12 Best Anime About Vampires, Ranked

Highlights

• Vampires in anime are a captivating blend of terror and beauty, offering themes of intimacy and new possibilities.
• Vampire Knight is a popular shojo vampire-themed romance, although it may not appeal to those who dislike genre tropes.
• Castlevania, though technically not an anime, draws inspiration from Japanese animation and delivers a compelling story with stunning animation.

Inspired by urban legends and mythology, creatures of the night haunt nearly every genre of anime. They can be love interests, fearsome foes, or celebrated heroes. However, few monsters in anime captivate viewers like vampires.

A vampire’s reliance on and isolation from others makes them a paradoxical promise of intimacy, eternity, and new possibilities. They are terrifying yet beautiful and uncannily human, and their lives demand to be seen even in the darkness. The complexity of vampires and the mysteries of the night constantly inspire new vampire stories, but these vampire anime have achieved immortality in more ways than one.

Updated December 7, 2023 by Mark Sammut: Specifications have been added for every vampire anime.

12 Vampire Knight

MyAnimeList: 6.87 (Season 1)

Yuki Cross and Zero Kiryu are prefects at an academy that accepts vampire students at night. To protect the daytime students and the status of the academy, they both take their position seriously. However, their situation and feelings become complicated when Yuki, Zero, and the vampire students realize they are more connected than they thought.

Vampire Knight is a shojo take on vampires with drama and romance. However, while fans have mixed feelings about how Vampire Knight handled its love triangle, it might very well be the most well-known vampire-themed romance in anime. However, if someone is not fond of the genre’s shojo tropes, they will likely not enjoy this series.

11 Blood Lad

MyAnimeList: 7.25

Blood Lad is a refreshing change from serious vampire anime. Its light-hearted story follows Staz Charlie Blood, a powerful vampire who loves humanity and considers himself an otaku. It’s the best moment of his life when a human accidentally wanders into the demon world.

Sadly, the human dies before Staz gets to speak to her, so he decides to go on a quest to bring her back to life. As Blood Lad is predominantly a comedy, Staz often tries to take the easy way out and ends up in bizarre situations. Frustratingly, the anime ended after only 10 episodes, so there is very little pay off to anything the plot sets up. Still, the available content is fun.

10 Blood+

MyAnimeList: 7.62

Saya Otonashi doesn’t know she is a vampire until a monster attacks her school one night. However, encouraged by a mysterious man playing the cello and her family, Saya slays the beast, awakening to her vampiric powers before joining a demon-fighting organization to protect others.

Blood+ is an action-packed story about Saya’s past and determination. Its characters are charming and compelling, and the series gives them time to process the events they are going through. Altogether, Blood+ backs up its fights with a strong story.

9 The Case Study of Vanitas

MyAnimeList: 7.90 (Season 1)

The Case Study of Vanitas is a supernatural anime that begins with a misunderstanding. According to legend, the Book of Vanitas is a magical tool used by a vampire born under a blue moon to curse and destroy vampirekind. However, when the vampire Noé Archiviste comes across the grimoire, not only is a human using it, but he is using it to cure vampires from corrupt forces.

The Case Study of Vanitas can be light-hearted, but its use of misunderstandings propels its plot and characters toward meaningful growth.

8 Seraph Of The End

MyAnimeList: 7.49 (Season 1)

After a disease killed everyone older than thirteen in Yuichiro Hyakuya’s hometown, vampires stepped in to care for children in exchange for blood. Hyakuya and his friends spent years under their unjust rule until they decided to escape. However, he was the only one to survive, and since then, he has sworn his revenge on vampires.

Seraph of the End works because it’s similar to Attack on Titan, and it impresses with its fight scenes in humanity’s last stronghold as Hyakuya and others train to fight the vampires.

