Dance in the Vampire Bund

Dance in the Vampire Bund
Cover of the English release of volume 1 of Dance in the Vampire Bund.
ダンス イン ザ ヴァンパイアバンド (Dansu in za Vanpaia Bando)
Genre	Supernatural, Romance
Manga
Written by	Nozomu Tamaki
Published by	Media Factory
English publisher	Seven Seas Entertainment
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Comic Flapper
Original run	June 23, 2006 – ongoing
Volumes	11
Manga
Dance in the Vampire Bund Gaiden: Dive in the Vampire Bund
Written by	Nozomu Tamaki
Published by	Media Factory
English publisher	Seven Seas Entertainment
Demographic	Seinen
Published	August 2009
Volumes	1
TV anime
Directed by	Akiyuki Shinbo
Studio	Shaft
Licensed by	Funimation Entertainment Manga Entertainment
Network	AT-X, Chiba TV, Sun TV
Original run	January 7, 2010 – April 1, 2010
Episodes	12 (List of episodes)
Anime and Manga Portal

Dance in the Vampire Bund (ダンス イン ザ ヴァンパイアバンド, Dansu in za Vanpaia Bando^?) is a supernatural romance manga written and illustrated by Nozomu Tamaki (環望, Tamaki Nozomu^?). The manga series is serialized in Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Comic Flapper, and is licensed for an English-language release by Seven Seas Entertainment.

The plot follows the emergence of vampires into the human world, and 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 has been produced by Shaft.^[1][2]

Plot

The story revolves around Mina Tepeş, princess-ruler of all vampires, and her "protector," Akira. 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, "The Bund",^[3] off the coast of Japan by paying off the national debt of the Japanese government. Mina then reveals to the world the existence of vampires and her desire for both races to live together. Tensions, however, run high as fearful humans and extremist vampire factions begin to interfere with Mina's wish for peace with the human world.^[4]

Characters

Main

Mina Tepeş (ミナ・テペッシュ, Mina Tepesshu^?)

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)

The female protagonist and the current ruler of the Vampire world. She usually appears in a young and prepubescent state, though she is not shy enough to feel embarrassed when naked. Mina can act aggressive, cocky, and naughty. However, she actually feels vulnerable and lonely. She cares very much for the welfare of her people and does everything in her power to protect and preserve her species. Mina sympathizes towards the Fangless (vampires who ripped out their own fangs), creating a city underneath the Bund where they can live freely and without persecution. It is revealed that she is in love with Akira since first meeting him or related to him in a close fashion, to the point her secret room is covered from floor to ceiling with nothing but pictures of him. Mina's soul's true form is an adult version of herself with wings. She wishes to have this form kept a secret, as that form's body is able to give birth while her current one cannot, and because of that, she would be forced into marrying one of the Three Nobles, who are also "True Bloods" like her. Mina's name can be derived from the Vlad the Impaler story and Dracula. Tepeş is the Romanian word for Impaler, the reason Vlad the Impaler is called Vlad Tepeş, and Mina was the name of the woman that Dracula sought to have as his new bride in the original novel.

Akira Kaburagi Regendorf (暁・鏑木・レーゲンドルフ, Akira Kaburagi Rēgendorufu^?)

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese), Alpha Lagrange (English)

The male protagonist of the story. A young werewolf who is the son of Wolfgang and thus is well trained. He has undergone training to identify almost all explosives, learning how to sniff them out. He cannot however disarm them, as he only took the canine part of the program. He is a kind person, determined to protect Mina, with whom he is in love.

In the anime, he lost all of his memories one year ago, and did not even know he was a werewolf until episode 2. It is later revealed he lost his memory due to failing a mission, and was allowed to live because of his importance to Mina.

Yuki Saegusa (三枝 由紀, Saegusa Yuki^?)

Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō (Japanese), Alexis Tipton (English)

The narrator of the story. A human who, it is later revealed, was once Akira's girlfriend. She gave Akira a silver ring as a symbol of their relationship, which later, she gave to Mina as a symbol of their new friendship. She is Akira's classmate as well as a member of the Student Council, and for a time being the only member after the attack on Kaichou. She was at first frightened by vampires, but grows to accept them after spending time with Mina. Through this she appears to gain a close friendship with Mina, even inviting her to spend the night at her house. Yuki is also an amateur novelist, and has quite a following in the Bund. It is suggested she writes yaoi with the protagonist based on Akira, much to his horror.

Vampires

Vampires, contrary to Werewolves, are a form of evolved humans, Mankind's only predator. Unlike many vampire stories, transformation into a vampire is not a conscious decision on the part of the vampire, but is cause merely by a vampire feeding off of a human. In recent years, a "vaccine" has been developed to prevent transformation, but is only effective for up to 48 hours from the time of infection.

Compared to humans, vampire emotions are significantly more potent, causing many vampires to become violent, gluttonous for blood, and very often sexual deviants, in an effort to satiate those powerful urges; however, there also those vampires – chiefly among those who were turned against their wills – who instead choose to become Fangless, pulling their own fangs in order to hold onto their former human values. Such vampires face persecution from both sides, however, human and vampire alike; it is revealed early on that the creation of the Bund was in large part to provide a haven for the Fangless to live peacefully.

All vampires have a 'True Form,' which is a physical representation of their inner self, and is a very similar transformation to that of werewolves. This form can be almost anything, from a giant bat, to a spider, to, in Mina's case, a succubus-like figure. Very few of the vampires in the story have shown their true forms. It is not made clear whether humans who are turned into vampires have a true form (all true forms so far have been of vampires who were born as vampires, or whose past is unknown).

In addition to regular vampires, there are also the "True Bloods": vampire families who possess "pure" vampiric ancestry, undiluted by human blood, whether by mating with humans or by being transformed. These are the most powerful of all Vampires in the world, but are deathly restricted by tradition and codes of conduct when it comes to dealing with each other.

In the storyline, currently the vampire world is ruled by the royal family, the Ţepeş. However, there are only three "true blood" nobles left: Rozenmann, Ivanovic, and Li.

Royal Family

The Ţepeş are the Royal family that Rules over the Vampire world. Currently, there is only one member of the royal family left.

Lucretia (ルクレツィア, Rukuretsia^?)

Lucretia Tepeş was the previous ruler of the Vampire Kingdom, and Mina's mother. Not much is known about her, other than that she looks very similar to Mina's true form, and that she was killed at the hands of the Three Clans.

The Three Clans

The Three Clans are the most powerful of the vampire clans, save for the Royal Family itself, and are led by Rozenmann, Ivanovic, and Li. It is revealed that prior to the story, the three lords devoured the other noble clans and pursued the Royal Family. They succeeded in their campaign resulting in the extinction of the "true bloods" and the death of Queen Lucretia. However to keep the true bloodline, one is to be married to and bear a child with Mina, as she is the only true-blood female vampire left. It is heavily suggested one or all of them are controlling Telomere, a terrorist group created to kill Mina. In the anime, they all are forced to swear their allegiance to Mina once their assassins are all defeated by Akira.

Rozenmann (ローゼンマン, Rōzenman^?)

Voiced by: Kenji Hamada (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)

Lord Rozenmann first appears dressed in a white, western-style suit with a cape over his shoulders, his left eye covered by an eyepatch. He appears to be the calmest and most amiable of the three lords, showing civility even to those considered "beneath" him (such as Veratos, a "commoner", and Akira who is a werewolf), and maintaining his demeanor even as one of his servants is immolated by sunlight in front of him; the only time he ever appears anything other than perfectly composed, is surprise at the sight of Akira's return after defeating the three assassins sent after him.

Ivanovic (イワノヴ, Iwanovu^?)

