u/MadmansBluff

I became interested in Streamline Pictures in 2007 after I watched a VHS of their version of Akira. At the time, the original English dub of Akira was no longer being sold in the US. The only way to watch it was out-of-print VHS and LaserDisc copies. And the tape began with an advertisement of Streamline's catalogue that caught my attention. One of the titles advertised was Vampire Hunter D.

Like Akira, many of these titles were no longer being sold with Streamline's dubs at the time. The current distributors removed the Streamline dubs in favor of new English versions. Vampire Hunter D was not one of these titles. For more than 20 years, the Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D was still available in the US and the way to watch it in English.

By the 2010s, anime distributors were finally using multiple English dubs on their releases. This included the original English dub of Akira, which returned to the US in 2013. So, to learn Sentai removed the Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D in 2015 and replaced it with a new dub - after other Streamline dubs were being restored, no less - was quite disappointing.

This is not meant to argue whether the Streamline or Sentai dub of Vampire Hunter D is better. It doesn't matter which dub is supposed to be better - what matters is being able to watch the version you prefer. But because the Streamline dub is no longer being sold, it's harder for people who prefer that version to watch it.

More than a decade later, the Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D is still unavailable in the US. When the film was shown in theaters last year for its 40 anniversary, it used the Sentai dub instead of the version that made the film popular in the US and that's not right. It's not right that the version widely available for more than two decades is now being buried.

Sentai has never given a reason for why it removed the Streamline dub and won't resell it. It could be a rights issue, but other distributors have been re-releasing Streamline's dubs without any issue. After Streamline went out of business, Urban Vision picked up Vampire Hunter D, along with Golgo 13: The Professional, Space Adventure Cobra, and Wicked City. All were re-released with the Streamline dubs. After Urban Vision also went out of business, all of these titles except for Vampire Hunter D were acquired by Discotek. Discotek continues to distribute the Streamline dubs of these titles. Vampire D was the only one that was picked up by Sentai instead of Discotek and the only one not to be re-released with the Streamline dub.

Will Sentai ever bring back the Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D? Is there any way to get the Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D back? Or will the Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D never be sold in the US again? There may be physical copies of the Streamline dub and other ways to keep watching it, but it's still been out of print for more than 10 years and there's no sign of it becoming widely available again. And the Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D deserves better than that. The Streamline dub of Vampire Hunter D should still be available for the people introduced to the film through the Streamline version and for anyone else who wants to see it.