Vampire Princess Miyu

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Vampire Princess Miyu
Miyu, Larva and Shiina from the TV series
吸血姫美夕
(Kyūketsuki Miyu)
Genre Horror, Drama, Shoujo
Manga
Authored by Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshiki Hirano
Publisher Flag of Japan Akita Shoten
Flag of France Atomic
Flag of Germany Carlsen Comics
Flag of Poland Japonica Polonica Fantastica
Flag of Portugal MangaLine Edições
Flag of Spain Mangaline Comics
Flag of United States Studio Ironcat
Flag of Italy Play Press Publishing
Serialized in Flag of Japan Horror Comics
Original run –
No. of volumes 10
OVA
Directed by Toshiki Hirano
Studio AIC
Pony Canyon
No. of episodes 4
Released 21 July 1988—21 April 1989
TV anime
Directed by Toshiki Hirano
Studio AIC
Network TV Tokyo
Original run 6 October 1997 – 30 March 1998
No. of episodes 26

Vampire Princess Miyu (吸血姫美夕 Kyūketsuki Miyu?) is a horror anime series by Narumi Kakinouchi and Toshiki Hirano, as well as a manga series based on this anime. Its central characters are a vampire girl named Miyu and her demonic companion Larva. Vampires in Vampire Princess Miyu are hunters of "Shinma" or god-demons, and Miyu, being the last of the vampires, has the exclusive job of hunting down the Shinma.

The anime was originally presented in a 4-episode OVA (Original Video Animation) licenced by AnimEigo in 1988, and was later adapted into a 26 episode television series licensed by TOKYOPOP and released in 1997.

The furigana for the title indicate the pronunciation as Vampire Miyu or Miyu the Vampire. The kanji are a play on the Japanese word for vampire, 吸血鬼 kyūketsuki, replacing the character 鬼, meaning "demon", with the character 姫, meaning "princess". Both characters can be read as "ki".

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] Characters

Miyu (美夕 Miyū)

A girl who appears to be 13 or 14 years old but in fact is much older, being a vampire. In the OVA, she was the child of a human father and a vampire mother in post-World War II Japan. In the TV series, however, her mother was human and her father was a shinma guardian in pre-World War II Empire of Japan. In both cases, Miyu became the Guardian after losing her parents. It should be noted that the OVA Miyu was childlike and playful while the series Miyu was more reserved and composed.
Even though she is a vampire, Miyu isn't harmed by sunlight, holy water or crucifixes, and her reflection can be seen. Though she does need to drink blood to survive, she chooses her 'victims' carefully. She chooses beautiful people who have suffered a tragic loss, and offers them their greatest wish – to be with their lost loved ones, at least in their dreams – in exchange for their blood. These people live an endless dream state forever. In the TV series, when posing as a human, she goes by the name Miyu Yamano (山野美夕 Yamano Miyu).

Larva (ラヴァ Rava)

A Shinma from the western world. In the OVA, Larva came to prevent Miyu's vampire blood from awakening, but it did anyway, for she drank his blood. As a result of this failure, Larva's face and voice were sealed behind a mask for all eternity.
In the TV series, Larva faced Miyu after she had become the Guardian. After he had struck her down, she drank his blood. In both cases, Larva pledged to be by Miyu's side. Larva can use his nails to slash things and (in the TV series) he can also wield a scythe.

In both series, Larva chooses to stay with Miyu because of her sorrow, something he was able to glimpse at during both blood-bond scenes. Note that in the TV series, Larva can speak and can occasionally remove his mask.

[edit] Characters from the OVA

Himiko Se (ː ːː Se Himiko)

She is a beautiful spiritualist who encounters Miyu during a job. Their paths cross throughout the series as Himiko searches for her, convinced at first that she's just a monster without any redeeming qualities, but later coming to know more about her and Larva. At the end of the OVA, Himiko is shocked as she remembers meeting Miyu when she was a child. Equally shocking is the implication that Himiko herself may have vampiric characteristics from that same encounter with Miyu, which have yet to manifest.

Miyahito (Miyahito)

Appearing in vol. 1, Unearthly Kyoto. He's a handsome youth whose girlfriend, Ryouko, was murdered by a "vampire" in front of him. Miyahito, upon being unable to protect Ryouko, heavily blames himself and wants to kill the "vampire", not knowing that it's a Shinma. He's ultimately so crushed under his grief that he accepts Miyu's offer to exchange their bloods, and Himiko is a witness of this. During the end of the episode, Miyahito is seen in a catatonic state; it's said that his mind is in a sort of dream-world, "living in happiness".

Ranka (ːː)

Appearing in Vol. 2, A Banquet of Marionettes, she is a shinma who places the essences of her victims into life-size dolls. She fell in love with a very handsome school boy named Kei, who Miyu was also interested in. Kei wishes to be with Ranka even after she used him, since he gave himself to Ranka voluntarily and she came to fall in love with him as well, and Miyu is forced to banish them both after Ranka transforms Kei into a creature like herself at his own request.

Lemures (ːː Remuras)

Appearing in Vol. 3, Fragile Armor. He is an old friend of Larva who sought to release him from Miyu. He uses magic as well as a human-turned-into-Shinma whose soul is trapped inside of a gigantic samurai armor, managing to seal Larva inside of a wall. Miyu believed that Lemures wanted to target her to become leader of the Shinma, so with Himiko's help she faced him. However Larva broke Lemures' spell when Miyu was injured by Lemures' puppet Shinma; then he stayed true to Miyu, who instead of banishing Lemures killed him with fire as a punishment for harming Larva. (Note: Lemures' counterpart in the TV series was called Garline who appeared in the 2-part episode,Light of the Sea.)