Voiced by: Kissei Kumamoto (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)

Lord Ivanovic appears dressed mostly in black with a silver cross hanging from his neck. He also appears older and hunched over. Lord Ivanovic has a very aggressive and imperious demeanor and looks more as the villain compared to the other two lords. He is revealed in Volume 9 to have once been Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, insinuating himself into the Romanov dynasty's confidence and controlling them from behind the scenes; upon learning of the coming Bolshevik Revolution, Rasputin sold out the Romanovs and "died", returning as Ivanovic to control yet another regime from the shadows. After learning of Mina's true form, Ivanovic launches an attack on the Bund, climaxing in a final duel to the death with Mina and Akira in the depths of the Cradle, the deepest layer of the Bund, where he is finally defeated and slain. It can be noted that Ivanovic's true vampire form much resembles that of the demon Baphomet

Li (李, Ri^?)

Voiced by: Tora Take (Japanese), NIJ (English)

Lord Li appears dressed in a Manchu changshan. The area around his mouth is hideously deformed, revealing sharp, pointed teeth which he usually keeps concealed behind an ornate fan. As such, he rarely speaks, preferring to observe the conversation and only contributes when need be.

During the wager for possession of Mina's hand, the assassin sent by Li after Akira's life was, in fact, two people: a pair of identical twin vampire brothers who shared a powerful psychic bond, such that any injury inflicted on one would also appear on the other, allowing them to masquerade as one person in order to confuse and mislead their target. For this reason, they are referred to as the "Corsican brothers", after the Alexander Dumas novel of the same name, whose characters shared a similar ability.

Others

Maids

Three maids that are often seen serving Mina. They are often featured in the omake chapters spreading rumors about Akira and are fans of Yuki's manga. They are very strong, able to fight off an armed squad by themselves.

Nelly (ネリー, Nerī^?)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Anita Neukar (English)

She has long chestnut colored hair and more cheerful of the three. She is a big anime fan, spending most of her time with Nanami, now that she is a maid, because she has glasses, big breasts, and is a student council president, considered a "triple Threat" in the anime world.^[5]

Nella (ネーラ, Nēra^?)

Voiced by: Akeno Watanabe (Japanese), Terri Doty (English)

Recognized by having her hair covering one of her eyes. She always has a stoic demeanor but is a very caring person. Where after she gave a shot to a boy, notice that she was ordered by Alphonse to bite him in order to turn him into a vampire, which made him cry, she gave him a small teddy bear to make him feel better. She appears to work for Alphonse as well.

Nero (ネロ^?)

Voiced by: Asuka Tanii (Japanese), Abigail Hartman (English)

The maid with long black hair. She is very devoted to Mina, and hates Akira because he is always by her side.

Juneau Dermailles (ジュノー・デルマイユ, Junō Derumaiyu^?)

Voiced by: Yuzuru Fujimoto (Japanese), Joe West (English)

He is a high-ranking noble who serves the noble family. However in the anime, his loyalty is just a facade, as he actually despises Mina, working with Vampire Terrorists to have her killed. He also has a racist hatred towards Werewolves.

Veratos (ヴェラトゥース, Veratūsu^?)

Voiced by: Yūko Kaida (Japanese), Carmen Smith (English)

Most often answering to "Vera", she is Mina's most trusted advisor. First introduced as driving Akira to the castle, where she briefly impersonated Mina in order to test Akira's abilities. In the anime this does not happen, and she instead impersonates Mina on the reality TV show in the first episode. Afterwards, she is often seen assisting Mina with her office work as well as being her bodyguard. Akira has commented that she has a cute laugh. She admits to having once been a human who sought to become a vampire out of love for Mina's mother, Lucretia. She's also Hysterica's original Master, having turned her into a vampire after her family had died of the Spanish flu.

Alphonse Medici Borgiani (アルフォンソ・メディチ・ボルジアーニ, Arufonso Medichi Borujiāni^?)

Voiced by: Takaya Kuroda (Japanese), John Knell (English)

A carefree vampire who is loyal to Mina. He is easily recognized by his white suit and expensive car, a reason he doesn't like the Bund is because the fake blood "Stigma" they spray by blimp always gets all over his car. He states he is a Lord and specializes in secretive dealing for Mina outside the public's knowledge. It was he who planned the transformation of Shoichi's grandson into a vampire for Mina to obtain leverage.