7 Blood Blockade Battlefront

MyAnimeList: 7.79 (Season 1)

Hellsalem’s Lot is a brutal yet magical town where reality and other worlds have combined. Aliens, demons, and humans coexist, but only the toughest can survive. Driven to protect the city, the organization Libra fights against those who would harm its citizens. The newest member of Libra is Leonardo Watch, who received the power of the “All-Seeing Eyes of God” against his will.

Blood Blockade Battlefront is a story of betrayal and familial love. Vampires and other creatures threaten not only the city but Leonardo’s friends as well. Along with colorful characters, the anime really delivers in its action sequences, which are brilliantly animated and creative.

6 Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

MyAnimeList: 7.89 (Season 1)

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is one of the most well-known action anime in the world. The series is broken into parts that each focus on a different descendant of the Joestar family tree. While vampires are only the main antagonists for the first three parts of the series, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 3: Stardust Crusaders brought the series to fame with Jotaro’s quest to defeat the power-driven vampire Dio Brando. Its subsequent parts may not be about vampires, but Jotaro and Dio’s influence is present throughout the series.

That said, the best JoJo sagas are arguably the ones that follow Stardust Crusaders, and they move away from the concept of vampires. Even the entries that do feature these creatures feature long stretches without them in the forefront.

5 Castlevania

MyAnimeList: N/A

Castlevania is a series based on a popular game franchise of the same name. While the show has some differences from the games, it still follows three familiar protagonists – Trevor Belmont, Alucard, and Sypha Belnades – on their quest to kill the vengeful Count Dracula.

Moral and familial conflicts are at the heart of the series, making many of its conversations intense and emotional. With its classic vampire aesthetic, compelling characters, and stunning animation, Castlevania is perfect for newcomers to the series and devoted fans alike.

Technically, Castlevania is not an anime; however, the show will be included since it takes a lot of inspiration from Japanese animation.

4 Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)

MyAnimeList: 7.92

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a cult-classic sequel to the animated film Vampire Hunter D (1985). Both films follow D, a dhampir with a symbiotic left hand who hunts down other creatures of the night in exchange for rewards. While fans of the series love both films, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust has a more complex plot with forbidden love and other hunters pursuing D’s target.

For those looking to enjoy an animated vampire film, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is a beautiful yet action-packed story that uses the often-overlooked dhampir. The anime’s gothic aesthetic produces some genuinely jaw-dropping visuals and backdrops.

3 Shiki

MyAnimeList: 7.73

Shiki has an inconspicuous opening that leads into a medical horror series and a psychological thriller about trying to cure vampirism and prevent a murder spree in a small town. As the vampire forces grow larger each night, the town doctor becomes more apathetic toward the town’s concerns and loses, and the feeling of being watched becomes prevalent.

Shiki uses a slow-burn approach to its horror, allowing the terror of each moment to set in before moving on to show vampires, and humanity, at their darkest. The anime’s second half is filled with hard-to-watch sequences that blur the lines between the two sides, showing that humans can be just as vicious as monsters.

2 Hellsing Ultimate

MyAnimeList: 8.35

Hellsing Ultimate is an original video animation retelling of Hellsing. Aside from having longer episodes and revamped animation, fans consider Hellsing Ultimate a faithful version of the vampire hunter Alucard’s struggles against other vampire-hunting organizations because it more closely follows the manga.

Alucard’s story is brutal, violent, and stunningly created. He by no means hides his love of vampire hunting, even as a first-class vampire himself, and has unshakable confidence in his skills. Hellsing Ultimate is exceptional from the beginning, making it one of the best vampire anime available.

1 The Monogatari Series

MyAnimeList: 8.33 (Season 1)

The main protagonist of the Monogatari series is an ex-vampire who managed to retain some of his superhuman qualities. Although he remains connected to the vampire who cursed him, his primary goal is to help others who have experienced supernatural, personal, and spiritual challenges.

The Monogatari series has a distinct and engaging animation style that uses changes in aspect ratio, text on still frames, and a combination of photography and animation at different times. While the art is memorable, the characters and the story’s focus on helping others made the series skyrocket in popularity.

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