Summary

• Vampires are some of the most fascinating creatures in fiction, with an enduring popularity that extends to the anime medium too.
• Vampires represent the duality of humankind, as they can be both feral and seductive, and both aspects have been picked up by anime series.
• Vampires can play a plethora of different roles in the story, from monstruous villains to cursed lovers.

The best vampires in anime are popular not just when Halloween is close, but year-round. Monsters that prey on humans, drink their blood, and transform them into undead have been part of many cultures’ mythology for millennia. Humans’ collective fears of disease, death, and what may be lurking in the dark gave rise to one of the most recognizable character types of all time.

Japanese folklore does not contain vampires - at least not in the traditional Western sense - but since the introduction of the creature into early cinema, many media have happily embraced it, anime included. From the sexy and seductive to the feral and ferocious, anime has put some truly original spins on vampires, while staying faithful to their core imaginary.

10 Servamps

Servamp (2016) - Available on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Amazon Prime

One of the best dark fantasy anime centers around the concept of vampires as embodying the worst of human sinfulness. Mahiru Shirota learns this the hard way when he stumbles into the family of Servamps, seven ancient vampires that each embody one of the Seven Deadly Sins. They were the first vampires ever created, and the most powerful.

Servamps are able to shift between human and animal form at will, though sunlight will force a transformation. They each wield various personal powers in battle, from Hyde’s swordplay to Kuro’s claws and spikes. Unlike other vampires that control human servants, Servamps are required to contract with human masters, or Eves, to stay alive.

9 Alucard

Hellsing: Ultimate (2006) - Available on Hulu

Alucard may be the best-known anime vampire out there. Like the original Alucard from the 1943 film Son of Dracula, the name is an alias for his true identity as Count Dracula. Also like the original Alucard, he is an immortal devoted to one human woman, whom he will do anything to protect: in his case, Integra Hellsing, whom he has protected since she was a child.

Decades later, he is still the Hellsing organization’s ace in the hole, his vast powers feared by his enemies and allies alike. Alucard can do everything from walk through walls to shapeshift to wield various psychic abilities, in addition to the monstrous strength and speed standard to vampires. With his strongest attack, he can summon literally every person he has ever killed, unleashing a legion of familiars. He drinks blood, but won’t starve without it, only enter a dormant state.

8 Blood Breeds - Kekkai Sensen

Kekkai Sensen (2015) - Available on Crunchyroll

Hellsalem’s Lot — formerly known as New York City — is plagued by many fearsome creatures. Its equivalent of vampires is Blood Breeds, monsters with magic hardwired into their DNA, giving them superhuman strength, speed, and the ability to regenerate from attacks. They don’t cast reflections, making them difficult to detect before it’s too late.

They lack many traditional vampire weaknesses, even as they wield various other magical abilities. Leonardo Watch’s ability to see their true names is a game-breaker for Libra, allowing the stronger heroes to seal them away. Though Blood Breeds are generally considered to be vicious and heartless, some are capable of genuine affection, like the one K.K. runs into who shows up for his daughter’s Parents Day at school.

7 Shiki

Shiki (2010) - Available on Crunchyroll

Sometimes, the cruelest of vampires put down roots in the most unlikely of places. In the sleepy coastal town of Sotoba, the arrival of the mysterious Kirishiki family to the abandoned castle in the nearby woods brings disappearance after disappearance. Now, the survivors must fight to keep from being overrun by the undead.

Translated literally as “corpse demon,” shiki transform humans into one of them by draining them of blood. Immortal and invulnerable to injury, shiki have sharp senses and the ability to hypnotize humans. Shiki are easy to spot if you know what you’re looking for, but particularly powerful humans rise again as jinrou, which are not only indistinguishable from humans but lack shiki weaknesses such as vulnerability to sunlight.

6 D

Vampire Hunter D (1985) - Available on Amazon Prime Video

Half-vampires like D often have the worst of it. Born from a human mother and vampire father, D has been shunned all his life for his heritage, despite his constant efforts to protect humanity from the monsters roaming the wasteland Earth has become. Nevertheless, he won’t stop: he believes it’s just in his nature to not have a peaceful life.

In his long immortal life, D becomes so skilled with the sword that his attacks are fast enough to negate full-blooded vampires’ regeneration. Even leaving aside the powers of his parasitic left hand, he is superhumanly strong, fast, and agile, resistant to psychic attacks, and able to turn others into his thralls by biting them. D does suffer from traditional vampire weaknesses, with his trademark large hat serving to protect him from sunlight.