Humans that became Vampires

Nanami Shinonome (東雲 ななみ, Shinonome Nanami^?)

Voiced by: Shizuka Itō (Japanese), Janet Mason (English)

Also known as "Chairman" (会長, Kaichō^?), she was originally a stern, no-nonsense human student who was against the idea of having vampires attend the school, seeing them as making a mockery of all that the school had stood for until then, especially after discovering that the school's chairman and founder was, in fact, a vampire - Mina herself. However, while staying at school late at night, she is attacked by vampires and consequently made into one. Though her original master was defeated, Nanami is soon "overwritten" by another vampire and thus further coerced into serving Mina's enemies. Eventually Nanami is overwritten yet again, this time by Mina, and is able to get some semblance of her life back again, continuing to go to school as Student Council President, but also now serving as a maid for the Tepeş household.

After becoming a vampire, Nanami discovers that she is passionately in love with her younger next-door neighbor Yuzuru, a boy she had previously considered as a little brother to herself; unprepared for the incredible potency of vampire emotions, Nanami very nearly bites Yuzuru before remembering herself and running off. Overcome with revulsion at what she has become, she even pleads at one time with Mina to kill her, rather than "taint" Yuzuru with her shameful lust. Eventually however, she comes to realize that Yuzuru, in fact, returns her feelings, and is allowed to bite him so that they can both be together. Also, because of the age difference between them, Nanami later comes to be labeled a shotacon by Nelly.

Hikosaka (彦坂^?)

Voiced by: Mitsuhiro Ichiki (Japanese), Greg Ayres (English)

Known as "Hiko" for short by Akira, he is a cowardly young student who is regularly bullied by his schoolmates. He later becomes a vampire, apparently loving the fact he can now terrify those who once bullied him. However, he soon realizes that life as a vampire is no different than when he was human, and that no matter what he would become, the abuse he suffered would not cease. He became one of Hysterica's pawns in her plan to bomb the Tokyo subway and, after being chased and confronted by Akira, apologized to him before killing himself with the bomb he was carrying.

Yuzuru (ユヅル^?)

Voiced by: Mika Itō (Japanese), Lynn Lowin (English)

A thirteen-year-old boy (though he appears considerably younger) who was Nanami's next-door neighbor. Because both of their families were often not at home, they would spend time together to where Yuzuru would look up to her as a big sister figure. After Nanami becomes a vampire, he looks for her to the point of putting himself in danger, and later ends up helping Mina and Akira save Nanami. It is revealed that he loves Nanami as much as she does him, and allows himself to be turned into a vampire by Nanami so that they can live together in the Bund.

Werewolves

The Earth Clan (地の一族, Chi no Ichizoku^?) is a family of highly evolved wolves that have developed to look like men. They have been in the service of the Tepeş family of vampires, particularly Mina Tepeş, for generations; they act as the Ţepeş empire's military and special-ops units. They are born with stronger bodies than humans, keener senses of smell and sight, and (unlike vampires) can walk around during the day. Werewolves are also said to have extremely long lifespans as mentioned by Akira in the manga when he said that werewolves were immortal (although he was leaving silver-related injuries out of this statement). The protagonist, Akira, is the son of the head of the Earth Clan, Wolfgang, and a Japanese woman. Akira has been Mina Ţepeş' familiar/ #1 servant for nearly his entire life. It was revealed in chapter 35 that all members of the earth clan are male. It is also revealed that in order for a Werewolf to sire a werewolf offspring, he must impregnate a woman while in his transformed wolf-man form. This act is an extremely traumatic effect on the woman which can lead to physical and/or psychological damage. Akira's mother for instance is paralyzed from the waist down and requires a wheelchair to move around. It was also revealed in the manga that before Mina's time, the Earth Clan was evenly divided among the Pure Blood vampires but the royal family destroyed the other branches of the Earth Clan to maintain power. However the Earth Clan themselves secretly accepted the survivors and allowed them to intermingle with the Tepes Earth Clan. Most of the Werewolves are fully devoted to Mina but there are those that resent the Princess and her ancestor and passively act against her. These Werewoles are called "The outer clan"

Wolfgang Regendorf (ヴォルフガング・レーゲンドルフ, Vorufugangu Rēgendorufu^?)

