is a

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 ...

Osamu Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu''; – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, and animator. Born in Osaka Prefecture, his prolific output, pioneering techniques, and innovative redefinitions of genres earned him such ...

that began serialization in 1979. An

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 aired from April 5 to April 26, 1982.

Plot

After living in Transylvania for several years,

Count Dracula Count Dracula () is the title character of Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. He is considered to be both the prototypical and the archetypal vampire in subsequent works of fiction. Aspects of the character are believed by some ...

has moved to Japan. (The English summary on the front page of volume 1 of the "Complete Works Edition" says that a mercantile firm bought Castle Dracula and moved it to

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 ...

without knowing it was inhabited.) In the

Nerima is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Nerima City. , the ward has an estimated population of 721,858, with 323,296 households and a population density of 15,013 persons per km2, while 15,326 foreign residents are ...

Ward of Tokyo, he and his daughter, Chocola, and faithful servant Igor continue to live in the castle. While Chocola attends night classes at Matsutani Junior High School, Dracula is desperate to drink the blood of beautiful virgin women; an appropriate meal for a vampire of his stature. However, each night that Dracula goes out on the prowl he finds himself getting involved in some kind of disturbance which leads to him causing various trouble for the local residents. With nobody in Japan believing in vampires, his very presence causes trouble amongst the people in town. The slapstick comedy of the proud vampire adjusting to life in Japan is compounded by Professor Hellsing, Earl Dracula's nemesis for the past ten years. He has come to Japan to exterminate Dracula, but has the tragic flaw of suffering from

hemorrhoids Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''h ...

. In addition, Dracula is also pursued by Blonda, the first woman Dracula was able to drink blood from when he arrived in Japan. Because Blonda has a face only a mother could love, Dracula wants to get as far away from her as possible. Published in the same magazine as '' Black Jack'' at the same time, Tezuka commented that creating the slapstick antics of the poor vampire was very enjoyable.

Characters

;

:The legendary vampire who finds himself having a harder time living in Japan than he did in Transylvania. He spends his days sleeping in his coffin in the basement of his castle, and his nights prowling the streets of Shinjuku and Shibuya. He's weakened by water (in almost any form) and anything in the shape of a cross. He can be destroyed with a stake through his chest. Sunlight will turn him into dust, but Igor or Chocola will usually vacuum him up and then reconstitute him ala instant ramen with a magic spell that includes a cup of blood plus the contents of the vacuum cleaner. ;Chocola :Dracula's daughter who is currently attending night classes at Matsutachi Junior High School in Tokyo. Because she is half-vampire and half-

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 ...

, Chocola can survive in water just fine, but she will still turn to dust when exposed to sunlight. She can eat normal human food, but prefers human blood. Unlike her father, she is willing to bite men as well as women, but she has accepted that her classmates are off-limits. She is a member of the school's SF club. ;Nobuhiko Ōbayashi :Chocola's classmate at Matsutani Junior High, and a member of the school's SF club. He believes in aliens and UFOs, but not old-school creatures like vampires or werewolves. In volume two, he's forced to change to a day school because of his father's job, but he does still occasionally visit Matsutachi. ; Rip van Helsing :Dracula's enemy for the past 10 years who is determined to eradicate all vampires on Earth. Unfortunately, he suffers from a severe case of

. He follows Dracula to Tokyo where he gets a job as a teacher in Matsutani Junior High. However, after he tries to make some extra money selling Dracula's "cunning pencils" (hollowed pencils with a lens at one end and the test answers on a rolled up sheet stuck inside) he gets caught and fired. He never actually catches a vampire during the series. He uses the same character design as

Astro Boy ''Astro Boy'', known in Japan by its original name , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. It was serialized in Kobunsha's ''Shōnen'' from 1952 to 1968. The 112 chapters were collected into 23 '' tankōbon'' ...

's Dr. Fooler. ;

Carmilla ''Carmilla'' is an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the early works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's '' Dracula'' (1897) by 26 years. First published as a serial in ''The Dark Blue'' (1871–72), the ...

:A female werewolf that Dracula was once married to. They divorced shortly after Chocola was born because Camilla wanted to raise Chocola as a human killer. Dracula draws the line at killing humans outright. She only appears in one chapter. ;

Igor Igor may refer to: People * Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name * Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler * Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling * ...

:Dracula and Chocola's servant who is actually quite kind-hearted despite his fierce appearance. Spends most of his time either driving the family horse-drawn carriage, or vacuuming up someone's ashes. He's primary weakness is being exposed to naked women. ;Blonda Gray :An ugly woman who was the first person Dracula sucked blood from in Japan. Suffers from extremely high blood pressure. Was originally married to Dorian Gray back when both of them lived in Prague. As a student, Dorian made a pact with the devil to become successful, which led to his marrying the (at the time) beautiful Blonda. But, eventually he became violent and after three years was pulled into a picture frame. Blonda left him at about this point, and moved to Japan where she became a hostess at a bar and began over-indulging herself on ramen. ;Police Inspector Murai :An inept gun-toting detective who looks like a cross between Lupin's Inspector Zenigata and Gegege no Ge Kitaro's Nezumi Otoko. Tends to shoot his pistol randomly in the air when excited.

Other appearances

*An

television series of ''Don Dracula'' was commissioned in 1982 by Tezuka Productions, directed by Masamune Ochiai, with the voices of Kenji Utsumi as Don Dracula and

Saeko Shimazu is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator from Isehara. Shimazu is notable for having had voice roles in all four of the major anime television series based on the works of Rumiko Takahashi - she played Shinobu Miyake in ''Urusei Yatsu ...

(best known as Urusei Yatsura's

Shinobu Miyake The ''Urusei Yatsura'' manga series features a large ensemble cast of characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. It tells the story of Japanese teenager Ataru Moroboshi, and the alien Lum, who believes she is Ataru's wife after he accidentally pr ...

) as Chocola. The series debuted in April 1982, but only eight episodes were produced, and only four of those eight episodes made it to air, due to the bankruptcy of the anime's sponsoring company. The four "lost" episodes were later seen when the anime was dubbed for airing in other territories, but remained unavailable in Japan until the series was released on DVD. *Don Dracula appears like a servant of

Sharaku Tōshūsai Sharaku ( ja, 東洲斎写楽; active 1794–1795) was a Japanese ukiyo-e print designer, known for his portraits of kabuki actors. Neither his true name nor the dates of his birth or death are known. His active career as a woodblo ...

in Marine Express, his daughter Chocola also appears in the role of Milly, the cyborg daughter of

Duke Red Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

. *Don Dracula appears as a hospital director in the manga episode Like B.J. of Black Jack. *Don Dracula appears in the 2004

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...

game, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, in the same role he had in Marine Express. *A more human-looking version of Don Dracula is used as a principal in the Black Jack anime television, episode 57: Pinoko's Exam Diary.

References

External links

"Don Dracula" manga page at TezukaOsamu@World
* {{Weekly Shōnen Champion Akita Shoten manga 1979 manga 1979 comics endings 1982 anime television series debuts 1982 Japanese television series endings TV Tokyo original programming Osamu Tezuka anime Osamu Tezuka manga Shōnen manga Tezuka Productions Comics based on Dracula Dracula television shows Comics set in Japan Television shows set in Tokyo Anime and manga about werewolves Works set in castles

Plot

Characters

Other appearances

See also

References

External links