Count Dracula is coming to 1880's Japan. Daigo, Shiro, Akane and Takako enter the Count's mansion the night before he is scheduled to arrive, only to find he is already there. The encounter is brief and surprisingly non-violent, but the following day the four teenagers find the Count working his way into their daily lives. Dracula even pays a visit to Daigo and his mother at their house, and when Daigo is sent away from the house on an errand, his mother ends up dead in the street.
As the vampire plague spreads through town, Daigo rushes to stop the Count from turning everyone into the undead, as well as seek revenge for the death, undeath and eventual killing of his mother at his own hands. But will a tuberculosis-stricken teenage samurai really have any chance of defeating a four hundred year old general?
According to the afterword, Hideyuki Kikuchi was influenced heavily by Christoper Lee's portrayal of Dracula throughout the Hammer Films portion of Lee's career, and tried to model a more forlorn Count after these performances. It does show very well, and what results is the most polite Dracula I've ever seen. This is undoubtedly amplified by the time period Japanese culture as well, and it's actually a refreshing way of envisioning a character that's been done numerous times before. An ambiguous ending serves to add rather than detract from the tale as well, wrapping the story up nicely despite remaining open to interpretation.
My real complaint here is the actual writing. I've read a few of Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D novels and there's no problems there; The Tale of Meiji Dracula reads like a kid's book, despite Daigo coughing up blood and killing his mother and other such goings-on. I'm not sure if Ballantine has an entry-level translation staff or if Meiji Dracula is a kids book and they didn't bother to market it as such, but it was a very big put-off and having been forewarned of the story approach would have greatly increased my enjoyment of such. If you are expecting an adult level read, you'll be as disappointed as I was, but expect something young-adult and you'll enjoy it just fine. Oh, and if you're not schooled in kendo and units of Japanese measure, hit up the glossary before you read anything else.
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Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Del Rey (January 29, 2008)
ISBN-10: 034549881X
ISBN-13: 978-0345498816