A sequel movie, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, was released in 2000.

5 Saya Otonashi And Diva

Blood+ (2005) - Available on Tubi

Because of the scientists who experimented on them as children, giving Saya a normal life and imprisoning and torturing Diva, two of the best twins in anime never had the chance to form any sisterly relationship. Instead, they are locked in vicious battle. Diva is the leader of the batlike chiroptera and Saya, raised as human, fights to destroy all of her own kind.

Despite the difference in Diva’s personality and feelings towards Saya between manga and anime, her powers as a chiropteran queen remain consistent. She has the usual super-speed and strength, is bulletproof, and her singing transforms infected humans into chiropterans. Saya is a skilled swordswoman once she regains her memories, and capable of even greater and bloodier destruction than Diva once her instincts take over.

4 Noé Archiviste

The Case Study Of Vanitas (2021) - Available on Hulu and Crunchyroll

It takes a vampire — and, sometimes, his trusty “vampire doctor” — to solve vampiric maladies. Noé’s quest for the legendary cursed Book of Vanitas is waylaid by Vanitas’ self-proclaimed successor. This new Vanitas is determined to use the book to help others, and to that end he and Noé set out to cure the mysterious epidemic driving vampires insane.

Noé is as friendly and gentle a vampire as you could ever hope to meet, but cross him and that can quickly go out the window. He is a powerful hand-to-hand fighter, but though he was taught to rewrite the World Formula, actually trying to bend the laws of physics makes him nauseous. He inherited his clan’s ability to read anyone’s memories by drinking their blood, and as its sole survivor, is the only vampire in the world able to do so.

3 Zero Kiryuu And Kaname Kuran

Vampire Knight (2008) - Available on Hulu, Peacock, and Hoopla

In one of the best fantasy shoujo, Zero and Kaname are rivals for the hand of Yuuki Cross, who herself was thought to be human before her awakening as a Pureblood vampire. The plot of Vampire Knight is heavy with hostilities between humans, Pureblood vampires, and other classes of vampires. with the main trio irrevocably caught up in all of it.

Zero fights his transformation into a Level E vampire, but it still gives him an edge in vampire hunting, with the ability to sense other vampires and accelerated healing. Kaname, as a millennia-old Pureblood, has a plethora of special powers, including but not limited to mind control, telekinesis, shapeshifting, and the creation of familiars. Both of them can steal the powers of other vampires by drinking their blood, and regularly use this method to become stronger.

2 Mikaela Hyakuya

Seraph Of The End (2015) - Available on Hulu And Apple TV+

Mika did not want to be a vampire, detesting them for killing all his adoptive family and enslaving humanity, but he didn’t have a choice in the matter, and now he fights on the side of the vampires who turned him into a monster. The trauma turns him into a far cry from the cheerful child he used to be: he’s now a cold, stoic killer.

Because he hasn’t drunk human blood yet, Mika is only a half-vampire, but still wields intimidating power. Being turned by a Progenitor and continuing to drink her blood gives him an edge even over older vampires, and he powers up his sword by feeding it his own blood. He distrusts both vampires and humans, and only cares about protecting Yuichirou.

1 Dio Brando - JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2012) - Available on Netflix

Newcomers to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure might be surprised to discover that vampires feature prominently in several early parts of the story. Though Dio is not the progenitor of all vampires (that honor goes to Kars from Battle Tendency), his rejection of his humanity is the turning point of Phantom Blood and one of the JoJo. Using the Stone Mask, he escapes punishment for his crimes and goes on to become gleefully worse.

While at first he only has the powers of a "standard" vampire, Dio becomes even stronger after he awakens his Stand, The World, which has the power to stop time. Despite the fact that Jotaro beats him at the end of Stardust Crusaders, finally ending the curse of Dio on the Joestar family, the legacy of the villain would continue. His son, Giorno Giovanna, is the protagonist of part 5, Golden Wind, while his mad follower Father Pucci is the main villain of part 6, Stone Ocean. Two alternative versions of Dio even come back in Steel Ball Run.

Vampires remain one of the most popular creatures in fiction for a reason. They are extremely versatile, easily used to represent anything the story needs them to, and able to play a variety of roles, from monsters to cursed lovers. lovers. Everything from their powers to the way they drink blood can be made unique in the hands of a creative author, making vampires some of the best characters in anime too.