[edit] Characters from the TV series

Shiina (死無)

A shinma who looks like a cute pink bunny. However, her right ear covers a bulging, bloodshot yellow eye which enables her to see great distances and dispel illusions.

Reiha (冷羽)

A child-like snow demon, she is Miyu's rival who seeks to destroy shinma, believing Miyu is not fit to do the job. She is less sympathetic than Miyu, and is known to kill innocents who get in her way of destroying shinma. Reiha's father was the head of a group of shinma protectors whose task was to ensure that a guardian (in this case, Miyu) would emerge. When Reiha's father was struck down by the Bird Shinma, Black Kite, he called out Miyu's name instead of Reiha's before he died. Reiha has never forgiven Miyu for this.

Matsukaze (ːːː)

Reiha's talking doll companion. He doesn't hide his contempt for Miyu. He is in a sense Reiha's surrogate father into which she has projected all her hostility and anger towards Miyu.

Chisato Inoue (井上千里 Inoue Chisato)

One of three schoolgirls who befriends Miyu. Early on in Episode 2, she buys two keychain charms as tokens of friendship for Miyu and herself. Near the end of the series, it is revealed that Chisato is in fact the strongest Shinma, whose purpose is to destroy Miyu. The charms were actually talismans to prevent Miyu from sensing the truth. Chisato herself did not know she was a Shinma until the "egg" inside of her hatched, otherwise known as her Awakening. As soon as she was Awakened, she killed Hisae with a keepsake from her recently murdered brother, Tokiya; later, she also killed Yukari with the same method of Hisae's murder. She also tried to kill Miyu the same way, but she didn't die. Soon, Larva came and sliced off Chisato's head. Miyu took Chisato's "egg" and brought it back to the Darkness, letting Chisato's soul dream about being a child forever.

Yukari Kashima (鹿島由加里 Kashima Yukari) and Hisae Aoki (青木久恵 Aoki Hisae)

Chisato's classmates. Yukari is slightly tomboyish while Hisae is more of a bookworm. Sadly, both of them are killed by Chisato.

Yui-Li

A Chinese warrior-priestess, featured in episode 16, "Warrior Priest". Her family and her master were killed by a shinma and now she is seeking that shinma out, hoping for revenge. Her weapon of choice are two sai.

Maiko Yanagihara

From the first episode, "The Fang Knows". She was a teacher who kept a very strict class. However, one rainy day she wanted a chocolate bar but didn't have enough money to purchase it, so she shoplifted one. As bad luck were to have it, three of her students, who shoplifted for fun, caught her but did not turn her in; as a reminder of her moment of weakness, they sent her small "gifts" that they shoplifted instead. Her despair caught the attention of a shinma, which hunted the girls by draining them of their blood in the same manner a vampire hunts.

[edit] Voices (OVA)

  • Miyu: Naoko Watanabe (Japanese), Pamela Wiedner (English)
  • Himiko Se: Mami Koyama (Japanese), Stephanie Griffin (English)
  • Larva (Ep. 3): Kaneto Shiozawa (Japanese), Zach Hamner (English)
  • Ranka (Ep. 2): Mayumi Shou (Japanese), Belinda Bizic (English)
  • Lemures (Ep. 3): Yuji Mitsuya (Japanese), Chad Carlberg (English)

[edit] Voices (TV series)

[edit] Episodes (OVA)

  1. Unearthly Kyoto
  2. A Banquet of Marionettes
  3. Fragile Armor
  4. Frozen Time

[edit] Episodes (TV Series)

(Note: These are the titles as given by TOKYOPOP)

  1. The Fang Knows
  2. At The Next Station
  3. The Forest Calls
  4. Reiha Has Come
  5. Sepia Colored Portrait
  6. The Ghost of Miyu
  7. Fate
  8. The Red Shoes
  9. Your House
  10. Swamp Of Promises
  11. Supple Face
  12. Garden of Crying Reeds
  13. Light of the Sea (Part 1)
  14. Light of the Sea (Part 2)
  15. Dream of the Mermaid
  16. Woman Priest
  17. The Moray Boat
  18. City of Illusion
  19. Love of the Dolls
  20. Butterfly Enchantment
  21. Flag of Shinma
  22. Once Upon A Time
  23. Confrontation
  24. The Boy who Returned
  25. The Last Shinma
  26. Eternal Sleep

[edit] Release trivia

  • AnimEigo originally released the OVA series on two VHS tapes, each containing a sheet of liner notes related to the series. The liner notes were eventually redone for the DVD release and included in Volume 1. The Volume 2 DVD contains a card with a humorously worded message stating that the complete liner notes are available in the first volume, and that if some form of insert weren't included in the second, consumers would undoubtedly start complaining.
  • The first DVD volume of TOKYOPOP's release of the television series is notable for cutting the ending credit sequence from the first episode, the beginning and ending credits from episode two, and the opening credits from episode three. This practice, which was fairly common in the VHS era of anime releases, apparently received a significant amount of criticism as the remaining five DVDs were released with all episodes featuring the opening and ending credit sequences.
  • Also in Volume 1 of the TV series, Larva was called Lava in the English dub and subtitles. The following volumes referred to him as Larva.

[edit] External links

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