Voiced by: Jōji Nakata (Japanese), C.T. Anger (English)

Current head of the Earth Clan and Akira's father. He takes his position as the head of Mina's security, the Beowulfs, very seriously. Though he doesn't show his emotions, he is proud of his son.

Seiji Hama (浜 誠児, Hama Seiji^?)

A police inspector in Tokyo. He is usually a good hearted guy but is a fierce fighter, being in special Ops he is able to use a shotgun in many ways to fight. It is later revealed he was originally human but after being transformed he is now some type of were-creature (most likely some sort of feline) and one of the three assassins sent by the royal family to kill Akira. He and Akira fight, though Akira won. He later reveals he was in charge of the men who attacked Mina's castle at the beginning of the series, and was the one who shot the rocket launcher at Mina. It is later shown he is in a relationship with Reiko. After being questioned by Mina, he was allowed to return to his Station in the Bund due to the Beowulfs not wanting to lose someone of his strength, Reiko refusing to leave Mina's office until he was released, and on the request of Akira.

In the anime he is replaced by Mei Ran, as well as his assassin armor obviously more feminine.

Angel "Angie" Arvenanto (エンジェル "アンジー"・アルヴェナント, Enjeru "Anjī" Aruvenanto^?)

A Leading Private from Beowulf's Senatorial Bureau of Investigation, transferred to the Bund to be one of Mina's new bodyguards. Angie is a sweet, courteous, and extremely effeminate 17-year old young man. It is hinted that he is female but is actually male. He is very attached to Akira, going so far as to taunt Mina and Yuki with his antics, such as admitting to bathing together or sleeping naked together. This behavior is later explained that when young werewolves go through their 'right-of-passage', they are always paired up. The extreme nature of the rite creates a strong psychological bond between the pair. Angie and Akira were paired together during their rite. He is also good at reading people, and was able to get Ryohei back as friends with Akira.

Eight Elite

The Eight Elite consists of the best hunters in the Earth Clan. Each specializes in different types of weapons. They are also in pairs of two.

Team 1

• Remus: He is the leader of the Eight. His weapon of choice is dueling sword.
• Romulus: His weapon of choice is dueling sword. He wears sun glasses. English Voice actor Todd Haberkorn.

Team 2

• Heinrich
• Leroy

Team 3

• Camille: He is blind. His weapon of choice is dueling sword.
• Hyunte: His weapon of choice is lance for melee combat and sniper rifle.

Team 4

• Goto: His weapon of choice is halberd. Shinva uses his halberd as springboard sometimes.
• Shinva: He is the shortest of the Eight and he wears white mask. His weapon of choice is yatagan.

Humans

Ryohei Kuze (久世 僚平, Kuze Ryōhei^?)

Voiced by: Susumu Chiba (Japanese), Mark Graham (English)

At the beginning of the series, he treated Akira as an enemy, but Akira still sees him as a friend. He treats Akira this way because he didn't accept Yuki's feelings and that Akira is Mina's servant, in which Ryohei believes he is siding with the vampires. His hatred towards Vampires is so strong, that he agreed with students beating up Hikosaka because he "associated" with Mina. However, after chatting with Angel, he decided to apologize to Akira, which Akira accepts.

Katsuichi Mizoguchi (溝口 勝一, Mizoguchi Katsuichi^?)

A mid level politician who Mina negotiated to have Fangless vampires to attend school in Japan. He was completely against the idea, believing that all vampires should stay on the Bund. Because of that statement, Mina went as far as to have his grandson turned into a vampire and then quoted his own words on how all vampires should stay in the Bund. He later agrees to the acceptance of vampires, to where Mina gave a cure to his grandson that works on people that have been bitten within 48 hours.

In the anime, he is much higher rank, being the prime minister, but is still the one that Mina has to deal with over the Bund.

