, writer, and storyboard artist. Best known for his works with Shaft, he has attained international recognition with the studio for his unique visual style and storytelling methods. Born in Koori, Fukushima Pre ...

and Masahiro Sonoda, and written by

Hiroyuki Yoshino is a Japanese voice actor and singer affiliated with Sigma Seven. On leading roles, he played Yoshimori Sumimura in ''Kekkaishi'', Yuji Kagura in ''Tona-Gura!'', Takumi Nishijō in ''Chaos;Head'', Yusuke "Bossun" Fujisaki in '' Sket Dance'', ...

, with animation by the studio

. Naoyuki Konno provided character designs for the anime, and Akio Dobashi composed the series' music. A promotional video for the series was shown at the 76th

in October 2009. The 12-episode series premiered on January 7, 2010, and was broadcast on AT-X,

Chiba TV , doing business as , is a Japanese commercial terrestrial television broadcasting company headquartered at 11-25 Miyako-chō 1-chōme, Chūō-ku, Chiba serving Chiba Prefecture but spill-over is received in the neighbouring prefectures. It is a m ...

, tvk,

TV Saitama abbreviated TVS, doing business as is a Japanese fee-free terrestrial commercial television broadcasting company headquartered in Urawa-ku, Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its intended coverage is Saitama Prefecture but with some s ...

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

TV Aichi JOCI-DTV, branded as , is a television station in Nagoya, Japan operated by the Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. (TVA; ja, テレビ愛知株式会社, Terebi Aichi kabushiki gaisha) and is an affiliate of the TX Network. Broadcast ...

, and Sun TV. A compilation episode aired on February 25, 2010, pushing back the broadcast of the series beginning with episode 8, and causing episode 12 to be run in a different timeslot, where it replaced a rerun of ''

He Is My Master is a Japanese manga series written by Mattsuu and illustrated by Asu Tsubaki, a formerly married couple. It originally ran in ''Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' from February 2002 to February 2007. It was adapted into an anime television series by Ga ...

''. The series is licensed by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

in the United States and by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

in Australia and New Zealand.

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...

announced its license to the series at the

London MCM Expo The MCM London Comic Con (formerly known as the London Movies, Comics, and Media Expo and London MCM Expo) is a speculative fiction fan convention held in the London Borough of Newham twice yearly since 2002, usually on the last weekend in M ...

on May 28, 2011.

Censorship

Initially, Funimation announced that the U.S. release would be released in an edited format, because of "controversial elements which, when taken out of context, could be objectionable to some audiences", and which Funimation considered "inappropriate for U.S. viewing and ..not essential to the storyline" (nudity involving Princess Mina, who has the outward appearance of a child). Another title, ''

Strike Witches is a Japanese media mix originally created by Fumikane Shimada via a series of magazine illustration columns. The franchise has since been adapted into several light novel, manga, and anime series and various video gam ...

'', was released unedited, despite containing some similar elements. After negative fan reaction to edited DVD and Blu-ray releases, Funimation released another statement on March 10, 2010, stating that the company expected to release the show unedited based on the first seven episodes, but would make a final decision once the company had seen the final five episodes to ensure that they complied with U.S. law. Funimation later confirmed that the DVD and Blu-ray release would be unedited. It was released on June 14, 2011. In July 2011, Manga Entertainment, who had acquired the series for distribution in the United Kingdom, announced that an uncut version of the series had been passed by the

BBFC The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of fi ...

with a "15" rating. This version was released on October 24, 2011. In June 2015, it was announced that the anime was one of 38 anime and manga titles that had been

blacklisted Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist (or black list) of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list. If someone is on a blacklist, ...

by the Chinese Ministry of Culture, making the distribution of it in any form illegal.

Reception

A number of volumes in the series have made it onto the ''New York Times'' Manga Best Sellers list: * Volume seven was on the list for one week, appearing at seventh place. * Volume eight was on the list for two weeks, at second and ninth place. * Volume nine was on the list for two weeks, at eighth and seventh place. * Volume ten was on the list for two weeks, at third and tenth place. * Volume eleven was on the list for one week, at second place. * Volume twelve was on the list for one week at sixth place. * Volume thirteen was on the list for two weeks, at first and ninth place. * Volume fourteen was on the list for one week, at second place.

Notes

References

External links

* * * at

* at

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dance In The Vampire Bund 2005 manga 2010 Japanese television series debuts 2010 Japanese television series endings Action anime and manga Anime and manga about werewolves Anime series based on manga Dark fantasy anime and manga Funimation Kadokawa Dwango franchises AT-X (TV network) original programming Media Factory manga Psychological horror anime and manga School life in anime and manga Seinen manga Seven Seas Entertainment titles Shaft (company) Vampires in anime and manga