The Vampires (manga)

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{{Infobox animanga/Header

| name = The Vampires

| image =

| caption =

| ja_kanji = バンパイヤ

| ja_romaji = Banpaiya

| genre =

}}

{{Infobox animanga/Print

| type = Manga

| author = Osamu Tezuka

| publisher =

| demographic = Shōnen

| magazine = Weekly Shōnen Sunday

| first = June 1966

| last = May 1967

| volumes = 4

| volume_list =

}}

{{Infobox animanga/Video

| type = Drama

| title =

| director =

| producer =

| writer =

| music =

| studio = Mushi Production

| licensee =

| network = Fuji TV

| network_en =

| first = October 5, 1968

| last = March 29, 1969

| episodes = 26

| episode_list =

}}

{{nihongo|The Vampires|バンパイヤ|Banpaiya}} is a manga by Osamu Tezuka that began published weekly during 1966 to 1967.

Plot

Toppei Tachibana, a mysterious teenager, visited Mushi Production and persuaded its president, Osamu Tezuka to let him work at his studio. Tezuka later discovered that Toppei is more than he sees: he is a vampire, which is a species that can transform from humans to a variety of animals, and he is a werewolf. Toppei came to Tokyo to search for his father, Professor Tachibana. After Toppei accidentally murdered Professor Atami, an old friend of Tezuka, Rokuro Makube, an evil teenager who is also the ward of Mika Onishi's family, blackmailed Tezuka to control Toppei to his advantages.

Meanwhile, Toppei's vampire community was planning a revolution against normal humans, and Rock sided with them to help him to manipulate the world. As chaos threatened the world, Toppei, Tezuka and Toppei's younger brother Chippei must work together to stop the vampires.

Characters

Toppei Tachibana is the protagonist of the manga. He is a vampire, and a typical werewolf. His transformations will be triggered when he is angry or hating someone (with the full moon).
Osamu Tezuka is the president of Mushi Production and manga writer, he accepted Toppei as an employee of his production company. He discovered that Toppei is a vampire and helped him to stop the Vampires' revolution.
Chippei Tachibana is Toppei's younger brother, he transforms to werewolf when he sees round things. His nose has great olfaction which proves to be great use.
Rokuro Makube, a.k.a. Rock is the main antagonist of the manga series. He was the butler for Mika Onishi. It was revealed through the conversation between him and his best friend Saigo, that he was a village student before joining the rich Onishi family to steal their wealth, by kidnapping Mika (with Toppei's assistance as a werewolf) and made the Onishi's couples' will to give their inheritance to him before murdering them. Later he sided with the vampires so that their plan can help him to gain control over the world. He may be insane and charismatic and evil at some points, but he had a strong bond with his best and only friend: Saigo.

Series cast<ref>[[Jonathan Clements|Clements, Jonathan]]. Tamamuro, Motoko. ''The Dorama Encyclopedia:'' A Guide to Japanese TV Drama Since 1953. [[Stonebridge Press]]. {{ISBN|1-880656-81-7}}.</ref>

Yutaka Mizutani - Toppei Tachibana
Hiroshi Satō - Rokuro Makube aka Rock
Fumio Watanabe - Morimura
Yoshiaki Yamamoto - Chippei Tachibana
Osamu Tezuka - Himself

Availability in English

While the manga has yet to be fully translated, an excerpt was included in Tezuka's Shakespeare Manga Theater from Ablaze Publishing.{{cite web | url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2023-02-13/ablaze-licenses-4-manga-titles-by-legendary-creator-osamu-tezuka/.194866 | title=ABLAZE Licenses 4 Manga Titles by Legendary Creator Osamu Tezuka}}

Reception

Video game designer Yuji Horii and manga artist Hirohiko Araki stated themselves to be fans, and counted it among their favorite Tezuka manga.{{Cite web |date=2018-04-13 |title=物語のつくりかた第３回堀井雄二さん（ゲームデザイナー） {{!}} 小説丸 |url=https://shosetsu-maru.com/interviews/monogatari/3 |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=shosetsu-maru.com |language=ja}}{{Cite web |title=手塚治虫記念館開館30周年記念トークショー「荒木飛呂彦～創作の地図～」開催のもよう｜虫ん坊｜手塚治虫 TEZUKA OSAMU OFFICIAL |url=https://tezukaosamu.net/jp/mushi/entry/34567.html |access-date=2025-03-31 |website=手塚治虫公式サイト |language=ja}}