Josée Reiko Gotoh (後藤・ジョゼ・玲子, Gotō Joze Reiko^?)

Stepsister to Nicole Edelman. Yet they look so much alike that Vera nearly attacked her when she introduced herself. She is a Councilor who works for Shoichi. She hadn't seen her stepsister in years, and claims to not know why she did the things she did. It is later revealed that she is dating Seiji Hama and deeply loves him.

Antagonists

Nicole Edelman (ニコル・エデルマン, Nikoru Ederuman^?)

Voiced by: Ayaka Kodama (Japanese), Clarine Harp (English)

A human reporter who became a vampire so as to assassinate Mina during the news conference. She became a suicide bomb by surgically placing C4 inside her own stomach. Her plan was stopped by Akira and Vera driving stake through her heart and Akira throwing the bomb down the elevator shaft (though this accidentally caused damage to the underground settlement Mina was having constructed). She worked for the terrorist organization Telomere.

Jean Marais Dermailles (ジャン・マレイ・デルマイユ, Jan Marei Derumaiyu^?)

Voiced by: Ken Narita (Japanese), Jerry Jewell (English)

Heir to Juneau and behind the attacks on the school turning the students into vampires, including Nanami and Hikosaka. He changed as many people as he could to vampires as a way in serving Mina, believing he was making an army to create a new world for Vampires. He shows no respect to his father, believing he is a person of the past. He too also shows a racist hatred to Werewolves, wishing to have them exterminated in the new vampire world ruled by the "young". Mina kills him, seeing his new world idea as just a grand delusion, but before that learned of the Terrorist Organization Telomere was behind her assassination attempt.

In the anime, it was Akira who killed him, and Mina already knew of Telomere before she confronted him.

Hysterica (ヒステリカ, Hisuterika^?)

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (Japanese), Callie McHalen (English)

Her real name is Francesca, and knew Vera nearly 100 years ago. Vera herself, who was known as Veratos at the time, had turned her into a vampire. She turned Hysterica into a vampire when her family was killed by the Spanish Flu and that she was on the very brink of death because of it. She now works for the "Third Kind", a group that wishes for the death of Mina, and was also controlling Nanami. Hysterica lead suicidal Vampires by implanting a liquid container in them, and when a phone signal was sent it would mix with their blood, causing a violent chemical reaction turning them into Vampire Bombs, one of them being Hikosaka. However, after seeing Mina's other form, got herself distracted by trying to contact her master in telling him what she just saw, therefore not realizing that Nanami was reprogrammed and was attacked by her. Vera was the one who finished Hysterica off by throwing a container of the chemical at the open wound, burning her alive. Hysterica had a habit of referring to her slaves as "Pigs."

In the anime, she worked for Telomere, but still tried to contact the three clans before with news of Mina's true form.

Assassins

At a time the Three Vampire Lords were considering who got to mate with Mina, since she must mate with one of them to create a pure blood Vampire, being the only pure blood female vampire left, as well as she can only give birth once in her life. The Lords came up with a game where each one summoned their best assassin and whose ever killed Akira would be who she had to marry.

In the anime there are many differences, most likely due to the shorten time frame, where the assassins were killed off relatively quick and the Chinese assassin being only one person instead of two.

Anime-only

Tsuchigumo (土蜘蛛^?)

An anime-only character that attempted to kill Mina. His true form is a demon spider. He was quickly killed off by Akira after he remembered he was a werewolf.

Mei Ren (メイレン, Meiren^?)

Voiced by: Yū Kobayashi (Japanese), Cherami Leigh (English)

A therianthrope (or werecat) girl who is always seen eating hard candies, along with an audible biting sound where one is usually supposed to suck on such candy. She can also use said hard candies as a weapon, flicking them as if they were bullets. She also seems to have feelings for Akira. What she is up to is currently shrouded in mystery, but has helped Akira a number of times. She carries a replica pendant reminding her of a precious friend of hers which Akira recalls in his memories. So far it appears she is loyal to Mina, and it even appears it was her who got her on the hard candies. However this is revealed in the last episode to be not true, and is a follower of a Mina look-a-like who is the leader of Telomere. She claims her measurements are 32-23-33 and that she is a virgin. She replaces Seiji Hama in his role as one of the three assassins; this is due to her ability with the shotgun, which is similar in technique to that of Seiji Hama. Her choice of the type of shotgun is also similar. She is killed by Akira in their final fight, but dies happily as she never thought she would be able to die while in someone's arms after being alone for so long.

Manga side story

In Japan, a ten-chapter companion manga was released for cell phones, running concurrenttly with the monthly chapters appearing in Comic Flapper. Dive in the Vampire Bund takes place during the early half of Dance in the Vampire Bund Vol. 6, prior to Angie's arrival. It explores the origins of the deadly Pied Piper virus.

Seven Seas Entertainment released this side story in April 2011 as Dance in the Vampire Bund Gaiden: Dive in the Vampire Bund.^[6]

Anime

Main article: List of Dance in the Vampire Bund episodes

The anime promo was released on January 2010. Since that time, all 12 episodes have aired in Japan. On March 4, 2010, North American anime distributor Funimation Entertainment announced that it has acquired the rights to Dance in the Vampire Bund and will stream and offer simulcast subtitled episodes, days after they are aired in Japan.^[7]

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." Another title, Strike Witches, was released unedited, despite containing some similar elements.^[8] After negative fan reaction to edited DVD and Blu-Ray releases, Funimation released another statement on March 10, 2010, saying the company expects to release the show unedited based on the first seven episodes, but will make a final decision once the company has seen the final five episodes to ensure that they comply with U.S.law.^[9][10]

In October 2011, it was announced that the UK edition - distributed by Manga entertainment - would not be censored, and that all material removed by Funimation for the US release would be included in its original form. ^[11]

References

1. ^ "Dance in the Vampire Bund Manga Gets TV Anime Green-Lit". Anime News Network. 2009-07-03. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-07-03/dance-in-the-vampire-band-manga-gets-tv-anime-green-lit. Retrieved 2010-01-15. 
2. ^ "Official website" (in Japanese). http://www.vampirebund.com/. Retrieved 2009-08-03. 
3. ^ Dialog from "Episode 4 - Interview With the Vampire". http://www.hulu.com/watch/133160/dance-in-the-vampire-bund-interview-with-the-vampire.  "--Bund?", "--...a coastal area of Shanghai"
4. ^ "Gomanga". http://www.gomanga.com/manga/danceinthevampirebund.php. Retrieved 2009-04-23. 
5. ^ one manga chapter 19 page 37
6. ^ "Seven Seas Introduces Dance in the Vampire Bund Side Story". http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2010-10-06/seven-seas-introduces-dance-in-the-vampire-bund-side-story. Retrieved 2010-10-06. 
7. ^ "Funimation Adds Baka and Test, Dance in the Vampire Bund". Anime News Network. 2010-03-04. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-04/funimation-adds-baka-and-test-dance-in-the-vampire-bund. 
8. ^ "Funimation Addresses Dance in the Vampire Bund Edits". Anime News Network. 2010-03-04. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-05/funimation-addresses-dance-in-the-vampire-bund-edits. 
9. ^ "Vampire Bund Edits Draw Reaction". Maina. 2010-03-08. http://www.mania.com/vampire-bund-edits-draw-reaction_article_121081.html. 
10. ^ "Funimation Comments Further on Vampire Bund Edits". Anime News Network. 2010-03-10. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-03-10/funimation-comments-further-on-vampire-bund-edits. 
11. ^ Neo, issue 90, p10

External links

• Official Dance in the Vampire Bund anime website (Japanese)
• Dance in the Vampire Bund at Seven Seas Entertainment (English publisher)
• Dance in the Vampire Bund at Funimation
• Dance in the Vampire Bund at the Internet Movie Database
• Dance in the Vampire Bund (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Dance in the Vampire Bund (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Dance in the Vampire Bund | MangaUK Blog